The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards (3 page)
Read The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards Online
Authors: William J Broad
Tags: #Yoga, #Life Sciences, #Health & Fitness, #Science, #General
MEL ROBIN (1934– ).
Yogi scientist. Worked for decades at Bell Telephone Laboratories before studying the science of yoga. Authored books in 2002 and 2009 on the inner repercussions.
W. RITCHIE RUSSELL (1903–1980).
British neurologist at Oxford University. Warned in 1972 that extreme bending of the neck in strenuous yoga poses can result in debilitating strokes.
LEE SANNELLA (1916–2010).
San Francisco psychiatrist. Authored a 1976 book arguing that kundalini leads to enlightenment rather than madness. Helped found the Kundalini Crisis Clinic.
BETH SHAW (1966– ).
Los Angeles entrepreneur. Founded YogaFit, a vigorous style that combines push-ups, sit-ups, and other repetitive exercises with yoga postures.
RANJIT SINGH (1780–1839).
Maharajah of the Punjab. Sponsored a yogi’s live burial in 1837, providing an early case study for the science of yoga.
SWAMI SIVANANDA (1887–1963).
Guru to modern gurus. Taught Swami Vishnudevananda, who authored
The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga
and popularized the Sivananda style.
TARA STILES (1981– ).
Fashion model turned yoga teacher. Opened a Manhattan studio, Strala. Authored the 2010 book
Slim Calm Sexy Yoga.
CHRIS C. STREETER (1957– ).
Psychiatrist and neurologist
at the Boston University School of Medicine. Led studies reporting in 2007 and 2010 that the brains of yogis show increases in a neurotransmitter that acts as an antidepressant.
JILL BOLTE TAYLOR (1959– ).
Neuroscientist at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Experienced right-brain euphoria after a left-brain stroke, as recounted in her 2008 book,
My Stroke of Insight.
PATRICIA TAYLOR (1953– ).
Money manager turned sex therapist. Studied Tantra and authored the 2002 book
Expanded Orgasm.
SHIRLEY TELLES (1962– ).
Indian physician and researcher. Led team reporting in 2011 that yoga can ease rheumatoid arthritis, a painful inflammation of the joints.
KEVIN J. TRACEY (1957– ).
Immunologist at North Shore University Hospital on Long Island. Reported in 2002 that the vagus nerve—a major target of yogic stimulation—wields control over the immune system.
AUREL VON TöRöK (1842–1912).
Director of the Anthropological Museum in Budapest. Led a 1896 study of two yogis claiming to go into deathlike trances.
KATIL UDUPA (1920–1992).
Doctor and medical research director at the Benares Hindu University. Reported in 1974 that yoga can increase the production of testosterone, a sex hormone.
RICHARD USATINE (1956– ).
American physician. Helped run the family medicine program at the UCLA School of Medicine. Coauthored the 2002 book
Yoga Rx.
AMY WEINTRAUB (1951– ).
Yoga teacher based in Tucson. Authored the 2004 book
Yoga for Depression.
Founded LifeForce yoga, a style designed for mood management.
CARL VON WEIZSÄCKER (1912–2007).
German physicist who determined how big stars like the sun shine. Vouched for Gopi Krishna as a genuine mystic and advocated the serious study of kundalini.
DAVID GORDON WHITE (1953– ).
Professor of religion at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Argued that the ancient yogis sought a mental state corresponding to the bliss of sexual orgasm.
NAN WISE (1957– ).
Sex researcher at Rutgers University.0 Scanned the brains of women who can think themselves into ecstasy.
YOGANANDA (1893–1952).
Celebrated yogi. Moved in 1920 from India to the United States. Authored the 1946 book
Autobiography of a Yogi
, the story rich in supermen and supernatural feats.
PUNJAB YOGI (
c.
1837).
Mystic showman. Underwent live burial in 1837 before the court of Ranjit Singh, maharajah of the Punjab. The feat became an early case study in the science of yoga.
ANUSARA.
Lighthearted. Puts emphasis on alignment of limbs
and upbeat philosophy. Uses props to ease postures.
ASHTANGA.
Serious. Features linked poses that flow together, as in Sun Salutation. Ties breath to postural flow. Physically demanding.
BIKRAM.
Hot and sweaty. Heats practice room to loosen joints and muscles. Features twenty-six poses and two breathing exercises. Challenging.
FLOW.
Graceful. Common name for styles with interconnected poses.
HATHA.
Ancestral. The forerunner of all postural yoga, from medieval India. Modern forms tend to be gentle.
IYENGAR.
Precise and popular. Focuses on alignment and holding poses. Uses blocks, straps, and blankets to improve positioning and avoid injury. Trains instructors for at least two years, versus weeks for many styles.
KRIPALU.
Introspective. Puts emphasis on slowly introducing more challenging poses and holding them longer. Stresses awareness.
KUNDALINI.
Intense. Focuses on breathing, chanting, and meditating more than postures. Seeks to awaken kundalini energy at base of spine.
POWER.
Ashtanga on steroids. Many variations.
SIVANANDA.
Thorough. Promotes lifestyle of moderate poses, breathing, relaxation, vegetarian diet, and cheerful attitude.
VINIYOGA.
Gentle. Puts emphasis on Sun Salutations as warm-ups for more vigorous stretching.
VINYASA.
Fluid. Links body movements with breath in a continuous flow. A yoga ballet.
YOGAFIT.
Athletic. Targets gyms and health clubs. Mixes poses with sit-ups, push-ups, and other exercises.
BCE
| c. 2500 | Clay seals of the Indus Valley civilization show figures in poses that some scholars consider the earliest known precursors of yoga. The feet of the sitting figures are tucked beneath the torso, near the genitals. The depicted individuals are seen as seeking inner heat for magic power. |
| 438 | Athens dedicates the Parthenon. |
CE
| c. 400 | Patanjali writes Yoga Sutras , a series of aphorisms on enlightenment. It describes the value of sitting comfortably for meditation but says nothing of body twists and rearrangements despite its regular citation as a founding document of postural yoga. |
| c. 600 | Tantra emerges in India and begins to spread through Asia. It worships female deities, roots its ceremonies in human sexuality, seeks supernatural powers for material gain, and cloaks its rites in secrecy. |
| c. 950 | Erotic sculptures of the Lakshmana temple at Khajuraho in central India depict orgies, echoing Tantric themes. |
| c. 1200 | Gorakhnath, a Hindu ascetic of western India, fuses traditions of Tantra and body discipline into Hatha yoga. The goal is to speed enlightenment. |
| 1288 | Marco Polo visits India. |
| c. 1400 | Swatmarama writes Hatha Yoga Pradipika , an early text that survives to modern times. It describes fifteen postures and many techniques of physiologic arousal. |
| 1588 | A Tantric text details a magic rite meant to let a man seduce a woman against her will. |
| c. 1650 | The Yoni Tantra advises yogis to revere the female sex organ and engage in vigorous intercourse. Suggested candidates include sisters, actresses, and prostitutes. |
| 1687 | Newton posits universal gravitation and three laws of motion. |
| c. 1700 | The Gheranda Samhita , a Hatha text, describes thirty-two postures and many techniques of physiologic arousal. |
| 1772 | Calcutta becomes the capital of British India. |
| 1837 | A wandering yogi undergoes live burial at the court of Ranjit Singh, the maharajah of the Punjab. The interment lasts forty days and becomes a legendary wonder. |
| 1849 | Thoreau tells a friend that he considers himself a yogi—the first known instance of a Westerner making that claim. |
| 1851 | N. C. Paul authors A Treatise on the Yoga Philosophy , considered the first scientific study of yoga. It seeks to explain how yogis maintain what the Indian doctor calls states of “human hibernation” and looks to yoga breathing for clues to metabolic slowdowns. |
| 1859 | Darwin authors On the Origin of Species. |
| 1896 | Scientists study two yogis at the Millennial Exposition in Budapest who appear to go into deathlike trances. |
| 1918 | Carl Jung treats a female client in the throes of kundalini arousal—a rush of body energy that runs from her perineum, to her uterus, to the crown of her head. His fascination with the state, central to advanced yoga, marks the beginning of Western debate on whether it results in madness or enlightenment. |
| 1922 | Gandhi is arrested for sedition during his campaign of noncooperation with the British. |
| 1924 | Jagannath G. Gune founds an ashram south of Bombay and embarks on a major experimental study of yoga as part of a comprehensive effort to improve its image. |
| 1926 | Gune reports that the Headstand and Shoulder Stand promote blood circulation but not high pressure, casting the poses as a gentle means of physical renewal. |
| 1927 | Gune advises Gandhi on how to treat high blood pressure. |
| 1929 | Edmund Jacobson, a Chicago physician, authors Progressive Relaxation. It describes how easing the muscles can treat everything from headaches to depression, echoing the techniques of yoga. |
| 1931 | Gune publishes Asanas , the term for yoga postures. The book omits any reference to supernatural feats or Tantric rites and instead focuses on health and fitness. |
| 1932 | Kovoor T. Behanan, a Yale psychologist, arrives at Gune’s ashram to study yoga. |
| 1932 | Scientists split the atom. |
| 1933 | The maharajah of Mysore in southern India hires Tirumalai Krishnamacharya to run the palace yoga studio. In time, his students become yoga’s most influential gurus. |
| 1934 | The Mysore palace sends Krishnamacharya to study Gune’s methods. |
| 1937 | Behanan of Yale reports on experiments in yogic breathing that produce “a retardation of mental functions.” |
| 1938 | Jung calls kundalini a “deliberately induced psychotic state” that can result in “real psychosis.” |
| 1945 | The first atom bomb explodes. |
| 1946 | Yogananda in Autobiography of a Yogi tells of mystic supermen who can read minds, see through walls, and bring the dead back to life. |
| 1947 | India becomes an independent state. |
| 1953 | Indra Devi authors Forever Young, Forever Healthy —the first yoga book to widely popularize the objective of ultimate health. |
| 1957 | Basu Kumar Bagchi, a scientist at the University of Michigan and onetime confidant of Yogananda, reports that yogis can achieve “an extreme slowing” of such life basics as respiration and heart rate. |
| 1961 | Bagchi reports that advanced yogis can slow but not stop their hearts—a finding that contradicts ages of miraculous claims. |
| 1962 | Scientists at Gune’s ashram find that yogis in an airtight pit can withstand live burial for hours rather than weeks. |
| 1965 | B. K. S. Iyengar authors Light on Yoga , which becomes a global bestseller. It features the language of medicine and promotes yoga as aligned with science. |
| 1969 | Astronauts land on the moon. |
| 1970 | In a laboratory, Swami Rama demonstrates mental control over blood flowing through his palm, warming and cooling different sides. |
| 1972 | W. Ritchie Russell, a British scientist and physician, warns that pronounced bending of the neck in yoga can result in strokes and crippling disabilities. |
| 1973 | Scientists report the first of what turn out to be a number of gruesome yoga strokes. |
| 1974 | Scientists at Benares Hindu University find that yoga prompts rises in testosterone—the first evidence from a clinical laboratory that yoga can enhance sexuality. |
| 1975 | Herbert Benson, a physician at Harvard, reports that meditators can lower their respiratory rate, heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen consumption. He calls the relaxed state hypometabolism . |
| 1976 | Lee Sannella, a San Francisco psychiatrist, authors a book on kundalini arousal and concludes from case studies that it promotes spiritual uplift rather than psychosis. |
| 1976 | Sannella opens the Kundalini Crisis Clinic. |
| 1977 | Voyager 1 blasts off for Jupiter and Saturn. |
| 1978 | Scientists at Stanford University report that people in Tantric meditation undergo a variety of physiologic arousals—the reverse of yoga’s usual promotion of calm serenity. |
| 1983 | Swedish scientists find that advanced yogis who breathe fast can do so without light-headedness or passing out. |
| 1985 | Czech scientists report that Tantric poses can generate surges of brain waves similar to those of lovers. |
| 1987 | The Spiritual Emergency Network finds that the typical caller to its help line is a woman with questions about kundalini. |
| 1991 | The Cold War ends. |
| 1992 | Scientists at Rutgers report that some women can think themselves into states of sexual ecstasy—an ability known clinically as spontaneous orgasm and popularly as thinking off . |
| 1998 | The National Institutes of Health begins spending public funds on yoga research, starting a wave that builds slowly in size to address such conditions as diabetes, arthritis, insomnia, depression, and chronic pain. |
| 2001 | Italian scientists report that repeating a mantra reduces respiration by about half, calming the mind. |
| 2001 | A research team at the University of California at Davis finds that yoga boosts aerobic conditioning and meets the “current recommendations to improve physical fitness and health”—a claim the sports establishment doubts and eventually seeks to disprove. |
| 2002 | Scientists at the University of British Columbia report that fast breathing can result in sexual arousal. |
| 2002 | The Consumer Product Safety Commission detects a sharp rise in yoga injuries. |
| 2003 | Yogani, an American Tantric, debuts on the Internet and draws thousands to his methods of kundalini arousal. |
| 2004 | Yogani calls kundalini a code word for sex. |
| 2004 | Russian scientists find that the Cobra position causes blood levels of testosterone to rise. |
| 2004 | Medical doctors report that fast yoga breathing ruptured a woman’s lung. |
| 2005 | Analysts at the University of Virginia review seventy studies and find that yoga promotes cardiovascular health. |
| 2006 | Indian scientists report that yoga cuts the basal metabolic rate by 13 percent, threatening students with “weight gain and fat deposition.” The finding contradicts a tradition of slenderizing claims. |
| 2006 | Graduates of More University in California report an experiment in which a woman stayed in an orgasmic state for eleven hours. |
| 2007 | Scientists at Columbia and Long Island universities report that vigorous yoga fails to meet the minimum aerobic recommendations of medical and government groups. |
| 2007 | A team at Boston and Harvard universities find that the brains of yoga practitioners exhibit rises in a neurotransmitter that acts as an antidepressant. |
| 2008 | A team based at the University of California at San Francisco finds that yoga increases the production of telomerase, an enzyme linked to cellular longevity. |
| 2009 | The discovery of telomerase and its role in the human body wins a Nobel Prize. |
| 2009 | Investigators at the University of Pennsylvania report that yoga can reduce hypertension and its precursors—factors linked to stroke and cardiovascular disease. |
| 2009 | Scientists in Philadelphia report that yoga activates the right brain—the side that governs creativity. |
| 2009 | A team at the University of British Columbia shows that fast breathing can heighten sexual arousal among healthy women as well as those with diminished sex drives. |