Yoga guru BKS Iyengar died this year at the age of 95 in Pune. Yoga kept the guru fit well past the age of 90, setting an example for its practitioners about the long-term benefits. What makes yoga so different from other forms of fitness?

“Yoga is all about evolving. A person evolves physically and spiritually when connected with yoga.” These are the words of Harsha Bhatia, a yoga teacher in Kolkata who started Happy Yoga and an all-woman class called Athena Yoga. Harsha incorporates a blend of power yoga, basic asanas, and pranayams, apart from other forms of yoga.

With a master’s in Chemistry and working in the educational sector, she never thought of taking to yoga as a career until she moved from Mumbai to Kolkata and today yoga is more than just her passion. From practicing yoga since the age of 16, she has come a long way. She tries to ensure it becomes an extension of the lives of every student of hers. There are students from the age of early twenties to their fifties who make up the demographics of the class. Yoga to Harsha is more than just a profession.

What are Hatha yoga and Raja yoga?

Different theories surround yoga, but broadly speaking, there are two forms of yoga. Hatha yoga and Raja yoga. Hatha yoga focuses on the well-being of the physical body and includes all the asanas. Asanas improve flexibility and posture, immunity improves physical strength. Raja yoga helps to get inner peace, meditation or Dhyan, and relief from stress which is the biggest problem in today’s life. When clubbed together, Hatha yoga and Raja yoga give an overall benefit. Pranayam is the term many have heard as an important part of yoga. This comes under Hatha yoga.

What does it all mean?

When you are doing asanas, pranayam, and Dhyan (meditation) together, there is a greater awareness in an individual’s life leading to overall development. It boosts energy levels and keeps a person away from all kinds of diseases. In terms of awareness, whatever is happening in the body one understands, for example, sensing it days before getting the flu and hence knowing how to handle it. This means an individual is looking more inwards than outside. So it increases the intuitive power and helps to deal with situations.

When a situation occurs, a normal person will react to the situation either positively or negatively. On the other hand, a person following yoga will accept the situation calmly, analyze the situation with a calm and composed mind and try to learn the lesson from it instead of reacting to the situation in a negative way.

Various Benefits of Yoga

Be it flexibility, weight loss, a peaceful mind, a glow on the face, and beautiful skin. Whatever an individual wants, one is likely to find in yoga. “When talking about practicing yoga in general, often we relate yoga only to asanas or postures. So we just look at the physical fitness level. We often fail to see the immense benefits of uniting the body, mind, and soul. When all three are in harmony or coordination, life becomes more smooth and more complete. Depending on what kind of person an individual is, he or she can choose that form of yoga,” says Harsha.

1. Overall development

Through asanas physical fitness can be achieved, pranayam improves immunity and through meditation, stress can be relieved. There is better focus and concentration power in an individual’s life with control over emotions. The more one practices yoga, the more life comes under control. We can’t do yoga one day and leave it the next. It is an evolution and does not happen overnight. The more one continues yoga, the more one will evolve.

The major impact of yoga compared to other physical forms of fitness, is through yoga hormones can be controlled and when hormones are in balance, the whole body is in balance. No other exercise impacts the hormones as yoga. For example, with a thyroid problem, there is likely to be weight gain. But with yoga exercises like Sarvangasana and halasana, helps to control weight gain.