Managing negative mental health by regulary yoga training

Contents

A Traditional Prayer Seite 3

0 I n t r o d u c t i o n Seite 4

1 Definitions: a) Mental Health, b) Yoga Seite 4

2 Mental Health – Problems in Modern Society Seite 5

3 Commons from Yoga and Western Science Seite 6

4 Yogic Understanding of Negative Emotions Seite 9

5 Yogic tools for the Management of Negative Mental Health Seite 10

6 R e s e a r c h Seite 11

7 R e f e r e n c e s Seite 13

2

Oh God, lead us from the

unreal to the Real.

Oh God, lead us from darkness to light.

Oh God, lead us from death to immortality. Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all. Oh Lord God almighty, may there be peace in

May there be peace on Earth. May the waters be appeasing.

May herbs be wholesome, and may trees plants bring peace to all. May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.

May all things be a source of peace to us. And may thy peace itself, bestow peace on all and may that peace come to me also.

3

0 Introduction

I chose the subject „Managing Negative Mental Health by Regulary Yoga Training“ because it's my field of expertise In my job as an Addiction Therapist, Psychological Counselor and Yogateacher I work with mental disbalanced, addicted and psychological sick people. Everyday I give lectures on mental health and hold group therapy and yoga lessons. I evaluate my work and study the writings of Western therapists and Eastern Yoga Masters on Yoga Psychology. Because of this I come to the conclusion that specific Yoga exercises are very helpful in managing negative mental health. Research at several European, American and Indian universities is going on. I am convinced that the ongoing scientific studies will show again positive results of yogic treatment. In the future Yoga will become very important for public health care systems. In my opinion it make sense to begin with teaching Yoga in schools. Children should be trained in mental pureness, concentration, physical fitness and self-discipline by Yoga. By this way we would prevent many problems such as troubles, difficulties of learning, and psychological problems of children. In India Yoga is a part of University programs. Students can graduate in Yoga, Yoga Philosophy, Education etc. at several Universities such as SVYASA University, located in Bangalore. It is my purpose to establish the Science Yoga as a part of academic University programs. Therefore I create a concept of a Bachelor-, Master- and Doctoral program in the field of Contemplative Psychology. Actually I offer these programs to the public at Bayurveda Academy, Germany, an affiliate of several international universities and yoga schools.

In the following work I want to give an overview about the most important fields of my inspections in the field of Yoga. The citated resp. used literature is listed under „References“.

1 Definitions

a) Mental Health

The concept of mental health refers to the psychological and emotional well-being of a man. Being mentally healthy generally means that a man is able to use his emotional capabilities to function well in society and go through everyday life with little or no difficulty. Some factors that can affect mental and psychological health are negative stress (excessive demand), family problems, dependencies, trouble in relationships, and conflicts at work. Having negative experiences in any of the said areas can deteriorate the state of one's mental health. First symptoms could be: nerviness, ill sleep, headaches etc. It’s necessary to eleminate the causing factors immediately. Ignorance of symptoms is danger. Symptoms can become worse and chronic. Chronic negative stress can damage the action of the heart or irritate the immune system.

b) Yoga

Yoga is a discipline of physical, mental and spiritual exercises. It originates from India and today it's practised worldwide by millions of people. Aspects of Yoga are: body postures, breathing techniques, meditation, chanting of mantras (vocal vibration of words). In some traditions of Yoga also Hindu prayers and Hindu rituals are parts of Yoga practise. Most modern Yoga schools abandon on traditional elements. Yoga practiced in the West emphasizes the physical aspects integrated with breathing and meditation techniques. Actual Yoga publications resp. their titles demonstrate this trend: Sleep Well, Quit Smoking, Improve Your Golf (Ashok Wahi, 2001) etc. (*1).

4