Stress Management

One of the biggest problems of today's world is tension. Today there are a lot of medicines within easy reach for relieving this tension, however the effect of these medicines is very limited. Along with tension the quantity of medicines keeps increasing so also do the medicines for a night sound sleep - this cycle keeps on going endlessly.

However if we can unearth the roots of this tension and realize why and where this tension emanates and prepare ourselves to that extent where tension never builds up and if it does it easily soothes down.

Why does Tension build?

There are three different types of stress.

Physical stress can be caused by excessive work -load or physical labour and easily relieved by relaxation but what is more difficult is mental stress and more so emotional stress. To relieve the latter two stresses, it becomes important to train the brain. The key word here is 'Samta' which means equanimity in the philosophy of Jain . 'Samta ' means to maintain one's composure in both favourable and unfavourable situations. A person who cannot bear any sort of physical, discomfort and becomes easily uncomfortable by slight heat or cold becomes more susceptible, to diseases. There are some favourable situations in life because of which stress or mental tension arises. They are - success, happiness, fame, gain, respect, etc.

Likewise there are 5 unfavourable conditions in life that lead to tension or depression - loss, ridicule, death, unhappiness, failure. Whenever we lose our balance we will become prey to stress. What is important is to be equanimous. One who knows how to create a balance between the favourable and unfavourable situations only he can maintain balance of mind and his composure. He has to find for himself what is good -loss or gain? Sometimes loss can become catalyst to a greater good as it can motivate a person to improve and work harder.

It is said that the earth and wealth cannot belong to anyone, they can never be faithful or true to any one person, people have lived and died, they belong to nobody. Mind should become aware of the educated fact that whatever is fated to die. If we become educated to this fact then our mind will never mourn for the loss of a dear possession.

The misconception that we can buy happiness with money should break, one can only buy comfort with money not happiness. If happiness could be bought with money then all the citizens of affluent nations will be intrinsically happy.

Man’s greatest fear is death. Half the diseased people die not due to their diseases but the fear of death. He who can train his mind and learn to relieve off his fear will become free of tension.

The moment one gets ridiculed he/she becomes offensive, defensive then feels insecure and develops a complex, while on the other hand, a little bit of appreciation fills the same person with pride. Praise and ridicule are two complicated state of mind.

Success gives one a completely different status, and this status itself becomes a headache to that person.

If a man can train his mind in such a way that it does not get away to favourable or unfavourable situations then his way of thinking will get completely changed. He has to train his mind not to become egotistical when things go well or get an inferiority complex are not amiable.

The simple and sure way of training the mind is called ' KAYOTSARG ' or 'SHAVASANA ‘ in the language of Yoga. Shavasana is the name given to the relaxation posture. The method to do this is by lying on the back and giving autosuggestion to the body from the toe of the foot to the tips of the hair to relax. When all the body parts cum joints of the whole body get relaxed then the nervous system also get relaxed. Due to slow and rhythmic breathing the tension of the mind gets relaxed. Kayotsarg can be perfected not through physical strength or destructive thoughts but only calm auto suggestions.

Due to the tension in the mind the body joints and bones become stiff, the flow of blood gets obstructed and a chemical called Lactic acid gets collected in the body. This leads to exhaustion, body ache and stiffness of the body.

In olden days faith healing was practiced. In Egypt 3000 years back this type of treatment was practiced. With the growth of commercialization this golden knowledge got lost once it reached

in the hands of the corrupt practitioners.

An Australian doctor Dr. Mesmer first gave importance to self- suggestion; it is from him that the word mesmerisation has been coined. In Greek language the word hypnosis was used for sleep.

Kayotsarg means to relax the body to such an extent as to lose all awareness of the body itself . Many developments take place by the practice of this method of relaxation for e. g. blood sugar gets decreased, white blood corpuscles increase, EEG and BP gets stabilized. Along with the treatment of diseases, increasing body energy and changing behaviour is also useful.

Through mental peace, vital energy gets increased. Pure thoughts help the mind to gain stability, stay in the present instead of day dreaming about the past or the future and the endless circle of thoughts gets controlled. Man starts getting the answers to his troubles himself through Kayotsarg and thus all the reasons for stress get eradicated.

From the works of Acharya Mahapragya

Compiled by Mrs. Vidya Jain