Originating in India and thought to take its name from the Sanskrit word meaning ‘union’, yoga is a traditional discipline that trains the mind, the breath and the body. A yoga session entails breathing exercises, holding of certain postures and meditation, often combining the three. Though there is no scientific explanation for it, yoga is widely held to be not only beneficial for the body and therapeutic for many ailments of the mind too.

The most noticeable physical advantages are the fact that it can help you to lose weight, as well as build and tone muscles. Moving slowly between positions that require you to hold your body up with certain limbs builds muscle and tone. Increasing how supple your limbs are, and adding strength, can make you more resilient to injury in other activities such as walking and running. The postural benefits cannot be overstated either, especially if you are required to sit in front of a computer for hours on end, which can lead to back problems.

The breathing exercises are beneficial to the body as well. Prior to yoga training many people breathe shallowly and so do not fully utilise their lungs. Focusing on breathing and utilising lungs better not only increases the amount of oxygen, which benefits the whole body, but also helps relax the body.

And those are just the physical benefits! Yoga also causes mental relaxation. Exercise in general helps with this and relieves stress, but unique to yoga is practice of closely focusing on what the body is doing, which allows you to let go of your thoughts and promote general mental calmness. The focus on being in the moment, rather than worrying about the future or regretting the past, is something that can spill over into everyday life and can lead to a more pleasurable and less stressful life.

Becoming so comfortable with your body and the way it moves can really help promote self confidence as well. On top of all these seemingly limitless benefits, it has a quality that we could all use a lot more of: it is fun.

Yoga retreats can relax you and improve your health

Technorati Tags: Ailments, Breathing Exercises, Health, India, Meditation, Physical Advantages, Postures, Running, Scientific Explanation, Tone Muscles, Traditional Discipline, Trains, Word 97, Word Meaning, Yoga, Yoga Breathing, Yoga Retreats, Yoga Session

Hatha Yoga is one of the most popular forms of Yoga and is widely practiced across the world by lay persons and Yogis alike. Hatha Yoga considers the physical form or the human body to be the vessel for the soul, and lays a great deal of importance on physical discipline.

The physical discipline is achieved through ‘asanas’ (postures), ‘pranayam’ (breathing exercises) and meditation. By carrying out these activities, the body is moulded into a perfect receptacle for spiritual elements.

The ‘asanas’ and ‘pranayamas’ are used to power the energy channels called the ‘nadis’. The ‘asanas’ help to develop will power, concentration and self-withdrawal, and enable the practitioner of Hatha Yoga to move closer towards Samadhi, which is the Yogic term for bliss and inner peace.

The ‘asanas’, which are well thought-out physical exercises, make the human body more supple and fitter. They are designed to make the muscles stronger, energize your key organs, improve mind-body coordination and to give the mind the sufficient amount of strength to stay cool and relaxed in times of need.

‘Pranayama’ is an equally important aspect to the practice of Hatha Yoga. It is through these breathing exercises that you activate and channel the vital life energy (termed as ‘Prana’). When this vital energy travels from the base of the spine to the top of the head, you can achieve Samadhi. The benefits of achieving this state of bliss are somewhat obvious. This canalization of ‘Prana’ is also termed as Kundalini Yoga, which is one of the many branches of Yoga that has originated from Hatha Yoga.

The term ‘Hatha’ has been derived from the words ‘Ha’ and ‘Tha’; ‘Ha’ means ‘Sun’ and ‘Tha’ means ‘Moon’. In Yoga, the sun is perceived as radiating positive energy while the moon radiates negative energy. Thus, Hatha Yoga is based on the principle of a harmonizing union between the pairs of opposites (positive and negative). Therefore, taken together, the term ‘Hatha’ stands for ‘union of force’.

The prolonged practice of Hatha Yoga can help you recognize that a divine light shines within you. This awareness will make you stronger, more flexible and relaxed. The relaxation exercises involved in practicing Hatha Yoga opens the ‘nadis’ allowing your spiritual energy to flow freely. All sorts of benefits are received when this happens.

Hatha Yoga is a great way to rid yourself of stress, tension and anxiety. It also helps you improve your overall health and fitness. All in all Hatha Yoga is a great tool to develop your inner self whilst toning, conditioning and relaxing your outer self.

Article Source: http://www.hobbyarticledirectory.com

Find out more about Hatha Yoga and other methods of keeping fit and reducing stress at www.a1-workoutworld.com

Technorati Tags: Bliss, Body Coordination, Breathing Exercises, Energy Channels, Fight Stress, Hatha Yoga, Human Body, Inner Peace, Lay Persons, Meditation, Muscles, Organs, Physical Discipline, Physical Exercises, Postures, Receptacle, Samadhi, Spiritual Elements, World 98, Yoga Hatha

This article will provide a basic overview of what Kundalini Yoga is and how Kundalini Yoga works. At the core of Kundalini Yoga lies Kriyas and the best way to understand the methodology of Kundalini Yoga is to understand Kriyas and their functioning. Kriyas are a set of exercises done in a particular sequence to work on a specific theme. There are a wide range of Kriyas available, each refined over thousands of years to optimize their effectiveness. Kriyas utilize all the available Kundalini Yoga mechanisms to work their magic. They employ asans (postures), movement, pranayam (breathing exercises), bandhas (body locks), mantras (sound vibrations), mudras (hand positions), laya yoga (yoga of rhythm and sound), mental focus and meditation to do their work.

Dynamic movement and asans bring expanding and contracting pressure via multiple angles to various areas of the body, this is accompanied with powerful pranayams, the combined effect of which is that the target regions are saturated with highly charged and oxygenated blood. This nutrient rich blood fills the capillaries forcing them to discharge toxins and other harmful elements, which are then eliminated, neutralized or expelled by the body. The health of the region thus improves and the nerves fire more completely, the glands and organs are invigorated and regain their natural voltage and secretion levels are returned to a condition of strength and vitality. The key here is the removal of blockages (granthis) that is taking place on many levels of the organism thus facilitating the flow of energy. There are Kriyas designed for working on almost every part of the human system (Immune, Glandular, Circulatory, Digestive, Nervous, Respiratory, Sexual, etc . . . ), working on our various traits and characteristics (Awareness, Intuition, Willpower, Confidence, Compassion, Charisma, etc . . . ) and also for healing many different types of ailments and diseases. Lets now see how this ties in with the Chakra (energy vortex) system.

There are 7 primary chakras that lie all along the spine from the base to the crown of the head. Associated with each chakra are the primary nerve junctions and organs of that region. Furthermore, each chakra is responsible for certain traits and characteristics that make up our personality. When we strengthen and rejuvenate the nerves and organs in a particular region, we are in fact activating these energy centers that reside there and are thus working on ourselves not only at a physical level, but also at an emotional and mental level (by affecting our traits and characteristics). Practiced over time, the chakras become charged and come into balance with each other, bringing us into physical, emotional and mental well being. Again, it should be noted that the work being done is primarily about dissolving granthis (blockages) in these regions which introduce disease and imbalance into the system by preventing the chakras from functioning at their optimum level. Finally, let see how this relates to Kundalini Shakti.

Kundalini is energy. It is the fundamental energy whose flow through the organism allows for all its systems to operate, at all levels of consciousness. It is the energy of awareness, it can be said that where your awareness is, that is where Kundalini is flowing or that where Kundalini is flowing is where your awareness is. To awaken Kundalini means to dissipate blockages in the gross and subtle systems in your being and allow for greater and greater flow of energy and awareness. As blockages are cleared trapped energy is released and pathways are cleared. Kundalini then is able to flow freely though those regions, healing, nourishing, rejuvenating and balancing them. The dissipating of blockages can also be thought of as the clearing away of the subconscious mind, the collection of unresolved emotional and physical disturbances, where lies the root of many of our attachments and fears. So overall Kundalini Yoga is a system by which one, through the process of dissolving the past, allows the infinite to shine through into the present.

Niche Article Directory: http://www.thatsmyniche.com

Anmol Mehta is a Kundalini Yoga Teacher and Zen Expert. Visit Mastery of Meditation, Chakra Yoga and Zen for FREE Online Meditation & Yoga Programs. You will also find a wealth of insightful articles at Mastery of Meditation, Kundalini Yoga and Zen Blog.

Technorati Tags: Angles, Breathing Exercises, Comprehensive Guide, Dynamic Movement, Hand Positions, Locks, Magic, Mechanisms, Meditation, Mental Focus, Methodology, Nutrient Rich Blood, Postures, Rhythm, Target Regions, Yoga Works, Yoga Yoga

Yoga for Alleviating Chronic Pain

Today, yoga is an effective pain management tool as it controls many diseases, especially the chronic and functional types. A regular yoga practice and yoga instructors can aid you to cope with chronic pain, a pain that lasts for a longer time and is unrelieved by standard medical treatment.

Effective Ways of Yoga to Relieve Chronic Pain

The chronic pain can be an irritating one and normal lifestyles can be constrained or even makes impossible. There are many people suffering with chronic pain and are unaware of a variety of treatment options that helps them to lead more normal lives. So, it is better to learn the way to relieve the chronic pain and try to relieve it or erase it totally.

Now researches show that the ancient Hindu practice, yoga, may ease chronic pain. Yoga techniques such as practicing poses, breathing exercises are very helpful in treating chronic pain. The initial step is to begin by taking full, deep breaths.

Your breathing will have a tendency to be shallow and will become difficult for you to inhale and exhale completely, when you are suffering from pain. If you are not breathing out properly then the toxins that generally are to be out from your body will stay and unable to escape.

Thus, the musty air ruins in the lungs and toxin residues increases. So, a regular deep breathing will helps in eliminating toxins from the body and also digesting the food intake.

Chronic pain also makes your muscles cold and then with limited oxygen, the muscles suffer from poor blood circulation. So, it is great to practice deep breathing yoga routines, as it makes your lungs work harder, it progress the diaphragm, the back and abdominal muscles.

Generates Heat

Thus yoga generates heat in the core of your body, which helps in healing and controlling severe chronic pain.

If you are breathing fast and shallow then you may suffer from anxiety, dizziness, stomach upsets, insomnia, heart palpitations, and visual problems. One more consequence of controlled breathing is it provides a calming effect on your emotions.

It reduces fear and anxiety in you. Thus makes you feel safer, more at ease with your body, and feel more relaxed physically. Deep breathing also helps in reducing tension that accumulates near that part of the body where the pain is.

Adjusts Your Mental Thoughts

The second step in controlling chronic pain is to adjust your mental thoughts towards that part of your body where the pain is. Some attitudes that are related with chronic pain are anger, despair, depression, and helplessness. However these are just a few of the feelings that you may experience when suffering from chronic pain.

You may reject that part of the body where the pain is and neglects to give proper care, the love and attention towards that part, which it deserves and needs to heal.

So, lie down on the floor in an easy relaxed position, which is a soothing yoga posture and place your hand on the part of the body where the pain is. Direct your thoughts and energy to that painful part of your body.

Introducing your hands to the painful part of the body makes it gentle and sends a message that you care about it. Consecutively, it sends heat and fluids. Thus, makes an overall feeling of happiness and healthiness.

With the intention of healing that part of the body where the pain is, you have to think and focus on your breathing. So, concentrate on the part that pains you. Keeping your hands on that part makes ease and relaxing to the painful area.

Generally people pray for healing and place hands on the patient. As a consequence, the hands makes comfort, and the warmth of these touching on painful area can greatly influence the painful area and there will be some progress making you a step up toward your healing.

Never allow yourself to be an injured party of chronic pain. A regular yoga practicing, stretches and deep breathing exercises will assist you to manage and even remove your pain entirely.

Alien writes for yoga for health. He also writes for yoga for beginners and arthritis relief

Article Source: http://www.thecontentcorner.com

Technorati Tags: Ancient Hindu, Breathing Exercises, Chronic Pain, Deep Breathing, Deep Breaths, Effective Pain Management, Functional Types, Initial Step, Lifestyles, Management Tool, Medical Treatment, Posture, Posture Yoga, Practice Yoga, Researches, Treatment Options, Yoga Instructors, Yoga Posture, Yoga Practice, Yoga Techniques

Due to lifestyles, there are many common diseases affecting people today such as nervous system or cardio-vascular disorders disorders. But it is actually possible to alter your breathing technique in a natural way that can help prevent problems such as these? Well that is the basis of much of what Yoga is about, and it has been proven many times by many people. In fact many cardiac specialists advocate the benefits of “correct” breathing.

Surprisingly, most people do not actually use the full capacity of their respiratory organs. A sedentary lifestyle, poor brething, eating and posture can contribute to what is known as lifestyle disorders. In yoga, breath awareness forms the basis of good practice.

But how can someone I alter their natural breathing process? By training our bodies to breathe in a particular fashion, we re-program our involuntary system to adopt this new way of breathing. Breathing exercises, known as pranayama, are used to improve and strengthen breathing and the body. The breath, known as prana or life-force is the link between the mind and the body.

As you practice breathing, it will prove that you feel calmer, stronger and better able to concentrate.
To help you gain a better understanding of the basis of correct breathing, the following are some of the basic exercises.

1. Abdominal Breathing

Lie on back with arms and legs apart and eyes closed.
Feet should be around 2 feet apart, ankles to the side.
Arms should be about 6 – 12 inches from the body, upwards facing palms.
Lower back should be flat on the floor and the chin tucked in slightly,
The jaw is relaxed and the neck is long and also relaxed.
Become aware of your breathing, and allow a slow and steady breath.
On Inhalation, the abdomen should rise gently, and on exhalation the abdomen should sink down.

2. Full Yogic Breathing

The best position to check this type of breathing is to sit in a cross-legged position.
Right hand is placed on your upper chest and place your left hand on your abdomen.
First, take a deep inhalation into your abdomen, and feel your left hand rise up, Allow the breath from your lower chest to expand into your upper chest, feeling your right hand rise as he ribs expand, and as if the breath is rolling upwards.
As you breathe out, the process is reversed when air is released from the upper chest, then the lower chest, and out of the abdomen.

This cycle should be repeated until it feels like it flows easily.

3. Alternate Nostril Breathing or Anuloma Viloma

This breath should also be practised from a comfortable cross-legged position, with the spine straight, and the body relaxed.
Focus on your right hand, with the index and middle finger bent into the palm. The thumb, ring and little finger are up into the position known as Vishnu Mudra. The right nostril is closed using the thumb and the left nostril is closed using the ring and little finger.
With the right nostril closed, inhale through your left nostril for 4 seconds. With both nostrils closed, hold the breath for 16 seconds, (but do not have pressure against the closed nostrils).

Remove thumb from nostril and exhale through the right nostril for 8 seconds.

Repeat inhalation through right nostril for 4 seconds.

With both nostrils closed, the breath is held for 16 seconds.

Release your fingers and exhale through the left nostril for 8 seconds.

Seems complicated? Not at all, just practise daily maybe, 6-10 times and you’ll have it down!

4. Yogic Cleansing Breath

From a comfortable sitting position with the spine straight, closoe your eyes.

Slowly breathe in through the nose for 3 seconds, and slowly breathe out for 6 seconds. This should be repeated 4 to 6 times at a relaxed pace.

There is no doubt that with regular practice this breathing will make you feel more invigorated, calmer and better able to deal with the world. And if you incorporate correct breathing into your yoga practice the benefits will be increased further still!

Article from www.zenthings.com where you can see our Irish handmade meditation stools ….Thanks Mick Hogan!

Barry Walsh is author of this article on Ashtanga Yoga Basics. Find more information about & Background here.

Article Source: http://www.thecontentcorner.com

Technorati Tags: Breath Awareness, Breathing Exercises, Breathing Technique, Cardiac Specialists, Common Diseases, Fashion, Lifestyles, Natural Breathing, Posture, Respiratory Organs, Sedentary Lifestyle, Stress Reduction, Vascular Disorders, Yoga Breath, Yoga Breathing

Pregnancy is one of the most beautiful things many women want to go through and are going through. It is something which many women look forward too and with the increasing joy there is also fear factor. Fear about your baby’s health, a smooth delivery, mood swings, fatigue, morning sickness, constant craving for strange items, increasing weight and overall the feeling about pregnancy can be overwhelming.

Pregnancy is an ensemble of risk factors. With a living being in you, your body goes through lot of changes and these variations may have an impact on your body. There are increasing chances of you having high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, liver disease and many more. These all can be avoided by doing some yoga asanas and breathing exercises which would help in having smooth delivery. But before doing any of these exercises consult your doctor.

Yoga helps in avoiding high blood pressure and also tries to control your weight. Breathing exercise is very easy and can be easily done and one should avoid too many jerks and jumping in this condition. Some of the poses or asanas which pregnant ladies can do are Mountain yoga pose – beneficial for inciting strength, relaxing and providing strength, Triangle Yoga Pose- stretching your spine, tones up your spinal nerves, helps in your digestive system, Warrior yoga pose – which includes warrior I and warrior II, Standing side stretch – good for your stomach, arms and legs, Standing spread leg forward bend and Forward bend yoga exercise, Hero yoga pose, Cat pose, Fish pose, Headstand, Tree yoga pose and many more including Corpse pose.

Article Source: http://www.hobbyarticledirectory.com

Kevin Pederson, the webmaster for Yogawiz , provides information on all the aspects of yoga, the importance of yoga in your daily life and curing your ailments.

Technorati Tags: Asthma, Benefits Of Yoga, Breathing Exercises, Constant Craving, Fatigue, Fear Factor, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Increasing Weight, Liver Disease, Mood Swings, Morning Sickness, Overwhelming Pregnancy, Pregnancy Pregnancy, Risk Factors, Smooth Delivery, Variations, Yoga Asanas, Yoga For Pregnancy, Yoga Pregnancy

Meditation can be a superb technique to assist your whole body to unwind. With the benefit of meditation and system of breathing exercises your whole body will soon start to feel the tension being eased.

This sort of system enables great many of us to be a lot more open minded and approachable because meditation has verified helpful result on peoples mental condition.

Relation between tension and memory loss has long since been scientifically proven. Because of that the more you are relaxed the better will your brain and memory operate.

With the help of proper breathing and great awareness your memory is going to get a momentous improvement.

Can you think of the shame you felt the last time you forgot a friends name, or a birthday of someone close to you?

Things like that happen to all of us during a stressful periods. It is possible that you got fired or something else was wrong.

When you start to recognize that it is happening to you it will just pile up yet more tension on your mind. This is an particularly grueling position which you will have a exceedingly hard time getting out off. Nonetheless, by means of meditation method which many of us have been using very effectively for years, you can unlock your brain and just let all this tension out. This will allow your mind and memory to work much better.

Suddenly your memory will begin to work like a super computer, and you are going to find it painless to recollect any date, name or phone number. Every single information is still there, in your brain only it was misplaced due to the improper use.

A lot of people think of a meditation as a demanding and a bit mystifying process. Meditation has scores of genuinely easy exercises that just about anyone of us can put aside a few minutes every day to assist you improve memory.

The manner in which meditation increases your memory is that it assists you to expand your focus which again helps to increase your memory.

What is the good way to start meditating?

Make an effort to find a small serene part of your household to meditate. Usage of essential oils and scented candles can also help you with meditation.

If you discover that it does help you meditate, it can be off large help as certain oils and candles have scents that are proven to support relaxation and brain functions.

There are many ways in which you can start meditating or learning to meditate. You can sign up for a lessons, many of those simple to come across. If you do not know of any meditation group near you just go online and search for it.

You can even stumble on many classes whose specialization is memory improvement techniques. This sort of courses can bring long-term benefits for anyone who believes that his or hers memory is not running as it ought to any more.

This is specially useful for students.

Inch by inch, you will form your memory improvement and meditation practice and along the way, you will also build up your whole mental condition and self esteem. Of course there are many among us that do not enjoy courses.

No problem as there are heaps of books that can support you with exhaustive information and bit by bit counseling.

Anyway you select it is really important to pick the one right for you, because meditation will give you many benefits. By using the techniques outlined in this books or classes, you will be at the same time relaxing your body and boosting you memory and mind.

Well-rested, peaceful mind is vital for having a good memory.

Better-Me.com is dedicated to bring you the most recent information in memory improvement. Pay us a visit and find out lots of ways to improve your memory improvement skills.

Article Source: http://www.thecontentcorner.com

Technorati Tags: Benefit, Brain, Breathing Exercises, Friends Name, Meditation, Memory Loss, Proper Breathing, Shame, Stressful Periods, Superb Technique, Tension, Ways To Improve Memory