Stress Busters. Chapter 1.

Chapter 1. Going to Bed.

Let us begin from the end of the day - Going to bed.

Ø Leave a gap of at least one hour between dinner and bedtime. Ideal is two hours.

Ø If on a particular day, you have a burning sensation after dinner, drink about 100 ml of cold milk.

Ø Floss your teeth and use a mixture of mustard oil, rock salt, camphor, clove and turmeric to clean the teeth and massage the gums. Clean and massage the hard and soft palate (तालु) gently with the right hand thumb facing up.

Ø Fill up your mouth with water and splash cold water few times on closed eyes before spitting out.

Ø To avoid joint pain apply mustard oil or sesame oil or coconut oil on the feet and knees before going to bed.

Ø After lying on the bed on back, say following prayers or any prayer of your choice with closed eyes.

OM Poorna Madah Poorna Midam ! Poornaat Poorna Mudachyate!

           Poornasya Poornamaday ! Poornameva Vasishyate!

                               OM Shanti Shanti Shantihi !

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदम | पूर्णात पूर्णमुदच्यते |

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय | पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ||

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः |

OM Brahmmaparnam Brahmma Havira ! Brahmmagnau Brahmmanahutam!

Brahmmaiwa ten Gantavyam ! Brahmma Karma Samadhina !

OM Shanti Shanti Shantihi !

ॐ ब्रह्मार्पणम ब्रह्महविर | ब्रह्माग्नौ ब्रह्मणाहुतं |

ब्रह्मैव तेन गन्तव्यं | ब्रह्मकर्म समाधिना ||

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः |

Ø You can either repeat the prayers a few times or say different prayers of your choice. The idea is to pray for 5 minutes and drive away all disturbing thoughts before sleeping.

Ø Do Ujjayi Pranayam (उज्जयी प्राणायाम) 10 times if you have learnt. This will reduce the snoring problem.

Ø Just before sleeping chant Vachik (वाचिक) OM (ॐ ओम)  means OM with sound ten times in following manner while lying down on your back in the bed.

Exhale completely. (रेचक).  Chant Manasik (मानसिक) OM means OM without making any sound while breathing out.

 Take a slow, deep and full breath. (पूरक). Chant  Manasik (मानसिक) OM while breathing in.

Start exhaling slowly. While exhaling say Vachik (वाचिक) “O”(ओ) with mouth open followed by Vachik (वाचिक)  “MA” (म) with mouth closed and tongue touching the junction of hard and soft palate.

 The “O” (ओ) should be about 25 % of your breath and “MA” (म) should be 75 % of your breath. If this is too complicated just remember that “MA” (म) should be much longer than “O” (ओ). The vibrations by chanting “O” (ओ) generate Alpha waves and the vibrations by chanting “MA” (म) generate Theta waves in the brain which subside the turbulence in the brain leading to a good sleep.

Hereafter Vachik will be used for Chanting with sound and Manasik will be used for chanting without sound.

Ø Now pray the almighty for a good sleep and go to sleep while chanting manasik OM or the name of your favorite deity.

Sleeping in an air conditioned room every night is not good for the body. Use air conditioner only if the heat is unbearable.

If you are using ceiling fan in the bedroom; try to change it to a pedestal fan. The air from a ceiling fan hits your body with a force. The air from a pedestal fan flows gently over the body like a natural breeze. Try it and enjoy the difference.    

Ø Doing all this is loving yourself and it is a stress buster.

Remember the following

The 32 teeth are your 32 servants and as an owner you must maintain them in good condition and keep them together. Just try to visualize, how roughly and carelessly you or anyone around is brushing teeth with chemical toothpastes every morning and night, wasting so much water with an open tap. There is no concern, caring or love for your teeth or gums. Any tooth brush may damage the gums and may increase the gap between the teeth. All tooth pastes have some amount of detergent and chalk powder with some chemicals which may not be totally harmless. Instead of that use the oil mixture and enjoy cleaning your teeth and massaging the gums gently with love, care and concern with your middle finger (which represents the Sky, the Ether element) for good 5 minutes. Do not spit the oil every now and then. Once you are done with cleaning and massaging, fill up your mouth with water and then spit. This will not make your sink oily and will not choke it.  Do not forget to massage the top hard and soft palate also with the right hand thumb (which represents Fire element) every time you clean your teeth.

Nasya Kriya. (नस्य क्रिया)

   Once or twice a week put 3 to 4 drops of Anu Tel or homemade ghee in both the nostrils before sleeping while lying flat on your back. Rub both nostrils gently from outside to ensure that the oil or ghee goes well inside. If it suits you, practice it regularly. If it does not suit you then do it once in 2 weeks till you get used to it.

Causes of unrest all over the world.

In this beautiful, glorious but competitive world, most of us get driven mainly by one urge, which is to gain, acquire and possess more and more wealth or power or fame or all of that. We all feel that this will make our short span of life happy, comfortable and satisfied. Many of us achieve the first part but the satisfaction runs further away in the process of the want for more wealth, more power and more fame. We sometimes succeed in achieving certain glories after running madly behind wealth, power and fame but mostly at the cost of good mental and physical health and good life.

 Most of us are engrossed in Me, My wife/husband, My children, My job, My promotion, My investments, My status, My relations, My friends and so on. This is not a multi-dimensional living and it is not good for health. It gives rise to stress. Life should be made interesting and colorful by living in all accepted dimensions like Work, Wealth, Health, Relations, Hobbies, Spirituality and Self elevation.

We push our children too early in the competitive world. The schools and colleges make them examination oriented and they mostly turn out into a storage of data and information. Their childhood and youth is lost in this process under tremendous pressure and stress. We must aim to make them knowledge oriented. The stress and pressure starting from an early stage of life is making our mind also weak along with the body. That is why we see people in all age groups regardless of gender are committing crime and at the same time are committing suicide also.

The philosophy in our four Vedas (वेद), 18 Purana (पुराणे), Upanishadas (उपनिषदे), Yog Vasishta (योगवासिष्ठ), Shrimad Bhagwat (श्रीमद भागवत), Bhagwad Geeta (भगवद गीता)  and other Indian literature is an ocean of knowledge. It is our heritage.  It is a tragedy that it is being labeled as a property of a sect, caste and religion. This philosophy is not the monopoly of   Rishis (ऋषि), Sages (मुनी) and Sanyasins (संन्यासी). Actually it is the art of living good life with healthy body and wealthy mind for all of us. Instead of studying and understanding the message in the literature, lot of talent in the society is being wasted in debating and arguing whether Ramayana and Mahabharata actually happened or not or when it happened. Actually Yog Vasistha is the essence of Ramayana and Bhagwad Geeta is the essence of Mahabharata. This philosophy should be in the syllabus of schools and colleges. Acquiring this knowledge at an early stage of life when grasping power is at a peak will create good humans, then good families, good societies, good nations and finally a good planet to live where there won’t be unrest, fear for each other and terrorism. Wasudhaiva Kutumbakam (वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम) is the only way of survival for this globe. This planet. This earth.

Success comes in variety of forms because of Intelligence quotient, Emotional quotient, Wealth quotient and Spiritual quotient. But if attaining the balance among these quotients is missing then the success does not lead to happiness and satisfaction.

 Yogasanas (योगासन), Pranayam (प्राणायाम), and meditation derived by our Sages help in attaining the balancing quotient for being a good human being with happiness and satisfaction.

 In our hectic lives we achieve many things from the materialistic world only at the cost of health and peace of mind.

Human body is the most complex machine ever made and it is the greatest wonder in the world. A body born under normal circumstances to normal parents (which itself has become an achievement in today's world) is more or less perfect for living a healthy life.

 As we grow, our life style and habits generate imperfections in the perfect body. The flexibility of the backbone maintains good health of the spine which in turn keeps the entire body healthy.

 Adequate supply of oxygen makes the body and immune system strong which protects us from all minor and major ailments.

So our prime duty is to take care of the body given to us by the Five Elements (पंचमहाभूते), the All Mighty as advised by our Sages.

 “Shariram Adya Khalu Dharma Sadhanam”

"शरीरम आद्य खलु धर्म साधनम".

Our ancestors were great researches and scientists. They had designed procedures for maintaining the body and mind in healthy condition and then reaching or merging with the spirit. The Atman (आत्मा). The Brahmman (ब्रह्म).

 This methodology is comprised of Yogasan (योगासन), Pranayam (प्राणायाम) and Meditation. All of us living in Rural or Urban societies are exposed to toxic chemicals, dust and other pollutants via air and water. The pollutants are attacking us slowly and they have both short term and long term effects on our body and mind. Our unhealthy lifestyle and food habits are adding to the damage.

For giving justice to the purpose of our being here in this society and in this world, we have to perform and function efficiently with a healthy body and wealthy mind, and this is becoming difficult day by day for all the age groups and all the genders.

 For a healthy individual and eventually a good healthy society, a half an hour health capsule is designed for all and will be presented in next few chapters in the booklet.

 It should not be taken as a text book on Yogasan (योगासन) or Pranayam (प्राणायाम) or dietary habits. It is aimed at creating an awareness and liking in everyone for taking care of his or her body and mind.

 The author wants you to love yourself and he also wants you to appreciate yourself. Appreciation is the purest form of love. If you love and appreciate yourself then only you can love and appreciate others and all the good things in this world.

 If currently you are not giving any time to yourself, going through these chapters should generate a desire to do something for yourself. The booklet will show you several simple and useful things that can be done in short durations throughout the day. 'I don't have time' is a lame excuse and only expresses our lethargy and negligence towards our precious body and mind. We should remain a student till the end and keep on learning and practicing new things all the time. There may be few things repeated here and there. But those are to ensure that everyone develops a liking to take out time for himself or herself.