Sahaja Yoga

Sahaja Yoga (Sahaja meaning born with and Yoga meaning union) is a type of meditation, religion and yoga. It claims to be "a unique method of meditation based on an experience called self-realization (Kundalini awakening) that some believe occurs within each human being. The term Sahaja Yoga is also used to refer to the Sahaja Yoga International (Vishwa Nirmala Dharma movement) founded by Nirmala Srivastava (also known by devotees as Shri Mataji) on 5 May 1970 based on this practice.

Beliefs

The non-profit organization offers an experience by which it is claimed that individuals can spontaneously become aware of their subtle system through which they become one with (union) the all pervading power, attaining Self-Realisation.

Kundalini is believed to be an energy that exists in every human being, but is dormant. Sahaja Yoga believes that this energy manifests itself through a 'cool breeze' emenating from the hands and head. Many ways of awakening this energy have been proposed, however Sahaja Yoga proposes to offer an easier method of attaining this than other traditional methods such as Hatha Yoga which traditionaly were known to require great penances to achieve Self-Realisation.

Sahaja Yoga in medicine

There are case studies in which practitioners of Sahaja Yoga methods were tested in attempts to overcome diseases such as ADHD , asthma , and epilepsy.

In the test group practicing Sahaja Yoga meditation, it was found that there was a "significant improvement in VCS (Visual contrast sensitivity)", It was noted that Sahaja Yoga meditation appeared to bring about changes in some of the electrophysiological responses studied in epileptic patients.

Results showed short-term effects on asthma: study found "Sahaja Yoga does have limited beneficial effects on some objective and subjective measures of the impact of asthma". ^*

Criticism

While Sahaja Yoga never charges money for attaining Self-Realisation, critics assert that members are later requested to contribute to projects.

External links

Critical sites

Sahaja Yoga: Facts and Warnings from Ex-Members
Article on Sahaja Yoga (Rick Ross mirror of The Independent July 13, 2001)
Sahaja Yoga at the Religious Movements Homepage at the University of Virginia

References

Manocha, R. "Sahaja yoga in asthma", Thorax 2003;58:825-826. URL: ^*
Manocha R, Marks G.B., Kenchington P., Peters D., Salome C.M. "Sahaja yoga in the management of moderate to severe asthma: a randomized controlled trial", Thorax 2003;57:110-115. URL:
Ramaratnam S., Sridharan K. "Yoga for epilepsy", Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000;(3):CD001524.
Panjwani U., Selvamurthy W., Singh S.H., Gupta H.L., Mukhopadhyay S., Thakur L. "Effect of Sahaja yoga meditation on auditory evoked potentials (AEP) and visual contrast sensitivity (VCS) in epileptics", Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 2000;25(1):1-12.
Harrison, L.J., Manocha R., Rubia, K. "Sahaja Yoga Meditation as a Family Treatment Programme for Children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder", Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2004; 9(4):479-497. URL: ^*