Let's Get Physical: Yoga and Martial Arts
Yoga and martial arts aren't strictly sport, but if you're looking to get fit they provide a solid base of deeper engagement with your own physical and mental wellbeing. And if bending, stretching and balancing appeals, take a look to the right...
While yoga may be centuries old, coming of age in the Western world during the heady highs of the 70s, it seems that the 21st century is where the ancient practice has really come into its own, in part due to popularisation through celebrity endorsement. Yoga serves many as a form of respite from high-pressure lives, with studies continuing to espouse the ever-positive effects of yoga on one’s wellbeing.
Ancient Sanskrit texts view yoga as a form of meditation to reach either union with ultimate reality, or separation of spirit from matter. And while rushing off to a yoga class on a mid-week lunch break might not immediately provide one with a transcendence of spirit, it’s certainly a means of introduction for those who feel too short on time to otherwise practice.
Matt Ryan began teaching yoga 15 years ago, and started his own series of ‘express’ yoga classes (lasting 45 minutes) in Manchester’s Northern Quarter earlier this year. He has seen an unexpectedly high level of interest, and partially attributes this to the current economic climate: “as people’s stress levels increase at work, so does an interest in yoga.”
He notes that the classes have been a way to “break down the barriers when it comes to yoga. Providing short classes opens the practice up to a wider number of people... For many, it begins as a physical pursuit, but once they understand both the physical and mental benefits, it can become a lifestyle.”
"Yoga keeps us in the present moment while we are focusing on the physical postures" - Clare Tunstall
Growing numbers are being introduced to yoga as a means of improving physical health, and Clare Tunstall, a yoga teacher in south Manchester, has seen a number of referrals from doctors. Keeping true to its inclusive nature, Yoga Kurunta – aka 'puppet yoga' – expands the practice to those who are less physically able. "For example, if we had someone in the class who couldn’t do a head balance due to a neck injury, they could easily hang upside down in yoga ropes, so still benefiting from the inverted effects of the posture without placing weight on their neck,” she explains.
While Tunstall recognises the positive outcomes of yoga for the physical body, she is keen to emphasise the duality of the activity: “While yoga gets a lot of publicity for its physical benefits, it is important to remember it’s only one aspect of yoga... Yoga and mindfulness go hand in hand. Mindfulness is the sense that we try to be in the present moment [and] yoga keeps us very much focussed on the present moment while we are focusing on the asanas (physical postures).”
Manjunaga – a yoga teacher and practising Buddhist in south Manchester – expands: “In Patanjali's Yoga Sutra (one of the foundational philosophical texts on yoga), of the eight limbs of training that are offered, asana is only one limb. Patanjali places a lot more emphasis on using the body as a vehicle to support and explore meditative states of consciousness than he does on mastering an impressive back bend.”
Chinese arts can offer similar, 'mindful' benefits to yoga. Steven Williams, a Crosby-based instructor, appreciates the different skills various martial arts are able to hone and refine. While tai chi is perhaps the most well-known in the West, Williams began practising the discipline as a result of an interest in the lesser-known zhan zhuang and Wing Chun, a form of kung fu: “I looked for something that would help with my zhan zhuang, a more internal art than Wing Chun, and so I started my study of tai chi,” he explains. “Wing Chun [as practised by Bruce Lee] taught me the importance of softness; zhan zhuang gave me the energy and focus; while tai chi linked a great many things together.”
Williams emphasises that there are also many physical benefits to be gained from Chinese arts: “zhan zhuang is the one that I've found to be truly transformational. It 'charges your batteries' with profound benefits to health and activity. I've had students tell me that their lives have been transformed by relief from conditions as mundane as hayfever and hypertension to more difficult ones such as arthritis, depression, chronic fatigue and the recovery from old injuries.”
Whether your reason for exploring non-traditional forms of exercise is to improve physical health or emotional well-being, these activities can encourage a break away from the daily grind. Manjunaga feels that yoga, in its entirety, can provide an alternative to modern-day distractions: “What needs addressing is this overemphasis on doing and constant activity," he says. "I feel people should be encouraged to stop and learn to be with themselves; more a 'state of being' mode.”
As yoga and Chinese martial arts practices continue to be developed and moulded to fit into our busy lives – and with an array of teachers and classes on offer – it’s up to the student to decide which approach is right for them.