The Role of Yoga and Similar Exercises by Tamarack Song Because of the rigors of farming — the continual hunched over posture and repetitive movements, farmers gradually lose their natural physical form and take on the shape of the tasks they perform. Their skeletal structure, musculature and connective tissue become contorted. They begin to walk differently and sit differently, and stand differently because they can no longer bend in the ways that are natural to them. Yoga Masters come from farming cultures. Their task is to counteract the effects of farming (and more recently industrial and desk-work). Yoga can be helpful in this respect. In order for it to be continually helpful, it has to be practiced continually. As soon as one quits, the body reverts to the form that it is most often found in. Our body is like a banner blowing in the breeze. If it is hung up near Tree branches, every day it will become tangled, and in order to blow freely again in the breeze, someone must take the time to untangle it from the branches. If it is ignored it will remain tangled. In this sense, yoga is a way to restore natural wellness. Like a banner hung out in the open and flowing freely in the breeze, our bodies don't need the attention of yoga when we're living our naturally intended lives. We weren't created in order to have to practice yoga to stay in good shape. We invented it to untangle us from the knots that farming ties us up in. The only cure from getting knotted up and not needing yoga that I'm aware of is to change our lifestyle so that we again move in the very fluid and spontaneous ways that we are designed to do. Farmers were born and lived the early years of their youth being flexible, dexterous and centered in their bellies. They would stay this way for all of their natural lives. If at some point they did not start sedentary and or labor intensive, repetitive tasks. In farming cultures, this sometimes begins at a very early age. We see children, sometimes quite young who are working right along with adults, and right along with adults they have distorted spines, stiff necks, joints without full movement and a walk and a gaze that tells that their centeredness has left their bellies and gone up to their heads. What the yoga masters teach is how to become again as Children. What the yoga masters also teach is discipline because unless the forces of degeneration are counteracted every day and for the rest of one's entire life, the forces of degeneration will win out. Like begets like; life of farming and industry can only produce People who have grown to conform to what farming and industry demand. Imagine a Horse running free on the prairie, and then imagine a Horse pulling a plow. Imagine a Chimpanzee swinging through the Tree-tops and then imagine a Chimpanzee sitting at a table doing a repetitive task. Now imagine yourself running through the Forest, swimming in the lake and gathering wild foods, and then hunched over the wheel of a car, sitting at a desk or bent over a garden row. A Horse, a Chimpanzee, a Human; there is no difference. When we no longer live in the ways that we are intended, we change rapidly as we try to adapt and adjust to the new situation. This is the way of life. A vine growing through a wire fence will twist and turn and contort itself in any way possible to spread its branches and reach for the light. The vine ends up stunted and twisted and yet it has found a way to survive. Yoga to our bodies is much like aspirin to a headache. It is restorative, but it does not address the ultimate causation. In our natural state of being we remain healthy, flexible and spiritually connected to our bodies. Through the naturally occurring events of a Native person's life, a Native maintains his strength, limberness, dexterity and spiritual center. It is not necessary for him to do any additional exercises or follow any regimen. For example, moving through a natural landscape can be jogging, yoga and meditation all together. You might say that Yoga is an integral part of the Native life. It is a living Yoga, rather than an isolated exercise. You don't have to do Yoga when you live Yoga. You're doing it when you relieve yourself, when you move through the Woods, when you are shadowing and stalking and balancing. Do we need to exercise for the sake of exercise? Perhaps the need to do so is a sign that our lives are out of Balance. If our lives do not naturally involve us emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, intuitively, as well as physically, we are not functioning as whole beings.