Yoga Today

The changing face of Yoga today

Article as featured in October 2018 Edition of Yoga Today

There is no denying that we all have a history that has led us to this place and time. In fact, just this morning I overheard a conversation between a couple of students who were acknowledging the impact their grandparents’ culture had on who they were and how this clearly made for a difference in personality. This reiterated to me the unambiguous fact that who we are cannot be separated from where we came from. We cannot be born out of isolation, nor can we survive deprived of connection. You see, if it is one thing I have really paid attention to on my journey it is that connection is both an imperative part of survival as well as an imperative part of who we become – both biologically and psychologically.

As a child my grandfather, who on a side note was deeply Catholic by faith, embraced yoga as a part of his daily routine; waking up he would unroll his foam yoga mat and create a space (both physically and psychologically) that allowed him to somatically listen to what was needed in his body and mind. I remember this well as one of his regular practices before morning mass was his, oh so audible, Bastrika Breath, and alongside his routine repetitions of Nauli Kriya (abdominal rolling), his practices left me curious and intrigued. In hindsight, and in combination with the knowledge I have now, I realise that this way of being was a grand demonstration of how a holistic and integrated lifestyle can contribute to longevity, kindness, faith, compassion, and, I truly believe, a gentle depth of happiness that radiated even on the dullest of days.

It was this radiation of wellbeing that was then generationally passed down to me. My mother was also invested in yoga practice, and as we know it, it is these practices and the culture it creates around us that determines our patterns of being. In fact, and quite fascinatingly, there is now an abundance of research, data, and literature, that demonstrates just how the environment, and most certainly the bio-psycho culture we emerge from and are immersed in creates changes in the structural properties of our brains, and our DNA; technically meaning, I am epigenetically and fortuitously inclined to the yogic life!

Albeit, in saying this, it does not negate that I have made, and continue to make, certain choices in my life. Most specifically, a mindful choice to teach what was passed down to me. The continued mindful choice to teach my bio-psycho-socially and epigenetically instilled traits, alongside my cultivated traits, to those who have had different relational and cultural upbringing. Most specifically, to teach what I know to those who have come to a place and time in their life where they want to make active changes in their way of being; this then where the lifestyle medicine approach comes in.

Having completed a Biomedical Science Degree and comprehensively trained in allied health, now educating as a Senior yoga teacher and yoga therapist with Yoga Australia, I have always tended to add evidence-based information into my teaching style. When students began showing true interest, respect, and appreciation for the molecular, cellular, and particularly the neurobiological science behind the traditional and historical roots of yoga as lifestyle medicine, I began incorporating the research and data more. And although incorporating a biomedical approach to yoga can beget a challenging balance between knowledge-based content and the transcendental nature of the yoga experience that pacifies the mind, I have come to my own place of comfort knowing that the two can sit comfortably together side by side.

The science can develop confidence and faith in the practitioner, while the evidence truly ignites the ancient claims and expels doubt. Moreover, together tradition, science, and discipline cultivate a depth of understanding in the transcendence and interconnectedness of mind and body that precipitates the true yogic nature of lifestyle medicine. There is no doubt in my mind that each of us hold our own unique key to the very sombre business of healing. At the same time there is no doubt within me that living a life of continued wellbeing and longevity is no longer a mystical nor surreptitious methodology that is passed down through generations of yogis.

Wellbeing is available to us all though Lifestyle Medicine.

Globally there is increasing awareness that changes to our lifestyle are imperative in preventative health and wellbeing. Moreover, yoga and meditation are becoming overt practices that, due to the aforenoted abundance of validation through research and data, have become widely accepted and promoted by government policy. Indeed in 2010 the Dean Ornish Lifestyle Medicine approach, which includes lifestyle changes to stress, diet, movement, and relationship, was accepted as an approved Medicare treatment for cardiac rehabilitation and prevention in America. Moreover, this program has been extensively investigated and was established as a recommended practice of rehabilitation and prevention by Healthways Australia in 2015.

And, while we are yet to see lifestyle medicine funded by the Australian Medicare system, there is increasing interest and promotion of lifestyle medicine by societies such as The Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM). Such multidisciplinary societies and medical colleges work to establish Lifestyle Medicine as central to clinical practice, healthcare and health policy. For this reason, I passionately believe in yoga and meditation as Lifestyle Medicine: teaching others the true lifestyle of yoga through its traditional roots from a perspective that those who do not, or have not, had the privilege to witness yoga, unfold as a life of continued wellbeing and longevity.

Why is such a global understanding of Yoga as Lifestyle Medicine important?

Through my experience, I have come to an embodied appreciation of what is meant of yoga as the ability to unite. More explicitly, that the practice of teaching yoga with state-of-the-art science and innovative practices creates a deeply felt and understood connection not only within our own bodies and minds, but so too between one another. So much so that it inspires positive and reciprocal cultural and sociological change. Which is ultimately why I so strongly foster a BioMedical approach to teaching within the growing yoga movement.

I truly believe that when we help future teachers and practitioners to connect tradition and contemporary advance, to create holistic and experiential understanding of what yoga truly is and always has been, we open opportunities for those within the future of the yoga industry to unite and compassionately communicate with those in other areas of mainstream health and lifestyle medicine. From research to education, to practices that enhance lifestyle, we can inspire a nation, perhaps even a universal population, that, rather than poking, prodding, scanning, medicating, or even “transcranial-ly zapping” (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) away symptoms of imbalance, illness, or disease, we have the inherent power within us to heal and to live primarily in health and wellbeing.

The evidence base surrounding yoga is now state of the art. Our medicinal healing lies within the yogic breath, brain and body. It is my purest intention to bring forward a standard of teaching and practice that encourages our graduating yogis to acknowledge their internal transcendental power and faith, their Shraddha. A multifaceted approach to yoga offers others immersive influential experiences of meaning: biologically, psychologically, and sociologically, and perhaps most importantly creates a culture of compassionate change.

References & Further Reading

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3115289/

https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-statistics/population-groups/men-women/reports

https://celiaroberts.com.au/the-karmic-fate-of-our-genes/

https://celiaroberts.com.au/epigenetics-7-steps-to-change-health/

https://www.lifestylemedicine.org.au/lifestyle-medicine/

https://metrosouth.health.qld.gov.au/tms

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9863851

https://www.ornish.com/proven-program/stress-management/

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