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Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.
Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciousness untouched by the mind (Chitta) and mundane suffering (Duḥkha). There is a wide variety of schools of yoga, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and traditional and modern yoga is practiced worldwide.
In yoga, Ayurveda, and Indian martial arts, prana permeates reality on all levels including inanimate objects. In Hindu literature, prāṇa is sometimes described as originating from the Sun and connecting the elements.
Kriya Yoga is a yoga system which consists of a number of levels of pranayama, mantra, and mudra, intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion. It is described by its practitioners as an ancient yoga system revived in modern times by Lahiri Mahasaya, who claimed to be initiated by a guru, Mahavatar Babaji, circa 1861 in the Himalayas. Kriya Yoga was brought to international awareness by Paramahansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi and through Yogananda's introductions of the practice to the West from 1920.
Yoga nidra or yogic sleep in modern usage is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping, typically induced by a guided meditation.
Jon Kabat-Zinn is an American professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the 'Stress Reduction Clinic' and the 'Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society' at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Kabat-Zinn was a student of Zen Buddhist teachers such as Philip Kapleau, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Seung Sahn, and a founding member of Cambridge Zen Center. His practice of hatha yoga, Vipassanā and appreciation of the teachings of Soto Zen and Advaita Vedanta led him to integrate their teachings with scientific findings. He teaches mindfulness, which he says can help people cope with stress, anxiety, pain, and illness. The stress reduction program created by Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), is offered by medical centers, hospitals, and health maintenance organizations, and is described in his book Full Catastrophe Living.
A relaxation technique is any method, process, procedure, or activity that helps a person to relax; attain a state of increased calmness; or otherwise reduce levels of pain, anxiety, stress or anger. Relaxation techniques are often employed as one element of a wider stress management program and can decrease muscle tension, lower blood pressure, and slow heart and breath rates, among other health benefits.
Amrit Desai is a pioneer of yoga in the West, and one of the few remaining living yoga gurus who originally brought over the authentic teachings of yoga in the early 1960s. He is the creator of two brands of yoga, Kripalu Yoga and I AM Yoga, and is the founder of five yoga and health centers in the US. His yoga training programs have reached more than 40 countries worldwide and over 8,000 teachers have been certified.
Yoga as therapy is the use of yoga as exercise, consisting mainly of postures called asanas, as a gentle form of exercise and relaxation applied specifically with the intention of improving health. This form of yoga is widely practised in classes, and may involve meditation, imagery, breath work (pranayama) and calming music as well as postural yoga.
Journey to Wild Divine was a biofeedback video game system promoting stress management and overall wellness through the use of breathing, meditation and relaxation exercises. The graphics and interface resemble Myst. The designers refer to the product as "biofeedback software", considering it an entertaining training tool for mind and body health, rather than a "game".
Shavasana, Corpse Pose, or Mritasana, is an asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise, often used for relaxation at the end of a session. It is the usual pose for the practice of yoga nidra meditation, and is an important pose in Restorative Yoga.
Conscious breathing encompasses techniques directing awareness toward the breathing process, serving purposes from improving respiration to building mindfulness. In martial arts like tai chi and qigong, breathing exercises are said to strengthen diaphragm muscles and protect organs, with reverse breathing being a common method. Meditation traditions, including yoga and Buddhist meditation, emphasize breath control. Yoga's pranayama is believed by practitioners to elevate life energies, while Buddhist vipassanā uses anapanasati for mindfulness of breathing.
The psychological and physiological effects of meditation have been studied. In recent years, studies of meditation have increasingly involved the use of modern instruments, such as fMRI and EEG, which are able to observe brain physiology and neural activity in living subjects, either during the act of meditation itself or before and after meditation. Correlations can thus be established between meditative practices and brain structure or function.
Qigong, is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts, qigong is traditionally viewed by the Chinese and throughout Asia as a practice to cultivate and balance the mythical life-force qi.
Trauma-sensitive yoga is yoga as exercise, adapted from 2002 onwards for work with individuals affected by psychological trauma. Its goal is to help trauma survivors to develop a greater sense of mind-body connection, to ease their physiological experiences of trauma, to gain a greater sense of ownership over their bodies, and to augment their overall well-being. However, a 2019 systematic review found that the studies to date were not sufficiently robustly designed to provide strong evidence of yoga's effectiveness as a therapy; it called for further research.
Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of postures, often connected by flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by breathing exercises, and frequently ending with relaxation lying down or meditation. Yoga in this form has become familiar across the world, especially in the US and Europe. It is derived from medieval Haṭha yoga, which made use of similar postures, but it is generally simply called "yoga". Academics have given yoga as exercise a variety of names, including modern postural yoga and transnational anglophone yoga.
Mindful Yoga or Mindfulness Yoga combines Buddhist-style mindfulness practice with yoga as exercise to provide a means of exercise that is also meditative and useful for reducing stress. Buddhism and Hinduism have since ancient times shared many aspects of philosophy and practice including mindfulness, understanding the suffering caused by an erroneous view of reality, and using concentrated and meditative states to address such suffering.
The history of yoga in the United States begins in the 19th century, with the philosophers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau; Emerson's poem "Brahma" states the Hindu philosophy behind yoga. More widespread interest in yoga can be dated to the Hindu leader Vivekananda's visit from India in 1893; he presented yoga as a spiritual path without postures (asanas), very different from modern yoga as exercise. Two other early figures, however, the women's rights advocate Ida C. Craddock and the businessman and occultist Pierre Bernard, created their own interpretations of yoga, based on tantra and oriented to physical pleasure.
The science of yoga is the scientific basis of modern yoga as physical exercise in human sciences such as anatomy, physiology, and psychology. Yoga's effects are to some extent shared with other forms of exercise, though it differs in the amount of stretching involved, and because of its frequent use of long holds and relaxation, in its ability to reduce stress. Yoga is here treated separately from meditation, which has effects of its own, though yoga and meditation are combined in some schools of yoga.
Yoga in France is the practice of yoga, whether for exercise or other reasons, in France. The relaxation technique of yoga nidra was pioneered by Dennis Boyes, whose 1973 book preceded Satyananda Saraswati's popularisation of the technique.
References
- ↑ "Richard C. Miller". iRest. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
- ↑ "Learn about IAYT". Iayt.org. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ↑ Parker, Stephen; Baharati, Swarmi Veda; Fernandez, Manuel (January 1, 2013). "Defining Yoga-Nidra: Traditional Accounts, Physiological Research, and Future Directions". International Journal of Yoga Therapy. 23 (1): 11–16.
- 1 2 "Staff | Integrative Restoration (iRest)". Irest.us. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ↑
- "YOGA-BASED TREATMENTS BEAT STRESS" (PDF). Let's Talk (Winter 2010): 1–2. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 28, 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
As a natural alternative to medication, yoga offers tools that mitigate stress and improve quality of life. It can also have a positive effect on blood pressure and heart rate. Practicing yoga postures increase relaxation while the inward focus and meditation enhances calm. Yoga's favorable track record prompted the Department of Defense (DoD) to first pilot, and then adopt a yoga-based Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) reduction program utilizing a form of Yoga Nidra. The program, called iRest (Integrative Restoration), utilizes yoga, progressive relaxation, and meditation to manage negative emotions and stress. The iRest program has helped veterans reduce PTSD symptoms, anxiety, and insomnia. There are now iRest programs at Veterans Health Administration (VA) facilities in Miami, Chicago, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. as well as active duty facilities nationwide.
- Walter Reed
- Dr Richard Miller: Not Recommending Yoga Would Be Malpractice
- Soldier's Meditation IREST
- The Yoga of Being on Retreat with Richard Miller
- "YOGA-BASED TREATMENTS BEAT STRESS" (PDF). Let's Talk (Winter 2010): 1–2. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 28, 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- 1 2 Novotney, Amy (November 2009). "Yoga as a practice tool". Monitor on Psychology . American Psychological Association (APA). 40 (10): 38.
- ↑ Major (Dr.) Nisha Money (2009). "Yoga Nidra (iRest): A "New Twist" on Treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Part I)" (PDF). 5 (4 Winter 2009): 12–13. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 19, 2011. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
The iRest military program, based on the ancient practice of Yoga Nidra, is designed to systematically reduce physical, emotional, mental, and even subconscious tension that characterizes PTSD. Participants are taught to manage disturbing moods and memories with a skill set that enables them to objectively respond to intense emotional experiences through conscious choices rather than unconscious reactions.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ↑ "Walter Reed Using Yoga to Fight PTSD | Danger Room". Wired.com. 2008-05-06. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ↑ "Pain Management Task Force | Providing a Standardized DoD and VHA Vision and Approach to Pain Management to Optimize the Care for Warriors and their Families | Final Report" (PDF). Office of the Army Surgeon General. May 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
[extract from table in Figure 11: Tier I Modalities] Modality: Yoga / Yoga Nidra; Passive: Facility based yoga classes; Active: Self directed with video, exercising
- ↑ Pollack, Neal (5 August 2010). "Yoga News & Trends - Warriors at Peace". Yoga Journal. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ↑ Kersten, Denise (23 October 2007). "Yoga Holistic Healing - Healing Life's Traumas". Yoga Journal. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ↑ Mary Pritchard; Patt Elison-Bowers; Bobbie Birdsall (2009). "Impact of Integrative Restoration (iRest) Meditation on Perceived Stress Levels in Multiple Sclerosis and Cancer Outpatients" (PDF). Stress and Health. 26 (3): 233–237. doi:10.1002/smi.1290.
- ↑ Miller, Richard (March 14, 2021). "Richard Miller Statement" (PDF). Richard Miller. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 September 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
