#78: Why Yoga is More Than Just Exercise

Yoga is often called exercise by those wanting to be able to move more freely or those wanting to lengthen their muscles while still building strength without getting bulky, and although those may be by-products of yoga, they do not constitute this ancient spiritual practice being placed in the same context as traditional exercise. 

Today you'll learn:

• What yoga is
• Three themes as to why yoga is more than just exercise
• How to use the practice to begin to flow with life even when life doesn't go as you expect it to

The root of yoga is about so much more than physical fitness.  It can transform your life on multiple levels without you even trying to do so—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually-- and can be a powerful introductory and lifelong tool personal growth and self-discovery.


Resources:
Get your video download of a Sun Salutation here or at www.CairnYogaWellness.com/SunSalutation

Download the Daily Rhythms Tracker here or at www.CairnYogaWellness.com/RhythmsTracker

To get started with a yoga practice, you'll also need a mat. Here's the only yoga mat I recommend and it comes with a lifetime guarantee so you're not gonna need a new one in 6 months;). Or get it here: https://amzn.to/3UAZOY5.

Episode #57: Spiritual Does NOT Equal Religion


More Episodes Like This One:
#24: From Working Out to Yoga - How I Transitioned My Life
#59: How You Breathe is Who You Are
#64: Yoga's Rhythm is Also Your Rhythm


Grab the full show notes and resources at www.cairnyogawellness.com/podcast78 and subscribe and listen wherever you catch your podcasts: 

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Transcript

Cathy: 0:00

Yoga is often called exercise by those wanting to be able to move more freely or those wanting to lengthen their muscles while still building strength without getting bulky. And although those may be byproducts of yoga. They don't constitute this ancient, spiritual practice being placed in the same context as exercise. Hey friends. Welcome to episode 78. Before we jump into the episode today, I'm going to revisit the admin point that I made in the last episode. If you didn't listen to that episode, I would encourage you to go back and listen to it because you're going to find out the difference between a yoga instructor and a yoga teacher. And we're going to build on that concept in today's episode. Nonetheless, you might have also missed the fact that episodes are now going to be every other week instead of every week. Just for the time being. This episode today builds on last week's episode just a little bit, when we talked about the difference between a yoga instructor and a yoga teacher. Today, I'm going to tell you why yoga is more than just exercise. It might not even be exercise for some of you out there. Especially if you're not doing Hatha yoga. You might just be doing yoga that alters consciousness in some way. And that's okay. So today you're going to learn what yoga is, three themes as to why yoga is more than just exercise and how to use the practice of yoga to begin to flow with life, even when life doesn't go, as you expect it to. Yoga is often one of the first elements that draws people. Into beginning to understand and transform themselves. They come to yoga, seeking to touch their toes or because attending a group class is the only way they intentionally make space to slow down a little in life. Even if it's just for an hour, once a week. But in the process of showing up consistently on their mat. They end up changing their lives. Lots of times that's an unintentional by-product of yoga, is that we start with the intention that we want to touch our toes, or just make space to slow down a little bit. Just make space to be more intentional in life. But what really happens if you stick with it and if you are consistent with it is that you end up having some deep transformation go on in your life. Or some spiritual upleveling, if you will. No, it doesn't always happen overnight because that sort of transformation and change isn't something that generally happens overnight. It happens in small bits over time. Consistency in practicing yoga and consistency in coming to your mat is one of the things that makes that transformation possible. So let's dive into what yoga even is. Yoga is movement to modify consciousness. Now, it's not always movement as I said, at the very beginning. The yoga that we are talking about today is movement to modify consciousness and that's how we're going to define it. And that's how most often I'm going to define it on this show because that's the type of yoga that I focus on. That's the type of yoga that I work with clients on. That's the type of yoga that I teach to groups and to classes, is movement yoga, also called Hatha yoga. So along with movement. Yoga is incorporating the tools of breath, focus, or concentration and meditation in order to change, not only consciousness. But also your energetic state. The word yoga actually means. Union it's a coming together or a yoking, if you will. Specifically union or the interconnectedness of all things, which of course means the union of body, mind, and spirit. And the realization that. All of those elements are actually one. And they are not separate as we often refer to them to be. So you might head to the doctor because you've got an ailment in your physical body. But how is that a manifestation of what might be going on mentally, emotionally, or spiritually in your life. And those are things to consider. I've got some other episodes that refer to that and you'll have to look back, scroll back through the podcast episodes. Um, I think the one called yoga's rhythm is your rhythm is a great episode, to highlight that affect, and I'm not sure on the episode number right now, but I will look it up and I will drop a link to it in the show notes so you can easily grab it and listen to it. If you haven't already. One of the most foundational yoga sequences that can get you started with a yoga practice is the sun salutation. It's a simple sequence that you can get familiar enough with in a relatively short amount of time that you don't really have to think about what you're doing in order to do it. You can, in a sense flow with the movements rather quickly It also means once you're able to do that and without having to think about it too much, that you can begin to bring in elements like breath and concentration or focus to it through the use of mantra or gaze points so that you can enhance how you flow with the yoga postures that you're doing. And as I always say, How you move on the mat is how you move off the mat in real life. So if you're flowing on the yoga mat, you'll begin to flow more in life, out in the real world when you're not on your yoga mat, which is a beautiful, beautiful translation. It's all one in the same. I tell you that, because as I said, the sun salutation is one of the most foundational yoga sequences and one of the simplest yoga sequences that you can begin to learn. So I'll drop a link to the sun salutation in the show notes, but in case your podcast player doesn't allow links. You can grab it at Cairn, that's C a I R N. Yoga wellness forward slash sun salutation. Let's get into what actually makes yoga different from exercise. There are three themes that I've identified that differentiate yoga from exercise. And the first one is that yoga is a holistic practice. It's not just about the physical. As I mentioned before, if something is happening in the physical, it's likely a reflection of whatever's happening mentally, emotionally, spiritually as well. Yoga may change you on the physical level and that's a beautiful byproduct, but at the same time that it's changing you physically, it's also changing you mentally, emotionally and spiritually. And it does this without you even having to try too hard. Now you do have to allow for the qualities of surrender and trust so that you can allow that change to happen. Because if you don't have those qualities, if you don't have surrender, if you don't have the ability to receive and to adapt and to trust what your body mind wants to do? You're going to get stuck. You're not ever going to change to the depth of your potential. Although it may be changing you on the physical level. It's also changing you on the mental level. Yoga says that your mind and body are one, not separate. As we have often been led to believe. So what happens in one is a direct reflection of the other. You just heard me say that. The mind, body connection is great in all forms of exercise. But in yoga, you are intentionally focusing on changing the fascia within your body, which houses, the small hurts and traumas that we've experienced over our lives. It's been scientifically shown that that fascia holds on to the energetics of any hurts or traumas or experiences even joys over our lifetime. It also houses the receptors that make us adaptable and emotional. That fascia that lays on top of your muscles. Is so critically important to our emotional health that even though you might only be thinking when you get a massage or when you practice yoga, that you're just doing something for your physical, you're actually doing something for your mental and emotional as well, which is a beautiful thing. The focus in yoga is more than just building muscular strength or endurance like it might be in exercise. Instead, it has this holistic approach that even though you are doing those things, You are also changing and beginning to heal things that have maybe happened in your past. And you have to be willing to surrender and to let some of those things go, as you just heard me say. So the other way that yoga is different from exercise in a holistic approach is on the emotional level. As I just mentioned, it helps you to begin to heal past hurts because it brings to the surface, all those things that have been being stored in your fascia, and it's like peeling back the layers of an onion. More and more, you start to reveal things that need to be addressed in your life. You could take the easy way out and avoid them and choose to not look at them. Or with time and consistency and the right yoga teacher. You can begin to explore. What those hurts are that need to be healed and how to go about healing them. And by doing so the hope is that you begin to balance your nervous system. Because by addressing the traumas that are stored in your body by addressing the hurts and the challenges that have been stored in your tissues you begin to send the message to your nervous system. That it can relax a little bit. It can move out of fight or flight and into rest and digest. It can begin to find more balance. And through your breath that you pair with your yoga practice or independently on its own. You can begin to communicate with your parasympathetic system. That it's safe. That your body is safely held that you are secure and that there's nothing to worry about. There is nothing to fear, and any of those fears or any of those hesitations that come up that are rooted in fear, that you can get through them. That you can move to the other side of them. And you help to regulate your nervous system in that way. On an emotional level yoga also helps with stress reduction and relaxation. It allows you to use mindfulness practices and breath work. As I mentioned a moment ago to begin to calm yourself, to begin to come into presence. I've shared a little bit how, from a holistic standpoint, yoga is different from exercise because it impacts your spirit. But I want to clarify what spirit means. And what spiritual means. I've got an episode, episode 57 of the show, that talks a little bit more about what spirituality is and what spiritual actually means and how it does not equal religion. So if you haven't listened to that, you might check out that episode after you're done listening to this episode. Spiritual means impacting the essence of who you are, mind body and soul, in a positive way. Therefore a spiritual practice is any practice that is done intentionally to affect the essence of who you are and how you engage in the world around you. It's those things that we do to positively impact ourselves. They help you connect with your higher purpose and your voice of your inner guidance. And yoga is the tool that does that. It's not often that you go into a gym or fitness center or maybe a group fitness class, unless it's mind, body based, and set the intention that you're going to impact your spirit by going in and throwing some weights around or jumping on a treadmill. You might because for you running or walking might be a spiritual practice as well. And that's beautiful. But I'm going to make a generalization and think that most often you're not headed to the gym because you want to change your spirit or because you want a spiritual practice. But all of these combined, the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, because yoga has the ability to holistically impact all of those areas. It results in personal growth and transformation. More than just getting strong or building endurance or losing weight. It's a much deeper practice than exercise. So the second way that yoga is more than just exercise. Is that it's a life journey. You begin to shape your life around it as a spiritual practice. Perhaps you change your bedtime so that you can rise early to practice yoga in the morning, because you know that if you do, the person you are leaving for the day, The person you are walking out of the house on that day, is a different person than if you didn't rise early to practice yoga before you left the house. You might eat differently so that your body responds easier when you're on the yoga mat. Changing the way you eat has a dramatic influence on how easily your body moves. You might even begin journaling to work through some of the issues that begin to present themselves as your issues begin to be revealed. As your issues begin to open up. You might begin a breathwork practice to enhance your breath on the yoga mat. That might look like you taking pauses throughout the day. To just intentionally breathe in a certain way that changes the emotional state that you're in. Or you might begin to offer more grace to others in your life as your perceptions shift upon opening the tissues in your body. All of those examples are ways that you might shape your life around yoga. Because it is a spiritual practice because it is changing who you are. And that's all life journey stuff. That's not stuff that you're going to go in, do one day or 10 days or 30 days or 60 days or half a year to train for something and then be done with those are all habits that you can cultivate. Those are all habits that are cultivated for a life journey. And it's practice. Another thing that communicates that yoga is a life journey is the fact that it's practice. It's not performance. No one's handing out gold stars or trophies for the best yoga session. Because quite frankly, you can't judge personal growth in transformation. There is no yoga in the Olympics as of right now. I mean, I can see it maybe. Getting to that vibe where they could potentially do it, but honestly, It couldn't, it wouldn't work. Because you cannot judge, you cannot compete in personal growth and transformation, you have to set your expectations aside. Your body will respond differently day to day. So you can't expect it to be able to do the same thing day in and day out. You can't expect it to do the same thing each day in the exact same way. It's all about. Practice. It is practice. And that is the second reason why it's a life journey. It's not just a one and done kind of thing. And the final element that communicates that yoga is a life journey. Is that it's non-competitive. There's no end date or goal. Unless you count death as your end date, I guess. You can seek to become a truly enlightened individual, but then you likely aren't truly living and fully enjoying the fullness of life here on this planet. You could go spend time. In an Ashram or living on a mountain side trying to become enlightened, but are you really enjoying the fruits of this earth and the socialization and the people around you then? Are you balanced in your approach to life if you go and do that? In my opinion, I don't think so. Some may think otherwise. Yoga is a non-competitive life journey in the sense that you can seek more integrity by showing up more often or with a different mindset on your mat. But the growth that happens on your mat can't necessarily be measured like it can at a gym. It just can't. You can indeed become stronger or more flexible or improve your balance. But at the same time, you're also cultivating those qualities in your personality. And there's just no end to how much you can refine yourself. Quite honestly, I believe we are always changing and evolving as long as we are open to it. I believe we're always changing and evolving as long as we are open to it. And that could be up until the day you die. I have a friend who is 103, and she has no intention of stopping learning anytime soon. And I think it's a beautiful thing. She doesn't practice yoga, but has the mentality that aligns with a yoga practitioners. And that's to be open and receptive. You can't set a deadline on self development though like you can on being prepared for a race or a competition, or even how many pushups you can do. So there's this non-competitive element that makes yoga a beautiful life journey practice. And finally the third theme that differentiates yoga from exercise is the adaptability of the practice. Anybody can practice yoga at any age. You can start doing yoga with your baby whenever you have it. You can do yoga before your baby is born. I did that with all of my kids. They all practiced yoga when I was practicing. They all practiced yoga with me when I was pregnant with them. And they all practiced yoga as babies. They've all practiced yoga since before birth with me. And you can practice anywhere. That's the other beautiful thing about the adaptability of yoga. To an extent with some exercises like walking or running, you don't necessarily need any equipment for it. With yoga, you might want to have a yoga mat. Otherwise, just a floor where your hands aren't going to slip or a rug or a towel or something that you can practice on, or that you can throw down and practice on. But you can practice it anywhere and you don't need that much space. A good yoga mat is 26 inches by 71 inches. And that doesn't take up a whole lot of space. You might need a little space around the perimeter, but I've practiced in hallways friends. I have practiced in kitchens that don't have a lot of room. You don't need a whole lot of space or equipment to practice yoga. It can be adaptable to where you are depending on the season of life that you're in. And it can be modified throughout the years to adapt to your own unique needs. So depending on whether or not you are an active person or recovering from an injury or even aging and well into your years, you can begin to practice yoga. You can practice yoga and it can be modified to suit your needs. That doesn't happen with all forms of exercise. Yes, strength training is good. It helps increase our bone mass. It helps. Build muscle and keep us strong so that slips and falls maybe don't happen as readily. You can also incorporate those elements into your yoga practice, though. And while encompassing those elements, you can also incorporate different forms and techniques of yoga. You could incorporate meditation, breathwork or different styles of yoga that can allow for the practice to adapt with you, whatever stage or season of life you are in. And while that's possible with quite a few forms of exercise, it's not always the easiest to keep going at the pace or speed or doing the forms of exercise that you really enjoy as you begin to age, depending on your mentality, that is. Let's start to wrap this up. Here are The three themes that differentiate yoga from exercise: it's holistic. It's a life journey. And it's adaptability to anyone in any season of life. To flow means going with life rather than against it, accepting and surrendering when necessary balanced with preparation and taking appropriate action. Flowing is when there's a balanced energy of effortless action and trust or acceptance when moving through something. Yoga is the connection of mind, body, and spirit through movement that alters consciousness. It's a holistic approach to a life journey that can adapt to whatever season of life you're in. Yoga has a rhythm that translates to flow both on and off the mat. You just have to start practicing it as a way of living and commit to bringing some sort of consistency to practicing it. And a great tool to help you with that. Consistency is the daily rhythms tracker, where you can begin to not only track your yoga practice. But you can track your energetic rhythms so that you know how to practice, to align with your energy each day. So, you know what yoga practice to do to align with your energy each day, because as I mentioned before, your energy may not be the same every single day. So if you're approaching whatever form of exercise you're doing, whether it is strength training, running, walking swimming, with the same intensity every single day, you're likely doing your body a disservice and yoga teaches you to listen to your rhythm so that you are only doing what aligns with. Your highest good. With your energetic rhythms on that day. The daily rhythms tracker helps you use your body's rhythms and the moon cycle to finally flow with your time, energy and focus, even when life doesn't go, as you expect it to I'll drop a link in the show notes, or you can grab it at Cairn yoga wellness forward slash rhythms tracker. Indeed, there is a place for both a yoga practice and exercising or a workout. Yoga is just so much more. Than simply exercise. It is the intentional movement that allows you to go deeper into your consciousness and to go deeper into your spirit. To create transformation in your life. I'm Cathy Struecker and you've been listening to health, harmony, and happiness with Cathy cheers to cultivating your own version of health, harmony, and happiness in your life.