No Substitute-Yoga Is Ultimate

There is a saying “First wealth is perfect health”, but in today’s scenario, It is hard to find a person who is perfectly healthy. The air has got polluted, water has got contaminated, and food stuffs have become full of adulteration that has affected our health adversely. Stress and tensions have reached at all time high, which is causing all kinds of psychosomatic disorders like anxiety, restlessness, high blood pressure, heart problems, asthma, diabetes, migraine, insomnia etc. The temptations are there all around us in every sphere of life, which has spoilt our life style immensely.

The over dependence on medical science like allopath, which cure only the symptoms and not the root cause of disease, hence the disease surface again and again even more vigorously sometime, people have started looking for different other means of keeping their body fit and healthy.

In this world of growing awareness towards health, where one have so many options to choose from if one likes to adopt a physical regime for the body to be fit and healthy. There are several options available for a person like walking, running, jogging, swimming, dancing, zymming, aerobic exercises, pilates, martial arts etc. All of them are good for our health as they all have some or other physical benefits. But, none of them could be as holistic as the yoga practice in terms of overall benefit.

Yoga as a health tool has so many techniques; Asanas(Physical postures), Pranayamas(Breathing Teachniques), Relaxation, Meditation, Cleansing practices(Shat Karmas), different Yamas and Niyamas( Restraints and Principles), Dietary guidelines etc. If we undertake yoga in our life and practice it diligently, achieve an integrated benefit which affects our entire framework of body, mind and soul which does not happen in any of the above mentioned forms of exercise.

When we do Asanas, it opens up entire body, stiffness and tensions leave the body, body becomes supple and flexible, pranic blockages are removed and movement of energy in the body becomes free flowing. There is an improvement in the organic functioning and harmony will be there in functioning of different systems, so we regain our lost vitality and health.

With the practice of Pranayama, the amount of energy increases in the body and there is a regularization in the flow of prana(the vital energy) and at the same time we gain physical and mental balance, stability and strength.

Practice of relaxation and yoganidras makes one be relaxed at physical level, muscular level, mental and nervous level. Person becomes calm and free from stress and tension. Yoganidra, is one of the best tool in countering day to days stress and tensions of our life and helpful in the management of most of the psychosomatic diseases.

Meditation practices are very helpful in improving concentration, becoming focused and one-pointed, increases the inner strength and confidence if practiced regularly. Person becomes more close to reality of life and undertakes all the work as a fun.

Shatkarmas(Cleansing practices) like neti, kunjal, shankhaprakshalana, if done regularly, would not allow the toxins get stored in the body, brings an inner purity, immunity increases and body becomes more healthy.

All the four above mentioned tools of yoga (Asanas, Pranayamas, Relaxation and Meditation) if practiced and is well supported by Cleansing practices (Shatkarma) and Dietary regulations, we achieve a perfect health physically, mentally, emotionally as well as spiritually which can not be there practicing any other form of exercise. Yoga offers a wide range of benefit for the human being that can not only be applied in therapy but can be understood as a technique to lead a healthy, happy and peaceful life free from stress, tensions and diseases.

However, one has more time then one can adopt some other activities as well but if there is less time then yoga is ultimate, there is no substitute as you can not achieve what you achieve here practicing yoga, elsewhere.