Fit and Youthful Life

Guest Author: Dev Sri


Yoga, the extreme heights of peacefulness attained through the silencing of the soul.

Yoga, the oldest way of spiritual practice is one of the six schools in Hindu philosophy. Towards the end of twentieth century, yoga teachers moved to the West and travelers from the West to India led to the flourishing of Yoga in western countries. In the West, yoga gives stress on different postures associated with it. The Bhagavad Geetha, The Upanishads, The Yoga Sutras of Patajali, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Yoga Rahasya and many other Hindu texts holds writings based on Yoga.

Classification:

Karma yoga- Yoga of action

Jnana Yoga- Yoga of wisdom

Bhakti Yoga-Yoga of devotion

Raja Yoga- Yoga of meditation

Yoga, the science of liberation helps its disciples to reach the extreme point of liberation. Since Yoga has a basic therapeutic healing power, is practiced together with other medications. Ashtanga Yoga and Ayurveda is simply mixed in the practice of Yoga.

Yoga lay emphasis on the body, mind and the emotional area of a person. At the final stage the Yogi (one who practice Yoga) reaches the ‘moksha’ stage where there is no interruption of thoughts occurs. Concentration and meditation are indivisible parts of Yoga that infills the meditator with the extreme pleasures of peace and joy.

According to Hinduism, yoga is practiced to attain the union with the God and Buddhism says Yoga as a practice that deepens wisdom, thought and insight. Western countries give emphasis on individualism. Yoga is a practice to spiritual awareness and insight for a normal person.

Yoga Therapy:

Yoga Therapy is an extensive healer that promotes positive health. Anxiety, hypertension, heart problems, asthma, diabetes, etc are some of the conditions in which Yoga is applicable. Yoga therapy is approved by the Medical Researchers as it is found to be effective in most of the ailments. Yoga therapy is an effective stress manager. It includes physical postures, breathing techniques and other relaxation methods.

Sri Ramakrishna Parama Hamsa, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Sivananda, Parama Hamsa Yoga Nanda, Mira Bhai from Bhakti tradition, Sankaracharya from jnana tradition, etc are some of the celebrated yogis of the ancient India.

Guest Author: anonymous


What’s next; will we have to pay a toll to meditate? How can it be morally correct to gain a US patent on a 5,000 year old system founded in India? Who should have the right to claim Yoga?

What about the “cultural heritage of the Indian people?” It is obvious to see, Yoga is definitely part of the heritage of Indian culture.

Most of us believe that the theft of intellectual property is wrong, but let us combine this wrong, with theft of someone else’s cultural heritage for profit.

According to the Times of India, “The US Patent and Trademark office has reportedly issued 150 Yoga-related copyrights, 134 trademarks on Yoga accessories, and 2,315 Yoga trademarks.”

As a result, the Indian government has organized a group to gather Sanskrit and Tamil texts, which will catalog Yogic techniques and Ayurvedic medicine in multiple languages, to prevent patents of Yoga and Ayurveda. This action would make information about Yoga, and Ayurveda, more accessible to patent offices around the world.

What can happen if corporations buy up every Yoga technique? It seems silly to think about, but would we be obligated to pay royalties, or negotiate rights, to perform an Asana or Pranayama sequence?

One Yoga teacher, Bikram Choudhary, copyrighted a 26 Yoga posture (Asana) sequence, which he claimed as his own. Yet, most “hot Yoga” teachers, and hot Yoga studios, around the world, perform the same sequence, without paying him a dime. How do you police an Asana sequence?

Consider this: If you buy the patent to Brahmari Pranayama, how do you manage to keep track of who is performing it in every corner of the earth? The idea is ludicrous, and the patent is not really enforceable.

Yoga is a complex subject and some people are still trying to grasp what Yoga is. Some people think Yoga is exercise. I suppose you could patent an exercise, but it has never been a successful business strategy to patent an exercise.

Every time you trademark an exercise, another person will label it as something similar, but not the same. You cannot stop everyone in the world from doing push-ups because you bought the trademark and patent.

However, Yoga is not an exercise. Yoga is the unity of mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional health, for the improvement of all mankind. Yoga is a philosophy, a science, a health maintenance system, and the “Mother of all self-improvement systems.” Yoga is just too vast a subject to try to own it.

The purchasing of Yoga patents is a lesson in futility. Should we buy patents for mantras, breathing, good posture, and eating right? Those are also valuable components of Yoga, but one component of Yoga is not all of Yoga. Yoga is composed of many parts. Maharishi Patanjali wrote that Yoga is composed of eight limbs in his Yoga Sutras.

According to Swami Ramdev, “Yoga can’t be owned and run like a company. Since there are attempts to patent this tradition (of Yoga) in America, the Centre and Yoga organizations should take measures to prevent it.”

He is not the only Guru who is disturbed by the patenting of Yoga. This is disturbing to most Yoga practitioners and Yoga teachers. So, what can the rest of us do about it? We can take action by writing, Emailing, and faxing our law makers.

Stop the foolishness – Say, “No,” to Yoga patents.

Copyright 2007 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications