The Artistic Yoga Podcast

Why Yoga? So that we may bring down stress, find peace, to meditate, to improve health, to energize, to heal, to actualise one’s potential, to get enlightened. One can easily find more reasons for “why yoga”. Mention of Yoga can be found in the earliest text known to mankind; the Rig Veda. Yet, the oral tradition that goes further back in time says that Yoga emerged from Tantra, before the Veda. E...

In this final episode, Dr. Bharat Thakur points out that the promise that Yoga, concretely, holds for us, is a complete change. And though each one’s path is as unique as each one is, that path can be made systematic by the individual.  EPISODE 4 SEGMENTS A SCOPE FOR THE INNER WORLD  DIVING INTO THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS   WHERE THE BUTTERFLY HAS NO MEMORY OF THE COCOON CHANGING THE VERY MOLECULE...

The eight limbs or Ashtanga offer a road map on the quest for enlightenment. Yet, these are not rigid or fixed lessons. Rather, they are signposts on a very individual journey. In this episode, we understand that there is a science behind our personal evolution, and it is by participating in it that it has been kept alive over thousands of years by countless Yogi.  EPISODE 3 SEGMENTS EIGHT STEPS T...

While timelines of ancient Indian history are bound to be pushed back in time with the coming of new evidence, we look at the evolution of Yoga through the millennia from the time of the Vedas to now. This establishes the timelessness of both the human quest and the yoga science which is an aid in our journey.  EPISODE 2 SEGEMENTS SCIENTISTS OF THE INNER WORLD A WORTHY GOAL FOR EVERY HUMAN BEING A...

What is the purpose of evolution? It is said that we have evolved from a chain of ancestors which can be traced to a unicellular organism billions of years back. Where is this evolution taking us? Is there a link of the evolution of species with our own individual evolution?  If a lasting sense of wellbeing, peace and happiness is our ultimate evolution, then could we consider the buddhas as havin...

The heart is said to be the core of our being and on this one matter, it seems, the poet as well as the scientist agrees. Is there a connection between the forces of nature which are subtler than the smallest atomic particle and our awareness of the heart?   EPISODE 2 - SEGMENTS VISION OF THE ANCIENTS THAT WHICH IS BEHIND THE ATOM

The Heart - dimensions of Happiness.  We know the heart in two ways - as a vital organ of our body and as the seat of our emotions. The ancients have pointed at the heart in a far deeper way. They draw our attention to the fact that when we have to refer to ourselves, when we say “I”, “me”, “mine”, we tend to point our forefinger, thumb or indeed an entire hand towards the heart, and not towards t...

“tat pratiṣedhārtham eka tattvābhyāsaḥ”. In order to counteract distractions, one should practice concentrating on a single subject.  This is not a call to drop everything and embark on a monastic life. On the contrary, the very details of our lives, painful and not painful are the material with which to go about preparing oneself for that one principle. This concluding episode is not about what t...

Yoga is the path of ’doing’. The concept of Ashtanga however, is very rich and lucid, mainly because of the fact that it has been developed by a whole lineage of Yogi, who have seemed to have attained to that state which we all seek - a lasting of tranquility, insight and energy beyond all doubt. They were also aware that whey they spoke of it, it would be received by disturbed minds, where we mig...

In this blog Dr. Bharat Thakur dwells on a a Sutra from the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali where “adherence to one principle is” is suggested as the means to free ourselves of the ‘antaraya’ or obstacles, that never allows our minds to settle, and create a seemingly endless state of disturbance. We could have one or many of the obstacles identified as sickness, apathy, doubt, carelessness, laziness, sens...

Asana is more than just isometric training .It is a complete protocol of healing that works at the very root of the mental formations that give rise to the possibility of psychological pain. A comparison between exercise and asana will shed light on the multi dimensional approach of Yoga towards healing the body and mind.   EPISODE 4 - SEGMENTS Who’s The Boss Vritti. The Root Of All Things Psychol...

It may seem counterintuitive to have to keep the heart rate low during an intense exercise. Well, that must be just our conditioning because the body seems to want it. A steady and relatively lower heart rate is conducive to fat burn. These are also the ideal conditions for healing.  EPISODE 3 - SEGMENTS Why We Love Fat Keeping The Heart Rate Low Messing With Signals 

EPISODE 2  Survival is a daily struggle for energy. The body does not mind fighting and paying a price if it could secure its energy source. There is a price we pay in terms of oxidative stress that has a corrosive effect on every cell. Can this be avoided? Can we train the body to extract the highest quality of fuel from its reserves without paying the price? The answer seems to be a resounding ‘...

In parts 1, 2 and 3, we have seen that mental illness can occur when we experience chronic stress due to a sedentary lifestyle, but this occurs only because we ignore the signals; pain is a purely physical danger signaling mechanism to help us avoid harmful experiences, but in daily life we experience psychological pain even when there is no danger to our existence, and this seems to be at the roo...

In conclusion, we point out that Asana seems to take care of the question of how to stay motivated in our quest to become mentally well and heal.   We close on this note; which sets the stage for part 4 where we then plunge into Asana, the fourth limb of Ashtanga Yoga.  EPISODE 5 - SEGMENTS What Gives Meaning To Your Life  For The Wisdom To Bloom Self Monitoring. The Art Of Healing  

EPISODE 4 We see athletes, film stars, soldiers and a small band of people who exercise regularly. Is it because they have found a way to stay motivated?  We will see that to successfully lose pain our lives, we need to not just have goals but  enter into what we can call the “goal state”. EPISODE 4 - SEGMENTS The Goal State The High A Motivating Error Right Here And Now .. The Many Faces Of Happi...

In spite of all its benefits, most people find it difficult to be motivated to exercise regularly. We will ask the question; is it because we are not naturally made to exercise ? If yes , then what is the answer?  EPISODE 3 - SEGMENTS The Insight Of Exercise .. Physical Healing Is Mental Healing  Do We Really Like To Exercise An Active Life Exercise. A Recent Concept Out Of Sync With Our Genes A F...

Exercise is now beginning to be considered as the wonder treatment to mental illness. In this segment, we look at all the benefits of exercise; we touch upon the three kinds of exercise and then go in depth into isometric training as the best suited for healing the body and mind. EPISODE 2 - SEGMENTS  Exercise .. A Formal Engagement Three Kinds Of Action  The Three Philosophies Of Exercise Energy...

Part 3: The Mental And The Physical  In parts 1 and 2, we saw that mental illness at its core is a disturbance of the mind. This means that every time we are disturbed, we could say we are temporarily mentally ill.  Pain is intended to be a purely physical danger signaling mechanism. We need physical pain to avoid danger to our body. In a state of mental equilibrium, we experience happiness; but a...

EPISODE 3 Just like we might learn a joyous activity such as skiing or gardening, we learn our illnesses too. The psychological component of pain is all about teaching our nervous system to react in a particular way to a set of circumstances. By implication, we can teach our nervous system to forget or unlearn psychological pain and experience its impact of our physical pain. EPISODE 3 - SEGMENTS...

The nervous system receives signals from the environment and sends them to the brain, which processes these signals based on memory, emotion and intelligence and decides on a course of action. Pain is a way of telling the organism to avoid an experience.  What if it reads pain signals wrong? EPISODE 2 - SEGMENTS The Danger Alarm The Brain Needs To know Avoiding The Pain To Come The Root Of Mental...

How real is pain? One would say quickly, very real. On exploration, it seems that a lot of pain is created, and therefore avoided. A key to this process of unlearning is dealing with fear, that seems to go hand in hand with pain, especially our chronic pains. When it comes to experiencing chronic physical pain, it seems so much part of the very functioning of the body, that healing looks like a hu...

Yoga For Mental Health - Asana Part 1: Shades Of Illness What does it take to be mentally sound? Can we eliminate the very possibility of stress? ‘Dukha’, mental, emotional pain is the result, whatever the disturbance. Can we discover the truth of this? Because to heal, we need to know the disease.  In this final episode of Part 1 we conclude with understanding the importance of knowing the signs,...

Part 2: Shades Of Illness Have we ever noticed our mind, about its tendency to fluctuate, waver between two states, like pain and pleasure, like and dislike, if we have, then have we watched these states close enough, the fluctuation close enough to know if they are real? Are we willing to notice the small disturbances? Maybe our mental imbalances are more like keys that open the doors of our psyc...

Mental health,  so personal and yet a topic we would rather avoid. To just think of someone or oneself as unwell mentally can be difficult for many. Yet, if there is one pandemic that has been rampant for many decades now, it is stress.  What does it mean to be mentally well? Is stress a form of mental illness?  The big insight about these questions is that it's important for each to ask them...