Yoga is divided into four sections. One is for the physical body, the second is for the life force, the third is relaxation and the fourth one is meditation. What does yoga mean? It means physical posture, breathing exercises, relaxation and meditation: these are the four sections of yoga.
Now, what is the first one? It is called physical postures, hatha yoga asanas. By holding a particular physical posture your glands are influenced. There are many glands in your body which have a great role to play in your health: thyroid gland, thymus gland, adrenals, pancreas, etc., and if there is an imbalance then physical and mental diseases take place.
You must have seen little boys and girls who suffer from epileptic fits; that is due to glandular imbalance. By the practice of these yoga postures you can bring about a balance in the glandular secretions. If the body’s nervous system is weak, one has a lot of problems. You must have seen a lot of people suffer from hysteria. Many people suffer from nervous breakdown or nervous depression. There are certain ways in hatha yoga by which you can strengthen your nervous system.
The many asanas of hatha yoga can be learned from your teacher, and I will be frank and say that by hatha yoga many, many diseases can be completely cured; it is a very effective system. It is necessary, therefore, that every one of you should make a study of hatha yoga. If you practise hatha yoga for a period of one month or two or three, you will find that you are becoming energetic.
The second section is known as pranayama, which means the yoga of breathing. In this you breathe in such a way that you inhale more of prana, life force. This body is living on life force; if there is less of it we become weak. Therefore, in order to have more life force in the body, you must do the practice of pranayama.
The third section is relaxation and this is very important for all of you: for the doctors, engineers, businessmen, housewives, politicians, whose minds are under constant strain. At the end of the day, these people are tired and then what do they do? They are so tired that they can’t sleep. They take alcohol, but after some time that also doesn’t work. Then they take tranquillizers. After some time that doesn’t work. Then they take strong tranquillizers, and then the heart is involved, the nervous system is involved, and what happens? After taking these tranquillizers for years, they have heart disease.
In yoga there is a system of relaxation. You do not sleep; you just lie down and do some practice mentally, and within ten minutes you are relaxed. Relaxation is important. Please remember, sleep is not relaxation. You have to learn this art.
The fourth section is meditation; how to concentrate the mind and make it steady and one-pointed. When you pray, your mind is not steady. When you go to the sanctum sanctorum, your mind is wandering. Meditation teaches you how to concentrate your mind on one point. Once you learn how to meditate, you learn the art of life.
The most difficult thing in life is meditation, but once you know how to meditate, once you know how to concentrate, you are fortunate. The mind is very powerful, but when it is dissipated it is weak, just as the rays of the sun when they fall on the earth are weak, but when concentrated by a fine lens they are capable of burning anything. When the mind is scattered it is incapable, but when the same mind is concentrated by meditation it becomes powerful.
Yoga has many systems of concentration. You can concentrate your mind through breath, through a sound, or by fixing it on any of the centres of the body. You can concentrate your mind by fixing it on a particular symbol, but the easiest one I can tell you about is by fixing your mind on the natural breath.
Coming back again to section one; how long to practise hatha yoga? Maximum fifteen minutes. Section two; how long to practise pranayama? Five minutes. Section three; how long to practise relaxation? Maximum half an hour. Section four; how long to practise meditation? Maximum ten minutes. Now a question: should we practise all four or should we practise one of them? If you are tense, if you are tired, you must practise sections one and two. If you want to concentrate your mind, practise section four for ten minutes. Section three can be practised by anybody at any time for any length of time.
This was a very short introduction to yoga for all of you. Finally, yoga has come up as a science; it is not a religion but pure science. Yoga is the science of the body and the mind. It has no restrictions. Whether you are a vegetarian or a non- vegetarian, married or not married, young or old, it does not matter. Whether you smoke or not does not matter; but it is important that you must learn yoga from a very competent teacher.
A competent teacher means that he lives the life of yoga and that he knows the science and then he can tell you what you should practise. If you are suffering from sciatica or a slipped disc, he should know what you should practise; he should know what a diabetic must practise and he should also know what he should not do. This is very important: yoga should be learned not from a book but through a competent teacher.
19 January 1978, Epimeliterio, Kalamata, Greece