Our ancestors knew fully well that not only the human body be kept in healthy state but the mind should also be sound. That was why they developed a faultless system of techniques which takes care of all the tissues of the body and their functions in a superb manner. Body health depends on two factors supply of adequate nourishment to it and quick removal of waste materials which are produced in the tissues as a result of biochemical activity.
This can be achieved only when every tissue functions properly. Each tissue gets the nutrients for its function form the blood flowing in the capillaries. A tissue cannot get proper nourishment if it remains inactive and waste materials are also not removed. The inactivitity of a tissue causes poor circulation of blood in it, and if such a situation continues for long , very little or no blood may flow through the tissue. Such a tissue loses its efficiency in due course of time.
If a tissue is subject to exercise or movement , by causing the muscles concerned to contract and stretch, the capillaries are pressed, and the tissue gets increased supply of blood, oxygen, and the nutrients. In rigorous exercises like running, swimming, gymnastics , wrestling., a particular muscle or a set of muscles are repeatedly contracted. This causes the muscles to develop in beautiful shapes due o an increase in the size of the muscles and addition or more number of fibers to them. The more fibers, the more is the physical strength of a person.
I t is thus that various skeletal muscles of the arms, chest, back, thighs, etc. are developed through rigorous exercises. Such exercises involve rapid contraction of muscles, called “phasic” or “isotonic” contraction. Contraction of muscle causes the bone to move around a joint as a fulcrum. Most of the yoga techniques don not, however , involve phasic contraction of the muscles. They cause static contraction ,in which a muscle is maintained under a stretch or tension without causing repeated movements.
The yogic system involves exercise of the skeletal as well as the deep-seated smooth muscles, which is not found in other forms of exercises. The muscles of abdominal wall, pelvis, trunk, back and chest ,abdominal viscera, neck, as well as muscles of the limbs are subjected to stretch in the various exercises. It is why the yoga techniques are of great significance for corrective and restorative purposes. A special characteristic of the yoga system is that it brings about changes in internal pressure on the various organs and glands. These exercises promote blood-circulation in various parts causing a sort of gentle massage to the organs.
Changing Personality
Yoga techniques is often taken to be only a scope for development of the body. Most of the people link it with postures (asanas). The techniques actually are concerned with changing one’s personality as a whole, by bringing about a revolution in one’s attitude, tendencies, emotions as well as the physiological processes underlying these. Physical postures are only the beginning. In fact physiological and psychological changes can be brought in personality through control of breath ad mind.
The yoga techniques for bodily health include three types of procedures, namely, the asanas ,mudras, and cleansing acts.
The asanas were perhaps developed for the purpose of sitting comfortably for long durations in a state of peace and relaxation. This is clear from the mention of asanas in Upanishads, the Gita ,the Yoga sutra of Patanjali, and some other ancient treatises.
Later on, however, the physical aspects of the asanas were elaborated by the Hatha Yogis, and we find many simple as well as intricate postures mentioned in their literature. The names of the various poses are derived mainly from the resemblance of the posture with the appearance of various animals, birds, and sometimes other symbols like a tree, a lotus, a circle, and so on. It is said in the Gheranda Samhita, an authoritative text of Hatha Yoga, that there are as many asanas as there are species of living beings, and that 84 out of them are more in vogue.
The term “mudra” perhaps carries the same meaning as asanas. But sometimes a difference is also made between the two. For example, the Hathayoga Pradipika sya that the practice of the asanas brings mental and physical steadiness and make for perfect health and suppleness of body, while the practice of mudra is undertaken to arouse dormant kundalini.
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