Yoga - Research and General Acceptance

Research and General Acceptance

Although yoga originated in a culture very different from modern America, it has been accepted and its practice has spread relatively quickly.

Many yogis are amazed at how rapidly yoga's popularity has spread in America, considering the legend that it was passed down secretly by handfuls of adherents for many centuries.


There can still be found some resistance to yoga, for active and busy Americans sometimes find it hard to believe that an exercise program that requires them to slow down, concentrate, and breathe deeply can be more effective than lifting weights or running. However, ongoing research in top medical schools is showing yoga's effectiveness for overall health and for specific problems, making it an increasingly acceptable health practice.

Yoga - Side effects

Yoga - Side effects

Some people have reported injuries by performing yoga postures without proper form or concentration, or by attempting difficult positions without working up to them gradually or having appropriate supervision.

Beginners sometimes report muscle soreness and fatigue after performing yoga, but these side effects diminish with practice

Yoga precaution

Yoga precaution

People with injuries, medical conditions, or spinal problems should consult a doctor before beginning yoga.

Those with medical conditions should find a yoga teacher who is familiar with their type of problem and who is willing to give them individual attention.

Pregnant women can benefit from yoga, but should always be guided by an experienced teacher.

Certain yoga positions should not be performed with a fever, or during menstruation.


Beginners should exercise care and concentration when performing yoga postures, and not try to stretch too much too quickly, as injury could result.

Some advanced yoga postures, like the headstand and full lotus position, can be difficult and require strength, flexibility, and gradual preparation, so beginners should get the help of a teacher before attempting them.


Yoga is not a competive sport; it does not matter how a person does in comparison with others, but how aware and disciplined one becomes with one's own body and limitations.

Proper form and alignment should always be maintained during a stretch or posture, and the stretch or posture should be stopped when there is pain, dizziness, or fatigue.

The mental component of yoga is just as important as the physical postures. Concentration and awareness of breath should not be neglected.

Yoga should be done with an open, gentle, and non-critical mind; when one stretches into a yoga position, it can be thought of accepting and working on one's limits. Impatience, self-criticism and comparing oneself to others will not help in this process of self-knowledge.

While performing the yoga of breathing (pranayama) and meditation (dyana), it is best to have an experienced teacher, as these powerful techniques can cause dizziness and discomfort when done improperly.

Yoga preparation

Yoga preparation

Yoga can be performed by those of any age and condition, although not all poses should be attempted by everyone.

Yoga is also a very accessible form of exercise; all that is needed is a flat floor surface large enough to stretch out on, a mat or towel, and enough overhead space to fully raise the arms.

It is a good activity for those who can't go to gyms, who don't like other forms of exercise, or have very busy schedules.

Yoga should be done on an empty stomach, and teachers recommend waiting three or more hours after meals. Loose and comfortable clothing should be worn.

Yoga purposes

Yoga purposes

Yoga has been used to alleviate problems associated with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, migraine headaches, asthma, shallow breathing, backaches, constipation, diabetes, menopause, multiple sclerosis, varicose veins, carpal tunnel syndrome and many chronic illnesses.

It also has been studied and approved for its ability to promote relaxation and reduce stress.

Yoga can also provide the same benefits as any well-designed exercise program, increasing general health and stamina, reducing stress, and improving those conditions brought about by sedentary lifestyles.

Yoga has the added advantage of being a low-impact activity that uses only gravity as resistance, which makes it an excellent physical therapy routine; certain yoga postures can be safely used to strengthen and balance all parts of the body.


Meditation has been much studied and approved for its benefits in reducing stress-related conditions. The landmark book, The Relaxation Response, by Harvard cardiologist Herbert Benson, showed that meditation and breathing techniques for relaxation could have the opposite effect of stress, reducing blood pressure and other indicators.

Since then, much research has reiterated the benefits of meditation for stress reduction and general health. Currently, the American Medical Association recommends meditation techniques as a first step before medication for borderline hypertension cases.


Modern psychological studies have shown that even slight facial expressions can cause changes in the involuntary nervous system; yoga utilizes the mind/body connection.

That is, yoga practice contains the central ideas that physical posture and alignment can influence a person's mood and self-esteem, and also that the mind can be used to shape and heal the body. Yoga practitioners claim that the strengthening of mind/body awareness can bring eventual improvements in all facets of a person's life.

Yoga - Definition and Description

Definition
The term yoga comes from a Sanskrit word which means yoke or union. Traditionally, yoga is a method joining the individual self with the Divine, Universal Spirit, or Cosmic Consciousness. Physical and mental exercises are designed to help achieve this goal, also called self-transcendence or enlightenment. On the physical level, yoga postures, called asanas, are designed to tone, strengthen, and align the body. These postures are performed to make the spine supple and healthy and to promote blood flow to all the organs, glands, and tissues, keeping all the bodily systems healthy. On the mental level, yoga uses breathing techniques (pranayama) and meditation (dyana) to quiet, clarify, and discipline the mind. However, experts are quick to point out that yoga is not a religion, but a way of living with health and peace of mind as its aims.

Description
Origins

Yoga originated in ancient India and is one of the longest surviving philosophical systems in the world. Some scholars have estimated that yoga is as old as 5,000 years; artifacts detailing yoga postures have been found in India from over 3000 B.C. Yoga masters (yogis) claim that it is a highly developed science of healthy living that has been tested and perfected for all these years.

Yoga was first brought to America in the late 1800s when Swami Vivekananda, an Indian teacher and yogi, presented a lecture on meditation in Chicago.

Yoga slowly began gaining followers, and flourished during the 1960s when there was a surge of interest in Eastern philosophy. There has since been a vast exchange of yoga knowledge in America, with many students going to India to study and many

Indian experts coming here to teach, resulting in the establishment of a wide variety schools. Today, yoga is thriving, and it has become easy to find teachers and practitioners throughout America. A recent Roper poll, commissioned by Yoga Journal, found that 11 million Americans do yoga at least occasionally and 6 million perform it regularly.

Yoga stretches are used by physical therapists and professional sports teams, and the benefits of yoga are being touted by movie stars and Fortune 500 executives. Many prestigious schools of medicine have studied and introduced yoga techniques as proven therapies for illness and stress. Some medical schools, like UCLA, even offer yoga classes as part of their physician training program.


Classical yoga is separated into eight limbs, each a part of the complete system for mental, physical and spiritual well-being. Four of the limbs deal with mental and physical exercises designed to bring the mind in tune with the body.

The other four deal with different stages of meditation. There are six major types of yoga, all with the same goals of health and harmony but with varying techniques: hatha, raja, karma, bhakti, jnana, and tantra yoga.

Hatha yoga is the most commonly practiced branch of yoga in America, and it is a highly developed system of nearly 200 physical postures, movements and breathing techniques designed to tune the body to its optimal health.

The yoga philosophy believes the breath to be the most important facet of health, as the breath is the largest source of prana, or life force, and hatha yoga utilizes pranayama, which literally means the science or control of breathing.

Hatha yoga was originally developed as a system to make the body strong and healthy enough to enable mental awareness and spiritual enlightenment.


There are several different schools of hatha yoga in America; the two most prevalent ones are Iyengar and ashtanga yoga.

Iyengar yoga was founded by B.K.S. Iyengar, who is widely considered as one of the great living innovators of yoga. Iyengar yoga puts strict emphasis on form and alignment, and uses traditional hatha yoga techniques in new manners and sequences.

Iyengar yoga can be good for physical therapy because it allows the use of props like straps and blocks to make it easier for some people to get into the yoga postures.

Ashtanga yoga can be a more vigorous routine, using a flowing and dance-like sequence of hatha postures to generate body heat, which purifies the body through sweating and deep breathing.


The other types of yoga show some of the remaining ideas which permeate yoga.

Raja yoga strives to bring about mental clarity and discipline through meditation, simplicity, and non-attachment to worldly things and desires. Karma yoga emphasizes charity, service to others, non-aggression and non-harming as means to awareness and peace.

Bhakti yoga is the path of devotion and love of God, or Universal Spirit. Jnana yoga is the practice and development of knowledge and wisdom. Finally, tantra yoga is the path of self-awareness through religious rituals, including awareness of sexuality as sacred and vital.


A typical hatha yoga routine consists of a sequence of physical poses, or asanas, and the sequence is designed to work all parts of the body, with particular emphasis on making the spine supple and healthy and increasing circulation. Hatha yoga asanas utilize three basic movements: forward bends, backward bends, and twisting motions.

Each asana is named for a common thing it resembles, like the sun salutation, cobra, locust, plough, bow, eagle, tree, and the head to knee pose, to name a few. Each pose has steps for entering and exiting it, and each posture requires proper form and alignment.

A pose is held for some time, depending on its level of difficulty and one's strength and stamina, and the practitioner is also usually aware of when to inhale and exhale at certain points in each posture, as breathing properly is another fundamental aspect of yoga.

Breathing should be deep and through the nose. Mental concentration in each position is also very important, which improves awareness, poise and posture. During a yoga routine there is often a position in which to perform meditation, if deep relaxation is one of the goals of the sequence.


Yoga routines can take anywhere from 20 minutes to two or more hours, with one hour being a good time investment to perform a sequence of postures and a meditation. Some yoga routines, depending on the teacher and school, can be as strenuous as the most difficult workout, and some routines merely stretch and align the body while the breath and heart rate are kept slow and steady.

Yoga achieves its best results when it is practiced as a daily discipline, and yoga can be a life-long exercise routine, offering deeper and more challenging positions as a practitioner becomes more adept. The basic positions can increase a person's strength, flexibility and sense of well-being almost immediately, but it can take years to perfect and deepen them, which is an appealing and stimulating aspect of yoga for many.


Yoga is usually best learned from a yoga teacher or physical therapist, but yoga is simple enough that one can learn the basics from good books on the subject, which are plentiful. Yoga classes are generally inexpensive, averaging around 10 dollars per class, and students can learn basic postures in just a few classes.

Many YMCAs, colleges, and community health organizations offer beginning yoga classes as well, often for nominal fees. If yoga is part of a physical therapy program, it can be reimbursed by insurance.

Get in shape with Yoga

Get in shape with Yoga

You've probably heard that yoga is great for reducing stress, increasing flexibility, and improving your overall health. But can yoga help you get in shape? Most definitely.

Getting in shape means losing weight, improving muscle tone and strength, and feeling fitter and healthier. Although there are many types of yoga, most fall into two broad categories:

1. Flow (Vinyasa): Raises your heart-rate by incorporating vigorous movement from one pose to the next.

2. No Flow: Poses are practiced one at a time with rest in between. Although holding a pose is physically challenging, it is not a cardio workout.

Any kind of yoga, when practiced regularly, will improve your strength, flexibility, and muscle tone, but guess which kind you'll need to do if you want to lose weight?

Yes, you're going to have to break a sweat doing vinyasa yoga at least three times a week.

If you have never done yoga before and want to know how to start, the best thing to do is sign up for a series of beginners' classes at a yoga studio near you (ask your co-workers, relatives, and Facebook friends to recommend a good studio).

While yoga is a great practice that is accessible to all (including seniors and the overweight), it is not a quick fix. It take time and commitment to lengthen and strengthen your muscles.

As you study yoga, you'll be getting in shape, but that may come to seem like a side benefit to discovering a practice that allows for limitless development and personal growth.

How to Start Doing Yoga

How to Start Doing Yoga
Practical Advice on How to Start Doing Yoga

Deciding that you want to start doing yoga is the first step. It's easy to get stuck here, though. Don't be intimidated! Here is the information you will need to take that next step and start enjoying the pleasures and benefits of yoga.


Physical Benefits
Flexibility: Stretching your tight body in new ways will help it to become more flexible, bringing greater range of motion to muscles and joints. Over time, you can expect to gain flexibility in your hamstrings, back, shoulders and hips

Hamstrings:
Type of pose: Standing
Benefits: Strengthens and stretches the legs, groins, hamstrings. Opens the chest and shoulders.
1. From Downward Facing Dog, bring the right foot forward next to the right hand.
2. Drop the left heel down to the floor.
3. Bend the right knee so the calf and thigh are at a right angle with the thigh parallel to the floor.
4. Bring the right hand inside or outside the right foot and the left arm up toward the ceiling, opening the chest and stacking the left shoulder on top of the right.
5. Bring the gaze up to the right hand.
To keep the body in balance, repeat on the left side.
Beginners: If the right hand does not comfortably reach the floor, take a block under the hand so that you can still open the chest.

Strength:
Many yoga poses require you to support the weight of your own body in new ways, including balancing on one leg (such as in Tree Pose) or supporting yourself with your arms (such as in Downward Facing Dog). Some exercises require you to move slowly in and out of poses, which also increases strength.


Muscle tone:
As a by-product of getting stronger, you can expect to see increased muscle tone. Yoga helps shape long, lean muscles.


Pain Prevention: Increased flexibility and strength can help prevent the causes of some types of back pain. Many people who suffer from back pain spend a lot of time sitting at a computer or driving a car. That can cause tightness and spinal compression, which you can begin to address with yoga. Yoga also improves your alignment, both in and out of class, which helps prevent many other types of pain.


Better Breathing:
Most of us breathe very shallowly into the lungs and don't give much thought to how we breathe. Yoga breathing exercises, called Pranayama, focus the attention on the breath and teach us how to better use our lungs, which benefits the entire body. Certain types of breath can also help clear the nasal passages and even calm the central nervous system, which has both physical and mental benefits.


Mental Benefits
Mental Calmness: Yoga asana practice is intensely physical. Concentrating so intently on what your body is doing has the effect of bringing a calmness to the mind. Yoga also introduces you to meditation techniques, such as watching how you breathe and disengagement from your thoughts, which help calm the mind.



Stress Reduction:
Physical activity is good for relieving stress, and this is particularly true of yoga. Because of the concentration required, your daily troubles, both large and small, seem to melt away during the time you are doing yoga. This provides a much-needed break from your stressors, as well as helping put things into perspective. The emphasis yoga places on being in the moment can also help relieve stress, as you learn not to dwell on past events or anticipate the future. You will leave a yoga class feeling less stressed than when you started. Read more about yoga for stress management here.


Body Awareness:
Doing yoga will give you an increased awareness of your own body. You are often called upon to make small, subtle movements to improve your alignment. Over time, this will increase your level of comfort in your own body. This can lead to improved posture and greater self-confidence.


A Balanced Life
Bring your life into balance with these tips on good nutrition, family fun, and healthy activities.

What is Yoga

What is Yoga

What can one know about Yoga?

The word yoga means "union" in Sanskrit, the language of ancient India where yoga originated. We can think of the union occurring between the mind, body and spirit.

What is commonly referred to as "yoga" can be more accurately described by the Sanskrit word asana, which refers to the practice of physical postures or poses.

Asana is only one of the eight "limbs" of yoga, the majority of which are more concerned with mental and spiritual well being than physical activity. In the West, however, the words asana and yoga are often used interchangeably.