87) The 2 ways in which Yoga has become superficial

In my last post I had mentioned that the biggest problem that is facing Yoga in the current ontext world over  is that it has become too superficial  and I will elaborate my reasons for the same in this post . Yoga has become superficial in 2 ways : 

1) It is restricted purely to a body oriented practice missing the other dimenions of Yoga :

Yoga is an integrated Science involving the body , breath , emotions and intellect but unfortunately it is projected only as body oriented science and the stress is mostly on having a slim and flexible body without focussing on the art of managing the emotions , developing the intellect and staying centered in stressful conditions . One can come across people who have a very slim and flexible body through yoga but very poor when it comes to emotional management .  Managing the emotions and developing the intellect are very slow process and it may take years also but it is very essential that one starts developing them side by side one develops one's flexibility through Yoga . Unfortunately this is the most neglected part in any Yoga training and I will elaborate it more in a separate post .
 The book Bringing Yoga to Life - The everyday practice of enlightened living by Donna Farhi
deals with this neglected aspect of Yoga  ( in fact that is the title I have given to this blog also ) and I suggest all people serious on the path of Yoga either as practitioners or as teachers read this book indepth and use it as a constant guide to help you lead a more integrated Yogic life .

2) Even in the body oriented practice it has become very superficial as the body oreinted practice also lacks mindfulness , depth , intelligence , grace and has become just another form of physical workout 

. No doubt Yoga has become popular world over and has spread to many countries and evey Major city has today lots of Yoga Centres but if you look at the way Yoga is being taught there , barring a few places in most of the places people do Asanas in a very mechancial and un-intelligent way . No doubt some form of Yoga practice is better than no practice at all but even Asana - the most visible part of a Yoga practice if taught in an a very mindful and intelligent way can help a person physically as well as emotionally and help a student take a deep interest in Yoga and make him/her slowly develop in to a better Yoga practitioner without quitting it half way either due to injury or lack of interest in pursuing yoga which are basically due to poor yoga teaching methods . Ir-respective of whichever style of Yoga one does - Sivananda , Ashtanga , Iyengar etc if there is lack of mindfullness in the way it is practiced / taught then such form of yoga will not help a person in the long run  and students will start quitting their practice in  due course either due to injury , lack of enthusiasm or lack of visibility in any tangible denefits in their yoga practice .

The reason why even Asanas are taught in a very superficial level is that today Yoga Teachers  are getting churned out in thousands after a few weeks or maximum 1 month of Yoga Training and this has led to the dilution of the Yoga standards world over . A couple of years back there was a Controversial article in the New York Times on Injuries due to Yoga . The problem of Injuries  is not due to Yoga but the way in which Yoga is taught by incompetent / insensitive people . While the incompetent people create injuries in their students through their ignorance , the insensitive people create injuries in their students due to their arrogance and ego even if they are competent .

The whole world is Celebrating  Sun 21 June 2015 as the First  International Yoga Day  and on that day let  evey Yoga practitioner , Yoga Teacher keep the above 2 points in mind and introspect  how far they have inclucated the above 2 points in their own Yoga practice . If they have not done so far let Sun 21 June 2015 be the starting point for them to rebuild their own Yogic practice putting the fundamentals in place .

More later .