The yogic idea of mental silence implies first, that taming of the mind is the key to successful personal development and second, that the untamed mind is a fundamental factor in the development of disease. These ancient ideas are reflected in modern scientific evidence which demonstrates the deleterious impact of stress and negative affect (emotion/mood) and the constructive impact of positive moods on health. In fact this evidence forms the basis of modern theories such as the bio-psychosocial model of health, positive psychology (and specifically the ideas of mental hygiene, flow state, peak experience and plateau experience) and the religion–health connection (to be discussed later). It represents a development of the idea of psychosomatic disease postulated in the 1970s, psychoneuro-immunology and mind-body medicine.
For more discussion on the aims of yoga check Dr Ramesh Manocha’s site.