Exercise usually involves quick and forceful body movements. It has repeated actions which often lead to exertion, tension, and fatigue. Yoga postures, on the other hand, involve movements which bring stability to the body, the senses, the mind, the intellect, the consciousness, and finally to the conscience. The very essence of Yoga posture is steady movement, a process that doesn't simply end, but finds fulfilment in tranquillity.
Most diseases are caused by the fluctuations in the brain and in the behavioural pattern of the body. In Yogic practice, the brain is quietened, the senses are stilled, and perceptions are altered, all generating a calm feeling of detachment. With practice, the student of Yoga learns to treat the brain as an object and the body as a subject. Energy is diffused from the brain to the other parts of the body then work together and energy is evenly balanced between the two. Yoga is thus termed Sarvanga Sadhana or "holistic practice". No other form of exercise completely involves the mind and self with the body, resulting in all-round development and harmony. Other forms of exercise address only particular parts of the body. Such forms are termed Angabhaga Sadhana or “physical exercise"
Stimulate Exercise
Yoga exercise is ‘stimulating’, while other endurance exercises are ‘irritating’. For instance, medical experts claim that jogging stimulates the heart. In fact, although the heartbeat of the jogger increases, the heart is not stimulated in the Yogic sense of being energised and invigorated. In Yoga, back bends, for example, are more physically demanding than jogging, but the heart beats at a steady, rhythmic peace.
Yoga doesn't lead to breathlessness. When practising Yoga, strength and power play separate roles to achieve a perfect balance in every part of the body, as well as the mind. After such stimulating exercise, a sense of rejuvenation and fresh surge of energy follow.
Exercise can also be exhausting. Many forms of exercise require physical strength and endurance and can lead to a feeling of fatigue after 10-15 minutes of practice. Many such exercises improve energy levels by boosting nerve function, but ultimately, this exhausts the cellular reserves and the endocrine glands. Cellular toxins increase, and though circulation is enhanced, it is at the cost of irritating the other body systems and increasing the pulse rate and blood pressure. Ultimately, the heart is taxed and over worked.
Such forms of exercise work with and for the skeletal and muscular systems. They cannot penetrate beyond these limits. But Yoga exercises penetrate each layer of the body and ultimately, the consciousness itself. Only in Yoga can you keep both the body and the mind relaxed, even as you stretch, extend, rotate, and flex your body.
Yoga, unlike other forms of exercise, keeps the nervous system elastic and capable of withstanding stress. Although all forms of exercise bring about a feeling of well being, they also stress the body. Yoga refreshes the body, while other systems exhaust it. Yoga involves the equal exertion of all parts of the body and does not overstrain any one part.
In other forms of exercise, the movements are restricted to a part of parts. They are reflex actions, which do not involve the intelligence in their execution. There is little space for precision and perfection, without extra expenditure of energy.
Yoga can be practised at any age
With advancing age, vigorous physical exercises cannot be performed easily because of stiffening joints and muscles that have lost tone. Isometric exercises, for example, cannot be practised with increasing age, as they lead to sprained muscles, painful joints, strained body systems, and the degeneration of organs. The great advantage of Yoga is that it can be practised by anyone, irrespective of age, sex, and physical condition.
In fact, Yoga is particularly beneficial in middle age and after. Yoga is a gift to old people at a time when the recuperative power of the body is declining and resistance to illness is weakened. Yoga generates energy and doesn't dissipate it. With Yoga one can look forward to satisfying, healthier future, rather than reflecting on one's youthful past.
Unlike other exercises, yoga results in the concentration of immunity cells in areas affected by disease, and thus improves immunity. That is why the ancient sages called yoga a therapeutic as well as a preventative science.
meaning of yoga
Most people know that practice of Yoga makes the body strong and flexible. It is also well known that Yoga improves the functioning of the respiratory, circulatory, digestive and hormonal systems. Yoga also brings emotion stability and clarity of mind, but that is only the beginning of the journey to Samadhi, or Self-realisation, which is the ultimate aim of Yoga
The word "Yoga" is derived from the Sanskrit root Yuj which means "to join "or "to yoke"; the related meaning is "to focus attention on" or "to use". In philosophical terms, the union of the individual self, Jivatma, with the universal self, Paramatma, is Yoga. The union results in a pure and perfect state of consciousness in which the feelings of "I" simply do not exist. Prior to this union is the union of the body with the mind, and the mind with the self. Yoga is thus a dynamic, internal experience which integrates the body, the senses, the mind, and the intelligence, with the self.
The sage Patanjali was a master of Yoga and a fully evolved soul. But this great thinker had the ability to empathise with the joys and sorrows of ordinary people. His reflections and those of other ancient sages on the ways through which every person could realise his full potential were outlined in the 196 Yoga Sutras.
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