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Official Gmail Blog: A new inbox that puts you back in control

Hello Friends,

How can you make your body and mind perfectly healthy? Here are the simplest ways of Yoga.

Human body is an amazing gift of God. Body is the residence of the precious mind that has done all wonders the world has seen so far, at the same time all destructions also, the most bloody and horrific. Mind is the creator and destroyer of all civilizations. A man is said to be healthy if he is physically and mentally fit. So it should be our primary concern to keep our bodies in good health, because as you all know 'a healthy mind always resides in a healthy body’.

Yogasasthra says:

“Sareera maadhyam

Khalu Dharmasaadhanam”

The body first and then comes all the good and bad out of it.

The famous proverb says:

‘If only there is a wall, you can paint picture on it.’

The above and similar other teachings of our ancient Gurus point to the importance of body. Regular practice of ‘Hatayoga’ gives you a wonderfully healthy body and mind. Through this blog, I shall give you ideas how to practice this yoga, without the help of a Guru, because I am giving you things those I was taught by my guru ‘Yogacharya Govindan Nair.’

Mind and the Time Machine

Nothing in this universe is static. Everything-- all movables and immovables--- go on changing as the limbs of the huge Time Machine move forward. This is inevitable.

In our times the changes are happening at a quicker pace. This is may me mainly due to the brisk technological leaps. Each day dawns with a new invention, big or small, that changes the human lives of the entire world. Subsequently increases the importance of money and the world has becomes commercial. In a commercial world money is the ruling power. 

The changes affect human beings also. Their stature, nature, behaviour, outlook, style, culture,everything changes day by day. Such changes are inevitable also.

Human mind has now become more restless than it has ever been. It has become more and more cruel, greedy and selfish. The whole world therefore, is under the clutches of conflicts, big and small.

If one can control one’s mind, such things will never happen. But that is not an easy task. A mind without any control is just like a truant horse without bridle. Yoga is the only way to control our mind.  

Hatayoga

The basic scripture of Hatayoga is 'Hatayogapradeepika' witten by Swami Swatmarama.

Hatayoga refers to the fundamental lessons to enter into the deep ocean of Rajayoga. As well known Yogis say about it, the later is only meant for a limited number of people who aspire a permanent saintly (ascetic) way of life.

Hatayoga, on the other hand is useful to all who lead an ordinary mundane life, for an overall healthy, meaningful and near perfect life. Hatayoga mainly involves Yama Niyamas, Asanas and Pranayama. First of all let us have a look at the Yama Niyamas.

Yama Niyamas

Yama Niyamas are a set of rules framed by the ancient Yogis to be followed not only by a Yoga student but by each and every individual. But some of these rules are hard to crack and cannot be followed as such. They are primarily meant for the purification of mind.

Yamas:--There are five rules in this category.

1. Sathya (Truth)---To be followed in words and deeds.

2. Ahimsa (Not kill)---Ahimsa not only involves physical killing of creatures but also the mental and physical torture one’s action and words causes to others. We should abstain from that.

3. Astheya---Longing other’s possessions and trying to get them. This is theft, the principle taboo.

4. Brahmacharya (celibacy)---This is a nut hard to crack. Everybody cannot follow this.

5. Aparigraha (Greed)—There is no meaning in amassing wealth more than what we need. We cannot take them along while we go for our final journey.

Niyamas:-

Niyamas form the day–to-day activities we do. There are five rules in Niyamas.

1.Soucham (cleanliness)---Always keep the body and mind clean. It includes personal hygiene and keeping away of all negative thoughts from mind.

2.Santhosham (Happiness)—Lift up your innate pleasure from underneath and always try to keep a smiling face.

‘You may think that you cannot smile at a person who is your enemy. But why can’t you think you have no enemies?’

3.Tapas (Penance)---Here it only mean doing ones familial and social responsibilities in a right way.

4.Swadhyaayam---Ignorance is not a sin, but to keep faulty knowledge is. Read good books written by ancient sages and tear off the veil of darkness that covers up our mind.

5.Eeswarapranidhanam (prayer)—It is done as per one’s religious and social belief. But we all pray concentrating our mind on the Supreme Being, the Almighty. Atheists can also pray focusing their mind on some objects which they prefer.

Here let me point out a fact. As we proceed with the Asanas and Pranayama, gradually all these things will come to us on their own.

  

Meditation

                                              Meditation

What we people mean by meditation in our modern times is, not the meditation that is a prelude to ‘Samadhi’ that only great ‘Rishis’ can achieve. It means sitting calm in a particular place shutting off from all external distractions. The place may be a small room in your house, your private room in the office or a corner of your garden covered by lush green grass. Sit there in Padmasana or Sukhasana and start doing closing your eyes. Just focus on your breath. Or you can recite a mantra like’ OM NAMA SHIVAYA” with you full concentration on it. Concentrating on a visual object is yet another way. At times for the beginners the mind may struggle out and go to other things. Bring it forcibly back to your target. Do meditation in the morning just before sunrise. That is the ideal time. But you can do it at any time. There is no such time specification for meditation. You can do it for 10 minutes, half-an-hour or 1 hour; but once you allot a particular time and period, it is better to keep that every day.

Playing a soothing music while doing meditation is quite good.

Asanas (Postures) and Pranayama

This blog only mean to introduce a few simple asanas (postures) useful for beginners in Yoga. Pranayamas described here are only two-three kinds. But doing these asnas and Pranayama regularly in a systematic manner, will serve our purpose cent percent. This is my friendly assurance to you.

It will take 6 to 8 weeks for a normal individual to study all the asanas described here. In the beginning set a time table for 1 hour and start practising systematically. You can keep up with this one hour time even after you have gained mastery in the asanas. But if you are a busy person, only take selected asanas and do for half an hour. But do it regularly, with full dedication. If you have any disease like fever, do not do yoga till it is get fully cured. One thing to be remembered is that yoga is not to be stopped after doing for a week or a month. It is something to be practised throughout life.

Early morning, the time of sun rise, is the most appropriate time to do Yoga. But those who have no time can do in the evening also, before dusk. Spread a thick, large mattress (bed sheet) over the ground, sit in it facing East or South and start doing.

Sit in Padmaasana (Lotus Posture) which I have described elsewhere (https://plus.google.com/+kumarkuttyshn26/postshttps://plus.google.com/+kumarkuttyshn26/posts) and do Dhyana and Prayer for 10 minutes and then enter into other postures. Some other sitting asanas like Sukhasana, swasthikasana etc. have been left out, because Padmasana will substitute all those.