Yoga originated in India more than 5000 years ago. The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit word meaning union. A regular yoga practice can yield many benefits from increased relaxation to a stronger, more supple body. People who practice regularly also notice that their weight stabilizes.

People often ask if yoga is appropriate during pregnancy. As long as simple precautions and common sense are followed, prenatal yoga is a fantastic way of staying fit during your pregnancy and will help prepare you for labor.

Probably the most important aspect of Yoga is management of the breath. Few us breathe properly today, we are very uptight and constricted as a rule and tend to breathe from our chests. If you look at a sleeping baby, you will see her tummy rise and fall – this is where we have forgotten to breathe from. Yoga breathing fixes this, thereby relieving tension and ensuring that oxygen rich blood is circulating in your body which is obviously very beneficial for your baby. Yoga breathing can also make your labor much more manageable. When my wife was in labor with our daughter, she employed the yoga breathing techniques she learned months before and had the baby without any drugs and without even gas or air.

As with any physical exercise, you need to take general precautions when you are pregnant. Any poses that mean lying on your back for extended periods should be avoided. Unless you are accustomed to inversion postures, you should not practice them while pregnant. Deep forward or back bends may also not be appropriate, as they may put too much strain on the abdominal muscles. As with everything associated with pregnancy, listen to your body at all times and do not push yourself. You should finish a yoga session in a state of deep relaxation, not heading for the freezer to get an ice pack!

As your body changes in each trimester, you will want to adapt your yoga practice accordingly. In the first trimester, it will likely be possible to perform poses that involve deeper stretching. Standing postures are very beneficial as they will strengthen your legs and improve your circulation. Spine twisting postures may also be practiced. In the second and third trimesters you may want to look ato postures that will help open your hips, for example, Triangle Posture. At this point you should take with your back and forward bends. The key is at all times to listen to your body and work with your breath. Once your breathing is out of control while in a posture you are not receiving any benefits. Back off until your breath returns to normal. Yoga is not about how deep you go, someone in the full expression of the posture will be getting just the same benefits as someone who is only in the first 5 percent of a pose but is working up to their limit.

There are lots of resources that can help you embark on a safe prenatal yoga program from DVDs to books to online articles. With their help you can find a practice that is right for you and your baby.

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Patrick Attlee is a journalist with a penchant for Yoga. Pregnancy yoga has become a recent interest after watching his wife practice prenatal yoga during her pregnancy. You can find out more at www.pregnancy-yoga.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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