Neha Tripathi

In the 21st century, as we stand at the threshold of becoming an interplanetary species, one of the most important questions that we must ask is not just “how we will travel through space”, but rather “how we will live in it”. As rockets pierce through the stratosphere and astronauts orbit Earth for months, it is when their bodies slowly forget gravity and show changes. Muscles shrink, bones get thin, and blood redistributes. Even digestion falters, and the mind, suspended in silence, grapples with isolation and disorientation. These are not only the physical challenges faced by astronauts but rather are existential ones. Although modern science has offered strength training and pharmacological interventions, but it is the ancient Indian science of Yoga that may provide the most sustainable answer. For centuries, yoga has helped human beings build resilience, clarity, and physiological balance, not through force, but through awareness. Now, as private space missions become more frequent and human presence in space grows longer, yoga is being reconsidered as a wellness practice as well as a vital tool of survival, one that brings alignment to body and mind, even when there is no “up” or “down.” In the vacuum of space, perhaps it is not thrust and technology alone that will sustain us, but breath, posture, and stillness…read more on NOPR