Q) Yea, so what would you suggest people in their daily routine to come out of mental stresses?
- Everyday activities like walking on road, tire puncture, etc. creates stress for us. And all the things which you don’t want to happen if happens they create stress.
In all my videos also I keep saying that have patience, because there are energies in universe which always helps us to find ways to combat with stress.
The best way to live a stress free life is to accept the situation as it is. We have to adjust according to this. We have a lot of things to do in the lockdown like read books, and do things according to our interests.
Q) Would you suggest any particular Yoga process to ease mental stresses?
- One can do yoga and breathing exercises, because breathing exercises helps us to release any kind of stress and boost our mental strength. Do deep breathing, for this one should sit in a comfortable situation as in Sukhaasan, etc. with back straight and just concentrate on breathing i.e. inhale exhale. After doing 15- 20 repetitions of it body starts feeling relaxed, cooled and inner strength.
This breathing when done with conscious state of mind besides relaxation and inner strength it also gives inner happiness. Start it with 5 min duration and by practicing slowly bring it up to half an hour or so accordingly. It helps us in everything and everywhere.
The major cause of stress in modern lives is that people never connect with and concentrate on their breathing, they usually just inhale and exhale.
If we do not connect with our breathing we are no less than a dead. People must do connected breathing every time not just in this lockdown situation, so that they normally stay relaxed and happy. In initial condition already existing negative thoughts will distract one’s mind but slowly you will start gaining the meditative state with this deep breathing exercise and negative thoughts starts moving out.
Q) How do deep breathing helps our mind to work faster and staying balanced?
- We have two nostrils and both the nostrils never work together, and only one works at a time for inhale and exhale. The inhalation with right nostril provides heat while the inhalation with left nostril provides coolness to our body. But due to workload and other issues people do not concentrate on this inhaling-exhaling process. When body is in the need of heat left nostril is working and when it wants to be cooled down right nostril is working, this ultimately creates a stressful life. People experiencing heat issues in body like high B.P. they must breathe with left nostril and vice-versa. Breathing plays a very important part for our stress free life. If a person do this for a month the person will notice marked positive changes in within and will have low capacity for alcohol intake automatically because our mind starts directing what our body needs and digests.
Q) What kinds of yoga we can do for start building our immunity?
- Firstly I would say that the best way to build immunity is regulating breathing, because proper breathing purifies our blood, and other way is Surya Namaskar.
It is a set of Aasanas and 12 postures. It strengthens our arms, spine, lungs and chest. After Surya Namashkar there is Dhanuraasan. It gives expansion to our chest region, strengthens our spine region, thighs, calf muscles and arms.
Another major Aasana is Paschimotaasan. It helps building our immunity, improves blood circulation and gives massage to our body from head to toe. Vrikshaasan, the two standing positions, strengthen legs, thighs and spine and by reducing stress improves mental health. Trikonaasan or triangle position provides strengthen & flexibility to shoulder, neck and waist muscles. These major Aasanas greatly improves body’s immunity.
Q) What kinds of basic breathing exercises or Pranayamas, which can be helpful for commoners or beginners for improving their immunity?
- Anulom-Vilom & Nadi Shodhan is the two techcnique of breathing, but Anulom-Vilom is the major one because through it we are capable of balancing both nostrils. There is a Pranayam called Chandra-Bhedan, and in this everytime inhaling is done from left nostril and exhaling is from right one and this gives relaxation to heart, lungs and blood circulation.
After all Aasanas & Pranayams do OM chanting, but people of different religion can do it according to their belief, and concentrate on breathing.
I want to mention that there are 84 lacs of Yogic Aasanas representing 84 lacs Yonis given by our Rishis, depicting different life forms i.e. animal, birds, etc., and each Aasana represents a specific quality of them as each life form has different breathing technique and sitting positions.
For example, Peacock is the only bird which can digest snake poison, and if we perform Mayuraasan it improves our digestive system and process.
Yoga gives 5 major elements i.e. proper exercise, proper breathing, proper strengthening & flexibility, proper relaxation, proper diet.
Q) What is the yogic diet? Is it different from the normal diet and its normal modifications?
- Yogic diet differs from person to person because everyone has different digestive system ranging from very strong to very weak.
According to Ayurveda there are three body types i.e. Vatta, Pitta and Kapha, and every food is not suitable for everyone, so it’s primarily important to find out your body type among these three or their combination. Whatever you intake must be consumed in a limit.
According to your stomach capacity, it should be half filled with food, one-fourth with water and leave the rest one-fourth part of stomach for air. If this intake ratio is followed one will never face digestive issues.
This is the yogic way of diet. Too much eating or too less eating clearly represents poor mental balance, which needs to be corrected and maintained. We should take sunbath for 5 to 10 minutes daily to gain energy and should spend with nature. We should stay positive.
(Transcribed by Sanjana Rastogi)
Image courtesy - Acharya Raman Kumar/ Twitter Handle @avsadan / @MsSriReddy