By Rita Burlingame

For five thousand years, the practitioners of Yoga have experienced and documented marked improvements in all areas of physical and mental health.  In the past decade, clinical research has demonstrated Yoga to be an effective tool by which to maintain and improve health, and even a means by which to rid the body of disease (Barrett 76).  Both science and history have illustrated the effectiveness of Yoga as a path to complete fitness and perfect function of the human body.  However humanity has entered an age of abundant population, our actions yield global consequences. We are in search of a system by which to improve the health not only of the human population, but also of every living thing on this Earth.  In this essay I will explore both the practice and theory of Yoga and its relationship to the health of the individual body and the global ecosystem.

Yoga asanas are a physical program to promote health of the total organism.  While popular physical culture promotes only building of the musculature, the asanas develop and strengthen the outer body, tone the internal organs and strengthen mental faculties (Swami Vishnu-devananda 46).  By the expansion and compression of the entire system of joints, and exercise of all musculature in the body; asanas benefit the muscles, nerves, and endocrine system.  Yoga is a whole body hygiene that keeps the body functioning in perfect equilibrium (Hewitt 165).

Recently, with the invention of modern medicine, the maintenance of health has been reduced to a disease and treatment model.  Yoga takes a step back and looks at health as a complete system that must be meticulously cared for to maintain optimal functioning.  When the body is cared for and the asanas are used as a physical hygiene, the body is able to ward off the diseases and slow the aging process.  Yoga is also an effective treatment for many physical conditions that modern medicine reduces to treatment with medications.  Various asanas and regular practice can cure ailments from asthma, to diabetes, to thyroid imbalance  (Hewitt 367-368).  Jennifer Barrett gives her prescription for good health in ‘The Healing Power of Yoga’, she says “people want a cure for the healthcare system… if we used Yoga as regularly as we used our toothbrushes, people would be physically and emotionally healthier” (76).

When we chose to prevent and cure these diseases without medication we are benefiting our individual health and also the collective health.  When we look at our health from a holistic perspective, we begin to see the health of humanity from a ‘whole-istic’ perspective.  The pharmaceutical industry has tremendous cumulative affects on our health and also the health of our environment. As we begin to take better care of our bodies through diet and exercise, our needs for prescription drugs should be reduced to zero, other than in the most severe and rare circumstances.  The overuse of over the counter medications and prescription drugs affects the health of the population and damages the ecosystem.  Drugs are metabolized through the body and released back into water supply through our waste, this contaminates the ground water with various hormones and other chemicals (Focazio 205).  The perceived high need for medications would not exist if we, as a society, would take better care to use the health science of Yoga as preventative medicine.

Physical fitness is just one of the ways that Yoga helps to improve the organism.  Yoga is also rich with ethical guidelines for the practitioner.  The first limb of the eightfold path is the Yamas, five ethical rules to serve as guidelines for our interactions with the world (Palkhivala 1-2).  The five Yamas are Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (not stealing), Brahmacharya (control over impulses) and Aparigraha (non-covetousness).
This first of these five Yamas is Ahimsa, which means non-violence.  Traditionally Ahimsa has been applied to our interactions with other people, but when we broaden the definition to all sentient beings, a vegetarian lifestyle is the only viable option.  The vegetarian practices non-violence toward animals, as he does not believe it is necessary or ethical to kill for food.

Additionally, on a planet that’s clean water resources are dwindling, it is irresponsible to consume meat, a food that is considered in many countries to be a luxury item.  In the current industrial agricultural system, it takes less than two hundred and fifty gallons of water to produce one pound of the following foods; potatoes, wheat, corn, rice, and soybeans.  Comparatively, it requires an astounding twelve thousand gallons of water to produce just one pound of beef (Pimentel).  Swami Vishnu-devananda puts it simply as he poetically states “the natural appetite is nature’s instinct in the animal kingdom to protect its life upon the earth” (Swami Vishnu-devananda 210).

The next two Yamas, Satya and Asteya, work together; truthfulness and not stealing.  Fast food companies and the meat industry would like us to believe that eating meat is healthy, that without meat our bodies will not receive proper protein or nourishment.  This simply is not true, the vegetarian diet is able to provide a human with all necessary vitamins and minerals better than the diet of a meat consumer (Hewitt 152-162).

Stealing comes from the belief that we cannot create what we need.  “We steal because we misperceive the Universe as lacking abundance, or we think that there is not enough for everyone and that we will not receive in proportion to our giving” (Palkhivala 2).  In addition to stealing flesh from the animals and fish from the sea, Man steals oil from the ground and coal from the mountain tops because we do not believe that what we already have on Earth is enough abundance to sustain human kind.  The Yogi knows that he mustn’t take what he cannot replace, not stealing from man also means not stealing from the Earth which we all must share.  As we progress on the Yogic path, over consumption becomes unapealling.

Brahmacharya means to control one’s impulses, this is something that Western and consumerist cultures struggle with.  For the human race to become sustainable we must learn to control our impulses to make unnecessary purchases, to throw an item away without thinking of its ultimate destination, and to pollute.  Brahmacharya as impulse control also means to cease acting without thinking.  If a person stops to think how their purchase of certain goods directly supports slave labor or rainforest destruction, would they still make that impulsive purchase?

The ultimate goal of Yoga is to find union with the divine by the cultivation of mindfulness.  However the journey is just as sweet as the destination, an early benefit of the Yoga of meditation is that it produces mental tranquility.  When the brain is functioning in a tranquil state one feels relaxed.  A relaxed mind is more likely to make mindful decisions, rather than hasty emotion driven choices (Hewitt 13).  When we are able to clearly examine the full impact of our choices, we will choose the ones that create good Karma.

The last of the five Yamas is Aparigraha, non-covetousness.  Many of the ecological problems we are now facing were created by greed.  Large corporations are producing the most goods they can for the lowest production cost; this means the most toxic products, the cheapest labor and the least regard for environmental destruction (Robbins 209-10).

Westerners have become so entangled in the consumerist system and socialized to define themselves by what they own that the mass production and global shipment of products has risen to a level that is unsustainable.  The Yogi does not covet what he does not need, and hence lives simply and sustainably.  The austere life of the Yogi is the most ecologically sound way to live.  The Yogi lives by the Yamas and abstains from harming the planet, from killing the animals that live upon it, and from stealing from our one and only planet.  The Yogi does not participate in the corporate consumerist society, which is directly responsible for the destruction of the ecosystems of Earth (Robbins 210).

The only way for us to begin the rebuilding of our planet is for those in who are knowingly or unknowingly participating in the system of destruction to develop compassion.  It is not sufficient for those who have been participating in the system to act or react from guilt.  To heal the planet we must act through love, compassion and gratitude (Eisenstein). Compassion is the feeling of love for all sentient beings, as we develop compassion for all life it becomes impossible to ignore how the consumerism and greed affect the planet and people.

The Yoga of meditation and the practice of Karma Yoga build a sense of compassion in the individual.  Jhana, the Yoga of knowledge teaches that actions must not contradict reason.  We will begin to think of “nature not as some wilderness ‘out there’ that needs protecting, but as trees, streams, and living beings that share the same prana that enlivens us” (Swami Veda Bharati 12).  Western society has become dangerously entrenched in the idea of the separate self.  We must practice the Yoga of knowledge and meditation to reveal that we are all one. Union can only be achieved by cultivating the mind, body and spirit through Yoga.  As we make progress toward the ultimate union with the divine, the separate self is dissolved.

The ethics of Yoga affect our food and consumption choices just as the practice of Yoga asanas increases our physical health. The health of each and every individual also relates to the collective health of the environment. As we perfect our health through physical hygiene and diet rather than through the ingestion of pharmaceuticals, the water supply will no longer be polluted by these chemicals.  As we chose to limit our consumption to need rather than greed, our environment will no longer be polluted with industrial waste.  Just as human health affects the environment, the health of the environment affects humans through the ground water supply, air quality and food quality.  As each human becomes healthier, the entire population becomes collectively healthier.  It is only through ethical and mindful choices that we will begin the healing of our planet.

As the Yogi practices meditation and perfection on the way to divine yolking he becomes gradually more aware that he is connected to all things.  To be one with the divine is to become one with all.  The desire to love, cherish and give to the life on this planet will grow from the realization that we are not separate from any part of the vastness of nature.  To heal our planet we must first heal ourselves, let us take the first step by sharing the knowledge of Yoga.

Bibliography

Barrett, Jennifer. “The Healing Power of Yoga.” Yoga Journal May 2010: 76.

Eisenstein, Charles. “Rituals for Lover Earth.” Reality Sandwich. Jonathan Phillips.
9 October 2010. Psyche Feature. <http://www.realitysandwich.com/rituals_lover_earth>.

Focazio, Michael J. with Dana W. Kolpin, Kimberlee K. Barnes, Edward T. Furlong,
Michael T. Meyer, Steven D. Zaugg, Larry B. Barber and Michael E. Thurman. “A national reconnaissance for pharmaceuticals and other organic wastewater contaminants in the United States — II) Untreated drinking water sources.” Science of the Total Environment. 402:2-3 (2008) 201-216.

Hewitt, James. The Complete Yoga Book. Schocken Books: New York, 1977.

Palkhivala, Aadil. “Teaching the Yamas in Asana Class.”  Yoga Journal. Andrea
Kowalski. 28 February 2009. Yoga Journal for Teachers. 10 August  2010. <http://www.yogajournal.com/for_teachers/984>.

Pimentel, David. Ecological Integrity: Integrating Environment, Conservation and
Health. Island Press: Washington DC, 2001.

Robbins, Richard. Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism. Prentice Hall: 2010.

Swami Veda Bharati. “Sustainable Spirit.” Yoga Journal May 2010: 12-16.

Swami Vishnu-devananda. The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga. New York: Three
Rivers Press, 1988.

Rita Burlingame is a certified Yoga teacher.  She teaches classes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.