Kapiolani
Community College Horizons 2003
Kapiolani
Community College
Horizons 2003
Introduction
I chose to do my ethnography field research on Yoga. I’ve been interested
in Yoga ever since I saw my friend showed me something really bizarre. One day
I was hanging out at my friend Takeya’s house in Japan with his friend
Jo, and Takeya gestured to Jo and said, “Show him.” Jo got on his
hands and knees while he did some breathing exercises for a few moments, and
then sucked his stomach in. He lifted his shirt to reveal his stomach to be
so unbelievably sucked in and flattened that I almost expected to see his spine
from the front. I gasped in amazement, but Takeya motioned me to keep looking.
“Wait, keep watching because this is not the amazing part” whispered
Takeya. A few seconds later some sort of muscle like a vertical pole protruded
a few inches from Jo’s stomach area. I looked as if he swallowed a stop
sign pole and it was visibly protruding from his stomach. He told me the next
step is rotating whatever it was that was sticking out like a pole in a stirring
motion, but he hasn’t gotten to that level yet. That image of Jo’s
stomach was etched in my memory, and it was on my mind for quite some time afterwards.
From that day on I thought Yoga was a pretty interesting art, and I also kept
hearing about its health benefits. But what exactly is Yoga? I was determined
to find out and experience it for myself.
Methodology
My fieldwork took place at two different Yoga schools. Two yoga instructors
and seven students were my informants. I managed to fit in easily because I
was not only an observer but also an active participant who was just as involved
in practicing yoga as everyone else. Over a period of two months I learned yoga
from a studio that specialized in Iyengar Yoga. I also participated in two Hot
Yoga sessions at a separate facility.
Definition of Yoga
The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit word “yuj” which means to
join or union (Iyengar, 1979). Iyengar (1979) states that yoga is the means
to enlightenment or moksha so that one may be liberated from the earthly realm
to rejoin God. People that choose this path he says are called yogis or yogin.
“The practice of yoga aims to overcome the limitations of the body. Yoga
teaches us that the goal of every individual’s life is to take the inner
journey to the soul. Yoga offers both the goal and the means to reach it”
(Iyengar, 2001). According to Iyengar, the philosophy behind Yoga is that in
order achieve self-realization one must have perfect harmony between the body
and the mind. An imbalance in the body results in an imbalance of the mind because
of the constant interaction between the two. The yogic postures aim to strengthen
the body in order to strengthen the mind (Iyengar, 2001).
Using asana (poses) and pranayama (breathing), the goal of yoga is to bring
peace to the mind. There are four stages of yoga that lead to this goal. The
first stage is the level of the physical body that is called arambhavastha and
is the starting level. The second level is integrating the mind and body to
move in harmony and is called ghatavastha. The third stage when the mind and
body become one is called parichayavastha. The final stage is called nispattiavastha,
which is the feeling of oneness with the soul (Iyengar, 2001).
The Origin of Yoga
According to George Feuerstein of the Yoga Research Education Center, Yoga originated
in India over 5000 years ago. The first teachings of yoga are thought to come
from the religious texts written in Sanskrit called the Rig-Veda, which gave
instructions for ritual sacrifice and rituals that went beyond the normal state
of mind to have psychic visions (Feuerstein). These teachings eventually evolved
into what is called yoga today.
Here in America, Yoga first arrived in 1893 with Swami Vivekanada who was attending
the Parliament of Religions in Boston. His immense popularity attracted a multitude
of interested students, and from this sprung the modern yoga movement in which
many other Indians came to the West to bring and teach yoga to America. The
rock group The Beatles also played a part in further popularizing yoga with
their affiliation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and yoga became popular nation
wide (http://www.yrec.org).
Legendary Feats of Yoga
The old stereotype of a yogi was one that was physically capable of extraordinary
feats that cannot be accomplished by the average person. These feats of yoga
lie in the postures or asanas. These asanas are for improving various parts
of the body. Some of them are rather simple, whereas others can be quite complex.
The complex poses can be quite remarkable. The isolation of the rectus abdominus
that I described in the introduction is one of these, and is also what Jo had
showed me in Japan (see Appendix). Others display incredible flexibility while
some of the poses are very simple and appear fairly easy to do. Some yogis can
exert such great control of their bodies that they are able to take water up
the rectum by creating a vacuum with their sphincter, and then rolling the recti
abdomini before letting the water back out of the colon (Behanan, 1959).
Some people believe that some Yogis also have psychic powers that are called
siddhis. Siddhi is a word meaning “accomplishment” in Sanskrit but
it is now often used to describe superhuman powers. There are many stories about
the supernatural powers of some yogis. There are nine main siddhis that are
talked about in Indian culture as described by Yogi Chaitanya Dev. These siddhis
include unbelievable feats such as the ability to fly, to increase or decrease
the size of one’s body to incredible proportions, and to bring the dead
back to life (http://www.siddhashram.org/).
Siddhis are not limited to the eight mentioned by Dev. There are stories of
yogis producing a number of strange phenomenon. Author W. Sommerset Maugham
in A Writer’s Workbook documents one story of this type: An Indian yogi,
having no money, asked the attendant if he could ride for free. When he was
refused, he just sat on the platform. The train could not start when it was
time for the train to leave. The mechanics could not figure out what was wrong,
until finally the station-master let the yogi on board and then the train was
able to start. (http://www.angelfire.com/realm/bodhisattva/siddhi.html).
Behanan (1959), author of Yoga: A Scientific Evaluation, however, refutes the
idea of a yogi’s psychic powers and explains that there is no such a thing.
According to him, people sometimes have visions and even feel as if they are
floating sometimes, but this is all known to be hallucination by the yogi, and
he dismisses it as so.
My Experience with Yoga
A friend asked my wife and I if we would like to accompany her to her yoga class.
Being interested in yoga, we both went, not knowing exactly what to expect.
She explained to us that it was “Hot Yoga,” and that we should bring
a towel to wipe our sweat. Not knowing exactly what to be in store for us, we
eagerly went with her to the studio.
When we got there, the class before us wasn’t finished so we waited outside.
People waiting with us were dressed in spandex biker shorts and leotards. One
man seemed like he was really getting psyched out for the class and began to
stretch as if he were to compete in a track meet. Seeing this kind of intimidated
me. This was a yoga class I expected to attend, and the yoga I had envisioned
consisted of breathing exercises and meditation that did not require getting
psyched for.
When it was time, we entered the studio. It was so hot that I could hardly breathe.
It felt like I was in a sauna, and just the thought of exercising in there made
me light headed. The room had a gas stove to heat the place up. We all gathered
in rows and set our rubber yoga mats out. The instructor led us through some
stretching and then the workout began. We got into all sorts of different yogic
positions one after another and it was quite a workout.
Drenched in sweat, I tried to keep up with everyone else as my legs started
to shake in fatigue while I struggled to keep balance during the various poses.
I was sure this wasn’t the way to enlightenment that I’ve heard
about. In fact, it felt no different than a regular workout. I assume the poses
were real yoga positions since the instructor called out their Indian names,
yet we were executing them in a workout fashion one after another in the blistering
hot studio.
I thought yoga was all about relaxation but all I could think about was how
relaxing it would be to get out of there. Finally, toward the end of the workout,
we got to lie down on our mats and close our eyes to relax. It felt so good
to lie down that I almost fell asleep on the mat. I didn’t know if this
feeling came from the lack of oxygen in the air or the fact that I could finally
rest, or both. After the session, we got out and enjoyed the cool soothing air.
The workout made me incredibly hungry and I got the best sleep that I could
remember. The only adverse effect of it was the fact that the next few days
I experienced hurting muscles in areas that I have never felt pain in before.
Hot Yoga
We later found out that Hot Yoga is quite popular with young people. This form
of Yoga is also known as Bikram Yoga, which is a modern form of Hatha Yoga created
by Brikam Choudbury (http://www.bikramyoganyc.com/). This type of Yoga involves
doing a series of 26 poses in a heated room, and looks more like a modern workout
than it does an ancient art. This type of Yoga claims to enable you to reduce
symptoms of chronic diseases and to better focus your mind to realize the union
of body mind and spirit. Despite these good benefits, the majority of the people
just want a good workout to help them shed some unwanted pounds. Although the
spiritual side of it is not given much thought by most, the majority choose
to continue because believe they report an increase in their self-esteem. Attracting
a lot of physical fitness enthusiasts, this type of yoga seems to cater to the
needs and wants of modern society.
Iyengar Yoga
But after experiencing this workout type yoga, I decided to find something closer
to the yoga that I had imagined. We decided to join a studio that specialized
in Iyengar yoga after doing some research. Iyengar Yoga is another modern version
of Yoga created by B.K.S Iyengar. This system differs from Brikam Yoga in that
it is not considered a workout by most. The classes here are filled with an
older crowd than Hot Yoga. The class consists of doing a number of different
poses and stretches throughout the class. Unlike Hot Yoga, most feel as if it
is just a long stretching session rather than a full-fledged workout. The whole
hour basically consisted of doing different poses at a slow, relaxing pace.
Some were harder than others, but the session was not half as physically strenuous
as the Hot Yoga we had tried prior to this one. As with the Hot Yoga, towards
the end of the class we meditated. I had a very different experience here than
I did at the other studio. I was very comfortable, and quite able to relax in
the room temperature studio. I was not over exerted as in the previous yoga
I had tried, and so I felt at peace. It felt like my consciousness was between
wakefulness and sleep. For some reason I did not have the urge to doze off.
Perhaps it was because having my legs straight up and resting on the wall prevented
me from doing so. This state felt so incredibly comfortable that it was amazing.
The philosophy is that mastering the body is the gateway to mastering the mind
(Iyengar Yoga resources). While mastering the mind may not be a goal for many,
the effects of the continued practice of Iyengar Yoga has been reported to change
one’s perception of life. Aside from increased flexibility, people have
reported a new openness and caring for other people while others described having
a sense of purpose in life. As Iyengar (2001) mentions, the first stage is the
physical stage at which the motions are just physical. A lot of students enter
Yoga thinking that there is nothing beyond the physical movements involved and
end up with benefits that they did not expect to receive nor did they wish to
achieve from the start.
In a society that has different values, for the select few that stick with it,
yoga still seems to manifest towards the spiritual goals it has been designed
to do.
I was quite happy with my experience and decided to interview my instructor.
To my disappointment, she kind backed away when I showed a sincere desire to
question her on the spiritual aspects of yoga. She explained that she had some
good effects from studying yoga for many years, but seemed to shy away from
the word spiritual almost as though she were frowning upon the idea. She remained
extremely friendly, however, and spoke of the various other benefits of yoga
on an earthly level.
It’s possible that she may not have wanted to associate her class with
any doctrine or religion, and thus refrained from using the word spiritual.
Whatever the case, she did not appear to have spiritual enlightenment as her
goal. She, however, explained to me that she has gained a genuine feeling of
well being, and felt a closer affinity to people as a result from her yoga practice.
My experiences with yoga left me with a different image of yoga than what I
had anticipated from reading books on yoga and hearing stories about it. Although
my expectations of yoga were different from what I found, I enjoyed it for what
I perceived it to be. I found both styles to be great for stress relief and
physical maintenance of the body.
Analysis and Discussion of Data
What I have learned from my research and ethnology fieldwork is that with modernization
comes absorption in the material world that seems to undermine spirituality.
Yoga, originally a spiritual practice, has thus started to evolve here into
something that appears to have a different purpose altogether. The diffusion
of yoga into the American culture seemed to have caused yoga to undergo some
changes in image in order for it to be accepted by the mainstream. While the
more spiritual oriented yoga forms are still practiced here, there seems to
be a shift in popularity to the new fitness types of yoga. More attention to
the physical aspects seems to be stressed when, in fact, this aspect is just
the first stage yoga with a spiritual goal being the last. Our culture has a
different world- view, putting more emphasis on the importance of the physical
world. Diet, physical fitness, health and stress relief appeal to us, and therefore
these are the aspects of yoga that we focus on today, whereas in India it originated
as spiritual practice. I believe that yoga here in America has adapted to our
lifestyle by changing its face to fit our society that is also changing with
the times. This is not to say that classical yoga does not exist here, but that
the trend is toward the evolution of yoga into something entirely different
than it originally was. Perhaps it is a natural phenomenon for mankind to relate
more to the physical world as they advance technologically.
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