Yoga

Every Monday, at 7pm, I do yoga to encourage a good stretch of my muscles after my Sunday endurance runs. Outside India, Yoga has become primarily associated with the practice of asanas (postures) of Hatha Yoga, although it has influenced the entire dharmic religions family and other spiritual practices throughout the world. The Zen Buddhist school of meditation has its roots in yogic practices. Certain essential elements of Yoga are important both for Buddhism in general and for Zen in particular.

Eight Limbs of yoga practice are:
(1) Yama (The five "abstentions"): violence, lying, theft, (illicit) sex, and possessions
(2) Niyama (The five "observances"): purity, contentment, austerities, study, and surrender to god
(3) Asana: Literally means "seat", and in Patanjali's Sutras refers to seated positions used for meditation. Later, with the rise of Hatha yoga, asana came to refer to all the "postures"
(4) Pranayama ("Life Force Control"): Control of prāna, life force, or vital energy
(5) Pratyahara ("Abstraction"): Reversal of the sense organs
(6) Dharana ("Concentration"): Fixing the attention on a single object
(7) Dhyana ("Meditation"): Intense contemplation of the true nature of reality
(8) Samadhi ("Liberation"): Super-conscious state of enlightenment

While Yoga evolved as a spiritual practice, in the West it has grown popular as a form of purely physical exercise. Some Western practice has little or nothing to do with Hinduism or spirituality, but is simply a way of keeping fit and healthy. This differs from the traditional Eastern view of yoga. For people with back problems, studies have shown yoga helps physically with strength, flexibility and endurance. Yoga also helps create relaxation through the breathing and meditation techniques employed, which has been shown to help people better proactively manage a chronic pain problem like back pain. There is much debate whether the term Hatha Yoga properly describes yoga as exercise, since the traditional Hatha Yoga system originated as, and still is, a spiritual path in its own right.

Run with Spirit offers Yoga classes tailored to runners. Sheree Nicholson is a Certified/ Registered Yoga Teacher (R.Y.T. 200) she is currently studying towards her R.Y.T. 500. She has been practicing yoga for 10 years and brings this experience to her teaching. She uses humor blended with spirituality to make her classes enjoyable and to make students feel comfortable on their mats. She has been running for 10 years and has been an instructor at the Running Room in Pickering.