Traditional Medicine in Asia

Traditional Medicine in Asia
Stillness (meditative asanas)
Asanas teach us to know our body through
these types of movements. They change
body chemistry, free energy flows and bring
balance to the mind and emotions.
Therefore, they affect us on three levels, the
physical, energy and mental levels.
Pranayama
Patanjali states that “pranayama is the
cessation of the movement of the breath”.
It sounds dangerous, but it really means
that if we can gradually widen the time
between each inhalation and exhalation,
the mind becomes calmer and calmer. This
is the meaning of pranayama according
to raja yoga, but in other yogas, as we have
mentioned, there are many practices of
pranayama which have different effects
such as calming the mind and emotions,
increasing the vitality and balancing the
activities of the cerebral hemispheres. They
are very helpful in many different illnesses
such as anxiety, depression, emotional
instability and so forth.
Pratyahara
Pratyahara means withdrawal of the mind
from the objects of sensory experience. The
mind then introverts and experiences its
deeper nature. The aroused mind
recognizes the parameters of name, form,
object and time. Pratyahara cuts off
awareness of the objects. As it is the
sensory input that mainly keeps us fully
conscious when we practise pratyahara,
the rhythms of the brain slow down and
we ‘descend’ from beta rhythms to alpha
rhythms, down to the borderline of theta
(sometimes known as the alpha-theta
state) – the threshold between waking and
sleeping. At this level, we are mentally
relaxed and unaware of our external
environment or sensations from the
physical body.
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The state of pratyahara is deeply
relaxing, but it is also the threshold of the
subconscious and unconscious levels of the
mind. These are then available for analysis
and inserting positive affirmations. This
state of mind is useful for many health
practices, and personal development
techniques.
Some pratyahara techniques are:
Yoga Nidra – In this practice we
use rotation of consciousness through all
parts of the body, and we easily reach a
sensitive state of mind to bring up and deal
with deep mental impressions.
Ajapa Japa – Internalized awareness
of breath with the mantra of the sound of
the breath ‘so hum’. It quickly calms the
mind and stops mental dissipation.
Tratak – Concentrating on an external
form, often the flame of a candle –
Develops one-pointed concentration and
calms the mind. It has been found to
increase the secretion of melatonin, the
body’s natural tranquillizer, from the brain.
Antar Mouna – Works on observing,
changing and stopping thoughts, and also
tracing them to their source.
When the state of pratyahara has been
attained, we focus the mind and come to:
Dharana
The important thing here is to keep the mind
fixed on one point only. Any point of
concentration can be used, such as a
mantra, symbol, thought or idea. At the
time of meditation, if there is oscillation of
the mind then concentration will not be
experienced. In the beginning it is difficult
to concentrate the mind for a long time,
but when the mind wanders we just gently
bring it back to the object of concentration.
It is easier if we have done the preliminary
practices first.