(Mind34)-How does Yoga minimize stress?

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Most research studies indicate that Yoga reduces stress. Lower stress means lesser chance of getting into many health problems that we discussed in the previous episode. 

Actually, you don’t need to recollect the previous episode. This list of health problems includes almost all illnesses known to us today!

But how does Yoga achieve stress reduction?

Recall the three essential things to experience stress, as we discussed in a previous episode. Let me recapitulate them here.

1. There has to be rapid neural activity either because of an external event or that generated internally by our thoughts. The latter is of interest to us.
2. We need to pay attention to this activity.
3. Concerned brain centers need to judge this activity as harmful to us.

Yoga has mechanisms through which first two of the conditions can be handled in our favor.

Our thoughts can be positive or negative. By positive, I mean those thoughts that get interpreted as non-threatening to our existence. And obviously the negative thoughts are just the opposite.

The strange thing about our thoughts is that they multiply rapidly by interaction among like thoughts. At the same time, positive thoughts suppress negative thoughts and visa versa depending on which are stronger.

One way is to minimize the causes of negative thoughts, so that you will end up with fewer negative thoughts. This would give an upper hand to positive thoughts and our stress gets reduced.

The first step of Yoga namely Yama, has ingredients that attempt to achieve this.

When you don’t indulge in avoidable harm to others, i.e. when you practice Ahimsa, you will be freed from the fear of reciprocal harm by the aggrieved. Well, people can still harm you with no fault of yours. But if you create an environment where most people follow Ahimsa, automatically, the mutual violence reduces. The best way is to start from your end.

Similarly, when you practice Satya or an honest way of life, you have lesser reasons to feel guilty about, lesser reasons to fear being caught. You will be more confident that you are on a righteous path. Needless to say, a society where more people follow an honest way of life, there will be lesser tension.

I can go on with each component of Yama in this way. They all minimize the cause for negative thoughts. When you have fewer negative thoughts, half the battle is already won!

Now, look at the second step of Yoga namely the Niyama.

If you are content with what you have, there will be more positivity in you. You will not be nagged by craving for more. That happens when you practice Santhosha.

Same thing applies to Tapah as well. When you develop equipoise towards various vagaries in life, nothing can disturb you. You will remain positive. Reading inspirational books also increase the positive thinking. Last but not the least, faith in God can induce a hope in you that there is someone who would always rescue you when you are in a helpless condition. That is a big booster of positivity.

So, in essence, Yoga tries to eliminate the causes for negative thoughts, while at the same time fortifying the positive thoughts. In the net result, the positive thoughts would have an upper hand and the negative ones die down gradually. Dying throughs are too weak to produce more of their like!.

Ultimately, you will be left with more positive thoughts. And obviously, our friends, namely amygdalae, would interpret them as not threatening. So, we rid ourselves of stress.

Now look at the second requirement for building up of stress. The thoughts would only threaten us if we pay attention to them. One way is just not pay attention to them at all.

But that is easier said than done.


Simpler way is to keep our attention busy with something else. To do that you should have mastery over your attention. If you can control what to attend, then you can focus on that and forget the rest of the thought wars. They all will die sooner or later, being unattended!

Yoga teaches you how to control your mental focus through step 4 of Yoga namely Pranayama. Complete annihilation of stress is achieved by further steps such as Dharana and Dhyana.

And finally, when you reach the ultimate step of Yoga namely, Samadhi, you are not only completely free from all stress but also will be rewarded with something far beyond mundane things.


Before I continue, let me clarify some issues.

Stress reduction is not the ultimate goal of Yoga. It is only a byproduct of Yoga practice. One can always limit oneself to this smaller goal and get contented with it. That is quite a lot!


In the passing, I would like to mention that even the Buddhist techniques start off very much like Yoga, by their initial steps of eightfold path, but then they branch off by getting into explicit manipulation of our judgement system itself.

As far as I am aware, these practices were later additions to Buddhism and not found in any of the recorded preaching of Buddha. In my view, these practices can be dangerous if not done properly.

But unfortunately, some of our modern Gurus, in their eagerness to make Yoga more mystic, adopt crude forms of Buddhist techniques. They project them as ‘advanced practices of Yoga’. These can be very dangerous since in most cases they may not even understand these practices well. It is like playing with fire.


Let me comeback to Yoga.

I mentioned about Yoga’s steps to help us in having control on our attention. That needs prolonged practice. And this prolonged practice has some prerequisites. What are they?

Let us see that in the next episode.

 

A series revolving around Mind – Science of Mind, Philosophy of Mind, Notions of reality, Mind modulation, Domains beyond Mind, and so on. © Dr. King 2019