Introduction:

Life has moved at an increasing speed in recent years. We can easily see the changes happening around us if we pay attention. An environment that is more appealing to illness has led to increased levels of environmental pollutants, psychosocial disorders, altered eating patterns, and poor diets. The culture we follow and high levels of stress are negatively impacting our health. Many people are now turning to yoga as a way to overcome these problems. 1Yoga is a practice that has been around for centuries and promotes a healthy lifestyle. Yoga has been recognized worldwide as an alternative to traditional medicine and has seen a rise in popularity. Yuj in Sanskrit means union. This is where "yoga" gets its name. It is the union of personal consciousness (jeevatma), and cosmic knowledge (Paramatma). It could eventually lead to improved mental and bodily health.

What's Sudarshan Kriya?

Sudarshan Kriya is a form of pranayama, a type of traditional yoga that has its roots. Pranayama, a part of yoga that focuses on breathing, is unique. It focuses on the balance of the nervous system. There are several components to it, which are:

• Ujjayi, or victorious breath: This slow breathing technique allows us to experience mental and physical calmness.

• Bhastrika, or Bellow Breath is a fast breathing technique that causes excitement after calmness.

• Chanting Om: This is to prolong the process of exhaling.

• Sudarshan Kriya - Slow, medium, and fast breathing cycles.

How do you do it?

These steps will help you to practice Sudarshan Kriya.

• The ujjayi, or victorious breathe, is the first stage. It involves slow breathing and 2-4 breaths per second. You can then consciously feel your breath touch the throat. Each breath is taken in and out. This increases resistance in the airway, which allows for longer breath cycles. This will allow one to take in more breaths per minute. This will allow us to feel calm both mentally and physically.

• The Bhastrika stage is next. Here, you must inhale quickly and exhale forcefully. During this cycle, you should take around 30 deep breaths per minute. This will cause excitation and then calmness.

• The chanting of Om follows. This stage is followed by the chanting of Om, which is repeated three times.

• The final stage of the Sudarshan kriya is the advanced stage. It consists of cyclic rhythmic breathing that is slow, medium, and fast.

What Do You Know?

• Although Sudarshan Kriya is relatively new, breathing techniques and yoga have been practiced for many years. Sudarshan Kriya, a new form of yoga, was introduced by the Art of Living Foundation founder. His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji introduced this practice in 1982.

• In Sanskrit, the words Sudarshan & Kriya mean "proper vision through purifying actions". Su means right, darshan is vision, and Kriya is a purifying act. 2

The Benefits of Sudarshan Kriya

Sudarshan Kriya can be beneficial for both mind and body. Sudarshan Kriya may help reduce stress and depression. Sudarshan Kriya has many potential uses:

1. Sudarshan Kriya for Stress:

Sudarshan Kriya may be able to reduce anxiety and stress levels. It can also help stabilize mental activity and brain function, and provide relief from stress. It might also help with insomnia, which is a common symptom of stress. It was found in studies that the Sudarshan kriya yoga (SKY) practice might help in attaining an improved sleep quality by reducing stress and anxiety.1Furthermore, a comparison study done on various yoga practices on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) showed that the practising Sudarshan kriya has better outcomes. Sudarshan yoga may provide a "corrective emotion experience" to heal deep emotional wounds. It might also help with cognitive distortion (negative thinking), which is often caused by traumatic experiences.

2. Sudarshan Kriya for Depression:

Janakiramaiah and a group of researchers discovered that Sudarshan Kriya may be beneficial for melancholic and mild depression. Sudarshan-kriya practitioners might notice a reduction in depression. These claims may be supported by further research.

3. Sudarshan Kriya to Cure Tobacco Addiction

Sudarshan Kriya is a Sudarshan technique that can be used to control the habit of smoking in cancer patients. These effects require more research.

4. Sudarshan Kriya to Reduce Oxidative Stress

Psychosocial stress, which is stress caused by psychological or social circumstances, has been shown to increase oxidative stress. A few studies have suggested that Sudarshan kriya Yoga might help to reduce oxidative stress. Sharma et. al. found that people who practiced the SKY technique had lower levels of blood lactate, which is an indicator of oxidative stress. The levels of superoxide dimutase and catalase, as well as glutathione, were also higher. This suggests an increase in antioxidant activity, which can also help to lower oxidative stress. Sudarshan Kriya may help reduce oxidative stress.

5. Sudarshan Kriya also has other benefits

In their study, Gebrag and Brown discovered that Sudarshan Kriya may be beneficial in some medical conditions.

• It can be used to ease chronic fatigue.

• It could be used to treat fibromyalgia (muscle or musculoskeletal pain).

• It may help with joint pain

• It could reduce asthma

• It could be used to combat multiple sclerosis

• It may relieve back and neck pain.

• It may be able to relieve chronic pain

• It could be used to fight cancer

• It could be used to combat diabetes