YOGA IS GRADUALLY MAKING A NEW NICHE IN THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR

Inaugurating the National Yoga Week – 2008 organized by the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY), the Indian Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss said the treatments in the modern medical hospitals are becoming expensive affairs for general public and so Yoga is gradually making a new niche in the healthcare sector. It is a traditional system of Indian medicine and has the vast potential of prevention and therapeutic dimensions. Smt. Anita Das, Secretary, AYUSH, Dr. R.K. Srivastava, DGHS and other senior officials from the Ministry of Health were present at the function organized in technical collaboration with DGHS and WHO

The following is the summary of the Health Minister’s speech:

Yoga is a holistic system of health care and has a legacy of in-depth prospective of spiritual, social and medicinal values, especially in the era of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG), where every one wants peace, harmony and satisfaction from the untidy and hyperactive social milieu. With the advancement of modernization, busy and hectic schedule of the social life, the significance of Yoga have greatly increased and gradually becoming a blissful way of life.

In spite of being a discipline of spiritual advancement in the ancient days, Yoga has fittingly unleashed its horizon all over the world, particularly in the western hemisphere like USA, Canada, England, Germany, France and many other nations of the world. At the same time, it is conveying profound thought and getting worldwide popularity for its physical, physiological and psychological healing responses. However, this is not the end; the community of Scientists, Yoga researchers, Educationists, and Therapists has started churning the very possible use and zest of Yoga in every field and walk of life. This enthusiasm will facilitate a new paradigm of Yoga for overall development of human beings. A large number of researches and studies are going on in various medical institutions and research centers both at the national and international level on Yoga so that the importance of this unique form of treatment can be visualized at a larger level.

Yoga has the capability of developing self-realization with in-depth potential of spiritual and ethical values. In the age of urbanizations and globalization, the various components of Yoga are gaining momentum and becoming popular field of medicine to treat the several health problems and malaises of the present day. Even in a number of places, it is given preferences to the modern medicine because of larger faith and beliefs of the people. It is also playing a pivotal role in the management of diseases that is generally declared incurable by the physicians.

Yoga converts distress to de-stress and disease to ease. Yoga practices help in alleviating distress and thus producing therapeutic benefits. It has also the potential to strengthen the inner vigor. It is a proven system of techniques used to create health of mind and body by well-controlled experiments. It has become imperative to gain maximum from our ancestral medical practices like Yoga so that maximum advantage can be harnessed where modern medical sciences have limited to offer.

The Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga is engaged in multifarious and multidimensional activities and programmes related to Yoga. The Institute is putting its best efforts to bring the system of Yoga in the mainstream of health care delivery system. The Institute has also taken a new initiative of starting Yoga Therapy and Research Centres in Government and Tertiary Hospitals of Modern medicine. Its contribution in Yoga demonstration and participation in AROGYA melas organized by the Ministry is much more appreciated by all. It has initiated to publish a quarterly journal – YOGA VIJNANA. I hope these unique moves will gather momentum to the propagation of Yoga and create more avenues for the public to use Yoga for their health problems. I appreciate the sincere efforts of the MDNIY for the promotion and propagation of Yoga by keeping the traditional values intact.

The National Yoga Week is a Mass Awareness Programme for Health, Happiness and Harmony through Yoga. It is a good initiative from the Institute where eminent Yoga experts, professionals and experts of allied sciences will share their enriched knowledge for stimulating and inspiring holistic approach for the betterment of the society. A need was being felt for a forum where active and dynamic researchers of this area can meet periodically to report new experiments and theoretical developments to examine hypothesis, explain physical phenomenon, and discuss common problems faced by people working in this domain. I hope the deliberations in this National Yoga Week would lead us to explore possible collaborations at multilateral fronts for systematic development of Yoga in all its aspects at the regional and global levels.

On the same wavelength, the various Yoga Institutions and Departments in different parts of the country should take an initiative to organize National Yoga Week event simultaneously on the said theme/events at least for a day or two to preserve the very purpose and sanctity of this event so as to make it a truly national event in the days to come.

Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=35562


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