Yoga Sagar

SR No.: 014011
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Paramhamsa Satyananda
Publisher: Bihar School of Yoga Munger
Publication Year: 1994
Total Pages: 436
Language: English
Classification: Seminar & Articles
File Size: 24 MB

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asanas, by certain pranayamas and by several other yoga abhyasa kriyas. I will deal perhaps most of the time with the other aspects of yoga and not the physical aspects. I sometimes wonder about what my patients tell me when I ask them about their exercises. They say, "Yes, the yoga teacher comes and tells us which exercises to do," and that is the end of it. I do not think that is yoga. Yoga is much more than that. I will be dealing with the relaxation response, the autogenic relaxation which we get by the practice of yoga, and the contribution of that in heart care.
The physiological effects of yoga include: (i) reduction of heart rate, (ii) control of respiration, and (iii) control of blood pressure and metabolism or the metabolic rate, thereby reducing the oxygen requirements of the myocardium. This is how yoga helps a person when it is practised. Now there is enough scientific, experimental, epidemiological and clinical proof of the relaxation response helping an individual. The experimental proof is very interesting, as. Dr. Henry Waugh from North Carolina showed us when he separated newly born rats and put them in different cages. The rats which were put in cages where there were adult, hostile, grown rats developed blood pressure much earlier than rats which were moving about free from such pressure.
Then, there is the epidemiological work on the migration of populations, such as the Japanese going to some of the American countries. Similarly, some of the other migrations from the African countries showed that the blood pressure level of those people in their original countries was lower. When they moved to their new environments, the blood pressure became definitely higher, compared to what it had been in the original country.
We have proof that the concept of yoga helps in the management of high blood pressure and heart attacks from the various studies I have quoted. If stressful stimulation leads to high blood pressure and heart attacks, yoga definitely will help.
When some isolated tribes in Australia moved to the mainstream, their pressures were much higher. In the big cities, where you have aerodromes, the blood pressures of the air traffic control staff are much higher compared to the ground staff, because their duties are such that their anxiety
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