Developmental Aspects of Yoga Exercise
Muscular Growth
Muscles are the organs over which we have the greatest command and which obey our will. We can influence the whole organism through this unique instrument, if it is properly cultured. Muscle is the central means through which the organic and nervous systems are approached and influenced. With the growth and development of muscle is linked the development of the alimentary, respiratory, circulatory, eliminative, glandular, and nervous systems. To a great extent the functioning of all the vital organs is adjusted to the demand of the muscles. Muscle has played a great role in molding the organic, nervous, and mental apparatuses into a pattern most suitable for human physical and mental development. The state of the muscle expresses in a clear language the state of the whole organism. The growth level of muscle is a clear index of the efficiency level of the whole body.Growth is not merely associated with the changes in bulk and weight of the tissues. Morphological transformation is also closely related to the functional efficiency of the tissues and organs. The extension of the circulatory and nervous systems, the formation of new capillaries and nerve paths, and other internal changes indicate the far-reaching effects of muscular growth. Through the proper use and culturing of the muscles we can touch the fundamentals of life. Muscular growth helps in the attainment of organic and nervous health and efficiency, along with intellectual, moral, and spiritual powers.
It should be clearly borne in mind that a high standard of muscular growth cannot be attained unless suitable exercise is undertaken. The exercise should, of course, be combined with the right diet. The proper blending of exercise and diet is absolutely necessary in preventing undesirable fat accumulation and promoting actual muscular growth. When exercise is insufficient and the food intake is heavy, there is less increase of muscle tissues and more increase of fat. Even when exercise is heavy, if the amount of food eaten exceeds the actual needs of the body, the surplus will be deposited as fat. An increased amount of subcutaneous fat can occur along with the actual growth of muscles, making them look larger than their actual size. This is why many exceptionally strong men, who have not controlled their food intake, become overweight in spite of getting plenty of exercise.
Yoga exercise aims at attaining the degree of muscular growth that is absolutely necessary for building and maintaining maximum organic efficiency. The unnecessarily lean body is not the normal body and is not a beautiful body. We can, of course, shape the body on a more slender pattern without lowering vital vigor by regulating exercise and diet. But the level of growth should not be allowed to drop below normal requirements. On the other hand, we can attain muscular growth over and above the health needs of the body. But in attaining this “extra” growth, if the health of the body is disturbed, it becomes most undesirable. If we adopt unnatural and wrong methods in an attempt to attain rapid and excessive muscular growth, our object will be defeated.
Nutritional supplements are often employed in attaining extra muscular growth. By this means the body may be unnecessarily burdened with deposits of undesirable substances. This condition causes blood impurities, decreases vitality, and forces the body to develop disease in order to quickly eliminate the accumulated morbid material. In Yoga organic strength, endurance, agility, speed, and general physical fitness are not sacrificed for bulk.
Muscular Development
Muscular development means the gradual unfoldment of power lying dormant in muscle. A well-developed muscle is able to exhibit increased power. Muscular power in all forms is essential for living healthfully, working vigorously, and thinking efficiently. The ability to do work accurately, continue work for a prolonged period, and endure the work without any unhealthy impact on the organism are associated with muscular development. Muscular power is a chief element in a dynamic personality.Muscular development does not always occur in proportion to muscular growth. Exercise is the main factor in muscular development. Diet occupies a secondary position. Exercise can be so regulated as to develop mainly the size of the muscles. However, the development of muscular power is not wholly independent of muscular growth. The size of a muscle is particularly dependent upon the form of power the muscle has to manifest. The form of power to be developed depends upon the nature of exercise performed; along with the development of that power the type and size of muscles most suitable for exhibiting that power are developed.
Muscular power may be divided into four: strength, speed, endurance, and skill.
Strength is that power of the muscle by which the external resistance applied to it is overcome by its powerful contraction. The strength of a muscle depends upon its cross-section area. Strength is best exhibited in weightlifting.
Speed is that power of muscle by which a series of movements are executed in the shortest space of time by overcoming muscle viscosity. Sprinting is an example of extreme speed, and sprinters usually have a lower viscosity of muscle.
Endurance is that power of muscle by which movements are carried on for a prolonged period. The typical example of endurance is a marathon run.
Skill is associated with the ability of muscle to perform ordinary movements easily and economically, and more complicated movements accurately, efficiently, gracefully, and easily. Skill is especially involved in various sports and complex muscular movements.
The development of muscular strength, speed, endurance, and skill is not so much for the purpose of exhibition. These muscular achievements are closely related to organic and nervous development and are very useful in social and national life. Strength gives a feeling of well-being and power, develops selfconfidence and fearlessness, and excites the desire for work. Strength and the feeling of strength are inseparable parts of health. When health begins to decline, strength also begins to ebb. This lack of strength impacts the body as well as the mind. Correct posture, which is necessary for nervous and organic health, depends to a great extent upon the strength and tone of muscles. Speed and endurance are specially connected with the development of organic vigor. Skill is necessary in all the activities of daily life if they are to be performed with ease, grace, and power. When skill is not properly developed, unnecessary nervous energy is expended, unnecessary muscles are used, movements are done more clumsily, more strain results, and there is less enjoyment of the activity.
In a particular type of movement either one or more factors may predominate.
In sprinting speed predominates and in long-distance running endurance prevails. In lifting heavy weights, especially of the slow type, strength predominates. In quick lifts, such as snatch or swing, strength is backed by speed. In wrestling strength, speed, endurance, and skill are involved.
Specialized Development of Physical Power
Is it possible to develop all forms of power simultaneously to a high standard? Many facts are involved in this matter. We know that neither a sprinter nor a marathoner can overpower a wrestler or defeat a weightlifter. Similarly, neither a wrestler nor a lifter is expected to outrun a sprinter or run a marathon race. Can we conclude from these facts that a wrestler does not possess speed and endurance or that a weightlifter is incapable of exhibiting speed and endurance? A wrestler exhibits not only wonderful skill, but great speed and alertness when executing various holds. Long continuous wrestling and the performance of 4,000 squats and 2,000 push-ups at a time by a wrestler are great feats of endurance. It is not possible for a runner to perform these. A weightlifter exhibits his power of endurance by lifting heavy weights for a prolonged period, and both strength and speed in quick lifts. A sprinter exhibits his speed in locomotion and a wrestler in other forms of motion.These observations seem to indicate that the body is able to exhibit a high degree of a particular form of power in a particular way, when specially trained for it. In other directions the same person’s performances may be only mediocre. A particular type of exercise molds the muscles and nervous and organic apparatuses in a way that is most suitable for exhibiting that particular power in a particular manner. So, when the muscles are trained for speed in locomotion, records in sprinting are created. Similarly, when the muscles are trained by weightlifting, the person is able to lift very heavy barbells or dumbbells. Further, if the muscles are trained to overcome resistance in some particular manner, it does not necessarily mean that the same person will be able to overcome resistance in other directions in which the muscles have not been trained. Similarly, skill improves only in relation to a particular form of activity in which the person is trained. Skill in one activity does not necessarily improve skill in other activities for which there has been no training.
A very high standard of development of physical power is a matter of specialization. A specialized achievement either in strength, speed, or endurance requires specialized training. It seems that for specialization all resources of the body are to be mobilized in a particular way and the whole energy of the body is to be concentrated on this particular achievement. Consequently, the body is unable to spare any great amount of energy for other muscular endeavors. When nearly all the available energy of the body is utilized in specialized muscular development, a lack of desire usually appears that discourages the individual to make real efforts in other directions.
We know that for the attainment of a high degree of mental development, continued and intensified efforts are the sine qua non. The lack of desire associated with specialized muscular development is the natural means to protect the body from being severely damaged. This condition of existence is unfavorable for the development of a high order of mental life. The energy and concentration required for it are not sufficient in this state. This is why in many an instance we find men who have attained a high degree of physical development without a corresponding mental development. These instances certainly do not prove that physical development is antagonistic to mental development or that physical education is detrimental to mental life. Physical development and physical education are not responsible for underdeveloped mental faculties. Rather they are caused by a lack of proper understanding and an approach that is neither physiologically nor psychologically correct, resulting in an overemphasis on muscles.
It is true that our human specialty lies more in our mental life, especially in our full manifestation of higher mental powers. Human development will be hopelessly impeded if we create an artificial state of the body by wrong application of physical education in which mental life is sacrificed, to a great extent, for physical specialization. Then the body is unable to play its proper role in mental life. The body needs to take part in exhibiting mental and spiritual activities.
On the other hand, we should not forget that the body is indispensable to the mind and its activities. In a well-developed mental life, thoughts and attitudes, as well as actions and behaviors, are molded into a definite form, indicating a close relationship between the physical and mental life. The functional efficiency of the bodily organs plays a part in shaping mental activities. The vital organs, the endocrine organs, the blood, the nervous system, the muscles, all have to play definite parts in the functioning of the mind. So the state of the body cannot be overlooked in mental life.
There are, of course, cases in which a giant mind dwells in a frail body. The thought-machine is an exceptionally efficient machine, which is able to maintain its functional power even under very unfavorable conditions. But this does not prove that physical health and development are unconnected to or unnecessary for mental development. Bodily negligence should not be encouraged for the glorification of the mind by picking out exceptional cases.
A careful analysis of such cases discloses many interesting and instructive facts. First, a large number of such people are not actually physically inferior; rather they are above the average. However, their physical vigor is usually overlooked, because they do not happen to show it through appreciably increased muscular growth. There is also a slender type of person in whom great muscular development does not take place. But such people may not actually lack vitality. The slenderness of many vigorous people may also be due to their extremely abstemious habits of eating and living. There are also people who are constitutionally vigorous by birth, who utilize their congenital advantage in developing the mind alone, neglecting the body. They may do well up to a certain age, then begin to show signs of mental sluggishness, with diminution of health and vigor. These mental giants ultimately become the victims of various chronic diseases, and their minds also become dull.
Gautama the Buddha, the great spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism, developed his body by regular exercise. His well-developed and vital body was not antagonistic to his spiritual awakening and realization of the invisible higher reality. It is erroneous to suppose that the Bible does not approve of physical education and that Jesus was a weakling. Jesus Christ kept his body healthy, vigorous, and clean by physical exercise and mental and physical disciplines, and by leading a simple and well-controlled life. He worked hard in his younger days in Joseph’s carpenter shop, which helped to strengthen his body. He walked long distances, up and down hills, day after day when preaching his gospel. Says St. Paul: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Therefore glorify God in your body.” The type of muscular development in which the mind is ignored is not encouraged in Haṭha Yoga, which in fact aims at developing a balanced type of body, not a specialized type. The necessity of keeping the body full of vitality, healthy, strong, and purified for higher spiritual achievements has been fully recognized in Yoga.
Health Level of Physical Development
The aim of physical education in Yoga is the level of development that is associated with a high degree of vital vigor, enabling the body to perform all activities of daily life with ease and efficiency and for a prolonged period when necessary, to accumulate plenty of reserve force, to mobilize bodily resources to the maximum degree, and to endure a heavy expenditure without unhealthful effects on the organism. The amount of muscle tissue that is actually needed or associated with this type of physical development is developed by Yoga exercise. As the body functions organically most efficiently in this state, thus maintaining perfect health, this is what we call the “health level of physical development.”
In this condition of the body, strength, speed, and endurance are developed into a balanced state. There is sufficient strength to maintain all activities of daily life, plus various other activities requiring strength to a reasonable extent. There is sufficient endurance to be able to carry out activities for a prolonged period. Vital endurance is associated with it, which enables the body to endure lack of food, sleep, and other privations and inclemency of weather. Bodily movements are usually easy, graceful, and well-controlled. There is power to execute nonlocomotor and locomotor movements reasonably swiftly. The muscle mass is in proportion to the physical development, and the body is muscularly beautiful and symmetrical.
In this state of the body the healthful functioning of the vital organs is not interrupted by the factors associated with muscular development. The body is in balance with the internal organs and the muscles. The figures in this chapter show the health level of physical development, both masculine and feminine, attained through Yoga exercise, combined with right diet, internal cleansing, relaxation, and concentration.
This state of the body is the most suitable for the actualization of mental powers. Under this condition the energy of the body is wasted neither in overcoming the conditions that disturb health nor in attaining too much physical specialization, but is reserved and rightly utilized for mental development. This is a state—a balanced state—in which intellectual, contemplative, organic, and muscular powers are developed harmoniously.
After successful attainment of the health level of physical development, further physical development may be attempted if desired without sacrificing the established balanced condition. This requires specialized training. If this training does not cause any disturbance in the vital functioning of the body nor prove to be unsuitable for intellectual and contemplative life, it may be undertaken. But if the time devoted to the special training, the type and amount of exercise necessary for that purpose, the type of diet, amount of sleep, and other alterations of living associated with it create a condition in which the balance between the muscles and the rest of the body and between the body and the mind is difficult to maintain, the specialization should be sacrificed in favor of balanced development.
Health is a state of the organism in which all organs function uninterruptedly and vigorously and in full cooperation with one another to support longer survival and the best development of the body, enabling a person to express his or her best through intellectual, moral, spiritual, and physical activities. A vital body and a dynamic mind are intimately associated with vital health. When health is established, the body becomes a fitter machine, more enduring, more powerful, better developed, and better controlled; the mind becomes more vigorous, more imaginative, better balanced, and more contemplative; and the emotions become more normalized and spiritualized.
Vital Endurance
The state of health is associated with the maintenance of the organic state of the body at a certain level of constancy normal to an individual in spite of the unceasing influence of extremely diverse and intense—and often very unfavorable—changes in the environment. This organic state is the result of the adaptive functions of the body in which all the functional systems take part through their incessant, but purposeful and methodical, activities. When the activities of the functional systems reach a certain level and are most successfully balanced between themselves and in relation to the steady organic state, vital endurance of the body is fully activated, resulting in natural healthfulness, increased natural disease-resisting power, and life extension.To maintain the desired level of organic functioning most suitable for health, all of the activities of the nervous, glandular, circulatory, respiratory, alimentary, eliminative, and muscular systems need to be efficiently integrated. Abnormal activities of the functional systems and their disharmony are mainly caused by adopting a mode of life that is not properly adjusted to the organism. Various unsuitable environmental conditions also influence the functional systems adversely.
Vital endurance is congenital as well as acquired. Inherent endurance may be very much modified by an unsuitable mode of life. On the other hand, a suitable mode of life increases vital endurance.
Patterns of Thoughts and Actions
Our mode of life is actually an expression of our thoughts and actions, which influence the activities of the functional systems. The patterns of thoughts are molded by a mixture of spiritual, intellectual, emotional, and organic factors in varying proportions characteristic of an individual. Actions are manifested thoughts.The patterns of thoughts and actions that are associated with alimentary excesses, artificial hungers, unhealthful sexual activities and inhibitions, greed, and various debilitating habits are coarse in character, obstructive to harmony and deep thinking, and cause disturbances in the organic functions. A mode of life based on such types of thoughts and actions is unsuitable for a person’s optimum development. The only way to counteract the deleterious effects of such a life is to introduce some discipline in which thoughts and actions are molded into a new pattern through regulations, privations, and activations that are most suitable for establishing the vital health level of the body. In Yoga this is done through yama, niyama, and various exercises.
Role of Muscular Exercise
Muscular exercise plays a most important role in controlling and bringing the activities of all the functional systems to a desired level by properly utilizing the muscular-organic relations existing from the birth of muscle and developed in succeeding stages. The most fruitful approach is made through the fundamental musculature by raising its action level to a certain height through measured movements of definite patterns in which the muscles and other functional systems are in perfect balance. This we may call the body’s health-level actions. Vital endurance and natural disease-resisting power are fully developed in this state of the body.
In Yoga the fundamental movements have taken the specific form of spinal, abdominal, and thoracic-diaphragmatic movements applied both statically and dynamically to effectively nurture the organic state of the body in which the health-level is most satisfactorily established. This type of exercise is not so much for muscular specialization but for natural healthfulness and immunity. Specialization, if desired, can be carried so far as it is possible without breaking the harmony between it and the health level.
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