How to Understand Philosophy of Yoga and Its Spirituality as Alternative Way for Health Care through Eight Yogic Principles

The word Yoga is from the ancient language, the Sanskrit. It means addition, however this addition differs in such a way that one understand the concept of spirituality. You see this addition is of the soul to the super or the supreme soul, the spirit. Please note that this very addition is not the mathematical. It is as if adding zero to zero. The zero represents the soul and all souls together if added give zero. Moreover, if we add all zeros to the total left zeros, the result remains the zero as the constituent of the Super, the Spirit as the sea is with each drop added to form it in the context of water.

The water as zero represents the same concept as it has no plural either, as when we add water to water it remains water.

On the other hand adding water to water does not change its status. It remains water, whether in the glass or in the sea. It is through Yoga that individual soul transforms itself into the Super Soul. This addition and the transformation are to attain the resonance between the biorhythm in the nature and in us, the humans.

The process, the realization of the Yoga thought is not possible without individual’s going through the following steps:

1. First Step: The Restraint or the Yama: According to the Patanjali Yoga Shastra, one need to observe the following five restraints:

1. Non-violence
2. Truthfulness
3. Non-stealing
4. Discipline of sex life, the need of sex education
5. Non-covetousness

2. Second Step: The Observances or the Niyama: According to the Patanjali Yoga Shastra, one needs to observe the following five observances for the purity of body and mind:

1. Purity

2. Contentment

3. Fortitude

4. Study of the self

5. Resignation or surrender to the will of the absolute, the laws and the principles of nature

3. Third Step: The Right Posture or the Asana: According to the Patanjali Yoga Shastra, one need to practice the proper postures and gestures for sitting, standing, bending, walking and all that we do as an action of body. These postures are of the utmost importance as the functioning of the body, coordination of the body and mind, flexibility, easiness and great aid to have better health is attainable thorough the study of the Asana.

4.  Fourth Step: The Controlling the Breathe- The Right way to Breathe: After the Asana, the control over the breath is of the great importance and significance, as the Patanjali Yoga Shastra says that one, who has gained control over the respiratory system, has controlled the activities of the mind. The air that we inhale and exhale purifies all of our organs, from cell to total body level. The proper use of the Oxygen, the essence of the Pranayama is not possible, if one does not learn how to breathe.

5.  Fifth Step: The Controlling the Senses: The Right way to use our senses: We hear, taste, touch, smell and see through our senses, the ears, tongue, skin, nose and the eyes respectively. The right way to use our senses is to get the best work from each sense, so that our mind can have the right perception and thus leading to better concepts. In the Patanjali Yoga Shastra this is one the most important and the fifth step.

6.  Sixth Step: The Controlling of the Mind: The Right way to Concentrate: We can have many perceptions and thus all leading to distraction. However, in Yoga, we learn to concentrate on a single object, thing or a place. It gives us the better control over our mind. In the Pranayama, we control the senses, however in the Concentration; we use our mind to focus. This art of focusing finds a great importance in the Patanjali Yoga Shastra as the sixth most important stage as well as the step.

7. Seventh Step: The Controlling of the Intellect: The Right way to Meditate: The meditation of the popular term, which use in our daily language. The intellect needs an object, which it can analyze through focusing. It is not the focusing, as the senses do, the gazing; rather it is abstract form, in which the intellect focuses on the idea for the comprehension of the concept. In the Patanjali Yoga Shastra, it is the seventh and one of the most important stage as well as the step.

8.  Eighth Step: The Controlling of Intellect for Comprehension (Wisdom): The Right way for Self-realization: We often use the word Samadhi as if it is a posture for sitting to think or mediate. It is the highest level of the intellect, in which the comprehension of the concept becomes subject rather than the object for focusing as we find in the concentration and the mediate on the concept as the object of the concepts. Thus, one attains the wisdom in its original form. This leads to the self-realization, which one does not find anything as the object of knowledge; rather the knowledge becomes practically part of the thinking. It is the subject matter of the originality, which we say the self-realization or the state of the Samadhi and the eighth and the final step and the stage in the Patanjali Yoga Shastra, and in Yoga in general.

Thus, these eight principles or steps constitute what we know as Yoga and its Philosophy, Spirituality in it for Health Care, which is also a life style a wonderful alternative in the modern age. Thanks!