YOGA POSTURES: Mayurasana, Peocock Pose

Meaning of 'Mayura', a Sanskrit word, is ‘Peacock’. While doing this asana, our body looks like a ‘ Peacock’. Thus it is named from the appearance of the posture.

Drchirag patel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mayurasana-Peacock Pose

THEME: Learn doing Yoga Exercises, How to do Different Postures of Yoga. Learn Yoga Asanas.

HOW TO DO MAYURASANA

As it is one of the difficult types of asanas, you should have prior knowledge about other easy asanas. You can sit in Vajrasana and start doing Mayurasana. This is a difficult type of postures. so practice it slowly and avoid remaining for more time in this posture in the beginning. 

1. Lie down flat on the floor, on your abdomen.
2. Then try raising your whole body with the support of your palms, which would be firmly grounded on the floor with fingers pointing backwards.

Another method:

• Sitting on your upper scales, put your knees touching the floor.

• Then stretch out the fingers of hands and firmly place the palms on the floor or the Yoga net.

• Ensure that your elbows remain on both the sides of your navel.

• Now start stretching both legs together and come a little bit forward, but slowly and cautiously, After that try raising your upper part of the body.

• Once the upper part of the body is raised up, straighten both of your legs together like one stick.

• Now your posture would be as shown in the image.

• To get released from the asana is not so difficult; you can devise your own easy method that does not hurt your body.

BENEFITS OF MAYURASANA

• The Mayrasana (Peacock Posture) provides exercise to all of the parts of the body.

• It helps in toning up of some of the internal organs like liver, kidney and pancreas

• Those who have stomach disorder would be benefitted by doing this asana.

• Mayurasan keeps the whole body in a balanced and concentrated position.

TYPES OF YOGASANA

Marcocarvalho, CC BY 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

If you search the web for the yoga and how to do yoga postures you would find numerous links. We are not to add here one of the links. 

Here it is tried to give a short index of the articles which would let the yoga seekers know the fundamentals of yoga and how the different types of yoga poses are done. 

These articles are written in the most possible simple manner so it can help those who want to know about yoga in nutshell.

YOGA SYSTEMS

Here are some yoga systems which are important. However, there are very slight differences in these systems. Practising of all the systems would benefit the practitioners of yoga.

ASHTANGA YOGA: Various Schools Teaching yoga

Joseph RENGER, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

This system of yoga asanas is devised by Patanjali. It is believed to be as old as 5000 years. Perhaps the most beneficial of all other yoga systems, ashtanga yoga comprises the eightfold path for those who want to practice it. 

          Sun Salutation Pose (Suryanamaskar)

These eight aspects through which a yogi, a desirous person to walk on the path of yoga, travels is like this: Yama, Niyama, Asana, (yoga postures), Pranayama (breathing technique), Pratyahara (withdrawal of senses), Dharana, Dhyan (meditation), and Samadhi (salvation).

Yoga postures are various positions of our body. But these postures or Asanas are not only the position given to the body. In addition to providing good exercise to our body, yoga postures provide us with opportunities to create or it is an attempt synthesizing our mind and body. It is just like a fusion of the human mind and physical strength.

The regular practice of doing yoga postures could render us with more awareness of the exact relationship between our mind and body. After doing these exercises for a period, one might start feeling that his or her body moves with balance and grace, her or his mind functions with mental and physical balance. 

Thus the yoga asanas are not merely a collection of exercises or the sets of physical activities, but it is the system that is developed and time to time refined over the ages.

Yoga Schools: 

There are certain schools of teaching yoga and yoga asana. These schools are not the watertight compartments teaching different yoga postures, but they use different techniques, and their goal is common. These schools are not different from each other in many respects, and they are or have been recognised as part of one another at different times, too.

If ware to look at a few yoga schools teaching the yoga in various ways, the first we would remember would be Ashtanga Yoga. 

HATHA YOGA: Postures With Meditation and Pranayama

The system known as Hatha yoga combines physical postures, along with upholding the necessity of moral attitudes that a human being should have. It is a holistic approach helping to reduce our mental stress. The practise of these yoga postures increases the overall well-being of our body and mind.

KUNDALINI: Awakening of Chakras and Cosmic Energy

The vital energy running through a coil that starts from our genital area and ends at the head is known as Kundalini. The great thinkers and yoga teachers say that it is psycho energy. The yoga master tells us that is a spiritual one. 

In short, Kundalini is a psycho-spiritual power.

YOGA FOOD: Diet with Curative Characteristics

Our food is very much important in shaping the quality of our thoughts. Yoga system strongly believes and advocates that our mental development and spiritual uplift is linked with the food we consume. 

India is the birthplace of many systems of yoga and yoga postures. Here you would find a yoga training school and a pool of trained yoga teachers.