Our ancient rituals, culture and traditions are very rich and nourishing. A lot of people, especially the youngsters, call it orthodox and not fit to follow in this modern world. However, when we were young we learned physical hygiene, social distance, cleanliness and other routines. We ridiculed, insulted, and laughed at these systems. But today, during the pandemic, these rituals and age-old practices have come to our rescue. Think how advanced our ancestors were and let us go back to our roots and explore.
Yoga, an age-old practice, helps to calm the mind and body, and lead to a healthy life without aches and pains. The eight pillars of yoga are: (i) Yama truth, ahiṃsā, ashteya (not stealing); (ii) Niyama (discipline); (iii) Āsana (posture); (iv) Prāṇāyāma (rhythmic control of breath); (v) Pratyāhāra (looking inward); (vi) Dhāraṇa (concentration); (vii) Dhyāna (meditation); (viii) Samādhi (state of super-consciousness).
The āsanas (postures) were developed as a methodical approach to living. The āsanas have a great
potential to change the behavioural pattern of the practitioner impacting their mental stature,
enabling them to evolve and remain on a positive path. There are standing, sitting, and twisting
āsanas with forward, backward, and inverted movements, contractions and breathing cycles.
Basically, there are three types of Vedic yoga, namely mantra, prāṇa and dhyāna yoga. Mantra yoga helps us understand the manifestations of the divine laws and gives us a mantric insight into the highest intelligence, Oṃ. Prāṇa yoga is directed towards the development of prāṇa, commonly known as, vidyut shakti (electrical force). Prāṇa yoga is significant for inner transformation as it helps individuals to focus on their inner energies.
On the other hand, dhyāna yoga, which is called meditation yoga, helps us develop wisdom or buddhi. The awakened intelligence developed from shyāna yoga helps understand spiritual unfoldment, the evolution of the cosmos, the divine intelligence and the various laws of the macrocosm.
The Covid19 pandemic has given people an impetus to take on yogic practices and health values
because it is linked to ayurveda and immunity development. Yoga is a spiritual discipline that can
unite us with our spiritual selves and help us harmonize with our inner energies. Synchronization of
mind and body helps in discovering our inherent power and helps us in identifying our true selves.
Yoga āsanas and breathing techniques should be learned under a competent teacher/guru. By
reading books, one can never reach a meditative stage. There are too many nuances to learn in
āsanas and prāṇāyāmas.
Taking us back to our Roots…
During ancient times, bathrooms and toilets were outside our houses and not inside. Why? For
example, when one goes to a barber shop or a funeral, you are not supposed to touch anything
unless you have had a bath. Similarly, when you return from your work or school or after playing,
you are supposed to wash your hands and legs or have a bath. Footwear is always kept outside the
house; you are not supposed to walk around with it inside the house. There could be a separate pair
of sandals/slippers to wear in the house. You will be surprised to know even today in India, a
mandatory isolation or quarantine is followed (especially after a birth in the house or death in the
family) in traditional households. When there was a dead body in the house, no cooking was done.
The clothes were washed outside the house and not inside. They did not have washing machines
and the clothes were dried under the sun’s powerful heat. Why? Once you have a bath, you were not
supposed to physically touch those who had not yet bathed. We thought all these things are
orthodox and have no place to follow in this modern world. But these are things which are coming
to our rescue.
References
Sovik, R. (2021). Learn Kapalabhati (Skull Shining Breath). Retrieved 27 May 2021, from
https://yogainternational.com/article/view/learn-kapalabhati-skull-shining-breath
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