In today’s Jeevana – Holistic Living, let’s revisit yoga.
Yoga is important because more and more people in the workforce and most knowledge workers, YOU and ME will have to “MANAGE ONESELF”. We will have to place ourselves where we can make the greatest contribution; we will have to learn to develop ourselves. We will have to learn to stay young and mentally alive during a fifty-year working life.
The best way to do this is yoga. Why you may ask, to begin with yoga is backed by ancient wisdom.
The word “yoga” originates from the sanskrit root yuj which means Union.
- Union of oneself with Mind – Jnāna Yoga.
- Union of oneself with Body – Karma Yoga.
- Union of oneself with Emotion – Bhakti Yoga.
Also Yoga can be seen in two ways:
- The Modern way where it is seen as a holistic therapy for all physical and mental problems.
- The Upanishadic way elaborated in the Bhagavad Gita where it is an intellectual, social and emotional technique for self-realization.
On the spiritual plane, it means union of the Individual Self with the Universal Self. Yoga is the union of the body, mind, emotions and intellect.
Yoga therapy addresses conditions on the physical, psychological and spiritual levels. It assists in injury recovery and manages chronic issues of the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, nervous, gastrointestinal, respiratory, reproductive and endocrine systems.
Some of the benefits of Yoga:
Physical
- Enhances muscle tone, flexibility, strength and stamina
- Reduces fat, Improves circulation, Stimulates the immune system
- Keeps one younger biologically, i.e. younger than one’s chronological age
- Reduces levels of chemicals connected to stress eg. Cortisol and lactate
Mental
- Relax you and helps handle stress situations more easily
- Stimulates positive thoughts and self-acceptance
- Increases one’s sense of self esteem
- Perks up one’s powers of concentration and creativity
Spiritual
- Develops comprehensive awareness
- Furthers inter-dependence between body, mind, and soul
- Encourages one live in the concept of “oneness.”
- Helps the practitioner discover one’s True Self
Here we are sharing excerpt from the Speech of Honorable Prime Minister of India Shri Narendrath Modi at the 69 session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 27, 2014.
“Yoga is an invaluable gift of ancient Indian tradition. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature and a holistic approach to health and well-being. Yoga is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with ourselves, the world and Nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us to deal with climate change. Let us work towards adopting an International Yoga Day”
Yoga is essentially a spiritual discipline based on an extremely subtle science which focuses on bringing harmony between mind and body.
Little wonder, then, that Yoga is considered the optimum holistic science of health. So will you commit to yoga practice today onwards? Do you want a starting point? Click on the link to start your yoga practice now…
Textual References
http://mea.gov.in/images/pdf/common-yoga-protocol.pdf
