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Part 1: Yoga and Physiotherapy: A Therapeutic Approach Dear brothers and sisters in this ashram and around the world, this webcast is coming to you from Om Viśwa Guru Dīp Āśram in Jhadan, and we welcome all of you. We are happy that you are viewing our programs. Our topic today is yoga and physiotherapy. We will try to point out how we can use yoga exercises in a therapeutic way and explore the value of yoga for therapeutic situations. We will start by singing Om together three times. So please sit in a good way, sit straight, come to yourself, and inhale. Om... Om... Om. Mahāprabhudīp Karatā Mahāprabhudīp Karatā He Kevalam. In this lecture, we will also have some practice, but at the beginning, I want to tell you a little about our Yoga in Daily Life system and how we can use it for physiotherapy. Yoga in Daily Life was founded by Paramahaṁsa Swāmījī Maheśvarānanda, and he created a very unique system. What he gave us is truly the origin and the pure form of yoga. He designed it in such a way that Western people, with Western bodies and mentalities, are also able to learn these yogic techniques and exercises. Around the world, a whole group of physicians and physiotherapists work with this system, Yoga in Daily Life. Some research works have proven its benefits, for example, for people with cardiac problems or issues in the joints, such as rheumatic problems. It is really proven by research that it helps people. Many physiotherapists work with our programs for back pain and joint issues. I also want to tell you that there is a difference between gymnastics and yoga, between walking and yoga, and between sports and yoga. It is very important to know these differences. They exist because of the specific way we perform our yoga āsanas. These exercises in yoga are called āsanas. The specific way in which we perform our āsanas has three main aspects. One is relaxation, another is awareness, and the third is breathing. Regarding relaxation: some people go jogging to release their tension. Of course, if you work out and exert a lot of power, you lose this tension, but on the other side, you also become exhausted. In our work with āsanas, we want to balance and harmonize this energy. We don’t want to get rid of energy; we want to gain energy and become fresh, while getting rid of our tension. For this, we need relaxation. Swāmījī teaches us that relaxation is practiced before performing our āsanas and even during the āsanas. That means if you make a certain position, you also relax those parts of your body which are not involved in holding the position. This is very important to learn for our daily life because sometimes we have bad or wrong habits in how we move. For example, we hold our shoulders when we move our arms. We can learn to relax our shoulders. Another important point for relaxation concerns our muscles. For a muscle to work well, it has two aspects. One is that the muscle must be strong so that its filaments can make a good contraction. But on the other side, it is also important to release this contraction. The relaxation of the muscle is as important as its ability to contract. So for our muscles, it is very important to practice this relaxation. Thus, relaxation is one very important point. On this topic, I also want to tell you about one research work. A student at the University for Sports in Salzburg is currently conducting research on the effects of yoga exercises. The research is running now, so we don’t have the final results, but he told us he researched several types of yoga, including Yoga in Daily Life. He told us there is one very specific sign in Yoga in Daily Life classes: that the people, after these classes, are the most relaxed and refreshed. I think this is a very big point in our system. Another important aspect of how we should perform our āsanas is to be aware. We make our āsanas and movements very consciously, very alertly, with great awareness. This is important so that you get a good feeling for your body and come into good communication with it. In this way, you learn which are your stiff parts and which are your weak parts. This is also something very good to know for your daily life and for our patients. It is very good to know so they can prevent some problems in the future if they know the talk and the feeling of their own body. Another point of this awareness is that through these conscious movements, it is possible to bring your mind and your body together. This is being one with your mind and body. This makes you feel very nice inside, a very calm and nice feeling. You get this feeling really immediately if you perform the āsanas in this way. So you can feel that you make your body really happy if you give it this attention at this moment. In daily life, in normal life, we use our body as a machine, like a robot. We want to do something, and it should follow us. We don’t feel if there is pain somewhere or something not so pleasurable. But if you do our āsanas, if you do our exercises, we really know what is going on in our body. We should really be aware of each movement of our body. The third aspect is the breathing. Breathing is in combination with the movement. Normally, all movements which open our chest or widen the area of the stomach are done with an inhalation. Movements which narrow our chest are done with an exhalation. Through this breathing, we support the movement and the performing of āsanas. And, of course, on the other side, through this combination of moving and breathing, we also improve our breathing. We make it deeper, and we can improve the flow of our breathing through this work. Okay, then we start to perform our āsanas, and that means we start with relaxation. So please lie down on your back. This āsana, this position, we call Ānandāsana. Be sure that you are really relaxed in this position. Maybe you turn your head to the right and left side once. Find a good position for your head. Your arms are slightly apart. Also, your legs, palms facing upward. And just relax in this position. The eyes are closed, and you feel your whole body. Relax your right leg from your toes towards your hips. Completely relax your right leg, and relax your left leg from your toes towards your hips. Relax, relax. Feel both of your legs are relaxed. Feel your pelvis and relax. Feel your spinal column, vertebra by vertebra. Relax your spinal column. With each exhalation, relax your spine. The muscles around your spine relax. Also, relax your shoulders. Feel that your shoulders are relaxed. Relax your right shoulder and the whole right arm from the fingers, from the tips of your fingers to the shoulder. And relax your left arm from the tips of your fingers to the shoulder. Feel both arms are relaxed. Now feel the breathing, the movement of your breathing. Feel when you inhale, then your chest and stomach become wide, and when you exhale, they become narrow. Feel this movement, this wave of inhalation and exhalation through your whole body. And then again, be aware of your whole body. Feel your whole body lying on the floor and prepare to move your body. We start with a stretching movement. Close your legs, arms beside the body, and with inhalation, stretch your arms over your head and stretch your legs, pulling your heels towards the wall. With exhalation, arms back and relax. With inhalation, stretch your arms and stretch your whole body. And continue this movement. After relaxation, this stretching removes the last tension in your muscles. Now you can remove the remaining tensions. And then again, stop this movement. Our next āsana is the parvata mukta āsana. So first you start with bending your right knee. Bend your right knee and just breathe normally in this situation. And during breathing, relax both of your hip joints. Keep your left leg really straight and relax the hip joint. Also, relax your right hip joint. Then, keep your knee with your hands, and with exhalation, bring your forehead toward the knee. Exhale, relax your ankle joint, and with inhalation, come back with the head to the floor. Arms come back, stretch towards the ceiling like you want to make a print, a footprint on the ceiling, and then lower your leg. With the next inhalation, bend your left leg and keep it in this position, and relax both of your hip joints. Really try to open your hip joints and to relax. Then bring your hands towards the knee, and with exhalation, bring your forehead towards the knee. Knee and forehead together. With inhalation, head down, arms down, leg towards the ceiling; with exhalation, leg down. And continue this movement. With inhalation, bend your leg. With exhalation, forward and knees together. With inhalation, head down. And with exhalation, lower your leg. On the other side, feel how this breathing and moving come together. Now, when you open your chest, you inhale. If it causes pain in your lower spine, or if you have problems with your hip joints in these positions, then don’t perform this āsana. This āsana helps very much to improve the movement of our hip joints, and it stretches our spine. Try to keep the stretched leg really stretched. And then again relax. If you performed it on each side equally, relax and feel the effect of the āsana. Then, bring your hands under your pelvis so you can help to sit up with the help of your hands. Now, the next position is in a sitting position with stretched legs. For this position, it is important that you are able to really stretch your hamstrings. If you have any problems, you should be able to sit straight. Part 2: Guidance on Seated Postures and the Kaṭhopranām Series If it is truly not possible for you, you may place a pillow under your knee or under your buttock to assist in maintaining the position. However, if you do not need it, try to sit straight and also try to keep your knees straight. This improves the disposition of our stomach muscles and the position of our pelvis. Relax your facial muscles and relax your shoulders. It is not necessary to keep them in tension. We make circles with the shoulders. Bring your fingertips towards your shoulders and, with your elbows, create large circles. Use the full range of motion in your shoulders. Feel during the performance of this āsana the movement of your shoulder blades and shoulders. Feel what is happening in your shoulder area. We can make the same circles in the reverse direction. Be aware of your circles. Be aware of each millimeter of your movement. Then, bring your arms back towards your thighs. Relax them, relax your elbows and shoulders, and feel the effect of this āsana. Again, sit straight. Now we cross our stretched arms. Bring your arms to the height of your shoulders, palms facing the floor. With inhalation, arms up and cross; with exhalation, come back to shoulder height. Continue this āsana. In our daily life, we very rarely make such positions, such end-of-range movements. Therefore, it is very valuable to perform these āsanas. They strengthen our back muscles and shoulder muscles. These are very, very simple āsanas. But with these simple āsanas, you can learn how to perform yoga exercises. So, really make it slow and feel each moment of your movement. After the next exhalation, relax again. You can keep your arms on your thighs or behind your back to relax your stomach muscles as well. Feel the effect of this āsana. Our next āsana is performed from another starting position. It is called Vajrāsana. Please come into it. Vajrāsana means we are sitting on our heels. Both of our big toes come together and touch each other. This Vajrāsana is very specific for the situation of our pelvis. In this position, our pelvis is automatically in a very harmonious, very balanced situation. Thus, it is really easy to be straight in this position, to keep our body straight. So, try to be straight, and also try in this position to relax your stomach. It is not necessary to keep your stomach muscles tight. With breathing, also relax your stomach and your shoulders. The āsana we perform helps to make your spinal column flexible, and its name is Marjari. We start with inhalation, coming up to your knees; with exhalation, go down and arch your spine. With inhalation, extend your spine and continue in your own breathing rhythm. If you have problems, for example, instability in your lumbar spine, then just come to a horizontal position; do not extend too much. If you have problems in your cervical spine, just look at the floor; do not bring your head up. Continue. Arms and upper legs are straight at a 90-degree angle to the floor. The tips of your elbows look toward your thighs. When you arch and bend the spinal column, at the end you can slightly strengthen your stomach muscles. So, have a look at your navel and slightly contract your stomach muscles. The stretching position stretches the front part of your body, and this stretching extends all the way to your nostrils. After this exercise, both of your nostrils will be free. After the next exhalation, with the next inhalation, come up, and with exhalation, sit down. Again, relax and feel the effect of the āsana. Feel your spine, the muscles of your spine. Perhaps you feel that some vitality comes into these muscles. Perhaps you feel the flow of energy. This Vajrāsana, which you are performing now, is also the first position of our next āsana. This is called Kaṭhopranām, and Kaṭhopranām is a series of several āsanas. This was created from the inspiration of Svāmī Maheśvarānanda, and it reminds us of our Mahāprabhujī and of Kaṭhu, which is a very beautiful āśrama in Rajasthan. With inhalation, stretch your arms up over your head, bring your palms together, and look at your palms. Stay in normal breathing in this position. It is very important that your spine is straight. You have a slight lordosis in the lumbar part of the spine, but not too much. So, stretch really from the hips onwards towards the ceiling. You look at your palms, but do not bend your head too far back. Just try first to do this looking with your eyes, with the movement of your eyes. Then, what is necessary to do with your head, do with your head. If you observe children, you will see that they make many more movements with their eyes. We often make this movement with our neck, our head. But first, do this movement with your eyes. Then, separate your palms, and now with a really stretched back, lean forward and come down until your palms touch the ground. Now the upper part of your body lies on your thighs. Relax in this position. Your spinal column performs a nice arc, and you can really relax all your muscles. You feel the movement of your breathing, and you feel that this movement is now mainly on your backside and in the lower part of your spine, the lumbar area. Feel this movement. This movement coming from inside is like a gentle massage or a gentle mobilization of your lumbar spine. Then, make good contact with your palms and bring your whole body forward. In the next position, your chest is on the ground, your chin, your knees, and your toes are tucked under. This position is very good for stretching your thoracic spine, and a flexible thoracic spine helps your lumbar and cervical spine very much. Then come to the next position: pelvis comes down, and the upper part of your body comes up. In this position, it is important that you have good contact, and your hip joints have good contact with the floor. This is protection for the lower part of your spine. Try to keep this position mainly with the muscles of your back, not with your arms. Then bring your pelvis up into the next position. Stretch your hips toward the ceiling. Both legs are stretched, and arms are stretched. Really try to stretch your whole back. Your head is hanging, and if possible, your heels come to the floor. This changing of bending and stretching, which we always have in our yoga āsanas... Mahāprabhudīp Karatā Mahāprabhudīp Karatā He Kevalam. A single nerve—it is not good if a single nerve is stretched. It will harm this nerve. So, for the protection of our nervous system, which is like a net, through yoga āsanas we keep this net flexible. Now, bring your right leg forward in a big step, again stretch your body, especially in the thoracic part of your spine. Look forward or a little up; if you have no problems with your cervical part, you can also look up. The right leg should be straight, so that the knee is really over your toes. With the next inhalation, come up, palms together. Look again at your palms and bring your pelvis very close to the floor. Stretch very much from your hip joints onward. For the lower part of your back, it is very important that it is not bent too much. This arc should be nicely distributed over the whole body. Then come down with your arms, again looking forward. These positions are very good for our pelvis to keep it in a symmetrical form. If you have problems, for example, with the iliosacral joint or with the diaphragm in the pelvis, then it helps to maintain balance or to balance the systems. Then step forward, head hanging, relax your head. With the next inhalation, come up, again palms together, and again stretch straight toward the ceiling. Also, in this position, do not create too much strain in your lumbar area. That means make a little tension with the lower parts of your stomach muscles to balance your pelvis. Arms are straight, upper arms are near your ears. With the next exhalation, come down straight, body in. Again, relax in this position. The head is hanging, and the legs are straight. This bending and stretching of our body—we talked about how it is not just in the muscles; it is also in the nerves, and it is also for our inner organs. Our inner organs are wrapped in a layer of tissue, which we call fascia, and this fascia ensures that they maintain their proper position in the body. But when we move, they should also be able to move a little. So each organ should be movable against the other organ, and each organ itself has some movement. Through our āsanas, through this changing of bending, extending, and twisting, we also do something for these organs to keep them flexible. This position we do now—please do not hold it for a long time if you have high blood pressure or if you easily get dizzy. Then come back with your left leg—sorry, with your right. Again, your spine is stretched. With inhalation, come up with your arms. Paramparā, Viśokānand Jī, Mahāṁ Karatā Prabhu Dīp Karatā Paramparā, Viśokānand Jī, Mahāṁ Karatā Prabhu Dīp Karatā. Try to keep it with the back muscles, then pelvis up and chest down, chin down, and then bring the whole body back towards the heels, sit on the heels, head on the floor, elbows on the floor, and relax. With the next inhalation, come up together, and with exhalation, arms down, lay the hands on your thighs, and relax the whole body. Feel the effect. Feel the muscles you have moved, and feel the joints you have moved. Relax your stomach and feel your breathing. After the āsanas and after relaxation in our yoga classes, we do the prāṇāyāma. Through this prāṇāyāma, our muscles again become oxygenated; our muscles again receive new energy. Today we stop here. We will see this topic of prāṇāyāma tomorrow. So at this point, we say goodbye, and we sing "Om" together three times, deeply. Inhale.