Yoga For Better Health

By Acharya Bhagwan Dev

Yoga for Better Health’ provides you the guidance and makes your learning easy about Yoga. It enables you to practice the exercises to suit your body, especially ‘Pranayam’, ‘Meditation’ and ‘Hasya Yoga’, thus enjoy a healthy life. You are truly healthy when you are not just physically fit but also mentally and emotionally balanced. "International Yoga Day, 21 June, was declared as the International day of Yoga by the United Nations on December 11,2014." This book is prepared with an objective to introduce the reader to Yoga. It comprises number of "Illustrations’ explaining finer key points for each posture of the Asanas. Also how yoga is going to develop an ‘All Round Fitness’ by giving relief from ‘Stress’. It also narrates - how yoga is going to develop true happiness comes from within and enhance the efficacy of your heart. This book is helpful to children & ladies, as well.

"Health is not a mere absence of disease. It is a dynamic expansion of life - in terms of how joyful, loving and enthusiastic you are."

-Sri Ravi Shankar

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diamond Books
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9789350830444

Book preview

1. Yoga and Health

MEANING OF YOGA

Yoga simply means a sum or unity of two entities. Here it means the unison of self with God, or the cohesion of body and mind. It has been developed and practiced for thousands of years by our Sages and this is now known world over as a part of Indian Culture. It was first presented in a formal and systematic written work by Great Patanjali. All that he gathered by word of mouth from various sources, was compiled to give a whole system in an easy form of discipline. The term Yoga was defined by sage Patanjali as Chitta-Vriti-Nirodh, which means as: Mind - its Fluctuations — and Control. The constant wandering of the mind can be corrected by regular practice of Yoga, and results in awakening of our hidden potentialities. It provides us physical, mental, and spiritual well-being with a long life. It is progressive in nature, since each of its step takes you nearer to a stage leading to desired goal. Take one step at a time without continuous looking at the goal. Keep in mind of the means by which it may be achieved, and continue which will break even your worst habits. Enjoy all you do to attain the consciousness.

Human abilities fall into two classes - natural and learned. Natural abilities are the kind we are born with or grow into without particular effort on our part. Learned abilities are those we get by training our natural abilities. We have to work for these through study and/or practice. It must be remembered that although training improves ability on a job, persons with the right pattern of aptitudes improve faster and can go further. It therefore suggests that if we are really keen to learn, it is easy and possible to learn, adopt, and live a healthy life through Yoga.

The beauty of Yoga is not just that it takes a mere few minutes out of your day, it can be practised at home and doesn’t induce sweating, but also that it is a complete exercise system for the body, mind and spirit. This form of exercise is very soothing.

Don’t Delay Begin Today

PATH & PRINCIPLES OF YOGA

There are different ways to reach a desired common destination. In Yogic discipline there are four paths in an order of Yoga-Karma, Raja, Bhakti, and Jnana —all leading to the same centre of consciousness, which make it easy to adopt for every person. These four types can be categorised as Physical, Normal, Spiritual, and Mental based yogas. These four paths cover eight vital principles of Yoga.

JNANA YOGA

It is based on God is Truth and aims at challenging everything through discrimination to achieve self-realisation and unity with God. It suits a person having very powerful mental concentration. It covers:

Yama—ethical principles and norms of social behaviour. There are five types of Yama: non-violence, truth, honesty, celibacy and restraint on possession.

Niyama—code of conduct. Niyama are five in number: contemplation, contentment, penance, study and meditation.

KARMA YOGA

It is for a man of action, to follow his duties or Karma selflessly to attain consciousness. It covers:

Pratyahara—sense withdrawal. It is detachment of oneself from the mundane world and becoming an introvert.

RAJA YOGA

It is a Royal path and includes Hath Yoga. It attains consciousness and unity by concentrating on physical and mental energies. It covers:

Dharna—concentration on particular object.

Dhyana—meditation to forget world and identify oneself. It is to continue the activity of intensifying the concentration devoted to that particular object.

Samadhi—realisation with the ultimate goal-God. When one forgets every material thing and identifies oneself with the ultimate goal, it is known as the state of Samadhi.

HATH YOGA

Asana—different body postures

Pranayam—controlled breathing

BHAKTI YOGA

It is a path of surrender through love and devotion, suitable for an emotional and sensitive person. God as a Supreme being is loved by reciting his name, singing his praises, worshipping his forms and following other related rituals.

It depends on the nature of an individual to adopt a particular path. The aim of the Yoga is to mould the body and mind by following the practices to acquire the Supreme Bliss. All these Yogas help achieving the peace. The healthy body with a healthy mind is a sacred and divine place for soul to live.

HEALTH THROUGH YOGA

A good health means that all organs of the body are working efficiently. The importance of the proverbs, Health is Wealth, If health is lost everything is lost, is realised more in its absence than by its presence. Youth is not a time of life, it is a state of mind. The importance of health is more than education, money and other material comforts. Happiness is intimately concerned more with good physical and mental health than other outside factors. At this stage, we need to know the essential conditions to keep ourself healthy. Some of the external factors like environment, heredity, work, and sanitation could be discussed separately, but we need to discuss the role of Yoga and exercises which is in our hands. The strenuous demands of work make us careless about health, but the body is the best indicator. It starts giving warning signals if you are neglecting your health and any sensible person will pay heed and get down to correction. Indian men are as lethargic as women in looking after their health. But fortunately, Indians have now begun to take up some outdoor activities or exercises after being woken up by the media to a new health awareness. One needs to be disciplined and controlled in reacting to situations which helps in fighting work-related stress and tension.

One needs to start his day with a spot of Yoga. Those who follow this, firmly believe that this helps them to feel alive and energetic throughout the day. And Yoga one must do, day-after-day, without a break. Conventional exercises and games are not feasible on regular basis and these do not give mobility to all the joints particularly to the spine. Moreover, these exercises lack effect on vital organs of the body.

2. Human Body

HUMAN SYSTEMS

Presently we need to understand the human systems whose functioning decide the state of our health. There are seven basic systems of the human body which are given below.

(i) Digestive System (ii) Excretory System (iii) The Respiratory System (iv) The Circulatory System (v) Muscular System (vi) The Skeletal System (vii) The Nervous System. We shall discuss these one by one.

(i) The Digestive System: The food that we take comprises of proteins, carbohydrates (sugars and starches), vitamins, minerals, fats and oils. Only a part of these substances is useful to the body and the rest, which is indigestible, must be got rid of. The food is chewed by the teeth and after getting mixed with saliva, is swallowed. Saliva is an alkaline fluid which is poured into the mouth from salivary glands. Digestion of food starts in