A Wisdom Archive on Yoga and Health

Introduction and links to related topics

Ayurveda - A division of the Vedic literature that deals with health, literally "knowledge of the totality of life". Originated in India approximately 3,000 years ago. It is still a favored form of health care in India. Ayurvedic medicine is both preventive and curative. The preventive part emphasizes the need for a strict code of personal and social hygiene. The curative aspect of Ayurvedic medicine involves the use of herbal medicines, Yoga, and diet.

Asana - (Sanskrit) "Seat; posture." In hatha yoga, asana refers to any of numerous poses prescribed to balance and tune up the subtle energies of mind and body for meditation and to promote health and longevity. Examples are the shoulder-stand (sarvangasana,"whole body pose") and the lotus pose (padmasana). Each asana possesses unique benefits, affecting the varied inner bodies and releasing energies in different parts of the nervous system.

While the physical science of hatha yoga can dramatically influence health and general well-being, it is primarily a preparation for the deeper yogas and meditations. Sivaya Subramuniyaswami has provided a system of 27 asanas to tune the nervous system for meditation and contemplation and to mitigate the burdensome karmas, known by the modern term "stress," built up through the interaction with other people. His 27 asanas are performed in a meditative sequence, not unlike a serene dance, accompanied by certain visualizations and pranayamas.
See: hatha yoga, raja yoga, yoga, yoga positions

Healthy Happy - An instructional group founded by the Indian Sikh Dharma Yogi Bhajan in Los Angeles, California, in 1968 to promote holistic well-being through kundalini yoga.

Flourishing during the period of most intense international interest in Asian meditation techniques, the 3HO taught a simplified or neo-Hindu practice for awakening the psychic energy believed to lay dormant within the human body. (See 3HO)

New Age -
1. mixing metaphysical practices with a structured religion. (TRASB)
2. movement of emerging planetary consciousness devoted to making Earth a healthier, happen and more peaceful place to live based on respect for humanity’s diverse traditional way of life in harmony with the environment.
3. holistic community in general, including practitioners of yoga, meditation, natural foods, spiritual development, humanistic psychology, environmental and peace activism, psychic arts and sciences and many other approaches and disciplines.
4. Aquarius Age, coming era of peace and spiritual understanding.
5. age of group interplay, group idealism and group consciousness (Bailey)
6. an added dimension to our daily, ordinary living, a sense of empowerment and enthusiasm arising from the presence of the unexpected in our lives. (David Spangler).
7. waking up from our somnambulistic existence, turning the lights an ‘inside’ and letting live fill its place. (Swami Virato)
8. a major and unprecendened cultural transformation. (Diane Eisler) (NAD)

Pranayama - Pranayama (Sanskrit) [from prana breath + ayama restraining, stopping]

The fourth of the eight states of yoga, consisting of various methods of regulating the breath. The three forms of pranayama are puraka (the inhaling); kumbhaka (the retaining); and rechaka (the exhaling).

Any practice of pranayama can be fraught with serious danger, not merely to physical health, but in extreme cases to mental balance or stability. Pranayama, when actually practiced according to the exoteric rules, is a very different thing from the excellent and common sense advice given by doctors to breathe deeply, and to fill the lungs with fresh air. Pranayama should never be practiced by anyone unless under the guidance of initiated teachers, and these never proclaim themselves as teachers of pranayama, for the adepts use it only in rarest cases for certain pupils who for karmic reasons can be helped in this unusual and extraordinary way.

Mitahara - (Sanskrit) "Measured eating; moderate appetite."

A requisite to good health and an essential for success in yoga. The ideal portion per meal is described as no more than would fill the two hands held side by side and slightly cupped piled high, an amount called a kudava. All the six tastes should be within these foods (sweet, salty, sour, pungent, bitter and astringent), and the foods should be well cooked and highly nutritious.
See: yamaniyama.

Puraka - Puraka (Sanskrit) [from the verbal root pri to fill]

Inhaling; one of the practices used in hatha yoga for the regulation of the breath. In puraka, the right nostril is closed with the forefinger and then the breath is drawn up through the left nostril; and then the left nostril is closed and the air drawn up through the right nostril.

Unless such practices are conducted under direct supervision of an adept, the breath control practices of puraka, kumbhaka, and rechaka are very dangerous to the health and disturb the mental balance, often causing insanity, and hence cannot be recommended.

Rechaka - Rechaka recaka (Sanskrit) [from the verbal root rec to empty, purge]

A hatha yoga practice for the regulation of the breath: the breath is expelled from one nostril while the other nostril is held closed with the finger, and then the operation is repeated with the other nostril. These operations, extremely dangerous to health and mental balance, should be discouraged.

See also KUMBHAKA; PURAKA; HATHA YOGA; YOGA

Rechaka - Rechaka (Sanskrit). A practice in Hatha Yoga, during the performance of Pranayama or the regulation of breath : namely, that of opening one nostril and emitting breath therefrom, and keeping the other closed; one of the three operations respectively called Puraka, Kumbhaka and Rechaka - operations very pernicious to health.

Raja Yoga - (Sanskrit) "King of yogas."

Also known as ashtanga yoga, "eight-limbed yoga." The classical yoga system of eight progressive stages to Illumination as described in various yoga Upanishads, the Tirumantiram and, most notably, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

The eight limbs are as follows.
yama: "Restraint." Virtuous and moral living, which brings purity of mind, freedom from anger, jealousy and subconscious confusion which would inhibit the process of meditation.
niyama: (Sanskrit) "Observance." Religious practices which cultivate the qualities of the higher nature, such as devotion, cognition, humility and contentment- giving the refinement of nature and control of mind needed to concentrate and ultimately plunge into samadhi.
asana: "Seat or posture." A sound body is needed for success in meditation. This is attained through hatha yoga, the postures of which balance the energies of mind and body, promoting health and serenity, e.g., padmasana, the "lotus pose," for meditation. The Yoga Sutras indicate that asanas make the yogi impervious to the impact of the pairs of opposites (dvandva), heat-cold, etc.
pranayama: "Mastering life force." Breath control, which quiets the chitta and balances ida and pingala. Science of controlling prana through breathing techniques in which lengths of inhalation, retention and exhalation are modulated. Pranayama prepares the mind for deep meditation.
pratyahara: "Withdrawal." The practice of withdrawing consciousness from the physical senses first, such as not hearing noise while meditating, then progressively receding from emotions, intellect and eventually from individual consciousness itself in order to merge into the Universal.
dharana: "Concentration." Focusing the mind on a single object or line of thought, not allowing it to wander. The guiding of the flow of consciousness. When concentration is sustained long and deeply enough, meditation naturally follows.
dhyana: "Meditation." A quiet, alert, powerfully concentrated state wherein new knowledge and insight pour into the field of consciousness. This state is possible once the subconscious mind has been cleared or quieted.
samadhi: "Enstasy," which means "standing within one''s self." "Sameness, contemplation." The state of true yoga, in which the meditator and the object of meditation are one.

See: yoga, asana, samadhi, raja yoga.