Yoga and relaxation for promoting public health: A review of the practice and supportive research

The purpose of this review is to present yoga as an important tool for both disease prevention and health care. Yoga involves a holistic approach that lacks the mechanistic fragmentation of the impact on individual organs and body systems, which arises from much of the specialization found in modern medicine. Lifestyle diseases are increasingly a problem. The incidence of diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, cancer, mental illness and obesity is increasing worldwide. This is true even of countries that, until recently, followed a traditional way of life. Technology, the pace of life, stress, and reduced physical activity serve to degrade the general level of health in societies across the globe. In Western societies, these factors have raised the demand for preventive and therapeutic antidotes, leading Westerners to turn to traditional yoga, which is, however, often modified to the point of distorting its essence. In its original nature yoga is a non-religious, psychosomatic system based on natural laws, inspired by science to act on the body in a way that is integrated into the natural world. The system of Ayurvedic medicine works in parallel with yoga, aiming at the same holistic effect. Both it and the various elements of yoga, in particular asanas (postures), are the means of effecting beneficial changes in psychosomatic functioning. Yoga itself relaxes and strengthens physical movement, focusing particular attention on the mobility of the spine. It is also the perfect medium for achieving mental balance. These properties of yoga have made it useful in the treatment of cancer and other modern diseases, in slowing the body’s aging process, and in achieving general welfare and well-being. More intense forms of yoga practice, such as the ancient method of fitness training called Suryanamaskar, have demonstrated their effectiveness in preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases, respiratory ailments and other conditions.