True essence of Yoga

Kathmandu

Bollywood actress Rekha, whose eternal beauty is praised by the world, had once been criticised for being ugly. But she transformed from an ugly duckling into a swan. Was it plastic surgery? It wasn’t, yet Rekha managed to look beautiful. How? The answer is yoga.

Another Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has always looked beautiful and glamorous. She does yoga every day and has even produced exercise videos on yoga. Other Bollywood actresses who practice yoga regularly are Twinkle Khanna, Lara Dutta and Malaika Arora, among others.

Osho disciple Bodhisattva Swami Aananda Arun believes that yoga was initially designed to calm human minds. In the recent decades, the popularity of yoga has soared across the globe. According to Arun, the business of yoga is at around $80 billion and spreading widely. Seeing the popularity of yoga, on December 11, 2014, the United Nations endorsed the proposal to celebrate June 21 as International Yoga Day.

Origin of Yoga

It is said every coin has two sides. Though yoga has so many benefits, “if yoga postures are not followed correctly, it will bring side effects and hamper our body,” warned Parajuli.

He dismissed the argument that practising yoga could be disadvantageous or cause any side effects though. But people with certain problems like high blood pressure, neuron problems and diabetes may face problems if they attempt to do yoga like normal people. So, they should be careful while doing yoga.

“Kapalbhati Pranayama is very effective in weight loss,” revealed Parajuli. “In this method, one sits on the floor in padmasana and exhales and inhales deeply. It improves the function of lungs and respiratory system.”

But if you are a patient of high blood pressure, then the exhaling and inhaling should be done slowly (three exhalations per five seconds) as doing it fast can have health impacts, as per Parajuli.

“There is no such disadvantage in practising yoga, but if you do not following the instructions strictly, then it may affect you negatively,” he said.

Laxmi Maharjan, 49, from Naya Bazar practised yoga for some time three years ago. She had to wake up early in the morning, which she couldn’t and missed many classes. Thus, she did not continue her classes. “I didn’t get any benefit from joining yoga classes because I was not regular. But those doing it regularly are benefitting. So, I don’t think it has any disadvantage.”

Yoga is pure science where everyone — healthy or unhealthy — can benefit by doing it regularly but one has to practise correct postures.