The Science of Yoga.
Posted on 14. Dec, 2010 by yogi Tobye in Philosophy, Yoga
There’s an on-going debate between Science and Religion. Religion takes everything on faith. There’s no proof of God existing, but we have faith, we believe. Belief is a strange thing, the Encyclopedia Brittanica states belief is;
“a mental attitude of acceptance or assent toward a proposition without the full intellectual knowledge required to guarantee its truth.” and…
“Belief becomes knowledge only when the truth of a proposition becomes evident to the believer. Belief in someone or something is basically different from belief that a proposition is true.”
So, belief is a feeling, a hunch. We don’t have proof of the truth, but we have faith and that for many, is all that’s needed.
Science gets quite irritated with this to say the least! Science can’t stop with belief and faith, it has to keep asking questions about the hunch or the feeling until it becomes the truth. Until there’s obvious recorded proof, Science cannot rest.
Here’s where Yoga philosophy comes in. Yoga means to “yoke” or to “unite” to get rid of duality in preference for unity. We often talk about it being the unity of mind and body using the glue of the soul so that we can become united with the universal soul, thus becoming enlightened.
But on a different level, yoga actually unites Science and Religion together. Yoga is devotional and contemplative and in a lot of ways ritualistic in that people who practice the spiritual path of yoga spend time praying (mantra) or meditating. But yoga also constantly asks questions. It wants to get to the bottom of everything and find the truth.
Yogis become their own psychologists if they really start getting into their spiritual practice. They want to know why there is suffering in the world and they start by looking at themselves to see why they suffer and how they can rectify the suffering and find contentment and then pass on what they’ve learnt to everyone who wants to listen.
That’s not to say that everyone who practises yoga is content and enlightened. There are many people out there that “talk the talk” but don’t “walk the walk”.
Yoga is about facing our fears and shouting BOO!! Yoga is about looking into the darkest depths of ourselves and shining a big million-candle-power searchlight into the pit and shouting “Who’s there? Come out where I can see you!”
Yoga has faith when there’s no proof, but keeps asking akward questions until it finds the right kind of answers.
Yoga is so much more than stretching and fitness. But the stretching is where the questions start and the fitness gives us the fortitude to listen openly to the answers.
Related articles
- Hindu Group Fights to “Take Back Yoga” (alternet.org)
- Could Yoga Improve Your Asthma? (everydayhealth.com)
- Hindu Group Stirs a Debate Over Yoga’s Soul (wideangle2.wordpress.com)
- Should Christians practice yoga? (religion.blogs.cnn.com)
- History of Yoga: The Origin and History of Yoga and Meditation (yogatrainingcourse.com)
