By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

There are so many different ways of working with your body. They are not all compatible.

The physical conditioning that produces an Olympic gymnast does not produce a good football player. The physical changes that you get when you begin snowboarding, perform as a dancer or do Pilates don’t help with sciatica or with childbirth. A furniture mover is not conditioned for playing tennis.

Similarly, different systems of hatha yoga (physical yoga practices) are not all compatible. One system emphasizes strength and stamina, another emphasizes constant movement, and yet another emphasizes attaining a photo-perfect pose.

All of these activities are based on contraction. You contract certain muscles to accomplish certain types of movements, and along the way (knowingly or unknowingly) you compress your spine. Svaroopa^® yoga decompresses your spine. It is a completely different process, for a different purpose.

Process and purpose: exercise uses the process of contraction for the purpose of accomplishing a specific type of activity.

In Svaroopa^® yoga, in contrast to exercise or other styles of yoga, we release contraction. Every class is carefully choreographed to release tensions in the muscles connected to your spine, from your tailbone progressively all the way to the top.

The reasons for this are multilayered and exquisitely complex, the most important of which is that your body is made of atoms…

Excerpt from Yoga: Inside & Outside, pages 35–36