On June 18 an International Yoga Day event was organised by the Consulate General of India under the patronage of Shaikh Ahmad bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Foundation and President of the UAE National Olympic Committee. At the Dubai World Trade Centre, I was part of an expert panel from across the world — which also included yoga guru Ramdev — to give their perspective on yoga and wellness. Here’s what participants took away from my discussion that day.
Yoga is a complete science. In mathematics two plus two is four, it cannot be five or six or eight. Similarly in yoga, there is a systematic eight-fold path. Unlike other forms of science or spiritual pursuits, in yoga one can know which step he is on while practising. Yoga can be practised by anyone no matter what his belief, faith or religion. It is a process-oriented science which has been documented by several yogis over the centuries. Just as scientists, yogis have experimented for centuries and documented observations about human potential.
Yoga is often seen as an exercise form known for benefits such as flexibility, figure correction, stress management and disease management. A yogi is seen as someone who can bring his foot to the top of his head. That should make every gymnast in the world a yogi. But it isn’t so.
Patanjali, a great scientist, has done an excellent job compressing the entire knowledge of yoga in 195 sutras (aphorisms). One can imbibe the whole of yoga by chanting and understanding these yoga sutras.
Let us look into this eight-fold path of yoga which includes yama (self-regulation), niyama (observance or discipline), asana (posture), pranayama (breath regulation), pratyahara (withdrawal of senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (state of perfected mediation).
Not just physical
Asana is only one aspect of yoga. But, unfortunately over the years, yoga has been seen purely as physical in nature, especially in the west. Yes, yoga helps achieve health and physical wellbeing. But this is just the beginning, only the preparation to begin the inward journey of yoga.
Psychology has explored consciousness and sub-consciousness. Yoga speaks of another aspect of the mind – the “super consciousness”. There are methods and techniques in yoga which can streamline the thought process and coordinate between the various aspects of the human system – mana (mind), buddhi (intellect), ahamkara (ego) and chitta (consciousness).
There is a beautiful way of understanding the mind and the self through pratyahara, dharana and dhyana. As you turn the mind inwards through pratayahara, you begin to witness or observe yourself. You become the observer, the object and the process is observation. With dharana the process starts to disappear and only the object and observer remain. The act of seeing or doing dissipates.
With intense dhyana, the object also disappears. You remain an observer or a witness to everything within and around you. As you progress further, samadhi happens.
Raising it to a higher level
There are 3 stages of samadhi — sabeeja samadhi, nirbeej samadhi and dharmamegha samadhi.
Beeja in Hindi means seed. Sabeeja samadhi means absorption with seed where the form of awareness remains. One can go in the state of samadhi and come out.
Nirbeeja samdhi means there is absorption without the seed. In this state, one remains in a state of samdhi.
Dharmamegha samadhi means the cloud of virtue. There is no coming back from this state of samadhi.
Thus, there is much more to yoga when you are willing to explore. In the coming weeks, I’ll discuss yogic meditation and its effects.
Next week: Meditation and its effects Part 1
