The yoga of today is very different from the original Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, called ashtanga (ashta=eight, anga=limb).With the increase in health-related issues, yoga is increasingly being adopted across the world in different avatars. But do these adopted forms do justice to the pure, original form of yoga?
“Yoga underwent a lot of changes from the beginning, but it was too rapid by the end of the 20th century, starting from power yoga to beer yoga. Many trends focus just on physical aspects of yoga taking away the real essence of traditional practice, which focusses on body, mind and soul,” says Mahesh Lal, yoga instructor from Conrad Bengaluru.But Sarvesh Shashi, CEO & Co-Founder, SARVA, a pan India wellness and yoga startup, feels that the true essence of yoga may get lost in translation, while being passed on from one practitioner to another.
“As it is always said, half information is detrimental to the communication funnel. Not everyone understands the concept of yoga. It’s not an exercise! It’s a way of life. It involves two very important components, the physical and the mental. Anything that isn’t done in unison can’t be called yoga. Someone putting their heart and soul into their work is performing yoga since ‘mindfulness’ is at the core.”
He adds that many may wonder, ‘if we do asanas we are yogis’. “No, we must ensure that we are ‘aware’. So, I would say that a select few people who are truly living the lifestyle are nurturing the essence of yoga.”
Most practitioners focus on the physical aspect of yoga: starting at yama, niyama and stopping at asanas and pranayama, points Mumbai-based yoga expert Juily Wagle.“While we certainly cannot adopt the strict and ascetic lifestyle of ancient yogis, it would be worthwhile to integrate the mindfulness aspect of yoga (pratyahara, dharna and meditation), while doing postures and pranayamas in our daily routine life. This awareness will elevate the experience of yoga beyond the physical realm and really bring the very essence of yoga – ‘the union of body, mind and soul’ into our day to day lives.”
While Shashi has his doubts, he is also happy that yoga is seeing many innovations coming into the picture.“That’s the beauty of yoga. It fits into any mould. A famous trend is wellness yoga at the workplace — desk yoga and chair yoga which help tone down the damages done to the physical and the mental well-being of an employee, due to sitting in offices for long hours,” he says, adding, “aerial yoga has always been an interesting form of yoga that the majority of new practitioners love to experience. Digital yoga, where one imitates yoga after watching it on television or desktops, has also become very convenient and accessible for people to indulge in the lifestyle of yoga.”