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Stretching exercises are effective in increasing flexibility, and thereby can allow people to more easily do activities.
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Yoga: Postures and Poses
Yoga has become a very popular form of exercise, however, some styles focus primarily on physically working the back, for instance: the most important Yoga poses in this case will differ from others, remaining the most important Yoga poses for another kind of Yoga.
There are also very difficult one might focus on in other styles of Yoga designed to stretch and strengthen other specific parts of the body, and many that work the entire body, treating the body as left and right equals yin and yang.
There are specific Yoga poses for the floor parts of Yoga exercise, as well as the more familiar standing Yoga poses.
One of the most basic kinds of standing Yoga poses one will learn in Yoga is what is called the tree balance. In this balance you will:
- Prepare as always by checking the posture and lifting through the torso, pushing your shoulders down.
- Hold your eyes on one object diagonally or straight forward for the entire pose.
- Stand with your feet together.
- Lift up onto the balls of your feet.
- Rock your weight back, onto your heels.
- Strengthen the right leg shifting all of your weight and lift your left leg slowly up so that your foot lays flat, toes down, resting on your right inner thigh.
- Your arms slowly lift up to what is called the prayer position: both palms meeting directly above the top of the head–the full body in perfect alignment. Meeting above the crown chakra and lengthening all the way through the body.
The benefits of practicing this posture are many. It will result in remarkably noticeable balance and grace.
The posture requires balance, focus and concentration–all the basic guidelines of Yoga–both spiritual and physical are involved in Yoga poses. The tree balance is one of the many Yoga poses where the key is to relax and clear your mind. Not thinking about the difficulty of the pose itself–releasing tension–that is the mental aspect of several complex positions–without which many Yoga poses would be virtually impossible to hold.
This is one of the most well known Yoga postures. However, there are many. Including, as I mentioned before, many floor Yoga poses. Focus and breath–this is how you remain in any of the Yoga poses.
One example of the floor Yoga poses is the snake:
- Lay flat on your stomach with your hands on your shoulders.
- Lift up by straightening the arms and focus up–as though your eyes were also a part of the arch.
- Focus on pushing the pelvis down towards the floor–arching your back.
- And keep your shoulders down, as with virtually all Yoga poses.
Remember, all Yoga poses are meant to be held. You do not just reach the posture. Instead you reach it and remain there–thirty seconds, a minute etc. Holding, breathing, the asana, and the pranayama, this is how the balance is earned. In all Yoga poses you will find that you can stretch further and further each time. There are many other yoga poses and techniques out there–go find the perfect kind of yoga for you!
How Yoga Naturally Improves Work Satisfaction
Yoga in the work place not only lowers stress levels, but it also boosts positive work relations and reduces days lost due to illness. But did you know that participating in a yoga class during work hours also improves work satisfaction?
According to one survey, more than 53% of corporations are adding yoga classes in-house to take advantage of the many benefits yoga offers—happy employees are just good business.
Beats Stress
Studies show that the one major reason for work dissatisfaction is highstress levels. Too much stress makes employees susceptible to illness and injury, not to mention sleep deprivation, which lowers mood and motivation. Being stressed out all the time means we make more simple mistakes and are less engaged in tasks, which is obviously part of work satisfaction. Completing a few basic yoga poses and breathing exercises daily can lower stress naturally.
Lessens Physical Ailments
Anyone who has ever worked an office job knows how staring at a screen all day while sitting at a desk negatively impacts motivation and focus in a variety of ways. Yoga gives our bodies a chance to move and stretch to keep us active and fit and keeps the tight neck and shoulders at bay, increasing our morale in the office.
Daily work stress and long hours can cause us to lose our concentration and be distracted by unimportant tasks. Doing short, easy meditations and deep-breathing yoga exercises can quiet the noisy voices in your head that keep you anxious and overwhelmed. These simple techniques improve and regulate oxygen in your bloodstream, making you more alert, focused and happy.
Relieves Fatigue and Improves Energy
As our work hours grow longer, it becomes almost impossible to not succumb to fatigue and burnout. We might not even be aware how much stress and not enough downtime impact our energy levels, not to mention our zest for living. By adding a few yoga poses and quiet meditation time to our day, we can lower fatigue, raise our energy level and our mood. This means more work satisfaction and general happiness with our lot in life.
You just can’t help but feel happier when you are less stressed, more energized and more creative—it all goes hand in hand. And yoga provides this for everyone. The practice of yoga has lasted for millennia for a reason. It provides mental, emotional and physical benefits in just minutes a day. Spending your breaks enjoying stretching and breathing exercises can do wonders for your work and personal life by improving your mood and attitude.
Unexpected Ways Yoga Can Build Your Career
While we talk about how yoga improves productivity and focus, it does way more than that. Many people say it changes their lives, building their self-confidence to pursue their dreams and find serenity they never knew was possible. These changes offer amazing self-development options, but also ways to build your career in ways you hadn’t expected.
Clearly, yoga is about much more than a workout routine. It’s about bringing mind and body together to work in harmony, and what we learn about ourselves when practicing yoga can be used to build a career we love.
Yoga Helps You Deal with Stressful Situations
When you become more aware of the way your mind and body work together, you more quickly and easily notice when a stressor is triggering you. With this understanding, you can deal with the stress sooner rather than later so that it doesn’t build up, causing you to react in ways that aren’t beneficial to anyone.
Yoga also gives you the tools to help you work through stressful situations, no matter what they are. You understand that you can choose to be calm by utilizing yoga meditations and breathing when things get tense.
Yoga Teaches You to Surrender to What Is
Usually, our natural reaction to things we don’t like is to fight it. We lash out or complain and make ourselves miserable. Much of what happens to us in our daily lives can’t be fixed or changed, at least by us. Yoga helps you discover the peace within that you can choose rather than rallying against the impossible. Deadlock work traffic, impossible deadlines, timewasting meetings.
These things are irritating, but they need not be as stressful as we make them out to be. By tapping into our inner stillness, that yoga demonstrates that we each have, we can surrender to the way things are and still be content and happy.
Teaches you to be Okay with Your Limitations
Our society teaches us to struggle and strive to be perfect in every way. Anything else is complete and utter failure. Yoga proves this ingrained belief fruitless and ridiculous. In yoga class, no one can do every pose perfectly from the get-go. Even long-time instructors will admit to having certain poses that don’t come easily to them.
Yoga encourages us to be content right where we are and to be gentle with ourselves as we continue to improve on all aspects of our lives, including work duties. Yoga shows us that there is no need for struggle, but that by being compassionate and patient with ourselves, we can do amazing things.
How Cardio Training Can Lose Weight and Build Muscle Quickly
The topic of losing weight can often elicit “groans.” There’s no need you know. In fact, did you know that cardio training can lead to quickly building muscle mass and losing weight. Cardio training can be as simple or as complex as you like.
Walking, jogging, and cycling are all goof forms of aerobic exercise that can quickly burn body fat. Aerobic exercises are a great choice for the entire body.
There’s all kinds of sites promoting the “secret to successful weight loss” online but it’s really not as complicated as we might want to make it out to be. If you want to lose weight quickly then you must change the ration between calorie intake and calorie use. You can either increase your exercise or decrease your calories. The best plan of attack is to combine the two. Reduce your calories by no more than 500 and increase your activity with a daily 30 minutes of cardio a day.
When you build muscle you burn fat. Strength training builds muscle. Squats, lunges, and push ups require no equipment are very effective. Free weights are also very effective – dumbbells can be purchased for cheap and cans always work too. Don’t make this more expensive or complicated than it has to be.
Fat burning aerobic exercise is different than recreational exercise. For example Tennis and golf are recreational exercise and won’t do a thing for your weight loss, or very little. Then again aerobic exercise such as running, walking, and jogging for 30 minutes without stopping will get the heart pumping and the fat melting.
For awhile it was thought that low intensity exercises would do the job of burning fat but that myth was quickly dismissed. If you don’t get your heart rate up you won’t burn fat. When you have a high intensity aerobic workout you will consume around 70% of the body’s energy. This means calories are burnt and that includes fat cells.
Your cardio workout can be as little as 10 to 15 minutes but a 45 to 60 minute workout is the most effective for burning fat. Don’t think for a minute that more is better, because after 60 minutes the amount of weight loss actually goes down not up.
Cardio training can lose weight and build muscles quickly but when it comes to healthy weight loss that you can maintain you’ll want to ensure you have a healthy lifestyle.
How To Target Your Stomach With Yoga
Yoga is a great part of any wellness routine, as it has the ability to both reduce stress and exercise the body. If you are trying to use yoga to target your midsection, well, that can be done. There are a number of yoga positions (called asanas) which exercise the stomach muscles. Bear in mind that some of these are more advanced than other.
Assess your own skill and comfort level before trying certain asanas. If you are not sure you are able to do one asana, start with one that seems easier and work your way up once you have belt some strength and flexibility. As with any workout routine, be sure to consult a professional before beginning and always warm up properly to avoid injury.
Pavan-Muktasan
To perform this stomach-exercising asana, first lie flat on your back. Use a yoga mat of towel to cushion the spine. Bend both knees up to your chest so that your thigh touches the stomach. Hug your knees in place and lock your fingers. Now lift your head up so your nose meets your knees. Take a deep breath and hold it for thirty seconds before releasing and slowly lowering back to start. This exercise can also be done one leg at a time.
Bhujangasan
For this stomach exercise, remain on the floor, but roll over on to your stomach. Position your hand under your shoulders. Now, using your back muscles, raise your upper torso off the ground to that your head is upright. Be careful not to push with your hands. You want the muscles in your back to be doing the work. Hold this posture for thirty seconds, then lower yourself back to start. Even though you are using your back muscles to lift your upper body, performing the asana will assist in reducing belly fat and flattening your tummy.
The Bow
This stomach exercise is pretty similar to the previous asana, but more involved. It starts from the same position lying on your stomach, but in this exercise you curl your legs upward in addition to lifting your upper torso. Bend your knees so that the soles of your feet come up toward your head. Grab your ankles and pull with your hands and push with your legs until only your stomach is on the floor. Your body should feel sort of like it is making a circle. Your knees should remain together throughout the exercise. Hold this position for thirty seconds before releasing and returning to starting position.
Paad-Pashchimottanasan
Now that you have read the name of this asana, try not to be intimidated– it is less complicated in practice than in pronunciation. It does, however, require a fair amount of flexibility, so you may want to start with something easier and build up to this one. Start by lying on your back with your legs straight and arms overhead.
Your body should be straight from head to toe with all limbs extended. Point your palms up to the ceiling and put your hands together. Contract your stomach muscles to sit up, keeping your back straight and hands overhead. Bend forward and grab your toes with your hands, putting your head between your arms so it touches your knees. Hold the position for two minutes before releasing.
What to Expect When Starting a Yoga Routine
Yoga. We’ve all heard the word and seen the mats everyone seems to carry around with them these days. But can yoga really help improve your health and fitness levels?
The answer is yes, definitely – provided that you start safely and sensibly and know what to expect.
Why Yoga?
Yoga can help you get fit quickly and safely because it uses the weight of your body to tone and trim. It is low impact, and good for people of all ages and body types who want to build their strength and stay fix and flexible.
You’re Never too Old for Yoga
Yoga is ideal even for seniors because it can improve range of motion, balance and stability. It also relieves stiffness. The long lean muscle built through yoga can protect bones and aging joints in order to keep you mobile and injury-free. Those muscles can also help boost your metabolism so you will burn more calories, which is ideal if you wish to lose weight.
Thousands of Years of Proof That It Works
Yoga has been used for thousands of years for health, healing and fitness. It may seem weird or “New Age” to us in the West, but the truth is that Hatha yoga has been practiced for thousands of years in the Far East.
The health benefits of a regular yoga practice include increased:
* Concentration
* Strength
* Flexibility
* Long, lean muscle
* Stamina
Yoga will decrease:
* Anxiety
* Stress
* Tension
* Blood pressure
* Stiffness
Safety First
Before you start to twist yourself into a pretzel, it is important to put safety first. If you have any underlying health issues, check with your doctor before starting yoga. Choose a yoga that is low impact, such as Hatha, Kundalini or Vinyasa, compared to the more demanding forms such as Bikram (hot yoga) or Ashtanga.
Be aware of any old or recent injuries and protect your back and knees. Start with yoga poses that can work your core muscles, such as Mountain, Tree, and the Warrior series of poses, and Plank pose. A good set of abdominal and back muscles will give your practice stability and help keep you safe.
Don’t believe the myth of “no pain, no gain” in reference to yoga. That is the surest way to sideline yourself with a potentially serious injury. After a workout, it is natural to feel a little sore the next day, but if this persists, rest those muscles until the strain in healed.
Practice on a level surface and use a non-skid mat so you do not slip. It will cushion your joints as well when doing your poses. Warm up before and cool down after with some gentle stretching. Stay warm but not too hot. Cold muscles will tense can be injured more easily.
If you are using a DVD, work at your own pace. Pause it as needed. If you are confused, look up the poses online at a reliable site like Yoga Journal.
Enjoy your meditations. Think of them as a mini-break from your daily life even if some of them seem weird. Chanting mantras such as OM might also seem a bit odd, but you will soon notice your body, mind and spirit all becoming in tune with each other.
Don’t skip deep relaxation at the end. This is usually done lying down in Corpse pose and is a great way to de-stress.
Now that you know what to expect, start a daily yoga practice and see what a difference it can make to your health.
Vinyasa Yoga 101
Yoga means union, the union of mind, body and spirit. There are a number of yogas to choose from. The best yoga will combine all three.
However, many modern yoga focus mainly on the poses, or asanas, and tend to not focus as much on the meditation and breath work which are an essential part of Hatha yoga, the oldest form of yoga.
What Is Vinyasa Yoga?
Vinyasa is also known as flow yoga. The word vinyasa means to place in a special way. It uses the same asanas as Hatha yoga. However, rather than each asana being done individually with a pause in between, the poses are organized into sequences whereby the body is in constant motion as it moves smoothly from one pose to the next.
The word vinyasa can also mean “breath-synchronized movement,” with the asanas being performed, held, and changed in conjunction with inhale and exhale patterns and a number of breaths being counted.
The most prominent teacher of vinyasa was K. Pattabhi Jois, who founded his own yoga institute in India in 1948 and helped popularize yoga throughout the world.
The Eight Limbs of Yoga
Vinyasa flow yoga belongs to the ancient practice of Ashtanga yoga. It is also known as Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga. Ashtanga is a Sanskrit term which means “eight-limbed,” referring to a 2,000-year-old book about yoga which stated that the practice of yoga, or union, involves eight limbs, or arms and legs, to support it.
Two of the eight limbs are asana and pranayama, that is, poses and breathing. Pranayama is a combination of two words, prana (life-force energy) and ayama (to move or regulate). Through controlling our breathing, therefore, we can regulate our energy and use it to achieve our goals in life. We can also use it for health and healing. Yoga is part of Ayurvedic, that is, traditional Indian medicine that has been used for centuries to bring the body back into balance.
Yoga for All
The beauty of Vinyasa flow yoga is that it can be practiced by people of any age and ability. The main trick is to learn the postures first, to then be able to move smoothly from one to the next.
Vinyasa is low-impact compared to Ashtanga, which is a good deal more strenuous and has seven levels (one beginner, two intermediate and four advanced). With Vinyasa, you need focus and concentration as you move from one posture to the next and then hold it for a certain number of breaths before moving on to the next asana. However, it is not high impact.
Different forms of breathing are used, though there is not as much pranayama and meditation compared with Hatha or Kundalini yoga, which are both also good for those new to yoga.
Due to its continuous movement, you have no time to get bored, plus Vinyasa has many beneficial physical effects such as improved circulation, digestion, flexibility and mental abilities such as concentration. It relieves stiffness and lowers blood pressure, while reducing stress and improving mood.
Vinyasa will give you more energy and offer relief from depression and anxiety. It can also improve your social skills as you attended classes and work with your teacher to improve your postures and flow.
If you are looking for an interesting and fun form of yoga, see if there is a Vinyasa or flow yoga studio near you, and see what a difference yoga can make to your mind, body and spirit.
Hatha Yoga 101
There are a number of different kinds of yoga – some ancient, and some modern inventions which emphasize different aspect of yoga.
What Is Hatha Yoga?
Yoga means union; the union of mind, body and spirit. Hatha is the most traditional of the yogas and has been practiced for thousands of years in India and the Far East.
The name Hatha means willful or forceful. The word is also a combination of hat (sun) and ha (moon). It works with the energy centers of the body, flesh and bone. The main focus is on surrendering to and perfecting the many poses, and using yoga for health, healing and personal transformation.
Hatha yoga is part of traditional Ayurvedic, that is, Indian medicine. In traditional Eastern forms of medicine, doctors treat not just the physical body but the energy body, also called the subtle body. It is thought to be comprised of channels, loops, meridians and chakras – that is, energy centers in the body.
If a surgeon cut you open, they wouldn’t see the chakras, but Hatha posits that they are there and balance the energy for healing purposes and overall wellbeing. Chinese acupuncture and acupressure, Reiki, Shiatsu and other healing modalities also work on the theory of balance and stimulating the energy in the body.
Hatha Poses
Many modern types of yoga focus mainly on the poses, or asanas, the physical side of yoga. Hatha yoga aspires to create balance in all things. There are different levels of poses, and therefore different classes and DVDs you can try.
Improved Concentration
Hatha improves mental concentration through meditation, chanting mantras like OM, and to some extent, breath work. With breath work, you learn how to breathe in different patterns with different purposes, such as a cooling breath or a heating breath that increases energy.
At One with the Breath
The Sanskrit word for breath work is pranayama. Prana means life-force, ayama to regulate or lengthen. In other words, practicing pranayama can improve one’s health and vitality through the breath. The breath work is very useful for eliminating toxins from the body and improving the immune system.
A Union of Body, Mind and Spirit
Yoga is not just about the body beautiful. It is considered to be a way of connecting with our inner selves so we can open up to connecting with others. This can be achieved through meditation. Meditation can also include breath work and chanting.
The Benefits of Hatha
Hatha has been shown to offer increased energy, less stress, better moods and sleep, and decreased anxiety. It lowers blood pressure and can help you lose weight more easily by boosting your metabolism.
Who Can Practice It?
Hatha is ideal for people of all ages because it is low impact and you can work at a safe and sensible pace. Even those with health issues can benefit from Hatha yoga. When done carefully with the help of expert guidance, Hatha can help relieve back, joint and muscle pain. The pranayama can help with allergies, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, or COPD.
Meditation helps improve focus, concentration and memory, all ideal for seniors who want to maintain a busy, active lifestyle no matter what their age.
With all of these benefits, now might be the best time to check out your local yoga studios to see which of them offer Hatha. Try an introductory class and see what a difference Hatha yoga can make to your health.
Kundalini Yoga 101
Yoga is not just a form of exercise. It is known to revitalize your body, mind and spirit as well. The word yoga means union, and the best forms of yoga are those which allow you to improve all three. Hatha yoga is the oldest of the yoga forms, dating back to 1,500 BC.
Kundalini is slightly more modern than that, having been developed in India in the 5th century AD and practiced as part of Tantric Buddhism.
What Is Tantra?
Tantra means union, that is, union of mind, body and spirit. Instead of living in a cave and starving in order to make spiritual progress, Tantric Buddhists incorporate all aspects of life into their spiritual path to perfection. You don’t need to be a Buddhist to practice Kundalini yoga, since yoga is not a part of any religion. Yoga is however a cornerstone of traditional Indian medicine, known as Ayurvedic medicine.
Yoga as Healing
Kundalini yoga was brought to the West in the late 1960’s by Yogi Bhajan, a Sikh from India, who also founded the Yogi tea brand. He set up teaching centers as part of the Happy, Healthy Holy Organization (3HO).
Kundalini yoga focuses on awakening your power within through two means, physical movement and mental improvement. You can develop strength and power in all aspects of your life and use this power to achieve both your worldly goals and your higher self.
The word Kundalini means coiled. It refers to two things. The first is a form of vital life energy thought by Ayurvedic practitioners to be coiled around the base of the spine. By moving this energy through your body and harnessing whenever you wish, you can release your full potential of body, mind and spirit – the second meaning of Kundalini.
Why Kundalini Yoga Is Different
Kundalini uses poses and breath work in a range of ways. Rather than being done individually for their own sake, they are put into sets known as kriyas which are designed to accomplish certain goals. These goals can range from boosting your energy and strengthening your immune system, to weight loss and lowering stress. Some of the poses are special and used only in Kundalini yoga.
In addition to the poses, Kundalini uses special breath work, including one called Breath of Fire – rapid breathing in and out through the nose in the same way a dog would pant through its mouth. The pattern is supposed to awaken the energy in the spine and move it upwards so it can be used in a range of ways. It also gives the abs a great workout.
Kundalini works on the individual chakras of the body as well, to balance them. The word chakra means vortex; the energy is pictured as spinning like a plate from the front of our body to our back.
There are seven chakras, each related to a certain form of energy. For example, the heart chakra at the center of our chest is said to control our love and relationships. A blocked or imbalanced chakra can lead to disharmony and poor health. An open and balanced one can lead to happier relationships.
Kundalini is also different because of the mantras and chanting. If you love to sing, this is the right yoga for you.
This form of yoga can be done by people of all ages and physical conditions. There are no levels so you can benefit from any class you attend. If you are feeling “stuck” in certain parts of your life, see if there is a Kundalini studio near you and try it out to see what a difference it can make in your life.
