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Relaxation II - Close the account at night.
By Rishi Dharmachandra (Gandhar Mandlik ) - Rishi Dharmachandra
is a course coordinator at Yoga Vidya Gurukul, he is teaching and practicing yoga
for the last 12 years. He was initiated in to Rishi Sannayasa by his Guru Swami
Niranjanananda Saraswati.
Relaxation II - Close the account at night.
One of my teachers told me his secret of youthfulness and tremendous
energy at the age of 85 years. He told me that he tries to close the daily account
without any balance or carrying anything forward to the next day. It was a very
simple answer but with very deep thoughts attached to it.
In the day we have so many things happening to us, so many emotions are expressed
and not expressed, so many thoughts expressed or not expressed, these thoughts are
capable of stimulating many negative emotions such as anger, hatred, jealousy, fear,
insecurities, worries, desires etc. Various hormones are secreted in the blood by
the endocrine glands such as the pituitary, adrenals, thyroid and so on. These hormones
(adrenaline, cortisol, noradrenaline etc.) prepare our body for the situation arising
out of these emotional disturbances. However, many times the situation, thoughts
or emotions are not expressed completely, or the situation does not become normal,
the stress remains in the mind continuously, which makes these hormonal levels higher
than normal for a longer period of time. This is the cause of the physical and mental
problems that we have.
If, at the end of the day, we can try and balance these thoughts and emotions the
hormonal levels can become normal. If we do not want to carry forward the stress
of the day to the beginning of tomorrow we need to make an effort to resolve these
daily stressful issues before going to bed.
The following are some of the recommendations by Yoga Masters.
- Swami Niranjanananda recommends unwinding - before going to bed practice meditation for about 15 minutes to reflect on the things that have occurred in the day. After that he recommends relaxation with body awareness.
- Chanting of mantra - It is an important recommendation made by many Yoga Guru?s, one should chant for at least 2 rounds of 108 before going to bed. The Guru mantra (the personal mantra given by Guru) is best recommended as this mantra connects to your inner nature and balances your body and mind. Also one can chant Omkar or Mahamrityunjay mantra for 10 minutes.
- Pratipakshabhavanam - Patanjali has used this word which means cultivating opposite positive emotion about the person or event to balance the negative emotion one has. For example, if you are angry with someone then try and develop compassion in your mind for the same person, this technique definitely relaxes the mind and helps balance the strong negative emotions.
- Acceptance and surrender - Whatever has happened, if we accept that event and surrender to the cosmic energy or universal laws (GOD or mother nature) then we can free our mind from past events of the day and also the worries that these events bring related to tomorrow. Acceptance frees the mind from dwelling in the past and surrender stops the mind from worrying about the future, so the present moment is relaxation and peace.
Before sleep, if the tensions and stressful thoughts are resolved then the sleep is of a better quality. The body can reenergise itself and the mind can regain its strength. In sleep, the deeper mind works on finding solutions to our problems. Good sleep has all the benefits related to our physical and mental health. The next day becomes relaxed and peaceful. Overtime this will lead to better physical and mental health and of course, a long healthy life.
Rishi Dharmachandra (Gandhar Mandlik)
