Dr. Neelam Khajuria
United Nations declared 21st June as International Yoga Day. This came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged the world community to celebrate yoga at the international level. He emphasised, “yoga as invaluable gift of our ancient tradition. On the whole, it’s a holistic approach to health and well being.”
The idea of an International Yoga Day had garnered overwhelming support: 175 countries in the 193-member General Assembly had joined as co-sponsors as on 14th December, 2014, the highest number of co-sponsors ever for any UNGA resolution. India had managed to lay its golden paving stone to walk proudly through the gateways of the world and embrace yoga practitioners across the globe.
It is for the first time in the history of the UN that such a proposal has been recommended and implemented by any country in less than 90 days. Besides proclaiming 21st June as the International Yoga Day, the resolution invited all organisations of the UN and other international and regional bodies to propagate the benefits of practising yoga and to observe the day in order to publicise it.
In his message on the passage of the resolution, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, “yoga can bring communities together in an inclusive manner that generates respect. The diverse benefits it brings”, he added, “includes helping people deal with stress in emergency situations.”
Without a minimal understanding of yoga, it is difficult to appreciate the significance of the resolution to celebrate an International Yoga Day. The ancient sages of India had developed an integral system called yoga to keep the physical and mental faculties fit and healthy and to slow down the inevitable decay of the body organs. Modern science agrees with it in that even inside the tiniest particle of atom, there is incredible movement. If there is movement, it is being caused by some energy and that energy, yoga stresses, is the basis of all life. According to yoga, each and every matter is throbbing with life energy – that energy is consciousness itself and that consciousness is just a part of the Super Consciousness or God Reality.
The physical body is meant to remain active. The lifestyle should be such that the muscles and joints obtain enough exercise, a kind of exercise that is not tiresome and at the same time, beneficial to the three bodies. Hatha Yoga, in which the body is stretched to the maximum through slow movements and the specific time period with which each posture is maintained, is meant to increase one’s body flexibility, as long as the body is supple, it remains young. Yoga mainly focuses on the spine, the axis of the physical body, the main “telegraphic” pole from where the entire nervous system emerges. If the spine remains agile and strong, there will be no disruption over the blood circulation and an adequate supply of nutrients and oxygen will be delivered to the nerves to keep them receptive and healthy. As age begins to catch up, the shoulders get hunched over due to lack of exercise and one has painful tension in the upper part of the back and neck due to the various nerves that have gone out of shape. Hatha yoga corrects one’s posture, aiding him naturally to be alert and confident.
Prana is the vital force in the body. Pranayama is both a science and an art of purifying the channels along which the life stream of prana flows. Pranayama, breathing practices, the process by which conscious control is achieved through synchronised breathing, are vital for increasing the capacity of the lungs. Through regulated breathing, by altering the rhythm of inhalation and exhalation, it is possible to control the Prana. This kind of yogic breathing teaches a person how to use the lungs to their maximum capacity and how to control the breath. Deep, slow and rhythmical breathing increases vitality and mental clarity. Most people breathe shallowly, barely expanding the rib cage.
To achieve the state of lasting happiness and absolute peace, the mind’s focus has to be turned inward, upon the self. When the mind is thus fully focused on the self, time does not even seem to exist and you don’t feel like coming out of that blissful state. That specific stage is called meditation.
When man realises that in all its potentiality and learns to live in the present, the rubbish that hides his exceptionally potential mind from all probabilities is discarded progressively and in due course, flung off altogether. He would have learned to be the master of his mind. The Yoga Sadhanas are designed for that very purpose.
As he progresses in yoga, there is a big transformation in the individual though the world around him remains the same. His attitude towards life changes; he is able to free himself from all the entangling emotions and feelings that bind him to the world, he acquires a sense of detachment, all of which empowers him to still his mind and body, a prerequisite for meditation. On the physical level, meditation helps to prolong the body’s anabolic process of growth and repair, and to reduce the catabolic or decaying process.
Yoga is ultimately, the union of the self with the Divine. It assists you to float with ease on the harsh sea which suddenly seems to be placid, not because the sea has become calmer, but because your physical body has turned healthier, the mental body has become more tolerant and the energy body has been fully charged.
