BENEFITS
Regular practice of Kaya Yoga confers many benefits. Kaya Yoga, however, does not transform an average practitioner into an Olympic standard gymnast, although sincere commitment to this holistic system can help improve the performances of the athletes of any level. Advertisements for and by various yoga schools, often boldly portray some arduous irrelevant posture more appropriate for a circus or a magazine for contortionists. Kaya Yoga does not claim nor intend to create contortionists, nor does it claim to confer the piscine or the avian abilities on human beings because it has no intentions of causing bankruptcy in the international shipping or airlines industries respectively. Kaya Yoga does not espouse any magic formulae, and secret recipes to bring about instant miraculous cures to the lifestyle ailments of the Twenty-first century. Kaya Yoga makes only a simple claim of making human lives healthier, hence happier, only if practised in a resolute determination to achieve good health by disciplined adherence to sound dietary habits, faithful and regular practice of the procedures of this holistic system.
The true pandemics of the industrialised nations of the Twenty-first century are obesity, diabetes, hypertension, stress and the consequent range of horrendous ailments. At the time of writing this book in 2006-2007, I have come across reports of seven year old Australian children weighing seventy kilos, an eight year old British boy weighing eighty-nine kilos, and a seven year old American boy weighing one hundred and fifteen kilos! These are dazzling pieces of statistics of the sickness of the western societies as a whole. The affluent countries of Australia, Britain, Canada and the US, mentioned in a strict alphabetic order, are in a glamorous league of their own. The developing countries of India and China are in hot pursuit to join this illustrious group of nations. The burgeoning middle class in India, estimated to be around 300 million in 2006, is witnessing a hitherto unknown pandemic of obesity. The rising wealth and significant disposable income in India is fuelling the malaise. Towards the later part of 2006, the Government of India announced the introduction of teaching and practice of yoga in the schools of India to combat the problem of obesity; a laudable move indeed.
The International Diabetes Federation in 2006 announced that 230 million people worldwide are afflicted with diabetes. The more disturbing fact related to this vast number is the rate of growth of diabetes worldwide. In 1986 there were only 30 million cases of diabetes that has grown almost eight fold in the last twenty years to reach the staggering number of 230 million. Diabetes currently is not by any means confined to the developed countries, it is rampant in the developing world too. A projection based on the simplistic logic of diabetes multiplying eight fold again, in the next twenty years, predicts 2 billion cases worldwide by 2026, a full 20 percent of the future global population. The incidence of diabetes could be even worse than this projection, unless the so called modern lifestyles change. The enormity of the problem is truly mind numbing.
Kaya Yoga is essentially preventative in nature, and is curative only in certain conditions. A regular and disciplined practice of Kaya Yoga prevents the onset of the lifestyle ailments such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and could alleviate and even cure some of them. Kaya Yoga detoxifies, revitalises and strengthens all the eleven systems of the human body, which are: cardio-vascular, respiratory, nervous, endocrine, lymphatic, digestive, urinary, reproductive, muscular, skeletal and integumentary. The specific benefits that accrue from the individual techniques of Kaya Yoga are discussed in the appropriate sections.
Kaya Yoga, like ayurveda and traditional yoga systems of India, places an enormous emphasis on disposal of the digestive wastes of the human body. Ayurveda advocates a thorough cleansing of the digestive system before administration of a treatment for any serious and for that matter any chronic illness. The benefits that accrue from the cleansing techniques of antra dhauti and basti are huge. They prevent many of the ailments of the digestive system. The cleansing of the colon improves the general condition of the skin and may even eliminate stubborn cases of acne and pimples. The cleansing techniques, followed by the regular practice of the asana, mudraa, bandha and praanaayama, substantially improve the sexual health for both genders.
Kaya Yoga prevents and on occasions alleviates the unseen, hence often neglected, and carefully hidden, problems of mental illnesses. The problem of loneliness, particularly among middle-aged single women, is the fertile ground for the breeding of many mental ailments. These lonesome individuals are invited to take up Kaya Yoga and lead happy and healthy lives.
Let the practice of Kaya Yoga become a pleasure and a joy. Let the practice of Kaya Yoga progress to become a way of life.
Excerpts from Kaya Yoga: Road to happiness, health and longevity;
ŠNachiketa Das; ISBN 9780980322309; 1st ed. 2007; School of Kaya Yoga.
