Yoga is not and ancient myth buried in oblivion. It is most valuable inheritance of the present. It is essential need of today the culture of tomorrow. - Swami Satyanand Saraswati
Yoga is an ancient science that aims at bringing equilibrium in the body. It’s a way of having a holistic health approach towards maintain good health. This works on all the aspects that is physical, mental and spiritual health of the body.
मोगणित्तवृणत्तणनयोध् ॥ २॥ yogashchittavrittinirodhah
Yoga is a science of keeping your chitta away from all the vrittis i.e. keeping your mind away from any kind of fluctuations and modification. This is how we can define yoga.
The main moto that yoga is finding a connect that is creating a union of one self with God or what we also call as the divine energy. This goes way beyond physical aspects. It works to create a lifestyle that values health, calmness, wellbeing, metal peace and a positive approach towards life.
Yoga is to be practices with self-awareness and controlled breathing. Which is why; yoga is actually a holistic system within itself, where the mind and the body act in unison and get completely rejuvenated, as physical postures, breathing exercises and meditation help in the overall well-being of an individual.
What is holistic health? According to the society the concept of wellness solely revolves around the attributes of physical health. This is far from being completely healthy. Even the definition of Health given by WHO (World Health Organization) states that "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. " Which says that although physical aspect is important mental health is also equally important which is not rarely taken care of by the people around. This being also a part of our daily bodily health system it becomes extremely important to take good care of it. Holistic approach to wards health is how you can fill a gap that present in the current health care system that focuses only on the physical aspect and leaves the mental aspect away.
Adopting a holistic approach makes sure that a long-time lifestyle modification is made that will not only focus on physical well being but also on your over all happiness. This addresses to a lot more factors to that can be a cause of breakdown or sickness of the human body that are stress, depression, addiction, exhaustion and low self-esteem; that can affect the physical aspects. Making sure there is a balance built between the physical and mental aspects helps body to function at its full potential.
The basic working of yoga According to yoga philosophy it works on different layers of the body known as ‘Pancha khosa’. This states that a human body is not just made of physical self but also has five different layers that helps address overall health of the individual. These layers/khosa are:
1. Annamay kosha / physical body This represents the physical body and where the soul rests. This is where most of our health concerns are focused on. This is that layer where physical wellness is the key. As it is made of all the five elements namely earth, water, fire, wind and space. Asanas will help in strengthening this layer of the koshas.
2. Pranmaya kosha / Breath body This represents the subtle body where the flow of energy (life force) also known as prana is focused on that keeps the prana maya kosha alive. Psychologically it controls the rhythm of body and soul.
3. Manomaya Kosha / emotional body This represents the mind, emotions and the nervous system. It is the control panel for the emotional and physical body, indicating the signaling of the central nervous system. This is the layer where physical feeling move to form more emotional in nature.
4. Vijnanamaya Kosha / intellectual body The consciousness that tells us to do a thing or not to do a thing is Vijnanamaya Kosha. Instead of simply feeling or acting we just intend to act in a certain way. This copiousness differentiates human being s with other animals. 5. Ananadmaya kosha / Bliss body This is the final bliss layer of our existence representing our atman. This is where you can find liberation from all the things liberating from its suffering. This can be attained by deep meditative state.
These layers start getting unfolded once you start following and practicing yoga with all its essence. Including all the yamas (dont’s), niyamas (do’s) along with asanas, pranayama and meditation. This creates a disciplined life and also connecting with own self.
This work on all the layers and aspects of life makes it much more reasonable of its working on the holistic health approach. By keeping you away from physical illness and also making sure there is a lot more self-awareness. This creates a positive relation with once self-making it makes it easy and simpler to adopt to a lifestyle that will help gain complete health and well ness.