The Value of Yoga
The Value of Yoga
The Value of Yoga
by John Warak
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THIS marvelous and highly complex bio-machine, which we
refer to as our brain, has evolved up to the point where it has
effectively seized control of the entire human organism. But, this
brain of ours is only a part of the totally of what and who we are. It is
not our ‘master’. For, it could not survive long without say the heart
or the lungs and indeed the rest of the body - which are all designed
to function seamlessly and harmoniously together. As Robert M.
Sapolsky, a Professor of Biology & Neurology points out: “We
humans live well enough, long enough, and are smart enough to
generate all sorts of stressful events, purely in our heads.” It
seems that, this is the price we have to pay for having inherited a
complex brain mechanism! According to a 2005 article published by
the National Science Foundation, an average person has about 12,000
to 60,000 thoughts per day. What’s more, 80% of these thoughts
are negative and a massive 95% are repetitive thoughts. On
hearing these stats, our Ego might say, “Oh! How marvelous!”
However, let’s take the following daily ritual for example: You wake
up on any given morning from a long blissful sleep and automatically,
the ‘CPU’ that we call your brain, does a ‘system check’ and million
thoughts start racing through your head, faster than the speed of light
- Where am I? Who am I? What’s my name? What time is it? What to
eat? Oh my! I have so much to do today! And on and on and on, this
mental bombardment keeps flooding your stream of
consciousness ad infinitum. And, by the way! That’s just within the
first few minutes upon waking. I mean, you haven’t even made your
first trip to the bathroom yet! At this point, the lines from Paranoid
come rushing back into my consciousness. Come on everyone! Let’s
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all sing together now:
You have surely heard of yoga. Right! Yet, have you ever pondered
over its actual meaning, why its popularity is so enduring and how it
all got started? I know I have.
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consciousness with that of Universal Consciousness, indicating
a perfect harmony between the mind and body, Man & Nature.
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certain health conditions, including heart disease/hypertension,
asthma and back problems. For people with heart problems,
studies have shown yoga to help people young and old. Specifically,
yoga seems to promote heart health in several ways, including
regulating high blood pressure and improving resistance to
psychological stress. Yoga also has the potential to buffer against
the harmful effects of bodily self-objectification as well as to promote
wellbeing.