YOGA AND HOLISTIC HEALTH
Health is not merely absence of disease and infirmity. The World Health Organization defines health as: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, more than simply the absence of illness. It is the active state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being”.
This is a wonderfully holistic description of medicine, which strives to support health by relieving or preventing symptoms rather than simply eliminating disease. A healthy person should be able to use all his physical, mental, and spiritual resources to live a happy fulfilled life.
Holistic concepts always formed part of all health systems until Descartes’ philosophy led to separation between mind and body. The human body was now considered no more than a well-functioning machine, soulless; subject to chemical and mechanical remedies. Cartesian medical philosophy excluded religious concerns from the field of the physician.
Modern medical technology has allowed us ‘look inside’ the living body and identify its properties as never before.  This resulted in relegating the patient’s perception and assessment of his state of health to a secondary level. In fact such factors need always be considered for proper diagnosis and treatment.
Most diseases occur because of an interaction of both internal and external conditions, between the body and the environment. Stress is a condition of mental or physical tension brought about by internal or external pressures. In many stress-related diseases there is no obvious link between mental states and bodily disorders. But it is clear that stress kills!
Thankfully, the medical profession is gradually acknowledging the importance of quality of life as a component of outcome evaluation. Medicine could be defined as ‘the science and art of cure, alleviation, and prevention of disease, and preservation and restoration of health’.
Modern science is coming to realise that health is much more than the materialistic concept of disease management advocated for the past century. Yoga and meditation are slowly finding their rightful place in modern healing. Recognising the ‘whole’ person in the prevention and treatment of disease may hold the key to the future of medicine.
The human body is perfect and if the human lives in a holistic way, according to natural laws, it should remain perfect until death comes naturally. All aspects of a person: psychological, physical and social should be taken into account and seen as a whole: the whole person’s health, mind, body, spirit, environment, relationships, and spirituality/meaning in life. Root causes are defined in a person’s emotional, spiritual and physical life. This helps deal with and overcome these causes, resulting in lasting healing.
The approach of yoga and meditation is not confined to various disorders. It aims at perfect control of the mind, the senses and ‘prana’. Control of the ‘prana’ will help acquire mental purity, intellectual stability and spiritual fulfillment.
Yoga not only treats the physical body, but also all the five Koshas (Sheaths) which make our being i.e. Annamaya Kosha, (Gross/Food Sheath) Pranamaya Kosha (Energy sheath) (Psychic Body), Manomaya Kosha (Mental sheath), Vijyanmaya Kosha (Intellectual sheath) and Anandamaya Kosha (Bliss sheath). Diseases originating at the mental sheath may percolate to the gross physical frame. The aim of yoga is harmonisation and calming down of disturbances at all these levels by yoga postures, pranayama and meditation.
Yoga emphasizes the development of brotherhood, harmony, fraternity and equality towards all living beings, not only towards all human beings, irrespective of colour, nationality, age and sex. It gives rise to positive thinking. One is liberated of all mental malice and thus from the mental, psychosomatic and physiological diseases arising thereof.
Yoga is a very wide and comprehensive system with potential to develop holistic health i.e. physical, social, mental and spiritual. For social health, it prescribes the practice of Yamas & Niyamas and Karma Yoga.
The practice of Yamas – Niyamas purifies the practitioner from vices like attachment, aversion, avarice etc. and generates higher ethical values such as sincerity, honesty, detachment, patience, perseverance, tranquility, self control, truth and harmony.
Someone practicing Karma Yoga believes in the concept of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakamam’, a basic philosophy of Yoga. Considering the whole world as one’s own family the person believes in selfless service to mankind. It helps withstand environmental influences, external and internal, as well as physical and mental processes. This gives rise to equanimity and intellectual stability.
In many aspects Yoga is better than other methods of exercise. Physical exercise increases the strength and resilience of muscles only. Yoga works on complete body-mind complex. Apart from the physical benefits yoga helps soothe our mind and spirits too. It thus provides complete physical, mental and spiritual health. It is a method of achieving complete harmony of physical and mental self with the surroundings. It is a science and art of achieving complete balance.
All the ‘modern’ systems of medicine aim at just curing disease. Yoga aims at preventing the disease and promoting health by reconditioning the psycho-physiological mechanism of the individual.  The basic approach of Yoga is to correct the life style by cultivating a rational, positive and spiritual attitude towards all life situations.
Yoga is a complete science and art that not only emphasizes physical health but also ensures mental and spiritual health. On the physical level, it gives perfect health. It improves muscle tone, flexibility, strength and stamina. It helps reduce excessive body fat, improves circulation and stimulates the immune system and helps maintain blood pressure. Thus it keeps one young and healthy.
On the mental level it reduces stress and tension, anxiety, depression, irritability and moodiness. It enhances self esteem and improves concentration and creativity. It helps to heal old traumas and enhances emotional stability. It improves comprehensive ability and memory.
On the highest level, the spiritual, it makes one recognize the interdependence between mind, body, and spirit and helps achieve union between one’s own consciousness and the cosmic consciousness. By returning to one’s true Self one can transcend psychological suffering and detach from any possible physical suffering as well. The pain of body and mind do not belong to the Higher Self that is beyond time and space.
Yoga and meditation help to develop awareness, concentration, willpower, good conduct, good behaviour, memory power, stress management and helps build a perfect personality. Yoga helps gain mastery over the mind, emotions and intellect. It is a conscious process of evolution from an instinctive ‘animal’ nature to a ‘Godly’ nature.
By its actions on all levels of our life, meditation & yoga is most probably the only system which can lay claim to being really holistic. Yoga and meditation is the pivot of holistic health, the very basis of inner peace and harmony. It is the best physical, mental and spiritual system and has proved its holistic efficacy since time immemorial.