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Yoga for Strong Nerves
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Yoga Techniques to Control Your Nervous System
This practice, originating in the cave monasteries of the
Himalayas and known as "exercise without movement," helps the
practitioner gain conscious access to the subtle body and greatly benefits the
health of the nervous system.
Yoga practice leads to a genuine appreciation of the subtle
and unseen. What other explanation is there for the willingness of students to
spend hours every day in silence, eschewing other pleasures for inner quiet?
But even dedicated students have puzzled over the practice
described here—exercise without movement. This practice takes its name from a
series of techniques in which muscles are tensed and relaxed without much
visible movement of limbs or torso. These techniques are part of a method that
has been practiced almost exclusively in the cave monasteries of the Himalayas.
Although the benefits of this method seem to lie at the physiological and
philosophical heart of yoga, few in the West have heard of this practice.
Exercise without movement might be characterized as a subtle
level of self-study in which the physical techniques of yoga begin to become
inseparably linked with meditation. These practices bring the coordination of
the mind, nervous system, and muscles into awareness. Gradually nerves are
strengthened, and stillness deepens, preparing the student for the meditative
journey.
Connecting Mind to Muscle
According to yoga, we must all eventually unite our
individual souls with the cosmic One. This requires a systematic understanding
of the body, breath, senses, mind, and the center of consciousness within, from
which consciousness flows outward.
The outward-flowing energy of consciousness uses the body as
an instrument. Our actions are mainly goal oriented, carried out in the waking
state. Usually we do not attend to the body itself, the impulses linking mind
and body, or the mental and physical sources of those impulses. Our movements
are automatic and our attention quickly goes beyond itself and its instruments
to its external goal.
Hatha yoga postures help us slow our movements and complete
them with relaxed attention. Muscles and organs that have become the repository
for mental tension are rejuvenated. Flexibility is recovered, and our optimal
capacity for relaxed movement is restored. Exercise without movement suggests a
further step in this process—a step in which the object of awareness is no
longer movement and the goals of movement. Instead, attention rests on the
mind, senses, nerves, and skeletal muscles themselves. This aspect of
self-study shifts attention to the processes connecting mind to muscle and to
the profound experience of physical stillness.
The Benefits
As might be anticipated, many of the benefits of these
exercises have to do with the health and control of the nervous system. Adepts
say that when the practice is mastered, it prevents the development of
degenerative diseases of the nervous system that lead to paralysis. It also
reduces emotional overreaction, which is often translated into nervous arousal
and physical tension.
With diligent practice, pains arising from extreme
temperature and other sensory discomforts will be overcome. The exercises are
said to be preparatory to conscious mastery of the autonomic nervous system. In
short, the mind and nervous systems are strengthened and clear boundaries among
the mind, senses, and objects of the senses are established in awareness.
There are other benefits. Many of these focus on the
prevention of diseases associated with aging. The abdominal viscera are toned
and kept healthy, and with regular practice the too familiar protruding belly
of middle age is avoided. The practices are said to prevent the incidence of
coronary artery disease and to sustain overall health at a more vibrant and
energetic level.
Finally, the practices have a direct effect on meditation.
They reduce muscle tensions in the limbs and spine, tensions which are often
responsible for shortened meditations and feelings of discomfort arising from
increasing intensity of practice.
Preparation and Cautions
Before learning the exercises that constitute this practice,
students need to have a practical knowledge of diaphragmatic breathing and to
be familiar with the essential practices of hatha yoga. It is worth repeating,
even for experienced students, that this practice can be done only after food
has been digested and wastes eliminated. Pay attention and take care not to
exceed your capacity.
Many of these techniques are isometric exercises—exercises
in which sets of opposing muscles are contracted without creating external
movement. When the intensity of the contractions exceeds the comfortable
capacity of the nervous system, the limbs may begin to quiver and shake. Stop
short of that point when doing this practice.
Establishing a regular time for practice is helpful. The
entire sequence takes about 45 minutes to complete, and you must be free from
external distractions during this time. People with pancreatitis, diseases of
the liver, high blood pressure, or other related diseases should not practice
these exercises. They are intended for those who are in relatively good health.
Getting Started
Exercise without movement is really a series of practices.
There are two key ingredients in learning them. The first is a trusting
attitude toward the physical feeling of stillness. The belief that stillness is
something you do (or, worse yet, discipline yourself to do) impedes progress.
The perception of stillness arises spontaneously when muscles are allowed to
rest. Tuning your awareness to the perception of stillness during relaxation
makes it possible to rest even more deeply. Muscles rest in stillness.
Stillness becomes a friend, a comfort, a foundation of practice.
The second key ingredient is maintaining a relaxed,
rhythmic, diaphragmatic breath. Disturbances in the rhythm of breathing reflect
disturbances in the body or mind. During exercise without movement, the breath
must remain undisturbed. Otherwise, awareness of what is occurring becomes
clouded, and a subtle emotional tension pervades consciousness.
During this sequence of exercises, one observes, with
relaxed and focused attention, the entire psycho physiological process as
muscles proceed from stillness to healthy, full tension and back again to
stillness. The process is slow and controlled.
continued....... Part 2
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