Alan Finger (6/7) Yoga and Modern Science

Published on 2013/11/28

Speaker: Yogiraj Alan Finger of NYC ISHTA Yoga
Organizer: The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Video: iHanuman
Transcriptionist: Dylan Robertson

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research. In May 2008, NIH held its first Yoga Week featuring yoga demonstrations, classes and speakers each day. The event was free and open to the public.

Yogiraj Alan Finger, was the opening speaker for the 2008 NIH Yoga Week. In this series of seven videos, he describes the system of yoga he developed called ISHTA YOGA, an acronym for the Integrated Sciences of Hatha, Tantra, and Ayurveda. Although it was now 5 years ago, this video series has been very popular and the content is timeless, so we thought to share it with our readership.

  1. The Purpose of Hatha Yoga
  2. Power of Breath
  3. Tantra Cosmology
  4. On Ayurveda
  5. On Yoga and Trauma
  6. Yoga and Modern Science (this post)
  7. Integrating Yogic Sciences

We need the support of the scientists now to start beginning. They’re beginning to look at what’s happening to brain cells, and they’re beginning to explore it more and more, and are able to unwind more and more. And relate. There is so much correlation between the two now that I feel it’s automatically happening. And I think, Karmically, it’s time.

So, when I started yoga, forty seven years ago, people would say, “You do what?” Or, “What’s yoga?” “Is that where you bend like a pretzel or stand on your head?” Or, “Is that food you eat?” They had no idea.

So I think the general growth and direction is coming to a point where modern science and the science of yoga are going to meet a lot more.

Just the technology, the equipment etc. is beginning to reach a point where we can even read energetic pathways and our brain cells’ activity.

That’s about as much as I can help, and I’ll do anything else I can to help, obviously.

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