YOGA & MsEDITATION

Lesson 12
ARDRA PADMASANA (The Half Lotus Pose)

Padmasana is an adharasana. This asana can be practiced

independently or as the base asana for other practices, for e.g.
Pranayama like Bhastrika, Anuloma-Viloma etc. or
asanas like Parvatasana, Yoga Mudra, and
Matsyasana etc. Persons with stiff knees or stiff
ankle joints should practice Ardha-Padmasana first
before starting full Padmasana.

Contra-Indication: People suffering from stiff

knees or stiff ankle joints should practice preparatory practices for few
days.
Benefits:
1) This asana steadies the mind and reduces its tendency to
wander.
2) The functioning of the digestive and excretory system is
improved.
3) Minor defects of the spine are corrected.
4) The nerves in the waist region and those of the spinal column
below waist as coccygeal and sacral nerves are invigorated.
5) The joints of the ankles and knees become flexible and the
functioning of the muscles thereabout is improved.
6) This asana is a meditative asana.
Pawana Muktasana (The Wind Free Pose)
In the 1st Term we have learnt Sitting
Pawanamuktasana and Ardha
Pawanamuktasana. This asana is
third and more advance type of
Pawanamuktasana. It is to be

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performed in supine position. The technique of the asana is similar to

that of Ardha Pawanamuktasana with the only difference in lifting both
the legs together. Persons with large belly and/or less flexibility may
not be able to hold the elbow of the opposite hand instead they may
hold the, knees with interlocked fingers.
Contra-Indication: If there is any kind of pain in the abdominal
region, or hydrocele or hernia then it is advisable not to practice this
asana.
Technique:
1) Lie on the back with the legs together, hands by the side of the
body, palms facing the floor.
2) By contracting the abdominal muscles & with their help raise
both the legs together about 20 to 30 cms, fold them bring them
near the chest. Encircle with the hands.
3) Slowly raise the head, try to touch chin to the knees
4) Close your eyes, maintain the posture for 3-5 breathing cycles
5) While releasing keep head on the ground first, then release
hands straighten the legs in the air first and slowly keep them on
the ground.
Benefits:
1) Practice of this Asana over a period of time relieves gastric
troubles.
2) Energizes the digestive and excretory systems and makes them
more efficient.
3) Acts as a deterrent against the growth of fatty tissues on the
abdominal wall. Thus keeps the waistline in proper shape.
4) Helps to over come the problems due to blood accumulation in
the abdominal region.
5) The muscles and ligaments in the area surrounding knees are
kept in good health.
6) The health of the cervical vertebrae improves.

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SULABH DRONASANA (Easy Bowl Pose)

Functional aspects of the asana are
just the same as Ardha Dronasana.
The only difference is, this time
both legs are lifted together
keeping the knees straight. Both
the forearms remain on the floor.
Contra-Indication: If there is any swelling in the abdomen,
appendicitis or sharp abdominal pain or any serious problem with
spinal column.
Technique:
1. Take legs together in supine position.
2. Simultaneously lift both the legs and head.
3. Keep elbows to palms on the ground
4. Don't lift legs above your forehead. Fix your gaze on the big toes.
Maintain the posture for 3 – 5 breathing cycles.
5. While releasing bring head and legs on the ground slowly and relax.
Benefits:
1) The abdominal muscles, especially the recti are strengthened.
2) The spinal column becomes flexible.
3) Accumulated fats on the stomach get reduced.
4) Prevents diabetes, because of improvement in function of
abdominal organs.
5) Functioning of thyroid and parathyroid glands is improved.

UTTANA TADASANA (The supine palm tree pose)

In certain asana, the spinal column is stretched and maintained in that
state for sometime.

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Tadasana is one such asana. It provides mild self-traction to the spinal

column.

Contra-Indication: Acute trouble in the spinal column or shoulder

pain, stiffness or pain in elbow joints.
Technique:
1. Lie on the back. Bring both the legs together.
2. Take the hands up, bring them above the head. Let hands touch
the ground.
3. Now start stretching the legs and hands in opposite directions away
from the body. Maintain the posture for 3-5 breathing cycles.
4. Come back to the starting position and relax.
Benefits:
1) By practicing one or two rounds of this asana, one gets rid of
heaviness or lethargy and feel fresh and energetic.
2) It improves the functioning of the veins of the legs.
3) Due to the stretch to the spinal column, the health of the discs in
between the vertebrae improves.
4) Daily practice of this asana helps increase one's height. (14 to 18
yrs)

AWARENESS
There are three distinct and separate ways to measure your age:
Chronological age: how old you are normally referred by the
calendar and everyone is aware of.
Biological age: how old your body is in terms of critical life signs and
cellular processes.

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Psychological age: how old you feel you are.

Chronological age is very easy to fix, yet it is the most unreliable of the
three types.
One 50 yrs old may nearly healthy as he was at 25,while another 50
yrs old may have the body of a 70 year old.
Biological age is more reliable because it tells us how time has affected
your organs and tissues compared to other people of your
chronological age.
Psychological age is more flexible and completely personal, because no
two people have exactly the same experiences in the life span.
Psychological factors affect positively or negatively on the biological
age.
What is Awareness?
Awareness is a tool in the hands of human beings, which control
psychological factors and indirectly arrests biological aging process.
All we know about awareness is about our own external body. Even,
many a times, we are not aware of most of the inner organs of our
physical body. According to the old paradigm, it was assumed that a
person's awareness does not play a role in explaining what is
happening in his body. The latest studies done in the western countries
have proved that emotions are not fleeting events isolated in mental
space they are expressions of awareness. It is further proved that
biochemistry of the body is a product of awareness of "inner" activities
in human beings.
A man's cells are constantly processing experience and metabolizing it
accordingly to his personal views.
Our bodies are made of experiences transformed into physical
expression. Our cells are instilled with memories. Every cell in our body
is totally aware of how we think and feel about ourselves. During
physical disorders certain physical changes do take place in our body,
which are caused by deviation of awareness. By becoming aware of

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how the slippage occurred, we can bring our body's biochemistry back
into line.
The Old And New Paradigm
The old paradigm assigns the control of life to DNA an enormously
complex molecule that revealed less than I % of its secrets to genetics.
The new paradigm assigns the control of life to AWARENESS. It is
proved and studied by various experiments that the most bodily
processes respond to our state of mind. The billons of changes
occurring in our cells are only the passing scenery of life; behind their
mask is seer, who represents the source of the flow of awareness.
Everything we can possibly experience begins and ends with
awareness; every thought or emotion that captures our attention is a
tiny fragment of awareness; all the goals and expectations we set for
ourselves are organized in awareness. What the ancient sages termed
the Self can be defined in modem psychological terms as a continuum
of awareness, and the state known as unity consciousness is the state
where awareness is complete-the person knows the whole continuum
of himself without mask, illusion, gaps, and broken fragments.
Necessity to Train Awareness
We normally do not maintain continuity of our awareness and leave
gaps in it. We are made victims of sickness, aging and death by the
gaps in our self-knowledge. These gaps lose our awareness, which in
turn lose intelligence, and it loses control over the end product of
intelligence i.e. human body. If you want to change your body, in more
positive direction, change your awareness in the same direction. In a
famous series of experiment conducted at Menninger Clinic in 1970, a
noted spiritual master from India, Swami Rama, demonstrated the
ability to raise his heartbeats at will from 70 to 300,a rate far beyond
the normal human range. His heartbeat became a flutter that no longer
pumped blood. The Swami was not affected by cardiac event. Because
it was under the direct control of his awareness. These experiments
showed the world how the continuous, flowing awareness, without any

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fragments or gaps, can be utilized to take advantage of the collective

intelligence of the cells. In order to perform such uncanny feats, one
has to train his awareness in the desired direction.
Why Depression Occurs?
In the mid of 20th Century (during the period of world war II) a study
was conducted at Harvard University by psychologist George Vaillant
on 185 young men. He monitored their health for 40 years. He found
that being depressed often leads to premature aging, chronic illness
and early death. He was the first to establish that at the root of
depression is a kind of emotional numbness. Positive emotions are
blocked by unhappy memories. Trained awareness clears such
unwanted blocks in the mind. The awareness has a field effect. The
mind-body system reacts to every single stimulus, as a global event i.e.
to stimulate one cell is to stimulate all cells. e.g. a tickle at on one
place induces laughter at some other place. It is commonly observed
that any physical culture done with full awareness leads to teaching
the brain, muscles, bones, lungs, heart, endocrine glands and the
entire immune system to become stronger. The same culture done
without awareness brings passivity and does not add strength to
anything. The training of awareness involves matching of conscious
awareness with unconscious awareness, switching of awareness from
involuntary to voluntary breathing, blinking, balancing etc.
Positive Effects Of Trained Awareness
The faculties of our mind and body age out because we, unknowingly,
withdraw our awareness from them. By regularly training awareness
you can consciously direct the flow of energy and information in your
body and bring about the following results-
1) Your body tells you what it needs and when it needs.
2) Simply by localizing your awareness on a source of pain, you can
cause healing to begin.
3) You can activate desires and intentions to fulfill them more
effectively.

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Focused intention backed by conscious awareness brings about

miraculous positive results in our mind-body system.
Quality Awareness Creates Good Ground for Meditation.
{Adopted from "Ageless Body and Timeless Mind "by Dr. Deepak
Chopra}

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