So, What's So Great About Yoga Anyway?
 

Interview with Uddhava (David B. Ramsden), E-RYT 500, Director of Ananda Yoga in Portland,

 by Rebecca Ragain, Beaverton Valley Times, Thursday, February 1, 2007

Is one of your New Year’s goals to explore the frequently touted benefits of yoga?

If so, you are not alone.

A Yoga Journal study released in 2005 found that 16.5 million people in the United States already practice yoga. The same survey also found that one in seven non practitioners intended to try yoga within the next year.

One of yoga’s attractions is that it targets often-overlooked aspects of fitness, such as flexibility, balance and relaxation.

David Ramsden has been a yoga instructor for 10 years, and a practitioner for nearly 20. He is yoga director at Ananda Portland Center in Beaverton (4855 S.W. Watson Ave., 503-626-3403).

Some students enter Ramsden’s class with strong “beauty muscles” as Ramsden calls the high-visibility muscles that are frequently built up during weight lifting. Yet these students are still challenged by yoga practice, which uses nearly every muscle in the body.

Ramsden likens the body to a suspension bridge: If one wire comes loose, the rest of the structure will neither look right nor function properly.

“It’s important to keep all the muscles balanced,” says Ramsden who teaches and practices a type of Hatha yoga called Ananda.

Many yoga postures-or asanas -are particularly good at strengthening the muscles in the abdominal and lower back, which are called the “core” muscles. As the core muscles are strengthened, the spine receives more support and posture improves, which helps to maintain the natural curvature of the spine.

“You can get that spine to have perfect alignment,” Ramsden says. “I don’t know of too many other exercises that work with that.”

To achieve proper alignment, yoga students learn to relax the shoulders, which people tend to raise and hunch forward.  The head should also be centered over the spine, instead of stretched forward, instructs Ramsden.

Flexibility is another significant benefit of regular yoga practice. A study sponsored by the American Council on Exercise found that participants in an eight-week Hatha yoga program improved their flexibility by 13-35 percent.

If an aerobic workout is your goal, keep this in mind: The ACE study found that a 50-minute Hatha yoga session burns144 calories, the equivalent of a slow walk. A more vigorous form, called Power Yoga burns about 237 calories in 50 minutes, which is still a mild aerobic workout.

However, some of Ramsden’s yoga students have lost weight after becoming yoga practitioners.

Ramsden has an explanation that goes beyond cardiovascular statistics. He says that when his students become more aware of their bodies through their yoga studies, they feel less inclined to eat junk food or indulge in other less-than-healthy behavior.

He explains:” Yoga is really trying to bring the body back into a healthy state...

When you walk around thinking of being healthy, you don’t do the things you would do if you’re not thinking of that.”

This mind-fullness is an essential element of yoga. In fact to consider yoga solely as a form exercise is to miss much of the original intention, which was to lead to spiritual enlightenment.

“Yoga means uniting with yourself,” say Ramsden.

He continues: “Yoga is to still the mind, open up energy in the body, go inward... Yoga is to bring us back to who we really are.”

The physical postures of yoga help to reduce tension in the muscles, which in turn reduces stress.  It also teaches deeper, slower breathing, which triggers the body’s relaxation response.

Ananda yoga, in particular, is aimed at reaching a higher awareness of body, mind and spirit.  Therefore, classes at Ananda Portland Center begin with warm-up exercises, and end with deep relaxation and  a brief, guided meditation.

Ananda Portland Center offers a range of classes, including beginning yoga, intermediate yoga and extra-gentle yoga. Ramsden suggest taking a class at least once a week; three times per weeks is optimum.

Once you’ve learned how to do basic postures correctly, you can also practice at home, because as Ramsden says, it is beneficial to move the body every day.

Finally, Ramsden reminds newcomers to be patient as they learn yoga: “We’re in a day and age when people want to do things fast. If I went up to you and I said I’ll teach you Spanish,’ you’d understand that it’d take some time.”

How will you know when your yoga practice starts to work for you? Ramsden believes that when your mind and body reach a natural state, you feel more relaxed, joyful and kind.

“Is your daily life getting better, does your work get better, does sleep get better, does your overall life get better?” ask Ramsden. “Most of the students I’ve taught, their lives change.”