June 18th, 2011
Sunnyvale
Yoga Bharati conducted a workshop on Yoga and Stress Management where close to hundred people attended and enjoyed the event. The workshop was also attended by the doctors and medical researchers who were interested in the ongoing research in yoga and its therapeutic effects.
This workshop was presented by Shri N.V.Raghuram, the spiritual founder of Yoga Bharati and a faculty member at SVYASA (Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation), Bengaluru, India, and Dr.Naveen Vishweshwaraih of FAITHS (Foundation for Assessment and Integration of Traditional Health Systems). Both these institutions are working on bringing research papers on the therapeutic effects of yoga. SVYASA has published over 150 papers on yoga applications for various ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, backpain, autism, cancer and many more.
Shri Raghuram presented the concepts of yoga and its effect on Stress. He showed the example of Arjuna’s mental condition in Bhagavad Gita and explained that his sudden decision to withdraw from the inevitable war imposed on them, his trembling hands and legs and his hesitation to fight the war in the battlefield showed the signs of anxiety disorder. “Krishna explained him the concepts of yoga and counseled him to come out of his confusions to take his own battle decisions. Simple and profound yogic counseling of Krishna could relax Arjuna to get clarity of mind even in the battlefield” said Shri Raghuram. Raghuramji also explained how yoga can help us in handling our stress in day-to-day life and how we all can learn from the example of Arjuna.
Dr. Naveen presented the research side of yoga in the most elegant and amazing manner. He began with how yoga can help counter stress by giving examples from Patanjali Yoga Sutras and then quickly moved into the most exciting part of the program by showing us the graphs and charts on the effects of different asanas, pranayama and meditation on the psycho-physiology of our personalities. He presented the research on the ability to control involuntary systems of the body such as heart rate, body temperature by the yogis and also showed how the prefrontal cortex of a yogi looks like, using EEG and other clinical neurophysiology tools.. He also demonstrated the research data on heart rate variability of postures such a Shirshasana (head stand) and practices like Kapala Bhati, Nadi Shuddhi (alternate nostril breathing) and single nostril breathing like Surya anuloma viloma (right) and Chandra anuloma viloma (left) and their effects on psycophysiology parameters such as oxygen consumption, blood pressure, galvanic skin resistance, memory and grip strength, spatial memory, etc, using the bio-feedback tools. He then explained SVYASA’s Cyclic Meditation Technique and its effect on stress management and also the physiological effects of Cyclic Meditation such as respiration, peak amplitude, peak latency, memory scores, etc.
After Dr. Naveen’s presentation, the audience enjoyed the practice of Cyclic Meditation by Shri N.V.Raghuram and at the end was Q&A session where the audience flooded Dr.Naveen with questions which were all answered effectively. The doctors present in the audience were excited over the research data presented and they expressed their interest in working on bringing yoga and its research to their patient community. Sri N.V.Raghuram is a professor at SVYASA University and the spiritual founder of Yoga Bharati. With more than 20 years of yoga experience, Sri Raghuram conducts workshops and yoga discourses during several retreats and conferences around the world. He has been instrumental in starting yoga therapy programs in many hospitals and medical research centers in US and Europe.
Dr. Naveen. Visweswaraiah is the Director, Foundation for Assessment and Integration of Traditional Health Systems [FAITHS], Bengaluru. He is also a Co-Principal Investigator at ICMR Center for Advanced Research in Yoga and Neurophysiology and Associate Professor at SVYASA.