Those who practice yoga are quick to praise this ancient art’s ability to increase flexibility and relieve stress. New research now suggests that yoga may also be an effective pain management technique.

Living with chronic pain can be the cause of constant discomfort, rob you of your strength reserves and create feelings of depression and anxiety. Yoga techniques may minimize pain, medication usage and help you build a fuller and happier life.

The best Yoga techniques for pain management are breathing, relaxation and meditation. These three act to distract your mind from the pain, reduce the sress, allowing you to “move through” the pain, lessening it’s full impact.

Relaxation can be mental or physical. Physical relaxation simply means reducing muscle tension. It can reduce both acute and chronic pain. Chronic pain often responds better to mental relaxtation techniques such as meditation. Meditation is the conscience effort to reduce your mind’s “chatter” and to concentrate on “not thinking”.

Yoga is beleived to reduce pain by assisting the areas of the brain which respond to pain. The spinal cord also has a gate controlling pain mechanism which Yoga is beleived to influence. Like other forms of physical activity, Yoga increases the production of natural painkilling substances called endorphins. Finally, breathing exercises promote an increased exhalation time which is associated with a natural biological pain killing mechanism.

If you live with chronic pain, you know how debilitating it can be. Today, Yoga is a wide spread fitness practice. The breathing, relaxation and meditation exercises can furthur aid in pain reduction. Regular yoga practice allows you to build a foundation of internal strength by opening a window to a part of yourself that is not dictated by the demands of the physical body. This detachment can lead to a reduction in pain.

Dr. Lanny Schaffer is an Exercise Physiologist and the President of The International Fitness Academy, For more cutting edge health and fintess news go to www.aerobic-exercise-coach.com

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The use of yoga as a supplementary exercise routine can improve the performance of any sport. Yoga is the catalyst that gives a sports player or an athlete that extra edge against the competition. The benefits of yoga in sports have been documented and attested by successful athletes and sportsmen.

In yoga, the different postures coordinate the breath with the movements and by holding the postures, the various muscles of the body are stretched and strengthened. These postures are an ideal complement to other forms of exercise, such as jogging, running, and cycling as they systematically work all the major muscle groups at the neck, back, shoulders, hips, hands, feet and even ankles.

Yoga postures affect the major and minor muscle groups as they increase flexibility and import strength. Sustained stretching and contraction of the muscle groups in the postures and the deep breathing involved help to send oxygen to the cells in the body.

Muscular strength and stamina is what most sport activity builds and often in specific areas of the body. This imbalance in muscular development can be solved with yoga as it enables the mind and body to coordinate with each other and function more efficiently. Yoga will enhance the flexibility of the muscles and joints and as a result, the athlete or sports person will be less prone to injuries. Yoga improves and complements the ability of the athlete in any sport that he chooses.

An example of a sport that is prone to uneven muscle development is golf, where the golfer only swings in one direction using the same muscle groups all the time. Yoga postures stretch the muscles and ease muscular tension on the affected muscle groups while it regulates the other muscle groups that are seldom utilized in golf. The standing yoga poses also improves the golfer’s balance and flexibility.

For cyclists, the yoga back postures can relieve stiffness of the back that is bent over the handle bars when cycling for long periods of time. Stretching poses also help to ease the stiffness in the legs and shoulders of the cyclist. Doing light yoga is perfect before and after a cycling event as a warm-up and warm-down routine.

Strenuous sports such as tennis and racquet ball can benefit with yoga as well as it enables the players to be more focused and alert as the sport requires fast reactions to the ball. The flexibility and mobility of the hips and shoulders are crucial in the success of the game and yoga certainly can improve in these departments.

The benefits of yoga in sports cannot be ignored. Its mind and body connection brings more focus, attention, flexibility, mobility, energy and strength which is very much needed to stay ahead of the competition.

Azmi Adnan is a writer and a yoga practitioner. Subscribe to his newsletter for interesting articles on yoga at his website www.power-to-live.com/yoga.htm

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