Introduction Human anatomy is the scientific study of the body’s structures. Some of these structures are very small and can only be observed and analyzed with the assistance of a microscope. Other larger structures can readily be seen, manipulated, measured, and weighed. The word “anatomy” comes from a Greek root that means “to cut apart.” In order to observe structures in living people, a number of imaging techniques have been developed. These techniques allow clinicians to visualize structures inside the living body such as a cancerous tumor or a fractured bone.

Like most scientific disciplines, anatomy has areas of specialization. Gross anatomy is the study of the larger structures of the Human body, those visible without the aid of magnification. Macro- means “large,” thus, gross anatomy is also referred to as macroscopic anatomy. In contrast, micro- means “small,” and microscopic anatomy is the study of structures that can be observed only with the use of a microscope or other magnification devices.

Whereas anatomy is about structure, physiology is about function. Human physiology is the scientific study of the chemistry and physics of the structures of the body and the ways in which they work together to support the functions of life. Much of the study of physiology centers on the body’s tendency toward homeostasis. Homeostasis is the state of steady internal conditions maintained by living things. The study of physiology certainly includes observation, both with the naked eye and with microscopes, as well as manipulations and measurements. However, current advances in physiology usually depend on carefully designed laboratory experiments that reveal the functions of the many structures and chemical compounds that make up the human body.

Like anatomists, physiologists typically specialize in a particular branch of physiology. For example, neurophysiology is the study of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves and how these work together to perform functions as complex and diverse as vision, movement, and thinking. Physiologists may work from the organ level (exploring, for example, what different parts of the brain do) to the molecular level (such as exploring how an electrochemical signal travels along nerves).

Your study of anatomy and physiology will make more sense if you continually relate the form of the structures you are studying to their function. In fact, it can be somewhat frustrating to attempt to study anatomy without an understanding of the physiology that a body structure supports. Imagine, for example, trying to appreciate the unique arrangement of the bones of the human hand if you had no conception of the function of the hand. Fortunately, your understanding of how the human hand manipulates tools—from pens to cell phones—helps you appreciate the unique alignment of the thumb in opposition to the four fingers, making your hand a structure that allows you to pinch and grasp objects and type text messages.

Yoga is not exclusively meant for the benefits of saints, ascetics and mystics. It, in fact, serves to benefit all and one alike but the accrual of benefits and time take to attain the desired result will depend on sincerity, regularity, patience will to learn and perform. Burning desire to learn is the main driving force behind yoga, besides faith, confidence and tenacity. It is a complete, dependable and time-tested discipline and to derive optium benefits, following points deserve to be borne in mind.

One should not nurture any ill-will, tension orinimical feeling. Apply yourself fully in the yogic sadhana and practice, forgetting worries and cares. Your mind should be in a happy and peaceful state, while you embark upon performing asanas. Try to overcome what ails you physically and mentally.

Time : Ideal time to perform asanas is the early morning time, preferably before sunset. Attend to the calls of nature and do not take anything before and after the exercises. However, morning time does not suit, asanas can be performed in the evening time also but on the premise that nothing should be taken 3-4 hours prior to performing yogic kriyas. While doing yoga do not exert undue strain on your limbs. Initially, due to lack of practice and rigidity of joints and muscles, it may take a bit longer time but, as the time passes, all such problems would disappear or, at best, show a declining trend for the better. Have patience; do not be cruel to your body as it will require some time to acclimatise and adjust itself to respond to and withstand the demands made on it. It is not wise to change things every now and then, instead stick to time schedule, and be punctual and regular.

Place : Neat, clean, open, fresh environs are the prerequisites for yogic practice. Polluted contaminated and unnatural environs will do more harm than good. If latter is the case, it is better to bid good-bye to such a practice, till such time as you are able to find suitable site and congenial environs. Proper place, light open and fresh air, a soft blanket or durry/mat should always be handy. In winter you may use even a mattress or else a quilt may be used.

Rest : Whenever after doing an asanas, your ever feel tired, at once suspend the asana and give proper rest to your body. Rest is necessary for the tired body and, before you switch on to another asana, there should be reasonable gap.

Bath : Bathing is not merely a ritual, it is also intended to purify the body, by ridding itself of dirt, foul smell and other impurities. Bathing opens pores of the body also, when it is vigorously rubbed with a towel. If bath is taken before yoga postures, it would render the body light and also help on facilitating the process of asana. You can take bath with hot water, even after the asana is over, but a gap of 30 minutes is all the more necessary. Make sure that you towel your body in such a way that there is no moisture on your body.

Dress : The dress used for the asanas should conform to weather conditions but, it must be ensured, that body is not overloaded with too much of clothes as it will create problems while you are performing the asanas. Always wear loose clothes, as tight ones would restrict free movement of limbs. Ladies may use blouse with saree or slacks and men underwears, trousers or half pants for the performance of asanas.

Breakfast : There should ideally be a gap of half an hour between asanas and breakfast. Take only light and easily digestible breakfast. Take only light and easily digestable breakfast which should not be utilised to fill your belly to the full. Avoid taking any cold drink or food immediately after the asana is over. If you wish you may have a glassful of milk.

Sun-Bath : It will add to the benefits derived from asanas but sun-bath should be taken during winter only. It will free your body from toxic effects. Some people bask in the sun after massaging the body and then take bath with hot or luke-warm water. But, in so doing, one must keep a close watch of over one’s physical capacity as to whether the body is fully equipped to bear combined strain of all such disciplines. Do whatever you wish but never time your body or expose it to undue strain and thermic changes.

General : All the asanas are based and named after parts of the body material objects and animals. There are innumerable asanas but, in practice only 84 asanas are said to meet all the disorders to which afflict all persons, in one way or at one time or the other. Asanas are not medicines or toxics, they tend to correct the wrongs done by us. They also awaken our auto-immune mechanism which is adversely affected by various factors. They correct the defective metabolism inducing and fortifying the fighting capacity of our body to derive out the invading forces. They aim at rooting out the cause of the malady which often emanated from disturbance of the mind.

Yoga’s exact origin remains a mystery. There is some evidence to indicate that early forms of Yoga may have existed as far back as 2500- 1500 BCE, in the Indus valley region of India. Sculptures of figures seated in what look like lotus postures have been found from this era, but because the script accompanying the figures is unknown, it is not possible to determine with any certainty if the sculptures are representations of a yoga posture, or simply one way of sitting on the floor. What is clear is that since earliest times there has existed an understanding that human consciousness is vast, can be explored, and from that exploration insights unfold as revealed wisdom about the human condition, the universe and our place in it.

In the early centuries of the first millennium BCE, two streams of culture existed in India: Vedic and Non-Vedic. The Vedas contained sacred texts of revealed wisdom, or Sruti, meaning “what is heard from a higher source”. The four Vedas comprise the oldest scriptural texts of the Hindu faith. The non-Vedic Indian culture included Jainism and Buddhism, neither of which accepted the authority of the Vedas, and consequently evolved into separate faiths.

It is important to remember that, with in the Indian culture, wisdom was passed down orally from Guru to student: the Guru weaving threads of his own wisdom into something meaningful and appropriate for that student. Given this method of transmission of knowledge, different schools of philosophy intertwined and influenced each other in a way much less rigid than we may imagine.

It is unclear whether yoga evolved from Vedic or non-Vedic culture. Scholars have noted that during this period Sramanas were involved in austerities – activities practiced by individuals who were renunciates and ascetics from the non-Vedic culture.

The first millennium BCE onward was a period of dramatic social and cultural change in India. Around the seventh century BCE, large urban centres began taking shape in northern India. Urban centers grew where there was an abundance of food and means to store it. Not entirely dependent on agriculture, other goods began to be produced, commerce evolved along trade routes and ideas as well as goods were exchanged.

During this period of rapid change, philosophy was also evolving. Possibly as a result of epidemics spreading from isolated villages to major urban centres, that resulted in widespread death, philosophies began questioning the very meanining of life and the nature of existence. Around the seventh centuary BCE the oldest Upanishads were written, and were known as “Vedanta,” – the end, or culmination of the Vedas. Upanishad ; literally means “to sit near”; this gives a clue as to how this wisdom was transmitted, from teacher to student in close proximity.

Two important beliefs that influenced the development of yoga arose during this period of change and reflection, notably Samsara (the eternal cycle of birth, disease, old age, and death) and Karma (the belief that all actions bear fruit). It follows that if every action bears fruit, and if you cannot experience the fruits of all your actions in one lifetime, then you are reborn. Thus evolved the concept of existence as a cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

Around the fifth century BCE, the pre-classical period, three main streams of the yoga tradition had developed: the Upanishadic traditions, Buddhism and Jainism. The Bhagavad Gita was written shortly after the fifth century and was probably completed before the end of the millennium. Within this scared Indian text, there is nothing short of revolution in Yogic philosophy. There is a broadening of the practice of yoga. Different forms of practice are described: Karma Yoga, or the yoga of action; Bhakti Yoga, or the yoga of devotion; and Jnana Yoga, or the yoga of study and wisdom. In this way, yoga practice and the highest states of consciousness are made available to everyone and renouncing the world and moving into a cave is not necessary. It is also implied within the text that women are not excluded from this practice, a first in the yoga tradition.

In the beginning of the first centuries of the Common Era, a synthesis of Indian philosophies was born. This is a classical Yoga, or the Yoga of Patanjali. The Yoga Sutras authored by Patanjali are an organization of Yogic philosophy into short aphorisms, or verses. Patanjali is often equated with the Ashtanga Yoga system, or the Eight limbs of Yoga, but what Patanjali is primarily interested in is neither a sequential approach to enlightenment nor a system of limbs of ascending subtlety. Patanjali is interested in one thing: Samadhi. Samadhi is the highest meditative state in which a person transcends their individual ego and merges with the universal. In the Yoga Sutras, he gives the definition of yoga in the second sutra, “Yoga citta vrrti nirodhah” or : yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of consciousness.” He then goes on to describe various ways to achieve this state. In Patanjali’s view, there are only two things to consider: the Self, or the inner witnessing consciousness called Purusa, and everything else that is perceived by that witness. Everything else – thoughts, emotions, even memory – resides outside this witnessing consciousness. This is called Prakriti, or nature.

Patanjali tells us that at some point, in some way, we forget our essential nature. We became identified with the physical world, which is called “Prakriti”. We develop ways of thinking, attachments to our ideas, we see we are male or female, large or small, and somehow these things become our identity. The inability to see the difference between our essential nature (Purusa) and everything else (Prakriti) is called Avidya or ignorance. How do we overcome this fundamental ignorance? Patanjali says the only way to see the difference between our witnessing consciousness and everything that consciousness perceives is to create stillness. Like a calm lake with no waves or ripples- in that stillness we can again see our essential nature, undisguised by the movements of the mind.

From the time of the Yoga Sutras, there was a period of great interaction and creativity in Yogic philosophy. Around the sixth century, Tantric Yoga was born. In the eighth century a called Sankara formulated a non-dual (Advaita) school of Vedantic philosophy. Sankara looked back at the large and disparate collection of the Upanishadas and organized them in a way that made sense. Sankara’s world view however, was still far from rosy. His belief was that, although there is only reality, because of our own ignorance (Maya), we superimpose limitation and separation onto what we see, and like a man in the dark seeing a coiled rope and thinking it to be a snake, we are deluded by our inability to see clearly. The only way to see clearly in the darkness is to bring light, so in Sankara’s view a thing can only be cured by its opposite; darkness by light, ignorance by knowledge and not by anything else. The world of form and multiplicity is still not valued in and of itself in this philosophy; it is seen as an illusion.

The practice of Tantra Yoga evolved over a period of centuries, and found a later articulation in the school of Kashmir Saivism around the eighth century CE. Tantra Yoga, evolving when it did, had the benefit of centuries of development and therefore was able to look back and weave the previous knowledge into a more sophisticated tapestry. Kashmir Saivism agress with the non-dual philosophy of Sankara’s Vedanta but asks the question, “if there is only one reality, what then is this thing called ignorance? Vedantic philosophy cannot answer this question because ignorance, to Sankara, is not a thing in itself, but simply the absence of cause ignorance, to Sankara, is not a thing in itself, but simply the absence of knowledge.

Kashmir Saivism’s answer is that if there is only one reality, it has to follow that anything happening to that reality has to be an operation of that reality itself. So the reason we see diversity of form even though there is only one ultimate reality is that this is what that reality has created-not an illusion, but a physical world vibrating into being. We are seen as a condensation of source, containing the full power of this source. The practice of yoga is then ultimately one of remembrance of this potential. We do not have to run from the world. The world is where our yoga takes place.

Kasmir Saivism philosophy dictates the need for the grace of a guru to bestow the spiritual jump-start called “Shaktipat”. Without this transmission of energy, the student cannot attain enlightenment. This somewhat problematic dilemma is addressed by yet another school of Tantra called “Shri Vidya” or auspicious wisdom. The most recent form of this approach is currently being taught by Dr. Douglas Brooks (2010). Douglas learned a form of yoga called “Rajanaka” from his teacher Gopala Aiyer Sundaramoorthy. Rajanaka can be translated as “Little Prince” or “one who is sovereign unto themselves.” In this horizontal model of yoga, there is no singular attainment of an enlighmened state but a continual expansion of understanding and appreciation. As yogis-ones who have decided to engage with the gifts and opportunities life presents-our sensitivity and intimacy with ourselves and others increases through the sharing of experiences, unique gifts and insights.

What is Meditation?

Technically, meditation is the act of focusing on one single point or object for a period of time without any stress or distraction inside of the mind. For example; when we listing to our favorite music, we are focused on the song, forgetting about the rest of the things on your mind. It removes any thoughts and other activity on your mind.

Meditation takes control of the mind. Meditation comes from the Latin meditari, meaning to think about. The Yoga tradition reveals the fundamental of union referred as Advaita and meditation is the actual experience of this union, the universe with ourselves. Meditation occurs when we find a space of nothingness between 2 consecutive thoughts.

How Does It Affects You?
According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, philosophically, meditation is Dhyana the seventh limb of yoga. One of the eight limbs of Yoga. For Instance, Yoga removes the fluctuations of the mind. Everything make sense putting all the knowledge together.

Meditation is the union of the mind, the body, the senses, and the soul.

The first 4 limbs, Yamas, Niyamas, Asanas, & Pranayamas are of external nature and are the preparation for the fifth limb Pratyahara, control of the senses. With the help of the sixth limb Dharana, concentration.

When the physical body is ready, we get to the seventh limb, Dhyana or meditation. We have to prepare ourselves externally first, and then withdrawal of the senses internally in order to let go all the fluctuations of the mind and be undisturbed by any obstacle or distraction.

In order to culminate the eight limb, Samadhi or the absorption into the Universal. According to Patanjali, meditation starts when we find out that our never ending quest for owning things and cravings for pleasure, never can be satisfied. When we we get to this stage, our external search shifts inside. Then, we have shifted into the real of meditation. Through meditation we get to the stage of Samadhi or self realization. Satisfaction of our own soul, feeling content with what we have and e aware of the present moment.

Obstacles in Meditation are in fact distractions. The mind is very active with obstacles, emotions or feelings that collect from the environment named as Desire – Iccha, Hatred – Dwesha, Happiness – Sukha, and Sadness – Dukna. The desires comes from the mind and are never ending.

No matter what we have, the mind creates desires of something bigger and better. When we realize that there is enough in this planet to fulfilling the needs for everyone, but there is not enough in the universe to satisfy the greed of everyone. For instance, the knowledge of this facts is enough to bring the mind to stage of contentment. We need to remove the obstacle of desired from the mind. We need to let go any emotions and feelings of desire, hatred, happiness, and sadness in order to be content. Nothing last forever, you cannot be happy for too long, you cannot have everything at the same time. Change is the only constant in the universe.We need to eliminate the extreme emotions and find a balance and be content all the time.

Mantras – Sound vibrations that permeate every cell of your being and allow your mind to dissolve and repose. Meditation is that which gives you deep rest. Meditation is an activity in which the practitioner just sits and allows the mind to dissolve. The rest in meditation is deeper than the deepest sleep that you can ever have. When the mind becomes free from agitation, is calm and serene and at peace, meditation happens.