What is Yoga?

 In this episode, we unmask yoga's fundamental concepts, bring to light its age-old origins, and illuminate its eight-fold path as outlined in the revered guidebook - Yoga Sutras. This isn't just a chat about flexible bodies and balanced postures; we delve into yoga's core as a unifying force, a bridge connecting the mind and body towards a shared objective.

This conversation goes beyond the mat; it's an exploration of the psyche, a deep dive into our inner selves. Our discussion extends to the power of self-reflection and the remarkable impacts of awareness and presence in our lives. Discover how yoga can help discern between anxiety and excitement, why pain should be greeted as an ally rather than an adversary, and how yoga can guide you back to wellness. Let's explore together the manifold benefits of yoga on our mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. Join us; we're not just sharing information; we're sharing personal experiences, insights, and a warm, welcoming space for those ready to embark on a journey with yoga.

We would love to hear from you! Email us at becomeoneliving@gmail.com or reach out to us on Instagram at BecomeOne Living.

Chapters

• 0:17 Understanding the Concept of Yoga
• 21:39 The Power of Yoga and Self-Reflection
• 35:18 The Benefits of Yoga

Transcript

Dan : 0:17

Welcome back to Become One Living. Today we're going to talk about yoga.

Jody: 0:24

My name is Jody Domerstad.

Dan : 0:25

My name is Dan Boisits.

Jody: 0:28

Well, my name is actually legally Jody Boisits.

Dan : 0:32

But yeah.

Jody: 0:33

Most people know me.

Dan : 0:34

As Jody Domersden.

Jody: 0:36

Mm-hmm.

Dan : 0:37

Because of the Pilates and yoga.

Jody: 0:41

Because I've been a teacher. Forever, Of many modalities since 16.

Dan : 0:48

Years of age.

Jody: 0:49

Mm-hmm, did you know that?

Dan : 0:50

Yes.

Jody: 0:52

He did know that Did you know that?

Dan : 0:53

Did you all know that?

Jody: 0:55

I don't know if the listeners did Well now they know. At 16, my friends used to drive me to a local gym in Rutherford, New Jersey. I'm from Carney, New Jersey. That's where I grew up. My birthday's late in the year, October, so my friends would drive me to a gym and I would go there so often. One day an instructor didn't show up and they said no worries, Jody will teach.

Dan : 1:23

Grabbed you by your diaper and threw you in the room.

Jody: 1:25

Yes, and lunges for an hour and lunge and lunge, lunge, right leg, a hundred more.

Dan : 1:35

And that was Reebok Step.

Jody: 1:37

That was Reebok Step. Yes.

Dan : 1:39

Did you wear avias or Reeboks?

Jody: 1:41

I wore both. I was sponsored by Avia, the Avia demo team, and I performed hip hop dance all over the state nation nationally.

Dan : 1:53

It was fun, so one day Jody showed up when the teacher did not show up and they said Jody, you're teaching today.

Jody: 2:00

That's what happened, but they did not know that I was teaching. My whole life I loved teaching. There was this deep connection when offering an experience of mine or a knowledge that I learned to someone else. Seeing the look on someone's face, it was beautiful, but the feeling I felt being with them was what really drew me deeper and deeper into teaching.

Dan : 2:41

Seeing them be empowered by what you shared.

Jody: 2:43

Yes, and wanting to know more. Oh, what do you mean? The curiosity, and that's where this episode comes from, because I teach yoga teacher trainings. I've been teaching them now probably only 15 years out of my 30 years of teaching yoga. Half of them have been doing teacher trainings, and one of the questions that I pose is what is yoga? What is yoga? And, according to what you think yoga is, it influences your practice. So what do you think yoga is?

Dan : 3:26

Yoga, to me, in terms of the meaning of the word, means relationship. That's my best summary definition, although I know that in Sanskrit it takes on many different meanings based on context. But I feel like it's been boiled down to just meaning a physical workout.

Jody: 3:52

Okay, let's back up a little, because the word yoga when I ask people new to me what yoga means, they say union. Yoga means union and I say, well, union of what? Uniting the mind and the body. I think that's lovely, but that is definitely watered down to two things coming together to become one and that's not actually what the word yoga means. The word yoga comes from jug Y U J. What that means is to connect. In Sanskrit there's many different meanings for many words. Connect is the word, and if we look at what yoke means, y, o, k, e. Now this is listen up, you guys, you want to hear this, my friends, because it's actually a device to bring two animals together to work for the same goal. So yoga is a device or a system that brings the mind and the body together to work towards one goal, not to become one. Do you? Does that make sense? Do you see the difference?

Dan : 5:23

Yeah, I think it's great. Yokes were used to bring oxen together, which I don't think were necessarily too intelligent of an animal, so the yoke actually helped them work together, despite them being not wanting to work together, much like the mind and the body often is.

Jody: 5:45

Absolutely In the yoga sutras. The yoga sutras are a very old text, very old text. We'll get into this in another episode. Some of the listeners you all may have heard about these things. People, yoga teachers in class throw out these words oh, it's a yoga sutra or it's this. It's that we don't explain what it is. We will, in another episode, go deeper into what they are, but just for now, think of them as a guidebook, a very, very old book that was written to guide you and to teach you tools towards yoga, towards wholeness, tools to help you guide your mind back to this moment, when it gets stuck in stories, and the returning of the mind and bringing it back allows you to be present with what's here.

Dan : 6:50

Love it Physical movement of the body, breath, or the tools, the challenge of concentrating. These are the tools self-awareness.

Jody: 7:07

You are listing the eight limbs of yoga. In yoga there are different schools and we call them branches. So you have the system of yoga and then you have these branches of yoga From the branches go out into these limbs and Dan is sharing broadly these eight limbs because yoga is a system. You all hear that. Write that down, mark that down, thank you. It's a system, it's a device, it's a technology.

Dan : 7:49

And any of the limbs. Well, I won't say any, but there are choices to be made in how you can invite yourself or enter into the world, into that comprehensive system. So moving your body around is a great introduction. After you move your body around for a while, we want to introduce the coordination of the breath with the movement. That's not easy to do and then, after you develop that ability, then you can add on by concentrating deeply as you practice over a period of time Say it's a 50-minute class or a 60-minute class Join yourself inward as opposed to being distracted by obstacles outside of you, which is how plenty of us operate. We're distracted by TV and we're distracted by messaging text, messaging, tick-talking, instagramming. It's endless the amount of money that's spent on trying to captivate and capture your awareness, and so yoga is a system that can help you reel yourself in and bring your awareness back into yourself and create an opportunity to live well.

Jody: 9:20

That's why the become one method, become one yoga. We don't use music. There's no music in our classes, because we want to create an environment where you have this opportunity to turn in, to focus on you, to not get distracted by music and music that may invoke emotions from the 80s. I was in class once and someone played Journey. All of a sudden I'm crying because we lost the state game, softball. I'm in the back of the softball bus reliving losing, because I struck out that doesn't allow us to be with what's here. It takes us out of the present moment into the 80s and doesn't allow me to be with what's here. And the practice of yoga, the whole system, is about trying to be present with self and your senses in the moment that's being offered.

Dan : 10:33

Yes. So if you play music in a yoga asana class, what you're doing is you're inviting in nostalgia, which is another huge business, right? Hallmark cards, lots of music. It reels you in to consider a lost love or hope for a new love, all this stuff. It's like we don't really want to go there in a yoga asana class. What we want to do is draw the focus and awareness and the presence to yourself in this moment.

Jody: 11:05

That's what will keep yoga a system. Most people don't know this, and I'm curious if our listeners know this, or I offer this invitation to ponder it. Do you do yoga or do you create yoga? Because yoga is a practice of creation. If you're just doing yoga, what does that look like? Is it just asana? Because the limbs say asana is just not enough. There has to be inquiry on the energy you're putting out in the world. There needs to be inquiry on how you treat yourself, because those things come out on the map, thank you. So to just say yoga means union, in my opinion, boils it down so much to this very simple thing that you just have to unite with. You just got to get with it. No one speaks about the challenges to get with it, and I'd like to share a definition of yoga that I love.

Dan : 12:13

Let's hear it.

Jody: 12:13

OK, yoga is always of somebody in something, with an object, for some purpose, and it implies a difficult effort. A person committed, an instrument, a course of action and a goal.

Dan : 12:45

That's pretty big.

Jody: 12:49

Yoga is of somebody. That means you, you rolling out your mat. You're the somebody, you're in something. You're in a life situation, something's always happening. Now you're with something, you're with your breath, you are participating in this practice with your breath and life, and yoga could be difficult sometimes. We don't always go to yoga and feel better, but we go to yoga and we get better at feeling. We start noticing those things and it says here, a person committed. Are you committed to keep showing up for yourself in this life situation With the tools? Those are the instruments, a course of action. What's your plan and a goal? And people say to me yoga's not supposed to have a goal, and I say, well, that's not that true, we're not supposed to grasp and cling to the goal. But if we didn't have a goal, we wouldn't be here right now speaking on this podcast Become One Living.

Dan : 14:13

Yeah, it's to understand purpose. It's not a goal of acquisition, of acquiring things. It's a different type of goal.

Jody: 14:25

It's a measurement. I have this goal. Am I meeting it? I'm doing yoga. Am I feeling better? I'm doing yoga. Am I being nicer? I'm doing yoga. Am I not cursing as much? Am I doing this? Am I doing that? If not, I invite you, my friends, listen, I invite you ask are your practices working? Are you doing yoga? Are you doing the system to help you change or transform? If that's what your goal is, in participating in bringing your mind and your body together to work as one.

Dan : 15:07

And when you say committed Joe, what that strikes in me is that showing up piece. You don't go to a social worker and expect in one meeting that you're going to get an answer to an existential question that you're inquiring about. You need to show up and keep inquiring. It's like finding a vein of gold and digging into you start to unearth clues along your journey to a quest or big questions that you have about being here. It's not the Fourth of July.

Jody: 15:46

Yes, it's not something to do or just to go to. It's a commitment to the system of it, to the inquiry, to the contemplation, to the breath, to the movement, to the curiosity.

Dan : 16:01

And the personal gains and individual experiences with a regular practice come with time.

Jody: 16:12

Yes, Neuroscience I love neuroscience. I studied neuroscience and neurosculting after brain surgery and three strokes and neuroscience states repetition over time equals learning. I'm going to say that again Repetition over time equals learning.

Dan : 16:39

Repetition over time equals learning.

Jody: 16:42

Yes, like you said, you can't go to a social worker and expect things in one session, or a body worker like you to have this aha moment and everything be changed. It's the repetition over time that retrains the mind and the perspective to learn something new.

Dan : 17:03

Yeah, I feel like it's important to remember that humans are not technology, that we're living in an information and technological world, and it's important to remember that you're an organic. Your organic, your matter, your made of elements, that things that, in order to create change in your lifestyle or in yourself, or in your habits or in your system, even dieterally, all of these things take time. There's no magic pill.

Jody: 17:32

Yes, I want to go back to when I asked you what yoga meant to you and you said the word relationship. I'd like to share on that a little. The mind and the body need to have a relationship to communicate. So therefore, yoga, we take out this word union. Oh, yoga's union. I'm bringing them together to become one. Your brain and your body will never become one. They inform each other, they talk to each other. The question is are you listening? So the system of yoga allows this mind of yours, with the stories that we create and the tumultuous thoughts, ruminating thoughts, ideas, beliefs and the body sensation.

Jody: 18:32

Because sometimes, if we've experienced trauma or stress over time, our body speaks to that trauma, not to what's happening. So let me explain that in a different way. Recently you know this, they don't. I'm gonna tell you a little story. Recently, I was in a car accident. About two months ago maybe, or three months ago, I was in a car accident and even now, driving, when I'm stopped at a red light, I'm cringing because someone's behind me. My nervous system is reacting, but there's no one behind me. I was rear-ended.

Dan : 19:16

You're just witnessing how you experience from having had that trauma, that it doesn't take much for it to be recalled.

Jody: 19:23

Exactly cause. It's in my nervous system. So now what I have to do is talk and retrain my nervous system and say, hey, you're safe, you're here, you're not gonna be in an accident again, it's okay, I understand you were hurt. My mind and my body if they don't communicate, I can keep reliving this, thinking something's gonna happen. Does that make sense? This is why it is so important not to say yoga is merely union and then just get on the mat, crank your music and jam out. Not bad, it's not bad. I'm just saying it's not bad, it's different. We want to get on the mat and be with ourselves, use the science and the technology of yoga to create a conscious and consistent relationship between the mind and the body.

Dan : 20:26

And I love what you said about you listening to your body. So when we talk about listening, it's not exclusively with your ears. So when we talk about listening, it's not exclusively with your ears. We're talking about listening to all of the feedback your nervous system provides to your brain, and so it's feeling your body. If you're doing 28 chaturungas in an asana class and your body saying, wow, that's something just doesn't feel right. If you don't deeply listen, then you're not in good relationship. If you don't take a moment to reconsider and honor yourself in that pain in that instance, then you're not deeply listening and that's breaking the relationship. To be present is to listen deeply with your ears and with all of the rest of your senses, including interoception and your proprioception all of the feedback to your system.

Jody: 21:39

Now those things that Dan mentioned interoception and proprioception we will discuss those more. What they mean, briefly, is interoception means what's happening on the inside when you feel butterflies in your belly, when you have to go to the bathroom, if you don't listen to those basic needs. If you're doing the PP dance or the potty dance all the time and I know you all know what that means because everyone does that If you continually don't listen and go to the bathroom, you cut off your connection to your basic needs being met. And then people say I wanna be intuitive. How the heck are you gonna be intuitive if you can't even go to the bathroom?

Dan : 22:26

You can't even listen to yourself.

Jody: 22:27

Yes, when you have to go to the bathroom or when you're hungry. So basic needs. Let's rewind a little more and go back to yoga. So it started out with this concept. People think it just means union, but we're sharing that a yoke. To yoke is to bring two things together so they can communicate and work as one, not become one, because they're two separate entities. Your mind and your brain is designed neurologically to scan for safety and to scan for what's not safe. That's neurological, that is wired prehistorically. That's not gonna change for survival.

Jody: 23:17

That's not gonna change. And now our body may be given a signals oh, I have anxiety. Well, do you have anxiety or are you excited? Do you know the difference? So yoga is a relationship between the mind and the body. To create that conscious and consistent relationship so that you could listen and meet yourself in every moment of your life and alter what you need to alter to be fully present for life. Sorry, I get excited about this, my friends, I get very excited.

Dan : 23:59

I have fun with that idea of relationship. For me, I feel like you can get macroscopic in terms of union and relationship, with the question of what is your relationship? What is my relationship to this microphone? What is my relationship with Jodi? What is my relationship when I'm driving on the highway at 65 miles an hour? What is my relationship with the rest of the roadway? What is my relationship with the red light? Do I go through it? You can go on and on with. What is my relationship with my body? Am I listening to my body? What is my relationship with hunger? What is my relationship with love? You can really go deep into yoga like that, yoga like that, and for me it brings me present when I ask that question.

Jody: 24:56

What is my relationship with pain? That was something I had to ask myself. I'm on the mat, I'm doing yoga, I have chronic pain, my jaw hurts, sometimes to the point where I wanted to die the pain you.

Dan : 25:18

Jody's had such an extensive experience with the sensation of pain that you've had periods of simply hiding it from me.

Jody: 25:32

Yes, I hid the pain Because if any of you out there are listening and you've had chronic pain, you know how your pain impacts others. So you start to hide the pain, you start to put the smile on, you don't share what it feels like anymore because you don't want to be a burden, you don't want to always be that person that's in pain. But what I learned is I wasn't hiding the pain from Dan, I was hiding the pain from me, which then exacerbated it. So every time on the mat I wasn't coming to get rid of pain, I was coming to meet her and I call her her. Some of my parts are males, females, some of my parts are objects, but my pain was her and I met her and I met that pain and I started to build a conscious relationship with her and talk to her, to understand her, not to move on the breath and just keep flowing through as if she didn't exist. And one little side note, something to mark down for everyone. I'd like to share this Nowhere in the scriptures of yoga does it say you're supposed to move on the breath and not stop.

Jody: 26:57

It never said yoga supposed to be graceful when people say to me well, I can't flow into the next pose. You're not supposed to flow. We are supposed to take our mind, use our breath and focus on the movement. The question is can you stay conscious in the transition? That's the yoga. What's your relationship to uncomfortability, pain, depression, even happiness? Does the world even know how to celebrate happiness anymore?

Dan : 27:38

And any of the words that you just mentioned, and probably for any individual and any of you out there, for any of you, there could be a particular word that resonates. That pain or that experience that you have, I want to suggest could be your own path back to wellness. You might have flat feet. That could be your journey back to wellness. That could be your calling. As you investigate that particular part of you, you could discover things about yourself that you never imagined. So pain is not something to avoid. Pain is something to work with. In fact, ida Rolf, pioneer of structural integration, which is what she called her work, her work was affectionately called roughing by all of her first disciples and it has carried on. But she talks about pain. The definition of pain is a sensation accompanied by the motor intent to withdraw. So if you touch something, Can you say that again?

Jody: 28:58

That's powerful.

Dan : 29:00

Pain is defined as sensation accompanied by the motor intent to withdraw. So if we have that and just say pain is sensation. So, for instance, if you touch fire, you can feel the sensation and that sensation creates a need for you to withdraw your hand from the fire.

Jody: 29:24

Okay.

Dan : 29:25

So that's a survival thing and that's a more superficial outward. But if you're experiencing pain inward, your body, to recognize it as a sensation, then we can begin to unwrap it and work with it, as opposed to avoid it.

Jody: 29:44

And that's what I was doing for years avoiding the pain, trying to find doctors and specialists, anyone, even healers, that could take away my pain. Through yoga and relationship, I learned that can I meet these uncomfortable sensations and breathe with them and be with them, and when I was able to do that, I stopped fighting or resisting or what's the word you used, retracting.

Dan : 30:17

Withdraw.

Jody: 30:18

Withdrawing from the pain and life and I started to move with it in a different way. I created a new relationship with that pain. That's yoga.

Dan : 30:32

That's what's available to you in yoga and for you listening. It doesn't necessarily fall under a physical category. It can be something that's striking you, your intelligence, a wrestling with in your intelligence. It could be something emotional and it could be something physical. You could be wrestling with something spiritual. We can experience pain in a variety of ways. It's not just topical, superficial, physical, and so honor that for yourself and know that yoga offers tools to work with things that you experience in your life. Pain is one of them, but there's also other things to experience fully. We yearn to experience happiness, we yearn to feel joy and, in fact, so much as to say, maybe ecstasy. It's a great feeling, and the loftiest goal of a spiritual journey, if you're utterly committed, is the samadhi, is the eighth limb.

Jody: 31:40

Samadhi means I love this interpretation the dissolving of identity into oneness. When we let go of these external ideas and we dissolve and at one point we don't even attach or feel part of anything, we are everything. We will talk more about it on a logical level, which is kind of challenging using words to describe it, but then more on an energetic level and more podcasts to come. But I want to come right back again to yoga. My friends listening, please don't simplify something to the point where it loses its potency.

Jody: 32:37

This system has been around thousands of years and it is only now that we're proving how much it works, because we're studying it more, because it's everywhere, and thank God for that. But if you do your yoga practice the way you do your life, are you really creating permanent transformation and change or are you just repeating those cycles? So the question is do you just do yoga? And if it's yes, I just do yoga. That's lovely, but there will be a time where you want more. You want to start to grow your yoga and create it and actively be aware and create the relationships you're in. Be present to those relationships, keep them consistent and conscious.

Jody: 33:36

And an invitation as we begin to wrap this up. So, all our friends out there, an invitation ask yourself many times throughout the day what do I need right now? What am I feeling? Because as we started this podcast, I noticed I had to go to the bathroom and I said I'll just hold it. Perfect example. And I paused and I said you're not listening to yourself. Are you going to be fully present if you hold your pee?

Dan : 34:12

I couldn't.

Jody: 34:17

I know it seems silly, but start with the basics. Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Do you have to go to the bathroom? If you start with those, then the bigger things get easier. So yoga is always of somebody, and that's you. It's always in something life or a situation, something happening in relationship, and it's with something. So you're in a situation and you're with someone or something. It also implies a difficult effort. You have to put in an effort, a commitment. You have to be committed An instrument or tools. What tools are you using? What's the course you're going to take and what's the goal that you're looking at. I want to feel calmer. Perfect. Well, after a year of yoga, do you? No? Okay, my friends, you need to change some things around there, huh.

Dan : 35:25

Or listen deeper.

Jody: 35:32

I have not found in my lifetime, 48 years, a more complete system than what yoga offers.

Dan : 35:44

And we're open to finding a different. If the name of this was Scoopy Doopy, that's what I'd be doing. I'd be doing the eight limbs of Scoopy Doopy. I haven't come across anything that offers all of these tools.

Jody: 36:00

Exactly, and we would love questions, feedback or something that may have popped up and aha moment. You would like to share it with us. You can email us at becomeoneliving at gmailcom. Become one is all spelled out. Become one living at gmailcom to help support this conversation with us and you all.

Dan : 36:31

That would be fun, that would be really fun.

Jody: 36:33

So may you do yoga daily, thank you, become one living, we're out.