Every type of Yoga has one aim: How can we get mental peace so that we can be mentally happy. In ancient, Yoga was practiced merely to obtain moksha (Note#: According to Hindu mythology, there are 8.4 million types of species in this universe. One can take birth as a human being only after having taken birth and lived through all these species one by one.

The process, by which one can avoid this long chain, is called ‘moksha’). However, now a day, Yoga is understood in a wider connotation. Now, Yoga is practiced with two points of view – firstly, from ancient point of view of obtaining spiritual happiness and secondly, from worldly point of view. Worldly point of view here means bodily health or physical fitness. In this materialistic world, when human needs have increased manifolds, a person remains busy more in mental work than in physical work. Mental tension results in many mental illnesses, to cure which even medical science sometimes finds itself inadequate. While the medical science is busy researching and finding new medicines to old diseases, human beings are being threatened by new and hitherto unknown diseases. After paying a number of visits to the doctors, a person finds refuge under the umbrella of Yoga.

Foreigners have readily accepted this ancient body of knowledge. In contrast to India, countries like China, Japan, Russia, America, etc have presented a newer version of Yoga before the world, by linking it to sex and consumerism. Sexual tendencies are given to a human being by Mother Nature. This tendency is essential for reproduction of life. Life offers uncountable material things offering temptations. It is physically impossible to enjoy all these things. It is better to understand this fact and be satisfied with a fewer things. Yoga, by giving us a message of patience and satisfaction, teaches us how to live a contented life. Only a true yogi can enjoy material things in a better way.

To sum up, Yoga is an essential element for a successful and contented life. For lack of Yoga, both mind and body become a center of a number of diseases, due to which a man gets deprived of the scarce physical and spiritual happiness in life. A man can get desired results in life by adopting yoga fully. Supreme happiness can be obtained through the knowledge and powers of Yoga. This knowledge and power is not otherwise easily available. With Yoga, a person rises above this material world and by visiting the micro world of spiritualism, attains supreme happiness. Even lord Krishna has treated the yogi better than the worshipper, the knowledgeable and the man of action and told Arjuna, “A person attains the god through Yoga and, therefore, Arjuna, you can also become ayogi.”

A yogi is better than a person

Who worship;

A yogi is better than a person

Who is full of knowledge

A yogi is far better than a person

Who is a man of action;

Therefore, Arjuna, be a yogi.

Ordinarily, we understand Yoga in the context of Bhakti Yoga, Gyan Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Karma Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Mantra Yoga, etc. The tangible and material things keep the human beings attracted towards them. Therefore, to avoid their attractions, all the actions taken by a person to concentrates towards the god, by a willful and positive action, come within the category of Yoga through chanting the Holy Words (Mantra Yoga) e.g. meditation, Yoga, devotion, recitation, love towards the god, etc.

The body of a man has presence of energy centers. All those actions, by which the Yoga practitioner, by applying mental resistance towards the materialistic attractions, finds himself near to the God, come under the Yoga through Persistence (Hatha Yoga).

You would have noticed that in pictures, a wheel or circle of light is shown behind the heads of gods, goddesses and great men. This light reflects the power and influence of the gods, the goddesses and the great men. Scientifically this is known as ‘aura’. What is an aura and how is it formed? According to Yoga texts, as there are nerve cells in the body, there are energy centers (chakras) inside the body. These energy centers connect the physical body with the non-physical body. Non-physical body cannot be felt directly. Aura or sphere of light is related to these very energy centers.

Aura depicted in pictures is usually considered to be an imagination of the artist. Actually, an aura is connected with each person. However, in some persons it is very powerful while in others it is very weak. With the help of Yoga exercises, it can even be seen as rays of light moving in circular motion. Spinal cord is the base of this aura and this light encircles the entire body of a person. The question arises, what is the use of these energy centers? Those who practice Yoga, use these energy centers to awaken the dormant powers which are situated in each individual. The process through which these powers are activated is known as ‘Awakening the Serpentine Energy centre’ (Kundalini). Help of breathing exercises (pranayamas) and Yoga postures is availed to awaken these powers because these postures receive powerful energy from the Energy centre.

The ordinary meaning of the word ‘Dhoti’ is washing. A dhoti is also a wearing apparel (it is tied around the waste), made out of pure cotton yarn without any stitches. In Yoga Science also, dhoti means washing the inside of the stomach with water or air so that the waste products collected therein get removed and the whole body becomes healthy.

According to Maharishi Gherand, the body gets cleansed by Six Rituals, out of which

is the most important. In bhakti Sagar, this Ritual has been described as follows:

Take a fabric strip sixteen hand-measure long

And four finger-measure wide.

Dip it in water and twist to strain out excess water.

Swallow through the mouth.

And then take out.

It cleanses the body and

If removes eighteen types of ailments

Including leprosy.

BENEFITS:

With the practice of this cleansing method, problems of cough, loss of appetite, acidity, etc. are removed. Apart from this, it has been proved that asthma; Para thyroid, tuberculosis, constipation, mumps, speech defects, malaria, fever, etc are cured. It is not possible to count benefits of this process. In Hatha Yoga, its benefits have been described like this: “With Dhoti Karma, cough, liver, leprosy, and twenty other cold related ailments are cured.”

Besides this, bad cold, mouth ulcers, tonsillitis, are also cured with the practice of this activity.

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The Five Treasures of the Pacha Koshas:

The soul of human beings comprises pancha koshas which are also known as the five bodies. These are described below:

1. The Treasure of Nutrients

This is the first part of this physical body. This treasure is concerned with the skin up to the earth element. When proper diet is taken Yoga Asanas are practiced and pranayamas are done, then this treasure increases.

2. The Treasure of life

The second treasure of the body is pranamaya kosha. The medium between the body and the soul is pran. All the work done by a conscious being is done by this treasure, which is made of prana. Prana, which flows with breath inside and outside the body, is considered to be of ten types, depending on the place and the part it plays. The main function of this treasure is to make fit for consumption the food that we eat, absorption of nutrients of food in the body, distribution of various hormones and juices in the body equally and activating various parts of the body. This treasure also flows in the body along with the blood and expels the waste products which collect in the blood from various parts of the body. Consumption of food is also the function of this Treasure. Regularly doing pranayamas increases this treasure.

3. The treasure of Consciousness

Consciousness is a part of the soul, which is situated in the body. This is the treasure of consciousness. Power to think, prude and state of mind are known as the four constituents of the consciousness. These are introvert constituents. (In contrast, there are five sensory organs, which are extrovert in nature.) These constituents of consciousness are collectively known as treasures of consciousness.

4. The Treasure of Prudence

The chief function of the mind is to think prudently. The main constituents of this Treasure are the power to think rationally and intelligently and decipher the information collected by the sensory organs.

5. The Treasure of Joy

This treasure is situated inside our heart. This treasure is more concerned with our inner self than with the outside world. Our life, our existence and our behavior towards the outside world, all depend on this Treasure. After attaining the higher levels of Samadhi, the Yoga practitioner receives the abundant supply of this Treasure and remains always joyous.

Below are 3 Uddiyana Bhanhas yoga asanas to help you on your journey to peace and freedom.

The pit formation

Contracting muscles of the region around the navel is called is called Uddiyana Bandha.

BENEFITS:

Practice of this bandha corrects the appetite, removes abdominal complaints, debility and results in general well being.

MOOLA BANDHA

Contracting the Anal muscle

In this Bandha, muscles of the anus are contracted.

BENEFITS:

Practise of this bandha cures a number of ailments of the genital area e.g. piles, fissure, premature ejaculation, irregular menstrual cycle, hernia, etc. This bandha is very important to awaken the Kundalini.

JALANDHAR BANDHA

The Head-chin-Breath Constraint

Benefits:

Practice of this Bandha results in melodious voice and cures complaints of the throat. This Bandha is very important for doing pranayamas.

DHYANA

Meditation

In the eight steps of Yoga, meditation forms the seventh step. Its objective is to concentrate all mental thoughts in one direction and get rid of all other thoughts. When physical control, mental control, abstinence and patience have been well practiced by the practitioner, then the mind stops wandering here and there. One is able to concentrate his thoughts just on one thing. This is the position of meditation.

According to Yoga Darshan 3.2, ability to concentrate and continuously maintain concentration of the mind on the object which has been visualized is called mediation.

Being deep in thought is synonym of meditation. Since thinking takes place in the mind, thinking in one direction is called meditation.

According to Garakh Samhita, the process of thinking about hidden forces within oneself is called meditation.

Thinking about oneself is meditation. A seed does not know that one day; he may possibly become a tree. The same applies to human beings. The man does not know who he is and what he can do. A seed being inanimate cannot look within itself. However, the man can look within himself and introspect. This introspection is meditation. Everyone is capable of meditation and it is the birth right of each and every individual. Meditation comes together with birth of a child. Meditation is with us each and every moment.

Not only this, when a meditation becomes extrovert then it concerns with material things and when the meditation becomes introvert, then truth about life dawns. Sinking deep into meditation, gives knowledge about great possibilities. And whatever is possible, starts taking shape of a reality. Meditation is a medium which introduces one with oneself. The only thing that is required is that the man devotes his energy, time and determination towards meditation, with the clear understanding that there is nothing more precious than meditation.

In sixth Chapter of holy Gita, Lord Krishna has described about meditation in detail.

To mediate the yogi should sit in some comfortable position at some clean place with full mental concentration. What he sites on, should be like this: the lowermost should be grass, above is should be deer-skin and above it should be some comfortable cloth. The practitioner should sit on it pleasantly. The seat must neither be too high nor too low.

It is impossible to meditate without proper seat. That is why the lord directs that:

Sit comfortably

Controlling the pleasure seeking body and the mental thoughts.

Try to concentrate on just one thing

Mental concentration is of two types. Concentration without thoughts and thoughtful concentration. When there is no thought in the mind, this situation is called concentration without thought. When we concentrate on some thing, some light or some deity, then this situation is called thoughtful concentration. In Holy Gita, both these types of meditations have been permitted.

In Upnishadas (Ancient Hindu Texts), meditation has been mentioned at a number of places. According to these, the practitioner of meditation should sit with his head, neck and chest slightly raised, with body erect and there should not be any movement in body. If this is not done, then laziness, drowsiness and mind-drift occur, hindering meditation.

Thereafter, keeping the entire sensory organs shut (being dead to the outside world) one should consider about god and the god alone.

PURPOSE OF YOGA

Every type of Yoga has one aim: How can we get mental peace so that we can be mentally happy. In ancient, Yoga was practiced merely to obtain moksha ( escape from the cycle of birth and death) (Note#: According to Hindu mythology, there are 8.4 million types of species in this universe. One can take birth as a human being only after having taken birth and lived through all these species one by one. The process by which one can avoid this long chain, is called ‘moksha’).

However, now a days, Yoga is understood in a wider connotation. Now, Yoga is practiced with two points of view – firstly, from ancient point of view of obtaining spiritual happiness and secondly, from worldly point of view. Worldly point of view here means bodily health or physical fitness. In this materialistic world, when human needs have increased manifolds, a person remains busy more in mental work than in physical work. Mental tension results in many mental illnesses, to cure which even medical science sometimes finds itself inadequate. While the medical science is busy researching and finding new medicines to old diseases, human beings are being threatened by new and hitherto unknown diseases. After paying a number of visits to the doctors, a person finds refuge under the umbrella of Yoga.

People have readily accepted this ancient body of knowledge. In contrast to india, countries like china, Japan, Russia, America, etc have presented a newer version of Yoga before the world, by linking it to sex and consumerism. Sexual tendencies are given to a human being by Mother Nature. This tendency is essential for reproduction of life. Life offers uncountable material things offering temptations. It is physically impossible to enjoy all these things. It is better to understand this fact and bge satisfied with a fewer things. Yoga, by giving us a message of patience and satisfaction, teaches us how to live a contented life. Only a true yogi can enjoy material things in a better way. To sum up, Yoga is an essential element for a successful and contented life. For lack of Yoga, both mind and body become a center of a number of diseases, due to which a man gets deprived of the scarce physical and spiritual happiness in life. A man can get desired results in life by adopting yoga fully.

Supreme happiness can be obtained through the  knowledge and powers of Yoga. This knowledge and power is not otherwise easily available. With Yoga, a a person rises above this material world and by visiting the micro world of spiritualism, attains supreme happiness.

A yogi is better than a person who worships;
A yogi is better than a person who is full of knowledge;
A yogi is far better than a person who is a man of action;