My incomplete quest for Yoga !

“Yoga is the art of bringing efficiency in action” (???? ?????? ???????) – Pravinji, my mentor told in a lec-dem session on Yoga in a school. That was around 1991. As a young medical student, some three decades ago, I used to visit Vivekananda Kendra at Guwahati to learn the principles of Yogic postures or Yogasanas. I loved the easy exercises and the breathing techniques and had a lot of fun while correcting the obvious errors every beginner makes.

As a bonus, I also had the opportunity to read several books on Yogic philosophy, available in the Kendra, and immensely enjoyed the study circles where we learned constructive arguments and counterarguments around a moot point, mostly about life, society, and the nation. Reading in English was far easier than reading in Assamese (my mother tongue) or Hindi, not because I wasn’t good at them, but because more literature was available in English.

In fact, it was after reading “The Four Yogas: A Guide To The Spiritual Paths Of Action, Devotion, Meditation And Knowledge” by Swami Adiswarananda of the Vivekananda Centre of New York that I was fascinated by the hidden treasures of the philosophy of Yoga.

Today, I don’t practice Yogasanas in particular, as I am comfortable with a mix of many different forms of physical exercises. However, because of the palpable effect of Yogic practices on heart rate, respiration, and overall stress levels in the body and mind, I became increasingly interested in examining voluntary control of postures and breath from a scientific angle. When I refer to “scientific,” I am referring to the scientific method introduced by Sir Francis Bacon in the 17th century. It involves a cycle of observation, hypothesis, experimentation, theory, and dissemination, all of which are embedded within a framework of deductive and inductive reasoning.

Interestingly, as a first-year medical student, I read some books on the never-ending debate between science and spirituality and similar topics. I remember having asked “What is Science” to a Nobel laureate in a lecture on science education in Guwahati in early '90s, to which he said, “It’s natural knowledge”. He further elaborated by saying that a new-born finds his way to push against gravity to finally sit up, stand, walk and run and grow up. Science is only the method that uncovers this natural, inherent knowledge.

Then, the methodical approach to discover that the heart and respiratory rates slow down during deep breathing must be science as well, I thought. I also realized that deep breathing helps recover from the anxiety and physical discomfort that rises sharply in a bout of anger. That’s where I could relate to the Sanskrit verse that reads ??????????????????????, which roughly translates as “Yoga makes the twists and turbulences of the mind disappear”. I thought that was obvious because I was then fresh with knowledge of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and how they regulated the fight or flight response.

A little knowledge is dangerous – as the adage says. It took me years to realize that understanding how the autonomic nervous system works is not the same as actually making it work for us. Much later did I find a lot of literature on further scientific work on Yoga, not only on its impact on physical health but also on cognitive and meta-cognitive effects, which is very well summed up by Laura Schmalzl and colleagues in their paper. Essentially, they present a theory that explains how yoga can help improve communication between different parts of the brain and body and in turn, can help people become more aware of their body and emotions and improve their overall well-being.

Ultimately, I discovered that Yoga holds the key to unlocking the treasure trove of emotional intelligence – a highly sought-after skill in our post-pandemic world. I feel like a small mouse who had set out to scale Mount Everest but has only reached the foothills of the Himalayas. A whole new journey lies ahead.

I want to start by interpreting the following verse:

??????? ???? ??????? ????? ????????? ???????

???????????????? ??? ?????? ?????? ??? ???????? Gita-2.48

(O Arjun, be steadfast in performing your duty, abandon attachment to success and failure. Such equanimity is called Yoga.)

As a student of science, I must now decipher many things: duty, performance, Arjun, attachment, success, failure, and finally, equanimity. It’s like running another uphill cross-country race. At least I know that here, Arjun represents my own alter ego. The rest I will discover one by one as I begin my exploration.

Happy International Yoga Day, June 21, 2023.