Truth Seekers

One of my favourite TV programs growing up was the X-Files. Never mind the scary stuff, I revelled in the undeniable tension between the two protagonists, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully—the believer and the cynic. Forced together, they exposed each other to opposite viewpoints and had to confront their biases, which I suppose was healthy for them both. It made for fabulous drama.

Why did the X-files come to my mind this week? Although I haven’t been focused on aliens lately, I was confronted by those two players - belief and scepticism - at a recent event, the Om Yoga Show at Alexandra Palace.

I was helping out at a stall at this show, which was held alongside MindBodySoul and VeganLife Live. The event bills itself as Europe's largest annual yoga gathering. It feels like one colossal marketplace - my colleague Paul, CEO of YIHA, calls it MindBodyWallet 🤣

Paul and I were there to represent Yoga in Healthcare Alliance. We were also scheduled to give a talk to showcase evidence-based approaches through the Yoga4Health and Yoga4NHS programs for patients and staff.

I Want To Believe

When I looked at the lecture lineup, I was amused to see that our session, ‘Integrating Yoga into the NHS’, would follow an altogether more tantalising speaker…‘The Man Cancer Cannot Kill.’ Was someone having a laugh, putting our talks one after another?

I bristled ever so slightly at the charismatic cancer killer, who drew an impressive crowd. I wondered - does he make a living pedalling this stuff? By sharing his story, was he suggesting that people should and could treat their cancers with yoga? Meanwhile, here I was, preparing to discuss the benefits and the necessity of research, evidence and accountability to encourage more non-yoga people to take yoga seriously.

I was irked but also intrigued. I’m not so cynical as to dismiss incredible stories like his. Whenever I think I have definitive answers bolstered by science, I hear that whisper of a (actually very scientific) prayer: “May I not be limited by what I think I know.” I kinda dig the work of Bruce Lipton (The Biology of Belief) and Jo Dispenza (You Are the Placebo and Supernatural). But can I confidently apply their ideas about belief and consciousness to my everyday clinical practice? Not quite.

I lean more Mulder than Scully by nature. I desperately want to believe. Part of me wants to trust in the untapped powers of the unknown and the unexplained. I believe in miracles, even if I can't explain how or why.

Belief and Belonging

With my clinical hat on, I felt somewhat at odds with others around me, especially standing in this strange lineup at the yoga show.

So many yoga folks need no data to grasp the subtleties and profundity of their philosophy; they believe, practice and applaud. They recognise some of the most compelling aspects of yoga that heal as the unmeasurable and immeasurable. Concepts of transformation, magic and mysticism are held in esteem. And ideas on love, connection, and unified consciousness that have yet to find any place in modern medicine resonate easily and faithfully with a yoga crowd.

Still, the Scully within me speaks loudly in this space. I worry about broad dismissals of science in the yoga community that risk overpromising, cultish manipulation and pseudoscience, some of which could raise an eyebrow or two or three (even the third eyebrow is unimpressed). Paul’s MindBodyWallet is coming to mind 😬

I deeply respect the scientific and yogic communities for their dedication to the cause, but I also find troubling aspects of both. I wonder where exactly one should lay allegiance between the scientific and spiritual and the imperfect ways we humans interpret both. And where is the truth?

We Belong Together

What I find hardest is not the differences of opinion but the separation I feel within myself and between our communities.

In reality, don't we all belong together? I take comfort in the fact that, regardless of our tribes or our individual beliefs, convictions, or preoccupations, we are all truth seekers on this journey for belonging, understanding, and healing.

On a related note, next Saturday, 2nd November, I will be attending a BWY yoga summit at SOAS about health, harm and healing, which will be super interesting. Does anyone want to check it out with me? (You don’t have to be a BWY member to register; you can also join online.)

Lastly, a memory is coming to mind (or did I hope and dream it?!) - tell me Mulder and Scully fell in love in the end, didn’t they? If they didn't, they absolutely should have!

Let’s practise.