Yoga A New Life Style: Supplementing the lack of gravity through Asanas

During his journey into space, on April 2nd, 1984, Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma along with his Russian fellow astronauts, practiced pranayam and asanas to keep themselves safe from the adverse effects of zero gravity in space such as reverse circulation of blood i.e. towards head, numbness, headache, dizziness, etc. Successful studies have been conducted which have proved the effectiveness of asanas and pranayam to counter the ill effects of zero gravity on the muscular system of astronauts. Human consciousness gets disturbed in zero gravity. The human body is designed to function under gravity but in space all body systems have to function in the abnormal conditions of no gravity. The pressure on muscles decreases and speed of blood circulation becomes faster. As blood circulation is reversed, severe headache and lumbago (lower back pain) is experienced. It is only yogic activities that have been found to be the best among all the remedies put forth to fight these adverse situations. The account of the astronauts is proof that they have felt hale and hearty because of regular pranayam and other yogic activities. This is the reason that along with Russia many other countries have accorded pranayam and yogic activities their due importance and included them in their space training programme.