Abstract

My motivation for writing this paper comes from a continuing concern with the role of yoga philosophy in our stress. In today’s world man has become restless. Competition is in every profession. Doctors, engineers, scientists, scholars, philosophers and all professionals have created manifold problems. They feel always stress. Science is a great panacea and curative agent for de-stressing therapies, but it has not found an appropriate remedy answer. In these cases, yoga helps to answering many of these questions related to the health of the human body and mind. Maharsi Patanjali was the founder of the most well-known body – mind harmonizing science of India. He stated that the term yoga implies the communion of the petty self with the higher universal self. Patanjali discloses secrets of bringing under control the divergent characteris­tics, variations and modifications vrittis of the mind. He describes eight steps of Yoga for total health & peace of mind and these are sanskrit yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. These eight steps include both the spiritual and physical aspects of curative therapy among human beings. These give us physical, psychological as well as mental benefits most importantly stress reduction. Hence in this conflict- ridden world of today, the philosophy and practice of yoga is one of the most effective relief techniques.