YOGA ASANA: YOGA POSTURES

Theme: Learn to do Yoga Exercises and how to do Yoga Postures.

WHAT IS YOGA

The word Yoga means 'to unite'. It is an ancient practice through which an individual tries to unite oneself with the whole universe, by meditation and other techniques of yoga.

In modern days, yoga is prescribed as a medication and psychotherapy treatment.

Researchers have found yoga helps to reduce stress, regulate blood pressure and increase the sharpness of the mind. However, yoga is not only a set of rules narrating how the human body can remain healthy and live happily longer. It instructs how to practice what has been taught in the yoga theories.

The 5000-year-old ancient knowledge of Yoga systems can be practised as a curative therapy. It helps in healing several adamant diseases, which make our lives miserable. We can practice yoga poses at home, with basic instructions from a trained yoga teacher. It would be helpful if we could go to a yoga school or a yoga retreat.

The definition of yoga is "to unite." Through meditation and other yoga techniques, it is an ancient practice that aims to integrate the practitioner with the entire cosmos.

These days, psychotherapy and medicine prescriptions include yoga.

Studies have shown that yoga improves mental clarity, lowers blood pressure, and reduces stress, but it is more than just a collection of instructions explaining how the human body can stay fit and live a happy and longer life. It gives guidelines on how to put the yoga philosophies into practice.

Yoga systems have 5,000 years of historical information that can be used as a therapeutic modality. It aids in the healing of numerous stubborn illnesses that make life difficult.

WHY YOGA IS NECESSARY

Our changed lifestyle and the use of various machines in our day-to-day activities have made us do less physical work. So our body becomes imbalanced in a way by the passing of age. Yoga makes the required correction. Regular practice of Yoga would help us reduce fat deposits and keep us fit. If we want to see the benefits which we can get from practising Yoga and Yoga Asanas, we can summarise that in a nutshell as follows.

Types of yoga poses

In fact, yoga poses are a comprehensive set of body and mind exercises. The poses or asanas we do can be classified according to the twists they give to our body. The postures which require our body to bend in the back are termed Back-bends, and likewise, the Forward-Bend poses.

In many poses, our body is put into reverse of the natural order. These poses are called Inverted Poses and wherein the face remains upward, are named as Face up Postures. there are many simple postures which keep our boy either in a Sitting Position or a Standing Position

Hatha Yoga: Postures With Meditation and Pranayama

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

Dhanur-asana, Bow Pose, is one of the Hatha Yoga Poses that helps to keep the flexibility of the spine in order. It also helps in reducing the back pain, both lower and upper. If practised regularly, this Bow Pose would make our neck tension-free, and the thigh muscles would 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 the Bow Pose is similar to this pose. But that is done by positioning our bodies differently. Here, the step-by-step instructions are given.

BALANCING HATHA YOGA POSES

WHAT IS HATHA YOGA

While Hatha yoga combines physical postures, it upholds the importance of moral attitudes, too. It is a holistic approach to reducing mental stress and increasing the overall well-being of the human body and mind. In short, it tries to make 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 the 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 have been devised in India before the fifteenth century. The other yoga systems, known as Ashtanga 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 in a regular state. The following are some of the yoga poses devised under the Hatha Yoga system.

INVERTED HATHA YOGA POSES

Plough Pose is an important posture in the 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 the general health of the body and mind.

Raja Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand): This is the much-practised posture of Hatha Yoga. As it helps to create an increased flow of blood into the brain, it is very useful for increasing the power of remembering, too. For beginners, this pose might be a little bit difficult. But you would like to do it, as you can do other difficult postures like' Halasana, the Plough Posture' from the shoulder stand pose. The beginners should not remain for more time in this pose, as it may cause neck problems for them.

BACK-BEND HATHA YOGA POSES

Peacock Pose, Mayurasana: As this is one of the difficult types of asanas, we should have prior knowledge about another easy asana. We can sit in Vajrasana , and after getting comfortable with doing the difficult poses, we can start doing Mayurasana. For beginners, it is advisable not to remain for more time in this pose. Whenever you feel pain, 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 will 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 will feel less stressed and full of energy during the day. In addition to toning the internal organs of our body, these postures help in curing ailments like hypertension and arthritis. It could help in keeping diabetes in control, too. However, the proportion of the benefit received might be different from individual to individual, depending on the age and general health of the person.

BENEFITS OF YOGA POSTURES

Regularly doing Yoga Poses keeps our life energy flowing.

Yoga is a healing system of theory and practice.

Practising yoga Asanas would help to maintain the energy meridians of our body open and in natural conditions.

Yoga poses are curative for certain pains, like back pain and pain in the hip joints. Regular practice of yoga helps to lose weight.

Yoga is very helpful in keeping our nervous system operating naturally and peacefully. The regular practice of Yoga Asana would render our body and mind fairly balanced state.

Many Asanas and breathing techniques are devised to help the flow of blood in our body and cure the weakness of the heart. In addition to helping the functioning of our heart, Yoga postures increase metabolism and give us more energy.

Yoga system, theories and practice can help us in curing or healing what has gone wrong in our body due to a faulty style of living. Yoga is a healing system of health care that is based on the concept of the "whole" person as one. It is based on a scientific concept that the human body, mind, spirit, and emotions can remain in balance by regular practice of Yoga.