Dear Friends,
Namaste!
During the last meeting, we understood the logic in Ayurveda and Yoga-Shastra behind doing Yoga in the morning (or evening). In this discussion, we will look at this question from a couple of more angles.
The first one is from the point of view of modern medical science. The atmospheric pressure during the times ‘when there is natural light in the environment but we cannot see the sun in the sky’ is at its lowest. We know from the laws of physics that energy always travels from a point of high energy to a point of low energy. That is to say, heat transfer takes place from a hotter to a colder substance. Things tend to ‘fall’ from a higher to a lower altitude. Similarly, higher pressure tries to fill up the vacuum created by the lower pressure by flowing out from higher pressure and flowing in to lower pressure.
Thus, low atmospheric pressure in the morning and evening between 6 to 7 o’clock causes our body to lose “Prana” (life-force) to the external environment. This “Prana” is usually breathed into our lungs as “Prana-Vaayu” (literally translated as ‘gas containing life-force’ but more commonly known as simply ‘oxygen’). Oxygen is absorbed in our blood and through the circulatory system, supplied to the rest of our body. Our blood contains (along with red blood cells), white blood cells called leucocytes. These leucocytes store and use the life-force to destroy unwanted elements such as bacteria by feeding on them. This helps protect our body. So, more the life-force or oxygen we breathe in, better does our immune system work and keep us full of life!
However, drop in atmospheric pressure before sunrise and after sunset causes “Prana” to flow out of our bodies and leucocytes emit “Prana” as oxydases. Oxydases are oxygen carriers and produce oxidation. They are mainly found as intra-cellular enzymes and are important in tissue respiration. When leucocytes get depleted of “Prana”, their ability to protect our body by destroying bacteria reduces. This makes our body more vulnerable to bacterial attacks.Therefore, it is necessary to replenish life-force within the leucocytes by practising Ashtanga-Yoga.Ashtanga-yoga practice includes a limb (“Pranayama”) specifically dedicated to increasing life-force levels within our body and when we perform “Pranayama” as a part of our Ashtanga-yoga practice, the leucocytes become full of beans (read “Prana”) and effectively go about destruction of bacteria and keep us healthy.
One more reason for practising Yoga between 6 and 7 is the distraction factor. This distraction can be at three levels – activity, emotions and thoughts. Since the day is just beginning or ending for other beings, their activity levels between 6 and 7 are at their lowest. Our mind is also fresh from a good night’s rest. These two facts make it much easier for our Yoga practice to become mindful. And as we become more mindful, our effectiveness (doing the right thing) and efficiency (doing things right) goes up exponentially. The collective emotions within the environment are more peaceful and tranquil compared to other busier times of the day. Quite a few people are still sleeping or calling it a day and the ‘noise’ at thought level is also relatively less. In fact, since most of the other Yogis are also practising Yoga at these times, their collective thoughts form some kind of a force which makes Yoga practice for all more conducive. We shall see later on how our thoughts are also a physical reality (electromagnetic waves emitted by our brain) and how they play a very important (rather, the most important) part in giving rise to gross activity at physical level and shape the world and our destiny. However, we seldom pay thoughts their due credit as they operate at a subtler level and it becomes a case of “out of sight, out of mind” for us.
Lack of distraction and ‘noise’ in the environment, the good rest our body and mind have had overnight and the synergy of thoughts incurring from all Yogis doing their practice at the same time; all come together to make our Yoga practice a joyful journey we never fail to undertake every morning – day in and day out. Respectfully beginning the practice at the same time and place everyday requires benevolent resolve (“Yama”) and discipline (“Niyama”). Our well-rested body is itching to warm-up, do the postures (“Asana”) and become bouncy like a freshly inflated football. Early morning’s fresh air eggs us to breathe fuller and more evenly (“Pranayama”), less distractions enable us to do better sense-control (“Pratyahara”) and pave the way for better concentration (“Dharana”), meditation (“Dhyan”) and getting into the ‘zone’ (“Samadhi”). No wonder Ashtanga-yoga practice feels “fuller” in the morning than any other time of the day!
Let’s discuss the “where” part next week.
Adieu.
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