The Yoga

Yoga is ancient, traditional, science of India aiming at channelizing individual's energy, by uniting body, mind and spirit in such manner so that individual  attains  ‘samadhi’ i.e. unification with supreme. Therapy has never been a field of yoga in proper sense. Yoga signifies the ‘Integration’ at highest level i.e. unification of body, mind and soul. In order to achieve this goal, the psycho is cleaned by practice of ‘yama’ and ‘niyama’, and soma is made strong and sturdy by practicing ‘asanas’ and ‘pranayama’ so that body may withstand the enormous amount of energy released during the higher practices of yoga.

The ‘Practical discipline’ of yoga involves the practices of Asanas, Pranayama and Dhyana. Asanas involve the increased awareness of various physical and physiological processes influenced by controlled stretching, contraction and relaxation of various muscles, their co-ordination in balancing, during maintenance of posture. Pranayama practice similarly involves the manipulation of breathing mechanism along with the increased awareness of the pressure changes inside the cavities of chest and abdomen. Dhyana or the meditational practice increases the awareness of one's own mental processes including the thoughts, emotions, memory, etc. It can make one aware of how the constant restlessness at the level of mind contributes in the feeling of emotional stress, feeling of constant fear and insecurity. This increased awareness combined with the manipulative techniques of Dhyana practices, gradually restore the psycho-physiological functions back to its healthy, harmonious and balanced state of body and mind.

(excerpts from my thesis)