Suicide in School going children!

The Problem of MEMORY!

On one of the days when I was on my usual visit to a CBSE school in Chennai, where we teach yoga; a mother approached me and said to me that she was finding her son having severe gastric trouble, indigestion, disinterest to eat & she was very concerned about the condition of her son.

The boy is studying in +2 & has to do extremely well in his exams to find a berth in a good course in any college for a under graduate program. The tension was mounting on the boy & wanted to find if there can be some kind of a solution from YOGA.

Now what is the actual problem with this student?

YOGIC WISDOM

"A solution can be arrived at only if you have the ability to view the truth of a condition without judgement; instead with the readiness to accept the truth."

I had a detailed discussion with the boy. I encouraged him to look at why he was becoming anxious. He was quick to spot the cause. One of the subjects (Business Studies) was demanding according to him because he had to memorize a lot of theory & reproduce it for the exam.

He said to me "It is not possible for me to remember so much theory" - This was his belief about himself. He was ready to apply his intelligence, work hard, think, understand, analyze, reason, compare, conclude & was ready to do lot more.

In fact he was one among the best performers of the school. Already he is getting above 95% marks in almost all the subjects. However he has created a mental block that he cannot memorize so much.

Several research activities have been directed towards ascertaining accurately the memory capacity of the brain. One can browse through lot of information available in the web as well as the books on brain & memory. Enough research has been done on this and facts have been established about the brain & its capacity.

Current estimates of brain capacity range from 1 to 1000 terabytes! "Robert Birge

(Syracuse University) who studies the storage of data in proteins, estimated in 1996 that the

memory capacity of the brain was between one and ten terabytes, with a most likely value of

3 terabytes...... to read more visit the link given below:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=525801

Given the fact that the brain has such a vast space for memory which is limitless; WHY DO PEOPLE SUFFER FROM FORGETFULNESS, MEMORY LOSS? Why do we have the problem of memory?

Among many factors that contribute to difficulties in memorizing, stress & mental blocks play a key role, As in the case of this student.

YOGIC WISDOM

"A student can be encouraged to; and taught to impartially & non judgmentally look at the mental blocks that he/she has created about a particular subject, or a particular action"

For example a student may be very comfortable in completing an experiment successfully, however may believe that he/she cannot give a small speech about it to an audience or write a descriptive note on the stepwise approach to successfully complete the experiment. This can be viewed as an inability or limitation by others, but to help the student overcome the limitation, the student should get the opportunity to impartially & non judgmentally look at the mental blocks that he/she has created about a particular subject, or a particular action.

Like the student whom I am discussing about here. He was believing clearly that "HE CANNOT MEMORIZE SO MUCH THEORY".

We were able to clearly observe that he has etched a mental block .Business studies was not a problem, getting marks was not a problem, however SO MUCH THEORY was the thing to be impartially & non judgmentally observed. This mental block that I do not want to memorize so much theory was the main cause of the anxiety.

Thinking that one is finding a solution, one can worsen the confusion by taking, so many unuseful & wrong approaches as a course of action to change the condition prevailing, for example,

• Now the boy can be treated for gastritis! Gastritis can come down temporarily but the anxiety in the mind will only continue. It will only get aggravated with precipitation of the mental block becoming stronger.
• Can be advised to focus on studying.
• Can be explained about the consequence of not preforming well.
• Can be admitted to a hospital for treatment.

there may be many more inappropriate actions taken by parents, teachers, school, peers. These will lead to further distancing from the truth & any possible solution. It can worsen the condition by creating depression, dejection, fear, suicidal tendencies & much more.

Luckily for this student he was connected to a yogic tradition.

What is the solution that YOGA provides?

Asanas, Pranayama, Pratyahara practices of yoga give several tools that help one to combat the weakness. They also allow one to effect a necessary change & sow the seeds of change at the rock bottom of the mind.

Yoga has a complete view & understanding of the human personality. The practices of yoga can positively affect all these layers and bring about welcome changes.

Attitudes & Postures

It has been understood from the study of body language that the posture of body is affected by a state of mind & vice versa. For example a person with a low self esteem usually has a stooping shoulder. Similarly several observations have been made about the connection between emotional states and their corresponding effects on the posture of the body.

It will be very interesting to note that people who have difficulty in bending forward have been found to be arrogant and stubborn people. Also people who are unable to bend back ward or able to raise their chest up are the ones who have low self esteem.

The practice of Chua Ka derives from the Mongolian samurai warriors of 2000 years ago who claimed that bodies hold the memories of every physical pain they have experienced. After each of their battles they ritualistically massaged themselves with pieces of ivory that went deep into the musculature to release accumulated during the fight. This practice was based on the connections between particular fears and body parts.The point that I am making here is that there have been established observations about body & mind interconnectedness.

Yoga Postures - Asanas; as they are famously known are a boon to humanity from the yogic Rishis.

Generally the asanas are broadly classified into the following categories.

(Courtesy sunandmoonstudio.com)

Forward Bending asanas

Backward Bending asanas

Sideways Bending asanas

Spinal Twisting asanas

Inverted asanas

Asanas have specific influence on the physical body.

• Asanas stretch muscles
• Strengthen muscle & bone linkages
• Improves blood circulation by pushing out impure blood & giving space for oxygenated blood to flow thoroughly into every bit of the physical body
• Massages the internal organs and promotes proper function of these organs
• Balances the endocrinal secretions

When one engages in regular practice of asanas, One can be sure that the health of the physical body is at its best.

However the benefits do not stop with this; the energy channels within the framework of the pranic body are also cleared of the energy blocks. These energy blocks correspond to states of mind caused by traumatic as well as other type of experiences of life.