Victor Boyko
“Yogash–Chitta-Vritti-Nirodha" (ChVN), quoted
from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras
translates as “an intentional slowing down of mental activity within
consciousness. When this
activity is stopped, one enters a
state known as “silence of the mind”. The Yoga Sutras are
our oldest extant texts on the subject and represent the
teachings of classical yoga which will be discussed in this article.
In order to survive in Russia today, we are
required to think and act at a highest level of intensity, that’s why today the
number of psychosomatic disorders within Russian population reached a
catastrophic level. Typically, this is a violation of the functionality of the
internal organs and systems, due to an acute or chronic trauma, in combination
with the personal characteristics of psycho-emotional reactions. The resulting
stress levels cause excessive psychological strain that activates our neuro-endocrine
and autonomic systems, which in turn causes the changes in the cardiovascular
system and in the health of our internal organs. Initially, these changes are symptomatic,
but with frequent and prolonged exposure, they can become organic and
irreversible.
The most common of these disorders are asthma,
essential hypertension, dermatitis, gastrointestinal disease, ulcerative
colitis, a disorder of sexual sphere, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes,
goiter, heart attack, depression and neurosis.
There are no available preventive medicines for
these disorders, and, for the majority of Russian people, medicines to treat
the symptoms of these disorders are not available. State appointed medical
professionals, particularly in the provinces, seem to be at a complete loss
with regard to treatment, and patients feel abandoned.
The population is quickly becoming a victim of
circumstances and a nasty lifestyle.
One of the
effects of yoga practice is to eliminate functional psychosomatic disorder and our school transmits
this unique technology as far as
possible to the society.
Experience has shown that a reasonable
implementation of yoga provides high standard of health and psychological
stability of the average practitioner; even among those who had experienced the
most sever external conditions. If those who are in an atmosphere of continuous
disaster, called “the Russian reality”, feel they do not deserve to be happy,
they are at least entitled to a peace of mind.
It is known that yoga is not an activity in the
ordinary sense; it is a skill of dosed staying in the full and continuous sense
of peace.