Avinash Nathial
The art and science of Yoga has infinite possibilities for providing answers to most health problems troubling modern humankind. However we often misunderstand this science and want it to be a miracle pill. A pill that we take only once, and want all our problems to vanish into thin air!
Yoga is a holistic science and must be learnt and practiced with a holistic view. The dedicated practice of Yoga as a way of life is no doubt a panacea for problems related to psychosomatic, stress related disorders helping us to regain our birthright of health and happiness.
Today is Yoga Day
Following are some Practical Tips and teachings that need to be incorporated in our daily lives in order to attain maximum health, mental and spiritual benefits from the yogic practices.
* Become aware of your body, emotions and mind
Without awareness there cannot be health or healing. Awareness of body implies conscious body work that needs to be synchronized with breath to qualify as a psychosomatic technique of health and healing. Psychosomatic disorders that are the bane of the modern world cannot be tackled without awareness.
Agility in the body,
Clarity in the head,
Fullness of the heart,
This is the mantra for Good Health.
* Improve your dietary habits
When it comes to food, one of the most important aspects that you must be conscious of is how quickly a certain type of food digests and becomes a part of yourself. If you eat something and it does not digest within three hours, it means you have eaten food that should either be avoided or reduced in quantity. If the food moves out of your stomach within three hours, it means that even if it is not the best food, it is still something your system is able to handle. If you go to bed with a full stomach, it puts pressure on other organs in the abdomen. This will also lead to various kinds of health issues. If you maintain a clear gap of five to six hours between one meal and the other without having anything in between, cleansing will happen on the cellular level. This cleansing on the cellular level is most important for a healthful life. If you are over 30 years of age, two good meals a day will suffice – one in the morning and one in the evening.
* Give rest to your whole body – but not too much!
Relaxation is most often all that is needed in order to improve one’s physical condition. Stress is the major culprit and may be the causative, aggravating, or precipitating factor in so many psychosomatic disorders. Doctors are often found telling their patients to relax, but seldom tell them how to do it! The relaxation part of every Yoga session is most important for it is during it that benefit of practices done in the session seep into each and every cell producing rest, rejuvenation, reinvigoration and reintegration.
Moreover, what the body needs is restfulness, not necessarily sleep. It is a misunderstanding that sleep is the only way to rest. Even as you sit or stand, you can either be in a state of restfulness, in a state of agitation, or in a state of inertia. If you are in a lively state of restfulness, every moment of your life, the volume of sleep you require will decrease. It is more important to sleep well than to sleep more, as deep sleep provide utmost rejuvenation to the body.
A Yogi (saint) sleeps for 4 to 6 hours;
A Bhogi (commoner) sleeps for 6 to 8 hours;
A Rogi (diseased) sleeps for 8 or more hours.
* Slow down your breath making it quiet and deep
Rapid, uncontrolled, irregular breathing is a sign of ill health whereas slow, deep and regular controlled breathing is a sign of health. Breath is the link between body and mind and is the agent of physical, and mental unification. When breath is slowed down, metabolic processes are also slowed and anabolic activities begin the process of healing and rebuilding. If breath is calm, mind is calm and life is long!
* Keep the back straight at all times possible
There is something called organ comfort. There are various aspects to this. Most of the vital organs of the body are in the chest and abdomen region. These organs are not rigid; they are not fixed with bolts and clams. They are loose, hanging in nets. Only if you sit with your spine erect, your organs will be in the maximum possible comfort. The modern idea of comfort is to lean backward and slouch. If you sit in such a posture, your organs will never be at comfort. They will not function the way they need to and their ability to function will go down dramatically and you will at least be impaired in some ways.
Keeping the body erect is not because we don’t like comfort, it is because we understand and experience comfort in a completely different way. You can train your muscles to be comfortable, with your spine erect, but you cannot train your organs to be comfortable while slouching. There is no way to do it. So, we choose to train the body, so that our skeletal system and muscular system is comfortable sitting this way.
* Improve the flow of healing ‘Pranic Life Energy
Improve the flow of healing ‘Pranic Life Energy’ to all parts of the body, especially to those diseased parts, thus relaxing, regenerating and reinvigorating yourself. Prana is life and without it there cannot be healing. The different prana and upa prana vayu that are energies driving different physiological functions of the body need to be understood and applied as per needs of the patient. In patients of digestive disorders, focus must be on the samana vayu whereas in pelvic conditions it needs to be on apana vayu. The fifth chapter of the Hathayoga Pradipika has a detailed analysis of various malfunctions of the vayu and their correction.
Always remember that Food, Water and Sleep when taken in the right manner, at right times, and in right Quantities along with a Quiver-free breath and a happy state of Mind, are the ultimate source of Life Force Energy.
* Use your body optimally
When it comes to activity, one simple thing that we need to consider is that our body is capable of bending forward, bending backward, and twisting to both sides. This much activity must happen in some kind of form. Classical hatha yoga is the best way to do it, and a scientific one. If classical hatha yoga is not yet part of your life, you must somehow make sure that every day, you bend forward, backward, twist to both sides, and squat so that the spinal column is stretched. This is a must for everybody on a daily basis to keep the entire system healthy – particularly the neurological system, which will otherwise be an issue as one age.
The body is like a machine that runs on the fuel of food, sleep, breath, and happiness; if you use it properly, it will last long; if you use it rarely, it will catch rust.
* Take responsibility for your own health
Remember that ultimately it is “YOU” who are responsible for your own health and well-being and must take the initiative to develop positive health to tide you over challenging times of ill health. Yoga fixes responsibility for our health squarely upon our own shoulders. If we do healthy things we are healthy and if we do unhealthy things we become sick. No use complaining that we are not well when we have been the cause of our problem.
(The author is a Yoga practitioner)
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