Yoga is not a mere set of asanas to stay fit. It is a holistic process that has now started to interest young people as it improves concentration and prepares them to face challenges, says Kamlesh Barwal
According to the Journal of Clinical Psychology, some of the top 10 New Year resolutions of 2014 were losing weight, getting organised, enjoying life to the fullest as well as staying fit and healthy. The one simple yet very profound word that encompasses all of the above is yoga.
Yoga by definition is a union with the self. It is a restorative practice, connecting physical to ethereal and individual to cosmos. Chitta vritti nirodaha yoga is the quietening of the mind. When one is in harmony with oneself, the journey is calmer, happier and more fulfilling. Scientists say that the left brain is associated with logic and the right with music and arts. When we address both aspects — logical and mystical, outer and inner — that is when the human life can blossom. And this can happen through yoga.
There is more stress today than there was earlier. Difficult times create a lot more stress, triggering depression and mood disorders. Approximately 20 per cent of teens experience depression before they reach adulthood and between 10 to 15 per cent suffer from depressive symptoms at some point or the other. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in young people between the age of 15 to 24.
Modern lifestyle with a lack of family and community support, less exercise, no outdoor and technology-free play are other factors leading to stress and depression. A number of research studies show that these factors can also cause changes in the grey matter of the brain and even, startlingly, in the DNA. They also show that yogic practices like meditation have the opposite effect.
Young people today could benefit from yoga but most are either unfamiliar with it or believe it is just physical exercise, a set of distinctive poses. The yogic postures or asanas are among the eye-catching physical aspects of yoga.
These poses are ingenuously devised and named after the variety of creatures or things whose natural movements they draw upon. For example, the shalab asana takes its posture and name from the locust, while thedhanur asana involves stretching the body in the shape of a bow. One can engage in these postures as a physical fitness routine with virtually no accessories except a mat, within the space of your room.
Yoga, of course, is more than this. It is an engagement of body and mind with the spirit. The flow of the breath is a guide to inner balance. Mind, body and spirit can be harmonised through it.
Regular practice of yogickriyas brings about a sharper concentration and improves attention. The various pranayams bring about a feeling of well-being, dissolving doubts and strengthening the ability to stay focussed. This brings about clarity and enhances perception and decision making.
People often wonder, “What else can I do to work out, other than yoga.” The answer is “nothing.” Yoga is everything the body needs to function at its absolute best. Continuing with yoga is preserving good health. For health is not a mere absence of disease but a positive feeling of well-being in the mind, body and soul.
A disease-free body, stress-free mind, inhibition-free intellect, obsession-free memory, an ego that includes all and a soul which is free from sorrow — such is the birth right of every human being and the signs of a perfect yogi. It is the wisdom of yoga that transforms arrogance into self-confidence, meekness to humility and the burden of dependence to the realisation of interdependence.
The good news is that yoga is a ‘cool’ thing and more youngsters are taking it up than ever before. It is just that the youth should be introduced to yoga in an interesting way.
(The writer is the global head of Sri Sri Yoga)