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Good evening to everyone, and a special welcome to those joining from other parts of Vienna and from other countries. We have another wonderful weekend program ahead, and as always, we return to the same theme: Yoga. We see how many years we speak, practice, listen, and read about it. Yet that is not all; it is a lifelong task. We recently had a wonderful program specifically about development. Some people ask: "How far have I come on the path of Yoga? How do I know whether I have made progress or not?" It is very difficult to give a definitive answer. We all likely began yoga with a single thought: health. Each of us here has had some health issue at some point—be it stress, nervousness, restlessness, lack of self-discipline, digestive problems, back pain, sleep issues, or bad dreams. It is true that, first and foremost, yoga helps us keep our life healthy. Some illnesses can be healed through yoga, some perhaps cannot, and for others, yoga is a beautiful system for prevention. In this field, when one practices yoga systematically every day, one can observe a development—or missteps—on the level of health. You notice it immediately after the practices, perhaps after three days or a week. Normally, one feels an improvement in physical health within three days, or at most a week. It is perceptible and visible on one's own body. With systematic, disciplined daily practice, it becomes significantly better. We often face a problem: either we lack discipline, we become negligent over time, or our daily activities and schedules become so complicated and packed that we find no time to practice daily. As soon as one stops the practices, even for a day or two, one immediately feels it again. Within three days, one feels a decrease. For those unwilling to perceive it, it will take a week to feel how things deteriorate again. Physical exercises are like our daily nourishment. Eating too much is not good; eating too little is also not good. Likewise, doing too many physical exercises is not good, and too little action accomplishes nothing. What is too much or too little? Everyone knows this from their own body. One person eats two bowls of rice, another eats five, and another eats only one. Everyone has a different stomach capacity. Similarly, each body has a different constitution and capacity for practice. Yoga exercises, breathing exercises, physical exercises, and relaxation should be a daily nourishment for the body. Then we will surely feel good. Those who practice daily clearly feel a calming process on the nerves. The airways, breathing capacity, and lung capacity become greater; mobility improves; back pain decreases; the joints become more flexible and agile; and the muscles get properly circulated with blood. So one can say whether one has practiced yoga or not. The second part of yoga is also connected with nourishment: what kind of solid and liquid nourishment we take. There, a yogī uses all five elements. We often speak of elements. I once participated in an international yoga therapy conference where a teacher explained it beautifully and simply. She gave an example I often repeat: We have built a house. Now the house is old, or a wall has a crack. We consult a builder, engineer, or craftsman to repair the wall. A wall is made from bricks or stones, cement, glue, earth, and water. The brick itself is made with fire, baked or fired. So within a brick are all the elements: air, fire, water, earth, and space (Ākāśa). As soon as a wall is made from cement, water, and bricks, it can only be repaired with this same material. The craftsman will reuse what was previously present in the wall. She gave this example to say that our body is also composed of the five elements: water, air, earth, fire, and space. All five are present in our body. If something is not right in the body, the Yogi says to use these same materials to repair it or make it healthier. I liked that very much. First is water therapy: Saṅk Prakshālana, Kunjalakriyā, Netikriyā. Everyone here likely knows what Saṅk Prakshālana means. These practices help us cleanse internally. Externally, we also need water therapy, perhaps with soap, earth, or air. Prāṇāyāma is the element of air—the lung capacity, inner space, abdominal cavity. Everything that is the empty spaciousness within our body, whether in the nerves or elsewhere, represents Space, Ākāśa, the ether. The solid bones and muscles, especially the bones, are earth. The fluid part is water. Body heat and temperature are fire. Thus, yoga therapy uses these elements. Naturopathy also speaks of this. Sometimes a warm earth pack is a thousand times better than an ointment. If you have knee pain, try it. I also tried it; it was so beautiful and the pain was immediately gone. Take one or two kilos of pure earth—not from by the street, but from further away in fields or a forest. Clean it well, dry it, sift it so no insects remain, filter it, and then make a paste with water like a porridge. Heat it until it bubbles. Spread it on a cloth, let it cool a bit to about 45 degrees, or at most 50 degrees in very cold winter. Our body cannot endure more. Then apply the pack all around the knee. Hold it there. You can stretch out your leg, turn on a reading light, and read Līlā Amṛta or another beautiful book, watch television, listen to the radio, or do your work. Leave it for one, two, three hours, or even go to sleep. The next day, apply good oil to the area and do not go out immediately into the cold. The knee problem is gone. Or place it on the shoulder, sit for an hour until the earth dries, then remove it and apply oil. It has a great effect—very pleasant feelings, relaxing the muscles, improving circulation. All these therapies—natural remedies, water therapy, entering cold water, going into warm water, cold and warm compresses or poultices—yogīs have been practicing them for thousands of years. Some people have too much heat in their head. I do not have so much, but some have so much heat that they cannot relax due to stress. The mind cannot endure thoughts; it is very harmful. For this, use the same earth, but not hot—rather cool, about 30 degrees, not so cool that you catch a cold. Then put a nice cap of it on your head. If there is too much hair, push it in a little. Or, since it's all the rage to shave hair off, I must invent a hairstyle too. Make a nice wrap; it is an anti-stress technique. People who have difficulty sleeping, who need sleeping pills, should try it. It is truly relaxing. After half an hour or an hour, when the earth has dried, the body draws the excess heat from your head and brain. Then wash nicely and gently massage in some oil. It is a pleasant, incredibly relaxing feeling. This is for those with strong tension in the head, pain, a slight headache, or too many unbearable thoughts. But please, in winter, ensure the earth has the right temperature, otherwise you may catch a cold and get a worse headache. You must always use your Buddhi (intellect) to judge the temperature, timing, and duration. There are several therapies in yoga with nature, with the five elements. They help resolve stomach problems, head problems, back problems, muscle problems—everything. There are some, mostly women but also some men and young people, who have problems like losing their appetite, or where whatever they eat comes back out—anorexia, bulimia. They should try applying a warm pack on the abdomen. Lie down for an hour with this warm compress; please, nothing cold. This warm compress will support your Jāṭharāgni, the digestive fire. The problem is often that the digestive fire is weak and the pancreas has retracted a little. This warm compress on the abdominal muscles, from below the ribs down, wrapped nicely the whole time with a small cloth on top, is very helpful. Practice Yoga-Nidrā during this. Thus, in Yoga, we can see progress—a physical, health-related, and psychological overcoming of certain problems that we can resolve through Yoga therapy. Now, there are still some problems that absolutely require surgery. You cannot say, for instance, that a vertebral disc or meniscus is half a centimeter larger and you cannot move, and then ask what exercises to do when the doctor says surgery is necessary. I would say surgery is necessary. Perhaps some exercises could help, but it might take three or four years of suffering. So, it is always our thoughts that must be used wisely. This is what I meant regarding breathing difficulties, asthma, digestive problems, and head ailments. So much may be possible, but it does not have to be; perhaps nothing helps. Everyone should try these methods once or twice; they will help. In some cases, nothing helps. So please do not say, "She said it would help, but it doesn't help me at all." It is also individual. But most of the time, it helps very much.