Hatha Yoga : Postures With Meditation and Pranayam

Yoga is a traditional wisdom originated in India. But it has nothing to do with any religion or faith. Practicing yoga, coupled with meditation, is an age-old system of human efforts to feel the oneness of body and the soul.

WHAT IS HATHA YOGA

While Hatha yoga combines physical postures, it upholds the importance of moral attitudes, too. It is a holistic approach reducing mental stress and increases the overall well-being of human body and mind. In short it tries making our body a temple for living the sacred soul. Awakening of Kundalini and making each of its chakras activated is part of hatha yoga.

The objective of Hatha Yoga is to maintain a fine balance between body and the mind. This task is done by giving specific postures known as Yoga Asana or Yoga poses. This system of yoga is believed to be devised in India before fifteenth century. The other yoga systems known as Astang yoga, Kundalini yoga and power yoga are based on the basic concepts of Hatha Yoga. All the systems of yoga have one line agenda: they try to pacify the mind by keeping the flow of physical energy regularized state. Followings are some of the yoga poses devised under Hatha Yoga system.

INVERTED HATHA YOGA POSES

Plough Pose is an important posture in system of Hatha Yoga. It is one of the three poses, which are recommended to activate the ‘Manipur Chakra’ of Kundalini. Regular practice of this would result in general health of body and mind.

Raja Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand): This is much practiced posture of Hatha Yoga. As it helps creating increased flow of blood into brain, it is much useful for increasing the power of remembering, too. For the beginners, this pose might be a little bit difficult. But you would like to do it, as you can do other difficult posture like' Halasana, the Plow Posture' from the shoulder Stand pose. The beginners should not remain for more time in this pose, as it may cause neck problem for them.[Image courtesy By Marcocarvalho [CC-BY-3.0],from Wikimedia Commons]

BACK-BEND HATHA YOGA POSES

Dhanur-asana, Bow Pose is one of the Hatha Yoga Poses that helps keeping the flexibility of spine in order. It also helps in reducing the back pain, both lower and upper. If practiced regularly, this Bow Pose would make our neck tension free and the thig muscles get extensively stretched.

Camel Pose, Ustrasana: The posture known as Camel Pose is one of the difficult poses, and has several benefits. If done regularly, it helps in diseases of certain muscles and back pain. You would not find it much difficult after one or two weeks. The yoga posture of Bow Pose is similar to this pose. But that is done by positioning our body differently. Here the step by step instructions are given.

BALANCING HATHA YOGA POSES

Peacock Pose, Mayurasana: As this is one of the difficult type of asanas, we should have prior knowledge about other easy asana. We can sit in Vajrasana and after getting comfortable with doing the difficult poses, we can start doing Mayurasana. For the beginners it is advisable not to remain for more time in this pose. Whenever you feel paining, just stop and relax for a while.

Scorpion pose involves the strength of almost all the muscles of your body; thus if you practice it regularly you would find yourself more energetic. This posture is called the Ardha-Vrischikasana, meaning Half Scorpion pose. In the beginning, the practitioner of this pose would face some difficulty in doing this asana. But it would not take more than a week to know it completely.

If one practices these poses regularly, he or she would feel less stressed and full of energy during the day. In addition to toning of the internal organs of our body, these postures help in curing the ailments like hypertension and arthritis. It could help in keeping diabetes in control, too. However the proportion of the benefit arrived might be different from individual to individual depending upon the age and general health of the person.