Yogacharya Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani's presenation on "Understanding Yogic Practices: Synthesis of Traditional Wisdom with Modern Scientific Knowledge" delivered for medical students at Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Pondicherry, India.

1. Understanding Yogic Practices:
Synthesis of Traditional Wisdom with
Modern Scientific Knowledge
Yogacharya
Dr ANANDA BALAYOGI BHAVANANI
MBBS, MD (AM), ADY, DSM, DPC, PGDFH, PGDY, FIAY, C-IAYT, DSc (Yoga)
Director CYTER of Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Puducherry, South India.
yoga@mgmcri.ac.in

2. Aim of this session
• To enhance the student’s understanding of
Yogic practices;
• Specifically Pranayama (breath based
techniques of energy enhancement), and
• Dhyana (contemplative practices inducing a
state of meditation).

3. Specific learning objectives
To better understand:
• Purpose and characteristics of Yogic practices
• Types of yogic practices (eg. asana & pranayama)
• Mechanisms, benefits and applications of such
practices in health and disease,
• Mechanisms, benefits and applications of Dhyana
(contemplative practices inducing a state of
meditation) in health and disease.

4. Centre for Yoga Therapy, Education
and Research (CYTER)
Salutogenesis, our focus!

5. Bridging the experiential wisdom of Yoga with
empirical modern medical science.
Yoga is usually found in Physical Edu
& Sports deptts of universities
We at CYTER, have it in a medical
institution since 2010
– quality of life enhancing benefits
for ~ 72,000 patients
– educating future Yoga therapists
(PG Certificates, PGDYT, PhD),
– creating awareness amongst
medical, dental and nursing
students & professionals
– scientifically researching Yoga,
– 137 publications & 7 CMEs.
– IDY celebrations since 2015

6. Salutogenesis, our Focus
• Moving from pathogenesis, the focus on disease
towards salutogenesis, the focus on health!
• CYTER is striding forward on an innovative path
of promoting holistic health for one and all.
Pathogenesis
Salutogenesis

7. Traditional concepts and a
revised modern understanding

9. Health, a dynamic state
• Health is seen as a dynamic movement in a
continuum between total ill-health & total
health

10. And not merely the absence of disease.
Physical well-being
Mental well-being
Spiritual well-being
Social well-being
Definition of Health (WHO)
Health is a
dynamic
state of
complete..

11. ASHTANGA YOGA of Maharishi Patanjali
The 8 limbs are:
• Yama - Social conduct
• Niyama - Self conduct
• Asana - Steady & mindful posture
• Pranayama - Energetic breath work
• Prathyahara - Withdrawal from sensors
• Dharana - Mental focus
• Dhyana - Meditative state
• Samadhi - Absorption in higher states

17. • More parasympathetic
• Slow & static movement
• Muscle tone normalized
• Low calorie consumption
• Low risk of injury
• Energizing activity
• Natural and controlled
• Regenerative
• More sympathetic
• Rapid, forceful movements
• Increased muscle tension
• Higher calorie consumption
• Higher risk of injury
• Fatiguing activity
• Breathing is taxed
• Degenerative on joints
Yoga Exercise

18. Yoga places great importance on a proper &
healthy lifestyle whose main components are:
• ACHAR – healthy physical activities & exercise
• VICHAR – right thoughts and right attitude towards life
that are vital for wellbeing.
• AHAR – healthy, nourishing diet with adequate intake
of fresh water; balanced intake of fresh food, green
salads, sprouts, unrefined cereals & fresh fruits. Sattwic
diet, prepared & served with love & affection.
• VIHAR – proper recreational activities to relax body and
mind are essential for good health.
• VYAVAHAR – healthy relationships for social health

19. What is Pranayama?
• Fourth step of Ashtanga Yoga
• Regulation of inhalation and exhalation
• Science of controlled, conscious expansion of
Prana, the vital life force (Prana + ayama)
• A link between body-emotions-mind-spirit
• An Integral Component of Yoga Therapy
– Acts at Pranamaya Kosha (physiological,
emotional, subtle level)
– Can be either mono therapy / combination

20. 1. Annamayakosha
(Anatomical existence)
2. Pranamayakosha
(Physiological existence)
3. Manomayakosha
(Psychological existence)
4. Vijnanamayakosha
(Intellectual existence)
5. Anandamayakosha
(Universal existence)
PANCHA KOSHA
- 5 levels of human existence

21. Four Phases of Pranayama
exhalation
held out
held in
inhalation

22. Deep breathing is economical *
Normal Shallow Deep
Volume 500 200 1000
Rate 12 30 6
Ventilation 6000 6000 6000
Dead space 150 150 150
Dead space V 1800 4500 900
Alveolar V 4200 1500 5100
* Prof Madanmohan, Former Director CYTER and Head Department of Physiology, MGMC & RI

24. Understanding the Prana
Vayu in a modern
scientific manner for
diagnosis & Rx in Yoga
Therapy

25. Understanding the Prana Vayu in a
modern scientific manner for
diagnosis and management in
Yoga Therapy
Functional energies of :
1. Respiration
2. Communication
3. Circulation
4. Digestion
5. Excretion
Helps us to work
using Yogic
diagnosis rather
than only the
medical one!

27. Rehabilitate
& heal !

28. Relaxation is the key to healing!
• An essential prerequisite for healing.
• We cannot heal when we are stressed.
• Conscious relaxation facilitates self-healing
• All about educing the “Relaxation Response”
• Yoga’s greatest contribution
to modern healthcare!

30. Role of pranayama ratios in
prolonging exhalation phase
thereby reducing HR

32. Reduction in HR lengthens diastole
phase enhances coronary perfusion!
Heart
supplies
itself
only in
diastole!

35. E = mc2

36. E = mc2 Power of the mind!

37. Research in Swara Yoga
Uni-nostril & alternate nostril Pranayama techniques
have captured imagination of researchers world wide.
Recent studies have reported differential physiological
and psychological effects including :
– O2 consumption,
– metabolism and body weight,
– blood glucose,
– involuntary blink rates and intraocular pressure,
– heart rate and heart rate variability,
– stroke volume and end diastolic volume
– galvanic skin resistance,
– digit pulse volume, and blood pressure.

38. Uni-nostril / alternate nostril Pranayamas
Suryanadi asana Chandranadi asana

39. Forced UN / AN breathing
Surya nadi/ bhedana Chandra nadi/ bhedana
• activity phase of BRAC*
• activates SNS
• increases O2
consumption
• increases metabolism
• corrects low BP
• increases HR
• increases body temp.
• rest phase of BRAC*
• reduces SNS activity
• increases GSR
• lowers blood sugar
• decreases BP
* BRAC- Basic Rest Activity
Cycle ~ 90 (80–120) min

40. Advantages of Pranayama as a Therapy
• Doesn’t require any special equipment
• Can be integrated into the daily life
• Can be done by most patients
• Not too taxing
• Can be taught in shorter time
• Can be used with other practices
• Space not a constraint
• Cost effective

41. Drawbacks of Pranayama as a therapy
• Needs :
 Comprehension
 Regularity
 Discipline
 Dedication
 Determination
• Lack of qualified teachers
• Not a magic pill

43. • Dhyana / meditation -
union with our Supreme
Nature.
• Fixing the mind on the
Higher Self with
devotion and discipline.
• Seventh step in
Ashtanga Yoga of
Patanjali.
• Dharana -one pointed
concentration helps us
flow into meditation and
Samadhi
~ Samyama.

44. Maharishi Patanjali says,
• “desha bandhah chittasya dharana” -
concentration is the process of binding the
consciousness to a point, place, region or object
(a duality between SEER -SEEN).
• “ tatra pratyaya ekatanata dhyanam” -
meditation is a STATE where there is a steady &
continuous flow of attention and concentration
on a point, place, region or object (cessation of
duality between SEER and the SEEN).

45. Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary
defines meditation as:
“An intentional and self-regulated
focusing of attention, whose
purpose is to relax and calm the
mind and body.”
Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary. 32nd ed.
Philadelphia: Saunders (2012). 2147 p.

46. According to a mini-review by Innes & Selfe
(Frontiers in Psychiatry2014): Meditation
• reduces perceived stress, anxiety and
depressive symptoms,
• enhances quality of life,
• decreases sleep disturbance,
• improves several domains of cognition,
• reduces sympathetic activation and
• enhances cardio-vagal tone,
both acutely and long term in clinical as well as
non-clinical populations.

47. Meditation promotes :
• beneficial changes in CNS dopaminergic and
other neurochemical (GABA) systems,
• increases blood flow, O2 delivery, and
glucose utilization in specific regions of the
brain associated with
• mood elevation, memory, and
attentional processing,
• including the hippocampus, prefrontal
cortex, and anterior cingulate gyrus.

48. Long-term meditation practice is associated with
• cortical thickening & increased gray matter
volume in brain regions involved in attentional
performance, sensory processing & intero-
ception apparently offsetting typical age-
related cortical thinning and gray matter loss.
Meditation programs can enhance
• immune response and clinical outcomes,
• reduce BP, insulin resistance and glucose
intolerance, oxidative stress, inflammation and
other related risk indices.

49. Potential Underlying Mechanisms
Innes KE and Selfe TK (2014) Meditation as a therapeutic intervention for adults at risk for Alzheimer’s disease –
potential benefits and underlying mechanisms. Front. Psychiatry 5:40. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00040

50. Potential uses
• All stress related conditions
• Anxiety disorders, panic attacks and depression
• Asthma and other respiratory conditions
• Cancer and terminal conditions
• Arthritis including fibromyalgia
• Atherosclerosis, hypertension and CAD
• Stroke, dementia and other neurological conditions
• Chronic pain and sleeping disorders

51. Stress management through Yoga
• Dr W Selvamurthy gave a beautiful
message at SBV recently. He said:
Yoga enables and empowers
individuals to
– Modify their perceptions of the stressors,
– Optimise their responses to them, and
– Efficiently release the pent up stresses.
• We can think of it as a 3-in-1 action!!

52. Healing is multifactorial
Lifestyle Attitude
Relaxation Breathing
Healing

53. Thank you!

54. Gratitude
is the
highest
attitude.

55. www.sbvu.ac.in/cyter