Yoga Classical Yoga, the Yoga

Yoga

Classical yoga, the yoga of Patanjali, also known as Raja yoga, dates from roughly the third century A.D., and entails an eight-step, or astanga, process that moves from behavioral rules through bodily postures, asanas, and on to a series of meditative states (Strauss). Although there are many individuals today who practice forms of yoga quite similar to this classical antecedent, the variety of contemporary yoga practice is vast (Strauss). According to Sarah Strauss, "Yoga originally developed as a predominantly male, high-caste, south Asian, ascetic, and spiritual set of beliefs and practices" (Strauss).

During the late nineteenth century, knowledge of yoga began to circulate as a physical, mental, and spiritual health commodity among audiences in Western Europe, India, and the United States (Strauss). Strauss points out that it has now become a globally recognized bodily idiom, "part of the contemporary repertoires of men and women at all life stages and in many different countries" (Strauss). The countercurrent of yoga, though at its core has an export phenomenon with origins in India, "is simultaneously a transnational construct" (Strauss). These new yoga representations allow new practices and accommodates new audiences for an old system (Strauss).

According to Deborah Etsten in the March 01, 2002 issue of The Journal of Addiction and Mental Health, yoga has been around for more than 5,000 years, and in addition to its many touted health benefits, such as increasing the heart's efficiency and improving general fitness, it is used as a supplementary therapy to help combat chronic conditions, such as migraines and even AIDS (Etsten). However, a less documented benefit of yoga, is its role in helping individuals who are recovering from addictions (Etsten). A 1997 study, published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine Journal, examined whether individuals in outpatient methadone maintenance treatment who practiced yoga in a group setting for six months had more favorable treatment outcomes than those who received traditional group psychotherapy (Etsten). The study revealed that both were equally effective in reducing drug use, however yoga was also found to release tension in a more immediate and direct way than what is experienced in verbal therapy (Etsten).