Yogic definition of stress

The erratic life style of excesses either in eating and drinking habits, excessive indulgences in any form of pleasures of life, work, sleep etc., begins in manomaya kosa and this is at the base of the majority of the cases of non organic causes of low back pain. Thus the seed of stress is in the manomaya kosa.The distressful experience that we all experience as stress is an emotional state which could be triggered by different factors in different persons. The sages say that it is less useful to discuss what caused the stress than to know what is the state of your mind when you are stressed. Thus they go on define stress as ' a speeded up state of the mind.

Mechanism of adhija vyadhi

The problem of long standing stresses begins in the manomaya kosa and manifests initially only as psychological problems such as irritability, emotional lability, excessive smoking or alcohol, sleep disturbances, difficulty in making decisions etc. Over the years this starts disturbing the pranamaya kosa and shows up as any one of the digestive problems such as poor appetite, dyspepsia, constipation, flatulence, gastritis etc., which are common precursors of most stress induced ailments. As this goes on for a few more years it shows up at the annamaya kosa as unexplained muscular-skeletal pains either as muscle spasms, soft tissue pains, sprains, cramps, or inflammations. A combination of some of these imbalances settles down in one particular part of the body showing up as recurrent episodes of acute or chronic musculoskeletal pains with no organically detectable cause.

ARDHA SALABHSANA BREATHING

Sthiti: for Prone Posture

PRACTICE

• Lie down on your abdomen, legs together, hands stretched out over the head and chin on the floor.
• Make fists of your palms with the thumb tucked inside and place them underneath the thighs.

STAGE-II (Salabhasana Repeat breathing)

• While inhaling, this time raise both legs together as far as you can.
• While exhaling bring them back on to the floor slowly.
• This is one round.
• Practice ten rounds.

Note:

• Take firm support of your fists while raising one leg or both legs. Accordingly, place the fists so that you can take maximum support.
• Do not bend the knees at all.
• In case of Ardha Salabhasana, the leg on the floor should be relaxed and straight.
• Do not strain or exert yourself.
• Synchronize the movement and breathing , closed eyes and breath awareness.
• Be aware of your breath.
• Keep your eye closed through out the practice etc