YOGA AS THERAPY

I started “YOGA As Therapy “to inspire people to practice yoga and to raise themselves out of their conditions which seems to surround them like an inescapable wall. It shows people that a way out exists.

It can be guide to Doctors and Therapists seeking new alternatives and allowing them to introduce with broad range of alternative in yoga practices dealing right from traditional ones to some form of changes according to the life lifestyle people face.

WHAT’S YOGA?

·         Yoga in modern sense is certain set of stretches and breathing patterns and as and when you hold the postures for longer and relax, helps you to overcome your physical and emotional problems hence helps you to deal with your stress.

·         All these stretches are done with complete awareness of your body and breath.

·         Traditionally speaking yoga must lead to spiritual growth by following certain discipline in individual and social practice, hence one reach closer to the GOD.

·         Spirituality arises as one does yoga with complete awareness not only the physical postures but in all walks of life leading to analyzing oneself  and hence leads to realization of oneself and can help others too.

·         Yoga guru Patanjali emphasized mainly on preventing a disease, but due to increasing physical and mental problems the therapeutic application started 80 yrs ago by Swami Kuvalayanandaji  of Kaivalyadham in Lonavala, Maharashtra. 

·         Established in 1924 it was the first Yoga Institute of its kind in India, and continues to be a premier center for the medical and scientific study of Hatha Yoga, as well as a resource of ancient texts, teachings, training and yoga therapy.

·         It was understood by these gurus as due to bad life style there going to arise lots of health issues in coming years.

·         The science of yoga begins to work on outermost aspect of the personality, physical body, as for most people it’s the familiar starting point i.e. For e.g. Asana & Pranayama.

Most of us are unable to concentrate and meditate because of the continual wandering and rational thinking of the mind.

Meditation, which work as inner practice becomes easier only when external practices have been developed to reasonable degree of perfection.

·         Yoga works as a therapy for many ailments

 Specific, research shows that yoga helps manage or control anxiety, arthritis, asthma, back pain, blood pressure, carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic fatigue, depression, diabetes, epilepsy, headaches, heart disease, stress, migraine, insomnia and other conditions and diseases.

·         Since no therapy is a complete therapy, It goes well along with medical treatment. It does not replace the traditional therapy.

·         Yoga can work as an Alternative therapy

·         Creates sense of wellbeing and calm, balance is created in the Nervous and Endocrine systems above many is being proved in many research works.

·         It can work parallel and supportive to other therapies

 Yoga therapy can be used in cooperation with other therapies like for example, Hypertension, Asthma, and Diabetes patient can continue with the medicines in consultation with his physician and gradually taper the medicine according to the need, but can continue with the yoga therapy.

·         As a Supportive therapy:-

  For example a person who underwent surgery or bedridden patients definitely can't do any physical exercises but lying on his bed he can do certain meditation and deep breathing or just becoming aware of his breathing, will itself helps him to cope up with the pain and induces deep state of rest which encourages the repair and improved health of all cells and tissues of body.

          

·         Yoga aims to bring the different bodily functions in to perfect coordination:- Improves muscle tone, flexibility, strength and stamina, boosts self-esteem, improves concentration and creativity, lowers fat, improves circulation, and stimulates the immune system.

·         It is necessary that before one resorts to yoga as therapy a full medical examination be performed. Much depends on the severity of diseases and its duration.

·         Yoga is much more effective when applied to newly occurring condition than as a last resort.

·         Since there are many health issues due to modern comforts and luxuries .Many now are suffering from combination of problems like one suffers from diabetes, high pressure, hypothyroidism as well acidity or having low back and neck problems as well diabetes, obesity .In these cases one needs to carefully eliminate the asanas and prioritize the problems one by one and not to hurry up.

Usually no one is born with problems; we invite it due to our ignorance and laziness. As a therapy one must understand that yoga helps one to overcome their health issues provided they practice according to the trainer or what yoga therapist has mentioned to practice in a day.

  

·         Yoga and medicine can go hand in hand to heal them faster and body responds well due to better absorption of oxygen by the body cells than consumption of oxygen,which leads to repair of cells faster.

·         Therapy which is undertaken half-heartedly with irregular practice and distracted mind is worse than useless as practitioner usually blames yoga for his or her own practice.

·         Yoga is the science of right living which one has to incorporate in one’s daily life.

                           http://wizpert.com/PremaNagesh(any queries contact online)

HARI OM TAT SAT

YOGA FOR INSOMNIA

YOGA FOR INSOMNIA

"Do you experience difficulty sleeping?" or "Do you have difficulty falling or staying asleep?"

Thus, insomnia is most often thought of as both a sign and a symptom that can accompany several sleep, disorders characterized by a persistent difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep or sleep of poor quality. 

Insomnia can occur at any age, but it is particularly common in the elderly. Insomnia can be short term (up to three weeks) or long term (above 3–4 weeks), which can lead to memory problems, depression, irritability and an increased risk of heart disease and automobile related accidents.

What I have noticed about insomnia among my new students who have come to me with difficulty in falling asleep is due to flood of thoughts due to mental stress.

Difficulty in staying asleep may be due to sleep apnea too.

Choking which is also the symptom ,can be due to some physical problems like being Overweight and those with facial deformities that could obstruct airways are more at risk, Sleep apnea  is a breathing disorder that occurs during sleep. It is typically accompanied by loud snoring and consists of brief periods during which breathing stops. As a result, sufferers of sleep apnea do not get enough oxygen during sleep.

Let’s discuss more in a yogic way how to deal with it, as the sufferers need to be helped in a more proven way which has been since many years ago too.

According to yogic way the nostrils dominance affects ones mood, energy, physical and mental health. What it means that the each breath has an underlying significance and a coded message to the brain according to which our brains sends the response to our sense organs and vital organs.

 Ordinary breathing is a mechanical function performed by the physical body but in Swara yoga breathing is a process which can be manipulated and controlled.

Most of the time respiration takes place through one nostril only, other nostril is blocked temporarily according to the kind of work physical or mental.

For e.g. the left is more dominant when one is relaxed physically which means more of mental action like meditating, praying, doing some spiritual activity  'and right is more active during physical activity like eating ,playing or working  physically and even during the sleep ,though we are not physically active.

Why right nostril should be dominant during sleep?

When you sleep though you are neither physically nor should mentally be active, but right nostril must be dominant before bed time. People carry back all the days stress before they sleep so it affects the mental energy pattern, which in turn alters the normal sleep pattern.If your right nostril is more dominant and you are not physically active or any physical activity is happening then you will sleep instantly. 

If you can't sleep well at night due to too much mental activity or  mental stress then I would suggest you must try......

1. Right nostril inhale 5 secs and left nostril exhale for 10 secs for  min 5 mins or more till the right nostril is more dominant .
2. Once the right is more dominant then practice alternate nostril breathing for 5 to 10 times in the same ratio of inhale and exhale.
3. If you can't inhale 5 secs and exhale 10 secs then you  can vary the inhale and exhale ratio accord to your lung capacity but make sure it is the ratio of 1:1 or 1:2 of inhale and exhale which means exhale should be equal or double the inhale.
4. Try reducing the number of breaths per minute may be 4  to 6 per minute
5. Practice Bhramari  11 times ,with or without closing the ears depending on your  health complaint like if you are suffering from vertigo and ear problems avoid closing the ears .
6. Bhramari is practiced by closing the ears and eyes with thumb and other four fingers gently and inhale full lungs for 5 secs and then while exhaling hum like bee loudly for 20 secs.
7. The ideal ratio of breathing pattern for Bhramari should be 1:4 of inhale and exhale. It can also be 1:2 ratio of inhale and exhale.
8. Once you finish practicing for 11 times Bhramari then turn towards the left and sleep which will keep the right nostril open.
9. In case of sleep apnea, you can sleep by keeping two pillows for the upper back and head.
10. Please note you must not try this right nostril inhale and left exhale other time of the day as it may increase heat in your body and may lead to other complications.

Whether one is suffering from difficulty in sleeping or staying asleep the problem is same so the solution will be nearly the same and many of them have overcome their problems by practicing the age old yogic ways and are having good night sleep.what else one want other than peaceful sleep and pain free body.

HARI OM TAT SAT

MEDITATION AS THERAPY

Why people become restless when they are asked to close their eyes and meditate?

I have often wondered, why the day I would plan for meditation class many of them would be absent. May be they have not realized the importance of it or they are able to manage their emotions on their own if so then why they are restless. 

I would like to share the importance of Buddhist meditation and it’s very practical and step by step process to grow spiritually and anyone can follow.

One of the best thing which could have happened in my life till now in spiritual growth is attending the meditation course in Dharmkot,Tushita Meditation center.

It has changed the outlook towards the life in every aspect of my life. I found the kind of meditation which I was looking for many years, very logical and scientific and the best is that is used as therapy for healing the most common problems faced by all . I realized more than just the physical benefits through Yoga, the understanding of self-matters a lot in spiritual growth and further to help other beings.

Lama Yeshe says whether we are rich or poor ,religious or atheist, we all suffer from delusions like anger, pride, jealousy, selfish, depression, hatred, irritation, attachment, deluded doubts, wrong views, ignorance. Because of these negative aspects in us there are lots of problems and sufferings which we create for self and involve others too.

We collect negative karma's associated with these negativities. Karmas are never lost it gets accumulated life after life so what’s in our hand is now which is the cause, which create effect for tomorrow.

According to Buddha one must overcome these delusions one by one in this life time as human birth is precious and to avoid rebirths. 

It's not the religion nor the Yogic Asanas or any  spiritual master(who can show way) can help one to get rid of their negative emotions but one himself by understanding the fact that the problems lies in oneself and solution lies in oneself ,others can just kindle a spark in you and you have to identify that and further should take it up for spirituality.

"Be your own Therapist" says Lama Yeshe as the type of meditation which is being taught in that center is to study about yourself, the nature of your own mind, instead of some supernatural belief or some supreme being. It is more of science or psychology.

What I have realized is that, it is not attending to church, temple or mosque or blindly following religious Dharma which is going to give you self-realization but how one takes these religious Dharma in to practical life and help all other sentient beings without harming them and help them to grow more spiritually matters in spirituality and for self-realization. For eg. Lord Jesus Christ, when we all pray to him, do we pray to his physical form or to his qualities which made him the spiritual master to all. He was an example for compassion, love and service to all mankind so let’s take his quality and bring in to our mind his physical form to remember these spiritual qualities to help others. It’s the same in all religion and all spiritual masters set an example for growing spiritually but we as normal human being are not able to understand their teaching in reality. 

Best examples would be to make even atheist to understand are of Mahatma Ghandiji and Mother Teresa what else one can think when one say their name? It’s their devotion for others, humanitarian service which enlightened them. All spiritual masters lived for others so they had overcome their delusions like anger, hatred, pride, jealousy, self-cherishing, attachments, ignorance, attachment etc.

Don’t we check every day morning our least materialistic things eg; food, money, dress etc which we think is most important in our life.

The same way let’s be aware of every moment of our daily life, fully conscious of what we are doing, why and how we are doing? That's all so simple isn't it?

Investigate our mind with introspective knowledge and wisdom to see what's in there says Lama.

Without checking no matter how much we talk about our mind our emotions, we can never really understand our emotions which are egocentric and is making us restless.

Everyone wants happiness and in search of satisfaction we move from one relationship to another, one job to another, one country to another, we all keep collecting material things. We all believe that things and people have their inherent quality or nature or permanent like good or bad, attractive or unattractive for eg chocolate is inherently delicious but if that so then all would feel the same way or we also have the opinions like she or he is good or bad and I am fat or I am lazy. According to Buddhist philosophy, mind is clear in nature and reflects everything that it experiences just as still lake reflects the surroundings

There is nothing wrong in wanting happiness and attempts to find it but see things like relationships, possessions have intrinsic ability to satisfy us or the cause of happiness.

Meditation is not just closing your eyes and sitting and allowing your mind to wander like a wild horse.

It’s not activity of body or for the purpose of experiencing bodily sensations.

Many of us feel good after sitting quiet in meditation and would like to carry it back when they return to their worldly life but how many are able to hold the same state of mind?

Many of us due to their habit instantly react negatively and then may or may not realize their negative states of the mind.

This type of meditation is to be honest with ourselves and taking good look at what we are.

But remember that our life long habits die hard and it’s very difficult to recognize our anger ,jealousy, attachment, ignorance etc.so the transformation of mind is a slow process by creating more positive states of mind making it a habit to bring more positive results to self-first then to others around.

In Tibetan term meditation means "to become familiar”. What arises in mind is what we are most familiar with. For example: if someone treats us unkindly or disrespectfully we feel hurt or angry it is because these are the reactions that we are most familiar with or habituated to. 

Buddhist meditation makes us understand and familiarize our mind with positive states of mind like love, compassion, patience, serenity and wisdom so that these become natural and spontaneous. Then if we encounter an unkind person or similar unkind situation which we may not like we remain calm patient and have compassion for them and use the wisdom to deal the situation.

In Buddhist meditation one gets the opportunity to check their mind and with regular meditation one becomes more balanced and has compassion for all sentient beings and develops equanimity to all being.

If one expresses their negative emotions externally which leaves deep impression in their consciousness and this kind of imprint makes it easier for them to react the same harmful way again may be more powerful than previous. So one should recognize it in first place itself by carefully investigate their feelings and identify it and diffuse it or digest it before it increases further.

There are any different techniques in Tibetan style of meditation which can be categorized in to two: Stabilizing (Shamata) and Analytical (Vipashayana)

The step involved in meditation is very systematic and logical.

Steps to investigate the mind....

• learn to sit in Padmasana  or Ardhpadmasan or any other posture where knees are reaching and relaxing on the floor, back straight, shoulders relaxed hands on knees with palm downward or right palm over left with tips of the thumb touching each other resting below navel and head straight but chin slightly down and lock the tongue and eyebrows gazing at nose tip. Sit on cushions to keep the back straight and knees on floor.
• Close your eyes and observe the present states of mind for a while.
• Body awareness from legs to head relax.
• Motivation for this practice is must as without proper motivation the results are not proper and motivate yourself to do this practice for others so that there is less of expectation from self and many sentient being in this earth are not able to practice meditation and are not getting the opportunity so let's practice this for others and dedicate this positive energy at the end of the practice to all beings.
• Stabilizing meditation on breath
• Analytical meditation depending on what you want to analyze (esp. if you are restless or any mental stress or anxiety which is making you insomniac)  at that point of time or day
• Identify it but how can one identify if it's a negative emotions which is creeping up and is disturbing you making you restless and others around is that you can notice a slight buzz behind your heart and leads to short breath (notice it as these are very subtle feelings) and positive emotions leads to lightness in heart and deep breathing and rhythmic, as breath goes hand in hand with thoughts and emotions. 
• Put forth lots of Analytical questions related to it like How,where,when and antidotes to these negativity and work on the benefits of these positive antidotes. Once you are able to get some solution to your problem then finish your meditation with the last step.
• Dedicate your practice to all sentient beings for their benefit and understanding.

Stabilizing meditation can be practiced in mornings as it helps to be more focused in days’ work and Analytical ones can be practiced in the evenings or before going to bed to analyze the day’s activity so that when you go to bed you can sleep after throwing off your entire burden.One can practice initially for 15 mins then slowly increase the practice.

HARIOM

Therapeutic Mudras

Like Yoga, Mudras are boon to mankind. The ancient sciences of Mudras are greatest and finest gifts of India to the world.

The science of Mudras, a part of Yoga, is based on the fundamental principles of life....

Five Elements- Akash(space),Vayu(air),Agni(fire),Jal(water) and Prithvi(earth)

Five Pranas- Prana, Udana, Samana, Apana,Vyana and 

Three Doshas- Vata, Pitta, Kapha 

Mudras are mainly performed as gestures by fingers, hand positions and also in combination with Asana, Pranayama, Bandha and techniques involving eye movements.

The Kuarnava Tantra mentions about this Mudra--"Mud" meaning Joy and "Dravya" meaning to draw forth the "sat chit ananda" which is latent in all of us.

The finger tips contain large number of Meissners Corpuscles and contain large number of tactile receptors. Human thumb is connected with brain by Radial and Median sensory nerves, Index, middle and half of the ring fingers by Median nerve and half of the ring and small fingers by Ulner nerve.So when you combine different fingers in relation with thumb, for different purposes they relay signal of different amplitude and frequency by the concerned sensory nerves to specific sensory reception centers in Brain. Such signals produce different bio effects depending on the signal strength and frequencies.

When we perform Mudra the energy that is emitted out of our finger tips is arrested and redirected to certain parts of the Brain centers and from where the proper breathing directs it to parts of the body as per the Mudra. This is the scientific basis of the Mudra.

While performing the Mudra combining the fingertip with the Thumb tip subtle sensation of vibration is felt. This proves presence of electromagnetic power flowing in the body.

Finger           Element

Thumb             Fire

Index               Air

Middle            Space

Ring                Earth

Little               Water

IMPORTANT GUIDELINES:

·                     Touching the Tip of the finger to the Thumb balance the element represented by the finger.

·                     Touching the Tip of the finger to the base of the Thumb decreases the element represented by the finger.

·                     Touching the Tip of the Thumb to the base of the finger increases the element represented by the finger.

Suitable Dietary changes will also reinforce the benefits of Mudras.

As Mudras are commonly known to all of you, I would briefly mention about certain Mudras which I felt have proved beneficial for my students and as mentioned in book "Mudras and Health Perspectives" authored by Suman.K.Chiplunkar. Author has mentioned in depth about the Mudras which common persons can practice and greatly benefit out of it.

 FOR GENERAL WELL BEING-

Six Mudras are to be practiced everyday 10 mins each Apan, Pran, Vayu, Dhyan.

·                     If used as Therapy then specific Mudras for 50 mins followed by Pran Mudra 10 minutes. If time constraint is there then practice 3 times a day for 15 minutes each followed by 5 minutes Pran Mudra.  Therapeutic Mudras like Surya Mudra Mudra should not be performed for more than 15 minutes at a time.

·                     Unlimited Time Practice-Pran, Apaan, Prithvi, and jnana Mudras.

·                      Shankha Mudra

•      Linga Mudra 

            

                                                           Problems                                                              Mudras

v    Stress	Jnana Mudra(tips of the index and thumb)
v   Anger, fear, sorrow	Akash Mudra(tips pf the middle and thumb)
v   Inflammation, fever, skin diseases, osteoporosis, stomach acidity, burning sensation in eyes	Prithvi Mudra(tips of the ring and thumb)
v   Dry cough,dry skin(psoriasis) ,osteoarthritis, cramps, dry eyes, pimples, sunstroke	Varun Mudra(tip of the little and thumb)
v    Blood pressure high or low	Vyan Mudra(tips of both index and middle with the tip of thumb)
v    Constipation, piles, flatulence, healthy teeth, diabetes	Apaan Mudra(tips of middle and ring with the tip of thumb)
v   Increases will power and compliments    other mudras in healing	Pran Mudra    (tips of ring and little with the tip of thumb)
v   Parkinsons, sciatica, cervical pain, knee pain	Vayu Mudra(15 mins +varun mudra15 mins+ pran mudra 15 mins)(vayu –tip of the index at the base of thumb)
v   For palpitation, To prevent heart attack	Apaan Vayu Mudra(both apaan and vayu together)
Gout	Vayu mudra and pran mudra
v   Convulsion	Vayu mudra 15 mins daily
v   Earache while flight take off landing, travel sickness, vertigo	Shoonya Mudra(tip of the middle at the base of thumb)
v   General illness	Shoonya Vayu Mudra
v   Cholesterol, low body temperature, absence of sweat ,increases metabolism	Surya Mudra(tip of the ring at the base of thumb)
v    Swelling in any part of body, watery eyes, hyper acidity	Jalodhar nashak Mudra(tip of the little at the base of thumb)
v   Kidney problems	Kidney Mudra(tips of ring and little fingers at the base of thumb)
v   Sinusitis, cold, asthma, bronchitis, obesity	Linga Mudra(15mins + surya Mudra 15mins) see pic
v   For thyroid gland and for children height to be increased , for allergies caused by dust and smoke, after paralytic attack	Shankha Mudra(15 mins) see pic

In short the most astonishing and wish fulfilling part of us is, hand that represents five elements. The Yogis discovered that the whole creation is composed of five elements as mentioned above and Human structure is also miniature form of the Universe and is also composed of same five elements.

Therefore they concluded that the secret of good health depends on balance of elements within the body and any imbalance leads to diseases of body and mind.

For more details about therapy please go through our website "yogatherapy4all.com"

                  http://wizpert.com/PremaNagesh(any queries contact online)

                                                     HARI OM TAT SAT