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Part 1: Yoga for a Better Life: Harmony, Health, and Inner Peace Oṃ Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaḥ, Sarve Santu Niraṃayaḥ, Sarve Bhadrāṇi Paśyantu, Mā Kaścid Duḥkha Bhāga Bhaveta. Oṃ Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ. May all be happy, may all live in harmony, may all live in peace, may all be healthy, and may no one suffer pain. Peace, peace, peace. Good evening, dear brothers and sisters. It is my first time here in this beautiful place, Dubai, to share with you a glimpse of yoga in daily life. As Niranjan or Joltan told you, this system, Yoga in Daily Life, is one he has been practicing for more than twenty years. He came to Dubai a few years ago and was always asking me to visit. So, on my way to India, I stopped here, and I am with you. Welcome to all of you this evening. I see there is a more international delegation here. Is there someone who is native from Dubai? One. Well, at least one. Thank you. Welcome. Yoga in Daily Life is a worldwide organization and practice system. Yoga is a very ancient science of body, mind, consciousness, and soul. Yoga means balance—the balancing principle which balances all the elements: body, mind, emotion, intellect, and consciousness. Yoga means harmony. When everything is balanced, then there is harmony. We need harmony within ourselves, we need balance within ourselves, we need harmony and balance in our life, in our family. Where balance and harmony are, there is oneness, union—the union of the individual consciousness with the cosmic consciousness, or the unity in our life with family, with society, and with the world. These three—balance, harmony, and unity—make our life comfortable and healthy. Of course, yoga is one of the most ancient sciences, and it has many different ways of achievement through practice. This evening, the subject given is yoga and good health. Is that true? I didn’t see the poster. "Better life." Then we have today "yoga and a better life." I would say it is health. A better life has many meanings, but one of the philosophers said, "Health is not everything, but everything is nothing without health." Who is happy in this world? That one is happy who is healthy. Health cannot be bought in the supermarket; we have to gain it. When a person is healthy, physically and mentally, then that person has a healthy way of thinking. A healthy way of thinking means that you wish good for society, you wish good for your family, you wish good for yourself, and you wish to have a better, comfortable, material life. But the material life can only be realized if you are healthy. So again, we come to the point: health. Achieving health. There are many different ways. First of all come movements and nourishment. These are the two best ways to health: healthy nourishment, a healthy way of eating. Nowadays, the fast food coming into modern society more and more is not so healthy for our body. It will not be healthy or good for your children or our coming new generation. A sattvic, balanced diet, and in yoga we always advise leading a vegetarian life. Organic food is not written in yoga because, at that time, everything was organic. Unfortunately, since the beginning of the last century, humans have begun to pollute our planet with so many chemical things. That’s why we think that we should eat organic fruits, vegetables, grains, and so on. After this food and nourishment come the movements. Now, the food itself, what we say, is not only physical food—not only bread, butter, or fruits and vegetables. But what we need, one of the best foods, is called environment. A happy environment. A happy family, happy friends, happy colleagues. A harmonious environment can make us healthy. If we live in an environment which is very bad, full of conflicts, jealousy, hate, and fighting, then we are constantly unhappy. That will cause damage to our physical as well as mental health. So, the environment is also a nourishment. In a happy, relaxed, healthy environment, we will feel healthy. So here our first duty is that we shall turn our life in a positive way at home to create a good environment. If in some family a person is abusing drugs, someone is abusing alcohol, and others are fighting, then there is no harmony. There is no good atmosphere, no good environment. Second is the environment, and third is mental health: a positive way of thinking, not to be angry. We know things are not like that in our life as we wish. But what to do? So in English they used to say, "Take it easy." So how to lead life easily? Though there is a problem, we should not use our aggression, we should not use our hate, jealousy, or conflicts. Is there a way that we can come out of this environment, which is an aggressive environment? Last Friday, we had a World Peace Conference in Hungary. Some of you may have been looking at our webcast, some may not have known, but you can look anytime. The conference will be repeated again on the website, as they call it. What is it? Swamiji.tv. That’s it. So why am I telling this? It is a simple thing but has very deep meaning. One of the speakers at that conference was the grandson of Mahātmā Gāndhī. Who does not know the name Mahātmā Gandhi? Is there anyone who does not know? So we know the Gandhis. His grandson was there, and he gave an example. I would like to make this experiment with you. Alright? Or are you afraid? No. Very good. So, you have to find a companion, a friend. So, two-two, join two-two. Okay? Yes, this is not a problem. Now, if you don’t mind, please hold your companion’s hands like this. One hand, yes? That’s it. Very good. Thank you. Okay, so now you are companions, okay? We are all friends, we are not enemies. Okay, that’s all. Good, you can leave it here. Now, one of the companions, your friend, should close the fist, like this. One of you, not both, one. Okay? So it’s like this. Now, it means in his or her hands, there is a diamond. Suppose, okay? And now you open the fist of your neighbor, your companion. And you should keep it tight. Don’t, yeah. Now you have to open his, try to open the fist. No, no, not like this. He’s holding, yeah. Now you have to try to open. Okay, you are trying to open. Yes, do it. But he didn’t try to hold, so try. Okay, that’s enough. Now, what you did, you tried your best to open. No? You tried, you used your strength. Now, it means you were using your aggression to open the fist of your partner. You were trying hard to open it, and that’s it. In little things, we use our energy. We use our aggression. No one said, "Please, just open it." And so this was an example, which is what he said was given by his grandfather, Gandhījī, that you should not use your energy unnecessarily and you should not use your aggression. Similarly, this closing fist can be any situation at home, with your wife, with your husband, with your friends, with your children, or with your neighbors. So, how will you solve it without using anger? We know through friendliness, through kindness, we can come through. If you use violence, then the other one will also use violence. Then you try to open the fist with your energy; the other one also uses the energy to keep the palm closed, right? So, environment and mental environment. Mental environment means thinking. How you think, like that you will act. And how you will act, like that you will get. So, the nourishment, environment, mental environment or thinking, and movements. Like this, there are certain things in our life; if we observe, our life can become better, our life can become comfortable, or our life can be good. Understand? Okay. Now, the word yoga, yoga, it means joining. Two become one. That’s called yoga. In yoga, we have many different kinds of exercises. There are physical exercises, there are breath exercises, there are mental exercises, there is concentration, there is meditation, there are some kriyās, there is also kuṇḍalinī yoga, there are cakras, mantra yoga—there are many, many different techniques. We come today to the āsanas and prāṇāyāmas, and of course, after, in the questions, you can ask me questions, and I will try to answer. We have in yoga three different kinds of movements. One is called dynamic movement. This dynamical movement warms up our body. So that’s called body warming exercises, which will make it easier for you to perform or demonstrate your physical exercises. If you see the Olympic Games champions or sportsmen and all, they are warming up their bodies before they come to run or anything they are doing, or the football player or tennis player. So, body warming exercises. This body warming exercise is known as a dynamic movement. Counterpostures. If you bend forward, then you have to bend backward also. So, keeping the balance. And in this dynamical movement, there should be space between for the tolerance. Means, don’t overdo. Keep a space for your muscles to relax slowly and feel comfortable. After these dynamic movements comes the stretching. Stretching movements will remove the stiffness of the muscles, ligaments, and so on, through stretching postures. Also, slowly. So you are stretching, you don’t remain too long, then you come back and go to the counter pose again. Stretching will release the tiredness from your muscles. Stretching will supply more blood to your muscles and provide better circulation in the body. Now, when the body feels warm—I mean not hot that you are sweating; outside is warm, and you said, "Okay, I’m coming from outside, I don’t need to be warming up my body"—that warmness is different than the warmness from the exercises. So stretching, this stretching will create energy in your body. Stretching will begin to influence the gland systems in the body. We have so many glands, and our hormones depend on the gland systems. So then we come to the postures called yogāsana. Yoga exercise is what you call here, and this posture will influence your gland systems and your blood circulation very nicely. So now we make another experiment, okay? So, people can see if you sit a little far. Yeah, there. Yes, the people can see you. Yes, very good. Come. So, we need one more mat. Our dear Madhurī made up her mind, okay? Okay. It will not be, I’m not going to show you how to do a headstand or standing or something like that. Just a simple thing. Madhuri, you can come this side. Thank you very much. Okay, very good. Well, now they sit in Vajrāsana. You know this posture? And you are living here in these Islamic countries, and they are doing this when they are praying, sitting in this posture. That’s a very, very good posture. Okay? Now, it’s not only that they are sitting like this. When you sit like this, with hands on knees, our spinal column is very naturally straight. We relax automatically, so the shoulders are very relaxed. When the shoulder is relaxed, then the neck is very relaxed. So it means the neck tension will disappear. Many people have a problem when they wake up in the morning; then the neck is very tense. And this is the way, again, to make your neck relaxed and feeling without pain. When the neck is relaxed, the neck muscles, then your jaw is automatically relaxed. You are not biting your teeth. It means when the jaw is relaxed, then here we have called the temple. This part is in tension. So please, can you touch with your two or three fingers this part, here, this part, and now bite your teeth. You feel the tension and relax the jaw; it is relaxed. Many people have headaches because they are constantly biting their teeth or grinding their teeth at night. So if you feel a little tension, or a headache, or tiredness, let’s say, from looking at the computer, typing, looking, reading the computer, you feel heaviness. So, what we do again, please: your three fingers, these three fingers together, place here, not here. Not here. Here. And now, leave your jaw a little relaxed. Don’t bite your teeth, but keep your lips closed. Not like this. And now, slowly, clockwise, massage this point. Anti-clockwise. Hey girl, you are doing wrong. Keep your fingers here. I didn’t say massage like this. Keep your fingers in one place. Fixed. Backside. More. More. Yes. So thank you. This is a self-help, okay? Quick help, self-help now. So it means your head becomes lighter. And in this posture, if you close your eyelids, you will feel an immense release of tension, mental tension. But eyelids very gently closed. Make sure that your eyebrows are not in tension. Try to relax this forehead, skin, or eyebrows area. Very good, sorry. When the eyebrow center is relaxed, this tension is removed. Now your concentration will increase double, especially for the students, for the kids in school. When they relax this, then they will have better concentration for learning and remembering everything. We expand more your diaphragm. It means we are able to inhale more oxygen, more breath in, and slowly exhale. So without our knowing, without trying, automatically you are breathing a deep and relaxed breath. Part 2: The Benefits of Vajrāsana and Khaṭu Praṇām Deep and relaxed breathing will remove emotional or psychic depression; it will release it. There will be no depression. When our trunk is relaxed, the digestive system begins to function naturally very well because the stomach is free. In tense times, the stomach and muscles are pressed. When we sit hunched, we are suppressing ourselves. Then we will have problems with constipation, gastric issues, digestion, and many other things. But now, as you see, it is very difficult for Madhuri to sit like this. Are you okay? Yes, I told you it will be very relaxed, especially for you. So, it’s very relaxed. Now, one of the postures you can do, or should do after eating, is to sit in this position for a minimum of five minutes. Very slightly, our thigh muscles are stretching, and the calf muscles too. If you have seen a person who is jogging—jogging 10 km, 5 km, 2 km, 3 km, depending on practice—then after certain kilometers of running, he or she finds a tree. But here on the beach there are fewer trees, or they find a wall. And what do they do? They support one hand on the palm, on the tree, or on the wall, and with the other hand they bend one knee, hold the foot, and pull it together to the body. Did you see that? Why? Because that will release the tension which you were getting through running, or cycling, or walking. Mahāprabhudīp Karatā, Mahāprabhudīp Karatā, Mahāprabhudīp Vajra Nāḍī. Vajra means strong. This person is very strong, like iron—an iron man, an iron lady—with strong willpower. So Vajra means strong. That will, here, means that energy will give you strong energy and will develop willpower. So now, only this one posture, sitting like this comfortably, has so much benefit. It awakens a lot of energy in our body and will solve many problems just by sitting like this for one minute or two minutes. And we call this Vajrāsana. Clear? Now, with this, we have developed ten different movements that are called Khaṭu Praṇām. When the body is relaxed and the muscles are relaxed, then we would like additionally to stretch the muscles. Now, slowly while inhaling, raise hands up. One. Again, what happens? The side muscles, also the front muscles, are stretching. At the same time, the shoulder muscles are pressed together, the side muscles are stretched, and the fine muscles parallel to our spinal column are also suppressed. So please, can you also try once more? You also? Sit straight first. Slowly, slowly. First, sit straight, and now place your hands on your thighs, and slowly stretch your hands in front, in the front only. And now, see what’s happening when you are stretching your hands up. We have time. Slowly, bring the hands more together. So you feel the side muscles stretching. Also, now you feel a lot of circulation. Blood is flowing down. And slowly, bring your hands down, please. You are not. The demonstrator is not. Okay? Now you can put your hands down. I don’t want you to bless all this, Swamiji. Okay, now, through this stretching and sitting like this, concentrated blood circulation moves more down toward the heart and this part of the body. But we need more circulation also towards our head and face, ears, eyes, nose, and the five jñānendriyas, the senses of knowledge, the five senses. So, to support that, more circulation comes towards our brain. The tiredness will be removed, and you will feel very relaxed and fresh. So, one, up, hands, stretch your hands and try to touch your thumbs together, and now slowly bend forward. Toes, elbows touching ground, forehead touching ground, and you relax. That is very nice, immense circulation, blood flowing towards the head. And this posture is especially good for persons who have depression or who feel mentally tired. Or all the time, you are tired, trying to drink coffee or trying to drink this and that to remain awake. So, this coffee and everything is in this posture. You just relax. So again, come up please slowly. Yes, come up. Hands up and hands down. If you notice the difference in their face color, now their face color is a naturally very nice red. Before, it was maybe from cosmetics, but now it is a natural cosmetic. If you have a problem with your eyesight, I tell you, it’s not only saying, after 10 days you will feel the difference. And if you do this every day for one year, your eyesight will improve; it will be much better. Also, hearing will be better, your nose, sinuses, everything will be very, very nice. The vocal cords will be better. If one is very nervous, has anxieties, uncertainty, no concentration, or is mentally tired, this exercise is a blessing. Nothing can be better than this. So again, one. And now something for shoulder muscles, arm muscles, thigh muscles, and so on. We will see what’s happening. Three. Now the body itself is introducing what is happening with the different parts of the body. The muscles—either some part of the muscles are pressed together, others are stretched. Now, the entire front muscles are stretched. Even when your nose is often closed when you sleep, this is the exercise which will open the nostrils; it will help. Also, for the throat muscles, the neck muscles are pressed together, the chest muscles, the stomach muscles, the thigh muscles, everything is stretched, and other parts are pressed together. They call it in yoga Cobra, Bhujaṅgāsana. Now, generally, a cobra doesn’t stay like this. A cobra is very happy and relaxed; it is just rolling. But when the cobra feels threatened or angry, then it raises its head up. And because of this posture, there is in our body one cakra called Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra, which is the center of aggression, fear, jealousy, hate, and so on. So if we do this posture, then automatically the center is released, such energy that our fear, aggressivities, everything goes away, and we begin to think, "Well, it’s not good to be angry like this." We will not use violence. Now, again, you will see what’s happening with five. Now, this time again, the back muscles are all from the foot sole, heels on the ground, from the foot sole till all the back muscles, the calf muscles, the thigh muscles, the buttocks, the back muscles, all are stretched very nicely. And other parts of the body, either muscles are pressed a little bit or are relaxed. Now, more blood is flowing toward our brain and toward our eyes. Six, now we see how contra muscles are influenced. Half of the body, the legs and hip muscles, are contracted, while the others are stretched. Seven, again, additionally, we try to press our muscles, contracting. And again, the front part of the muscles is stretching. At the same time, we learn to balance our body, which means to develop concentration. Eight, nine. Now we see how the muscles are stretched, then again contracted. Again, slowly you come up. So what happens? Again, the circulation flows down, and then slowly you come back again. So again, the very nice circulation is balanced in the body and flowing, and the body knows then what to do. What was the number? 10. Now comes 11. Yes, you are right. 11, 12, now the repetition again, but you will see the leg is changed. Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, and twenty. So these are twenty movements, twenty postures. In yoga, we give the name in daily life called Khaṭu Praṇām. After each exercise, you should relax for at least one minute. So you give the chance to your body to relax and harmonize, tranquilizing the circulation and the functions. So lie down on your back, please. And you will do now also, lean on your chair and place your hands on your thighs. Don’t cross your legs, just relax and close your eyes. Now, the instruction which is for them, for both girls, the same is for you. You shall also try to relax. It will be a little longer than one minute. So, you may say this is a meditation, or you may say it’s relaxation. So, keep your eyes closed and make yourself comfortable. Once, deep inhale and exhale. Relax the whole body. The whole day has passed. You have been doing many things, physically as well as mentally, but now it is time to relax. Withdraw yourself from the external world and come to this hall. Be aware of your being here physically and mentally, and tell yourself mentally, "Relax, relax." Relax, my friend, just relax. No concentration, no imagination, just be one with thyself. Feel your body, that your body is relaxed. Feel your breath. You know that you are inhaling, you know that you are exhaling. During the time of the inhalation, your body is recharging the energy, life force, prāṇa, śakti. And during the exhalation, your body is exhaling all kinds of toxins. Relax. Just mentally think, "I am relaxing." Relax your legs, relax your stomach muscles, relax your fingers, your elbows, relax your shoulders, relax your neck, relax your face muscles, relax your neck, relax your face muscles, relax your neck, relax your face muscles, relax. Relax your neck, relax your face muscles, relax your neck, relax your face muscles, relax your neck, relax your face muscles, relax your neck, relax your face muscles, relax your neck, relax your neck, relax. Your lips just relax. I know that I am inhaling, and I know that I am exhaling. I know that I am inhaling, and I know that I am exhaling. Just relax. During the inhalation, the trunk of the body is expanding, and during the exhalation, the trunk of the body is contracting. Feel the slight expansion and contraction of the body with a normal breath. Relax. No concentration. No imagination. Just feel comfortable. Let your body be completely relaxed. No tensions, either physically or mentally. Just relax. And slowly move your fingers, close your fist, and open the palms. Close the fist and rotate your wrists. Stretch your hands towards your knees. Stretch hands above the head and down on the knee, and rub your palms. Place the hands on the face and open your eyes. Hands down. So that was a kind of relaxation, or you can do continued meditation. And you sit up, please. Thank you. So you will show us once more Khaṭu Praṇām, two rounds, okay? So they can remember again. Yes, Madhuri? Alright. One, for your memory. So please watch them. Two, and now you continue without saying numbers, okay? Please. Very good, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You can come to your chair, yeah. So, that was just a glimpse of yoga and daily life. So now, you can continue at home. And that’s how I present yoga and daily life for a better life, a happy life, or a healthy life, and so on. Thank you. Now, if you have any questions, you are welcome to ask. So, if you don’t have questions, then I have a question, okay? To make the atmosphere a little relaxed. Then maybe you will remember some questions to ask, if you have any, okay? Someone may sigh, so can you tell from which countries you are coming? Yes? You come from Vienna? I came from Vienna, yes? And from which country do you come? Hungary. How many Hungarians are here, please? So many Hungarians here. Oh, come. Very good, thank you. Welcome. You are good. Some other one would like to say which countries? Saudi Arabia, okay. Welcome. From Georgia? Jordan, okay. My āśrama is in India. There is one village called Jaden, and always the Indians called Jordan, yeah? It is without Jaden, okay. Yes, please. India, very good. Yes, Austria. How many Austrians are here, please? I see, one, two, three, four, five, six. Thank you. So I also came from Austria yesterday. Okay, Slovenia? Oh God. Thank you. Croatia, America, China. Others are without a country. Malaysia, Denmark, welcome. England, okay. We also have yoga in England. Which town or city? Yes? Okay, Preston, Leicester, Luton, all these side yogas, no? That’s right. We have there also yoga centers, so yoga and their life. Okay. And now I ask you again one more question. Who is practicing everyday yoga? Very good, very good. All the best. I wish you all the best. Mahāprabhujī’s Kāraṭā, Mahāprabhujī’s Kāraṭā, and it is a very gradual system. It took five years to make this course, slowly, slowly. So it is practiced around the world in many different places, and now here also you have it in Dubai, practicing. So thank you. If there are no questions, it means there are also no answers. You see, good things we can do anytime. All times are good times for good things. And no time is good for bad things. Number one. Second, always practice with an empty stomach. It means minimum three to four hours after eating. Third, when you have peaceful time, you can do early morning, before breakfast, you can do evening when you come home. Or if you come home and you eat at five o’clock, then you, "Abhi beto kahā̃ jā rahe ho?" After that, if you go to bed late, you can do it at 10 o’clock, if you ate already at 6 o’clock in the afternoon, okay? So, when you find peaceful time, welcome. Okay, then I wish you a very peaceful and good evening and a very good night. Thank you for your coming, and Mr.