YOGA NIDRA

Most of us wants to live in Megapolis. Trends from all over the world shows that city population is steadily increasing regardless of continent one lives. From Sub-Saharan Africa to the Tundras of Arctic Russia. Everyone wants to migrate to Moscow or Peters.

 In city life we are constantly bombarded by stress inducing ammunition. Normally stress subsides itself by rest, relaxation and sleep. Weekly off days and yearly vacations also help us to rejuvenate our body and mind.

But sometimes these natural pacifiers are not enough. As stress accumulates inside it creates something called psychic or psychological toxins which in turn effects our mental health and some even becomes somatic (physical) problems.

The Indian philosophy of yoga has become so popular in the west because it has given a vent to get rid of these accumulated psychological toxins. Mostly they rely on the hatha yoga practice (Stabilize your mind to stabilize your mind). But physical practice is not possible for everyone.

This is where the dhyana (meditation) mentioned in yoga becomes so relevant. But first condition for meditation is concentration (dharana in yoga).

For a stressed person it is hard to concentrate, then how can he meditate?

Here is where Yoga Nidra comes into play. If a doctor, teacher or a guru can guide you by his commands most of us are able to meditate. And what does meditation do for our body and mind? It navigates us to our inner self or subconscious mind. Subconscious mind is so powerful that conscious mind and if we are able to give commands to it (By ourselves) we can heal many of our problems including stress, stress-induced hypertension, stress-induced insomnia and so on. We can even get rid of some physical problems like backaches of unknow etiology. (not possible in issues like back pain due to bulged or herniated disks or any anomaly in anatomy of our back)

Same techniques of yoga does not suit for all, as humans are heterogenous, we need different methods to reach our subconscious mind. We in Yoga use different methods like visualization, auditory impulses, concentrating on geometric symbols (yantra) and balancing postures of Hatha yoga practice.

Sometimes we can even use our faith in god to communicate to our inner self. As per yoga within our core, there is a section called “Aananda” or ultimate bliss, if one discovers this bliss inside you there is no pain nor pleasure!

 

 

WARM UP IN YOGA (Sookhma Vyayama)

Warming up is an important aspect of any physical activity like sports or games; Hatha yoga is no exception. This is because in Hathayoga tradition the asanas or dynamic postures are given prime importance. 

 

This is especially important if we do Asanas in the morning. During night's sleep the toxins /metabolites produced by the body might have percolated to joins of the body instead of kidneys, rectum, skin or lungs to get eliminated. This is due to lack of proper ventilation or improper sleeping postures, or poor blood supply to joints.

Age is also a factor as many people experience stiff joints in the morning, beginning from middle ages (40+). Sometimes the cause can be some other factor like autoimmune responses, typically seen in Rheumatoid arthritis.

Warm up exercises prevent any untoward incidents like tendon sprain, muscle catching or even subluxation in some cases.

It also helps to remove the build-up of toxins in the joints which in severe cases may lead to crippling.

Method of Doing

·       Start from neck

·       Shoulder Joints

·       Elbows

·       Wrist

·       Fingers

·       Hips

·       Knees

·       Ankles

·       Foot with toes

We can include breathing pattern where warm-up movement effects lungs.

If we are doing Ashans in the early evening, few rounds of ‘Sun Salutation’ (Soorya-Namaskar) will suffice instead of doing warm-up exercise, plus few later bends and twists.

MARMA THERAPY

 Kalari or Marma School of Ayurveda is indegnous to Kerala and souther Tamil Nadu state of India. Kalaripayattu is a martial arts from Keala. This art was developed to train soldiers of combat especially in sward or machetta fencing. It mainly aimed at

AYURVEDA YOGA AND TANTRA

Bollywood has always been the flagship of India in rest of the world; in the recent times Yoga was in the limelight. Flying on the wings of yoga came Ayurveda. Now these Sanskrit words have become synonymous with Indian ‘soft powers.’

People wanted to venture into new avenues of hidden knowledge; they started probing deeper into Yoga and Ayurveda. Twenty years ago, westerners flocked India and Sri Lanka to experience ayurveda for the first time. Most of them thought it was another type of massage akin to Thai or Swedish massage. Some of them navigated deeper and realized that massage is just the tip of the iceberg. This is why cleansing or detoxification methods like panchakarma became so popular today. Increase in consumption of ghee and/or coconut/oil in the western countries is a direct index of these changes.

So is yoga; many branches have emerged, apart from the most popular Hatha yoga practices (conquering mind by stabilizing body), Kundalini-Chakra yoga is also getting popular. Going a step further few are trying to unlock the mystery of Tantra-Yoga; because of its seemingly unlimited  and unlicensed use of senses in attaining super consciousness; like ‘Sex to Superconscious.’ 

Classical yoga consider sensual subjects and irrational use of sense organs are obstructions in attaining the final goal of yoga; self-realization.

Kundalini and Tantra-Yoga use these senses to realize the unlimited bliss (Ananda) which is the core of our self in yogic parlance.

Ananda is a blissful state of pleasure by which one experience a well-being of unlimited nature; one can experience a state of positive hallucination without the use of narcotic. Likewise, one feels the same sense of inebriated condition without the consumption of alcohol thereby reducing the risks of hangovers and liver damage.

Kundalini yoga uses these techniques

1.     Visual ignition of our inner sense by using different colors        nd geometric symbols (Yantras) .

2.     Hearing some syllables of sound in clear pattern; starting with a semi-vowel and ending in a nasal sound. (Like Om or Aum, Lam, Vam etc. We call it beeja mantras  (seed mantras)

3.     Later reciting these mantras by himself/herself

4.     Using smells like incenses or smoking spices (In spirituality it is believed that they keep away the evil spirits.

5.     Massages done on vital points or marmas and chakras (mega-marmas are called Chakras)

6.     In Tantra courtship between two lovers who are in perfect reciprocity at all levels of courtship; can be platonic love and/or sexual intercourse.

 

 

AYURVEDA CONSULTATION

 

AYURVEDIC CONSULTATION

One of the basic principles of ayurveda treatment is ‘removal of causative factor’ (Nidana Parivarjana), to understand this in a patient ayurvedic doctor needs a detail history of patient’s illness. More so because mostly patients with chronic (long duration) illnesses seek ayurveda doctor’s help.

So don’t be surprised if an ayurvedic doctor asks your present complaints, followed by history of current illness.

Furthermore, doctor will ask for any past illness which might appear irrelevant in some context, this is to rule out possible connection with your current illness.

In the case of a woman a gynecological history may also be asked; like menarche, pregnancy and delivery (like C-section) and about menopausal details if situation warranted

 

In diseases like diabetes, hypertension, vascular diseases, cancer family history is also relevant.

In stress related and psychosomatic illnesses a social history and personal history are also important which might include questions regarding addictions, family relationships, social relations, job situations and allergies.

Questions will be asked for hospitalizations if any; furthermore, if the patient is on any modern/traditional medicines, that also will be noted down.

Ayurvedic doctors also use lab reports and fluorographic reports to understand health condition better and to rule out some diseases; and to reach a differential diagnosis

Apart from these universally accepted methods, ayurveda has some unique way of diagnosis which include determination of ‘prakruti (nature) and vikriti.’(pathology)

According to Ayurvedic physiology there are there (mainly) natural conditions of people called doshas. Doshas are type of people which is inborn and does not change till we die. It is called ‘prakriti’ in Sankrit which can be translated as ‘nature’ (nature of a person), they are named as Vata, Pitta and Kapha.

 

Second part is vikruti or pathology; this can be a temporary problem or a lifelong issue in cases like diabetes

To understand Prakriti (type) the doctor looks these features of patient; subjective and objective data.

1.      Body type

2.      Musculature

3.      Joint condition and health

4.      Weight

5.      Eyes

6.      Skin/ Hair/nails

7.      Endurance to pain, illness

8.      Movement or body language

9.      Gait/walking mode

10.   Way of speech delivery

11.   Manners (sitting-nailbiter-restless)

12.   Sleep condition/duration

13.   Preferred climate or endurance to heat and cold or changes in weather

14.   Condition of stools (soft-hard-watery)

15.   Self esteem

16.   Likeness for fine arts-music-dance-makeup

17.   Mental abilities (decision making-study-creative skills-logical thinking)

18.   Memory

19.   Attention (attention deficient)

20.   Empathetic-sympathetic-don’t care

21.   Patient in others view

22.   Relationships with others

 

 To assess Vikriti (pathology) Ayurveda uses some other techniques too

It is called eight-point diagnosis tool

1.      Pulse reading (nadi)

2.      Urine

3.      Feaces

4.      Tongue

5.      Voice

6.      Skin texture

7.      Eyes

8.      Body type (skinny-medium-obese)

 

Health Condition according yoga (only in patients with prior knowledge of yoga)

1.      Physical Body

2.      Pranic body

3.      Mental body

4.      Intellectual body

5.      Spiritual body

 

 

Both prakriti and vikriti (pathology) are important in reaching final diagnosis

 

PLAN

1.      Intake of medicines-(mostly in acute/new diseases)

2.      Procedures at our clinic

3.      Panchakarma or detoxification procedures- Are advised both in illness (chronic illnesses) and those who are healthy who wishes to do rasayana therapy

4.      Clinical Yoga therapy

5.      Diet chart based on prakruti (type) and vikruti (pathology). During intake of certain medicines there will be restriction on certain foods and activities.

 

 

DISEASES WE TREATMENT

1.      Arthritis

2.      Backpain

3.      Diabetes

4.      Chronic Respiratory Problems

5.      Hypertension and stress related insomnia

6.      Skin diseases-Allergies

7.      Urinary tract infections and Calculi

8.      Anorectal diseases

9.      Rasayana (Immunity boosting)

10.   Infertility

11.   Gynecological issues, PCOD, irregular menstruation, scanty menstruation

12.   Methods to improve libido

 

 

 

 

AYURVEDA IN URINATRY TRACT INFECTIONS

Urinary tract infections are a common health issue that causes physical and mental trauma to the patient. Gender wise it effects females more due to some anatomical features of female urinary system. 

Mostly the infection is bacterial and rarely viral and other microbes can also invade the urinary passage; from urethra to the kidneys.

In many cases this can be treated with antibiotics but some cases the infection persists and it becomes chorionic. Ayurveda and yoga practices can help in these circumstances; it is particularly important in recurrent type of infections

Ayurveda treats by virtue of using 

1. antimicrobial herbs

2. Use of diuretics 

3. Improve immunity

4. Practice of Clinical yoga can help to alleviate the issue of urinary infection completely.  Asanas like Bhadrasana, badhakonasana, ananthasana, pavanamukthasana has been found effective in UTI

A regular intake of water is also recommended, so that there will be sufficient amount of urine output which does not allow bacterial build up within the bladder and ureter.

Other precautions are to keep hygiene especially during days of menstruation in females and during unprotected sex, rational use of public toilets and regular exercises that give movement to the pelvic area

 

HOW TO LIVE LONGER BY AYURVEDA

 There are many mythological references to remain young (challenging the relentless attack of time and diseases which leads to old age), the classical examples being of king Yayati and Saint Chyavana; to whom the famous Chavanaprash owes its name.

Looking at a scientific and physiological viewpoint there is no return from senile to youth. What is possible is prolong the process of aging; Ayurveda does not contest this idea.

In Rasayana-Vajeekarana chapter (Geriatric and Aphrodisiac treatments) of ayurveda this is made clear. The texts say one should undergo these treatments when someone is still young or in middle aged.

The reason is simple and direct; every cell in our body has a predetermined lifespan; whether it be skin cells, bone cells, blood cells and so on. Once they reach maturity the cells are killed by our system itself (apoptosis).

There are many herbs that can help our cells to live to their full potential and lifespan; this helps to delay aging. The principle behind any anti-aging therapy must be good nourishment which has plenty of antioxidants in it, vitamins and micronutrients which are necessary for the maintenance and repair of individual cells. A good practice of yoga also help to ensure good supply of blood and oxygen to every individual cells.

It is not by chance that the herbs used for internal consumption in Rasayana finds a place in hair tonics too, like the famous Indian gooseberry.