Interesting facts on Yoga

1. Set aside a regular time for yoga. Once you make a decision to do something, you're telling yourself that it is going to happen. If you're new to yoga, it may not be a practical idea to practice yoga daily, especially while you're getting used to yoga in your life. Instead, aim for at least one practice a week outside your regular class (if you attend a class), and gradually increase the days you're practicing until it becomes daily without you finding this a hurdle.
2. Be kind to yourself when you practice yoga. Go slowly, especially in the beginning, and listen to your body. It knows what it can do. If it says "stop," then stop. Don't push it. Yoga is not a competitive sport; indeed, if you feel that way about it, you will not progress. If you push too hard, you probably won't enjoy it, and you may hurt yourself.
3. Be regular, not rigorous. It is far better to practice a little on a regular basis than to push yourself into a long practice on an irregular basis. It doesn't matter if you can't do certainposes for now. Do the ones you can do; better still, do the poses you enjoy. Perfect those before moving on to the ones you experience more difficulty with.
4. Prepare well for each yoga session. Part of the comfort factor of yoga will be derived from how you prepare for it. Ensure that you have comfortable clothing that allows for freedom of movement and leaves the abdominal area and ribcage free to expand; avoid tight clothing. Make the area where you are practicing comfortable as well.
5. Rest between poses. Again, nothing should be rushed in yoga, and resting in between poses gives you time for reflection and your body a chance to take a break. Keep all movements slow and breathe calmly.
6. Fit yoga into your daily life. As well as dedicated yoga time, practice small elements of yoga throughout the day where possible. There are yoga moves you can practice using your office chair, simply standing, or while waiting. Practice inhalation and exhalation exercises anywhere at anytime. Close your eyes and do a few minutes quiet reflection amid the busyness of everything else going on around you.
7. Remember that time is always on your side in yoga. The more you practice, the better you will get but at your pace, not any pace set by a training manual or coach. Yoga is a journey, not competition or expectation of achievement. 

Yoga, A Beautiful Way of Life

I was always fascinated with the idea of yoga and a yogic lifestyle since my childhood days. As a teenager, I would read about yoga poses in magazines and watch yoga programs on TV and try to copy them. I thought of it as an exercise form which would keep me fit.

It was not till much later in life, when I understood what yoga really is. In my 30’s I was a regular visitor to the gym. I also took up running and ran the Silicon Valley half marathon. Around the same time, I started developing stiffness and pain in my neck and back area. After numerous visits to physical therapists and chiropractors, I was barely able to manage the pain but not totally eliminate it. My neighbor, who was a yoga and meditation teacher, advised me to try her class. After taking the class, I started realizing that my pain subsides when I focus my breath and attention to the pain area. It was a revelation to me that yoga was not just about physical fitness. It provides a holistic approach to life which heals the whole body, mind and spirit complex.

Excited by my new discovery, I started practicing simple yoga poses with attention to breath and problem areas in the body. Within a month my pain had totally vanished. My doctor was surprised and curious about what had healed me. After this point I continued my practice, adding Sun Salutations and more advanced poses. Slowly I started feeling more energetic, peaceful and happy. I felt I had become more dynamic and youthful. This gave me a new zest for life, which people around me also started noticing.

In addition to poses, I also started adapting a holistic lifestyle, adding meditation and breathing practices to my daily routine. I started eating more fresh, natural foods, reduced unhealthy habits such as sleeping very late and watching too much TV, specially violent programs. By changing these habits, I felt more and more peaceful and was able to focus on my work and other enriching activities such as singing, spending quality time with my family and creative writing.

Today I feel that Yoga is a beautiful way of life, which makes life a celebration. I see so many of my friends go through life with stress, ill-heath, and many other related problems. I was lucky to discover yoga and change my life. It has really put me in touch with myself and changed my whole outlook towards life. 

- By Manisha Verma

Yoga: Benefits of Pranayam

One of the eight limbs of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is Pranayam. 

Pranayam is made up of two words Prana + Ayam.

Prana is the vital force present in whole cosmos. We have been provided Prana, the supreme source of energy by the creator. Proper utilisation of this free source of energy can make remarkable changes to our physical and mental health, vitality and self confidence. Prana is more subtle than air and can be defined as the energy essence that is within everything in the universe.

Ayama means to control or to give a rhythm or a definite flow.

In this sense Pranayam may be defined as a process and technique through which vital energy can be stimulated and increased and this brings about perfect control over the flow of Prana within the body. Pranayama locks the scattering of pranic energy, consolidates it at the centre of your body-mind complex and laser-beams it to an intense awareness of the self. In simple language Pranayam can be said to be the right form of breathing technique to control our energy.

Breathing Technique We can train ourselves to breathe more slowly and more deeply. We can reduce our breathing rate from about fifteen breaths a minute to 5-6 breaths a minute. Reduced breathing rate leads to slowing down the heart rate as more oxygen can be pumped even with less number of breaths. Time of exhalation should be longer than that of inhalation in the breath cycle.

Types of Pranayams

1.     BHASTRIKA PRANAYAM

2.     KAPAL BHATI PRANAYAM

3.     BAGHI PRANAYAM

4.     ANULOM VILOM PRANAYAM

5.     BHRAMRI PRANAYAM

6.     UDGEET PRANAYAM

Most of us are not well aware of tangible and intangible benefits of Pranayam. All benefits of pranayama cannot be written down, few of them are listed below:-

Healthy Heart : Heart is the key organ of our body which beats about 70 times per minute to pump blood non-stop all your life. The health of your heart indicates our life expectancy and quality of life in old age. More oxygen in the blood means more oxygen to muscles of the heart.

Better Blood Circulation : As a result of better breathing techniques,  the freshly oxygenated blood travels from lungs to the heart. The heart pumps it via arteries and blood vessels to every part of the body, where in turn is absorbed by every tissue and cell. This improves the blood circulation and more oxygen energy reaches all parts of your body.

Stress Management : Pranayam is an excellent stress relief technique. Pranayama practice provides freedom from negative thought, anger, depression, lasciviousness, greed for money, arrogance etc. With pranayama fluctuations of mind are controlled and it prepares the mind for meditation. With practice of pranayama, we can experience lightness of body, feeling of inner peace, better sleep, better memory and better concentration whereby improving the spiritual powers/ skills. Mental peace and clarity of thought occur in our mind. Cheerfulness and enthusiasm is increased in life.

Functioning Of Body Organs : By pranayama practice all body organs gets more oxygen, toxins are removed from body, therefore onset of various diseases is prevented. Better functioning of autonomic system improves the working of lungs, heart, diaphragm, abdomen, intestines, kidneys and pancreas. Digestive system improves and diseases pertaining to digestive organs are cured with good appetite. General irritability due to lethargy/ fatigue vanishes. Pranayama strengthens the immune system. Reduced wear and tear of internal organs.

Longivity and Quality Of Life In Old Age : Higher the breath rate, lower the life of creature in the world. Dog and monkey have higher breathing rate and lower life in contrast with elephant and tortoise taking four to five breaths in a minute and it lives up to 200 years or more. As a person with sedentary lifestyle reaches middle age, lung tissues tend to grow less and less elastic and lung capacity decreases. Pranayama can help to reduce the effects of following old age problems.

Combating Stress with Yoga and Meditation

Stress has become a universal word which is being used by just about any one, everywhere we go. In the course of this article, we will see the various causes and effects of stress and a simple, yet effective way to tackle this menace with the power of Yoga and Meditation.

The medical science describes stress as a specific response of the body to all non specific demands – physical, psychological, threatened or actual – the response being the secretion of ACTH and CORTISOL (these are two stress induced hormones). Secretion of two other hormones stimulated by stress is adrenalin and noradrenalin.

A more practical definition of stress may be put as “when the problem presented by everyday life exceeds your resources for coping with them you feel stressed”.

Reasons or causes of stress.

1.     Societal problems

2.     Family problems

3.     Work overload

4.     Political Problems

5.     Ecological and environmental factors

6.     Physical and psychological problems

7.     Problems created due to changes in moral values of the society

8.     Economic Factors

9.     Lack of Emotional Support from closed ones

10.   Information overload

11.   Time overload

12.     Financial Problems

13.    Self Ego

14.     Lack of Spirituality

Modern science, till some years ago, did not attribute stress to the creation of diseases. In the last few decades, a series of epidemiological studies and observations have proved that some very common diseases are a direct result of excessive stress. They are now grouped as psychosomatic diseases. A list of these common diseases is as follows.

1.     High Blood Pressure

2.     Angina or Chest Pain

3.     Heart Attacks

4.     Headache

5.     Migraine

6.     Backache

7.     Shoulder ache

8.     Spondylitis

9.     Allergies

10.  Asthma

11. Chronic fatigue and lethargy

12.   Anxiety

13.    Insomnia

14.  Depression

15.  Irritable bowel syndrome

16.    Menstrual irregularities in women

Do you suffer from any of them?
Be honest with yourself and try to find out the roof cause of the problems. This will help you to clearly define a solution.

Yoga and meditation are wonderful tools to combat from stress and stress related disorders.Yoga is the philosophical doctrine developed in India at 500 B.C. It brings about the right interaction, combination, co ordination of the mind and body.

According to Patanjali (the father of yoga), yoga is

·         Union between Prana (Vital Force ) and MahaShakti (Universal energy)

·         Stopping the fluctuation of consciousness (Chitta)

·         Achievement of inner equilibrium

·         It is the skill of work (Karmashu kaushalyam)

Eight limbs of Yoga according to Rishi Patanjali

• Yam –Restraint and Control
• Niyam-observation and self discipline
• Asana-Physical Postures
• Pranayam-Breathing techniques
• Pratyahar-Food habits
• Dharna-Concentration
• Dhyan-Flow of concentration, meditation
• Samadhi-state of ultimate consciousness

Scientifically proven benefits of Meditation

• Controls Blood Pressure
• Increases cardiovascular Capacity
• Increases Breathing Speed
• Controls the Temperature of the body
• Controls the rate of Metabolism in body
• Controls the levels of Cholesterol in blood
• Controls Blood Sugar

During meditation the electromagnetic waves produced by the brain are measured by Electroencephalography (EEG) machine and it shows Alpha waves. If a person is in deep stress the EEG machine records Beta and Delta waves.