Yoga Positions

Practicing the Yoga Positions

Yoga is one of the low impact exercises that anyone can learn and master. When entering the class, it will be a good idea to wear loose clothing and have a mat to be able to sit or stand properly on the floor.

Since this exercise has been practiced for more than 5,000 years, a lot of variations have been formed. This has created various positions with the same objective in mind of making the mind and the body work as one.

The warm-up of this exercise usually starts with the person standing with legs apart known as tree balance. After awhile, the individual should slowly lift onto the balls of the feet with one leg going up alternately.

After a few reps, this is the time the person will move the arms. This is called the prayer position in which both palms meet together above the head and then move slowly down until it reaches the front of the chest.

This can be done a few times and when the person is ready, the motion of the arms going from the top to bottom should be done simultaneously with one leg being raised with the other keeping the body balanced on the floor.

The triangle pose is also a simple exercise. The person stands with the arms and legs apart and then stretches from one side to the next. When the left hand is pointed upward, the head should also be facing in the same direction and vice versa. This should be repeated four to six times before proceeding to the other yoga positions.

The salutation pose is also another great exercise. The person starts by sitting in an Indian position and then kneels until the back, buttocks and thighs are aligned. Once this is locked, the left knee should be brought forward into a 90 degree position with the head and arms raised into the air and the spine slightly bended backward.

After a few seconds, the individual should back into the sitting position so that the same thing can also be done with the opposite leg.

Aside from standing, there are also the floor yoga positions. A very common one is known as the snake where the person lies flat on one’s stomach with the hands placed on the shoulders.

Slowly, the upper body will be raised as high as high as possible with the pelvis pushing down thus arching the back. This should be held for thirty seconds before releasing it and going down to the floor.

Those who are more flexible can do the more advanced one known as the bow pose. Instead of having the forearms on the ground, the hands should reach the ankles and then lift the body into the air with the weight of the body resting on the abdomen.

One of the more difficult is the head stand position. Here the person will start by kneeling on the ground and then lead forward with the forearms on the ground slowly lifting the legs into the air.

When the individual is having a hard time breathing in this position, it is best to slowly go down until the feet touches the ground.

The cow legged position is a great way to strengthen flexibility in both the arms and the legs. The person will start in a cross legged position and then put one leg over the other.

The right arm should be raised into the air with the elbow bent with the left arm coming from the back until the fingers of both hands touch each other. This should be held for a few seconds and also done for the other side.

The yoga positions just mentioned are just a handful of the more than 20 that are being done in one session. It will be a good idea to learn the basics first learn from a qualified instructor rather than doing it at home to be able to practice proper technique.

The person should not feel bad if there are others in the class who are doing it much better. After all, everyone had to start from scratch before being able to do some of the more difficult yoga positions.

Workout in tight yoga pants yogafit -Body Yoga Workout fitness leggings spandex jogging

Workout in tight yoga pants yogafit -Body Yoga... por NicholMullin

Read More

Yoga Meditation

Staying Healthy Through Yoga Meditation

Working a nine to five job can be stressful. This is because not everyone goes home on the dot when deadlines have to be met which may make the employee stay until the early hours of the morning then just go home for a quick shower and report back to the office.

Doctors recommend at least 8 hours of sleep everyday to avoid signs of exhaustion or fatigue. A vacation also sounds good to be able to recharge the old batteries but since the person cannot do this every time, a better solution needs to be found. A good way to relieve stress for those who don’t want to exert too much effort is yoga.

What is yoga? This is one of the many low impact exercises which is designed to help strengthen both the mind and the body. While some think that it is just sitting down in a lotus position, there is more to it than that which is probably why this has been practiced for more than 5000 years.

Yoga meditation allows the person to relax. After closing one’s eyes, the individual can listen to the silence and escape to that special place. For a few minutes, it allows the participant to forget about the problems in life and then wake up feeling rested.

The exercise itself takes discipline and practice especially if there are distractions around when there are a lot of people in the room. The individual should pretend no one else is there to be to take advantage of what this exercise has to offer.

Yoga has evolved through the years and there are many forms to choose from. A beginner can enroll in a gym to learn the basic moves from an instructor and then continue to do this with a group or at home.

The key to yoga meditation is breathing. Everyone does it differently but once the person is able to get in tune with it, the rest will become easy. The best way to achieve this is by drawing the spine to a straight position and keeping it there the whole time.

Those who are not used to maintaining a lotus position on the floor can still practice this by sitting on a straight back chair. This should be done until the individual is ready to participate by doing it on the floor.

Another technique to practice yoga meditation will be to lie down on the mat and put the legs on top of the chair. The spine should be flat the whole time so the person’s breathing will not be disrupted.

The person does not have to say anything throughout the yoga meditation. The instructor will take care of everything by playing a CD of relaxing music playing or the sound of water flowing down coming from the speakers.

The only thing the individual should focus on is the air being inhaled and exhaled. This should not be forced but rather letting it just flow freely in and out while being stationary in that position.

As the person gets up and does the other positions, the participant should not forget to concentrate on the breathing. This is because yoga meditation does not only give the individual inner peace but also a positive personality development.

Anyone can learn yoga and be able to master meditation. All the person has to do is find a gym that offers such classes so one can easily sign up and see what this has to offer. It will be a good idea to wear loose clothing and bring a mat so that one can sit comfortably throughout the entire session.

If the individual does not have time to go to the gym regularly, there are DVD’s available in the market so this can be practiced in the comforts of one’s home.

Those who want to try something else can try Bikram or Yoga Booty which cater to those in the advanced classes.

Sometimes going on a vacation may seem the best to be way to relax but if the cost of air travel and the planning is a hassle, there is no harm in sitting on a mat and doing some yoga meditation.

Yoga workout fitness girls, yoga lessons, Girl Meditation and Yoga poses , Ultimate Stretch Routine

Yoga workout fitness girls, yoga lessons, Girl... por thinb

Read More

Yoga History

Yoga: Beyond the Painful-looking Body Contortions

Long before Hollywood actors jumped into the yoga bandwagon, this form of discipline already existed. Just how old do you think yoga is? A few hundred years? A thousand? It is more than that, believe it or not. Its history could be dated back to 4000-1500 BC, well, approximately. Yes, that’s even before the medieval era or Confucius’ time!

The exactness of its actual beginning is hard to determine because, by nature, yoga is considered sacred, and thus, spoken and taught in secret. In fact, early records of this practice were written on palm leaves, making it prone to being lost or damaged.

There were hints of yoga practice in the civilization of Indus Valley (circa 3000 BC) and even the earliest known religions, Buddhism and Hinduism, were known to incorporate this form of belief in their teachings.

India is the first country that would come to anyone’s mind when yoga is mentioned. This is because the first known, detailed, yoga transcription was in sacred Hindu records called Vedic shastras.

Yoga could then be divided into four periods:

The Pre-classical era

This could be traced as far as 5000 years back. The Indus-Saravasti in Northern India was the first to mention ‘yoga’ in Rig Veda (holy texts). These texts were not solely used for religious teachings but also for keeping records of rituals and songs by Brahmans or priests. These were termed as the Upanishads (the root word being ‘upa’ which means near, ‘ni’ which means down and ‘shad’ meaning to sit), mainly described as a form of discipline which unites these six ‘aphorisms’: control of breathing or ‘pranayama’ meditation or ‘dhyana’, inhibition of the senses or ‘pratyahara’, examination or ‘tarka’, concentration or ‘dharana’, and ecstasy or ‘samadhi.

The Bhagavad-Gita is, by far, the most famous part of the Upanishad texts. With this in mind, it was comparable to our modern day form of religions where yoga is used to achieve spirituality minus the physical rigors.

The Classical Era

Enter Patanjali, author of the Yoga-Sutras and believed to be the ‘father or founder of yoga’. Just like the obscurity of yoga’s history, Patanjali’s profession is still unknown as of this day. Some believe he is a teacher of grammar. Some say he teaches the philosophy of Samkhya. Others go to the extreme by believing that he was an incarnation of the ruler of serpents named Shesha (which had 1000 heads!).

From the six limbs of the Upanishads, Patanjali added two more. According to him, the path to enlightenment can be obtained through the practice of these eight-limb discipline. Added to the other six were Niyama and Yama, both comparable to the biblical Ten Commandments as they focus on ethics and morals.

The Post-Classical Era

It is hard to define when the classical period actually ended. The teachings of Patanjali were used in many different practices that soon different forms of yoga were established. However, there were only slight modifications from Patanjali’s form of discipline. The only two schools that taught ‘radical yoga’ were tantra and hatha. These two schools deviated from Patanjali’s belief and instead focused on both the formless type of consciousness and using the physical body to achieve the so-called enlightenment. Both tantra and hatha teach that there is a Higher Being that could reside in each individual and detachment from this Being could result in suffering and much pain. So, thanks to their teachings, we now visualize yoga as painful body contortions that raise a person’s spirituality!

The Modern Day

It was not until the 1800’s that masters of yoga discipline traveled to the west. Being completely different from any form of religion or practice, these masters had many curious followers.

Hatha Yoga or modern day yoga was made famous in India by T. Krishnamacharya. He traveled far and wide to demonstrate and teach the poses of hatha yoga. He was also the first to open a school for formal yoga practice. He called this the Hatha Yoga School. Krishnamacharya was also the teacher of famous yoga advocates Pattabhi Jois, B. K.S. Iyengar, and T.K.V. Desikachar.

Hollywood had its first taste of yoga when Indra Devi had her studio opened in 1947. It was a giant leap for modern yoga and ever since, it gained followers by the million. And yes, today, we never lack schools that teach many styles, yet, their goal is still common--- self-enlightenment.

Video:Dunya News - History of Yoga por dunyanews

Dunya News - History of Yoga por dunyanews

Read More