ABSTRACT
Yoga has been undergoing a process of transformation and adaptation to medical-scientific rationality, referred to as the ‘medicalization of yoga’, with a distancing from reflections on being present in its Vedic source. Guided by an Indian hermeneutic tradition, this essay investigated meanings for the terms hṛdayam (‘heart’) and yoga, in the context of the current integration of the latter into cardiovascular prevention. In the Vedic tradition, the heart holds a distinct meaning from the medical organ; the term is also used to refer to 1) intellect and 2) the locus of the Self (ātmā). Among other meanings, yoga is seen as a cognitive tool aimed at discriminating between the real and the apparent. In this tradition, heart health points more towards an existential condition – ignorance of the Self – and its effects (egotism, aversions, desires, etc.) than towards the cardiovascular risk factors explored in research and clinical care. Such a perspective could serve as quaternary prevention against the adverse effects of the introjection and reification of risk factors, indicating a different direction for understanding and implementing yoga in healthcare services. It underscores the importance of deepening philosophical reflections on yoga and other integrative and complementary practices within the Unified Health System (SUS).
KEYWORDS
Yoga; Heart; Health promotion; Knowledge; Disease prevention