31. ...And Obviously, Self-Curing

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Yoga therapy is not my interest, and I know that nor is it yours. This blog is meant for spiritual discussions. But then, there is a basic question that links spirituality and therapy – “What is meant by good health?”. Health is a state of physical, mental and social well being, and not mere absence of disease (as per World Health Organization). Having no disease is not the end of the game, it is not a perfect state of health. It automatically indicates the possibility of positive health. A person, physically very strong, mentally in balance and intellectually very sharp can still be miserable inside. He may still feel an unknown void of some sort.  Is there a limit for positive health then?

Just look at the word for 'healthy' in Samskrita. "Swasthah" = Swa + Sthah. Established in the Self. Self-Realized! It is amazing how health was inseparable from spirituality in ancient India. So, basically we are all Aswastha (away from the Self) until we reach that oneness with our own Self. Thus, there IS an upper limit for positive health: Self-Realization J Modern medicine only cures diseases, but Yoga therapy can treat us even if we are supposedly healthy – towards positive health. Perhaps that’s what we have been focusing at in the last 30 posts in this blog! And also, Yoga Vasishtha (Sage Vasishta’s teachings to Sri Rama) clearly says that, there is a deep rooted imbalance in all of us – Sara Adhi – which gets cured only with Self-Realization.

“I have diabetes. What Asana or Pranayama should I perform to cure this?” a patient asks. Well, the question itself is wrong. Because he is still in the modern medicinal mindset – he has just replaced tablets with Yogic techniques. He is still thinking about one to one relation between a disease and a remedy. And that is against the concept of Yoga therapy. It is a holistic system. It will not just look at your pancreas if you have diabetes. If you do that, then it is better to go to modern medicine. It is better to follow modern medicine correctly rather than following Yoga therapy wrongly. For Yoga therapy, we have to change the approach to the disease itself, instead of bringing Yoga therapy down to the level of constricted modern medicinal approach.

Yoga Therapy is not just about Asana, Pranayama or Kriyas. But as usual, we have a tendency to attach ourselves strongly to physical techniques. For the above question about Diabetes, the answer could be “There is no single technique like that. We do not give remedy like how they give tablets in Allopath. Yoga therapy is a combination of several practices at various levels. And asana/pranayama is just one small part. At that level Ardha Matsyendrasana and Surya Anuloma Viloma Pranayama are the prescribed practices. But they alone independently will not help very much.” The previous posts about the basic pathogenesis of diseases as per Yoga therapy would make it clear that the root causes of the disease are certainly not at physical level. Physical level just has the symptoms. So, along with treating the symptoms, we will have to simultaneously look at uprooting the tree totally.

The fact is that, unintentionally we have already looked at so many crucial aspects of Yoga therapy by now – Jnana Yoga (notional correction, building positivity, eradicating self-cheating etc) and Karma Yoga (effortless work of Swadharma, reason for giving charity etc). So while we are at it, in this one post let us look at physical level of well-being as well.

As we saw in the earlier posts, constant mental unrest and wrong life style results in imbalance in the nervous system. This imbalance gives rise to an unnecessary accumulation of voltage in the nervous system which finally shows up as some error in some organ of the body. But before it comes down to the level of the body, it would have passed through several stages, an important one being the manifestation as the irregularity in breathing.

All take the process of breathing for granted. It happens on its own, and we least bother about it. And so, no one notices when it is impaired. But just as how input/output has to be regulated very carefully for an engine to work efficiently, regulation of breathing is a very crucial aspect to maintain good health. If mind is not restless, then automatically breathing will be well-regulated and it does not require special attention. But when there is mental restlessness, the imbalance in the nervous system first shows up as imbalance in the breathing process. Breathing gets impaired in various ways – fast breathing, arrhythmic breathing and imbalance between left and right nostril breathing. And the breathing practices that are part of Pranayama are prescribed to bring it back to normalcy.

The importance of slow and rhythmic breathing is worth explaining, not just for therapy, but for calming down the mind for Self-Enquiry or meditation. Consider a piece of plastic pipe as below. Water is constantly flowing through this pipe. The wall of the pipe would be facing a pressure from inside due to water flow. Now with the condition that the flow of water cannot be stopped, how can we give rest to the pipe?

The first obvious answer is to reduce the flow to the minimum possible level. But there is another important way – stabilizing the flow. If the flow fluctuates, the pipe wall faces fluctuating pressure and that causes more harm than just constant high pressure. Because variation means repeatedly reducing the pressure and then hitting it with a higher pressure.

Now let us apply this to breathing. When we breathe we intake oxygen (whatever is available amidst dust and smoke!). This oxygen is absorbed by blood in the lungs and circulated throughout the body. Blood is circulated because of the pumping of the heart. Heart requires energy for pumping blood. As we know, all energy production in the body is due to burning of Glucose in the presence of Oxygen. So, eventually even heart requires oxygen that lungs supply. Thus, there is a closed loop.

So, what should happen if we sit relaxed and try to regulate breathing for few minutes? Firstly our breathing rate reduces. Secondly breathing rate becomes rhythmic. Because of that, heart rate becomes rhythmic. Because of that, blood circulation becomes rhythmic. That means, blood is now flowing throughout the body very smoothly without much fluctuation in pressure and also at a very low pressure. And so, all the arteries and veins in the body are now enjoying a relaxed state – because of lack of fluctuation in pressure and a low pressure. And this way, if this is happening throughout the body, won’t we feel much relaxed and happy? When the body is thus relaxed throughout, automatically healing expedites within the body. Thus, breathing regulation (part of Pranayama) this is a common treatment for all NCDs.

But for us spiritually thirsty people, the story isn’t over yet. If blood circulation has become rhythmic, obviously the blood supply to brain also gets well regulated. Looked from the physical side, thoughts are nothing but some kind of electrical activity among neurons. Each type of thought has different level of energy requirements. Now if the energy supply to the brain has become low and rhythmic, then that means the electrical activity in the brain has also become low and rhythmic. That means, mind is easily able to retain softer thoughts (requiring a low energy). So, mind is calm and also easily concentrating on one chain of thoughts. Very conducive for meditation on an object. But if someone is already strongly into Self-Enquiry, whenever he does intense enquiry within, automatically breath slows down drastically. There breathing regulation happens as a result, not cause. You control any one, mind or the breath, and the other gets controlled automatically. Hatha Yoga approaches from the breath side of it, and Vichara (Jnana Marga) approaches directly from the mind.

Although breathing is a major input/output process, it is not the only thing that has to be regulated. As we saw in ‘The Numb Limb’ Pranayama would have to mean regulation of all activities of the body – food, sleep, speech etc. When Adhi (mental unrest) flows down to the level of body and becomes Vyadhi, digestion is another thing that gets impaired on the way. Food intake, digestion and excretion start getting slightly or moderately irregular and remains so for a long time – which we usually ignore as it does not pose a big threat in day-to-day activities. So, food regulation is another major part of Pranayama. If a person like Ramana who does not speak anything apart from Advaita says that food regulation is the greatest of all supplementary practices, then we can imagine the importance of it. When we begin to have simple Sattvik food at regular timings 3 times every day, without any munching in between, it beings the digestive system of the body to a wonderful rhythm. This important system of the body becomes rid of fluctuations and the need to adjust with varying quantity/quality of food and saves the body a lot of effort.

Secondly fasting regularly is also prescribed. Digestive system works continuously from the moment we are born till we die. It hardly gets any rest. Digestion process itself takes around 25% of the energy liberated from digestion! The engine of the car is much heavier than you are. The petrol that engine uses is mostly to carry the engine itself! So when we fast once in a month or a fortnight, the necessary rest is given to the digestive system. And just like how we perform household activities on weekends when we are free from office work, the body redirects all its energy (spared from digestive activity) on repair, healing works in our system. So, a person who fasts systematically, becomes more energetic, not weak. I hear that fasting has now been found to regenerate immune system in Cancer patients who have undergone Chemo-therapy. When you catch cold, or a have stomach upset, just fast, and you will recover much faster. Or if you fast regularly, you will not catch cold so easily.

We will have a brief look at Asana also. When mind is busy thinking intensely, it shows up in some muscle of the body as stiffness. Eyebrows, fingers, toes, shoulders – somewhere a slight but unnecessary tension can be seen. But when this happens throughout the day, it is a sign of booking of some NCD for the future (just like flat booking!). Because it means that mind has gone into a constant high-voltage mode. So, for treating NCD, this also needs to be reversed. Asanas, relaxation techniques developed by various institutes are finally meant to relax the whole body from head to toe. Asana is not meant just for improving the flexibility, but to tense just one part of the body and thereby relax all the remaining limbs of the body totally. Also, the part that is tensed would receive a gush of energy when we are in a posture. And when we release the posture and relax, energy would again diffuse throughout the body. So, this flushing action on specific parts of the body helps remove any Pranic blocks in that part. This when repeated several times for long periods of time, brings physical distribution of energy in the body to normalcy.

This post was meant to only touch some of the aspects of Yoga therapy. SVYASA has pioneered in treating diseases with Yoga and more details can be obtained from them. Yoga therapy is mostly self-practice and Self-curing the disease from the roots, rather than a doctor pushing a tablet into your mouth and curing you of the symptoms. A patient who has really tasted all the aspects of Yoga therapy (Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Raja Yoga and Bhakti Yoga) will certainly not limit Yoga to his treatment after that. He cannot be without seeing the whole movie once he gets to see the trailer of it in the name of therapy.

Among different streams of Yoga, perhaps Bhakti Yoga is the only one that isn’t covered yet in this blog and we shall do that soon!

14. The Numb Limb

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The Yoga sutras as propounded by Patanjali Maharshi is the base for the Yoga system of philosophy. This was later named as Raja Yoga. The system has 196 aphorisms (sutras) divided into 4 chapters. In the second chapter (Sadhana Pada), the 8 limbed Yoga (Ashtanga Yoga) is proposed. The term ‘Ashtanga Yoga’ is quite popular everywhere, but only few are aware about the details of the 8 limbs. The eight limbs are: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.

Among these eight limbs, only Asana, Pranayama and to some extent Dhyana are quite popular and the rest are simply ignored by modern Gurus. The first wrong notion about Ashtanga Yoga is that they are eight steps. Because of this notion, modern people think that if they can bend their body like a rubber toy, they can ignore the previous steps of Yama and Niyama. But these eight are not steps, they are limbs. All the eight have to be practiced simultaneously to reap the benefits. Then somebody may ask “How do I practice Samadhi directly?”. The answer is as follows.

In your 6^th standard, you studied Mathematics, Science, English etc. In your 7^th standard, you again studied Mathematics, Science, English etc. Why did you study the same subjects again? Then you will say that the topics were different. And in some cases, even if the topics were same, the coverage will be more. As we proceed into higher classes, we go deeper into the subjects. So subjects remain the same, but the depth increases. In the same way, a beginner also practices the same eight limbs as a master of Yoga. No difference in the subjects, but only in the depth differs. So, even a beginner can actually practice Samadhi at a very superficial level, details of which I would like to present in a dedicated post later. Another argument that follows is that we cannot afford to study just one or two subjects thoroughly and ignore the rest. Even if we get 100 in Asana and Pranayama and a 0 in Pratyahara, Dharana etc, we will remain where we are, without progress. All the 8 subjects are to be studied and practiced together.

The first two, Yama and Niyama are moral and ethical values.

Yamas – Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (non-stealing), Brahmacharya (continence) and Aparigraha (non-accumulation).

Niyamas – Shoucha (cleanliness), Santosha (contentment), Tapas (austerity), Swadhyaya (self study), Ishwara Pranidhana (surrender to the almighty).

But even they can be viewed from a different perspective. For e.g. please refer to the post ‘Convolutions Compiled’ where the usually ignored aspect of Satya is presented – being truthful to ourselves. Similarly please refer to ‘The Upturned Priorities’ to have a glimpse of ‘Aparigraha’ (non-accumulation of wealth) and ‘Santosha’ (contentment). ‘Tapas’ – never die attitude, is perhaps very well presented in ‘The Big Boost’ and ‘The Non-cooperation Movement’. The need and struggle of 'Brahmacharya' is discussed in 'The Strong Weakness' and 'The Non-cooperation Movement'.

So, instead of explaining Yamas and Niyamas separately, I thought we will discuss these as and when the need comes in between certain posts, same as how we have already done in the earlier posts. Also, as we proceed in this post and the next posts on Raja Yoga, we will notice how interlinked and inseparable these 8 limbs are. In this post I wanted to highlight one particular limb which is happily forgotten by everyone.

There is one limb of Raja Yoga which is all the time ignored by everybody – Pratyahara. The only thing told about this limb is ‘Control your sense organs’ and nobody talks about the ‘how’ of it. On one hand Asana and Pranayama are greatly explained with books after books and on the other hand, just one sentence is available for Pratyahara! How can we afford to do this for one whole subject of the whole course? Will you study one whole book for English, and just one sentence for Mathematics? So, I had to do some self study (Swadhyaya!) as no faculty is available for teaching this particular subject.

Before we explain Pratyahara, let us first understand the basic concept of Prana and Pranayama. Consider two people having a particular sweet dish. One person may be enjoying the taste of that item very much and expressing his happiness. Another person may be simply eating without making any big fuss, he neither likes it nor hates it. Now, what is the difference between the two people? In scientific terms, energy expenditure was very much same – both used their hands to take the sweet, both used their teeth to chew and both swallowed. So, in terms of the activity, there was hardly any difference. Then how do we explain the different experiences of the two? To explain that we introduce a new term ‘Prana’. The first person spent more Prana and bought more experience, the second person spent less Prana and hence bought less experience. So, although the activity is exactly the same, experience may vary depending on how much Prana we spend. In even simpler terms, the first person lived more (bought more sensual experience) and the second person lived less (bought less sensual experience) when eating the sweet dish. In fact, we usually use this phrase “Live your life to the fullest” which simply means that ‘Spend your Prana as much as possible to buy as much sense experiences as possible’.

So, money buys objects and Prana buys experiences. Even if the object is the same, experiences bought from it may vary depending on Prana expenditure. And when there is no Prana (dead body), object becomes useless. Then, Pranayama, as the name suggests is regulation of Prana. So, straightaway it becomes evident that breathing practices alone cannot become Pranayama. Regulating breathing is one way of regulating Prana, but cannot be the whole of Pranayama. Pranayama probably means regulation of lifestyle itself – food, speech, sleep (how much, how, what, where and when) along with breath regulation. Then, food moderation, fasting, observing mouna (silence), regulating sleep hours all come under Pranayama along with breathing practices. Pranayama seems like finance management of Prana by controlling all the external activities of the body.

Now let us see what Pratyahara could be. As a practice of Pranayama, suppose I have decided to cut down my food. I am having 3 meals a day with no cow-like-munching in between. But I am continuously munching inside my head! My old habits are still very strong and at 11 in the morning I want to munch some snacks, at 4 in the evening I want to eat some junk. But I am forcefully controlling and suppressing. This will not last long. I may hold for a week or two, then I will again go back to munching whenever I see food. So, until the impressions are cleared from the head, external practice becomes difficult. But the mental impressions get cleared only when we practice in our activities. This is our old enemy – the vicious vortex – which has to be broken and made into a virtuous vortex. So, we have knotted inter-dependency - between external practice and mental impressions. We already saw that regulation of the former is Pranayama. The regulation of the latter forms Pratyahara – controlling the impressions in the mind by regulating the inputs through the senses. When both are practiced together, they complement each other, and the vicious vortex slowly gets transformed into a virtuous vortex (as explained in 'The Big Boost').

Suppose you are in a mall and have 10 Lakh rupees with you, and nobody to question you. Now you go crazy. You don’t know what to buy and what not to. You go on grabbing and purchasing things after things, without questioning yourself whether you really need it or not. And then you come home with a truckload of things and dump them all in one room. The next day suppose again you get 10 Lakh rupees and you bring another truckload of items and dump it in that room. Now, you do not know which item to use and what to unpack. They are just there in a disorderly manner, occupying space and looking messy.

Till now it was only a hypothetical situation but now we change the tracks into reality. The money that you spent was actually your Prana. The items were not actually bought with money, but bought with your Prana and impressions were stored in your head. You looked at a hundred items, grasped them all and stored all of them with desires attached in your head. This way you went on spending Prana, purchasing the reflection of the items and storing them all in the room of your mind. Your mind now has become a dump yard. All items are just there but you don’t know what to think first and what to think next. The moment you sit quietly without any activity, all the impressions are going to perform a parade in your head. Each item will perform a march-past in front of you saluting at you and smiling at you! How can you possibly practice ‘Dhyana’ (meditation) with all this garbage in the mind? Impossible!

Pratyahara is stopping this very collecting and storing of unnecessary information through your senses. And that is what the word literally means ‘Reversed Food’ i.e. the food of the senses. No doubt this is an ongoing project. We have to begin regulating what we see, what we talk, what we hear, what we eat etc. And even if we see/hear/talk/eat, we should not drool over it and make the impression very strong in the mind. Just as you meticulously plan your money expenditure, start regulating and restricting the Prana expenditure even in the smallest activity. So, Pratyahara is actually a subtler Pranayama. Pranayama was controlling the grosser activities, and Pratyahara is controlling the subtler information flow itself. As we saw earlier, more than the activity, the experience bought from the activity is our focus. Seeing itself does not cause any harm, but madly desiring for everything that we see makes us spend more Prana and grab reflections of whatever we see throughout the day. The moment desire starts sprouting you ask yourself the question ‘Do I really need it?’. ‘Wants’ are greedy, but ‘Needs’ will be genuine requirements.

Pratyahara and Pranayama go hand in hand. As a result, slowly and gradually we have to cut down sense pleasures one by one. But rest assured, you will see significant progress within one year if you start today. For e.g. if you are watching 2-3 movies in a week, cut it down to one movie. After 2-3 months cut it down further to 1 movie in 10 days and so on. Similarly, gradually taper off the number of times you eat out, number of times you munch junk in a day etc. There will be so many of them to be tapered off and will vary from person to person. It has to be done in such a way that the mind does not recognize that there has been some change. Suppression never wins, nor does free venting. The only feasible solution is gradual withdrawal. ‘The Big Boost’ post deals with this process in detail.

As mentioned earlier, ‘Living the life to the fullest’ by enjoying sense pleasures without limits is a gateway to misery. And mastery over senses by moderating the sense pleasures is a stepping stone to something greater. When Pranayama and Pratyahara are practiced this way, automatically mind becomes clean and orderly (Shoucha). Thoughts are not scattered here and there nor are they dumped in a heap. All the thoughts are systematically arranged and you can precisely take out what you exactly want with ease. Meditation becomes automatic and Samadhi becomes spontaneous, as it really should be.