Showing posts with label benefits of yoga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label benefits of yoga. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Yoga & Food


Yoga and food

Yoga considers the balanced lacto-vegetarian food that had completely excluded meat as a source of perfect health that will generate as inner reflex of our psyche an euphoric, complex state, quite consonant, consequent to the resonance to the subtle cosmic energies more or less in our proximity (i.e. up to a cosmic scale). Besides, the lacto-vegetarian food will trigger the complete balance of the being and its integration in the universal harmony, hence ineffable spiritual experiences will emerge in our inner universe.

The ancient wisdom of yoga states that we mostly are what we eat. The delicious meals that we relish finally reach our cells in a form more or less changed and keep staying there for a while, weighting on our vitality and health but also on our manner of thinking and on our spiritual experiences.
The scientific studies confirm the lacto-vegetarian food
Recent scientific researches proved quite clearly how some food may directly break the brain activity, and have a chemical impact upon the conveying neurons involved in mental and physical processes such as the memory, the sleep, motion, pain, depression, the ability of learning and even the perception of reality. Lecithin, for instance (contained in the soja beans or in the raw yolk) may highly increase memory, whereas a meal rich in carbon hydrates and scarce in proteins may trigger brain torpidity for hours, with systematic effects shown on a large amount of persons. Besides, it’s known for a fact that the carbon hydrates stimulate the insulin secretion that increases the brain serotonin, which makes our sleep longer.

Systematic researches proved that even the symptoms of schizophrenia, the hyperactivity and other mental disorders may be gradually removed by proper diet. Thousands of years ago, the wise yogis realized the huge importance of the lacto-vegetarian food in health, as well as its multiple effects both over the body vitality and regeneration and over the mind.

At thorough analysis it gets quite obvious that the man is not a carnivore in himself; both his anatomy and his digestive system proved that he evoluated in great conditions along millions of years, by eating only fruits, oleaginous, cereals and vegetables. Just like the anthropoid monk, man’s bowls are 12 long than the body height. Therefore, it’s quite clear they are adopted for the slow digestion of the fruits and vegetables that decompose slowly. In a recent article issued in the “Medical Counter Point” magazine, William S. Collins said: “man is obviously gifted with teeth that resemble to the herbivores rather than to the carnivores: the former have sharp incisive teeth to cut the herbs, flat molar teeth to smash the fruits and vegetables and short round canine teeth unable to tear and smash meat”.
Collins also reports on studies that seriously doubt the theory claiming that human beings have a carnivore physiology. The carnivores basically have no limits in assimilating the saturate grease of cholesterol. Dogs, for instance can eat 250g butter together with their usual share of meat and not even the slightest change occurs in their veins. Such amount of cholesterol is almost 100 times more than the average amount in our meals. If the cholesterol amount increases 2g per day in the case of the rabbits, their veins undergo incredible changes. At minute analysis it turns obvious that our natural instinct does not draw to meat. Just think now what may seem the most interesting to each of us: walking in an orchard or in a vegetables garden or facing the blood and the terror hurls of agony of the animals in butcheries.
The physical energy as compared to the vegetarian food
The vegetarian food was unexpectedly acknowledged during the Denmark embargo in the World War 1. At that time, the Danish were compelled to eat only vegetables, fruits, cereals, honey and dairy products. During the first year the mortality rate incredibly decreased down to 17%. On the whole the extraordinary effects of this regime were: much better health and low mortality. Between 1940 - 1945 Norway was subjected to such an experience, too, as they wanted to inflict high restrictions on meat. The immediate decrease of heart disease mortality was followed by the same rate of mortality as before the war recovered for those who resumed eating meat.
What makes the real support and source for the subtle vitality?
In order to stay young and full of vitality we must eat living food instead of dead food. The great initiate Pythagoras appraised the importance of the food vitality 2500 years ag “the living fresh food can only help man stay healthy, happy and feel the truth”. There is nothing living in nature to be eternal and unchanged. Everything that is alive undergoes whether growth and regeneration or decomposition. The fresh fruits, the oleaginous, the cereals, they are all able to germinate and grow up and therefore liable to provide vitality, energy as well as suitable amount of proteins.

Since thousands of years ago the yogis said to those willing to understand that this is the only food that should be eaten. In order to keep alive and give birth there is another life required and this perfectly works for our food. A great yogi master said: “The human body is made up of countless living cells which grow up and develop by means of similar entities. The subtle energy of our living cells will be shaped by our prevailing food. All these can basically influence our vitality psyche and mind at a certain extent. If the human body cells grow up and feed on barely living food that is rotten and disgusting coming from the utterly instinctive animals man will naturally incline to the lower levels of life”.
Meat as compared to morals and spirituality
Since we can afford living a healthy life with no meat we should wonder whether being carnivore is a moral and human custom. It’s quite obvious that animals do not deliberately give their lives for us to enjoy the luxury of eating their flesh. There have been countless religious and spiritual groups to support vegetarianism in the name of a sacred life without pain. Vegetarian food is strongly recommended by the yogis, Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Taoists, Esseniens, by the Theosophical Society, the Adventist Church, the Unitarian Church, the Cross Order, the Benedictines, the Traipses, by the Universal Christian Gnostic Movement, by the Rose Croix Order. In early Christian times many spiritual groups opposed eating meat, which they considered an expensive, barbarian and dangerous luxury.

If anyone ever saw a slaughter house very well knows that animals experience terrible pain before and as being chopped. Here is how SRI AUROBINDO, a great yogi master, explained the ahimsa yoga principle (non violence, no harming): as much as food is concerned ahimsa means that our food should mostly consist of the living entities, which display lowest consciousness. Therefore if we have enough vegetables, fruits, cereals and different dairy products, animals should never be killed in order to provide our food. Anyway, before killing an animal, which may evince more or less a high level of consciousness, we must attentively consider if we might live even much healthier without killing that animal.
The risks of eating meat
The Eskimos who mostly eat meat grow old rather fast and their life average age is 27. The kirges a nomad tribe in the eastern Russia who also eat meat grow old prematurely and die soon, as they barely go over 40.
The poisoning: Just before and particularly after their agony in the butchery, the useless fight of the animals striving to save their life triggers serious biochemical changes in their bodies. This will cause the appearance of some toxic sub-products and huge amount of adrenaline spread in the whole body now poisoned by pain. The terror of the animal basically poisons it with terrible pain. According to the Britannic Encyclopaedia there are lots of toxins in the killed animals, such as the uric acids or the toxic remains both in their bodies and in their textures.  

Cancer: Recent researches on 50.000 lacto-vegetarian people highlighted incredible results that shocked the cancer researchers. The studies report incredible low rate of persons suffering from cancer as compared to a similar group, same age and sex, eating meat. The study also shows that the life-expectation for the lacto-vegetarians is much higher and all heart and blood circulations diseases are extremely rare in this case.

Why might people fond of meat be more vulnerable to cancer? First, the fact that few days only after the animal is killed the meatloaf gets a grey green olive colour and in order to prevent this, the industry usually makes use of different substances that jeopardize people’s health such as nitrates or other preservatives to keep meat red in an artificial and unhealthy way.

Many researches during the last few years also repeatedly proved that these substances represent high cancer risk. On the other hand, in order to grow up as soon as possible and bring high profit, animals are engulfed with hormones stimulating their growth at random. They are given stimulus for excessive appetite, antibiotics, sedatives and chemical food mixtures.

The heart diseases: the animal fats such as cholesterol cover the veins and the older we get the more veins shrink. The pressure upon the heart is bigger, which triggers heart problems and high blood pressure. One person per two eating meat will get a heart disease due to the veins pressure, whereas such diseases are basically unknown in the countries with low meat consume. The autopsy on the American soldiers killed in the Korean War showed that at 22 they already evinced arteriosclerosis signs, which were completely inexistent in the case of the Korean soldiers, mainly lacto-vegetarian.

Putrefaction: unlike plants which have a stiff cell membrane and a simple circulation system, the animal cells die quite soon after the circulation is stopped. Right after death, the animal proteins are coagulated and self-destructive enzymes start being secreted. A new substance emerges: “ptomaine”.

Meat, fish and eggs have a common feature: they decompose and putrefy quickly. Meat is usually consumed within a week whereas it must be stressed that putrefaction and bacteria start growing immediately after death. The habit of eating such animal meat in its specific quick decomposing triggers violent poisons in the colon and the intestines grow old prematurely.
I like to taste meat, what shall I do?

An old principle in the yoga wisdom says that the safest way to change an attitude deeply anchored in our being is not to uproot it, but rather cultivate and feed a deeply beneficial habit, opposite to the former one and be careful and loving to the new one as if cultivating a rose. We shall soon see that the new habit will grow up in force and beauty and the weed (here the habit of eating meat) will wither and vanish all of a sudden.

Here are a few smart ideas to cultivate the new rose: buy some vegetarian food books. This strategy shall help us save money: a various original delicious vegetarian diet with lots of proteins can generally decrease our expenses down to 50%. Then we have two or three platefuls of vegetarian food, quite light and nutritious instead of a meat meal.
Changing a meat diet for a lacto-vegetarian one, made up of living, fresh, pure and nutritious food is easier than we might previously think. For there are lots of delicious lacto-vegetarian specialities, with a rich nutritious value, which we had never had the chance to taste due to ignorance, to the lack of information, to the conventional habits and the prejudice conditioning.  Many people shall be quite surprised to discover various meals quite rich in proteins that are based only on vegetal ingredients.
In case you fail despite all these, you should go visit slaughter house, which will be enough to encourage you. You might face some difficulties at the beginning, indeed, but not that much as when you quit smoking, for instance. There are many determined persons who quickly attain satisfying results (a higher level of vitality and energy, healthier digestion and clearer mind) so that changing diet becomes an existential stage to trigger exuberance and purity.

The radiant health to emerge quite soon will not be just at a physical level. We’ll gain plain joy in fulfilling charity actions and also feel the overwhelming kindness beaming from our permanent state of love conveyed to all creatures (humans or not). The vegetarianism can be justified from a medical, biological, psychic, mental and spiritual point of view. We must keep in mind that there is no valuable intelligent argument against it.
Famous vegetarians

Here is a list, not at all exhaustive, of famous people known as vegetarian: Pythagoras, Plato, Socrates, Empedocles, Ovidius, Seneca, Plutarch, Crysostom, Clement of Alexandria, Leonardo da Vinci, Tolstoy, Sir Isaac Newton, Milton, Sir Isaac Pitman, William Shakespeare, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, Charles Darwin, Richard Wagner, William Booth, Henry David Thoreau, Alexander Pope, Rabindranath Tagore, H. G. Wells, George Bernard Show, Ghandi, Albert Schweiter, Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan.

KARMA YOGA


Karma Yoga - The Yoga of Everyday Life


Motto: "In a state of detachment perform what has to be done, no matter   what it is, and never wish to assume the fruits of your doings."

Karma Yoga is Appropriate for All Beings
The Main Goal in Karma Yoga
The Efficiency of the Karma Yoga System
The Specific Technique in Karma Yoga


Karma Yoga represents one of the four main classic forms of Yoga.

It signifies a starting point and it is an essential part of the teachings of Bhagavad-Gita; this serves as sufficient ground for its authenticity.

Like all other forms of Yoga, the main and final purpose of Karma Yoga is to facilitate and accelerate the spiritual evolution of its persistent practitioner. The main difference from other forms of Yoga is that Karma Yoga can be practiced well from the very beginning, and can be applied all the time, all day long, because it is applicable to all human activities.

Compared to Karma Yoga, the continuous daily practice of Bhakti Yoga for example is only available at a very high level of attainment and the practice of Jnana Yoga (with its main form Hatha Yoga) is restricted to specific periods of the day, for a specific interval of time.


These arguments lead to the conclusion that Karma Yoga is an instantaneous form of Yoga for the daily life.

From the different traditional definitions of Karma Yoga, the most current and precise, though not yet complete, is the following: "Karma Yoga is the Yoga of deep and thorough fusion with the Divine, through any unselfish action".

Karma Yoga starts from the fact that at any given moment of our daily life, even when we feel forced to act one way or another, we remain free to choose and we bear the whole responsibility of our actions. The use of any spiritual discipline - Yoga, or any other spiritual path - implies the existence of free will, both in directing one's life and in the choice of the method for doing so.

The main question to which Karma Yoga helps us to get an answer is: How and why should we choose between two or more courses of action at a given moment?

Through persistent practice we can find out that Karma Yoga gives us more freedom, unbelievable as this may seem...


Many contemporary sages, like Sri Ramakrishna or Sri Aurobindo, have shown that Karma Yoga is very well adapted to modern times and suitable for all human beings, even more so than Bhakti Yoga, which suits only those with intense religious inclinations (very rare nowadays).

Karma Yoga suits all beings even better than Raja Yoga, which implies an intellectual effort beyond the possibilities of the common individual. Compared to Jnana Yoga, where a strong power of concentration and internalization is required (currently a very scarce quality), Karma Yoga is easier to practice because it does not require all these talents.

Moreover, Karma Yoga suits Westerners extremely well, who are always ready to act and more or less skeptical about the value of spiritual practices, that is taking people away from practical life in a materially oriented society.

I should also emphasize that the practice of Karma Yoga does not exclude the simultaneous practice of one or more of the other forms of Yoga, but will amplify their efficiency. This connection with other forms of Yoga is not essential, because even when practiced alone Karma Yoga is sufficient in itself for bringing the highest state of spiritual attainment.

Karma Yoga has also a great advantage that is not found in the other forms of Yoga. While Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, Tantra Yoga, Hatha Yoga and even Jnana Yoga, when practiced incorrectly, without the careful supervision and guidance of a competent guru, can bring about serious physical or mental damage. Karma Yoga presents no dangers for its practitioner, even if its knowledge is based just on written teachings.

We add here that the Karma Yoga system is almost free of metaphysical or religious concepts and, even in an advanced stage of practice; Karma Yoga does not require the help of any physical discipline and of any diet. However it stands to reason that the Karma yogi should do his best to stay healthy.

Swami Vivekananda describes the ideal of Karma Yoga as follows: "The ideal human being is the one who amidst the deepest silence and the biggest solitude finds the most intense activity, and the one who amidst the most intense activity finds the silence and solitude of the desert." "The Karma yogi doesn"t need to believe in any doctrine. He may not even believe in God, he may not ask himself what is the soul and he may not be attracted by any metaphysical speculation at all" (Practical Yoga).

However, because the spiritual masters from the Orient whose teachings we have inherited are all profoundly religious, it is not surprising that they interpret Karma Yoga from this perspective. Sri Ramakrishna says: "Karma Yoga is the spontaneous communion with God through action".


From the perspective of Bhakti Yoga system, this interpretation can be seen as the revelation of the Divine through love and from the perspective of the Jnana Yoga system as the pursuit of the awareness of the Absolute Divine.

Ramakrishna said also: "The supreme goal in Karma Yoga is the same as in all forms of Yoga: the realization of the Supreme Eternal or the Impersonal Divine." 

Irrespective of the way we represent our spiritual goal, this can be attained through one of the forms of Yoga. Enlightenment (moksha) is defined in Hinduism as the communion with the Divine in all forms, the attainment of the divine plane of consciousness, the anchoring of consciousness in the Ultimate Truth, the attainment of a bigger freedom in life. Moksha can be obtained through all forms of Yoga, but it is more easily and readily reached through Karma Yoga.

Regarding this here follows quotes from well-known sages. Swami Sivananda: "Many people believe that Karma Yoga is an inferior type of Yoga, but this is a great error."

Rabindranath Tagore: "Many of us wrongly think that action is opposing freedom." "We will never obtain a significant result by trying to reach the Infinite outside of the domain of action."

"If we declare that we would like to realize Brahman (The Supreme Divine) during introspection only and that we leave Him out during our exterior actions, considering that we want to benefit from his presence only through the love that we feel in our hearts during prayer, without any other adoration for Him through other exterior modalities, or if we consider that only the contrary is true, then we are obstructing our work on the long way towards the Truth and we set ourselves for a pitiful failure" (Sadhana).

Sri Ramakrishna: "When performed without attachment the action becomes an easy way to obtain the real goal in life, which is communion with God."
Sri Aurobindo: "The detached activity is very often the only necessary instrument for the ineffable union with the Master of Creation."

"To perform all activities in an intimate fusion and in deep communion with the Divine which is in us, in profound harmony with the universal around us and with the transcendental beyond us, not to let us be limited by our often separating and rigid human mind, not to be the slave of its ignorant or aberrant imperatives and of its narrow suggestions, this is Karma Yoga." (Integral Practical Yoga).

Ramana Maharishi, the intransigent Jnana yogi: "Action free of desire, with a total detachment from its fruits, is superior to the knowledge combined with practice"

"The state in which the performance of the action is free of desire is the way which easily leads towards enlightenment." (Teachings of Ramana Maharishi).


As a conclusion here we can say that: if performed in the spirit of Karma Yoga any action, no matter how unimportant, can help us to advance towards Enlightenment.

The Specific Technique in Karma Yoga

The theoretical grounds and techniques of action in Karma Yoga are clearly stated by Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita, with the only observation that the order in which these ideas are presented is not the most convenient for Western people.

Briefly, the wise teachings of Krishna are:

1.     One cannot be without action, even for a second.
2.     One should not make inaction one's goal.
3.     Certain actions are obligatory therefore we cannot escape them.
4.     One should not desire the fruits (or the consequences) of one's actions.
5.     One should not be attached to the action itself.
6.     One should not consider oneself as being the author of the action.
7.     Any action, regardless of its nature, will not enchain its performer, if it is done in this way.
8.     In fact, we can say that Karma Yoga is the divine skill (wisdom and non-attachment) in actions.
All these principles are simple and should be simply added to our principles of life. They should become the new coordinates of our daily activity and in this way our life will be spiritualized in a easy and natural way.

Many comments are made upon the principles of Karma Yoga, but the beauty of this spiritual system consists in it's simplicity: even without any comments one can practice karma yoga successfully.

What Is Yoga ?


Normally known in the west in various popular "keep fit" varieties, yoga is in fact a rigorous spiritual discipline, a genuine science of the human being, a complete system controlling all aspects of life. Beyond the obvious benefits like eliminating stress, healing various illnesses, improving memory and concentration, balancing our emotions, yoga is also about searching answers to existential questions which have been in peoples mind since time began: "For what reason was I born ?" "What is my life for?" "What will happen after death?", "Who am I ?".

The original purpose of YOGA is therefore to teach us how to ask correctly and meaningfully the above mentioned questions and how to discover the ultimate truth about the human being, life and universe.
The oldest systematic description of the YOGA system is to be found in the YOGA-SUTRA of Patanjali (2nd century b.c.). It is a very brief guide which was used together with secret teachings. This is the reason why for the one who never practiced yoga it is still a text shrouded in mystery. However YOGA-SUTRA is still the most precise and scientific text ever written on YOGA. It describes the eight stages in YOGA:

1 - 2. YAMA and NIYAMA - inner and outer attitudes, whose aim is to harmonize our interactions with the outer world and with ourselves

3. ASANA - motionless physical postures for balancing the body’.”‘“.’s subtle energies

4. PRANAYAMA - the accumulation of cosmic energy (PRANA) through rhythmic breathing.

5. PRATYAHARA - the withdrawal of the senses” energy from their objects, with the purpose of focusing it towards our inner universe.

6. DHARANA - focusing the mind upon an unique object.

7. DHYANA - the unidirectional and continuous flow of mental processes around an object.
8. SAMADHI - telepathic identification of the object of meditation with the practitioner’.”‘“.’s being. SAMADHI is the highest state of expanded consciousness and a complete participation of the human being to the Cosmic Life. SAMADHI is the ultimate goal in YOGA, leading eventually to the state of spiritual enlightenment and total wisdom.

MUKTI or ultimate spiritual freedom, does not mean deliverance from the manifested world, but a close and permanent identity with the Supreme Consciousness, which is the true nature of one’.”‘“.’s own self. Ultimate freedom is therefore possible only by realizing one’.”‘“.’s own identity with the Universe. This ultimate spiritual state is NOT to be attained after death or in another dimension of Reality, but HERE and NOW - "Only liberation in this life (JIVANMUKTI) is authentic liberation" SPANDA PRADIPIKA.
 

Why Yoga?

Why should we practice Yoga? There are many answers to this question.

The simplest one is because through yoga we can become happy. All humans are searching for happiness but usually externally. Yoga helps us understand that true happiness is to be found inside us, because it is actually given by the harmony of our body, mind and soul. The practice of yoga postures, breathing exercises and meditation bring inside us that balance at all levels (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual) which is the source of all happiness.

These are some of the ADVANTAGES of yoga practice:
·         removes the stress of everyday life
·         helps the healing of various physical illnesses, has a beneficial effect in the case of emotional tensions, depression and various other nervous ailments
·         memory improves and the mind functions better at all levels
·         improved immunitary system
·         state of deep calm and inner peace
·         opens the way to wisdom
·         one becomes free from prejudices, inhibitions and various other limitations
·         improved communication ability
·         harmonious sexual life
·         strong will power
·         increase in self-confidence
·         the ability to succeed
·         harmonious body by regaining one’.”‘“.’s ideal weight
·         muscular strength
·         improved attention and concentration
·         awakens and amplifies the capacity to love
·         opens one’.”‘“.’s being towards a real spiritual communication with the Universe, with God
There are no DISADVANTAGES.