Healthy Fitness Zone

Archive for the ‘Yoga’ Category

The change in the lifestyle of human life has brought in a variety of ailments and new disorders into existence. Like fashion, people are trying to adopt old lifestyle by retrofitting into modern lifestyle. Thus people are revisiting the old techniques like massage and yoga again and retrofitting into their lifestyle. Yoga has become more popular in the western countries adopting it from the Asian subcontinent making it suitable for western lifestyle. Before adopting and integrating yoga into your lifestyle to reap benefits, naturally one should be conversant with certain terms of yoga.

Asana is the physical component of yoga and it is required to be aware about the posture and gravity of one’s body. Asana is more concentrated on the health of spinal cord as almost all the ailments causing pain are intimately linked with spinal column Pranayama refers to breathing exercises in yoga. Breathing exercises actually help to calm mind to prepare for meditation. Pranayama acts as a means for relaxation and thus it must be practiced alone or with various postures. Pratyahara is a discipline to control senses and mind and help to meditate by ensuring sensory detachment.

Yoga guru is a mentor who imparts knowledge and wisdom. Most of the yoga schools follow a particular yoga lineage. But, if you are interested to take up a class in yoga, it is not necessary to follow a particular philosophy and above all you definitely don’t require a guru to practice yoga. It is an art which is to be practiced for a better physical and mental health. Go on and start your first lesson in yoga for fulfilling lifestyle and happiness.

The world has transformed into a mechanical environment and hence poor lifestyle has influenced health of the people. With the increased awareness about growing health problems the world is trying to revive the ancient health practices to retrofit it our present lifestyle. Yoga is an ancient science which was used for stress reduction, fitness, and mental health. Yoga has been famous in India for centuries however, the western world have started to adopt it considering the benefits reaped out of it naturally. Yoga Journal indicates that approximately 6 million people around the world are practicing yoga.

Yoga looks at good health is a cumulative state of physical, mental, and social well-being. It balances the whole individual and its benefits are found in the following areas,

• Cardio and respiratory health.
• Stress reduction. .
• Mental relaxation..
• Pain relief.
• Flexibility and toning.
• Posture correction

There are five types of yoga, namely, Raja yoga, Karma yoga, Jnana yoga, Bhakti yoga, Tantra, ritual yoga, and Hatha, physical yoga. Though there are six types of yoga, many people practice one type of yoga and some combine two types and practice. Hatha yoga is a physical yoga which is most popular in the west. It strengthens and tones the body and frees mind from all kinds of distraction. The popularity in western countries is only because of the fact that hatha yoga is more physical and less spiritual..

The increasing popularity of yoga and awareness about it benefits has led more and more people to practice yoga. There is an increasing trend in women practicing yoga during pregnancy and menstrual discomfort apart from practicing yoga for personal health.

Prenatal yoga prepares you for child birth and relieves you of all the discomforts faced by women during pregnancy. Prenatal yoga provides physical tension relief in joints, muscles, and back. It helps in making birth easy by stretching pelvic muscles. The yoga poses; in conjunction breathing exercises helps in the preparation for labor. Some of the benefits of prenatal yoga are,

• Helps you to discover your inner power and strength
• Balances the body and correct postures
• Improves blood circulation
• Improves breathing aiding during labor
• Stabilize emotions and helps you cope up with the physical
• Pelvic muscles are worked upon to prepare for birth

First and foremost thing to practice yoga before pregnancy is to consult your doctor. Since a women body undergoes tremendous amount of change it is better to start off with yoga practice after the first trimester. Most of the allopathic doctors are not aware about prenatal yoga, if so; consult your prenatal yoga instructor. Consultation would be mandatory if the subject has any one of the following ailments, namely, hypertension, toxemia, diabetes and risk for premature labor. Some of the exercises that are involved in prenatal yoga are standing postures, sitting or kneeling postures, pelvic floor exercises, restorative poses, breathing and Visualization and meditation. It is better to get a visual image of the asana for prenatal yoga before practicing it. In the final weeks of pregnancy shorten your yoga practice or do only simple poses.

If you are an active practitioner of yoga and rule the fact that your job does not allow you to take time out for practicing yoga and enjoy the natural benefits of it, then go on and read it. Today’s high paying jobs are filled with business trips and most of the time is spent travelling than that of home. The increased number of ailments due to the kind of job nature involved prolonged posture in front of computers have motivated even corporate world to conduct yoga classes to mitigate work place stress of their employees. Unfortunately the culture has not spread its wing fully, if you are in a company which does not offer onsite yoga classes, then, the following stretching and breathing exercises worked out in office would be of great help to relieve tension in neck, back, arms, and upper body,

Seated Chair Stretch

• Sit on the edge of a chair
• Stretch the right arm upward by putting left hand behind back and palm turned away from back.
• Take upward extended hand and reach behind back to grasp left hand. Hold and breathe into stretch.
• Repeat for the opposite side.

 Chair Spinal Twist

• Sit on the edge of your chair with your spine erect.
• Reach around with your left arm and place it on the back of the chair
• With your right arm, reach across the front of body and twist and turn the upper torso to left by breathing into the stretch.
• Repeat for the opposite side.

Neck Stretch

• Look forward by sitting erect in chair
• Gently stretch neck to the right side.
• Stretch the left arm down the left side of the body. Breathe into the pose and hold for ten seconds.
• Repeat for the opposite side.

If you are in the in the verge of entering the age of fifty, and worried about the stress and neglect felt at that age. Then you should go through this excerpt. It is a fact that metabolic rate decreases with age and become more prone to stress related ailments. Thus undergoing strenuous weight training would not be possible and is of little help. Are you worried now? Do not worry, try yoga. Yoga is not a cure it is art that can be integrated into your life style for a happier and healthier life. They are light and not strenuous and hence, can be started at any age.

It is just a healthier way of extending a happy life. The joy of practicing yoga with like mined people doubles the pleasure of living at that age. Some tips for our elderly yoga are,

• Take up classes with people of your own age group.
• Be gentle in beginning particularly if you have issues like osteoporosis
• Never forget to consult your doctor before undertaking yoga classes
• Avoid inverted postures if you are suffering from high blood pressure

Yoga is a lifestyle not a medication; it invokes the inner joy in individuals and help them to rediscover the joy of life. Formation of groups involving likeminded and same age group people helps to siphon out stress, by sharing the benefits of yoga exercises.