The yogic diet

Yogic diet concerns with the regulation of Diet as well as the regulation of Daily Habits involving the pattern of sleep, recreational activities and working habits. This helps in removing all those irritants that are responsible for the imbalance in the functioning of body-mind complex. A person rises to higher level of health only if he practices both positive diet and fastening. Eat only a natural food, adopt only natural life-style should be our motto. Human body is made up of the food what we eat. Food means five-fold food which contain all the five ‘pancbhutas’. The fruits and vegetables are the natural foods of the man. The man is basically fruitarian and requires one medicine i.e. balanced natural food. Food is medicine and medicine is food – the philosophy of Hippocratus is successfully practiced in ‘yogic therapy’.The whole aim seems to be to help maintain an adequate acid-base balance in the body that is conducive to assist a ready adaptability but neither add to an over irritability nor to lack of sensitivity.

The Naturopathy

Naturopathy is a system of curative science, which stimulates the innate power of the body to regain and sustain good health with the help of pancabhutas i.e. earth, water, air, fire and ether. It states that all healing power is within the body and insists on aiding the human system to remove the causes of diseases i.e. toxins, by putting out the unwanted matter from the body. It believes that all the diseases arise due to accumulation of morbid matter in the body and is cured by removing the morbid matter from the body.

          The methods of naturopathy include hydrotherapy, air therapy, fire therapy, space therapy, mud therapy, food therapy, massage therapy, acupressure, magneto therapy and chromo therapy.

          The results of hydro therapy depend on factors like temperature and duration of therapy. It can be employed in most of the disease conditions. Mud therapy is employed in treatment of various diseases like constipation, skin diseases etc. Mud is an old abhorrent, solvent and eliminator of toxins and it rejuvenate the body. In fire therapy different heating techniques are used to produce different specific effects on the body. Air therapy is employed with different pressures and temperatures for various types of disease conditions. Space therapy is applicable to avoid situations like congestion of body and mind. Acupressure is applied to get rid of the ailments, by creating pressures on different points situated on hands. Massage therapy is an effective substitute for exercise and is generally employed for tonic, stimulating and sedative effects. In magneto therapy, magnets of different powers and shapes are employed in treatment, by applying directly on different parts of the body or through charged up water or oil. In chromo therapy the energy of sun’s visible light rays is applied through irradiation of body.

(excerpts from my thesis) 

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)

The interdependence of various appendages of Asthang Yoga of Patanjali

               The ashtang yoga of Patanjali is broadly divided in to two parts i.e Bahiranga Yoga and Antarang Yoga. The Bahirang Yoga consists of yama, niyama, asanas, pranayam and pratyahar whereas Antarang Yoga is  dharana, dhyan and Samadhi.

            Here a question arises that whether various appendages of bahirang yoga are inter-connected to each other or have no connection of any kind. Can we over step any stage and reach up to Samadhi i.e. final objective of yoga.

            As Patanjali described yamas are satya, ahinsa, asteya, aparigrh and brahmacharya whereas niyama are shauch, santosh, swadhyay, tapa and ishwar pran nidhana. A sadhak of yoga is supposed to begin with yama and niyama. The observance of principles of yama and niyama clean our psycho i.e. they have direct bearings on mental process of an individual. Our behavior is basically controlled by various psycho factors like sex, enmity, anger, love, greed, delusions, malice, partiality, pride, passions, jealousy, hate, sorrow, repentance, etc. Our mind and consequently body, both sharply react according to intensity of these manovikara and persistence of the manovikar ultimately leads to psycho-somatic disorders. If these negative emotions continue in our mind the dhyana is impossible.  Therefore before proceeding to higher stages of yoga one has to detach oneself from these baser emotions otherwise he will gain nothing.

            The asanas are the sitting poses. Their number equates with the animal categories living on the earth. However 84 asanas are important and 32 asanas are to be practiced daily. When we sit at asanas or a particular pose, the stress rests on specific part, organ, and tissue of the body. Thus every asana is linked with particular part of body where stress occurs.

Pranayam is the fourth appendage of Patanjali’s ‘ Ashtang Yoga.’  The shlok 49 of Sadhana Pad describes Pranayam as under:-

  II.49 tasmin sati svasa prasvasayoh gativicchedah pranayamah

            The pranayam is made up from the word prana and ayama. The ayama literally means dimension. Thus dimension to prana is pranayam. It is not mere breathing, inhaling, exhaling, or stops breathing, but systematic patterns of breathing where various dimensions are given to prana. The yoga shastra described eight types of pranayam i.e. suryabhedi, ujjayi, seetkari, sheetali, bhastrika, bhramari, moorchha, and plawini.

The ‘Prana’ means a type of universal-cosmic energy present in us. Our existence depends on certain definite level of energy-‘Prana’ in the body. In the Vedic literature term Prana is referred to the cosmic force. In fact Prana  is the oldest of all the terms used in the field of Yoga, e.g. in Kathopanisad we get the reference to the term ‘Prana’ as:

“Yadidam kin cha jagat sarvam Prana ejati nihsrtam.”

In this reference it is pointed out that the whole world owes its existence to the       vibrations of the ‘Prana’. Another term carrying the same meaning is ‘Spandana’. It also carries the same meaning as that of ‘Ejana’ i.e. vibrating, pulsating or radiating type of energy. So, in the word ‘Prana’ there is a concept of vibration, pulsation or radiation.

 It is the requirement of every cell, every organ, and every part of the body. Therefore it is mandatory that certain quantum of ‘Prana’ should reach to every corner of a cell. It is said that ‘Prana’ flows in the body through the intricate net of ‘Nadi’. ‘Nadi’system is very peculiar in human beings and all ‘Nadis’ originates from ‘Ida’, ‘Pingala’ and ‘Sushumna’. The ‘Prana’ flows within these ‘Nadi’ system and reaches to the most interior parts of a cell where it liberates energy in the presence of ‘Pran Vayu’. Without ‘Prana’ we are no more alive. We are declared dead as soon as ‘Prana’ leaves our body.

The Prana Vayu is not mere oxygen but all components of the universe which we inhale constitute Prana Vayu.

The ‘Prana’ is classified in two categories i.e. main prana and sub main prana. The ‘Pran’, ‘Apan’, ‘Udan’, ‘Vyan’, and ‘Saman’ are main ‘Pranas’ while ‘Devdatt’,  ‘Koormi’, ‘Kookar’ ‘Nrachi’ and ‘kripa’ come under sub main category.

  The prana and chitta are in constant contact with each other. They are like twins. The prana becomes focused where chitta is, and chitta where prana is. It is said that as long as the breath is still, prana is still, and hence the chitta is still. All types of vibrations and fluctuations come to a standstill when prana and chitta are steady and silent.

Our emotions control the breathing pattern. For instance if we are angry, we breath fast, long and ferociously. When we are cool, the breath is also cool and calm. The vice versa the breath control our emotions. For instance, if we do surya bhedi pranayam warmness comes in our body and very soon we start swatting. The sheetalee pranayam has the reverse reaction and it cools down us. The Swaroday Vigyaan further explains the phenomena that how breathing pattern control physiological, psychological and metabolical processes of our body and in turn our activities.

Now what happens when we sit on an asana. The particular part of our body gets stretched and the breathing pattern automatically changes accordingly. This can be witnessed if we stretch our right hand in front of us parallel to earth, we start inhaling from the pingala swar immediately and the ida swar start as soon as we stretch our left hand. Likewise when we sit on a particular asana our breathing pattern adjust accordingly.

Secondly when strain or stress comes in a particular part of body our dhyana is immediately diverted to that part and after sometimes stress or pain go away. Suppose we concentrate our dhyana on our fore hand for a few minutes initially we will feel some irritations and later on the feelings of lightness and weightlessness start appearing. This is because flow of prana start taking place in the direction of the hand and the portion of the body is specially energized and ultimately pain, stress, strains are over.

  The sitting on aasana, the particular part of the body is stretched and our dhyana reaches there immediately. The intensity and concentration of dhyana will in the proportion of observance of yama and niyama. If yama and niyama are not observed our mind will waver and flicker and we will fail in concentrating on a particular part of the body. Therefore flow of pranas in that particular direction could not be possible and stress or strain will continue.

  Thus it is evident that all steps of yoga ranging from pranayam to dhyana are compulsory for Samadhi and no step can be ignored or over stepped. By practicing asana daily the parana reaches and rejuvenate in all parts of the body and it remains perfect and healthy. Only a healthy body can withstand energy released during the process of Samadhi.   

      

ऊर्जा एवं चेतना

सम्पूर्ण ब्रम्हांड  में ऊर्जा एवं चेतना आपस में अन्तःसम्बन्धित तथा अन्त:निर्भर है। जितनी ऊर्जा उतनी चेतना। ऊर्जा ज्यादा चेतना ज्यादा। ऊर्जा कम चेतना कम। ब्रम्हांड के कण कण में ऊर्जा है और प्रत्येक कण चेतनायुक्त है। स्थूल संरचनाओं, कीट पतंगो- पतंगो, मनुष्य एवं अन्य जीव जंतुओं आदि  में केवल चेतना के स्तरों  का ही अंतर है। मनुष्य अपने चेतना के विकसित स्तरों के कारण  ही मनुष्य है।चेतना के विभिन्न स्तरों के आधार पर व्यक्तिओं का बौद्धिक एवं अनुभूतिओं का स्तर निर्धारित होता है। चेतना विहीन मनुष्य पशुवत है। चेतना का विस्तार ऊर्जा के विस्तार से संभव है।
मानव शरीर में सात ऊर्जा चक्र है जिनकी सक्रियता हमारे शरीर का ऊर्जा स्तर और  परिणामतः चेतना स्तर  निर्धारित करती  है। चेतना के उच्च स्तरों की  प्राप्ति के  लिए हमें अपने ऊर्जा चक्रों को सक्रिय करना होगा। ऊर्जा चक्रो की  सक्रियता केवल योग के  माध्यम से ही संभव है।
योग शास्त्रों में वर्णित षट्कर्मों के अभ्यास से  शरीर का  बाह्य एवं आतंरिक शोधन होता है। यम एवं नियम के अनुसरण से दृश्य, श्रव्य, स्पर्श, गंध एवं स्वाद के सापेक्ष  इन्द्रिओं के  माध्यम से प्राप्त उद्दीपनों के परिणामस्वरूप मस्तिष्क में उत्पन्न होने वाले अनगिनत हानिकारक  रसायनो के उत्पादन  पर विराम लगता है। वर्णित ३२ मुख्य आसनो एवं प्राणायाम  के नियमित अभ्यास से मांस पेशिओं की मजबूती के साथ साथ शरीर के अंग प्रत्यंग में प्राणो का आवश्यकतानुसार संचार होता है। प्राणायाम शब्द प्राण एवं आयाम से मिलकर बना है जिसका तात्पर्य प्राणो को आयाम देना है। प्रत्याहार द्वारा इन्द्रिओं को सांसारिकता से विरक्त करके मन को बाहर से खींच कर भीतर की ओर लाया जाता है। मन को भीतर ठहरा रहने को धारणा कहते है और इष्ट देव या इष्ट ध्येय में मन लगाना  ध्यान है। इष्ट में मन को लीन  करके अपने आप को भूल जान समाधि है।
समाधि में  व्यक्ति का पूर्ण सामंजस्य अखिल  ब्रम्हांड  से हो जाता है।
इस सामंजस्यता के परिणामस्वरूप व्यक्ति की ऊर्जा एवं  ब्रह्माण्डीय ऊर्जा आपस में  लयवद्ध एवं एकाकार होकर व्यक्ति को असीम ऊर्जा, चेतना एवं आनंद की अनुभूति प्राप्त होती है। यह केवल और केवल योग द्वारा ही संभव है।  हमारे ऊर्जा चक्र शनैः शनैः योग अभ्यास से सक्रिय होते है और हमको योग की अंतिम परिणित अर्थात समाधि तक पहुंचाते है।

Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit.

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY AND ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY …

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to STARVE the cancer cells by not feeding it with foods it needs to multiple.

What cancer cells feed on:

a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Note: Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk, cancer cells will starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes t o nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells.

To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water--best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines will become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor.

Anger, unforgiving and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

[Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins By Dr.keyur Patel]

वर्तमान में योग की उपयोगिता

योग की उपयोगिता पर चर्चा करने से पहले योग वास्तव में  क्या है और इसका प्रतिदिन अनुसरण क्यों किया जाय , यह जानना आवश्यक है?

योग को चित्त की वृत्तिओं के निरोध के रूप में परिभाषित किया गया है जिसके परिणामस्वरुप शरीर , मष्तिष्क एवं आत्मा का एकीकरण हो जाता है- unification of body, mind and soul. यह एकीकरण अथवा संयुक्तिकरण क्यों आवश्यक है इस पर भी चर्चा किया जाना आवश्यक है.

तथाकथित आधुनिक विज्ञान भी अब यह मानने लगा है की यह समस्त ब्रह्माण्ड एवं उसमे शामिल समस्त गोचर एवं अगोचर कण, पिंड,  वस्तुए आदि विभिन्न तरंग दैर्ध्यों पर कम्पायमान ऊर्जा की रश्मियाँ है जिनका स्वरुप तरंगो की आवृत्तिओं के अनुरूप  बदलता रहता है।  इन ऊर्जा रश्मियों का कम्पन/आवृति  एवं तरंगदैर्ध्य निश्चित तथा व्यवस्थित होता है। इसमे किसी  प्रकार का तनिक भी परिवर्तन अनपेक्षित परिणाम उत्पन्न कर सकता है। ब्रम्हांड  का अस्तित्व तभी तक है जब तक इसकी विभिन्न संरचनाओं में कम्पन की क्रमबद्ध व्यवस्था बनी रहती है। कम्पनो की क्रमबद्ध व्यवस्था परिवर्तित अथवा ख़त्म होते ही ब्रम्हांड का स्वरुप बदल जायेगा जिसे हम ब्रम्हांड का नष्ट होना भी कहते है। संक्षेप  में कहा जा सकता है कि संरचना का वर्तमान स्वरुप तभी तक स्थिर रहेगा जब तक उसमे हो रहे कम्पनो की व्यवस्था बनी रहे अर्थात लय के बदलते अथवा रुकते ही  प्रलय प्रारम्भ  हो जाएगी।
मानव शरीर भी इसका अपवाद नहीं है और यह भी ब्रम्हांड की एक निश्चित आवृत्ति पर स्थित क्रमबद्ध ,व्यवस्थित  कम्पायमान ऊर्जा एवं ऊर्जा कणो की  संरचना है जिसके विभिन्न घटक  आपस में परस्पर एवं सम्पूर्ण  ब्रह्माण्ड के साथ एक लय में है और मानव शरीर का अस्तित्व इस लय  में बने रहने तक ही है। लय  समाप्त प्रलय प्रारम्भ।
मानव का स्थूल शरीर अंततः ब्रह्माण्ड के समस्त सूक्ष्तम् गतिमान भौतिक कणों से निर्मित है जो निरंतर निश्चित  आवृत्ति पर कम्पायमान होकर विशिष्ट तरंगदैर्ध्य की ऊर्जा रश्मिओं का उत्सर्जन करते रहते है। मानव मस्तिष्क अब तक ब्रह्माण्ड में प्रकृति द्वारा  निर्मित ऐसी विशिष्ट   संरचना है जो प्रति सेकंड कितनी ऊर्जा तरंगे उत्सर्जित करता  है यह  तथाकथित आधुनिक विज्ञान अभी तक ज्ञात नहीं कर पाया है। और आत्मा तो स्वयं में ऊर्जा है जिसके बारे में कुछ भी  कहना व्यर्थ होगा।
मानव की इन तीनो संरचनाओं के द्वारा उत्सर्जित होने वाली ऊर्जा रश्मियों की  आपस में लयवद्धता आवश्यक है। जितनी अधिक क्रमबद्धता - लयवद्धता उतना ही ऊर्जायुक्त मानव। इसको और अधिक स्पष्ट करने के लिए संगीत और उसके वाद्य यंत्रों का उदहारण दिया जा सकता है।  चार वाद्य यन्त्र यदि विभिन्न लय पर बजते है तो परिणाम शोर होता है और यदि वे एक सुनिश्चित, क्रमबद्ध लय  में बजते  है तो संगीत कहलाता है।  जितनी परिपूर्ण लय उतना प्रभावी संगीत और लयवद्ध प्रभावी  संगीत में व्यक्ति  स्वयं को भूल कर अपने  अस्तित्व को भी खो देता है।
अब यदि व्यक्ति को ऊर्जावान एवं प्रभावी होना है तो उसकी तीनो संरचनाओं -शरीर, मस्तिष्क एवं आत्मा द्वारा उत्सर्जित ऊर्जा में लयवद्धता एवं क्रमवद्धाता होनी आवश्यक है। जितनी अधिक लयवद्धता  - क्रमवद्धता उतनी अधिक ऊर्जा उतनी अधिक शक्ति।  यदि ये लयवद्धता - क्रमवद्धता नहीं होगी तो उत्सर्जित ऊर्जा एक दूसरे को काटेगी और ऊर्जा क्षय होगा जो मानव शरीर को कमजोर करेगा। ऊर्जा एवं शक्ति ही मानव जीवन का आधार है। शक्तिहीनता ही मृत्यु है।
योग द्वारा शरीर की इन तीनो संरचनाओं के द्वारा उत्सर्जित ऊर्जा को एक निश्चित लयवद्धता एवं क्रमवद्धाता प्रदान की जाती है। इस लयवद्धता से मानव को शक्ति प्राप्त होती है जिसके आधार पर जीवन संचालित होता है। यह लयवद्धता यदि  बढ़ते - बढ़ते इस स्तर तक पहुँच जाए कि मानव शरीर , मस्तिष्क एवं आत्मा शेष ब्रम्हांड की  समस्त संरचनाओं से लयवद्ध हो जाय तो इस स्थिति को समाधि कहा जाता है। इस स्थित में मनुष्य की शक्तियां अनंत हो जाएगी।
इस प्रकार योग की उपयोगिता मानव के अस्तित्व में आने से ही प्रारम्भ हो गयी थी जो आज भी है और भविष्य में भी  निरंतर बनी रहेगी। अतः योग का प्रतिदिन अनुसरण करना परमावश्यक है।