Yoga: Holistic Yoga Practices For Today

By Dipankar Khanna

There is an innate desire in all of us to be happy - no one wants to suffer or to become sad. We all want to experience peace and happiness. We all want joy. However, we often observe that there is a lot of suffering around us. Even in seemingly 'happy and prosperous' families there is an endless saga of negative moods and unhappiness surrounding their lives. To obtain happiness we do all those things that actually become a cause of grief, unhappiness and remorse. Unattended this can become a compulsive cyclic pattern.

We live in close proximity; we share not only physical space but also emotional and mental space with one another. Therefore, it is helpful to be balanced in order to take care of our self and to interact in a meaningful way with others.

The process of acquiring a wholesome and healthy physical, emotional and mental attitude begins when we recognise the need to establish mental attitudes.

The attempt should be made by all individuals to recognise and address these attitudes. And yoga can be of immense help in our endeavours. All yogic practices while having a beneficial effect on the physique should also address attitudinal needs. The practices therefore should be attitude related and attitude building.

The broad areas that a holistic yoga related programme should cover are:

• Conditioning related to Acceptance and Faith
• Synchronisation as related to Duty
• Concentration as related to Mindfulness
• Relaxation as related to Letting-go
• Humility encompassing or the essence of all the above yogic concepts

The above concepts are interconnected and the path followed by a holistic yoga programme should help cultivate them in tandem with our existing external and internal environments.

The yogic tools that need to be utilised to enhance, intensify and accelerate the quality of the experience of the lives of individuals are practical techniques that will help our body, mind and soul. These are graded into postures or asana s, satkarma s such as kriya s, mudra s and pranayama s. Ayurvedic principles on diet and nutrition are also extremely beneficial.

The basic principles to follow in yoga are those propounded in the classical yoga principles of Maharishi Patanjali (500 BC). We should go to a yoga school that has a long history and tradition rather than posh schools with even more flashy 'gurus' who end up doing us more harm than good. We will be able to recognise the old traditional schools from method of teaching employed, which are generally simple and direct. The emphasis should be more on an individual participant experiencing these concepts rather than gaining an intellectual understanding or knowledge. The student should in turn work on generating positive states of mind such as relaxation, peace, quietude and tranquility.