D. BASIS OF YOGA FOR BACK PAIN

1. How does yoga understand the relation between life style and back?

According to yoga the causes of back pain can be classified as Adhija or Anadhija, i.e., functional or organic. The Anadhija (organic) causes include trauma, toxins, nutritional deficiencies and infections which contribute to only a small percentage of the cases of chronic back pain. The Adhija causes (functional causes) begin at the mind (Manas) level. Majority of the chronic cases of low back pain are due to non-specific causes ( related to modern life style-adhija vyadhis). To understand how these stresses that begin at the mind level settle down in the body, we need to know the concept of five aspects of our body and the definition of stress according to yoga.

2. What are the five aspects of our existence ?

Not withstanding the sincere and subtle (atomic level) researches, the attempts to understand life as an offshoot of matter consisting of a conglomeration of atoms and molecules, are leading man to regions of great complexity. Decades of expensive research have yielded much less fruits than expected.

However, better understanding of life appears to be forthcoming with efforts directed towards fields of modern psychology and parapsychology. The fore runner of many of these efforts could be traced back to the work of Kirlian. Controversies apart, Kirlian photography triggered the interest of a large number of scientists and technologists all over the world. Investigations into the unknown regions of human existence started unravelling the mysteries of life. Parapsychology institutes have grown in number. Sceintists have started reconsidering their hypothesis that life is an emergence from matter. They recognize some existence beyond the physical body. In relating the experience