INTRODUCTION TO YOGA AS A THERAPY- From Dr Ananda's DVDs

[Guest guest]

INTRODUCTION TO YOGA AS A THERAPY

Welcome

to this series of videos where we shall see the different applications

of Yoga. Yoga is the ancient art and science that has sprouted from the

fertile soil of the Indian culture. Yoga is popular today more as a

therapy. More people come to Yoga to improve their physical condition,

to improve their mental condition and to improve their emotional

conditions. Yoga as a therapy is much more recent in the wonderful long

history of Yoga. Yoga is primarily an art and science of spiritual

evolution. Yoga helps us to unify all aspects of our very being, the

physical body in which we live our daily life, the energy body without

which we will not have the energy to do what we do, the mind body that

sends the mind impulse helping us to do the task with mindfulness, the

higher mind and finally the universal body.

The

physical, energy, mind, higher mind and finally the universal body, all

of these bodies are unified by the very practice of Yoga. Yoga helps

bring about the union between the body, emotions and the mind. It can

be said to be the science of right-use-ness. Using the body, using the

emotions, using the mind in the right manner. On of the best

definitions of Yoga is that Yoga is a ‘way of life’. It is not

something you do for 5 minutes a day or 20 minutes a day. It is a 24

hour lifestyle. Yoga helps us to live better, Yoga helps us to think

better, Yoga helps us to become better at whatever we are. The ultimate

goal of Yoga is spiritual evolution, yet in the modern world today one

of the major reasons that people take up Yoga is as a therapy. Illness,

disease, disorders are so common in this world that people want a

remedy. They want relief from their sufferings. According to Bhagavad

Gita, an ancient text which can be said to be a book on Yoga Shasthra,

Lord Krishna defines Yoga as “dukkha samyoga viyogam yoga samjnithamâ€

meaning thereby that Yoga is the disassociation from the union with

pain. Pain, suffering, disease - Yoga offers a way out of all of these.

One

of the foremost concepts of Yoga therapy is that the mind which is

called Adhi influences the body creating Vyadhi, the disease. This is

known as the Adhi Vyadhi or Adhija Vyadhi where the mind brings about

the production of disease in the physical body. Nowadays this is called

psychosomatic illness. Virtually every problem that we face in our

health today has either its origin in the psychosomatics or is worsened

by the psychosomatic aspect of the disease. The mind and the body seem

to be fighting each other all the time. What the mind wants, the body

doesn’t do and what the body wants the mind doesn’t do. This creates a

dichotomy, a disharmony, a disease. Yoga unifying the mind and the body

along with the emotions helps restore the balance restoring

equilibrium. The psychosomatic disorders, that are so prevalent in

today’s world, they can be prevented, controlled and possibly cured

with the sincere application of Yoga as a therapy.

Psychosomatic

disorders go through 4 major phases. The first is the psychic phase,

where it is all the stress in the mind. There is jitteriness, there is

a tension, a sense of not being at ease. If this continues the psychic

stage then becomes the psychosomatic stage. Now at this stage the mind

and the body they are troubling each other and the body starts to have

these temporary fluctuations such as your blood pressure goes up, or

your blood sugar goes up or your heart rate goes up. And then, if this

is allowed to continue, it becomes a somatic stage where it is settling

in your body and then you are having that condition permanently. It is

a condition which requires treatment and therapy.

The

fourth of the stages when all of the psychic, the psychosomatic and

somatic conditions have now settled into the organs creating the

organic stage of the disease which could be termed the end stage of the

disease.

Yoga

therapy works excellently at the psychic and psychosomatic stages. Once

the disease comes into the somatic stage, Yoga therapy along with the

other therapies can help improve the condition. When it comes to the

organic stage, Yoga therapy’s role is more of a palliative, pain relief

and rehabilitative nature. The major role of Yoga is as a preventive

therapy, preventing that which is to come. Maharishi Patanjali in his

Yoga sutras tells us, “heyam dukkham anagathamâ€-let us prevent those miseries that are yet to comeâ€.

If

Yoga is taken up in the childhood itself, we can prevent so many

conditions from occurring later on in life. This is primary prevention.

Once the condition occurs, once the disease has set in, we have

secondary prevention which is more of a nature of controlling the

condition to whatever extent we can and then the tertiary prevention

where once the condition has occurred we try to prevent the

complications, those complications that can affect the quality of life

and even the quantity of life in other patients.

I

would like to conclude this introduction with a word of caution. Yoga

therapy is not a magic therapy! It is not a ‘one pill for all ills’.

There should be no false claims, tall claims made in this field because

Yoga therapy is also a science. It has to be approached in a

scientific, step-by-step manner. It should be a ‘one on one’ therapy,

where the therapist can modify the practices as per the individual

requirements. It is not “one size fits all-or one therapy fits all!

We

need to take into consideration, the gender, the physical condition as

well as the condition of the disorder when we are applying Yoga as a

therapy. A step-by-step approach involving aspects of diet, involving

aspects of our lifestyle, involving aspects of the way we think,

involving yogic counseling. Well, all of these are part and parcel of

Yoga therapy. When such a Yoga therapy is applied I am sure that you

will find tremendous changes in your life. The quality of life improves

drastically and in many cases even the quantity of life improves.

I

wish you a wonderful time, a time where you can help evolve from the

animal nature, to the human nature to the humane and ultimately the

divine nature though the wonderful art and science of Yoga, that now

you are being introduced to as a therapy. I wish you a happy, a healthy

and a fruitful Sadhana in Yoga.

(EXCERPTED FROM DR ANANDA BALAYOGI’S DVDS ON YOGA THERAPY FOR DIFFERENT HEALTH CHALLENGES)Yogacharya Dr.Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani Chairman : Yoganjali Natyalayam and ICYER Hon General Secretary, Pondicherry Yogasana Association 25, 2nd Cross,Iyyanar Nagar, Pondicherry, South India-605 013 Tel: +91-413 - 2622902 / +91-413 -3203314/+91-413 -2241561 Mobile: 9842311433 Website: www.icyer.com www.geocities.com/yognat2001/anandahttp://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yognat2001 & p=r

[Guest guest]

namas teas geocities has gone out of business all my pages there are no longer accesabilepl note that all the geocities content has already been shifted to www..org for future viewingall the best Yogacharya Dr.Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani Chairman : Yoganjali Natyalayam and ICYER Hon General Secretary, Pondicherry Yogasana Association 25, 2nd Cross,Iyyanar Nagar, Pondicherry, South India-605 013 Tel:

+91-413 - 2622902 / +91-413 -3203314/+91-413 -2241561 Mobile: 9842311433 Website: www.icyer.com www..orghttp://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yognat2001 & p=r

Yogacharya Dr.Ananda Bhavanani <yognat2001 Sent: Fri, December 4, 2009 12:00:45 PM INTRODUCTION TO YOGA AS A THERAPY- From Dr Ananda's DVDs

 

 

INTRODUCTION TO YOGA AS A THERAPY

Welcome

to this series of videos where we shall see the different applications

of Yoga. Yoga is the ancient art and science that has sprouted from the

fertile soil of the Indian culture. Yoga is popular today more as a

therapy. More people come to Yoga to improve their physical condition,

to improve their mental condition and to improve their emotional

conditions. Yoga as a therapy is much more recent in the wonderful long

history of Yoga. Yoga is primarily an art and science of spiritual

evolution. Yoga helps us to unify all aspects of our very being, the

physical body in which we live our daily life, the energy body without

which we will not have the energy to do what we do, the mind body that

sends the mind impulse helping us to do the task with mindfulness, the

higher mind and finally the universal body.

The

physical, energy, mind, higher mind and finally the universal body, all

of these bodies are unified by the very practice of Yoga. Yoga helps

bring about the union between the body, emotions and the mind. It can

be said to be the science of right-use-ness. Using the body, using the

emotions, using the mind in the right manner. On of the best

definitions of Yoga is that Yoga is a ‘way of life’. It is not

something you do for 5 minutes a day or 20 minutes a day. It is a 24

hour lifestyle. Yoga helps us to live better, Yoga helps us to think

better, Yoga helps us to become better at whatever we are. The ultimate

goal of Yoga is spiritual evolution, yet in the modern world today one

of the major reasons that people take up Yoga is as a therapy. Illness,

disease, disorders are so common in this world that people want a

remedy. They want relief from their sufferings. According to Bhagavad

Gita, an ancient text which can be said to be a book on Yoga Shasthra,

Lord Krishna defines Yoga as “dukkha samyoga viyogam yoga samjnithamâ€

meaning thereby that Yoga is the disassociation from the union with

pain. Pain, suffering, disease - Yoga offers a way out of all of these.

One

of the foremost concepts of Yoga therapy is that the mind which is

called Adhi influences the body creating Vyadhi, the disease. This is

known as the Adhi Vyadhi or Adhija Vyadhi where the mind brings about

the production of disease in the physical body. Nowadays this is called

psychosomatic illness. Virtually every problem that we face in our

health today has either its origin in the psychosomatics or is worsened

by the psychosomatic aspect of the disease. The mind and the body seem

to be fighting each other all the time. What the mind wants, the body

doesn’t do and what the body wants the mind doesn’t do. This creates a

dichotomy, a disharmony, a disease. Yoga unifying the mind and the body

along with the emotions helps restore the balance restoring

equilibrium. The psychosomatic disorders, that are so prevalent in

today’s world, they can be prevented, controlled and possibly cured

with the sincere application of Yoga as a therapy.

Psychosomatic

disorders go through 4 major phases. The first is the psychic phase,

where it is all the stress in the mind. There is jitteriness, there is

a tension, a sense of not being at ease. If this continues the psychic

stage then becomes the psychosomatic stage. Now at this stage the mind

and the body they are troubling each other and the body starts to have

these temporary fluctuations such as your blood pressure goes up, or

your blood sugar goes up or your heart rate goes up. And then, if this

is allowed to continue, it becomes a somatic stage where it is settling

in your body and then you are having that condition permanently. It is

a condition which requires treatment and therapy.

The

fourth of the stages when all of the psychic, the psychosomatic and

somatic conditions have now settled into the organs creating the

organic stage of the disease which could be termed the end stage of the

disease.

Yoga

therapy works excellently at the psychic and psychosomatic stages. Once

the disease comes into the somatic stage, Yoga therapy along with the

other therapies can help improve the condition. When it comes to the

organic stage, Yoga therapy’s role is more of a palliative, pain relief

and rehabilitative nature. The major role of Yoga is as a preventive

therapy, preventing that which is to come. Maharishi Patanjali in his

Yoga sutras tells us, “heyam dukkham anagathamâ€-let us prevent those miseries that are yet to comeâ€.

If

Yoga is taken up in the childhood itself, we can prevent so many

conditions from occurring later on in life. This is primary prevention.

Once the condition occurs, once the disease has set in, we have

secondary prevention which is more of a nature of controlling the

condition to whatever extent we can and then the tertiary prevention

where once the condition has occurred we try to prevent the

complications, those complications that can affect the quality of life

and even the quantity of life in other patients.

I

would like to conclude this introduction with a word of caution. Yoga

therapy is not a magic therapy! It is not a ‘one pill for all ills’.

There should be no false claims, tall claims made in this field because

Yoga therapy is also a science. It has to be approached in a

scientific, step-by-step manner. It should be a ‘one on one’ therapy,

where the therapist can modify the practices as per the individual

requirements. It is not “one size fits all-or one therapy fits all!

We

need to take into consideration, the gender, the physical condition as

well as the condition of the disorder when we are applying Yoga as a

therapy. A step-by-step approach involving aspects of diet, involving

aspects of our lifestyle, involving aspects of the way we think,

involving yogic counseling. Well, all of these are part and parcel of

Yoga therapy. When such a Yoga therapy is applied I am sure that you

will find tremendous changes in your life. The quality of life improves

drastically and in many cases even the quantity of life improves.

I

wish you a wonderful time, a time where you can help evolve from the

animal nature, to the human nature to the humane and ultimately the

divine nature though the wonderful art and science of Yoga, that now

you are being introduced to as a therapy. I wish you a happy, a healthy

and a fruitful Sadhana in Yoga.

(EXCERPTED FROM DR ANANDA BALAYOGI’S DVDS ON YOGA THERAPY FOR DIFFERENT HEALTH CHALLENGES)Yogacharya Dr.Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani Chairman : Yoganjali Natyalayam and ICYER Hon General Secretary, Pondicherry Yogasana Association 25, 2nd Cross,Iyyanar Nagar, Pondicherry, South India-605 013 Tel: +91-413 - 2622902 / +91-413 -3203314/+91- 413 -2241561 Mobile: 9842311433 Website: www.icyer.com www.geocities. com/yognat2001/ anandahttp://youtube. com/profile_ videos?user= yognat2001 & p=r