Yogi Vemana
Vemana was a Telugu poet. He composed numerous poems in Telugu in Aata Veladhi metre which consists of four lines; the fourth line, with some exceptions, is the refrain or chorus Viswadabhirama Vinura Vema. Vemana's style is simple, his poems deal with social problems and sometimes propose solutions too. With the zeal of a social reformer, many of his poems criticise and strive to give fresh perspective to ardent followers of old, embedded traditions. Vemana is often portrayed in the nude. Biography
Though Vemana Satakam (literally 'collection of 100 poems' though he actually wrote a couple of thousands) is very famous in Telugu literature, relatively very less is known about the actual poet.
Vemana was a from 'capu' (Kaapu) family and native of Cuddapah district and believed to have lived in Gandikota area of the district. He was born at Veeranna Gattu Palli which is located next to Gandi Kshetram , a pilgrim centre, where Lord Anjaneya temple is located.
Vemana is said to be Achala yogi and an alchemist. His alchemy is more spiritual.
Scholars do not unanimously agree about the period in which he lived. C.P.Brown, who did extensive work on Vemana in his preface to the English translation Verses of Vemana, states that the date of birth from his 707th verse is Vemana's date of birth. But it is not clear. This cyclical date of Hindu calendar coincides with 1412 or 1472. Brown also wrote that the verses of Vemana were 400 years older in his preface of the book 'Vemana padyalu'.
He propagated Achala Yoga. Achala Yoga transcends the Vedas, the Upanishads and all the religious systems of the world, because of the till now no one described Vemana's philosophy comprehensively. His ultimate aim is to find the Achala which is not anything and which beyond of all. And the Achala is 26th. Advaitins and other religious exponents say, "25th is eternal, i.e Jnana is the Brahman". But according to Vemana, Achala is beyond of this Brahman too. It is beyond of iha and para.
The Andhra Pradesh Government established an University in Kadapa on his name Yogi Vemana University. Literature and Style
Many lines of Vemana's poems are now colloquial phrases of the Telugu language. They end with the signature line Viswadhaabhi Raama, Vinura Vema, literally Beloved of Vishwadha, listen Vema. There are many interpretations of what the last line signifies.
Vemana's poems were collected and published by C.P.Brown in the 19th century.[1] His poems are of many kinds, social, moral, satirical and mystic nature. All of them are in Ataveladi (dancing lady) meter.
Sample poetry
Uppu Kappurambu nokka polika nundu
Chooda chooda ruchulu jaada veru
Purushulandu Punya purushulu veraya
Viswadhaabhiraama, Vinura Vema
Salt and camphor look alike
With familiarity, the paths of their taste is different
Among men, virtuous people stand apart
Beloved of the Bounteous, Vema, listen!
Gangi govu paalu garitadainanu chaalu
Kadivedainanemi kharamu paalu
Bhakti kalugu koodu pattedainanu chaalu
Viswadhaabhiraama, Vinura Vema
A ladleful of a Sacred cow's milk is enough
Of what worth is even a potful of donkey's milk
Even a little food given with respect is sumptuous
Beloved of the Bounteous, Vema, listen!
Atmasuddhi leni acharamadi ela
Bhandasuddhi leni pakamadi ela
Chittasuddi leni sivpujalelara
Viswadhaabhiraama, Vinura Vema
What is the purpose of custom sans inner purity?
What is the purpose of cooking sans cleanliness of vessels?
What is the purpose of worship of Shiva sans purity of mind?
Beloved of the Bounteous, Vema, listen!
Alpudeppudu palku adamburamu ganu
Sajjanundu palku challaganu
Kanchu moginatlu kanakammu mroguna
Viswadhaabhiraama, Vinura Vema
A mean(low) person always speaks pompously
A good person speaks softly
Does gold reverberate the way brass does?
Beloved of the Bounteous, Vema, listen!
Anagananaga raga matisayilluchunundu
thinaga thinaga vemu tiyyanundu
sadhanamuna panulu samakuru dharalona
Viswadhaabhiraama, Vinura Vema
As you sing (more), the melody (raga) excels
Eating Neem as a practice, bitterness becomes sweeter to the taste
With practice, things become perfect
Beloved of the Bounteous, Vema, listen!
Anuvu gani chota Nadhikulamanaradu
Kochmayina nadiyu kodava gadu
konda addamandu knochami undada
Viswadhaabhiraama, Vinura Vema
Translation: When it is not your place or time, do not try to dominate. Hill looks like small in a mirror, but its much bigger.
Apadiana velanarasi bandhula judu
bhayamuvela judu bantu tanamu
Pedavela judu pendlamu gunamu
Viswadhaabhuraama, Vinura Vema
In times of distress, observe the attitude of relatives
In times of fear, observe the behaviour of the army
In times of poverty, observe the nature of the wife
Beloved of the Bounteous, Vema, listen!
Chippalonabadda chinuku mutyambayye
nitabadda chinuku nita galise
Brapti galugu chota phalamela tappura
Viswadhaabhiraama, Vinura Vema
The rain drop that fell in the shell became a pearl
The one that fell in water merged with water
If something is yours, you sure get it.
Beloved of the Bounteous, Vema, listen!
Veshabhashalerigi Kashayavastramul
gattagane mukti galugabodhu
talalu bodulina talapulu bodula
Viswadhaabhiraama, Vinrua Vema
Knowing external behaviour and language, wearing saffron (renunciate) clothes
That does not lead to mukti (liberation)
Shaving of head (of a renunciate, widow etc) does not shave (unwanted) thoughts
Beloved of the Bounteous, Vema, listen!
Cheppulona rayi chevilona joriga
kantilona nalusu kali mullu
intilona poru nintinta gadaya
Viswadhaabhiraama, Vinura Vema
A stone in shoe, a fly near ear
Pollen in eye, a thorn in foot
A quarrel in the house, are unbearable(painful)
Beloved of the Bounteous, Vema, listen!
Tappulennuvaru Tandopatandambu
Lurvi janulakella nundu tappu
Tappu lennuvaru tamatappu lerugaru
Viswadhaabhiraama, Vinura Vema
There are many that find faults (with others)
Every one in the world has faults
The people who count faults do not know their own faults
Beloved of the Bounteous, Vema, listen!
Inumu virigeneni inumaaru mummaaru
kaani yatakavachu kramamu gaanu
manasu virigeneni mari chercharaadaya
Viswadaabhiraama, Vinura Vema
Iron, if broken, can be joined together, twice or thrice
but heart once broken can never be put together again
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
HEALING MASTER
HEALING
Myrtle Fillmore
Myrtle Fillmore’s Healing Letters
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THE FOLLOWING EXTRACTS FROM HER LETTERS INTRODUCE MYRTLE
PAGE FILLMORE TO YOU AS SHE KNEW HERSELF AND AS NO ONE ELSE
COULD.
You see, dear, we just feel rather modest—really we haven’t much to say, as to
when the work was started, and how it was done! We just received from the
Father some ideas that proved wonderfully helpful in our own family; then we
shared them with others, and they too were helped. Since those of like faith are
drawn together, we soon found ourselves in a little society, which was formed
for the study of Truth and the practice of its ideas. We grew. After a time it
seemed that the other folks went their various ways, and only we were left to
continue what we felt to be important enough to develop and to devote
ourselves to. Unity School unfolded and continued to grow.
We have never cared to interest folks in our own lives. It makes no difference to
others what we have done, who we are. What is important is that we are doing
what the Father has given us to do, according to our best light. And if we have
something that others want or that will help them—spiritual ideas and their
radiance—we are glad to share it. If others wish to receive, all right; if not,
because of what they may
//page 2
term our personal limitations, that is all right too. We are not trying to interest
folks in the School, but in the ideas of the Christ Mind, which we feel to be the
foundation of the work, and our standard of life.
But, dear, I feel you are crowning me with an honor that belongs to the Holy
Spirit—which is omnipresent, and which expresses in the loving desires of the
hearts of all those who are endeavoring to manifest the Mother side of God! You
call me the mother of Unity! Well, now, I know of nothing that would give me
greater joy than to feel that God could work so perfectly through me as to bring
forth a great ministry and a place of peace and goodwill and health such as this
[Unity School] is. But in reality, I feel that I am only the soul who caught the first
vision of this ministry, and who nurtured that vision until others came along to
help in the establishment of it in the minds and hearts of our dear ones, and to
help in the molding in substance the outer forms of this school and its work.
It is my great joy to perceive somewhat of the mother side of God—the divine
love that never fails and that is equal to the drawing of souls to itself. It is my
prayer to be able to radiate the qualities of this divine love to all.
You too are the mother of Unity, because in your heart you have the same ideals,
and the same great generous spirit, and the endless and tireless service, and the
love that never fails! The mother
//page 3
of Unity is the universal mother. How happy we are, to represent this mother!
You may never have suspected it, but the Unity work is a dream that has been
nurtured and built from the invisible to the concrete through love, devotion, and
good, hard work. It may never have occurred to you that my husband and I have
put ourselves into this thing which God has given us to do without personal
returns beyond our “daily bread” and clothing. I work here every day, and
receive a salary, just as several hundred other workers do. I think a very capable
businessman or woman would not consider working for this salary. But it meets
my personal needs; and usually I have a little each week with which to do what
my heart prompts.
We are helping all who come our way to unite with us in the study of the Truth
that enables each one to bring forth sufficient supply for daily needs, and to
make good use of all the riches of God here in the earth as well as in the heavens
of mind.
I am glad to offer you the testimony that we have proved that God can and will
prosper the work that the Holy Spirit prompts. As the needs of other branches of
our work have arisen, we have let them be known, and the supply and the
necessary help have come forth. But we have always had to launch out on faith
without
//page 4
visible evidence of the ultimate success. We know that God is in His work, and
that it is the Spirit of God operative in a given service that provides whatever is
required in doing that work.
I was once an emaciated little woman, upon whom relatives and doctors had
placed the stamp “T.B.” [tuberculosis]. And this was only one of the ailments—
there were others considered beyond help, except possibly the changing of
structures through an operation. There were family problems too. We were a
sickly lot, and came to the place where we were unable to provide for our
children. In the midst of all this gloom, we kept looking for the way out, which
we felt sure would be revealed. It was! The light of God revealed to us—the
thought came to me first—that life was of God, that we were inseparably one
with the Source, and that we inherited from the divine and perfect Father. What
that revelation did to me at first was not apparent to the senses. But it held my
mind above negation, and I began to claim my birthright and to act as though I
believed myself the child of God, filled with His life. I gained. Others saw that
there was something new in me. They asked me to share it. I did. Others were
healed, and began to study. My husband continued his business, and at first took
little interest in what I was doing. But after a time he became absorbed in the
study of Truth too. We consecrated ourselves to the Lord, and kept doing daily
that which we felt led to
//page 5
do. We began to prosper, a little at a time, and our health continued to improve.
Life became sweeter and more interesting, and we began to see a new world. In
all these years, our interest has not lagged, and we have continued to enjoy the
unfoldment of God’s plan in our lives.
I’m going to tell you a secret: I don’t get to keep house as much as I should like.
I’m not supposed to have time for it—folks demand so much of my time. So I
have a woman to keep house for us. But do you know, I like to carry the dishes
away from the table at the close of the meal; and make a nice hot suds and wash
the dishes, wipe them, and put them away in nice rows in the china closet! So if
sometimes you find yourself doing work that isn’t supposed to be desirable,
remember that there are other good folks doing the same sort of work, and that
still others would like to be doing it, even though circumstances have placed
them at something else. Whatever you undertake, do it the very best you can.
Folks will note your good work, and soon you will be given more important
positions. Show the Father that you are ready to do your best, and He will keep
increasing your ability and will place you where you will be blessed and where
your work will bless others.
I often think that we are all in too much of a rush,
//page 6
trying to do too much, and failing to discern and do the things that would mean
most. So much that we think and do, surely, would not be done by one in the
Jesus Christ consciousness. So much that we think we need would not be desired
by one conscious of the spiritual resources.
Indeed, I have felt in a strange land and longing for familiar landmarks! When I
feel such a hungering, I try to draw very close to God and rest in the assurance
that all is well. I know that God would not have me struggle with unknown
things, or talk of that which I have not proved. I realize that that which God
would have me do God inspires in me, that it is very easy to do God’s will, and
that when I thus conduct myself, a great peace and friendliness comes and
abides.
We must have quiet and opportunity for inward searching, for we must go
beyond what we have heretofore attained. There is nothing in hearsay or in
observation or in the evidence of the senses, apart from spiritual discernment,
that can take us beyond our present footing.
Know this, dear, that I know I must be beautiful within, and in my fellowship
with others, and in my sharing with them the good things of life if I am to
become beautiful without. Anything that makes me have the feeling of
selfishness cannot result in more beauty to me. Anything that awakens in me the
loving desire to have others happy and adorned with beautiful
//page 7
things, and anything that helps me to express this loving desire in my living is
sure to bring forth its fruit in my life. Now, I am sure that you understand, and
approve my passing on to another the use of the beautiful gift that you with so
much love sent to me. You did mean for me to use it in the way it would give me
most joy, didn’t you?
I was very religiously trained and suffered a lot from the theology taught of a
God who in truth is loving. But I am rejoicing in the doctrine of our wise and
loving heavenly Father who chooses that none shall perish but that all shall have
eternal life.
One more word: I think you are trying to give me too much credit for your poise,
happiness, and success! Of course I am happy to have been privileged to write to
you and pray with you and rejoice with you over demonstrations. But I know
that it is God in the midst of you doing His perfect work who is responsible for
the good.
You ask what restored me to vigorous health. It was a change of mind from the
old, carnal mind that believes in sickness to the Christ Mind of life and
permanent health. “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rom. 12:2).
“As he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7 A.V.).
I applied spiritual laws effectively, blessing my body temple until it manifested
//page 8
the innate health of Spirit. These wonderful laws will work for you too when you
apply them diligently and in faith.
I smiled as I read about the state of your finances. I’ll tell you a little about mine!
I am on salary, just as other Unity folks are. Sometimes I have a very definite
place for all my allowance, before I even begin on my individual needs.
Sometimes I am obliged to draw upon the Fillmore account in order to do
something I feel to be important. Usually when I find myself “strapped,”
someone who doesn’t know the facts will send me a love gift. Last week I
handed out about all I could get my hands on and was looking for more, because
I had places for it. This morning a letter came from a woman to whom I have
written a few times, but whom I haven’t seen, in which there was a check for me
for two hundred dollars. There was no apparent reason for her sending it;
evidently she and the Lord were aware of my use of money and replenished my
purse in that happy way. The money I had sent forth came back multiplied; I can
replace the amount I drew out and still have plenty of “pin money.”
I confess that I haven’t always looked at people and their work, and their abilities
as I now do. There was a time when I felt I must go back to old ways to earn
money to meet pressing needs. But my faith and the
//page 9
faith of those who could see a little further than I helped to hold me steadfast. I
reasoned that my past experiences had not been satisfying, that I could at least
turn my mind to new ideas and give them a thorough trial. I determined to use
my ability in the manner that seemed to meet the needs of persons who came my
way. I had little proofs that I was using a law and that there was substance and
life backing me and coming forth at my command.
While it may be that this work in which we are engaged is something that we
began in another life—and it doubtless is a science that the universal Christ Mind
is pouring forth through us—we do know that the same mind and the same law
is in all and operative for all. We know that faith and understanding and the
determination to live according to the Creator’s plan will bring forth whatever is
needed, and will do this for everyone who puts his or her trust fully in the
Father.
From our experience we find it wise not to talk too much about what we are
discovering and using—except to those who come to us for it. We know that it is
not wise or profitable to call attention to differences, not even in an effort to
explain our point. If we were to go into other churches or classes, we should
endeavor to avoid points of difference or apparent contradictions. We should
look for all points on which to agree, and praise the other’s faith and good works.
We
//page 10
should talk on subjects that intuition made us to know others were interested in.
We should not stamp our faith “Unity” or stress points of doctrine. We should
keep to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, as the source of our light and the application
of His teaching as the way of life. We should give God the glory for any and all
good in our lives, and emphasize the Truth that it is God’s working in and
through us that does the transforming. We should not, however, be disturbed
about the prejudice of those who feel that they must shut out the undesirable.
When we began our study and work, we might have had only a handful of
friends—if we had thought to look about us and count them. We no doubt
would have met with objections from churches if we had given them
opportunity to object. But now—well, we just haven’t the time to meet and enjoy
all the thousands of good friends, hundreds of whom are ministers, who find our
work safe and our literature food for thought. You will find that if you love folks
and live happily among them, they will love you. If you do not try to change
them or give them what they have no knowledge of wanting, they will not show
resistance or resentment. If you do not in your attitude or inference show
disapproval of their beliefs or ways, they will tear down their walls of opposition
and indifference and after a while show interest in what you have.
No one wants to feel that what he has and has been depending on is false and
unreliable; but all want to add to the treasures they now have, and all will in
time
//page 11
drop the worthless pebbles for the precious gems, when they have awakened to
the difference. Rather than feel that you must “stand up for Truth if it is
ridiculed,” let the Truth in you stand for itself. How can a thing be ridiculed,
really? If one who knows the Truth and takes no account of evil keeps poised
and loving, that is proof enough. One who speaks an untruth or is mistaken in
his judgments has the Christ Mind within him to correct him. You do not need to
do this. Leave it with Him. And why compare Unity with other teachings? This
is not the Unity way. Unless some earnest soul comes to you for an explanation
or light on some point, it is better to let others form their own conclusions.
Adverse states of mind are built through some sort of contradiction or lack of
understanding—and of course they can but contradict that which would set
them at naught. Those who don’t know Jesus, the Son of God manifest in the
individual, will perhaps contradict the principles embodied. But what of this?
The day will come when all adverse states of mind will give way to the light of
Truth. If you have the poise to keep still when unbelief is talking, the day will
come when you will be intrusted by the Father with speaking or doing that
which will reveal Jesus Christ indwelling. Pray for understanding for yourself.
Get all your faculties and powers awake and working in perfect harmony with
the Christ pattern. You will be busy enough without bothering about what others
are doing.
//page 12
I smile as I think of your wanting to sit at my feet, when you are in touch with
the fount of all wisdom and understanding power and life and love and
substance! Your indwelling Christ is beginning to find you receptive, and you
will grow by leaps and bounds. Never again be sad or give way to thoughts of
what might have been! God is eternal, unchanging good, and you have access to
all that God is and has. There’s a Bible promise that will help you to know that
what may seem lost is not so in reality, and that the opportunities and blessings
that seem gone will return just as fast as you are ready for them. “I will restore to
you the years which the swarming locust has eaten,” saith Jehovah (Job 2:25). All
that has been destroyed, neglected, or lost through lack of understanding or
foolishness or false pride or ambition can and will be brought forth as present
good just as rapidly as you grow in consciousness; for God is ever giving just
what we expect!
//page 13
Jesus Christ
Unity teachings are based on the Jesus Christ teachings, and we advise all people
to hold firmly and steadfastly to the principles taught and demonstrated by this
first Christian metaphysician. We have found in Christianity rightly interpreted
more Truth than in any of the other religions we have delved into; consequently
we advocate it.
We have found Jesus to be the great Teacher, accessible to all who have faith in
and understand the spiritual principles that He sets forth. Jesus as a superman is
here in our midst and we can receive instruction direct from Him if we ask, and
agree to carry out in our lives what He teaches. If we want all that is contained in
Christianity, Mohammedanism, and every other religion or religious cult that
came out of Christianity, we should ask Jesus and He will show us the Truth just
as fast as we develop our spiritual nature to the point where He can import it to
us. Jesus cannot reach minds that are immersed in materialism. By those
immersed in materialism we mean not only those who deal with the most
material elements in the world but also those who have materialized
Christianity.
To insure success and to inspire faith and confidence in ourselves and our
undertaking, we should always have Christ as the source of our inspiration and
prosperity.
//page 14
Our success and satisfaction in business, in home, in our social lives is always
greater when we take Christ Jesus as our partner. It is, “Christ in you, the hope of
glory” (Col. 1:27). Why not follow in the footsteps of One who has demonstrated
and proved every step of the way?
God’s love for us, for all His children, is so great that He sent Jesus Christ to be
the Way-Shower to lead us to a greater realization of our heavenly Father’s love
and will for us. Jesus Christ is not merely a divine man who lived many centuries
ago and whose life and works are to be considered past history. He is alive
today. He is with us now. His words, “Lo, I am with you always” (Mt. 28:20), are
His living promise to each of us. The Christ presence within our own souls is the
Great Physician who has wisdom and power to heal and to adjust in divine order
every function of our body temples. Turning within to Him, we receive that
guidance, that assurance, that healing for which our souls long, the prospering
and success for which we not only long but need to express as sons and
daughters of the Most High, heir to all that the Father has. Instead of thinking of
the Lord as the personal Jesus Christ who is away at some distant place called
heaven, we must think of the Lord as our own God-given Christ Mind, and of
Jesus Christ as ever with us in the spiritual consciousness that He has established
and that He has merged with the race mind in order that we
//page 15
may be in touch with Him and lay hold of Him and build our lives according to
His pattern.
There’s a distinction between Jesus Christ, the man, and the perfect-man idea
that God has created and implanted in each of us, His children. The Christ Mind
is the crystal-clear mind that is not blurred by the “becoming” things of which
the senses tell us, nor by the reports of the intellect which are records of people’s
experiments day by day. The Christ Mind gives us an idea in its entirety and
then we work it out in our own consciousness and body and affairs.
For example, the Christ idea of love is given us, God love. Love unifies us with
God, our Source, and we know that we are good and true and fearless from
within, because we let these God qualities well up from the center of our being.
Love alone would not enable us to keep our balance; it would draw us here and
there without regard to what we accomplished. Here is where we begin to see
the difference between the man Jesus Christ as we know Him, and the people
who have fallen short of what we term goodness and real power. Jesus exercised
all the God qualities we have yet been able to discern in a masterly way. God
love was expressed by Him; but it was supplemented and balanced by God
wisdom, power, judgment, will, zeal, life, renunciation, strength, order,
imagination, and faith. Love drew Him to people; but good judgment held Him
to a course of action that resulted in success more far-reaching than any of us
have yet realized.
//page 16
Jesus is the individual who made the complete union of mind, soul, and body in
Spirit. He brought forth into expression the Christ, the God-Mind within, and
consciously identified Himself with the Father. God is not a person; “God is
Spirit.”
Jesus Christ has merged His wonderful consciousness with the race
consciousness, that we may turn to Him and receive into our minds the
understanding of life and the activities of mind that result in freedom from the
limitations of race beliefs and intellectual reasonings. We can quicken our own
Christ Mind by dwelling upon the Truth that we are one with Jesus Christ and
one with God, through the understanding that Jesus the Christ helps us to
unfold.
//page 17
Prayer
It is not enough to pray. Prayer is one step that you take, but you need other
steps. You need to think of God, the all-powerful Healer, as being already within
you, in every part of your mind, heart, and body. To keep one’s attention and
prayers in the spiritual realm of mind, without letting them work out into the
soul’s expression and into the actual physical doing of that which corresponds
with what the mind and heart has thought and spoken and prayed, is to court
trouble. To keep declaring love and power and life and substance, and yet
unconsciously, perhaps, assuming limitations and living them, will cause
explosions and congestion that work out in the physical. We need to harmonize
our thinking and our prayers with actual living experiences.
Sometimes we pray to a God outside of ourselves. It is the God in the midst of us
that frees and heals.
With our eye of faith we must see God in our flesh, see that wholeness for which
we are praying in every part of the body temple. “Do you not know that your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you. . . . Glorify God in your body” (1
Cor. 6:19, 20).
Prayers aren’t sent out at all! Sometimes that is our
//page 18
trouble. Where would we send our prayers? We should direct them to our minds
and hearts and affairs. We commune with God-Mind within our own
consciousness. Prayer is an exercise to change our thought habits and our living
habits, that we may set up a new and better activity, in accord with the divine
law rather than with the suggestions we have received from various sources.
We sometimes think that we pray when we read and declare statements of Truth.
We have very little idea of the way in which the answers to those prayers are
coming. And we do not prove that we expect them to be answered. Almost
immediately after praying we go on doing the things we have been doing, which
does not allow answers. And we think and say that which is not in accord with
the prayers we have made. For example, we go into the silence and declare
statements of prosperity. Then in writing a letter we speak of lack and failure
and longing which proves that we have those thoughts and feelings of lack in
our hearts and that we are dwelling on them more strongly than we are on the
Truth that we have prayed.
Prayer, then, is to change our minds and hearts so that God’s omnipresent good
may fill our minds and hearts and manifest in our lives. If we do not keep on
thinking in accord with the prayers we have made, we do not get good results.
For all thought is formative; all thought has its effect in our lives. When some of
//page 19
our thought energy is expended in negative beliefs and feelings, and we show
that we have old mental habits in the subconscious mind, we get those old
negative results—even when we are praying daily and when others are praying
for us.
We have a very decided part; we are to cease worrying, and being anxious, and
thinking and speaking of the past and of the apparent lack and idleness. We are
to concentrate all our attention upon the Truth of God, and the truth of our own
being, upon the very things we would see taking place in our lives. We cannot do
this so long as we have negative thoughts in our hearts.
As we pray, the word of life is going into us, breaking up old fixed beliefs and
reorganizing our lives. The word of life—life as God has planned it—is taking
hold of our subconsciousness, and we know that we are free and will begin to
use our freedom. Working in the consciousness of freedom, we will be happy
and well and busy and prosperous. But our attention will be upon what we are
doing rather than upon outer results. The results will take care of themselves
once we have started our foundation in Truth.
“With God all things are possible” (Mt. 19:26). Those who receive spiritual help
are the ones who place their undivided faith in God and who bring their thinking
in line with His Truth. “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you
free” (Jn. 8:32).
Prayer, as Jesus Christ understood and used it, is
//page 20
communion with God; the communion of the child with his or her Father; the
splendid confidential talks of the son or daughter with the Father. This
communion is an attitude of mind and heart. It lifts the individual into a
wonderful sense of oneness with God, who is Spirit, the source of every good
and perfect thing, and the substance that supplies all the child’s needs—whether
they are spiritual, social, mental, physical, or financial. Positive declaration of the
truth of one’s unity with God sets up a new current of thought power, which
delivers one from old beliefs and their depression. And when the soul is lifted up
and becomes positive, the body and the affairs are readily healed.
Sometimes I have written a letter to God when I have wanted to be sure that
something would have divine consideration and love and attention. I have
written the letter, and laid it away, in the assurance that the eyes of the loving
and all-wise Father were seeing my letter and knowing my heart and working to
find ways to bless me and help me to grow.
So I suggest that you write a letter to God, putting into words that which your
heart holds and hopes for. Have faith that God is seeing your letter and your
heart, and that there is wisdom and power and freedom and love to accomplish
that which will meet your needs. After you have placed your heart’s desires with
God, don’t be anxious or worried or negative. Don’t look for signs that He has
responded. Busy yourself with
//page 21
the work God gives, and with study and prayer develop into a real companion
and a real radiator of happiness and inspiration. As you do so you become the
radiating center toward which those are drawn who will add to your happiness
and cooperate with you in making your life a beautiful success. Spirit intends
you to be a radiating center that will draw to you whatever you need to be well
and strong, successful and prosperous.
Myrtle Fillmore
Myrtle Fillmore’s Healing Letters
You Can Go Full Time In Ministry Through Divine Healing / Start a Full Time Gospel Career In Health & Healing
The Theopathic Healing Institute educates students from the biblical revelation of Theopathic Healing which declares Gods way of healing. (Theo - means God, Path- means course or way taken. When the prefix and suffix are joined together the word means "that which is affected by the divine influence of God," and trains students to practice their faith in the Healing Ministry, whereby helping those with illnesses increase their likelihood of being healed by 90%.
You can fulfill your call to the Healing Ministry by going full time, you can provide earnings for your family with a six figure salary (100,000 Plus) while being a vessel used by the Holy Spirit to set others free from disease and illnesses
through God's Way of Healing, demonstrating the power and wisdom of God through Jesus who is the Christ by becoming a Theopathic Minister and Practitioner.
You Can have a Career And Ministry at the same time by becoming a Theopathic Minister and Practitioner. The areas you can practice in with a specialization are the following areas:
1. Holistic Herbal or Chinese Medicine Practitioner
2. Alternative Practitioner
3. A Theopathic Health and Wellness Educator
4. A Health and Wellness Advocate
5. Complementary Medicine or Inter-Graded Health Practitioner
6. Theopathic Counselor or Coach
7. Medical Chaplin Practitioner
THE FOLLOWING EXTRACTS FROM HER LETTERS INTRODUCE MYRTLE
PAGE FILLMORE TO YOU AS SHE KNEW HERSELF AND AS NO ONE ELSE
COULD.
You see, dear, we just feel rather modest—really we haven’t much to say, as to
when the work was started, and how it was done! We just received from the
Father some ideas that proved wonderfully helpful in our own family; then we
shared them with others, and they too were helped. Since those of like faith are
drawn together, we soon found ourselves in a little society, which was formed
for the study of Truth and the practice of its ideas. We grew. After a time it
seemed that the other folks went their various ways, and only we were left to
continue what we felt to be important enough to develop and to devote
ourselves to. Unity School unfolded and continued to grow.
We have never cared to interest folks in our own lives. It makes no difference to
others what we have done, who we are. What is important is that we are doing
what the Father has given us to do, according to our best light. And if we have
something that others want or that will help them—spiritual ideas and their
radiance—we are glad to share it. If others wish to receive, all right; if not,
because of what they may
//page 2
term our personal limitations, that is all right too. We are not trying to interest
folks in the School, but in the ideas of the Christ Mind, which we feel to be the
foundation of the work, and our standard of life.
But, dear, I feel you are crowning me with an honor that belongs to the Holy
Spirit—which is omnipresent, and which expresses in the loving desires of the
hearts of all those who are endeavoring to manifest the Mother side of God! You
call me the mother of Unity! Well, now, I know of nothing that would give me
greater joy than to feel that God could work so perfectly through me as to bring
forth a great ministry and a place of peace and goodwill and health such as this
[Unity School] is. But in reality, I feel that I am only the soul who caught the first
vision of this ministry, and who nurtured that vision until others came along to
help in the establishment of it in the minds and hearts of our dear ones, and to
help in the molding in substance the outer forms of this school and its work.
It is my great joy to perceive somewhat of the mother side of God—the divine
love that never fails and that is equal to the drawing of souls to itself. It is my
prayer to be able to radiate the qualities of this divine love to all.
You too are the mother of Unity, because in your heart you have the same ideals,
and the same great generous spirit, and the endless and tireless service, and the
love that never fails! The mother
//page 3
of Unity is the universal mother. How happy we are, to represent this mother!
You may never have suspected it, but the Unity work is a dream that has been
nurtured and built from the invisible to the concrete through love, devotion, and
good, hard work. It may never have occurred to you that my husband and I have
put ourselves into this thing which God has given us to do without personal
returns beyond our “daily bread” and clothing. I work here every day, and
receive a salary, just as several hundred other workers do. I think a very capable
businessman or woman would not consider working for this salary. But it meets
my personal needs; and usually I have a little each week with which to do what
my heart prompts.
We are helping all who come our way to unite with us in the study of the Truth
that enables each one to bring forth sufficient supply for daily needs, and to
make good use of all the riches of God here in the earth as well as in the heavens
of mind.
I am glad to offer you the testimony that we have proved that God can and will
prosper the work that the Holy Spirit prompts. As the needs of other branches of
our work have arisen, we have let them be known, and the supply and the
necessary help have come forth. But we have always had to launch out on faith
without
//page 4
visible evidence of the ultimate success. We know that God is in His work, and
that it is the Spirit of God operative in a given service that provides whatever is
required in doing that work.
I was once an emaciated little woman, upon whom relatives and doctors had
placed the stamp “T.B.” [tuberculosis]. And this was only one of the ailments—
there were others considered beyond help, except possibly the changing of
structures through an operation. There were family problems too. We were a
sickly lot, and came to the place where we were unable to provide for our
children. In the midst of all this gloom, we kept looking for the way out, which
we felt sure would be revealed. It was! The light of God revealed to us—the
thought came to me first—that life was of God, that we were inseparably one
with the Source, and that we inherited from the divine and perfect Father. What
that revelation did to me at first was not apparent to the senses. But it held my
mind above negation, and I began to claim my birthright and to act as though I
believed myself the child of God, filled with His life. I gained. Others saw that
there was something new in me. They asked me to share it. I did. Others were
healed, and began to study. My husband continued his business, and at first took
little interest in what I was doing. But after a time he became absorbed in the
study of Truth too. We consecrated ourselves to the Lord, and kept doing daily
that which we felt led to
//page 5
do. We began to prosper, a little at a time, and our health continued to improve.
Life became sweeter and more interesting, and we began to see a new world. In
all these years, our interest has not lagged, and we have continued to enjoy the
unfoldment of God’s plan in our lives.
I’m going to tell you a secret: I don’t get to keep house as much as I should like.
I’m not supposed to have time for it—folks demand so much of my time. So I
have a woman to keep house for us. But do you know, I like to carry the dishes
away from the table at the close of the meal; and make a nice hot suds and wash
the dishes, wipe them, and put them away in nice rows in the china closet! So if
sometimes you find yourself doing work that isn’t supposed to be desirable,
remember that there are other good folks doing the same sort of work, and that
still others would like to be doing it, even though circumstances have placed
them at something else. Whatever you undertake, do it the very best you can.
Folks will note your good work, and soon you will be given more important
positions. Show the Father that you are ready to do your best, and He will keep
increasing your ability and will place you where you will be blessed and where
your work will bless others.
I often think that we are all in too much of a rush,
//page 6
trying to do too much, and failing to discern and do the things that would mean
most. So much that we think and do, surely, would not be done by one in the
Jesus Christ consciousness. So much that we think we need would not be desired
by one conscious of the spiritual resources.
Indeed, I have felt in a strange land and longing for familiar landmarks! When I
feel such a hungering, I try to draw very close to God and rest in the assurance
that all is well. I know that God would not have me struggle with unknown
things, or talk of that which I have not proved. I realize that that which God
would have me do God inspires in me, that it is very easy to do God’s will, and
that when I thus conduct myself, a great peace and friendliness comes and
abides.
We must have quiet and opportunity for inward searching, for we must go
beyond what we have heretofore attained. There is nothing in hearsay or in
observation or in the evidence of the senses, apart from spiritual discernment,
that can take us beyond our present footing.
Know this, dear, that I know I must be beautiful within, and in my fellowship
with others, and in my sharing with them the good things of life if I am to
become beautiful without. Anything that makes me have the feeling of
selfishness cannot result in more beauty to me. Anything that awakens in me the
loving desire to have others happy and adorned with beautiful
//page 7
things, and anything that helps me to express this loving desire in my living is
sure to bring forth its fruit in my life. Now, I am sure that you understand, and
approve my passing on to another the use of the beautiful gift that you with so
much love sent to me. You did mean for me to use it in the way it would give me
most joy, didn’t you?
I was very religiously trained and suffered a lot from the theology taught of a
God who in truth is loving. But I am rejoicing in the doctrine of our wise and
loving heavenly Father who chooses that none shall perish but that all shall have
eternal life.
One more word: I think you are trying to give me too much credit for your poise,
happiness, and success! Of course I am happy to have been privileged to write to
you and pray with you and rejoice with you over demonstrations. But I know
that it is God in the midst of you doing His perfect work who is responsible for
the good.
You ask what restored me to vigorous health. It was a change of mind from the
old, carnal mind that believes in sickness to the Christ Mind of life and
permanent health. “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rom. 12:2).
“As he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7 A.V.).
I applied spiritual laws effectively, blessing my body temple until it manifested
//page 8
the innate health of Spirit. These wonderful laws will work for you too when you
apply them diligently and in faith.
I smiled as I read about the state of your finances. I’ll tell you a little about mine!
I am on salary, just as other Unity folks are. Sometimes I have a very definite
place for all my allowance, before I even begin on my individual needs.
Sometimes I am obliged to draw upon the Fillmore account in order to do
something I feel to be important. Usually when I find myself “strapped,”
someone who doesn’t know the facts will send me a love gift. Last week I
handed out about all I could get my hands on and was looking for more, because
I had places for it. This morning a letter came from a woman to whom I have
written a few times, but whom I haven’t seen, in which there was a check for me
for two hundred dollars. There was no apparent reason for her sending it;
evidently she and the Lord were aware of my use of money and replenished my
purse in that happy way. The money I had sent forth came back multiplied; I can
replace the amount I drew out and still have plenty of “pin money.”
I confess that I haven’t always looked at people and their work, and their abilities
as I now do. There was a time when I felt I must go back to old ways to earn
money to meet pressing needs. But my faith and the
//page 9
faith of those who could see a little further than I helped to hold me steadfast. I
reasoned that my past experiences had not been satisfying, that I could at least
turn my mind to new ideas and give them a thorough trial. I determined to use
my ability in the manner that seemed to meet the needs of persons who came my
way. I had little proofs that I was using a law and that there was substance and
life backing me and coming forth at my command.
While it may be that this work in which we are engaged is something that we
began in another life—and it doubtless is a science that the universal Christ Mind
is pouring forth through us—we do know that the same mind and the same law
is in all and operative for all. We know that faith and understanding and the
determination to live according to the Creator’s plan will bring forth whatever is
needed, and will do this for everyone who puts his or her trust fully in the
Father.
From our experience we find it wise not to talk too much about what we are
discovering and using—except to those who come to us for it. We know that it is
not wise or profitable to call attention to differences, not even in an effort to
explain our point. If we were to go into other churches or classes, we should
endeavor to avoid points of difference or apparent contradictions. We should
look for all points on which to agree, and praise the other’s faith and good works.
We
//page 10
should talk on subjects that intuition made us to know others were interested in.
We should not stamp our faith “Unity” or stress points of doctrine. We should
keep to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, as the source of our light and the application
of His teaching as the way of life. We should give God the glory for any and all
good in our lives, and emphasize the Truth that it is God’s working in and
through us that does the transforming. We should not, however, be disturbed
about the prejudice of those who feel that they must shut out the undesirable.
When we began our study and work, we might have had only a handful of
friends—if we had thought to look about us and count them. We no doubt
would have met with objections from churches if we had given them
opportunity to object. But now—well, we just haven’t the time to meet and enjoy
all the thousands of good friends, hundreds of whom are ministers, who find our
work safe and our literature food for thought. You will find that if you love folks
and live happily among them, they will love you. If you do not try to change
them or give them what they have no knowledge of wanting, they will not show
resistance or resentment. If you do not in your attitude or inference show
disapproval of their beliefs or ways, they will tear down their walls of opposition
and indifference and after a while show interest in what you have.
No one wants to feel that what he has and has been depending on is false and
unreliable; but all want to add to the treasures they now have, and all will in
time
//page 11
drop the worthless pebbles for the precious gems, when they have awakened to
the difference. Rather than feel that you must “stand up for Truth if it is
ridiculed,” let the Truth in you stand for itself. How can a thing be ridiculed,
really? If one who knows the Truth and takes no account of evil keeps poised
and loving, that is proof enough. One who speaks an untruth or is mistaken in
his judgments has the Christ Mind within him to correct him. You do not need to
do this. Leave it with Him. And why compare Unity with other teachings? This
is not the Unity way. Unless some earnest soul comes to you for an explanation
or light on some point, it is better to let others form their own conclusions.
Adverse states of mind are built through some sort of contradiction or lack of
understanding—and of course they can but contradict that which would set
them at naught. Those who don’t know Jesus, the Son of God manifest in the
individual, will perhaps contradict the principles embodied. But what of this?
The day will come when all adverse states of mind will give way to the light of
Truth. If you have the poise to keep still when unbelief is talking, the day will
come when you will be intrusted by the Father with speaking or doing that
which will reveal Jesus Christ indwelling. Pray for understanding for yourself.
Get all your faculties and powers awake and working in perfect harmony with
the Christ pattern. You will be busy enough without bothering about what others
are doing.
//page 12
I smile as I think of your wanting to sit at my feet, when you are in touch with
the fount of all wisdom and understanding power and life and love and
substance! Your indwelling Christ is beginning to find you receptive, and you
will grow by leaps and bounds. Never again be sad or give way to thoughts of
what might have been! God is eternal, unchanging good, and you have access to
all that God is and has. There’s a Bible promise that will help you to know that
what may seem lost is not so in reality, and that the opportunities and blessings
that seem gone will return just as fast as you are ready for them. “I will restore to
you the years which the swarming locust has eaten,” saith Jehovah (Job 2:25). All
that has been destroyed, neglected, or lost through lack of understanding or
foolishness or false pride or ambition can and will be brought forth as present
good just as rapidly as you grow in consciousness; for God is ever giving just
what we expect!
//page 13
Jesus Christ
Unity teachings are based on the Jesus Christ teachings, and we advise all people
to hold firmly and steadfastly to the principles taught and demonstrated by this
first Christian metaphysician. We have found in Christianity rightly interpreted
more Truth than in any of the other religions we have delved into; consequently
we advocate it.
We have found Jesus to be the great Teacher, accessible to all who have faith in
and understand the spiritual principles that He sets forth. Jesus as a superman is
here in our midst and we can receive instruction direct from Him if we ask, and
agree to carry out in our lives what He teaches. If we want all that is contained in
Christianity, Mohammedanism, and every other religion or religious cult that
came out of Christianity, we should ask Jesus and He will show us the Truth just
as fast as we develop our spiritual nature to the point where He can import it to
us. Jesus cannot reach minds that are immersed in materialism. By those
immersed in materialism we mean not only those who deal with the most
material elements in the world but also those who have materialized
Christianity.
To insure success and to inspire faith and confidence in ourselves and our
undertaking, we should always have Christ as the source of our inspiration and
prosperity.
//page 14
Our success and satisfaction in business, in home, in our social lives is always
greater when we take Christ Jesus as our partner. It is, “Christ in you, the hope of
glory” (Col. 1:27). Why not follow in the footsteps of One who has demonstrated
and proved every step of the way?
God’s love for us, for all His children, is so great that He sent Jesus Christ to be
the Way-Shower to lead us to a greater realization of our heavenly Father’s love
and will for us. Jesus Christ is not merely a divine man who lived many centuries
ago and whose life and works are to be considered past history. He is alive
today. He is with us now. His words, “Lo, I am with you always” (Mt. 28:20), are
His living promise to each of us. The Christ presence within our own souls is the
Great Physician who has wisdom and power to heal and to adjust in divine order
every function of our body temples. Turning within to Him, we receive that
guidance, that assurance, that healing for which our souls long, the prospering
and success for which we not only long but need to express as sons and
daughters of the Most High, heir to all that the Father has. Instead of thinking of
the Lord as the personal Jesus Christ who is away at some distant place called
heaven, we must think of the Lord as our own God-given Christ Mind, and of
Jesus Christ as ever with us in the spiritual consciousness that He has established
and that He has merged with the race mind in order that we
//page 15
may be in touch with Him and lay hold of Him and build our lives according to
His pattern.
There’s a distinction between Jesus Christ, the man, and the perfect-man idea
that God has created and implanted in each of us, His children. The Christ Mind
is the crystal-clear mind that is not blurred by the “becoming” things of which
the senses tell us, nor by the reports of the intellect which are records of people’s
experiments day by day. The Christ Mind gives us an idea in its entirety and
then we work it out in our own consciousness and body and affairs.
For example, the Christ idea of love is given us, God love. Love unifies us with
God, our Source, and we know that we are good and true and fearless from
within, because we let these God qualities well up from the center of our being.
Love alone would not enable us to keep our balance; it would draw us here and
there without regard to what we accomplished. Here is where we begin to see
the difference between the man Jesus Christ as we know Him, and the people
who have fallen short of what we term goodness and real power. Jesus exercised
all the God qualities we have yet been able to discern in a masterly way. God
love was expressed by Him; but it was supplemented and balanced by God
wisdom, power, judgment, will, zeal, life, renunciation, strength, order,
imagination, and faith. Love drew Him to people; but good judgment held Him
to a course of action that resulted in success more far-reaching than any of us
have yet realized.
//page 16
Jesus is the individual who made the complete union of mind, soul, and body in
Spirit. He brought forth into expression the Christ, the God-Mind within, and
consciously identified Himself with the Father. God is not a person; “God is
Spirit.”
Jesus Christ has merged His wonderful consciousness with the race
consciousness, that we may turn to Him and receive into our minds the
understanding of life and the activities of mind that result in freedom from the
limitations of race beliefs and intellectual reasonings. We can quicken our own
Christ Mind by dwelling upon the Truth that we are one with Jesus Christ and
one with God, through the understanding that Jesus the Christ helps us to
unfold.
//page 17
Prayer
It is not enough to pray. Prayer is one step that you take, but you need other
steps. You need to think of God, the all-powerful Healer, as being already within
you, in every part of your mind, heart, and body. To keep one’s attention and
prayers in the spiritual realm of mind, without letting them work out into the
soul’s expression and into the actual physical doing of that which corresponds
with what the mind and heart has thought and spoken and prayed, is to court
trouble. To keep declaring love and power and life and substance, and yet
unconsciously, perhaps, assuming limitations and living them, will cause
explosions and congestion that work out in the physical. We need to harmonize
our thinking and our prayers with actual living experiences.
Sometimes we pray to a God outside of ourselves. It is the God in the midst of us
that frees and heals.
With our eye of faith we must see God in our flesh, see that wholeness for which
we are praying in every part of the body temple. “Do you not know that your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you. . . . Glorify God in your body” (1
Cor. 6:19, 20).
Prayers aren’t sent out at all! Sometimes that is our
//page 18
trouble. Where would we send our prayers? We should direct them to our minds
and hearts and affairs. We commune with God-Mind within our own
consciousness. Prayer is an exercise to change our thought habits and our living
habits, that we may set up a new and better activity, in accord with the divine
law rather than with the suggestions we have received from various sources.
We sometimes think that we pray when we read and declare statements of Truth.
We have very little idea of the way in which the answers to those prayers are
coming. And we do not prove that we expect them to be answered. Almost
immediately after praying we go on doing the things we have been doing, which
does not allow answers. And we think and say that which is not in accord with
the prayers we have made. For example, we go into the silence and declare
statements of prosperity. Then in writing a letter we speak of lack and failure
and longing which proves that we have those thoughts and feelings of lack in
our hearts and that we are dwelling on them more strongly than we are on the
Truth that we have prayed.
Prayer, then, is to change our minds and hearts so that God’s omnipresent good
may fill our minds and hearts and manifest in our lives. If we do not keep on
thinking in accord with the prayers we have made, we do not get good results.
For all thought is formative; all thought has its effect in our lives. When some of
//page 19
our thought energy is expended in negative beliefs and feelings, and we show
that we have old mental habits in the subconscious mind, we get those old
negative results—even when we are praying daily and when others are praying
for us.
We have a very decided part; we are to cease worrying, and being anxious, and
thinking and speaking of the past and of the apparent lack and idleness. We are
to concentrate all our attention upon the Truth of God, and the truth of our own
being, upon the very things we would see taking place in our lives. We cannot do
this so long as we have negative thoughts in our hearts.
As we pray, the word of life is going into us, breaking up old fixed beliefs and
reorganizing our lives. The word of life—life as God has planned it—is taking
hold of our subconsciousness, and we know that we are free and will begin to
use our freedom. Working in the consciousness of freedom, we will be happy
and well and busy and prosperous. But our attention will be upon what we are
doing rather than upon outer results. The results will take care of themselves
once we have started our foundation in Truth.
“With God all things are possible” (Mt. 19:26). Those who receive spiritual help
are the ones who place their undivided faith in God and who bring their thinking
in line with His Truth. “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you
free” (Jn. 8:32).
Prayer, as Jesus Christ understood and used it, is
//page 20
communion with God; the communion of the child with his or her Father; the
splendid confidential talks of the son or daughter with the Father. This
communion is an attitude of mind and heart. It lifts the individual into a
wonderful sense of oneness with God, who is Spirit, the source of every good
and perfect thing, and the substance that supplies all the child’s needs—whether
they are spiritual, social, mental, physical, or financial. Positive declaration of the
truth of one’s unity with God sets up a new current of thought power, which
delivers one from old beliefs and their depression. And when the soul is lifted up
and becomes positive, the body and the affairs are readily healed.
Sometimes I have written a letter to God when I have wanted to be sure that
something would have divine consideration and love and attention. I have
written the letter, and laid it away, in the assurance that the eyes of the loving
and all-wise Father were seeing my letter and knowing my heart and working to
find ways to bless me and help me to grow.
So I suggest that you write a letter to God, putting into words that which your
heart holds and hopes for. Have faith that God is seeing your letter and your
heart, and that there is wisdom and power and freedom and love to accomplish
that which will meet your needs. After you have placed your heart’s desires with
God, don’t be anxious or worried or negative. Don’t look for signs that He has
responded. Busy yourself with
//page 21
the work God gives, and with study and prayer develop into a real companion
and a real radiator of happiness and inspiration. As you do so you become the
radiating center toward which those are drawn who will add to your happiness
and cooperate with you in making your life a beautiful success. Spirit intends
you to be a radiating center that will draw to you whatever you need to be well
and strong, successful and prosperous.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
How to Cure Slipped disc and Sciatica Problem With Yoga?
How to Cure Slipped disc and Sciatica Problem With Yoga?
Slipped Disc & sciatica are two closely related conditions occurring in the lumbosacral spine. The human spinal column consists of more than 33 individual bones called vertebrae, stacked one on top of the other and surrounded by the thick spinal muscles, the strongest muscles in the body. Lying between the vertebral bodies are cushion-like fibrous pads which act as shock absorbers, protecting the brain, spinal cord and internal organs from damage as we walk, just as the shock absorbers of a car protect the passengers from the shock of a rough, bumpy road. These are the spinal discs. They are filled with a thick jelly-like fluid and are held in position by strong ligaments attached to the bones above and below. Slipped disc occurs when excessive strain is brought to bear upon the lower back region, causing one of these discs to rupture so that the fluid inside herniates and escapes backwards. This injury usually occurs while bending forward with the knees straight to shift a weight from the floor or while shovelling or weeding in the garden. It has also occurred simply when releasing the clutch pedal while driving a car.
This painful experience usually occurs when a person with weak spinal muscles and ligaments applies an excessive strain to the back. It seldom occurs in seasoned labourers or manual workers, but is frequently seen in sedentary workers who are unused to regular exercise. Its incidence would be greatly reduced by daily practice of a few yogic asanas to preserve the strength and flexibility of the spinal muscles and ligaments, and with more widespread knowledge of the correct way to lift a heavy weight from the floor. The crouching position with knees bent protects the vulnerable lower back from excessive strain.
The onset of slipped disc is sudden and immediate. Something is felt to 'go' or 'tear' in the lower back, followed by a sharp, well localized pain which may be agonizing. The individual is left incapacitated- either unable to straighten up at all, or else unable to bend the spine forward again, even slightly, as this gives rise to immediate severe pain. He or she is usually brought to bed or for X-ray examination soon after.
In the next few hours the back pain continues to worsen until it is constant and unremitting. This occurs as the ligaments and tissues around the injured disc become engorged with blood and tissue fluids. The protective covering of the spinal muscles rapidly goes into tight spasm to prevent further painful movement of the area, and the delicate pain fibres supplying the torn disc ligaments become increasingly irritated. The whole area becomes inflamed, hot and swollen and is very tender to touch.
Sciatica refers to a sharp, lightning-like pain which shoots down the back of the leg. It occurs if the herniated material from a ruptured spinal disc in the lower back presses upon the delicate nerve roots emerging from the spinal cord at that level. These nerve roots pass from the spinal column and converge to form the sciatic nerves, which run down the back of each leg. These nerves run right down to the feet, supplying the skin and muscles of the back of the legs. This is why sciatic pain may be experienced in the buttock, in the back of the thigh or in the calf, even though the root problem lies in the lower back region. In response to this pain, the muscles of the back of the leg go into a tight spasm, especially if the sufferer continues to walk, because every step further stretches and irritates the injured nerve roots.Initial recovery from slipped disc and sciatica
Sciatica refers to a sharp, lightning-like pain which shoots down the back of the leg. It occurs if the herniated material from a ruptured spinal disc in the lower back presses upon the delicate nerve roots emerging from the spinal cord at that level. These nerve roots pass from the spinal column and converge to form the sciatic nerves, which run down the back of each leg. These nerves run right down to the feet, supplying the skin and muscles of the back of the legs. This is why sciatic pain may be experienced in the buttock, in the back of the thigh or in the calf, even though the root problem lies in the lower back region. In response to this pain, the muscles of the back of the leg go into a tight spasm, especially if the sufferer continues to walk, because every step further stretches and irritates the injured nerve roots.
Initial recovery from slipped disc and sciatica
Slipped disc with accompanying sciatica is a painful, incapacitating experience which demands immediate immobilization on a hard bed. Absolute bed rest is necessary while the ruptured disc heals and inflammation subsides. In the acute situation of the first few days, pain relief can be provided by applying alternating hot/cold fomentations over the inflamed area, and adopting a suitable yogic posture such as makarasana which minimizes strain on the lower back region. Aspirin also proves useful in this period. It is important that the spine be kept immobilized as far as possible. No attempt should be made to leave the bed for any reason. For toilet purposes, a bed pan should be available. The patient should rest in a quiet room with minimal disturbance until healing is complete. This commonly requires 10 days or even longer, if the injury is a severe one.
Long term complications and problems
Many slipped disc and sciatica sufferers have a long history of recurrent bouts of crippling incapacity stretching back for many years. Any slight sudden strain, twisting or bending movement is often enough to initiate the whole process once again. As a result they are no longer able to enjoy a full, active life. They often become dependent on analgesic drugs for relief and are frequently forced to take time off from work or household duties in order to rest in bed. Often their employers, family and friends begin to regard their problem as a psychological one, for they are unable to comprehend a life punctuated by continual incapacitating bouts of back pain. Sufferers often develop personality disorders as well - becoming depressed, niggardly and irritable. They are often labelled as 'whiners' or 'complainers' and others avoid their company. Marital, family and social relationships commonly deteriorate as the problem continues to recur.
Surgical procedures
Long term slipped disc sufferers frequently come to surgery for removal of the troublesome disc and permanent fusion of the vertebral joint. Whenever two bone surfaces are permanently opposed to one another they quickly fuse together so that all movement ceases. The surgeon induces this process wilfully by removing the damaged disc and obliterating the intervening joint contents. This procedure which renders the spine permanently stiff and unable to bend, nevertheless provides welcome relief after many years of suffering. Yoga, however offers an effective and far simpler way out of this painful predicament.
Yogic management of slipped disc and sciatica
The following yoga program, when followed diligently, has been found to restore disc health and prevent recurrences of both slipped disc and sciatica. The program is based on the backward bending asanas, which strengthen the posterior ligaments and muscles that hold the damaged disc in place, and promote the circulation of pranic energy to the whole region. They should be practised each day so that spinal stability and function can be restored and a full range of activities can be re-adopted. In this way surgical intervention usually proves unnecessary.
1. In the acute stage of immobilizing pain, a prone (facedown) posture on a hard bed should be adopted. Resting in makarasana (crocodile pose) for long periods reduces tension on the disc and nerve roots, providing relief from pain and promoting healing. Sleeping in advasana (reversed corpse posture) or jyestikasana (best posture) is recommended. In sciatica, matsyakridasana (flapping fish posture), with the affected leg drawn up to the chest, to relieve pressure on the damaged nerve roots, will bring relief. These postures should be adopted for relief of pain in the acute situation, so that as much rest as possible can be gained.
2. The following backward bending asanas should be adopted, according to capacity, as healing proceeds and pain diminishes. The first asana attempted should be the simple version of bhujangasana (cobra posture) known as the sphinx posture. Do not strain, and stop if pain develops. Once sphinx is mastered, the following asanas should be adopted gradually, in this order: bhujangasana, ardha shalabhasana, saral dhanurasana, poorna shalabhasana, dhanurasana. Ultimately this program should be practised in full each morning, before any food has been taken. Each asana should be practised a maximum of 5 times, followed by complete relaxation in advasana. The session should conclude with deep relaxation for 15 or 20 minutes, initially in advasana and later shavasana can be adopted. Daily practice should continue indefinitely to avoid recurrence.
3. All forward bending asanas should be absolutely avoided for 4-6 months, as they can precipitate a recurrence of the original condition. They may then be re-introduced gradually, under guidance, after recovery is complete, beginning with shakti bandha series, shashankasana, majariasana and shashank-bhujangasana.
4. During the recovery period, cross-legged sitting postures should not be adopted, as they increase nerve root tension in the lower back. They can be resumed after a few months. Pranayama and meditation in vajrasana are highly recommended.
5. Ajapa japa, movement of breath awareness in the spinal passage from mooladhara chakra in the perineum up to ajna chakra at the top of the spinal column, is very effective in all spinal disorders, including slipped disc and sciatica. Awareness of So-ham should be practised in conjunction with the psychic breath, drawing the breath up from mooladhara to sahasrara with inspiration and the mantra So, and taking the awareness down from ajna to mooladhara with expiration and the mantra Ham. This can be practised in any prone relaxation posture with the spine straight. In the beginning, advasana can be used, followed by shavasana once the supine resting pose can be comfortably adopted. Awareness of the natural abdominal breath can also be added in shavasana. Ajapa japa can be practised as frequently and for as long as desired. It promotes the flow of pranic energy in the spinal column, facilitates healing and brings deep mental and physical relaxation. Finally, the practice should be continued in vajrasana, then in a cross legged posture.
The effects of ajapa japa can be intensified if ujjayi pranayama is practised in the meditative postures with an upright spinal column. The tongue is turned back onto the upper palate (khechari mudra) and the throat region is contracted to produce a gentle snoring sound. This automatically increases the depth and duration of respiration and concentration.
6. Dietary recommendations. In the beginning, a light, semi-solid diet should be taken, commencing with vegetable soup. This will preserve digestive energy which can then be redirected towards the healing process, and also prevents constipation, a major problem for patients confined to bed. As the condition improves, vegetables and rice can be taken and later pulses and whole bread should be added. Avoid heavy and constipating foods such as meat and oily preparations indefinitely. Dairy products and eggs should be reduced during this period, as extra protein is not required. Highly processed and richly spiced foods are best avoided indefinitely as well.
Yoga for Lower Back Pain
Yoga for Lower Back Pain
An Effective Low Back Pain Exercise!
Yoga for lower back pain can at times give instant relief if it is going to work for you. It's worth taking at least 10 minutes to try this low back pain exercise and see what kind of results you can achieve....especially if it can take your pain away.
As a Physical Therapist I have treated many people with back pain. It has been said that 80% of the population, or 8 out of 10 people, will experience back pain at some point in their lifetime. (1) Because it is such a widespread problem, it is something that I often treat in the clinic.
As I was looking for an effective low back pain exercise to help my patients, I came across the press up. In yoga they call it the Cobra Pose.
What I found is that a significant amount of people with back pain will respond to this exercise. Hopefully, one of those people can be you!
Before You Start Yoga for Lower Back Pain...
Most people with lower back pain can start this exercise immediately within the precautions below. Once you start the exercise take note of if your location of your pain is changing and if it stays the same, gets better or gets worse. If it gets worse, stop the exercise and seek advice from a health professional such as a doctor, physical therapist or chiropractor.
Do not begin an exercise program before seeing a health professional if:
This is the first time you have had lower back pain and it is not better after 1-2 weeks You have severe pain in yourleg below the knee and notice weakness, numbness or pins and needles in your foot or toes.
You have lower back pain from a severe accident that happened recently
You have developed bladder or bowel problems at the same time you developed back pain
You had other general health symptoms that appeared the same time as your back pain
Robin McKenzie states in his book "7 Steps to a Pain-Free Life" that you are most likely to respond to this treatment if you answer yes to four or more of the following questions
"Are there periods in the day - even as short as ten minutes - when you have no pain?
Is the pain confined to areas above the knee?
Are you generally worse when sitting for prolonged periods of when standing up from the sitting position?
Are you generally worse during or right after prolonged bending or stooping, as when making a bed, vacuuming, ironing, gardening, or laying concrete?
Are you generally worse when getting up in the morning, but improve after about half an hour?
Are you generally worse when inactive and better when on the move?
Are you generally better when walking?
Are you generally better when lying facedown? When testing this, you may feel worse for the first few minutes but then feel better; in this case, the answer to this question is yes.
Have you had several episodes of lower back pain over the past months or years?"(2)
If you answered yes to three or less of these questions, it is recommended to see a health professional for an evaluation prior to initiating these exercises. See the list of credentialed McKenzie providers here.
How to Perform this Low Back Pain Exercise
Take note that this is just one exercise explained in McKenzie's book, "7 Steps to a Pain-Free Life." For more detailed explanations and other exercises, I highly recommend reading his book. It is an excellent resource and something you will find yourself loaning out to your friends.
Position One - Lying on your stomach
Lay on your stomach with your arms at your side and your head turned to one side. Stay in this position for 2-3 minutes and try to completely relax.
Position One - Lying on your stomach
Lay on your stomach with your arms at your side and your head turned to one side. Stay in this position for 2-3 minutes and try to completely relax.
Position Two - Propping yourself on your elbows
Next prop yourself up on your elbows resting under your shoulders. If you feel sharp pain, move your elbows further away from your shoulders to a point where your pain subsides. If it does not subside, do not continue with the exercise.
Position Three - Press Up Exercise
Lay on your stomach again with your head turned to one side. But, this time position your hands palm down underneath your shoulders. Straighten your elbows as far as your pain permits. Try to keep your hips relaxed and in contact with the ground so that you are arching your back. Hold 1-2 seconds.
Position Three - Press Up Exercise
Lay on your stomach again with your head turned to one side. But, this time position your hands palm down underneath your shoulders. Straighten your elbows as far as your pain permits. Try to keep your hips relaxed and in contact with the ground so that you are arching your back. Hold 1-2 seconds.
Repeat the exercise with each time trying to go a little further until your arms are completely straight and your elbows locked.
Your Response to Yoga for Lower Back Pain
Note the intensity of your pain and the location of your symptoms before and after you do the exercise. Think of it like cause and effect. If your pain is gradually decreasing or if your symptoms begin to come out of your leg or hip and centralize to your back, that is a good sign to continue with the exercise. If the pain is getting more intense or moving further down your hip or leg than it was prior to the exercise, stop and consult a health care provider.
If your pain and symptoms stayed the same, check out the section below for no response or benefit.
However, if you find that the exercise is helping, it should be performed 10 times per session for 6-8 sessions a day. For the first few days, I even recommend that you do it every hour if possible.
It may be difficult to find a place to this low back pain exercise because you need to get on your stomach. But, I've found with my patients that "where there's a will, there's a way." If this exercise is helping you decrease your pain and have a better quality of life, you'll find a way to do it. I've known people to bring a towel to work in a factory and find a place in a break room or supervisor's office to do the exercise during their breaks.
Don't Forget to Get to the Root of the Problem
The most common cause of low back pain is poor posture. So, if you get relief from this exercise, but don't correct your poor posture, there is a good chance your pain will return. This is critical in getting long term relief. I have seen people improve from correctly posture alone and not even doing the exercises.
No Response or Benefit - Reason #1 One Sided Pain
After trying the exercise above with no response or relief for 3-4 days, there are two main reasons for lack of relief. It is possible that for some people the pain is generally felt more to one side during the day and when attempting the press up exercise. In this case, you may need to modify your body position before you start the exercise.
Get in position one as described above and shift your hips away from the painful side. Therefore, if your pain is normally on the right side, then you will shift your hips to the left 3-4 inches. Once in that position try to completely relax for 3-4 minutes.
While keeping your hips off center (shifted away from the painful side), lean on your elbows as described in position two above.
As long as your symptoms are not worsening, continue with the press up. Make sure that each time before you begin the press up that your hips are still off center, shifted away from the painful side. Repeat 10 times. If your pain begins to centralize and is now in the center of your back, then go back to performing the press up without shifting your hips. This is very important. If your pain begins to go to the side again, you can go back to shifting your hips until it centralizes again.
No Response or Benefit - Reason #2 Pelvis Needs Stabilized
Sometimes you can greatly improve the effectiveness of the pressup (position 3 above) by finding a way to hold the pelvis down. This can be done several ways. Another person can place pressure on your lower back. Or you can put together a simple way of doing this. It sounds weird but it works! What you do is use an ironing board and either a seat belt or strong strap (like a luggage strap). Place the belt or strap around the ironing board and your waist. This added pressure will help you decide if this exercise can help your lower back pain.
If after trying all the variations of the exercise, your symptoms remain, it is recommended that you see a health care provider for an evaluation.
Don't Forget to Get to the Root of the Problem
The most common cause of low back pain is poor posture. So, if you get relief from this exercise, but don't correct your poor posture, there is a good chance your pain will return. This is critical in getting long term relief. I have seen people improve from correctly posture alone and not even doing the exercises.
An Effective Low Back Pain Exercise!
Yoga for lower back pain can at times give instant relief if it is going to work for you. It's worth taking at least 10 minutes to try this low back pain exercise and see what kind of results you can achieve....especially if it can take your pain away.
As a Physical Therapist I have treated many people with back pain. It has been said that 80% of the population, or 8 out of 10 people, will experience back pain at some point in their lifetime. (1) Because it is such a widespread problem, it is something that I often treat in the clinic.
As I was looking for an effective low back pain exercise to help my patients, I came across the press up. In yoga they call it the Cobra Pose.
What I found is that a significant amount of people with back pain will respond to this exercise. Hopefully, one of those people can be you!
Before You Start Yoga for Lower Back Pain...
Most people with lower back pain can start this exercise immediately within the precautions below. Once you start the exercise take note of if your location of your pain is changing and if it stays the same, gets better or gets worse. If it gets worse, stop the exercise and seek advice from a health professional such as a doctor, physical therapist or chiropractor.
Do not begin an exercise program before seeing a health professional if:
This is the first time you have had lower back pain and it is not better after 1-2 weeks You have severe pain in yourleg below the knee and notice weakness, numbness or pins and needles in your foot or toes.
You have lower back pain from a severe accident that happened recently
You have developed bladder or bowel problems at the same time you developed back pain
You had other general health symptoms that appeared the same time as your back pain
Robin McKenzie states in his book "7 Steps to a Pain-Free Life" that you are most likely to respond to this treatment if you answer yes to four or more of the following questions
"Are there periods in the day - even as short as ten minutes - when you have no pain?
Is the pain confined to areas above the knee?
Are you generally worse when sitting for prolonged periods of when standing up from the sitting position?
Are you generally worse during or right after prolonged bending or stooping, as when making a bed, vacuuming, ironing, gardening, or laying concrete?
Are you generally worse when getting up in the morning, but improve after about half an hour?
Are you generally worse when inactive and better when on the move?
Are you generally better when walking?
Are you generally better when lying facedown? When testing this, you may feel worse for the first few minutes but then feel better; in this case, the answer to this question is yes.
Have you had several episodes of lower back pain over the past months or years?"(2)
If you answered yes to three or less of these questions, it is recommended to see a health professional for an evaluation prior to initiating these exercises. See the list of credentialed McKenzie providers here.
How to Perform this Low Back Pain Exercise
Take note that this is just one exercise explained in McKenzie's book, "7 Steps to a Pain-Free Life." For more detailed explanations and other exercises, I highly recommend reading his book. It is an excellent resource and something you will find yourself loaning out to your friends.
Position One - Lying on your stomach
Lay on your stomach with your arms at your side and your head turned to one side. Stay in this position for 2-3 minutes and try to completely relax.
Position One - Lying on your stomach
Lay on your stomach with your arms at your side and your head turned to one side. Stay in this position for 2-3 minutes and try to completely relax.
Position Two - Propping yourself on your elbows
Next prop yourself up on your elbows resting under your shoulders. If you feel sharp pain, move your elbows further away from your shoulders to a point where your pain subsides. If it does not subside, do not continue with the exercise.
Position Three - Press Up Exercise
Lay on your stomach again with your head turned to one side. But, this time position your hands palm down underneath your shoulders. Straighten your elbows as far as your pain permits. Try to keep your hips relaxed and in contact with the ground so that you are arching your back. Hold 1-2 seconds.
Position Three - Press Up Exercise
Lay on your stomach again with your head turned to one side. But, this time position your hands palm down underneath your shoulders. Straighten your elbows as far as your pain permits. Try to keep your hips relaxed and in contact with the ground so that you are arching your back. Hold 1-2 seconds.
Repeat the exercise with each time trying to go a little further until your arms are completely straight and your elbows locked.
Your Response to Yoga for Lower Back Pain
Note the intensity of your pain and the location of your symptoms before and after you do the exercise. Think of it like cause and effect. If your pain is gradually decreasing or if your symptoms begin to come out of your leg or hip and centralize to your back, that is a good sign to continue with the exercise. If the pain is getting more intense or moving further down your hip or leg than it was prior to the exercise, stop and consult a health care provider.
If your pain and symptoms stayed the same, check out the section below for no response or benefit.
However, if you find that the exercise is helping, it should be performed 10 times per session for 6-8 sessions a day. For the first few days, I even recommend that you do it every hour if possible.
It may be difficult to find a place to this low back pain exercise because you need to get on your stomach. But, I've found with my patients that "where there's a will, there's a way." If this exercise is helping you decrease your pain and have a better quality of life, you'll find a way to do it. I've known people to bring a towel to work in a factory and find a place in a break room or supervisor's office to do the exercise during their breaks.
Don't Forget to Get to the Root of the Problem
The most common cause of low back pain is poor posture. So, if you get relief from this exercise, but don't correct your poor posture, there is a good chance your pain will return. This is critical in getting long term relief. I have seen people improve from correctly posture alone and not even doing the exercises.
No Response or Benefit - Reason #1 One Sided Pain
After trying the exercise above with no response or relief for 3-4 days, there are two main reasons for lack of relief. It is possible that for some people the pain is generally felt more to one side during the day and when attempting the press up exercise. In this case, you may need to modify your body position before you start the exercise.
Get in position one as described above and shift your hips away from the painful side. Therefore, if your pain is normally on the right side, then you will shift your hips to the left 3-4 inches. Once in that position try to completely relax for 3-4 minutes.
While keeping your hips off center (shifted away from the painful side), lean on your elbows as described in position two above.
As long as your symptoms are not worsening, continue with the press up. Make sure that each time before you begin the press up that your hips are still off center, shifted away from the painful side. Repeat 10 times. If your pain begins to centralize and is now in the center of your back, then go back to performing the press up without shifting your hips. This is very important. If your pain begins to go to the side again, you can go back to shifting your hips until it centralizes again.
No Response or Benefit - Reason #2 Pelvis Needs Stabilized
Sometimes you can greatly improve the effectiveness of the pressup (position 3 above) by finding a way to hold the pelvis down. This can be done several ways. Another person can place pressure on your lower back. Or you can put together a simple way of doing this. It sounds weird but it works! What you do is use an ironing board and either a seat belt or strong strap (like a luggage strap). Place the belt or strap around the ironing board and your waist. This added pressure will help you decide if this exercise can help your lower back pain.
If after trying all the variations of the exercise, your symptoms remain, it is recommended that you see a health care provider for an evaluation.
Don't Forget to Get to the Root of the Problem
The most common cause of low back pain is poor posture. So, if you get relief from this exercise, but don't correct your poor posture, there is a good chance your pain will return. This is critical in getting long term relief. I have seen people improve from correctly posture alone and not even doing the exercises.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Pranayama & Benefits
Nadi shodhana
Pranayama
Nadi shodhana
Bhastrika
Ujjayi
Nadi Shodhana
Steps:
Technique 1: Preparatory practice
Sit in any comfortable meditation posture, preferably siddha/siddha yoni asana or padmassana. (Those who cannot sit in a meditation posture my sit against a wall with the legs outstretched or in a chair which has a straight back) Keep the head and spine upright. Relax the whole body and close the eyes.
Practice yogic breathing for some time
Adopt nasagra mudra with the right hand and place the left hand on the knees in chin or jnana mudra
Close the right nostril with the thumb.
In hale and exhale through the left nostril 5 times.
Be aware of each breath.
After 5 breaths release the pressure of thumb on the right nostril and press the left nostril with the ring finger, blocking the flow of air.
Inhale and exhale through the right nostril 5 times, keeping the respiration rate normal.
Lower the hand and breathe 5 times through both nostrils together.
This is one round.
Practice 5 rounds or for 3 to 5 minutes, making sure that there is no sound as her air passes through the nostrils. After practicing for 15 days go on to technique 2.
Technique 2: Alternate nostril breathing
In this technique the duration of inhalation /exhalation is controlled.
Close and right nostril with the thumb and breathe in through the left nostril.
At the same time count mentally, “1. Om; 2. Om; 3. Om”, until inhalation ends comfortably. This is the basic count.
Breathe deeply with yogic breathing. Do not strain. Close the left nostril with the ring finger, release the pressure of the thumb on the right nostril and while breathing out through the right nostril, simultaneously count, “1 Om: 2, Om; 3, Om. The time for inhalation and exhalation should be equal.
Next, inhale through the right nostril, keeping the same count in the same manner.
At the end of inhalation close the right nostril, counting as before.
This is one round.
Practice 10 rounds.
Benefits:
In nadi shodhana pranayama, due to the deep penetration of prana, the blood receives a larger supply of oxygen than in other types of pranayama The nerves are calmed and purified, and the mind becomes still and lucid.
Its practice keeps the body warm, destroys diseases, gives strength and brings serenity. The vital energy drawn in from the cosmic energy through inhalation, passes close to vital chakras and feeds the glands. The respiratory control center of the brain is stimulated and becomes fresh, clear, and tranquil. The light of intelligence is lit simultaneously in the brain as well as in the mind. This leads to right thinking, and sound Judgement.
Bhramari
Bhraman means walking and Pranayama is Yogic breathing. This is the way through which we practice Yogic breathing or Pranayama, during morning or evening walk. This is included in Sahaj- Pranayama, as Kumbhaka or retention of breath is avoided here. Only Puraka (Inhalation) and Rechaka (Exhalation) are followed in a systematic (slow and steady) manner.
Place: Select a place which is free from dust and smoke. A garden or park is the best place for Bhraman Pranayama.
Time: Morning or evening and obviously not after having food
Steps:
Sit in a suitable yogic posture like Padmasana(lotus pose) or Vajrasana(thunderbolt pose). Cover your ears by pressing the thumbs of both your hands. Place your index fingers on the forehead and let the remaining 3 fingers close your eyes. Inhale through both the nostrils, taking - a real slow deep breath. Exhale through both nostrils and use the throat to make a soft sound, like the buzzing of a bee. Do this 5-10 times.
Do not strain yourself, though. 2 minutes of Anuloma-viloma pranayam before performing bhramari will help you achieve a better concentration.
Benefits:
Besides having a profound effect on ears, nose, eyes and mouth, it enlivens your looks; improves the glamour of the face. Its benefits do not end here - it improves one’s concentration levels, relieves migraine pains, reduces stress and mental agitation, hypertension, and successfully combats and helps prevent many a disease. Practice of Bhramari is beneficial for pregnant women.
Precautions: Practise ‘Brahmari pranayam’ under expert guidance.
Bhastrika
Sit in a comfortable Asana. Breathe in through both the nostrils forcefully, till the lungs are full and diaphragm is stretched. Then breathe out forcefully also, but see that the abdominal cavity does not blow up due to the air breathed in. Depending upon the capacity and health of an individual, this Pranayama can be done in three variable speeds viz. slow speed, moderate speed and at high speed. Individuals with weak lungs and heart should do this at a slow speed while performing Recak and Puraka A healthy individual and one used to doing it, should do it initially at a slow speed and then gradually increase the speed to moderate and then high. This Pranayama should be done for 5 to 10 minutes.
Shiva Sankalpa (Vow) at the time of performing Bhastrika:
While inhaling in the process of doing Bhastrika make a vow and focus in your mind as if all the divine powers, purity, peace and joy, all that is good in the universe around you is entering inside your body and that you are getting filled with the divine powers. Pranayama done with this kind of vow in mind imparts a special benefit to the individual.
Special Notes:
Those suffering from high blood pressure or from any heart disease should not do this Pranayama
While breathing in the abdominal area should not blow up. You have to fill the air in the chest area, i.e. up to diaphragm, so that the part of the chest with its ribs swells
In summer season, reduce the number of repetitions of this Pranayama.
One must do this Pranayama for the duration of three to five minutes every day
Incase both the nostrils do not open on account of ailments like severe cough or sinus etc., for such persons they should first close the right nostril and do respiration (exhalation as well as inhalation) through the left nostril. Then the left nostril should be closed and respiration should be done by the
right nostril. This method of alternate breathing should be continued at the desired speed viz. slow, moderate or fast, till both the nostrils open simultaneously. Then at the end Pranayama should be completed by doing Recak and Pruaka through both Ida and Pingala.
While doing this Pranayama keep both the eyes closed and mentally chant the mantra “OM” throughout the exercise of Pranayama.
Benefits:
Diseases like cold, cough, allergy, asthma, respiratory diseases of all kinds, are cured. Lungs become strong and due to the heart and head getting adequate quantity of pure and fresh air, health is improved. Diseases of the throat like thyroid, tonsils and other ailments of throat are cured.
This Pranayama brings about a proper balance of the three Doshas i.e. Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, and maintains their balance. Blood is purified and the body gets rid of foreign objects and toxins.
Stabilizes Prana and calms mind and helps the upward journey of Prana from Muladhara Chakra (Base Chakra) to Sahsrar Chakra(Cerebral Gland) and helpful in the Kundalini Jagran
Pranayama
Nadi shodhana
Bhastrika
Ujjayi
Nadi Shodhana
Steps:
Technique 1: Preparatory practice
Sit in any comfortable meditation posture, preferably siddha/siddha yoni asana or padmassana. (Those who cannot sit in a meditation posture my sit against a wall with the legs outstretched or in a chair which has a straight back) Keep the head and spine upright. Relax the whole body and close the eyes.
Practice yogic breathing for some time
Adopt nasagra mudra with the right hand and place the left hand on the knees in chin or jnana mudra
Close the right nostril with the thumb.
In hale and exhale through the left nostril 5 times.
Be aware of each breath.
After 5 breaths release the pressure of thumb on the right nostril and press the left nostril with the ring finger, blocking the flow of air.
Inhale and exhale through the right nostril 5 times, keeping the respiration rate normal.
Lower the hand and breathe 5 times through both nostrils together.
This is one round.
Practice 5 rounds or for 3 to 5 minutes, making sure that there is no sound as her air passes through the nostrils. After practicing for 15 days go on to technique 2.
Technique 2: Alternate nostril breathing
In this technique the duration of inhalation /exhalation is controlled.
Close and right nostril with the thumb and breathe in through the left nostril.
At the same time count mentally, “1. Om; 2. Om; 3. Om”, until inhalation ends comfortably. This is the basic count.
Breathe deeply with yogic breathing. Do not strain. Close the left nostril with the ring finger, release the pressure of the thumb on the right nostril and while breathing out through the right nostril, simultaneously count, “1 Om: 2, Om; 3, Om. The time for inhalation and exhalation should be equal.
Next, inhale through the right nostril, keeping the same count in the same manner.
At the end of inhalation close the right nostril, counting as before.
This is one round.
Practice 10 rounds.
Benefits:
In nadi shodhana pranayama, due to the deep penetration of prana, the blood receives a larger supply of oxygen than in other types of pranayama The nerves are calmed and purified, and the mind becomes still and lucid.
Its practice keeps the body warm, destroys diseases, gives strength and brings serenity. The vital energy drawn in from the cosmic energy through inhalation, passes close to vital chakras and feeds the glands. The respiratory control center of the brain is stimulated and becomes fresh, clear, and tranquil. The light of intelligence is lit simultaneously in the brain as well as in the mind. This leads to right thinking, and sound Judgement.
Bhramari
Bhraman means walking and Pranayama is Yogic breathing. This is the way through which we practice Yogic breathing or Pranayama, during morning or evening walk. This is included in Sahaj- Pranayama, as Kumbhaka or retention of breath is avoided here. Only Puraka (Inhalation) and Rechaka (Exhalation) are followed in a systematic (slow and steady) manner.
Place: Select a place which is free from dust and smoke. A garden or park is the best place for Bhraman Pranayama.
Time: Morning or evening and obviously not after having food
Steps:
Sit in a suitable yogic posture like Padmasana(lotus pose) or Vajrasana(thunderbolt pose). Cover your ears by pressing the thumbs of both your hands. Place your index fingers on the forehead and let the remaining 3 fingers close your eyes. Inhale through both the nostrils, taking - a real slow deep breath. Exhale through both nostrils and use the throat to make a soft sound, like the buzzing of a bee. Do this 5-10 times.
Do not strain yourself, though. 2 minutes of Anuloma-viloma pranayam before performing bhramari will help you achieve a better concentration.
Benefits:
Besides having a profound effect on ears, nose, eyes and mouth, it enlivens your looks; improves the glamour of the face. Its benefits do not end here - it improves one’s concentration levels, relieves migraine pains, reduces stress and mental agitation, hypertension, and successfully combats and helps prevent many a disease. Practice of Bhramari is beneficial for pregnant women.
Precautions: Practise ‘Brahmari pranayam’ under expert guidance.
Bhastrika
Sit in a comfortable Asana. Breathe in through both the nostrils forcefully, till the lungs are full and diaphragm is stretched. Then breathe out forcefully also, but see that the abdominal cavity does not blow up due to the air breathed in. Depending upon the capacity and health of an individual, this Pranayama can be done in three variable speeds viz. slow speed, moderate speed and at high speed. Individuals with weak lungs and heart should do this at a slow speed while performing Recak and Puraka A healthy individual and one used to doing it, should do it initially at a slow speed and then gradually increase the speed to moderate and then high. This Pranayama should be done for 5 to 10 minutes.
Shiva Sankalpa (Vow) at the time of performing Bhastrika:
While inhaling in the process of doing Bhastrika make a vow and focus in your mind as if all the divine powers, purity, peace and joy, all that is good in the universe around you is entering inside your body and that you are getting filled with the divine powers. Pranayama done with this kind of vow in mind imparts a special benefit to the individual.
Special Notes:
Those suffering from high blood pressure or from any heart disease should not do this Pranayama
While breathing in the abdominal area should not blow up. You have to fill the air in the chest area, i.e. up to diaphragm, so that the part of the chest with its ribs swells
In summer season, reduce the number of repetitions of this Pranayama.
One must do this Pranayama for the duration of three to five minutes every day
Incase both the nostrils do not open on account of ailments like severe cough or sinus etc., for such persons they should first close the right nostril and do respiration (exhalation as well as inhalation) through the left nostril. Then the left nostril should be closed and respiration should be done by the
right nostril. This method of alternate breathing should be continued at the desired speed viz. slow, moderate or fast, till both the nostrils open simultaneously. Then at the end Pranayama should be completed by doing Recak and Pruaka through both Ida and Pingala.
While doing this Pranayama keep both the eyes closed and mentally chant the mantra “OM” throughout the exercise of Pranayama.
Benefits:
Diseases like cold, cough, allergy, asthma, respiratory diseases of all kinds, are cured. Lungs become strong and due to the heart and head getting adequate quantity of pure and fresh air, health is improved. Diseases of the throat like thyroid, tonsils and other ailments of throat are cured.
This Pranayama brings about a proper balance of the three Doshas i.e. Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, and maintains their balance. Blood is purified and the body gets rid of foreign objects and toxins.
Stabilizes Prana and calms mind and helps the upward journey of Prana from Muladhara Chakra (Base Chakra) to Sahsrar Chakra(Cerebral Gland) and helpful in the Kundalini Jagran
Akarna dhanurasana
This asana involves another system of pulling the leg which gives the impression of a bow with an arrow to be shot and hence, the name akarna dhanurasana. Akarna refers to being stretched.
"Holding the toes (alternately) with hands, pulling them (the toes) up to the (corresponding or opposite) ears, (and thus) assuming the shape of a streched bow. This is called Akarna-Dhanurasana." According to jyotsna commentary by Brahmananda.
Steps:
1. Bend the left leg in knee and keep the foot on the thigh of right leg. Keep the right leg straight.
2. Hold the big toe of the left leg with left hand, and that of the right leg with the right hand.
3. Exhale, and inhaling start lifting the left leg with the left hand and pull it up to the left ear, and stabilize it at that point.
4. Continue normal breathing.
5. After few seconds come back to the original position.
6. Now holding the right leg at big toe by fore finger and thumb of right hand raise it up to the right ear. Again after few seconds come back to the original position. This completes one round of Akarna-Dhanurasana.
Benefits:
1. It is a good posture to remove the pain of back and lumbar region.
2. It increases the elasticity of thigh joint and shoulder.
3. It is also useful in arthritis and rheumatic condition.
Precautions:
1. In this asana the direction of strain is towards the joints of the waist.
2. Persons with weak waist joints should not do this asana as it brings great strain to the joints.
Shavasana
Shavasana
Savasana is the name used to describe the posture that is generally performed at the end of a yoga session. The main aim behind this asana is to provide relaxation to the body after a strenuous session and help it cool down. Apart from that, the asana is also used, in general, to help a person relieve stress, pressure and anxiety. It can even help calm down the mind, to quite an extent. It has been seen that most of the people drift off to sleep while doing Savasana and fail to attain the 'conscious' part of the posture.
First of all, you need to sit in the Dandasana. Sit flat on the ground, with your back straight and your legs stretched out in the front.
Bend your knees lightly and then gradually lean back onto your elbows, in the process lying down evenly along your spine. When your back is parallel to the floor, straighten out the legs as well. Moving one of the legs at a time, carefully place them on
the floor. Try to place your legs the center of the back of the thighs and calves.
Start to relax slowly, first letting your feet fall out to the sides and then, turning your arms outwards.
Rest the arms, on your sides, in such a way that the palms face up.
Stretch the back of your neck and try to rest your head on the center of the back of the scull.
Now, draw your shoulders away from your ears and let them fall back in a comfortable position. Close your eyes and take several deep breaths, feeling your body become relaxed and the tension go away.
Let go of your body completely and allow your breath to become soft, regular and quiet.
Aiming at one of the parts of your body, let it begin to relax and then move to the other parts.
At the end of the asana, stop relaxing consciously and let you body remain in the peaceful mode, for a few minutes.
Tips:
While performing the Savasana, you need to concentrate on the specific body part that you want to relax. Imagine that the muscles as well as the skin of the part slowly relaxing and the stress easing away from them.
When you are doing the asana, if you find yourself getting drowsy at any point of time, increase the rate and depth of your breathing. It will help you overcome the state of drowsiness.
Benefits:
One of the most important benefits of the Savasana is that it helps refresh as well as rejuvenate the body as well as the mind of a person.
Savasana is the perfect asana for those who are feeling too much pressure in their life and need to calm their mind.
All those who are prone to anxiety will find the asana to be quite beneficial.
After doing the asana, you will not only feel to have gained a new energy, but also achieve perfect harmony between the mind and the body.
It has been observed that Savasana helps stimulates blood circulation and also exercises inner organs.
The asana is beneficial for people suffering from nervousness, neurasthenia (a general worn-out feeling), asthma, constipation, diabetes, indigestion, insomnia and lumbago.
Practicing Savasana regularly can help a person improve his focus and concentration power.
Precautions:
Never ever perform this asana under glaring light.
Make sure the surface, on which you are lying down, is firm and flat.
Resist the urge to yawn at any stage of the asana.
At any point of time while performing the asana, do not keep your hands under your head or on your chest
Siddhasana
Siddhasana
Steps:
Sit down with both legs outstretched.
Bend the left knee and place the sole of the left foot against the right thigh so that the heel touches the perineum.
Bend the right knee and put the right heel against the public bone.
Keep hands with palms open if done between sunrise and sunset; otherwise reverse the palms.
The spine should always be held erect.
This is Siddhasana. Once this has been mastered, it is truly a comfortable position for meditation practice.
Benefits:
Practice of this asana helps in concentration and clarity of mind.
It improves memory, digestion and the faculty of the mind.
It is beneficial to those suffering from wet dreams.
Precautions:
Siddhasana should not be practiced by those with sciatica.
For men who are interested in maintaining sexual relations (ie. with no long term commitment to celibacy), use a soft sitting support to lift the genitals high enough so that the base of the penis is not compressed. Take care to situate the heels perfectly in the midline.
Pawanmuktasana
Pawanmuktasana
Pawanmuktasana
Steps:
Legs together hands by the side of your body.
Bend your left leg and grip it with both the hands.
Interlock your fingers and press your thigh against the abdomen.
Breathe deeply (at least five breaths).
Come back to Shavasana
Now repeat the same process on right side
Then with both the legs, pressing your thighs hard against the abdomen
Breathe deeply (at least five breaths).
Come back, straighten your legs and relax
Benefits:
Pawanmuktasan relieves chronic constipation, increasess digestive power, helps in relieving gaseous accumulation and also strengthens the lower spine.
Precautions:
Must be avoided if there is recent abdominal surgery as there is a lot of pressure on the abdomen.
Anyone suffering from hernia or piles should avoid this asana.
Pregnant women should not practice this asana.
If there is any pain, stiffness or injury to the next the head should remain on the floor.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
10) Linga Mudra (Mudra of Heat)
Procedure:
Interlock the fingers of both the hands and keep the thumb of the left hand vertically straight and encircle it with the thumb and the index finger of the right hand.
Effect:
It generates heat in the body. For added benefit, take milk, ghee (traditional Indian clarified butter used for cooking), more spring water and fruit juices.
Time Duration:
This Mudra should be moderately practised as it produces heat in the body. If overly practised, this Mudra can cause sweating, even in winter.
Benefits:
It stops production of phlegm and gives power to lungs
It cures severe cold and bronchial infection
It invigorates the body
End
9) Apana Vayu Mudra (Mudra of Heart)
Procedure:
The tips of the middle finger and the third finger touch the tip of thumb, while the index finger touches the base of thumb and the little finger is extended.
Effect:
It benefits the heart, and reduces the possibility of angina and a heart attack. It also reduces the gas content in body.
Time Duration:
Practise this Mudra as many times as possible. Heart patients and Hypertension patients should practise it for at least 15 minutes, 2 x daily twice, for best results.
Benefits:
It strengthens the heart and regularizes palpitation
It regulates excretory system
It redeems gastric trouble
8) Apana Mudra (Mudra of Digestion)
Procedure:
The tips of the middle finger and third finger touch the tip of thumb while the other two fingers (index and little) are extended.
Effect:
This Mudra plays an important role in general health as it regulates the excretory system.
Time Duration:
Practise this Mudra daily for 45 minutes; however, longer practise times may yield greater benefits.
Benefits:
It regulates diabetes
It cures constipation and haemorrhoids
It helps excreting the normal waste regularly
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