PRACTICE OF YOGA AND DEVELOPMENT OF SPIRITUAL QUOTIENT

Religion and Yoga reflect identical meaning. Religion (re-ligare) means union again with Ultimate Reality or binding back to Absolute. Yoga is the derivative of Sanskrit root ‘yuj’ which means yoking of power of body, mind and soul. Yoga primarily consists of concentration, meditation and realization apart from practicing asans, mudras and breath control which help to achieve concentration and physical and emotional well-being. Yoga is experimental technique of spiritualism. Religion is blend of ritual and spiritual. Rituals dominate religion these days. Whereas rituals are altogether not necessary for practicing yoga.

Yoga in India has been practiced since the dawn of the human civilization, according to Hindu mythology millions of year back.

In Bhagavad-Gita Lord SriKrishna says to Arjuna:

“I taught this immortal Yoga to Vivasvan (sun-god), Vivasvan conveyed it to Manu(his son), and Manu imparted it to (his son) Iksvaku. Thus transmitted to succession from father to son, Arjuna, this Yoga remained known to the Rajarisis (royal sages). It has however long since disappeared from this earth. The same ancient Yoga has this day been imparted to you by Me, because you are My devotee and friend, and also because this is a supreme secret”.

At this Arjuna said: You are of recent origin while the birth of Vivasvan dates back to remote antiquity. How, then, I am to believe that you taught this Yoga at the beginning of creation? Lord SriKrishna said: Arjuna, you and I have passed through many births. I remember them all, you do not remember.

Famous historian Romila Thapar has described in her book A History of India about the status of Yoga in 300-700 A.D. She writes: “Yoga (Application) which was based on the control of the body physically and implied that a perfect control over the body and the senses led to knowledge of the ultimate reality. A detailed anatomical knowledge of the human body was necessary to the advancement of yoga and therefore those practising yoga had to keep in touch with medical knowledge.”
As far as anatomical knowledge of human body is concerned it is very much required for the optimum result during practice of Yoga. Yoga system has very close connection with the human anatomy i.e. chakra or nerve centres distributed along the spinal column and in brain region.

Besides, connection chakras with the practice of Yoga, chakra has also great role in the development of personality. People do not realise that personalities can grow to include a balance of all the six chakras. Jung referred to this growth process as "individuation", and associated it with life's spiritual dimension. Danah Zohar evolves a model of spiritual quotient (sq) based on the six petals of a lotus and its centre, corresponding to the seven chakras described by the Hinduism's Kundalini Yoga, as an aid to the process of individuation in the mid-1990s. Contribution of Danah Zohar for coining the term spiritual quotient for the first time is immense. But she did not establish any mathematical relationship, which is very much required, for this quotient.

Deepak Chopra has given a formula of spiritual quotient in terms of Deed (D) and Ego (E). According to Deepak Chopra S.Q. =D/E. He (2006) writes: If Vedanta is right and there is only one reality, then all desires must follow the same mechanics, desires arise and are fulfilled in consciousness. Making yourself happy involves ..... I have a " Spiritual Quotient" where SQ = D/E. Where D = Deeds and E = Ego. Now you can ONLY have an SQ = infinity when E = 0. If E is little even then SQ is approaching infinity (or one is close to be a "Great Master") but not actually "Pure .This appears to be very fascinating but it is highly abstract which cannot be measured experimentally, accurately and precisely. However, this formula has immense value to understand S.Q.

I have also discovered a mathematical relationship for S.Q about eight years back in 2001. I have used physiological parameters which can be measured accurately and precisely and can be tested and verified experimentally. According to this formula S.Q. can be expressed as the ratio of parasympathetic dominance (P.D.) to sympathetic dominance (S.D.). Parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) are the two parts of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) which is largely under hypothalamic control. Hypothalamus is situated very close to the Sixth Chakra. During practice of meditation at Sixth Chakra these centres are galvanized which has very positive effect on practitioners spiritual, emotional, psychological and physical well being.

According to this relationship spiritual quotient can be written as:

S.Q. = P.D./S.D.
If the value of S.Q. comes >1 (greater than one), it can be assumed that the person is moving towards self-realisation and if the value of S.Q. comes <1 (smaller than one) it can be predicted that the person is living under stress.

There are various types of meditation available, which are being practiced by sages, saints, seers and others. The difference in various versions lies in the fact that these practices involve concentration to meditate at different centres known as Chakra in Yoga System. These chakras are, in fact, energy centres which correspond to nerve centres distributed along the spinal column and in brain region.

Some practitioners start to meditate at Basic/Root Chakra (Muladhara) – situated at the base of spine, some at Heart Chakra (Anahata Chakra), some at Ajna Chakra – Optic Chiasma – Master Chakra and some from even higher centres situated in the brain region. Among all these types of meditation, practice at sixth chakra is considered to be the most ideal which brings about optimum results.

Sixth Chakra is situated very close to hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is a portion of brain that contains a number of small nuclei with a variety of functions. One of the most important functions of the hypothalamus is to link nervous system to the endocrine system via the pituitary glands.

Autonomic nervous system (ANS) is largely under hypothalamic control. ANS consists of parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS). PSNS is activated during meditative calm and during stress SNS is activated. When PSNS is activated, heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure decreased. Supply of blood in the digestive tract increased. When SNS is activated heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure increased. Supply of blood to the muscles and exterior organs increased and to the digestive tract decreased. In addition to these, there are many other parameters which can be compared. Parasympathetic Dominance (P.D.) is the state of PSNS activation and Sympathetic Dominance (S.D.) is the state of SNS activation. Instruments are available in medical science to measure these parameters.
Now we can assign numerical value to each parameter. Then put the value in the formula for S.Q. and see the result. We can show the calculation as mentioned below:

S.Q.= P.D./S.D. = Σ X / Σ Y
Where X=x1+x2+x3+ …….
And Y=y1+y2+y3+…….
During PSNS activation (P.D.), we assign ‘1’ to each parameter (x1+x2+x3+…..) and ‘0’ to each parameter (y1+y2+y3+…..). During SNS activation (S.D.), we assign ‘1’ to each parameter (y1+y2+y3+…) and ‘0’ to each parameter (x1+x2+x3+….).

By putting the numerical value, thus achieved, in the above formula for S.Q. we can calculate the Spiritual Quotient of an individual.

Practice of Yoga and Development of Spiritual Quotient has been posted by Anirudh Kumar Satsangi

Lee Konecke's Mindfulness Meditation class last Wednesday has been extremely helpful even after just one session. His simple and easy suggestions helped me to understand some of the common issues that had been popping up during my own previous efforts at meditation. This is not to say that after the class I was magically transformed and could meditate for hours. Rather, his explanations and tips have helped me to begin to understand the Mindfulness approach to meditation, which has helped me to continue to relax instead of becoming frustrated and judgmental when my mind starts to drift back to its inner dialogue. I have also found myself incorporating these same tips into my yoga practice, which has helped me in relaxing my mind during difficult and tiring poses rather than focusing on how hard they are! --Scott

Barbie Baylis: Steve Stone is an orthopedic acupuncturist. I didn't even know such a profession existed. He totally released my low back pain and psoas. I am a licensed massage therapist myself, and I practice myofascial release. I have never had a feeling in my hip like this before - I feel so free. In fact, I feel myself unwinding as I write this. I cannot more highly recommend Steve Stone to everyone I know. I already made an appointment for my mom to see him about her horrible knee condition. In any case, The Hub will host Steve Stone to lead a workshop at The Hub soon, hopefully he can focus on getting rid of back pain and the importance of the transverse abdominus. I'm just feeling so good right now. Wow.

I attended the performance of Savion Glover and two awesome tap dancers, Marshal Davis and Maurice Chestnut. As a group, the three dancers call themselves, and the show, Bare Soundz. They are sick, as in fantastically wonderful, unlike any other tap dancers I’ve seen before. They displayed ways of moving on their feet that just blew my mind. In yoga, often master teachers will refer to the “four corners” of the foot to help yogis find the foundation of their stances in various standing poses and inversions. They’ll say “Press down on the inside upper corner of your foot, through the ball of the foot and press down on the back outer heel.” But Savion and his two super star friends found about 50 sides to one foot. The inside front corner, the corner that’s about a millimeter next to that one, and on and on, ad infinitum. It helped me to realize how their bodies could find more room to move as they found more places around and under the feet to stand on, even for a millisecond. Never before could I appreciate that I can press on my standing foot in one place and kick my other foot up and stand in the air at the same time. I know it’s sounds crazy to read, but it was even more awe inspiring to watch. Yoga and Tap Dance – the next wave of workshops at your local studio!

Barbie's Mixed Level class on Tuesdays and Thursdays has been perfect for me as a beginner with no former yoga experience. The small class size really allows for a lot of personal attention. My first class was a little intimidating since I had never done yoga before, but Barbie made sure I was comfortable, and that my body was correctly aligned in each pose. She moves at a pace that is slow enough for me to keep up, but fast enough for the other more experienced students to get their workout. This really helped me to learn and also alleviated my worry that I was impeding the progress of the class. By the end I was feeling much more relaxed and in tune with my body. Thanks Barbie!