- Yoga is a useful tool in diagnosing many problems in clinical medicine .yoga has its own logistics in this medicine too trains us to look for certain signs in the patient
both on the surface and internally the investigations are corrected with the clinical diagnosis .nowadays bio-medical engineering has produced a vast array of diagnostic
tools that are used for accurate and fast investigations unfortunately we tend to rely more and more on them often unnecessarily and expensively our innate skills and
intelligence in diagnosis are being lost in the process it is important that a right balance is maintained for as an eminent doctor has put it “with all our varied
instruments useful as they are nothing can replace the watchful eye the alert ear ,the tactful finger and the logical mind.
- A study of the ancient texts of yoga and ayurveda gives a totally different approach to clinical problems .it would be excellent if a modern physician is trained in the
art of medicine and yoga by which the best of both can be offered to the patient .as stated before both yoga and medicine have excellent clinical techniques to diagnose
ailment the difference is in the subtlety of perception.
- In the darsanopanishad it is said that the body will be only 96 digits in height in the trishaki upanishad it is said that there is a vital body in the physical of no
more than 12digit length it is said that he is the knower of all in whom this vital body is in equilibrium .
- It is said that in the middle of the body is the seat of fire the nadi(meaning nerve blood evessels or a path ),situated in the middle is the susumna .around this are
72000 nadis and 14 of these are important (refer chapter on anatomy of nervous system ) around these flow 10vital airs .it is said that all these nerves have to be purified
for perfect health and asanas and pranayama have been prescribed for this purpose.
- The varahopanishad says that the body is made up of five elements what is hard is earthly what is fluid of water vital warmth is of fire motion is of air ether is the entire
body according to the texts the number of times a person breathes in a day is 21600 they elaborate that when the earth region wastes wrinkles appear with the watery region
wasting away hairs become grey with the wasting of the fiery element hunger and grace of form fade with wasting of air tremors appear with that of ether life ceases hence to
maintain a healthy life the elements should be attended to it is well known that there is a vital force in our body which science is unable to explain. The varahopanishad
ays that by the practice of yoga the vital airs are nourirshed then vital warmth increase. Consequently food is easily digested with healthy production of cycle by this the
humours of the body grow which increase knowledge.
- More of this is beginning to be explored and understood by modern science the ancients did not use any tools to discover what they preached except that of intuition .yet we
find that more and more of their concepts are tenable .the darsanopanishad says that he who has conquered posture is matter of the three worlds for us it will be useful if
we can interpret it in terms of conquest of mind body and spirit this means total health in medical terms.
- Before we understand health disease should be identified and eliminated yoga identifies diseases should be identified and eliminated yoga identifies diseases at the embryonic
stage several years before they are manifested and easy example is the orthopaedic disorder of low back pain medicine has no method to predict who will or will not suffer this
problem yoga analyses a person in terms of the ability to perform certain postures and predicts the probability of the person suffering from low back pain in the future it is
difficult to understand this further unless one has practised yoga for many years no doubts we medical professionals understand anatomy and physiology but there is much more
to be learnt the parameters that yoga fixes for a fertile breeding ground for ailment in the body are different from medicines.
- Another example is that of a person sitting in a chair with the spine doubled up and with the rib cage compressed medicine does understand that such persons will suffer
back pain as does yoga but yoga also states that because the heart and major blood vessels are compressed in such a posture healthy and pure blood cannot flow into the muscles
of the heart itself just as sitting in a chair for prolonged periods will reduce blood supply to the pressure points the inner organs also suffer the same fate if the posture
is incorrect says yoga sure enough all these can be proved by diagnostic tests.
- Many such examples can be given in my experience a blend of yoga and medicine is the best .western medicine and its investigational facilities help diagnosis treatment can
be either by yoga or medicine or both depending on the ailment, i have in the later chapters talked about the mechanism of asanas and a range of disease where in yoga finds application.
- In earlier years the world of medicine was sceptical about yoga it was viewed as an esoteric subject practised by a few, later with the advent of transcendental meditation in the west
yoga became popular as a stress relieving technique in the last few decades due to the pioneering efforts of shri B K S iyengar yoga has gained respectability as a therapy.
