As the International Day of Yoga approaches on June 21, it’s clear that numerous misconceptions still persist regarding the ancient discipline and its unique benefits to mind, body and soul.
Originating over 5,000 years ago in northern India, yoga is now embraced worldwide, with many pursuing the discipline to improve their stress management, mental health, and mindfulness.
Balance with Kel yoga teacher Kelly Beasley said she was initially reluctant to try yoga because the poses looked difficult but reaped the rewards when it helped relieve her chronic pain.
“Personally, I’ve suffered from chronic pain since I was a child, so gentle yoga is actually what helps me manage my pain,” she said.
“It helps with flexibility and strength and targets your deep connective tissue to relieve pain.
“Many of my students have experienced the mobility benefits from yoga from a lady who has been able to get back into her gardening to another lady that can now get through her cricket match without her sciatic pain.
“Mine are all gentle-based practices, it’s not a fitness class, a lot of people say, they’re not flexible enough, or they’re too old and that’s not the case.
“Yoga is actually what helps you build that flexibility, mobility and balance.”
A landmark study by Stephen Penman in 2005 revealed the strong mental health benefits that those who practise yoga experience.
Penman found then that 58.4 percent of the 3,832 yoga students surveyed in Australia had begun yoga to reduce anxiety and stress and that 79.4 per cent continued to practise yoga to reduce stress and anxiety.
Sharing and teaching yoga and meditation since 1998, Ahimsa Yoga tutor Jacqui Bate said yoga is a process of alleviating the body from stress.
“Making the decision to attend yoga is often the first step in self-care” she said.
“Individuals have shared that, by simply showing up for their class, they are showing up for their own wellbeing, which is greatly beneficial for mental health.”
“Mindfully moving their body, not only helps to free up any tension held, but also offers the experience of getting to know and accept themselves just as they are, to better understand and self-regulate their internal experience, and encourage them to see themselves through the lens of compassion, rather than critical self-judgement.”
Yoga teacher Chrisann Lee from Wellness Through Yoga said the practice is occasionally misconceived as a religion instead of a philosophy and encourages people of all backgrounds to practice mindfulness through yoga.
“Some people think it’s a religion, but it is more about a philosophy than a religion,” she said.
“It’s rooted thousands of years in Hinduism and the Indian tradition, Ayurveda.
“There is an element of that, but it’s evolved over time, and now it is not about believing in a particular God but more about finding that mindfulness that will improve not just physical wellness, but also the mental and emotional side of our well-being.”
