Popular Yoga texts with pictures of contorted human torso and limbs, posturated breathing exercises and quaint purificatory rituals have served to establish Yoga as a cult. It is a shortcut to the awakening of a mysterious "serpentine power" that leads to 'Nirvana'. This is an unfortunate development. It is time we describe Yogic exercises as scientifically observable physiological, biochemical activities. The "cures" and "improvements" that Yoga claims, must rest on scientific evidences rather than as examples of faith-healing. This is the justification of adding another book in this crowded field.
This scientific understanding unfortunately requires some acquaintance with terms and concepts drawn from the fields of Anatomy, Physiology. Biology. Psychology etc. These have been presented here in a manner that would not be discouraging for the beginners. Yogic books abound with philosophical and scriptural terms drawn from Sanskrit texts. The simplified explanations and diluted descriptions offered in this book are also intended to reach this wide section of readers.
The emphasis on topics, choice of 'Asanas' and other exercises have been deliberate only to highlight Patanjali Yoga as a practical guide for "stress proofing" of the body as well as the mind. A knowledgeable practitioner is always a better model of health than a mindless performer of magical rituals.
The comparative study of Yogic texts and modern basic sciences of Physics, Chemistry. Biology and Psychology is fraught with a number of problems. Firstly, the philosophical and spiritual texts. from which Yoga draws its conceptual framework, are replete with different schools of thought which are often antithetical to each other. Innumerable unfathomable Sanskrit terms swarm through the pages of Yogic texts till this day. This book, therefore aims to equip the reader with broad English translations and a general orientation of these terms and concepts. The Yogic discourses on the nature of life, consciousness, mind, basic elements of body and mind. personality etc. are too complex for a brief chapter as provided here. Advanced readers, whose curiosity. this book serves to stimulate, would have to refer to the original work or their English translations.
The second problem in elucidation of Yogic thoughts arise from the fact of additions and subtractions that the original Patanjali Yoga Sutra has been subjected to over many centuries. The admixture is traceable to the Buddhist or Tantric texts and to the writings of Yoga experts known as "Natha-Panthis". This hybrid quality of Yoga is also reflected in this book which has accommodated "Hatha Yogic" and "Raja Yogic" concepts and practices as parts of a Yogic package. The third area of smudged boundaries come from the parallel field of "Ayurveda," the ancient Indian system of medicine. As one scans through the popular Yoga books, one is struck by the mindless absorption of Ayurvedic concepts as though they had always been a part of our ancient Yogic Literature. An attempt has therefore been made in this book, to delineate many Ayurvedic terms and concepts that seem to be common place in Yogic parlours. A beginner in Yogic exercises would do well to have some familiarity with them. Finally, it must be admitted by scientists, in all honesty that there are many mysteries of life and living for which modern science has no answer and they have only brought us closer to the good old, metaphysical and metaphychological concepts. These abstract ideas have, therefore, been presented in their original shape. But conjectures and attempts at drawing parallels from the scientific texts have also been made as a legitimate exercise.
Yoga has been advocated as a way of life; a kind of psychosomatic preparation for spiritual upliftment. Patanjali, being heavily influenced by ethistic writings of Sankhya Yoga, did not concern himself seriously for such transcendental, blissful or "ego-dissolving" experiences. Some stray compromises are of course traceable in his concluding chapters. Primarily Patanjali Yoga or Hatha Yoga have been handed down to millions of practitioners as a set of exercises that appreciably improve the health of a person physically, mentally as well as socially. The utility of Yogic exercises for a commoner should, therefore, be assessed at the grosser levels of health and fitness.
food, nutrition, metabolism, physical and social habits, emotional attitudes and many such factors. This broad spectrum of influences, makes it rather difficult for scientists to establish experimentally the cause and effect relationship of diverse parallel influences. The transcendental experiences, being exclusively subjective experiences, can not be verified by traditional experimental techniques. These anecdotal experiences documented over many centuries have been detailed as part and parcel of Yogic attainments. However, a deliberate omission has been made regarding the topics of acquisition of "vibhuties" (divine attributes) "Siddhis" (miraculous powers) etc. as a part of Yogic exercise although Patanjali himself has devoted a chapter on them.
The space allotted to some purificatory rites (the kriyas) and the special breath "holding exercises" (Bandh) have been rather small. This is because, in the light of our present knowledge, they are unnecessary for most practitioners and rather contraindicated for a large number, as a routine practice. The mention of the codes of conduct and habits ("Yama", "Niyama", "Aparigraha") also have been limited. The principles are not really difficult to understand even in this brief description. But to translate them into one's routinised life and its diverse commitments, is a very difficult task, involving introspection and a cultivation of habits and attitudes that cannot be offered as graded lessons.
This book is thus a scientific exposition of the processes and mechanisms that underlie all that Yogic exercises intend to offer. In that attempt it is likely to dispel some myths and prejudices that have come to characterise Yoga as semi-religious cult. Mr. BKS Iyenger has stated succinctly this scientific stand "Philology is not a language but the science of languages, the study of which will enable the student to learn his own language better. Similarly, Yoga is not a religion by itself. It is the science of religions, the study of which enables a "Sadhaka" to appreciate better his own faith.
Asana (101)
Bhakti Yoga (21)
Biography (52)
Hatha Yoga (93)
Kaivalyadhama (58)
Karma Yoga (33)
Kriya Yoga (85)
Kundalini Yoga (60)
Massage (2)
Meditation (341)
Patanjali (139)
Pranayama (70)
Women (33)
Yoga for Children (13)
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