Treating Tension
Recent medical investigations have shown that emotional stress and anxiety can precipitate chemic heart disease and cause sudden death. Clinicians have also suspected for long that accumulation of small stresses from long standing conflicts can augment the development of
Hypertension and even coronary atherosclerosis. Inspite of their side effects and habit forming nature there is a tendency to use tranquilizers and other drugs to control tensions and blood pressure.
The physiology department of the Lady Hardinge and the Sucheta Kripalani hospital has established through elaborate scientific studies the effect of Sahaja Yoga on the human body and its role in preventing stress disorder.
The study, published in the journal of the International Medical Sciences Academy establishes that even with a few weeks practice of Sahaja Yoga, tensions are reduced and people can lead a more relaxed life. Prof. U.C. Rai, former head of the Department of Physiology at the Sucheta Kriplani hospital and currently additional medical superintendent who heads the team undertaking Sahaja Yoga (stress studies) says, “drugs are not a satisfactory long term answer to tackle the problems of severe stress. Various relaxation techniques meditation & bio-feedback technique have been tried to reduce the effect of stress on the body. But there have been little or no scientific studies to show how this relaxation occurs.
Now Prof. Rai along with Dr. S. Sethi and Dr. S.H. Singh have also established that the awakening of the Kundalini which the Yogis maintain is manifested in the subtle feeling of coolness in the palm of the hand and a sense of euphoria of release is possible with the practice of Sahaja Yoga. The static Kundalini is symbolized by a serpent coiled into a length of 3.5 inches with its tail southwards and spiraling around the central axis at the base of spine. When the Kundalini Shakti is activated with Sahaja Yoga it ascends to unite with the pure universal consciousness above the crown of the head and self realisation occurs. Studies done which were published in scientific journals were conducted on 20 people in the age group 35 to 50. Ten of them were from the Department of Physiology and had no previous training in any form of Yoga, meditation or bio feedback techniques. They were given two days training by a qualified Sahaja Yoga teacher in the physiology department. Thereafter they practiced it for a few weeks, 20 minutes daily on weekdays under the watchful eyes of their tutor.
At fixed intervals doctors studied the effect of Sahaja Yoga on the heart rate, blood pressure, the level of the blood lactic acid, VMA in urine which indicates secretion of adrenalin by the body and the galvanic skin resistance (GSR) which show whether the patient is tense or relaxed. All 10 were patients of hypertension, some of them on drugs. As the Sahaja Yoga practice progressed the medicines were reduced and finally stopped. In 12 weeks the diastolic blood pressure dropped from 100 to 80 and the adrenalin flow, it was found also dropped.
The second group of 10 trained Sahaja Yogis from the centre at Safdarjung Enclave had been practicing Sahaja Yoga for two to six years. Readings were taken before, during and after Sahaja Yoga. The GSR in the first group of subjects increased from 43.9 kohms to 64.7 Kohms. In the second group practicing Sahaja Yoga the mean level was 103.9 kohms. In the second group practicing Sahaja Yoga the mean GSR was 130.4 kohms which increased by practice to 183.85 kohms.
The changes in the skin resistance are a measure of sweat gland activities and are related to the sympathetic nervous system. The study says the sweat glands are connected to the hypothalamus, reticular formation and cerebral cortex and therefore reflect the activity of different regions of the brain related to the individual’s arousal and awareness. The ascending reticular activating system and hypothalamus are the fundamental structures which determine the state of awareness of an individual.”
Therefore, the change in the activity of the sweat glands should be closely related to one’s awareness and level of tension or relaxation. The study shows that Sahaja Yoga awakens the Kundalini there by producing a state of thoughtless awareness with deep relaxation which in turn, is responsible for increased skin resistance in both groups.
In patients with anxiety neurosis the blood lactate concentration increases. On doing Sahaja Yoga this reduces and the adrenalin production drops. Increased adrenal activity leads to high blood pressure. Significant Physiological Changes have been noticed in both trainees and the advanced Sahaja Yogis. The sympathetic system dominance, noticed in situations of stress, is knocked down by the Yoga. Two papers named, “Effects of Sahaja Yoga Practice on patients of Psychosomatic Diseases” and Physiological Effect of Kundalini Awakening by Sahaja Yoga which was prepared by Dr. Deepak Kumar Chugh and Dr. Sandeep Sethi have already earned doctorates.