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Illness, disease, and disorders are common in this world, and people everywhere are desperately seeking relief from their suffering. Yoga helps us to think better and to live better; indeed, it helps us improve ourselves in everything we do. Hence it holds out the promise of health, wellbeing, and harmony.

We must not forget that the use of yoga as a therapy is just a recent happening in its wonderful long history, which has historically served to promote spiritual evolution. Yoga helps us to unify all aspects of our very being: the physical body, in which we live our daily life; the energy body, without which we will not have the capacity to do what we do; the mind body, which enables us to do our tasks with mindfulness; the higher intellect, which gives us clarity; and finally, the universal body, which gives us limitless bliss.

Yoga is one of the six reverential perspectives of the universe (Shat Darshana) as codified by the great seers (Rishis) of the pan-Indian cultural tradition. It provides us with a practical framework and perspective of the manifest universe (prakruti) and the pure consciousness that lies behind it (purusha). The moral and ethical foundations of yoga (yama, niyama) provide inner strength, conviction, and self-responsibility that manifest in both our personal and social life. They guide our attitudes with regard to what is right and wrong in our life and in relation to our Self, our family, and the entire social system. These changes in our attitude and behavior will go a long way in helping to prevent the root causes of stress in our life.