Fit yourself with Yoga

By Dr Shailendra Ray 

We can fit ourselves by improving our physical strength, flexibility, and hormonal balance. Yoga promotes gentle movement and stretching, which can reduce muscle tension, improve circulation, and reduces fatigue, pain, and stiffness.

Certain yoga poses and movements can stimulate the lymphatic system which is essential for the body’s immune function. Enhanced lymphatic flow can assist in removing toxins and waste from the body, potentially supporting the body’s natural healing processes.

Yoga symbolizing the union of body and consciousness, has become a worldwide phenomenon today. This ageless tradition helps in opening the third eye, (a state of enlightenment having spiritual or psychological significance), otherwise lying dormant in humans.

Yoga is also effective in stress reduction, stress is the main cause of most the diseases like Cancer can be a stressful experience, and yoga provides techniques for relaxation and stress management. Deep breathing exercises, meditation, and mindfulness practiced in yoga can help calm the mind, reduces depression, anxiety, and promote a sense of inner peace.

The most common thing we can found is hormonal imbalance body because of sedentary lifestyle and not following body clock (circadian rhythm) but in yoga Ustrasana, Ushtrasana, or Camel Pose is also one of the best yoga poses for hormonal imbalance. By performing this yoga, you stimulate your internal organs, especially the thyroid and parathyroid glands.

Today many corporate hospitals in the tier1/2/3 cities also have a dedicated wing for yoga and hire the services of yoga practitioners who provide beneficial effects of yoga in people suffering with serious health problems.

Most of the serious health problems plaguing society today like cardiac diseases, cancers, diabetes, obesity, blood pressure, among others are either directly or indirectly caused by unhealthy lifestyle. Yoga which propagates unity of body, mind and heart can help us greatly in maintaining a balanced lifestyle thereby decreasing the chance of contacting diseases.

Taking about yoga has become a fashion of late, but practitioners of yoga have been exhorting about the health benefits of yoga for years now. Though the allopathic doctors and hospitals have neglected this ancient discipline earlier, now even they are referring their patients to practise yoga for recuperating after serious illnesses. It is mostly in the last decade that yoga has become popular among not just general public but also among doctors.

Yoga promotes mental well-being by helping individuals establish a deep sense of unity and oneness with all forms of life. Those who regularly participate in yoga typically interact with the world in calmer and more reasonable ways, besides experiencing the benefits of inner peace and healthier body

Yoga has been around for centuries and combines stretching, strengthening, compression of internal organs, deep breathing, and meditation. Yoga’s greatest aim is to create compassion within and a deep sense of unity and oneness with all forms of life. Yoga is an individual activity that has social implications. Those who regularly participate in yoga typically interact with the world in calmer and more reasonable ways. More positive social interactions and relationships are one of the ripple effects of individual yoga practice.

Accessible or complementary yoga classes offer low income people the opportunity to experience the benefits of inner peace and healthier body. When practices such as yoga are accessible to all, larger effects are possible. Without overstating the impacts, potential consequences of large scale population mental well-being initiatives such as this are less violence in society, less addiction, greater ability to be authentic with one and others.

Recent research findings have demonstrated effect of yoga for many conditions, including multiple sclerosis, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, lymphoma, hypertension, drug addiction, osteoarthritis, and mental health issues.

Researchers suggest that yoga as an intellectual and mental exercise and can improve the psychological conditions for monitoring and managing stress and negative emotions, increase positive emotions, and help maintain mental balance. However, despite the popularity and the positive psychological and physiological effects of yoga, it is not widely studied to find how much it really prevents and treats mental disorders and still wider and more rigorous studies would be needed to test the validity of the yoga in mental health. Engaging in physical activity, even in the form of gentle yoga can also stimulates and release of endorphins, dopamine and serotonin which are natural mood-boosting chemicals.

At a deeper level, yoga is a state of mental silence or rest, where our attention is aware, but not engrossed in thinking. It is known as ‘thoughtless awareness’. It is achieved when the indwelling Kundalini energy awakens and carries the individual attention beyond the level of the 6th chakra, into the seventh chakra, known as Sahasrara.

As the mind finds rest and silence, we become able to feel our inner Self (Spirit). This can be tangibly felt, it actually manifests, as a cool wind, breath or breeze, often experienced on the palms of the hands or at the top (crown) of the head. It is a spontaneous, effortless natural happening.

The practice of yoga leads to the union of individual consciousness with universal consciousness. The science of Yoga has its origin thousands of years ago. The seers and sages carried this powerful Yogic science to different parts of the world. However, it was in India that the Yogic system found its fullest expression under Saptarishi Agastya. The great sage Maharishi Patanjali systematised and codified the then existing yogic practices, their meaning and related knowledge through Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

In Indian mythology, Lord Shivais the first Yogi (Adi Yogi) and is believed to have begun imparting the knowledge of yoga to the Saptarishis (seven sages) – Agastya, Atri, Bharadvaja, Gautama, Jamadagni, Kashyapa and Vasistha.The Saptarishis, also known as Brahmarishis, are the seven mind-born sons of Lord Brahma having all knowledge about Brahman. They had imparted the knowledge of yoga to the rest of mankind.

How would you define the term Yoga?
The word ‘yoga’ derives from Sanskrit root ‘yuj’ and means to join or to unite, symbolizing the union of body and consciousness. Yoga balances body, mind and soul and helps in connecting us with our inner soul, as also with Nature. It promotes harmony among people, and between ourselves and the natural world, thereby making us healthy both physically and mentally. In Indian spiritual context, it means the unification of ‘Atma’, the soul with ‘Parmatma’, God.

Yoga involves meditation providing immense confidence, calmness, peace and knowledge to the people which is helpful in performing many activities in a better way, thereby, generating better coordination with all. Yoga is believed to be having the power which helps in opening the third eye, (astate of enlightenment having spiritual or psychological significance), otherwise lying dormant in humans. One who experiences this oneness of existence is said to be “in yoga” and is termed as a yogi attaining a state of freedom, referred to as ‘moksha.All ancient commentaries on Yoga have stressed that it is essential to work under the direction of a Guru, as only a Guru (teacher) can advocate the appropriate combination of yogic-practices necessary for each seeker to experience this oneness of existence.

Yoga works on the level of one’s body, mind, emotion and energy. Every individual is a unique combination of these four factors. The different philosophies, traditions, lineages and Guru-Shishya paramparas of Yoga led to the emergence of different traditional schools. These include Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Kriya Yoga, Patanjala Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Dhyana Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Laya Yoga, Raja Yoga, Jain Yoga, Buddha Yoga and so on. Each school has its own approach and practices that lead to the ultimate aim and objectives of Yoga – to be in the path to get liberated from all the bondages..

(The author is Well Known Yoga Teacher)