How does Yoga helps your mind?

Yoga is an ancient physical and spiritual discipline and branch of philosophy that originated in India reportedly more than 5,000 years ago. The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj, which means to yoke, join, or unite.

Yoga focuses on the mind by teaching you to concentrate on specific parts of the body.

Yoga uses controlled breathing as a way to merge the mind, body, and spirit. The breathing techniques are called pranayamas; prana means energy or life force, and yama means social ethics. It is believed that the controlled breathing of pranayamas will control the energy flow in your body. It is my experience that controlled breathing helps me focus on muscles that are working, and during savasana, it slows down my heart rate, calms my mind, and leads to a deep, inner calm and sense of relaxation.

Yoga is a core component of the Mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy. Drawing from recent research on the mental and physical benefits of practicing yoga, positive psychologists have begun to look deeper into the possibilities of utilizing yoga to improve life for people even in the absence of disease.

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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