yoga for stress management.pdf

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Published bySwami Vivekananda Yoga Prakashana

#19, Eknath Bhavan, Gavipuram Circle, Kempegowda Nagar, Bengaluru - 560019City Office - Ph: 080-26612669 Telefax: 080-26608645

Prashanti Kutiram Campus - Ph: 080-22639996E mail: [email protected] Web: www.svyasa.org

YOGA FOR

STRESSMANAGEMENT


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CONTENTS

Ch.No. Title Page No.

1 Introduction

2 Body Systems in Improving

Physical Stamina

3 Physiology of Muscle Action

4 Physical Stamina According to Yoga

5 Yoga Practices for

Physical Stamina Development


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Yoga for Stress Management | 7

Yoga in Education for Total Personality Development SERIES - 0

INTRODUCTION

Stress has become one of the biggest challenges of the world. In

spite of millions of dollars being spent for development of manage-ment programme to deal with stress, we are no where towards solv-ing even the pinch of the problem. If in early seventies stress usedto be in the executive world only, today it has spread everywhere.Even small kids, small students, small children come and say oh MaaI am so stressed up, I am so tensed up, I am so bored. In a multi

ethnic society like Australia 30% of the youngsters, teenagers sufferfrom depression. The Federal Government is very concerned. Whywe have not been able to tackle the problem of stress? I considerthere is a fundamental reason for that. That is the knowledge base.The knowledge base that we have is essentially limited to the physi-cal world around us. Modern science started emerging. The goal ofmodern science was to nd reality. Is there a fundamental realityfrom where this whole creation has come, became the search. Natu-rally when Newton and Deccan looked at the world at large, theywere bewildered. They said we cannot understand this multi vari-ous most complex bewildered creation. They said let us start withthings which are very small fundamental and simple, like how anobject falls down, how the lightening occurs, how the rain falls. So

once we complete the study of physical world around us we will nowgo further to things which are beyond. Best of the brain, best of thewise people put their heart and soul into it to understand the world


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8 | Yoga for Stress Management


around us. After four centuries we are in a fundamental positionwhere we understand almost everything about the physical world.We know that every object is made of molecules and atoms, whichin turn are made out of neutrons, protons and the electrons and fun-damental particles. What are these fundamental particles made of?The fundamental particles are made out of energy, packets of energycalled photons. So we know that everything in the physical world isnothing but energy. We can precisely calculate how much energy is

there in a given matter E=MC2. Then we also understood the lawsthat govern them. The laws of the physical world are pronouncedby Newton mechanics, Pascal mechanics. Newton’s Law of Motionthat we all studied in high school days. But as we enter into specialdimension, extremely high speed like electron wheeling round thenucleolus, Newtonian, Pascal mechanism cannot explain. One need

to go to the quantum mechanics. Now having understood the physi-cal world the time has come that we have to go beyond. Now wehave reached a stage that we understood the physical world and weare in a transition to go beyond to understand prana, mind, emotionsand consciousness and it is in this region of subtlety that we have tomove.


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UNDERSTANDING STRESS

In this chapter we study factors which are regulating stress, factors

which can in uence stress and how Yoga can be very helpful toolin managing stress. Before we go on to any of the other details, letus try to understand what stress is all about. All of us keep hearingthis terminology Stress most commonly. Somebody gets stress phys-ically, somebody gets stress mentally, somebody feels heavy emo-tionally and express that it is highly stressful. It is very commonly

occurring phenomenon in every one’s life. Let us try to understandwhat exactly stress is all about. In simple terms Stress can be de nedas ‘non speci c basic response pattern which prepares an individualfor a demanding situation’. This involves activities at physiologicallevel, activities at the behavioral level and emotional level. Let us seehow the whole event of stress takes place.

A stress producing factor what is called as a stressor can intervenean individual either as an external agent or as an internal agent. Ex-ternal agent can be physical in na-ture. It can be due to emotions. Itcan also be contributed from thesociety. At the same time it can

also be a combination of the abovethree mentioned factors. Whenwe are looking at the factors which


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can contribute us as stressor, it is important for us to understand howwe can regulate them. This is where Yoga comes into picture in help-ing us to understanding stress producing factors. Yoga also helps togive us different methodologies and techniques to manage them.

Let us see how this whole concept of stresscan in uence our body. As was mentioned, itinvolves three different systems to function ata given point of time. This whole process hasbeen divided into three phases. Phase one, analarm response, phase two where by an individual settles with thestressful situation whereas stage three is exertion. What the NeuroScientists believe it as general awareness syndrome. In this basicallyan individual in the rst stage undergoes series of changes physi-

ologically. This part is called as Basic Stress Response or the Flight orFight Response. Most of us have encountered this in different ways.Some of us might have just encountered early in our life whereassome others might have encountered it little later in our lives. Butstress response has become a mandatory to each and every indi-vidual. Let us see what happens when you interact with this Flightor Fight response. Basically whenever you come across a stimuluswhich demands a response from you, body prepares itself to handlethat demanding situation in the form of physiological as well as be-havioral responses. For example, imagine you are just taking a walkin a park. Suddenly you see a snake. You have any one of thesetwo choices with you. Either you attack the snake or you run awayfrom the snake. Another most commonly observed phenomena arewhenever you are going for a walk, you have been chased by a dog.So you have once again two options. Either ght with the dog or runaway from the dog. In both the cases your body has to prepare itself


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to handle the situation. Let us see what all happens will happen inthe body when you are in such a situation.

Three physiological processes work in conjunction to bring out aresponse. They are (1) The Nerves System, (2) The Endocrine Sys-tem and (3) The Muscular Skeletal System. The parts of the NervesSystem which involve in regulating stress and different endocrinemechanisms will be detailed little later, before that let us understandhow the whole process happens.

In the rst part, Flight or Fight Response, here the body prepares inthree different ways. (1) It gets all the alarming inputs and it pre-pares the body to handle all these situations in a way so that you canmanage it effectively. What happens basically is at the physiological

level whenever there is a demanding situation, your body preparesin the form of stimulation. Stimulation makes you ready to naturalsituation. For this process Nerves System, Endocrine and the Mus-cular Skeletal System have to prepare. The whole Nerves System hasbeen divided into three parts. They are the Central Nerves System,Peripheral Nerve System and Autonomic Nerves System. What we

are interested to look at is Autonomic Nerves System which controlsthe involuntary functions. For example, the heart beating even whenyou are sleeping, the respiration continues and the digestive activi-ties goes on even when you are sleeping even when we are not con-scious of these functions.


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PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGESDUE TO STRESS

Before we go on to any of the other details, let us try to understandwhat stress is all about. All of us keep hearing this terminologyStress most commonly. Somebody gets stress physically, somebodygets stress mentally, somebody feels heavy emotionally and expressthat it is highly stressful. If it is very commonly occurring phenom-enon in each one of our lives, let us try to understand what exactly

the stress is all about. In simple terms Stress can be de ned as ‘nonspeci c basic response pattern which prepares an individual for ademanding situation’. Having been prepared, it regulates it, makesyou work at different levels so that you can handle the demandingsituation. This involves activities at physiological level, activities atthe behavioral level and modi cations at the emotional response pat-

tern level.

A stress producing factor what is called as a stressor can intervenean individual either as an external agent or as an internal agent. Ex-ternal agent can be physical in nature. It can be due to emotions. Itcan also be contributed from the society. At the same time it canalso be a combination of the above three mentioned factors. Whenwe are looking at the factors which can contribute us as stressor it isimportant for us to understand how we can regulate them. This iswhere Yoga comes into picture of helping us to understand stress


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producing factors to begin with and then different methodologiesand different techniques to manage them.

Let us see how this whole concept of stress can in uence our body.As has been mentioned it involves three different systems to functionat a given point of time. This whole process has been divided intothree phases. Phase one, an alarm response, phase two, where byan individual settles with the stressful situation whereas stage threeis exertion. What the cognitive Neuron Scientists believe it as gen-eral awareness syndrome. In this, basically an individual in the rststage undergoes series of changes physiologically. This part is calledas Basic Stress Response or the Flight or Fight Response. Most of ushave encountered this in different ways. Whenever there is stressfulsituation here the individual’s response starts in the form of Arousalof Autonomic Nerves System whereby a Sympathetic Nerves Sys-

tem takes a lead. Basically the heart starts beating faster. One startsbreathing quicker in order to take more oxygen to supply to the de-manding parts, pupils dilate so that visual perception becomes more


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sharper. The blood supply to skeletal muscles increases so that themuscles are strong enough to handle the situation. At the same timeother systems like the Digestive system etc., they withdraw theirfunctioning in terms of reduced blood supply etc. To do this taskyou need more energy. Hence the glucose in the blood increaseswhereby it is available to handle the situation. So overall there is anArousal. The muscles are ready, heart will be beating faster so thatmore blood goes there, more oxygen is available in terms of breath-

ing. Vision becomes sharper. Everything is ready to handle thatstressful situation.

Imagine if this continues for a long duration, the body cannot copeup. Instead if there is a withdrawal of stressful stimulus the bodyslowly comes back to its base line. As was mentioned earlier, sup-

pose one has been chased by dog, now what happens suddenly be-cause he person appear to be stronger, the dogs run away. So nowthe body understands that there is no more threatening situation. Soyou can relax yourself. It comes back to its base line. Having beencome to base line, now the life continues. Imagine if this repeatsagain and again that is what has been observed in the present daythat we undergo stressful situations quite frequently say that we arenot giving our body enough time for it to come back to its normalbase line, hence resulting in the phase of exertion. Taking care of allthese three phases of Stress will lead to a positive stress which can beused for developing better skills. If the three phases of stress are nottaken care, they can lead to chronic stress.


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STRESS MANAGEMENT

In the last Chapter we discussed how stress is multidimensional

and Yoga can offer a solution to this multidimensional challenge.Because Yoga works at the Body level, Prana level, Mind level, Emo-tional level and the Intellectual level. The highly developed, system-atically developed Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and KarmaYoga work at all these levels to bring solutions to the challenge ofstress. An Integrated Yoga Module that is developed is the one that

combines the whole wisdom base of our country and applied withyoga techniques judicially to bring the results. Thousands and thou-sands of people have got the solution from their stress problem. TheIntegrated Yoga Module that have presented is based on the Mun-dokapanishad and the commentary is written by Gowda Pada andthe Mandookya Karika. That Karika Shloka is:

Laye sambodhaye chittam Vikshiptam samayet punahaSakashayam vijaniyat samapraptam nachlayet

What does it mean? When the mind goes into drowsiness, sleepi-ness, lethargy, stagnation, saturation, awaken it. Don’t allow that tosleep off. Stimulate a sleeping mind. Then what is going to happen?The mind is going to go haphazard. When the mind goes random,calm down the mind, silence the mind and allow the mind to enjoy. If you do it once, the habit will die hard. Therefore we have to


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do it again and again, again and again. Punah, Punaha, vikshiptamkshamayet he has added stimulate, relax, stimulate, relax that takesus to deeper and deeper levels of growth. Takes us to deeper levelsof our inner dimension of silence and deep rest. Then he says under-stand the deeper levels of stress. Initially we start getting all the ben-e ts in relaxation of the body, slowing of the growth and your facewill be relaxed and you will start getting wonderful results of normalsleep and others. Then the Karika tells that you have to go deepand observe those stresses which are in the settled form sakashayamvijaniyat and it is the deep rooted stress, it is the deep rooted imbal-ance that brings about the distortion of our behavioral trends and thechanges in your personality. So one has to go deep down and changethose personality traits which we call as Samskaras Vasanas. Thereare imbalances at the deeper levels of our sub consciousness in the

Manomaya kosa. We have all the techniques of Yoga for cleansingusing the meditation, using pranayamas and using the techniquesof stimulation and relaxation. When we start using it we start goingdeeper and deeper and bring out all those dirt which we have ac-cumulated for years and centuries and births and cleans ourselves.A person who was practicing the stress Yoga module said after thepractice, Sir today I had such a wonderful great blissful experienceunparallel in my life. First time I had such a blissful experience whenyou said that you merge with that totality with all pervasive beautifulsky. Yet another person came and told, Sir today I started enjoyingvery well nicely getting relaxed when you came now relaxed nicelyof the facial muscle, temple muscles and the forehead muscle and thewhole face is something triggered in me. I suddenly became very

angry. What are these things? This is called the Kashaya. They arecalled the dirt. The dirt which is accumulated in our subconsciouswill all starts coming out and we start getting puri ed. I told all these


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people that this is what is happening. Please continue the practice,allow that to come out, allow that dirt to vanish and you will get pu-ri ed. Thus continue the practice one month, one and a half month.This is the total personality transformation that takes place when youstart reducing the stress. Therefore the Integrated Yoga Modules thatwe are offering here consists of a judicious combination of Asana, thePranayama and the Meditation which all help us to go deeper anddeeper. This removes the blocks, knots, obsessions, fovea and grow

to greater heights by developing sensitivity on one side and aware-ness on the other side. An expanding awareness and a depth of per-ception brought harmoniously. The module works wonderfully.


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STRESS MANAGEMENT

Yoga for Stress. Stress is something that we nd every day and

everybody is talking about stress today. What is this Stress? Howdo we understand stress? Why it is becoming a major issue in thepresent day life style? Let us try to understand this, nd techniquesand learn yogic techniques of helping ourselves to be free from thiswhat could be called as monsters of present day life style. What isStress? As soon as I ask you what is Stress, you will start wondering

have you heard Stress. Yes. I have had lot of stress in my life. Whatare your stresses? May be your of ce, may be your child, dif culthusband, dif cult mother, dif cult family, dif cult politics. So wetend to relate our stress to a mental state, a reaction, an emotion,an uncomfortable feeling that is evoked by these different situations.But stress is not just that uncomfortable feeling. Stress by de nitionis a necessary helpful mechanism that is set into our system to beable to cope up with demanding situations of life. It is a produc-tive mechanism. So stress is not basically a disease. Stress is notbasically only a distress. Stress is a coping helping mechanism toevoke to manage emergency situations. So for example, you are allseated here. Suddenly re alarm comes. What have we to do? It is adangerous situation. The sound of the re alarm falls on your ear, itgoes to your mind, you recognize it as danger and immediately a bigsurge of electrical activity comes down from the brain and stimulatesall activities of the body. To make that escape from the danger, we


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have to activate even if you are drowsy and sleepy. You are wokenup and you are very alert and then you start moving your limbs veryfast, your heart rate goes up, breathing goes up and just escape fromthe danger. After you have escaped from the danger, or you havegone and fought the re, what you will do? My god, I have escapedfrom danger. You sit there, you relax, you rest and now you willstart feeling how your heart was beating, how your breathing wasso very fast and how your mind was throbbing and your head was

throbbing and how all your muscles had become very tight and nowyou starts sweating away so that all the heat in the body starts re-ducing. After another 5/10 minutes you start feeling hungry. Thenyou want to sleep, rest, relax, rejuvenate and restore the system andthis is a nature’s protective mechanism a Stress Adaptation Responsewhich nature has provided for us to protect our organism from any

dangerous life threatening situation. Nature has not only providedthis response software, response pattern, response programming foronly physically demanding situation, but it has provided the sametype of response to emotionally demanding situations also. Likewe saw a of ce tension or a dif cult family, dif cult calamity or adif cult situation, nance crisis we get tensed up, we react, we getheightened alertness and the heart starts beating, pressure goes up,all these changes. You have to go and face the exam, face the inter-view. So these are emotionally demanding situations. So to these sit-uations also nature does the same type of response. First at the mindlevel where we get anxious or tensed or angry or worry and this is apsychological emotional response which makes our mind very alertand then percolates into the body to bring about all these changes

that we saw in the accident re alarm episode and once the dangeris over and the situation is over, we just restore the system. Naturehas provided a beautiful nerves and chemical mechanism to help us


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cope up with and that goes on very nicely. So when we want to getalert, excited, stimulated, there is one set of nerves called Sympa-thetic Nerves System which activates increases the heart rate, Bloodpressure, increases the muscle tone, increases the blood glucose leveland makes our mind very very alert and increases the sweating rate,decreases the blood that goes to the intestine so that the intestine canwait digestive activity until we escape from danger and once we areout of danger, Para Synthetic Nerves System takes over and then it

restores, rejuvenates, relaxes, reduce the heart rate, reduce the bloodpressure, improves intestinal motility, improves secretion of diges-tive juices and makes our system come back to base level of working.This is a beautiful balancing mechanism. Imagine if this system wasnot there, all the time heart only functions at a level which neverincrease when required and decrease when not required. This is not

what our system wants. We want to activate and rest and relax andrejuvenate when the system demand is over. So this process of stressadaptation is called SAS or Stress Adaptation Syndrome, Stress Ad-aptation Mechanism which was beautifully described and elaboratedwith lots of understanding by two doctors in 1960. The famous doc-tors Shelly and Levy worked on this stress adaption mechanism andmade us understand Psycho Neuron Physiology. What are all thechanges that happen in our system when we get stressed up and thatmakes us understand how this stress is a useful adaptation mecha-nism.

Then why do we call stress a dangerous thing? What is happeningin the present day life style? Let us see, we activate the system. Thereis a demanding situation that activates, heart rate goes up, bloodpressure goes up, alertness goes up and we have no time to get backto normalcy. Again another demanding situation right from morn-


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ing till evening until you wake up, from the time you wake up untilyou go to bed. Whole day demand and these demanding situationsare the one’s which provoke our Synthetic activity to do its job andwe have no time for the Para synthetic to rest the system, to restorethe system, rejuvenate the system, relax the system, come to baselevel of activity. Even after hectic day in the evening and when youcome home, you cannot just go back to sleep because the whole dayeight hours, ten hours, fourteen hours your system was working at

high level of activity. You come back home, you want to go to bed,sleep does not come. Why? Because the mind is so alert a habit ofactivated system is the whole of the problem that in a present day lifestyle, the fast way of life, the demanding situations packing up oneafter the other, no time for restoring the system and lead to a habitformation and that can lead to stabilize blood pressure which remain

high, stabilize heart rate which remains high, stabilize glucose whichbecomes high which can declare as Diabetes, hypertension etc., etc.


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STRESS MANAGEMENT

We have understood that stress is not an abnormality if it is used in

the right way. It is the nature’s protective necessary mechanism, are ex, a software programming that is set into our system to help uscope up with the demanding situation, elevate the blood pressure,heart rate etc. to cope up with the demanding situation with height-ened activity of the Sympathetic Nerves System and once the situa-tion is over, get back to normalcy which is done by Parasympathetic

Nerves System and we also understood that it is the habit of beingactivated all the time that is creating the problem. What can happenif the mind is all the time stimulated? First at the mind level. At themind level we start losing sleep. One day it is OK, you had manygreatly demanding situation, you will lose sleep over a very anxioussituation. The next day you will sleep off extra. That is the systemgets rejuvenated. But what is happening in the present day life style?You are not at all getting the time to get back to sleep. Through-outthe week, there is a demand to work eight hours, ten hours, fteenhours. The more you are growing, the more you are achieving, themore you are progressing, more the demanding situation, more theproblem, more the anxiety, both in the family and in the of ce. Sothis can create lot of demand on our nerves system. So this can lead to

a habit of the nerves system. So the very rst manifestation of stressis shown up in the form of Insomnia, sleeplessness, dif cult to startsleep. You go to bed; you switch off the outside light, switch off all


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the outside sound, cover yourself so that all the skin input becomesoff. You are warm inside the bed, but if you want to switch off themind it won’t switch off because whole day’s activities, whole day’sstimulation, whole day speed up set of mind in which you keep yourmind has become habituated to think. What is that you need to do toswitch off the mind and sleep?

First, we go to bed, put all the lights off. Remove all the stimulifrom all parts of the body, then tell yourself, let me now sleep. Thatis enough of an input, a thought in the mind which helps you to slowdown the mind and then naturally gets switched off. The sleep cen-tre gets stimulated. But you are not able to do that. Initial sugges-tion doesn’t work. I want to sleep, I want to sleep, I cannot get sleep,that happened, this happened, this happened in the morning, that

happened in the morning, Mind becomes very active. Because thereare so many unsolved problems there are many pending thoughts.So mind becomes over active. You start worrying about what hap-pened in the morning. Somebody insulted you, somebody hurt youand some suppress feeling or worrying about the future. Tomorrowmorning I have this to solve, I have to solve that. So divert your mindbefore going to sleep. We use to teach special techniques to all ourpatients who come here to learn yoga therapy. Most of the peoplewhether they have anxiety or back pain or neck pain have this sleepdif culty. So what we tell them is rst before you go to bed beforeyou switch off the lights and get into bed do little fast jagging so thatyour energy get diverted to lower parts of the body. Then do a littlefast breathing about 10 to 15, then one deep slow breathing and thenone om kar and keep on repeating that, if need be use an audio tapeof recorded instructions of relaxation or auto suggestions yourself.Start from head. Relax my head, relax my forehead, let me give rest


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to my mind, relax my shoulders. Like this, go downward from headto toe. Relax, relax. So this way keep on doing this inside your bedclown. Then some way you will reach about lower parts of the bodyyou would have slept out. It is a beautiful trick to consciously helpourselves to get out of this sleeplessness problem. It is a very rstmanifestation of stress.

Then comes other problems related to stress. If you have sleptenough for few days and you can start becoming irritable, anxious,worry, indecisive then go on to frustrations and depression also. Indepression another major problem with sleep is that you wake uptoo early in the morning and then you cannot go back to sleep. Thisalso can be handled through this sleep special technique. Then allthe irritability, anxiety, fear, agitation, excessive excitement, impul-

sive behavior, a person who is always smiling and then will nowstart becoming very angry everybody in the of ce start noticing,now a day’s our boss has become more stressed out keep saying bylooking at your reaction. So for these problems Yogic Pranayama,Meditation and these techniques that you are learning in this StressManagement Programme will be very useful to help you to comeout of these psychological reactions. So this is the understanding ofhow stress can be a major problem that is causing many of the healthrelated problems and today we nd that we have, we can use this cellcorrective self management of extensive tension techniques whichhas been handed over by our sages to overcome these problems.


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YOGA PRACTICE FORSTREES MANAGEMENT

STEP-I: STARTING PRAYERLie on your back. Relax and collapse the whole body on the ground

legs apart, hands apart, palms facing the roof, smiling face, let goall parts of the body. As you repeat the prayer feel the resonancethroughout the body.

Laye Sambodhayet Cittam Viksiptam Samayet Punah.

Sa Kasayam Viajániyat Samapraptam Na Calayet

Meaning: In the state of oblivion awaken the mind, when agitat-ed pacify it, in between the mind is full of desires. If the mind hasreached the state of perfect equilibrium, then do not disturb it again.

STEP-II (A): INSTANT RELAXATION TECHNIQUE (IRT)

Bring your legs together; join the heels, toes together, palms by theside of the thighs. Keep your face smiling till the end. Gently bring


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your awareness to

the tip of the toes.

Stretch the toes,

tighten the ankle

joints, tighten the calf muscles. Pull up the kneecaps. Tighten thethigh muscles. Compress and squeeze the buttocks. Exhale and suckin the abdomen. Make the sts of the palms and tighten the arms. In-

hale and expand the chest. Tighten the shoulders, neck muscles andcompress the face. Tighten the whole body from the toes to the head.

Tighten….. tighten…..tighten….. Release and relax. Legs go apart,

arms go apart, palms facing the roof. Assume the most comfortable

position, let the whole body sink down. Let all the groups of muscles

beautifully relax. Collapse the whole body. Enjoy body. Enjoy the

relaxation.

STEP-II (B): LINEAR AWARNESSNow slowly bring the left hand over head along the ground. Slowly

turn over the left side. Place the head on the left biceps. The right

leg on the left leg. Right palm on the right thigh. Let the whole bodyrelax. The entire weight of the body coming down to the ground

through the left side. Fine linear awareness. Slowly start coming upto Tādāsana. Let all the movements slow down. Let the breathingbe deep, slow, and continuous. Eyes are kept closed. Carefully feel

the changes in your body as you reach the vertical position. Feel theow of blood down the heart. Feel the heartbeat and the pulse. Let

us chant Bhrámarè to generate 3D awareness. ‘MMM’ Feel the whole


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body resonating. Feel the ne massaging effect.

STEP-III: CENTERINGNow centering. Slowly lean forward. Feel the weight of the entire

body on the toes. Feel the pointed awareness. Slowly lean backwards.Feel the weight on the heels. Surface awareness. Come to the center.Lean to the right. The weight of the entire body is on the right edge of

the right foot. Linear awareness. Lean to the left. Come to the center.Fine surface awareness. Now the whole body is centered, the weightof the body is equally distributed throughout the soles of the feet.Collapse the shoulders, arms hanging freely down. Smiling face. Feelall the changes taking place throughout the body.

STEP-IV: STANDING ÁSANA ARDHA KATI CAKRÁSANA (AKC)• Now we pass on to the rst set of stimulation

and relaxation.

• Ardha Kaûi Cakrásana, the half wheel pos-ture.

• Slowly start raising the right arm sidewaysupwards, 45º raise the arm further slowlyand continuously to horizontal position, enjoy the movement. As the right arm reachesthe 90º position twist the palms at the wrist.Pointed awareness and glide the right armup to 135º position. Beautiful pointed aware-ness on the deltoid muscles of the right arm.As the right arm reaches up the vertical posi-


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tion feel the nice stimulation in the shoulder muscles. The rightbiceps touching the right ear, feel the beautiful surface awareness.Feel the blood gushing down the arm. Smiling face. Stretch theright arm from the tip of the nger of the right palm. The entireright portion of the body gets stretched, but not the face. Face al-ways smiling and relaxed. Slowly start bending down to the left.Left palm sliding down along the left thigh. Fine movement ofsurface awareness. Enjoy the ne stretch of the waist muscles onthe right side and compression on the left side. Observe all thechanges taking place in your body. Slowly start coming back tovertical position. Feel the blood owing down, the nerve impulsesthroughout the body. Again stretch and pull up the right arm andthe entire right portion of the body stretched from the toes to thetip of the ngers. Slowly start bringing the arm right down to 135º

gliding down smoothly. Feel the pointed awareness at the shoul-der as you reach horizontal position and at the wrist as you slowlyturn the palm downwards. Further bring down the right arm to45º. Feel the tingling sensation at the tips of the ngers. Continu-ously glide down the hand by the side of the thigh and hang itfreely. Have a glance of the whole body again from toes to head.Entire right portion of the body is beautifully charged with nerveimpulses, light and energized.

• Now let us perform AKC from the left side. Slowly start raisingthe left arm sideways upwards. 45º. Gliding smoothly upwardsto horizontal position, palm twisted upwards. Beautiful pointedawareness at the wrist. Left arm beautifully moving up to 135º.

Then to vertical position. Left biceps touching the left ear. Nowstretch up the left arm from the tip of the left ngers. Entire leftportion of the body gets stretched up but not the face, face smilingand relaxed. Slowly start bending to the right. Right palm sliding


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down the right thigh. Movement of surface awareness, beautifulstretch of the left waist muscles. Enjoy the changes going on. Feelthe heart beat, the nerve impulses spreading throughout the body.Slowly start coming up to the vertical position. Feel the nerve im-pulses from the tips of the ngers of the left palm. Pull up theleft palm. Entire left portion of the body gets stretched up. Slowlybring the left arm down to 135º, then further down to horizon-tal position. Twist the wrist downwards and enjoy the pointed

awareness. Glide your arm down further to 45º.

• Continuously glide down the hand by the side of the thigh andhang it freely. Collapse the shoulders. Have a glance of the wholebody again from toes to head. Entire left portion of the body ischarged with nerve impulses, energized and light. Enjoy the senseof well being. Check the centrifugal. Both the sides of the body areequally energized.

STEP-V: QUICK RELAXATION TECHNIQUE (QRT)

Now slowly sit down and then lie down to Ùavásana from the right

side. Let all the movements be slow and continuous. The entire rightarm stretched, head on the right biceps, left leg on the right leg, leftpalm on the left thigh, the weight getting transferred to the groundfrom the right side, beautiful sharp linear awareness. Slowly turn


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over, the muscles of the back collapsing on the ground, bring downthe right arm along the ground. Legs apart, arms apart, palms facingthe roof. Assume the most comfortable position.

Phase I - Observing the abdominal movementsBring your awareness to the movements of the abdominal muscles

moving up and down as you breathe in and out. Recognize the hap-

hazardness and jerky movement of the abdominal muscles. Do notmanipulate the breathing, let it be natural, simply observe the ab-dominal movement. Count yourself ve rounds mentally, one inha-lation and one exhalation forming on round.

Phase II - Associate with breathing Synchronize the abdominal movements with the breathing. While

inhaling the abdomen bulging up and while exhaling the abdomen-sinking down. Inhale deeply and exhale completely. Continue up to

ve rounds.

Phase III-Breathing with feeling • As you inhale, the abdominal muscles are coming up feel the whole

body getting energized and feel the lightness. As you exhale, feelthe whole body collapses and sinks down nicely, releasing all thestresses and tensions completely. Inhale deeply and exhale com-pletely. Continue up to ve rounds.

• Bring your legs together and hands by the side of the body.Come up straight with the support of the elbows to the sittinglegs stretched relaxation position Sithili Dandāsana. Let all themovements be slow and continuous without jerk. Legs apart takethe support of the palms backwards. Relax the neck muscles. The


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head hanging freely down backwards or resting either one of theshoulders. Feel the changes throughout the body.

STEP-VI: SITTING ÁSANANow we pass on to the next set of stimulation and relaxation. Va-

jrásana, Ùaúánkásana and Ardhaustrásana / Ustrásana combina-tion.

VAJRÁSANASlowly fold the right leg backward and then the

left leg, sitting on the heels, coming to the Vajrásanaposition. Palms on the thighs and keep the spineerect. Enjoy the effect of harmonizing, the beautiful

balance. Recognize all the changes in the body.

SASÁNKÁSANANow slowly start taking the arms behind. Hold the right wrist with

the left palm. Star feeling the pulse at the right wrist, feel the heartbeat. Now slowly start bending down forward for Ùaúánkásana.The abdominal and chest muscles pressing on the\ thigh, beautifulsurface awareness. Now collapse the forehead on the ground. Finesurface awareness. Collapse the shoulders. Observe all the changes

going on, the increasedow of blood into

the head and feel the

heaviness in the headregion. Inhale andchant M-Kara, MMM’


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Feel the resonance throughout the head, 3D awareness. Slowly comeup to Vajrásana. Carefully follow all the changes in the head region.Feel the lightness in the head. Feel the heart beat, ne 3D Aware-ness throughout the body. Slowly release the arms place them on thethighs near the knees.

USTRÁSANA

Slowly rise up to stand on theknees for Ardhauûrásana, theback bending camel posture.Standing on the knees, observeall the changes in the head region.Slowly slide the palms up alongthe thighs, ngers together andsupport the waist with the palms,

ngers pointing forwards. Slowlystart bending backwards fromthe waist. Relax the neck mus-cles; head hanging freely down.Beautiful stretching of the abdominal and thoracic muscles. This is

Ardhauúûrásana. Those who can, go further down to uúûrásana byplacing both the palms on the soles of the feet. Have a beautiful smileon the face. Inhale and chant an A- kára, AAA Slowly return by re-leasing the arms and placing them on the waist. Feel the avalancheof nerve impulses throughout the body. Feel the heartbeat. Slowlycome back to Vajrásana and place the palms on the thighs. Feel all the

changes and let the changes continue. Fine 3 dimensional awarenessthroughout the body. Unfold the right leg and the left leg. Assumethe leg stretched position. Head hanging freely backward or restingon either of the shoulders.


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STEP-VII: DEEP RELAXATION TECHNIQUE (DRT)

Slowly slide down to Ùavásana with the support of the elbows.Legs apart, hands apart, palms facing the roof. Let the whole bodycollapse on the ground. Let us make ourselves comfortable and relaxcompletely. We will now go for DRT:

Phase-I Bring your awareness to the tip of the toes, gently move your toes

and relax. Sensitize the soles and relax, relax your feet, loosen theankle joints, relax the calf muscles, pull up the knee caps, release andrelax, relax your thigh muscles, buttock muscles, loosen the tip joints,relax the pelvic region and the waist region. Totally relax your lowerpart of the body. R..e..l..a..x….. Chant A- kára, AAA….. Feel the vi-bration in your lower parts of the body.

Phase-II Gently bring your awareness to the abdominal region and observe

the abdominal movements for a while, relax your abdominal mus-cles, relax the chest muscles. Gently bring your awareness on yourlower back, relax your lower back and loosen all the vertebral jointsone by one. Relax the muscles and nerves around the backbones.

Relax your middle back, shoulder blades and upper back muscles,totally relax. Shift your awareness to the tip of the ngers, gentlymove them a little and sensitize. Relax your ngers on by one. Relax


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your palms, loosen the wrist joints, relax the forearms, loosen the el-bow joints, relax the hind arms-triceps, biceps and relax your shoul-ders. Shift your awareness to your neck, slowly turn your head tothe right and left, again bring back to the center. Relax the musclesand nerves of the neck. Relax your middle part of the n body, totallyrelax. R..e..l..a..x….. Chant U-kára, UUU….. Feel the vibration in themiddle part of your body.

Phase-III Gently bring your awareness to your head region. Relax your chin,

loosen your lower jaw and upper jaw, relax your lower and uppergums, lower and upper teeth and relax your tongue. Relax yourpalates-hard and soft, relax your throat and vocal chords. Gentlyshift your awareness to your lips, relax your lower and upper lips.Shift your awareness to your nose, observe your nostrils, and feel thewarm air touching the walls of the nostrils as you inhale. Observefor a few seconds and relax your nostrils. Relax your cheek muscles,feel the heaviness of the cheeks and have a beautiful smile on yourcheeks. Relax your eye balls muscles, feel the heaviness of eye balls,relax your eye lids, eye brows and the space between the eye brows.Relax your forehead, temple muscles, ears, the sides of the head, backof the head and crown of the head. Relax your region totally relax.R..e..l..a..x….. and chant M-kāra, MMM….. Feel the vibration in yourhead region.

Phase-IV Observe your whole body from toes to head and relax, chant AUM

in a single breath A…..U….M…. Feel the resonance throughout thebody.


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Phase- V Slowly come out of the body consciousness and visualize your body

lying on the ground completely collapsed.

Phase- VI Imagine the vast beautiful blue sky. The limitless blue sky. Expand

your awareness as vast as the blue sky. Merge yourself into the bluesky. You are becoming the blue sky. You are the blue sky. Enjoy the

in nite bliss. E..N..J..O..Y.. the blissful state of silence and all perva-sive awareness.

Phase-VII Slowly come back to body consciousness. Inhale deeply. Chant an

Om-kára. Feel the resonance throughout the body. The soothing andmassaging effect from toes to head.

Phase- VIII Gently move your whole body a little. Feel the lightness, alertness

and energy throughout the body. Slowly bring your legs togetherand the hands by the side of the body. Turn over to the left or theright side and come up when you are ready.

STEP-VIII: CLOSING PRAYER

Sarve bhavantu sukhinah Sarve santu niramayah

Sarve bhadrani pasyantu Ma kascit duhkha bhagbhavet

Om Santih Santih Santih.

Meaning: May all be happy. May all be free from disease. May allsee only things auspicious. May none be subject to misery.


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