YOGA AND SCIENCE OF LIVING by G. R. Dongrey
I have evolved a daily routine for the yogic art of life and, when practiced, it will act not only as preventive but curative also for chronic and intractable diseases of body and mind. On waking up from sleep, slow gentle rhythmical and circular massage-strokes over the eye-balls, nostrils and cheeks with the inner surface of the palm; and the to-and-fro movement of the tip of the thumbs put in both the ears be given to stimulate the external part of the sense organs.
- Drink tumbler-full of cold water just before getting up.
- Massage over the abdomen on the line of colon starting from the right and ending to the left (slowly, gently, rhythmically). This massage will work on the three plexuses in the abdomen, viz. the solar, the hypogastric and the pelvic and would help assimilation, elimination and metabolism.
- After cleaning the teeth, push the three mid-fingers to the root of the tongue and massage the root of the tongue with the tips of the fingers, slowly, gently, rhythmically in 3 rounds.
- Pull the tongue by holding it in middle (slowly, gently, rhythmically thrice). It works through ganglia and on the pharyngeal plexus.
- Splash-water-bath all over the body – clean the organs and allow water current from the mug to run in a pouch from a distance of 5” only made by the junction of the skin of the lower abdomen and the ulnar bend of the palm, splash it up slowly and thus massage the portion from the pubis to the umbilicus and from the right to the left thus proceed from lower abdomen to the upper chest, shoulder, back, lower extremities and finally the upper extremities. These slow, gentle and rhythmical massage – strokes pass to the nervous system, relaxing and benefiting it to the restful alert condition and producing the awareness necessary for renovating the whole body.
The modern civilized world has taken pains to develop perfect science of the inert matter whereas she has neglected the living self of ours and this neglect expresses in the creation of greater percentage of neurotic and psychotic population; American figures are the clear proof of the neglect. Today America possesses the highest percentage of insanes, criminals, murderers, suiciders, etc. Probably due to the incapability of the adaptive functions of the integrated body as a whole in both of its gross and subtle aspects – the body and the mind.
At the same time we have studied how the yogic kriya strokes of slow, gentle and rhythmical nature on the nervous web spread all over the skin and sense organs, intestines, etc. in form of massage, dhauti, basti, naoli, kapalbhati and neti over the respiratory system have carried rhythmic vibrations to the central and autonomic nerves.
We have seen what science of Yoga is and how it acts. We can also study what the successful art of life is and how skillfully we can lead it to enjoy health, peace, happiness and contentment under the stimuli created by the modern civilization. For this purpose we shall have to compare how the human beings lived in the period before the dawn of the modern civilization. Today we find constant agitation, worry, noise, overcrowding are gaining ground; neurosis, psychosis, insanity and criminality are on the increase, whereas the then human being was on constant struggle only for existence.
Medicine is a very comprehensive science, and medicos are the persons who can shoulder the responsibility of spreading this knowledge of Yoga in a better way because they know the human anatomy, physiology, pathology, psychology and they can take the aid of pedagogists and socialists for the purpose and conduct their researches under the modern circumstances and carry on the work to start with. My personal experience in the line for the past 35 years show that the regular practice of half an hour or so is sufficient for earning all the benefits. I think this way we shall be able to check the present downhill degradation in the health of humanity and create a healthy, strong brave and creative race, which should be the aim and ideal of Yoga to meet the demand of the world of today.
Published in the February 2010 edition of Yoga & Total Health Magazine.
