Effect of Yoga Practices and Physical Exercises on Health: The Comprehensive Impact of Yoga on Health and Well-being

Abstract

For modern epidemic diseases such as emotional fatigue, obesity, diabetes, asthma, coronary heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, yoga has been the focus of study in the past several decades for medicinal purposes. Individual reports report the positive impact of yoga under these circumstances, suggesting that it may be used for the management of these circumstances as a non-pharmaceutical measure or as a supplement to opioid therapy. However, for medicinal reasons, some reports also included only yoga asana, pranayama, andor brief bursts of meditation. There's still the same common understanding of yoga, which is not right. Yoga literally implies the fusion of the mind of the person with the divine consciousness. It comprises eight yoga rungs or limbs, namely yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, dharana, dhyana, pratyahara, and samadhi. This rigorous meditation contributes to self-realization, which is the key purpose of yoga. An objective glance at the rungs and aim of yoga reveals that it is a comprehensive form of life contributing to a state of full well-being and peace with nature emotionally, psychologically, mentally, and spiritually. This is in comparison to industrial civilization's solely economic and material evolutionary target, which has brought societal instability and ecological destruction.