Stress management through Sahaja Yoga Meditation
It is a generally accepted scientific theory that human beings are social animals and are empowered with intellectual capabilities, which is constantly influencing them to better their ways of living. This means that every person has to function within the norms set by society in general, and his immediate circle in particular. While functioning within these boundaries he/she has to fulfill his/her aspirations along with the activity of earning his/her lively hood. Therefore over long years of civilization, we have developed a very complex structure of society, which is fragmented in many ways. Depending upon the parameters of culture, profession, caste, creed, religion etc. Similarly a business executive has to meet his/her career aspirations, company commitments, family obligations and social expectations.
Women have to meet the job commitments, stringent family commitments, and social bindings. As the world moves on the population grows, trying to get their share of the limited resources. This is compounded by the growing aspirations of individuals, groups, states, countries, being Influenced by technology, mass media, and so on. The direct result is an increased state of competition, between individuals, groups, and countries at all conceivable levels, including society. The result: high pressure… but the show must go on and we continue to do our work and try to meet our obligations over prolonged durations.
So we go on but at what cost?
If one evaluates one’s current situation or the general situation in society, it is obvious that all is not well. There is a rapidly increasing situation of poor health, violence, crime etc.
Why is this happening?
Today’s world of increased aspirations of the individual and the highly competitive environment compounded with an ever-increasing phenomenon of recession has pushed the individual against the wall. He/she works against tremendous pressure without being sure of the results of his/ her efforts. This leads to the situation of stress. Today stress is an irrefutable reality!! A reality from which there is no escape. So the only option is to attempt to manage it. The medical science is aware of the innumerable and often fatal diseases resulting from stress.
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Ours is a restless age- an age where rapid changes in technology are causing a breakdown of old values and fragmenting our personality. The result of this is tremendous psychological disturbances, stress and tension. Happiness seems to be eluding us and we are constantly seeking answers. In the name of religion people of different countries and communities are waging a war amongst themselves.
In fact, as Shree Mataji Nirmala Devi says, “We are waging war with ourselves, with our very being, how can we get peace? We make everything false in the name of truth, how can we discover light?”
Self-realization is the only way you can get the light in.
Sahaja Yoga is a simple technique of self-realization, wherein the dormant energy, which is inborn within you, is awakened and connected with the all-pervading cosmic energy.
Sahaja Yoga is the gift of Shree Mataji Nirmala Devi to humanity. Self-Realization is the final aim of human existence. It is an empirically verifiable scientific method that explains how the very desire for becoming united with the Absolute is built within us as Kundalini.
In the human nervous system there are different subtle centers, called chakras and they control the physical, vital, mental and spiritual well being of an individual. The chakras represent the different stages of evolution and within each chakra resides the particular qualities of the Absolute. The understanding of the delicate functioning of these chakras and the connection of the individual with his own Spirit is the aim of all Yoga.
What is Stress?
Stress is anything that causes fear, anxiety, worry, apprehensions, anger and even excitement when we face difficult situations in daily life, whether mental or emotional. Continuous efforts to cope with such situations have adverse effects on human systems for want of relief from mental and emotional strains and it leads to diseases. According to Dr. Vernon Coleman, who after discussions with several doctors from various regions, has come to the conclusion that 90-95% of the illnesses can be blamed totally or mainly on psychological forces, 98% headaches are stress or pressure-related, a vast majority of indigestions are due to stress etc.
Some stress is good and even found necessary to feel stimulated, to keep away from boredom and depression and to achieve improved performance. A sense of high achievements and high self-esteem enables a person to cope with higher and higher levels of stress till the optimum level or stress threshold is reached.
What is Stress threshold?
Stress threshold is the point where any more pressure will become counter productive. It is the point where more pressure will lead to fall in productivity and contentment.
This point differs from person to person, depending upon one’s ability to cope with the pressure. Some people can sustain higher levels of pressure; some thrive on stress while some suffer enormously even under modest amounts of stress. There are fairly fixed stress threshold levels for activity and inactivity. At one end there is inactivity that we can cope with and at the other end, it is activity that we can cope with. If the range between them is narrow one is stress-prone
When Stress is harmful?
By itself stress never causes a problem. It is the way one responds to stress which leads to problems. The response is generally in three stages:
Alarm – In the face of a challenge or a threat, the nervous system is highly stimulated, heart rate increases, muscles become tense, and breathing becomes fast. The body system is now ready to fight or flee.
Resistance – If the cause producing the stress continues the body chemistry adjust to that situation (i.e. steady flow of adrenal and other glands secretion and in order to keep the body at a more easily maintained level of arousal during the time needed to fight or get away.
Exhaustion – If the challenge continues for a long time, the resources for arousal and resistance are used. They are involuntary physical responses to stress for which built-in mechanisms exists in the human body. Even imagining or thinking about an upcoming situation may trigger these.
So long as the problem is solved and we are able to rest, even the acute effects of stress are not dangerous to a healthy person. Due to repeated occurrences of emergencies, the person has to pass through the stages of alarm and resistance time and again in the accumulated pressures causing exhaustion, diseases or emotional problems, leading to fall in performance levels, productivity and strained relations within the family and at workplace. Some times, however, a person may even get withdrawn into a depression. These are chronic effects of stress, which are the signals that life style or work habits should be adjusted before worst problems emerge. Hence the importance of effective stress management.
Stress Management
A number of ways have been evolved over the years to tackle stress. Many resort to drinking, smoking, drugs etc., which are harmful. Relaxation techniques have been found to be more effective than others and meditation is the best relaxation technique. In Sahaja yoga, the regular practice of meditation, after the self-realization, can bring necessary additional change as the person is evolved leading to a balanced outlook toward events and situations he has to face in daily life.
Stress Management through Sahaja Yoga
Sahaja yoga meditation brings about equilibrium between the sympathetic and Para-sympathetic nervous system response in the process knocking down the sympathetic dominance usually seen in stressful situations, and thereby helps prevent stress disorders.
The technique is simple- it is a way of activating a mechanism- the Kundalini- which is the divine energy that lies dormant at the base of the spine. This mechanism is the moving force of our enlightenment and is a living force, which seeks self-organization, self-regeneration and ascent. Through self-organization it sustains and protects the human system. Self-regeneration is its innate ability to heal, renew, balance and recycle. And, ascent is its ability to transcend the mind and body and to attain collective consciousness.
Until recently the process was not available to ordinary human beings. But Shree Mataji Nirmala Devi has perfected a way to lead mankind into its next step of evolution. By Her extraordinary spiritual powers She has made this possible for each one of us. Sahaja yoga technique is spontaneous and effortless which can be practiced by anybody irrespective of their background, religious beliefs or way of life.
One who practices Sahaja Yoga meditation, finds himself move into a different dimension which enables him to harness the unused sectors of the brain. Once this happens, a new supply of energy is available to us. The actual experiences of people moving into this level of functioning are a feeling of total inner silence, complete health and well-being. There is thoughtless awareness and the person feels a cool breeze of vibrations on the head and on the palms of the hands.
Recent research conducted on varied groups of individual Sahaja Yoga meditators has revealed that the practice of Sahaja Yoga is accompanied by decrease in tension, anxiety, depression, neuroticism and hypertension. With meditation there is an experience of inner peace and harmony and one moves in the direction of greater self-control, self-awareness, actualizing one potential and thus moving towards happiness.
Electrical Brain Activity
Electroencephalograph (EEG) reports indicate the following changes in the brain activity during Sahaja Yoga meditation:
1. At the initial stage, on commencing meditation, the alpha brain wave pattern increases, which creates a sense of relaxed awareness.
2. As the meditation progresses the brain activity shifts to long chains of low voltage theta activity signifying deep physiological relaxation as is attained during deep sleep states.
3. And, during a very deep meditation state, the EEG pattern again changes and this time bursts of high efficiency beta peaks occur.
It appears from all these studies conducted that the human nervous system begins to function in an entirely different way after the Sahaja Yoga meditation practice. Some other dramatic changes clearly reported are:
1. Oxygen consumption decreases within 5 minutes of starting the meditation.
2. Heart rate and respiration rate also decrease.
3. Blood lactate concentration, which is associated with high states of anxiety, also reduces.
4. Adrenalin, which correlates with high blood pressure, drops.
5. The galvanic skin response is a measure of the activity of the sweat glands. This is related to the sympathetic nervous system that regulates the level of tension or relaxation. The Sahaja Yoga practice increases skin resistance thereby significantly reducing tension.
Dr. D Chugh at the Lady Harding Hospital, New Delhi, has conducted these experimental studies.
Therapeutic Applications
1. Sahaja Yoga has achieved tremendous success in treatment of innumerable chronic fatal diseases. Recent medical investigations reveals that individuals suffering from hypertension, cancer, chronic asthma, epilepsy, diabetes, arthritis and heart ailments have recovered completely after practicing Sahaja Yoga meditation.
2. Another astounding medical breakthrough documented from Australia is the cure and treatment of AIDS cases by using Sahaja Yoga techniques.
3. The healing effects of Sahaja Yoga have encouraged doctors and others in the caring professions to develop centers where Sahaja Yoga techniques would be applied to patients suffering from a variety of ailments.
4. In fact, Dr. Valentina Gostera, who works as a pediatrician in general hospital in the Soviet Union, was able to give her two patients a new lease of life. One was a child with an 11-inch liver, where all diagnostic and surgical recommendations made by a team of doctors did not yield results. Finally she treated the child on the principles of Sahaja Yoga and the liver started to heal gradually. After a few weeks, the liver shrunk back to its normal size. The same doctor at a party treated another case of fatal asthma, where the man who collapsed after an asthma attack, began to feel an easing of the symptoms. He had been suffering asthma for the past 45 years and now he has fully recovered.
5. Also, Dr. Chugh’s pioneering work presents experimental evidence to show the beneficial effects of Sahaja Yoga on essential hypertension and bronchial asthma. Hyper tension being due to excess of right-sided activity, Sahaja yoga practice corrects this imbalance in the neural communication. Similarly, asthma is said to be due to construction in the cardiac center on the right side. Thus relieving this construction causing asthma leads to instantaneous relief.
6. Further, diabetes, cancer of the blood, kidney troubles and heart attacks, according to Sahaja yoga being disorders as a result of excess mental activity, and skin disorder, anorexia, angina and epilepsy being caused due to a tendency to dwell on the past or indulge in depression, therapy would essentially be directed to rectify these imbalances and to attain peace within.
Sahaja yoga in various fields
Sahaja yoga can be used to develop a child’s intellect and communication skills by actualizing his potential. In India, Soviet Union, Italy and elsewhere Sahaja yoga techniques are being used in schools to nurture young minds to enrich their lives and to make them enlightened people.
Experiments conducted in the field of agriculture making using of vibrated water by a practicing Sahaja Yogi who infuses energy into the water, has shown plant development to be more vigorous with a much faster growth. Apart from activating plant growth, it enlarges and improves the sprouting potential of the seeds. The method holds immense possibility of dying forests and fields.
There are many burning issues of today like the polluted environment and the depletion of the ozone layer.
Sahaja yoga is trying to grapple with these issues at a more fundamental level of brining mankind back to the maintenance of cosmic balance, thus, leading man to the path of right action, evolution and dharma.
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