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Good evening, dear brothers and sisters. Yesterday we discussed theory and practice. Today, we have a very important topic. Some people have achieved scientific work with yoga in daily life exercises. They are preparing a script that will be published in scientific magazines, specifically addressing problems for women. This is a special area they have worked on. It is time for change. They have also researched various physical difficulties, cramps, and so on, and which yoga exercises are very helpful in daily life. We have an expert here, a female doctor who works with this and is part of that research group. She will tell us today about menopause problems after a certain age. She works at the university clinic in Brno. Dr. Ārati, please. (Dr. Ārati speaks) Good evening. I am supposed to say something about menopause problems, meaning problems of women in the changing time, around 50 years. I will try to speak English; if I am not able, I will switch into Czech. This is the time when many hormones are changing in the body. The hormonal system, which starts working at age 12, 13, 14, begins to slow down and finish its work. The organs that produce hormones slowly stop producing them, and many changes come in this time. They are on the psychic level and on the level of physical problems. Especially, women feel a kind of heat. Sometimes it comes with a lot of heat and sweating. It also comes with the hormone changes, and the risk of osteoporosis increases. Also, the risk of cardiovascular problems, like heart attack or high blood pressure. All the tissues in the body become a little bit softer, and it shows in the skin. It also has an effect on the pelvic floor muscles, which lose their tension, creating a prolapse of the organs. It might create a prolapse, meaning the uterus descends. These changes in the pelvic floor come together with the incontinence of urine. Many ladies have this problem, especially around ages 50, 60, 70, and it increases. It has a connection with delivery, with giving birth at a younger age, when children are big or there are complicated deliveries. They can create damage in these muscles of the pelvic floor, which ladies do not notice and don't have time to practice something in this age because of the child. If they neglected this problem after delivery, it may often create more problems in old age when the softening of the tissues comes. So ladies after menopause very often have problems with urine. It's called stress urine incontinence, meaning drops of urine come when they are coughing and jumping. They neglect this problem or are ashamed to speak about it. We see it in the ambulance when ladies come for check-ups; they do not want to speak about it. There are very simple exercises in yoga which can help in prevention and also in curing. If the problem is very big and the incontinence is very strong, then there are also simple operations available recently, in the last 10-15 years. This is also why this problem is coming up in medicine and is more spoken about. Even strong problems of incontinence, which cannot be cured by practicing, can be helped by quite simple operations. So this problem is coming up now. About yoga and how it can help: All yoga exercises are actually balancing the hormone system. There is research work done, somewhere in America. It was proved that with yoga exercises, after three or four months of practicing, they measured the hormone level of oestrogen before and after, and the increase was, I think, more than two hundred percent, which is amazing. I was thinking of trying to do some kind of research about this. Yoga exercises balance the hormone system, helping to go through this time of hormone changing smoothly and easily. The exercises which are concentrated on the pelvic floor muscles, strengthening, are helping to prevent the incontinence. So there are two levels on which yoga exercises are working: the hormone level, which has connection with the psychic-mental level, and the physical level. At this time, what is most important is the pelvic floor and also osteoporosis prevention exercises. These āsanas are for the strengthening of the pelvic floor. You all know them: Kandarāsana, Setu Āsana. Mūlabandha is very good. We can do Mūlabandha during the day wherever we are, and it helps very much. An important thing is also to know how the muscles of the pelvic floor are lying. They have three levels, and we can practice consciously because it is a muscle which can be influenced by our will, like muscles on the hands and legs. We can consciously contract or release specific layers. We are not very aware of that area; we work with hands and legs and neglect it. It is actually the center of the body, where the Maṇipūra Cakra is, also the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra. It is the center of the body. If we are stable in this area, all movements and our acting are more sharp because we are based in that area, in our home. It is the area from where we can gain the force to work. So there are many levels on which yoga is working, on a cakra level also. Swamiji asked us to make a book, "Yoga in Daily Life for Women." We are cooperating with one lady from Prague, Pūrṇimā, who leads classes for ladies who have problems in the time of the climacteric. I have been working with pregnant ladies. So somehow there should be a book for ladies, with specific āsanas focused on specific problems. In childhood, girls have problems with menstruation, cramps, so there are also āsanas for this. We are supposed to extract it from the system and make something. (Swamiji speaks) Thank you, Dr. Ārati, for your very valuable information about life situations, changes of hormones, etc. May someone have a question? (Questions and Answers) Q: Which āsanas? A: Kandarāsana, Setu Āsana, Maṇḍūkya Āsana, Mūlabandha, Makarāsana. They are in the Yoga in Daily Life book. Marjari Āsana is also very good. Vidyā Sādhana is very good. To be a tiger, ladies. Q: What is the best approach? A: The best thing is to start with yoga because it's balancing the hormone system. This is the first thing. If it doesn't help, then homeopathy, Āyurveda is good. Then comes hormone replacement therapy. So these are levels. Q: How does yoga influence hormones? A: The ovaries, which produce hormones, are dependent on higher hormone-producing organs in the brain. So it can be influenced by yoga. With all its effect, pressing bandhas works there. Also, positions bending backwards, or Viparīta Karanī Mudrā, influence the brain centers. Yoga as a whole influences the hormone system, slowing the reduction of hormone production in the ovaries. If it doesn't help, then homeopathy works on another level. Also Āyurveda. If this doesn't help, then hormone replacement therapy, pills with hormones inside. It is very chemical, but it helps. Prevention is best. There are many side effects; one of the most dangerous is that it increases coagulation of the blood, so higher risk of thrombosis and embolism. Q: About the operation? A: It is quite a simple operation, takes about 20 minutes. It can be done with local anesthesia on the spine. It's not recommended to use whole anesthesia because it damages brain functions. There are special centers doing this. Quality is a question. It is very individual. You cannot say the ovaries work for exactly 50 years. Some ladies have menstruation till 55, some till 40. It's individual disposition and genetic. Ask your mother. Q: Sleeping problems? A: Yoga Nidrā, Prāṇāyāma. In the evening, don't eat after sunset. Practice mantra. Less looking at television or laptop. Thank you, Dr. Ārati. Without health... but health cannot be without a body. We need a body, and that body should have a healthy way of living. That is the first thing. We can maintain our body in many ways. Our biggest problems are two. It doesn't matter if man or woman. First, self-discipline, practicing everyday discipline. Second is our eating problem. We don't eat what our body needs; we eat what our taste and habits need. These are the two main problems for our health. It's much better to do natural things to solve health problems or changes of hormones in the body. It's natural, it's yoga exercises. Now, I come again to the same point like yesterday. For many people, yoga became acrobatic. For many, it became commercial. Many just want to show they practice yoga. Many do it to have a good figure. But if we want to practice seriously, then a yoga teacher should have long training, about six years. Getting experience to be mature takes about ten years. Ten years of learning, training, and practicing, then you become a good yoga teacher. The problem nowadays: you go for a 10-day seminar, holidays on the beach, everything in one package: flight, eating, accommodations, and yoga practice, and you come with a yoga teacher certificate. That can create a problem. It's like in allopathic medicine, with very strict rules. It begins with about 400 students to study medicine, and by the end of the year, only 40 remain. Similarly, with yoga beginners, out of 100, maybe 25 remain. To become a yoga teacher, maybe two remain. The great saint, Ṛṣi Patañjali, who wrote yoga philosophy and modified Jñāna Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Rāja Yoga, and Karma Yoga, said very clearly: "Atha yoga anuśāsanam." But not tomorrow, not yesterday, not next year. Just now, begin just now with discipline, anuśāsanam. Many people don't want that. We practice till a problem is solved, then we say, "Tomorrow I will practice." Tomorrow, a friend telephones, "Let's go for a walk." We are too weak in our discipline and decisions. So, Atha Yoga Anuśāsanam. Then in Anuśāsanam, if you practice, it is practice, theory, and study: Manan, meditation—many things to learn. Dr. Ārati told us about local anesthesia for those above 80-90 years because of the danger of falling into coma. An experienced doctor studies medicine, practices, has a special faculty, becomes an anesthetist with experience. Why does he give doses very limited in certain parts only? But someone with a 15-day certificate? He will give. In emergency, we can have a little longer operation. That's happening with yoga; many people are playing with it, mixing systems. In the last 42-43 years, definitely many hundreds, thousands of people went through Yoga in Daily Life trainings around the world. Some teachers teach on a big ferry, on a big ship on the ocean, for the crew and travelers. You can't run away; there's no excuse. There are many Yoga in Daily Life teachers working in summertime, in schools, hotels. We don't know who is teaching what. Many are not in touch with us. "Dekha, dekhi, sajhe, yog, ghathe, kaya, bade, rog." If someone is just imitating and practicing through imitation, you will harm your body, and it will increase disease. Yoga is a science of body, mind, and consciousness. The body needs gentle care. It refuses very hard things, but our ego says, "No, I want to do this." That is a problem. Nowadays they put people in Yoga Nidrā and Īśvara Hita Āsana for all, very gentle, where you feel relaxed. They gave it the name "wellness." Twenty years ago, there was no awareness of "wellness." This is how, in Kali Yuga, our intellectual property is manipulated. Previously, we always said, "Gandhījī said this," "Goethe said this." Nowadays, you write a book and just say it, change one word. Gandhījī said, "Be the change you want to see." Now they have cut it in half. Thought, intellect, wisdom came from someone, and that has to be protected, preserved, and served as reality. Yoga in the whole world is running, not second-hand, but I think 50th-hand. They teach in many names: this kind of yoga, that kind of yoga. People ask me, someone said there's a yoga called wine yoga. I said, "Wine yoga is not divine yoga. So there's wine and divine, which you want to choose? So discipline, slowly practicing." Yoga in Daily Life is first physical, then mental, social, and spiritual health to maintain. We need strong willpower. When you say no once, then you keep it. We have many habits. Holy Gurujī said it is easy to become free from the enemy but not from habits. Habits control us. Someone tries a drug; after some time, you don't like the drug, but the drug says, "I would like to have you." You are caught. The only way to come out is to make a śaṅkalpa, a purification. When you have a certain feeling, sing bhajans, listen to bhajans, to overcome these feelings. If you practice, you should know for what you are practicing. We have particular postures, exercises, breath, and meditation. Dr. Ārati mentioned cakras and bandhas. These bandhas are called Jālandhara Bandha, Mūla Bandha, Uḍḍīyāna Bandha, and Mahābandha. Bandha means to tie, to close, to block. I give an example: close your fist and hold your wrist, then open the palm; it's completely pale. This is the bandha because we blocked it. Release the bandha, and the color changes. One thinks very little of the effect of certain exercises. It has a very big positive effect on our glands. I believe the glands have great responsibility for our hormones, especially for women. The thyroid has big responsibility for body and hormones. But many do not have patience. Many say, "We do Ujjāyī Prāṇāyāma and Jālandhara Bandha." After some time, everyone is sitting like this, thinking Swamiji sees, but he observes exactly. For the specific problems Dr. Ārati mentioned, Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā is also important. Who doesn't know Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā? Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā has a very positive effect on our glands. Especially for some people who are not allowed to practice Sarvāṅgāsana, Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā is very important. To begin with, if you don't have hormone problems, it is important to practice Sarvāṅgāsana for at least one and a half minutes, three times a week. Sarvāṅga means Sarva (all) Aṅga (limbs). This works very well on our glands. But yoga says, when you come to āsanas, never practice one-sidedly. Always counter-exercise. When you bend forward once, bend backwards the second time. So it is with Sarvāṅgāsana: after that is Matsyāsana, the fish pose. Then comes Halāsana, then Ustrāsana. Then you balance nerve function, muscles, joints. One-sided is difficult. People who work one-sided, like a dentist, often have back and shoulder pain. For them, it is very important to practice sharp postures. Also for drivers: car, taxi, bus, truck. For them, it is important to practice Śrāvītāsana, Sultāna, Kṛyāsana, and other exercises like Halāsana, Ustrāsana, Sarvāṅgāsana, Matsyāsana. And Jālandhara Bandha, Ujjāyī Prāṇāyāma, Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā, Sarvāṅgāsana, Matsyāsana, Halāsana, and neck exercises. These are best for our hormones to regulate and balance. Then you don't feel heat, sudden sweat, or blood pressure going up or down. This often happens with women, but men can also have circulatory problems. A very important cakra in the body is Maṇipūra. This is the prāṇa center, Hara in Tibetan. This is the life force. Our life begins from the navel. First, the Maṇipūra Cakra is formed. From the universe, a light comes in a circular form, where the ātmā cells come in. It starts with this circular form, which is our intestine; the vertebrae begin, then the head. So first is the digestive system, the intestine. The Maṇipūra Cakra is where healing begins. Epilepsy problems begin from the Maṇipūra Cakra, not from the brain. Afterwards, it works in the brain. Stuttering, which cannot be pronounced correctly. The Maṇipūra Cakra controls the whole energy system. This is the beginning of our life. It is a strong connection with the mother's body; through the navel, we get nourishment. There are beautiful poems: when you are born and the navel is cut, for a mother, this is an emotional pain. She never forgets that pain. Therefore, it is very important that every man, every son, takes care of his mother, sister, and wife. And vice versa. The exercises she spoke about can be mastered well by Agni Cakrīyā and Nauli when possible. Many can't practice Nauli, but many can. Agni Cakrīyā: one minute every day. From 24 hours, give one minute for your whole body's well-being. For one minute, give away your laziness. That is Amṛta. The navel is the center for amṛta. Amṛta from the navel, through Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā, is transported to the Bindu Cakra. All of the Bindu Cakra's Amṛta comes from the Maṇipūra Cakra. Therefore, Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā, Agnisāra Kriyā, Nauli, Uḍḍīyāna Bandha, and Mahābandha are very important for our health. Then there are two mudrās: Aśvinī Mudrā and Vajrolī Mudrā. Aśvinī Mudrā: aśva is horse. When a horse is allowed to ride, it practices the anal muscle, pulls together and relaxes. There is relaxation in the body, in the brain. Vajrolī Mudrā is connected to the Vajranāḍī, from between the big toe and second toe, up to our lower body, about five centimeters below the navel. It depends; everyone has different distance. When you get a pumpkin-shaped belly, there is more distance. When we no longer pay attention, it becomes a pear shape, where the belly hangs. With pumpkin shape, the navel is straight in front. One has the form of a valley between the hips and ribs. The distance between navel and genitalia is about 10 cm. In the middle is the muscle under the body, Vajrolī Mudrā. If you have a normal belly, you can look down and pull lower muscles together; you see a brain shape. There sits Amṛtā Nāḍī, Vajra Nāḍī. Practice this every day. It takes one minute. So one minute Agnisāra, one minute Aśvinī Mudrā, one minute Mūlabandha—that's three minutes. We say one and a half hours a day for our health. Vajrolī Mudrā helps especially well for women's problems, as Dr. Ārati said, because it holds muscles tight. For men, it is also important for prostate and getting up at night. It helps the gallbladder. These are exercises we should do. Not just for muscles or a flat stomach. A man without a stomach is the sky without stars. So, no problem, boys. Eat and enjoy. Then comes Amarolī Mudrā. This is the nectar that goes from lower cakras to Maṇipūra and then to the brain. Amarolī Mudrā is not easy; it needs concentration and balance in lower body muscles. It means you can suck in a quarter liter of water through your urinary tract and let it out, like Basti. Pull in with Mūlabandha and soak water, half a liter. That was the origin, Kriyā, Saṅk Prakshāṇam, Basti. Aśvinī Mudrā, Mūla Bandha, Vajrolī Mudrā, and Amarolī Mudrā. Very few can do that. There is a story: a yogi gave a challenge, urinating oil. He said to a king, "Proof is we light a torch and it burns like an oil lamp." Before that, he sucked in half a liter of oil through Vajrolī and Amarolī Mudrā. The king tested it; it was pure oil. This is a Siddha Yogī. Some people try to become famous. These mudrās are very important: Mūlabandha, Aśvinī Mudrā, Amarolī Mudrā, Vajrolī Mudrā, Aśvinī Mudrā, Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā, and the four Bandhas. This is special for our fine organs and muscles. Then comes Bhaktāsana. What I have said is in this book; read thoroughly, look at every exercise, what is good and bad. That is why I worked very hard with students, friends, therapists, a doctor, a psychologist, philosopher. We built exercises and a whole system. Yoga in Daily Life is a system that can heal many diseases or, as I said, is prevention. Prevention is better than treatment. So exercise. We practice for our own interests. Live long and enjoy life. Enjoy your food. Practice every day. Jatharāgni, fire in the body, to digest everything. Some people don't eat much but get fat. Once Hans Herzschläger, Kriyānanda, said to me, "There are two types of people: one is a consumer—what he eats never makes him fat, body always slim. The second is a producer—eats little but produces inside, always stretching." That happens when hormones and cells come out of balance. Yoga practice brings it back in order. I'm telling you because of what I'm saying. My body speaks to you directly. One month ago, I came back from India. I was on the road a lot for two years, hardly had time to walk or practice. My physical condition was not so good; it was the highest alarm. I started Yoga in Daily Life again. It's been three weeks, every day 45-50 minutes (the first level). I feel 80% better than three weeks ago. So exercise is very important. You have time to earn money, go to a restaurant. But when you are sick in the hospital, the restaurant does not come to you. Our body is our temple, housing our soul. Wellness means feeling good with wonderful light exercises. He always says, "Beautiful in Austria, feather-like." We are very selfish and fearful. We always say yes, but when truth comes, we say no. There's a joke: In the Vatican, people waited for the Pope's blessing. A bishop came and said the Pope is sick, needs a heart operation, needs a heart. Who is ready to give a heart? Of course, 5,000 people screamed, "My heart, take my heart!" The bishop asked the Pope how to decide. The Pope said, "Take a fine, soft feather and let it fly. On whose head or body it lands, that heart we take." He let the feather fly; it floats. When it comes near, everyone says, "Take my heart!" So we are. Today, I wish you a nice, pleasant evening and all the best. Tomorrow, our webcast will come again at 9 o'clock. The program begins at 9, and the webcast too. Then I come. I think Dr. Ārati will lead some exercises tomorrow that are very interesting for everyone. This does not mean men should not come; men also have problems with hormones. Thank you, and all the love. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ. Adiós.