In the last few decades, yoga has successfully climbed from obscure meditation practice, to the cool exercise activity. It’s the ultimate flexible workout; easy to do at home, or classes are available everywhere. At Exeter, BodySoc offers several a week. Apps and videos are plentiful, promising fitness in a flash with fat-burning and dynamic yoga flow sessions. But why is it that yoga has managed to become so lastingly popular?
First, a little history lesson. Yoga has been around for at least 5,000 years, being mentioned in the oldest religious texts. It developed into the classical age, becoming a more common and well-recorded practice. Yoga became used to help yogis reach enlightenment, and transcend physical existence, which might well be tempting if you have any looming deadlines.
In terms of the modern trend of yoga, the practice rocketed to the spotlight when Indra Devi opened a yoga studio in Hollywood in 1947. However, modern day yoga tends to have moved away from the spiritual and be focused on yoga’s ability to promote strength, muscle tone and prolong life. Yoga which focuses on this physical aspect is known as hatha yoga. Interestingly, ‘hatha’ comes from the Sanskrit words for sun (ha) and moon (tha), suggesting yoga’s power to unite opposites, even if this takes a lot of power.
The central reason why yoga has become so popular in the West is because it really does work. Physically, the American Osteopathic Society (AOS) suggest a wealth of impressive benefits: it makes you fitter and stronger, of course, whilst increasing your flexibility and respiratory capacity. These all lead to weight reduction., muscle tone, all round cardio health and a protection from injury.
However, these are only the common physical benefits. Yoga, with its roots in meditative practices, can make you feel uniquely light and calm, producing an almost trance-like state, or with practitioners leaving a class feeling drugged! This is, of course, a fantastic way to deal with stress, which can easily destroy both mental and physical health. The AOS also notes that it can help people cope with everyday life and develop a more positive outlook.
Some more unexpected benefits of yoga are its ability to improve concentration and patience, detox your body and stimulate your creativity. You may leave the practice feeling more grounded, more centred and more confident. With results like these, it’s no wonder that yoga has stood the test of time in civilization after civilization.
Yoga’s adaptability is also central to its popularity. It can be adapted to any level of flexibility and strength, and teachers often stress progression and doing as much as you can, even when you cannot, say, touch your toes on the first time around. Yoga’s wealth of different mental and physical benefits means that the extent to which you can do the movement is never very important, because you are still reaping the wonderful benefits of the practice in so many other ways.