A Brief Introduction to
Indian Wellness

Karen MacRae

The widespread reach of India’s cultural influence has flourished since the ancient origins of the Indus River Valley civilization, which flourished way back in 2,500 B.C.E. Indian culture has spread from music to movies, from religion to politics, cuisine and history and even to language (for instance, the words ‘bangle’, ‘bungalow’ and ‘jungle’).

Think about the countless truth-seekers and spiritual questers who have made their pilgrimage to India, such as the Beatles’ study of transcendental meditation in 1968, and consider the exponential rise of wellness culture, including the widespread practice of yoga around the world today, which is arguably one of the most successful byproducts of globalization. Here’s a crash course on two of the most popular and influential wellness systems that India has exported to the world.

Here’s a (brief!) introduction to yoga and ayurveda, two systems, which you may encounter on your next trip to India—especially if you’re headed to the spa, or taking a yoga class in its country of origin. (As they say, ‘When in Romatpur…’)

Yoga

Most of us have taken at least a class or two of yoga before; and if you haven’t, surely you know someone who is a regular practitioner. Here in the West, what most of us know as yoga is actually a subset of practices called hatha yoga, which largely focuses on physical exercises to master the body and mind.

In much broader terms, the word ‘yoga’ stems from the Sanskrit root, ‘yuj’, which means “to yoke, unite, join, or add”, and comprises an entire system of physical, mental, and spiritual disciplines much more extensive than what we might consider yoga.

The first mention of the word ‘yoga’ came in between the 5th and 3rd century B.C.E., in the important scriptures known as the Upanishads. The practice of yoga is described here as the steady control of the senses, from gross to subtle.

The ultimate goal of yoga is moksha (liberation), but the definition of this depends on various philosophical or theological beliefs.

Moksha, or liberation, could mean any or all of the following:

-freedom and release from suffering, in the aim of cultivating inner peace and ‘salvation’;
-a raising or expansion of consciousness as the ego dissolves and the practitioner comes to identify and coexist with everyone and everything;
-attaining enlightenment, gaining the ability to comprehend the impermanent (illusion/delusion) and the permanent (or transcendent).

There are various branches of yoga, which, with the aim of achieving liberation, focus on various types of practices; here are a few of them:

Jnana yoga: The word for ‘knowledge’ in Sanskrit, it emphasizes the path of knowledge or wisdom or the ‘path of self-realization’. This could entail studying with a guru, meditating and reflecting on the nature of the self and the mind. It is one of the spiritual paths in Hinduism.

Bhakti yoga: the yoga of devotion, where one is lovingly focused on a personal god, or directed towards one of the many Hindu gods or goddesses; another possible spiritual route in Hinduism.

Karma yoga: the selfless yoga of service and action; focusing on loving acts of kindness for the benefit or others, without being attached to the fruits of your labour. (For instance, feeding or caring for the poor, for that sake alone, and not for the praise one might get for doing it). It is another possible path for Hindus to achieve liberation.