Swami Krishnananda Shashtyabdapurti Mahotsava Commemoration Volume

A Souvenir released on Swami Krishnananda's 60th Birthday

Yoga: Key to Health

by Swami Satyananda Saraswati

In the last hundred years, the world has changed. The social system and other systems are not the same as they used to be in the ancient days. This has brought about a situation of dispersion of human energies at all levels. The mind of man has lost the point of balance and harmony in every sphere of experience. We are so engrossed in the material survival of life that we have not been aware of this growing decadence.

In the last century or two, diseases have been coming up with new dimensions, new expressions, new manifestations. Various types of sciences are trying to tackle the problem of human sickness. Honestly speaking, medical sciences have failed to deliver the necessary health to man, because the problem does not originate in the body; it originates in man's ideals, his way of thinking and feeling. When there is a dispersion of ideals, how can you expect harmony in your mind and body?

In the last few decades, research into Yoga has been done and the thinking people, scientists, doctors and social workers have come to the conclusion that Yoga is a way by which man's dispersion can be halted. Yoga is such a complete science that it treats not only the physical body, but also the human mind, emotions and total personality at the same time. Therefore, it has become necessary to tell everybody throughout the world that one no longer has to resort to medications and treatment and get disappointment. What you are trying to create in your body, what you are trying to change in your mind, all can be done by you, within yourself through the practice of Yoga.

Hatha Yoga: Unblocking of the Energies

Nature and God have created this body with all possibilities and hopes. Therefore, the practices of Yoga have to be taught and learned. There are various forms of Yoga. Out of these, the most important is Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga is a practice in which you utilise this body in order create harmony in the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Hatha Yoga consists of a few physical postures and the breathing practices. Asanas not physical exercises; they are definite postures in which the body is maintained for a particular period of time.

There are two forms of energy flowing within this body: one is known as the vital energy and the other as the mental energy. When there is a block in the passage of either of these energies, then you have disease. Disease is not merely physical condition. This physical body has to be properly understood, not only as aggregate of flesh, blood and bone, but complex of energy movements. For example, an electronic instrument has a superstructure, but inside, it also has an intricate electronic complex. In the same way, in this physical body, there are definitely two types of energy that control the entire movement, existence and homogeneity. On account of wrong thinking, wrong eating or wrong living, sometimes obstruction takes place in the structure and passage of energy.

In the scientific studies, it has been found that the spinal column is not merely a set of bones and discs. In the spinal cord there are very sensitive junctions. Scientific studies show that when asanas and pranayama are practised, electrodes attached to different junctions in the spinal cord register sensitive energy charges. In the compact framework of the vertebral column, there are six sensitive main junctions, and these are meant for the distribution of the vital and mental energies to every organ and part of the body. But if there is some sort of blockage or defect in the junctions, then the distribution of energy does not take place properly and various diseases and disorders result.It has been found that generally these junctions do not register a proper flow of energy. When one is suffering from nervous depression, epilepsy or great excitement and anger, they register a very low emission of energy. This means that when energy is not properly supplied to the different organs of the body, nervous tensions result.

How to overcome tension?

What is the international problem today? Is it hunger, poverty, drugs or fear of four? No, the universal problem of our century is tension, hypertension, total tension. If you know how to free yourself from tension, you know how to resolve your problems in life. If you know how to balance tension, you know how to control your emotions, anger and passions. If you know how to overcome tension, you can control heart disease, high blood pressure, leukemia and angina victorious.If you examine anybody, you will find tension. I myself have exposed hundreds of people to scientific observations immediately after they entered deep sleep, but all of them were under tension in spite of perfect sleep. This occurs because we do not understand what is meant by tension. Tensions are of three types: muscular, mental and emotional. If you sleep well, you get rid of muscular tension. But even if you sleep for months, you cannot eliminate emotional tensions.

Is there any science in the world that can help you release your tension? Is there any drug or medicine that can relieve tension? The various forms of tension are caused by low emission of energy. It has been found that when you practise Yoga and Pranayama, the junctions in the spinal cord register a high emission of energy. Therefore, the practice of Hatha Yoga is so important for clearing the blocked passages of energy in different parts of the body and releasing accumulated tension. Here I am giving you just an introduction to Hatha Yoga.

PPranayama Alters the Brain Waves

In Hatha Yoga, there is another important branch known as Pranayama. Usually, in the West, Pranayama is translated as breathing exercises or breath control. In fact, the practice of Pranayarna is a very important exercise for training the different centres in the brain. Pranayama is not only breath control or a breathing exercise; it is a system by which the different centres in the brain are trained.

There are two types of breathing. We call them voluntary breathing and involuntary breathing. When you breathe automatically throughout the twenty-four hours, it is called involuntary breathing which is registered by the inferior brain, the occipital region. Now, the moment you start voluntary breathing, a different computer in the frontal brain registers it. On account of voluntary and involuntary breathing systems, you are able to control the different hemispheres of the brain.

I will give you one example of breathing. Breathe in through the left nostril, hold it for a period of time, then breathe out through the right nostril; breathe in through the right nostril, hold it for a period of time, then breathe out through the left nostril. Now, in our scientific studies, we have seen that when you breathe in through the left nostril, activity starts in the right hemisphere of the brain, and when you breathe in through the right nostril, activity begins to take place in the left hemisphere of the brain. When you hold the breath, both hemispheres of the brain operate at the same time. It has also been observed that the breath which goes through the left nostril has a slightly lower temperature than the breath which goes through the right.

Nowadays, they have scientific devices ranging from EEC and EEG which record brain waves, to GSR which measures the electrical activity of the skin. They have found that through the practice of Pranayama, the brain waves alter in a particular fashion resulting in a very harmonious movement in the flow of alpha, delta and theta waves which harmonise the movement in the brain. When the alpha waves manifest in the brain, it has been found that the tensions in the body are lowered and the heart becomes free from pressure.

Therefore, when we talk about tensions or hypertensions, we definitely should know how to manage, control or train the brain to produce alpha waves; it is on this basis that a lot of work has also been done in the field of biofeedback. However, in order to control the brain, you require a method to train the mind. You cannot control it by separation, fright or fear. The brain which is the seat for the mind can be controlled by managing the different centres through a systematic method of Pranayama.

Raja Yoga: Mastery of the Mind

Now, I am going to say something about Raja Yoga and the subject I am going to deal with is meditation. When your mind is one-pointed, that is known Dhyana Yoga or meditation. This is one of the greatest achievements of man. One who can meditate, can control life. If  man does not know how to meditate, he knows nothing about life.

You may be able to handle the affairs of the society, the country, the nation, the military and the whole world, but can you handle your own mind? If you can handle your own mind, then you can handle anything. Meditation makes you master of your own self. But how do it? Everybody talks about meditation, but you do not know how to do it. Raga Yoga deals in detail with the necessary requisites of meditation: the technique of how to sit and what to concentrate on.

When you close your eyes and for yourself, that is not meditation. You have to close your eyes and become aware of inner point; then you keep going in. If your mind begins wandering, you must aware of it. Mind is nothing but consciousness, awareness. Your brain has millions and billions of archetypes in it, a these will have to be known, manifested and seen before you can expect any meditation. Therefore, in meditation you do not have to suppress the mind, thoughts, emotions or impressions. You just concentrate and let anything happen to mind, it does not matter. Because the archetypes within the brain will have to be manifested, experienced and gone through completely.

Raja yoga is a reliable system. It deals with each and every aspect of meditation, prerequisite and practice. In this system, one of the most important techniques is known as Yoga-Nidra. It is a practice and a science in which you attain total relaxation. In order to heal one's own mind and one's own body, you have to know how to relax the whole composition. And in this Yoga-Nidra you lie down completely and quietly. Through this particular method you relax yourself. It is not only for the mental diseases, but also for the physical diseases.

So I have introduced the two systems of Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga. If these are learnt for our day-to-day use, then we can have better health and better experiences in life.