Through a holistic approach how we can achieve overall wellness of the body mind and soul. Today even the world health organization defines health is not just physical well-being but the physical mental, social, and spiritual well-being of an individual. This is the definition given by the WHO of the United Nations. So let us utilize this holistic system to see how we can achieve good health through yoga, meditation, and spirituality.
For the gross body, The Vedic scriptures offer this wonderful gift of yoga asana, which in itself is popular in the Western world as a yoga. So let us see what is the principle behind yoga. This body needs to be maintained and in order to maintain it you must use all the tissues, muscles, the joints the ligaments, the organs on a regular basis otherwise after 40 it’s downhill.
If you wish to keep the old age Healthier Then you have to maintain your body, you have to service it on a daily basis. This is also significant in the case of the brain because after seventy years of age people are retired and they limit the uses of the brain. 47% of people suffer from dementia, why, because like the other body parts, the brain is also crumbling. The way to counter it would have been using it. Therefore the one principal in the Yoga is that you wish to keep all the bodily organs active thereby keep them healthy. So The muscles need to be strengthened.
By doing yoga asana, The muscles remain strong and the joints remain in the place resulting in proper functioning.As for an instance, most of the backaches have their Beginning in the muscles growing week. So to have strong back muscles one should practice the relevant postures, eg- Shalabhasana (Locust Pose), Bhujangasana(Snake pose).And the third principle behind the yoga postures is, it tones the organs to run well till the last breath. This is how the ancient yogis in the Himalayas, who lived 1000 years ago would do the yoga postures. Nowadays people use chemicals To cure thyroid, As the medical Science says, You have to take this pill to cure your hyper or hypothyroidism. But The yogic science says That we can cure it. Try the Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand), it will Squeeze that Organ, And having done the shoulder stand follow it up with the fish pose(Matsyasana), Which will stretch this Organ. By constantly practicing this posture, the thyroid can easily be cured. So this is how the yoga postures help us in maintaining this Gross body.
Thereafter we can move further to the Subtle sheath(the Pranmaya Kosh).The ancient yogis have given us a beautiful gift of pranayama. Is it a breathing practice By which, We not only assimilate oxygen from the atmosphere, not only we enhance the oxygen flow, But we enter Into the praanik energy of the atmosphere, the vital energy, the vital force of the atmosphere, which, is the cause of the moment in all the living beings. Through Pranayam, we inhale that vital energy into our subtle body. With the help of Pranayam, we assimilate this energy into the body. But then both of these are still not sufficient because if the mind is not stable then what to do. The mental issues will also have to be addressed. So how to address mental issues, by purifying the mental sheath (Manomaya kosha).The technique of purifying the mind is meditation.
In a Hatha yoga Pradipika (Ancient text on Yoga), It is mentioned that the Yog asana is beneficial for your body but the Pranayam is 20 times more beneficial, and meditation is 20 times more beneficial than pranayama. That’s the matter of priority It lays on the mind, and the mind needs to be purified by the practice of meditation. But the question is, why does the mind become dirty and impure in the first place. And even if you purify your mind by the practices of meditation, how do you ensure that the mind remains pure and clean. This is when comes the intellectual sheath( the Vigyanmaya Kosha).The values and morals we cultivate, If misplaced or replaced, We will run for the pleasures in temporary things And ultimately gratifying our senses for ephemeral things. And when this is our value system that we want immediate gratification, no matter how many times we clean the mind it will become dirty again, that is why even beyond the mental sheath is the intellectual sheath now Intellect needs to be purified.
To purify that we access the divine transcendental knowledge which removes the cobwebs from the Intellect with the light of transcendence and that is what we get from the Scriptures, not dogma but the Divine knowledge to illuminate our intellect. Scriptures around The world from all religious traditions are aiming At removing the cobwebs of the intellect. But why do we make our values, what is the rationale behind it all we now go to the bliss sheath we determine our values based upon where we have decided happiness lies. If we can decide happiness in the proper place, values will be right, if we have decided happiness is in money, my values will align according to that and when that is my value system and the ethics will be thrown out of the system, then there is no doubt that the mind will become dirty therefore the decision needs to be made that where does the real happiness lies and this requires the understanding who am I.This is is the primary spiritual knowledge.
All the religions or the religious scriptures around the world inform us that we are not the body we are beyond this body, you have something more than that this body is perishable, it is always changing. Medical science tells us that the cells die every moment And are being replaced by the new cells. The process of regeneration is constant so what happens in this regeneration, within one year 98% of the body molecules change, and yet you know you are the same person the, same person who has lived for the decades. So what is unchanging within this constantly changing body, that is the soul that is the real “I” and that soul is the basis of consciousness in this body. The body parts move not by itself but by the energy of the soul available to the body to make it move, like the cloth moves not by itself but by the hand energy and how the hand is working, by the energy of this soul. If the hand removes its energy the cloth is still and dead, similar the soul leaves the body and this makes it still or dead. Try with all your chemical reactions, the body will not come into action again. So the primary knowledge is I am the soul.
This knowledge is important because if a mistake happens here everything else will be wrong, one has to start properly And the starting knowledge is “I am the eternal soul” and that eternal soul is a tiny fragment of the “Supreme”.So you may refer to the supreme by any name yet we all are his tiny parts just like the hand is a part of the body. What is the Dharma, the duty of a hand, is to serve the body. It takes the food and puts it in the mouth, this is the Dharma of the hand and if it refuses and says, why should I serve the body, cut me away, I have had enough of the service. If you detach the hand from this body, it’s merely a lump of flesh and bone, it’s self-interest lays in serving the body, that would ensure, it would Receive the nourishment it needs for its sustenance. Similarly, we are not independent of this entire creation, we all are one with this entire creation, with our little unique position, and that is in service to the whole. When we do that we receive the blessing or bliss that we want. The problem is in the present state that we souls have turned our back to supreme.
Yoga means to unite. Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word “Yuj” Which means union when the soul is united with the supreme God in its consciousness Face to face, that is Yog but we, the souls, have turned our back to God. This is called Viyoga the opposite of yoga. And this is when the soul comes into the bodily concept of life and is engaging in Bhog (the materialistic enjoyment), which is leading to Roga (the diseases), so you see where that disease comes from, instead of yoga we pursue Viyoga. So the solution then is not in nearly ingesting chemical in the body but the solution is to turn our back on to the supreme and that is the purpose of the Yoga, to unite the individual consciousness with the supreme consciousness. To achieve true yoga in this way through yoga meditation and spirituality, we can achieve holistic health at the physical mental intellectual, and spiritual level.
Govindam Yoga, as a Yoga School in Rishikesh India, is influenced & empowered by the teachings of the enlightening Vedic Scriptures and the great Sages of ancient India, which reflect in our deliverance of the pristine teachings of Yoga. With time, the true essence of yoga has been lost and is continuing to lose its objectives. We strive & focus on educating humanity with the great yogic wisdom from the authentic source. We are committed to making sincere efforts in reviving the topmost system of Yoga in its true spirit, by sharing and educating the absolute teachings of Yoga.
We offer authentic yoga teacher training in Rishikesh & yoga retreats in the foothills of the majestic Himalayas, which is considered to be the best place for yoga & meditation in India. These programs allow you to succumb into the realm of innate natural beauty and serenity of divine bliss. Learning yoga close to nature helps us to establish a connection with the creation and the supreme creator. There can be no better place on earth to learn and practice the ancient science of yoga than the foothills of the Himalaya. Being the birthplace and eternal home of yoga and spirituality, it attracts the people across the world. With that Govindam Yoga stands as a unique traditional yoga school in Rishikesh India.