Yoga in the West 
By Sherry Roberts

It's darn difficult for a national news magazine to write about a topic that refuses to be pinned down, quantified, and verified. And yoga is such an elusive subject.

And yet, the April 23, 2001, Time magazine attempts to fit yoga under the microscope in its cover story, "The Power of Yoga." The news about yoga — in journalism parlance "the angle" — is the interest in and growth of yoga in America. Time notes 15 million Americans practice some form of yoga — twice as many as five years ago. It estimates a whopping 75 percent of all U.S. health clubs offer yoga classes.

This sign of acceptance is seen everywhere from star-studded yoga studios where the likes of Madonna, David Duchovny, and Christy Turlington stretch and bend to private gyms such as the one where Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and 15 others "faithfully take their class each Tuesday morning."

Still, as the article implies, until Western science can measure and prove the benefits of yoga, Westerners (read: American doctors and scientists) will always be skeptical of this ancient health system. In other words, 15 million of us are probably fooling ourselves.

Time does note the few controlled studies of yoga including those by Dr. Dean Ornish, who maintains that yoga is an essential part of his successful program for heart patients. It also offers anecdotal evidence, such as the breast cancer survivor who claims yoga helped her regain use of her arm after surgery.

Some enlightened physicians are quoted in the article, including Dr. Timothy McCall, an internist, Iyengar teacher, and author. "All the drugs we give people have side effects," McCall says. "Well, yoga has side effects too: better strength, better balance, peace of mind, stronger bones, cardiovascular conditioning, lots of stuff. Here is a natural health system that, once you learn the basics, you can do at home for free with very little equipment and that could help you avoid expensive, invasive surgical and pharmacological interventions. I thing this is going to be a big thing."

Are you part of the gym yoga rat race?

As yoga becomes more popular in the U.S., we run the danger of Americanizing it. The Time article warns of falling into the gym yoga rat race — a competitive approach to yoga in which you try to out-contort all the other yogis in the class. Yoga is about the union of mind, body, and spirit. In this gentle, tolerant, and noncompetitive approach to life, the "no pain, no gain" mantra is as obtrusive as a loud-mouthed trash talker. If you're comparing your downward-facing dog to the next guy's, you're missing the point. How can your attention be focused inward if your eyes are roaming the class and critiquing everyone else's asana?

Comparing Western and Eastern views of health is like comparing Big Macs and tofu. So why do it? Even putting yoga in this research competition runs counter to all yoga teaches. Oddly, most of us on the yoga mat don't need the seal of approval of studies and scientific journals. We are too busy listening to — and enjoying — our healthy bodies and renewed spirits.

Those who seem to require validation are the members of the Western medical community. These are the same people who have a history of embracing and discarding one "medical wonder" after another. I, on the other hand, am a firm believer in things that stand the test of time — art, literature, music, and 5,000-year-old health systems.