Understanding Yoga Beyond the Physical: Insights from Varun Veer
Indian yoga expert Varun Veer emphasizes that the ancient discipline encompasses body, breath, and mind, a perspective that often gets lost when yoga is practiced mainly as a series of postures in the West.
The Traditional Roots of Yoga
Veer traces the origins of yoga back more than 10,000 years, noting that early practitioners focused on hatha yoga as a holistic system. He explains that later styles such as Iyengar, Ashtanga, and Sivananda are variations built on the same hatha foundation, differing mainly in sequencing and emphasis.
Having earned a doctorate on the origins and nature of yoga, Veer brings academic rigor to his teaching. His personal journey began at age nine under the guidance of his father, and he has now accumulated over four decades of dedicated practice.
Western Adaptation and the Missing Dimensions
According to Veer, Western yoga frequently reduces the practice to about 95 percent physical postures (asanas) while giving minimal attention to breath work (pranayama) and mental training. He argues that this narrow focus overlooks the meditative and spiritual layers that are integral to the Indian tradition.
Veer illustrates this point with everyday Indian language: the concept of dhyan (meditation) is woven into routine actions—eating, studying, walking—showing how mindfulness is cultivated from childhood.
Global Spread and Institutional Support
The worldwide enthusiasm for yoga that began in the 1970s and 1980s in the United States has since reached Europe, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. Veer welcomes this growth but stresses the importance of preserving the practice’s depth.
In India, yoga has become part of school and university curricula, a development Veer attributes in part to governmental promotion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2014 UN resolution establishing June 21 as International Day of Yoga and the creation of a dedicated ministry for yoga and Ayurveda have further elevated the discipline’s profile.
Call for Better Teacher Training
Veer cautions that the rapid expansion of yoga teacher training programs worldwide can compromise quality if standards are lax. He advocates for stricter monitoring and regulation, recommending that instructors hold formal qualifications from recognized Indian yoga universities.
Drawing from his own experience—practicing 90 to 120 minutes daily and operating a studio in New Delhi since 2023—Veer challenges the West to rethink how yoga is taught, urging a return to balanced training that honors the physical, breath, and mental dimensions of the practice.
Conclusion
Varun Veer’s perspective offers a reminder that yoga’s true value lies in its integrative approach. By blending physical postures with conscious breath work and meditation, practitioners can access the full spectrum of benefits that have sustained the tradition for millennia.
