Yoga As A Predictor Of Mindfulness Self Compassion And Quality Of Life

According to recent survey estimation, treatment of medical conditions through Yoga would save a monthly medical investment of $145 billion (Tomar, 2016). Yoga is a sustainable practice instrumental in promoting psychological growth and wellness and in addressing concerns related with anxiety, frustration, societal conflicts, or stress; rendering this discipline beneficial in prevention and cure of diseases (Tomar, 2016). Based on the evidence of sizable benefits of Yoga, experts have classified Yoga as 'technology of the self' (Foucault, 1988). The term 'technologies of the self' refer to practices that enable individuals to cause an effect on certain operations on their body and soul, thoughts and actions, as means to bring about self-transformation and attain happiness, wisdom, and perfection (Foucault, 1988).

Science of Yoga is an ancient one, dating back to what texts say more than 2500 years of being first described by renowned Patanjali (Pandurangi, Keshavan, Ganapathy, & Gangadhar, 2017). Various Yoga texts have interpreted Yoga as a multifaceted discipline with various forms, as an art, a science, and a philosophy. The Bhagavad Gita explains Yoga as a constitution of four qualities - dedication, zeal, uninterrupted awareness, and long duration (Iyengar, 2014, pg-31), for an aspirant to experience its essence. It describes the philosophy of Yoga, in relation with moral values, principles, and human virtues, thereby placing Yoga at a much higher plane as a way of life than merely a group of modern-day exercises. As an art, Yoga has been outlined as a study of the behavior of consciousness involving cognition, conation, and motion. Yoga is an amalgamation of carefully designed practices which unite the mind and the body with the soul, blending them into one. It is a discipline which stimulates the senses at a physical, mental, and spiritual level, and enables a practitioner to have higher consciousness towards experiencing the inner self and the interaction of the inner self with the outside world. From a perspective of consciousness, Yoga has been defined as a restraining force towards fluctuations caused in conscious experience.