Yoga

Yoga is a mind-body practice in complementary and alternative medicine with origins in ancient Indian philosophy. The various styles of yoga that people use for health purposes typically combine physical postures, breathing techniques, and meditation or relaxation. This Backgrounder provides a general overview of yoga and suggests sources for more information.People use yoga for a variety of health conditions and to achieve fitness and relaxation. It is not fully known what changes occur in the body during yoga; whether they influence health; and if so, how. There is,however, growing evidence to suggest that yoga works to enhance stress-coping mechanisms and mind-body awareness.Research is under way to find out more about yoga’s effects, and the diseases and conditions for which it may be most helpful.
Yoga in its full form combines physical postures, breathing exercises, meditation, and a distinct philosophy. Yoga is intended to increase relaxation and balance the mind, body, and the spirit.Early written descriptions of yoga are in Sanskrit, the classical language of India. The word “yoga” comes from the Sanskrit word yuj, which means “yoke or union.” It is believed that this describes the union between the mind and the body. The first known text, The Yoga Sutras, was written more than 2,000 years ago, although yoga may have been practiced as early as 5,000 years ago. Yoga was originally developed as a method of discipline and attitudes to help people reach spiritual enlightenment. The Sutras outline eight limbs or foundations of yoga practice that serve as spiritual guidelines:Research suggests that yoga might improve mood and sense of well-being,counteract stress,reduce heart rate and blood pressure increase lung capacity,improve muscle relaxation and body composition,help with conditions such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia, improve overall physical fitness, strength, and flexibility, positively affect levels of certain brain or blood chemicals. More well-designed studies are needed before definitive conclusions can be drawn about yoga’s use for specific health conditions.
People with certain medical conditions should not use some yoga practices. For example,people with disc disease of the spine, extremely high or low blood pressure, glaucoma,retinal detachment, fragile or atherosclerotic arteries, a risk of blood clots, ear problems, severe osteoporosis, or cervical spondylitis should avoid some inverted poses.Although yoga during pregnancy is safe if practiced under expert guidance, pregnant women should avoid certain poses that may be problematic.
There are many training programs for yoga teachers throughout the country. These programs range from a few days to more than 2 years. Standards for teacher training and certification differ depending on the style of yoga.There are organizations that register yoga teachers and training programs that have complied
with minimum educational standards. For example, one nonprofit group requires at least 200 hours of training, with a specified number of hours in areas including techniques, teaching methodology, anatomy, physiology, and philosophy.

Anti-ragging

Plato's theory of Ideas

According to Plato, the material world of the senses is an illusion. The real world, on the other hand, is the realm of Ideas which lies beyond the material world. With this view in mind, Plato claims that "only Ideas are real". The material world, or the world of appearances, is constantly changing. The world of Ideas, however, never changes and is free from the limitations of time and space. As a result, Plato's theory holds that Ideas represent true reality, or the Truth which transcends the relativity of matter.
Whereas the objects of the material world are apprehended by the senses, the Platonic Ideas are apprehended by the mind. The Greek words for Idea and Form are both related to the concept of vision. Thus, Ideas or Forms are things which are seen. However, they are not seen with the physical sight of the senses but rather "by a kind of intellectual vision". The mind which is capable of visualizing the higher realm of Ideas is often equated with the soul.
Beyond words to the Ideas which are embodied in them. Again, words are seen as being representations of the Ideas which are the true source of knowledge. Thus, "behind the words rise the genuine, ideal realities enshrined in the Theory of Forms, which alone are admissible as true objects of knowledge". In Cratylus, Socrates indicates that knowledge cannot be gained from the transitory things which constitute the material world. According to this argument, we cannot say that knowledge exists "if everything is in a state of transition and there is nothing abiding". Pure knowledge belongs to the realm of Ideas, which is beyond change and relativity. Socrates clarifies this by claiming: "But if that which knows and that which is known exist ever, and the beautiful and the good and every other thing also exist, then I do not think that they can resemble a process of flux". Therefore, Plato's theory holds that pure knowledge is to be found in the realm of Ideas rather than in the material world. The Symposium addresses these issues and shows that pure knowledge provides the ability to apprehend the Ideas of Truth and Beauty. The Symposium presents a series of speeches on the God of Love

Jean-Paul Sartre--Existence and Essence

Existence," proclaimed Sartre, "precedes essence." This formula is basic for understanding his view
of human existence and freedom. By emphasizing the negating power of consciousness in relation to
being-in-itself, Sartre interpreted consciousness as a form of being that always seeks to transcend
itself but never fully finishes its task. It seemed to Sartre that we humans move to leave behind what
we have been and to become what we are not. We are always headed somewhere; we are never fixed,
complete, and static. Short of death, there is a perpetual process of negation and a continuous
movement into a future of possibility and uncertainty.
What one will become is indefinite until consciousness determines it. We are what we become more
than we become what we are. In that sense, our existence precedes the formation of our essence.
Sartre identified the negating power of consciousness with human freedom. The fact that we can
move beyond what we are toward that which we are not, he argued, signifies freedom. Whenever we
act freely, there is a sense in which we leave something behind. We negate what we have been to try
to become what we are not. Hence, not only does existence precede essence but, Sartre claimed,
"freedom is existence." According to Sartre, a person's life is characterized by freedom, by choosing
what one will be and how one will see the world one inhabits. The determination of what one is
results from our individual choices and not from a series of determined causes outside of or even
within oneself.
Did Sartre go too far in describing the degree of freedom that men and women possess? Far from
having lives permeated by freedom, most persons feel restricted on every side. Many cannot find
enough food, shelter, or work to make a decent living. Sartre was aware of such difficulties. His
account emphasizes that human existence is always situated in particular times and places, and it is
specified further by the relationships we establish with other persons. Many of these situations are
full of pain and tragedy. Yet Sartre contended that the structure of human freedom remains, because
we keep seeking to make something of ourselves. We may be prevented from achieving what we
want, but, in Sartre's view, any kind of human seeking fundamentally involves the freedom he has in
mind.
Ultimately, Sartre argued, our seeking leads us to try to achieve a complete self-identity in which we
comprehend ourselves totally and are no longer constantly at a distance from ourselves. To
accomplish this task, he contended, would be to become God ("being-in-itself-for-itself"), but no
person can succeed in this undertaking. In fact, Sartre claimed, the idea of God is contradictory (an
outcome that makes his existentialism atheistic), for consciousness excludes self-identity, and self-
identity also excludes consciousness. Consciousness always has the quality of being stretched out
ahead of itself. If you became completely self-identical and unchanging, you would not be conscious
any more. Where our drive to become self-identical is concerned, then, we are forever doomed to
frustration. It is in this sense that human freedom makes our existence "a useless passion."

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon was a man who was brilliant in many ways: as a scientist, as a philosopher, and as an enthusiastic innovator in the methods of science, which he considered to be means for establishing the dominion of man on earth. Bacon is remembered mostly for having worked out the inductive method.He began with such phenomena of nature as are presented to us, but he intended to go beyond the phenomenal data, to reach knowledge of the form. Nature and form are terms that recall to mind the metaphysics of Aristotelio-Scholasticism. But, as used by Bacon, these terms have a different meaning:
The metaphysical support for these natures and forms is not treated by Bacon. The only metaphysics consistent with a phenomenalistic physics is mechanical atomism. Therefore, the differences between phenomena depend upon nothing more than the different positions of atoms regulated by movement.
Even if we grant that Bacon's method leads to a knowledge of what he calls the forms (the laws of nature), such a knowledge will only indicate that until the present day the phenomena were regulated by such laws or forms. But this does not prove that tomorrow these phenomena will obey the same laws. In other words, Bacon does not give us a metaphysics -- independent of the phenomena -- which would be the support of these same phenomena.It seems, however, that Bacon did not realize the phenomenalistic consequences of his method, and hence could still affirm that the traditional metaphysical world exists alongside his phenomenal world. The later philosophers of Empiricism showed that this is an untenable position, and concluded that all reality is pure phenomenon

Elaine Showalter and Feminism

Elaine Showalter, an American literary critic, feminist, and writer on cultural and social issues, is one of the founders of feminist literary criticism in United States academia, developing the concept and practice of gynocritics.[4] Showalter coined the term 'gynocritics' to describe literary criticism based in a feminine perspective. Her A Literature of Their Own is a typical example.
In her analysis of the historical development, Showalter presents three important stages of women's writing. First, the imitation of the mainstream literary tradition: second, the protest against the standards of this dominant tradition concerning social values and rights: and third, self-discovery which aims at a search for identity. Showalter identifies these stages as Feminine, Feminist and Female[3]. The Feminine period covers the years between 1840-1889; the Feminist period 1890-1920, and the Female period starts in 1920 and comes to the 1960s. It continues with its renewal of perspectives with the advent of the women's movement after the 1960s. Showalter's contribution to the feminist criticism centres on her rediscovery of the forgotten women writers falling into these stages.
Feminists‟ mission is to end all forms of exploitation & injustice against the women. They have a moral obligation to combat against tyranny and subjugation. In order to accomplish feminism's objectives it may be inevitable to oppose religion and economic exploitation, but not intrinsic. Their goal is only to oppose oppression, exploitation and injustice. Feminists advocate social, political & economical rights for women equal to men.