> What is yoga?
Yoga is a most important and precious gift given by the nature from ancient
time to get connected throughout the life with nature. It is the practice of
uniting the mind and body in order to achieve the perfect harmony between both.
It helps a person to get higher level of consciousness by getting control over
the body in all aspects like physically, mentally, socially and
intellectually. Yoga is promoted to get practiced daily in the schools
and colleges for the betterment of the students as well as increasing their
concentration level towards study. It is a systematic effort done by
the people to attain the perfection by getting control over all different
nature elements exist in the body.
It needs very safe and regular practice to get benefited all the asanas of yoga.
Yoga is practiced to bring spiritual progress in the body and mind for
self-development by controlling the inner energy. The inhaling and exhaling of
the oxygen during yoga is the main thing. Practicing yoga in daily life
regularly prevents from various diseases as well as cures fatal disease
including cancer, diabetes, high or low blood pressure, heart ailments, kidney
disorders, liver disorders, gynaecological problems and variety of mental
problems.
Now-a-days, it is very necessary to practice
yoga again to make lives of people better. Daily yoga practice provides inner
and outer body strength. It helps in strengthening the body immunity system
thus prevents from various diseases and cures different disease. It
acts as an alternative system of medicine if practiced continuously. It
also reduces the side effects of many heavy medicines taken on daily basis. The
very good time for practicing the yoga like pranayam and kapal bharti is
the early morning as it provides better environment to get control over body
and mind.
> History of yoga.
Yoga was originated in India during ancient time
by the yogis. Yoga word is originated from the Sanskrit language and
has two meanings, one is union and another one is discipline. Practicing
yoga teaches us about the body and mind discipline by uniting or connecting
both body and mind. It is a spiritual practice used to meditate in the early
morning to balance body and mind as well as remains close to the nature. It
was practiced earlier by the people of religions like Hindu, Buddha and Jain. It
is amazing type of exercise which makes life better by controlling the body and
mind. Yoga is a science of living healthy life forever. It is like a medicine
which treats various diseases gradually by regularizing the functioning of body
organs.
Actually yoga is a practice of controlled body
part movements and control of breathe. It enhances the inner and outer body and
mind strength by connecting both to the nature. It is not a physical
practice only as it makes a human able to get control over mental, emotional,
and spiritual thoughts. It can be practiced by the people at any age
during childhood, teenage, adult or old age. It needs only safe, slow and
controlled movements of body with controlled breathing. In order to make
worldwide people aware of the yoga and its benefits, an international level
event (called International Day of Yoga or World Yoga Day) has
been declared to celebrate it annually.
> Benefits of yoga.
The art of practicing yoga helps in controlling
an individual's mind, body and soul. It brings together
physical and mental disciplines to achieve a peaceful body and mind; it
helps manage stress and anxiety and keeps you relaxing. It also helps
in increasing flexibility, muscle strength and body tone. It improves
respiration, energy and vitality. Practicing yoga might seem like just
stretching, but it can do much more for your body from the way you feel, look
and move.
> Importance of Yoga.
Yoga is not a religion; it is a way of living
with the aim, is "a healthy mind in a healthy body". Man
is a physical, mental and spiritual being; yoga helps promote a balanced
development of all the three. Other forms of physical exercises, like aerobics,
assure only physical well-being. They have little to do with the development of
the spiritual or astral body.
> Advantages of yoga.
Yoga has many advantages over other methods of
maintaining health, such as gymnastics, athletics, aerobics, games, and
various other forms of exercise. It does not need any costly equipment
and materials, or playgrounds, swimming pool, gyms, etc. Yoga can be practiced
throughout the year. It can also be practiced inside the house or in the open,
singly or in groups. The only requirement is a thick carpet spread on the floor
and covered with a clean sheet of cloth.
Yoga should only be practiced on empty stomach.
You can do it at any time during the day. It will benefit you
irrespective of whether you are young or old, lean or heavily built, highly
educated or unlettered, rich or poor, from higher or lower middle class, busy,
over busy, or retired or worker in the factory or in the field. Yoga has
something very valuable, and useful to offer to everyone. It is often
described as the best form of health insurance for all from the age of 7 to 77
or more. Two main advantages of Yoga are prevention of disorders and ailments
and maintenance of health and fitness in daily life. Other advantage include
flexible muscles, supple joints, relaxed and tension–free mind and efficiently
working vital organs such as the heart, lungs, endocrine glands, liver,
pancreas and good balance between various functions etc.
> Disadvantages of yoga.
If you only have 20 minutes a day to spend on
your body and your foremost goal is to burn lots of calories, yoga will
disappoint you. Although yoga is a sound adjunct to any weight loss
program and has even been shown to promote gradual weight loss, it is not
primarily a fat burning enterprise.
Another potential pitfall is finding a qualified
teacher. Before enrolling in a class, ask what type of training the instructor
had. Currently, there is no national certification program for yoga
instructors. Voluntary certification is available from various groups, but some
organizations award teaching certificates to people who have completed only a
weekend course. The Yoga Alliance – a voluntary national coalition of
yoga organizations and individual yoga teachers – is seeking to establish
voluntary national standards for yoga teachers, but not all yoga instructors
agree with those standards or support the alliance’s philosophy. To
reap the intangible benefits of yoga, it helps to be humble and to realize that
yoga is meant to be practiced, not perfected. It’s a non-competitive activity.
> Types of yoga.
Type:1» Vinyasa.
This style of yoga links movement with the
breath, creating flowing postures that smoothly transition from one to the
next. In Sanskrit, the word “vinyasa” means “connection”. Each
movement connects with either an inhale or an exhale. You can expect to move
through a few sun salutations, warrior poses, balancing poses, back bends, and
seated stretches. Each class ends in savasana, which is the final relaxation
pose.
There is no strict format or sequence of poses
in a vinyasa class, allowing for more creativity on the part of the teacher.
Some classes are more spiritual, incorporating breath work, chanting and
meditation, while others are more athletically-oriented. It depends on the
instructor, so if one class doesn’t suit you, try a different instructor.
Type:2» Hatha Yoga.
In Sanskrit, “Hatha” means
force. It describes the physical practice of yoga, so all other types of yoga
fall under the category of Hatha. If you see Hatha Yoga on a class
schedule, it means you’ll find a slower-paced class with little-to-no “flow” between
poses. It’s a gentle class that’s perfect for beginners or the after-work yogi
looking to wind-down. Here, you’ll learn basic postures, breath work,
relaxation techniques, and meditation.
Type:3» Bikram.
Bikram yoga is best known for hot rooms and
sweat dripping postures. This style of vinyasa yoga was developed by Bikram
Choudhury and is comprised of 26 postures performed in strict
sequential order. Bikram chose these specific postures because he believes they
systematically challenge the entire body -the organs, veins, ligaments, and
muscles.
Type:4» Ashtanga.
Ashtanga yoga is considered a modern-day
form of classical Indian yoga. It’s also known as “Power” yoga. Like vinyasa,
movement and breath are linked. However, in Ashtanga, the movements are
predefined. You move through four phases—an opening phase, one of six “series”,
backbending, and inversions. There is an element of progression in Ashtanga: if
you’re a beginner to the practice, you’ll start with the Primary series. When
you’ve mastered that series, you will graduate to a more difficult series and
so on. Advancing through the poses can take years or decades; however, the
focus of the practice is not on advancement to more difficult levels, rather,
it is to maintain internal focus.
Type:5» Kundalini.
Grounded in the Chakra system, Kundalini focuses
on the breath and core work. Kundalini strives to develop the mind, awareness,
and consciousness. Each pose is associated with a different breathing technique
that is believed to intensify the effects of the posture. Kundalini is
much more spiritual and meditative than other styles of yoga. It
emphasizes breathing, chanting, meditation, and hand gestures (mudras). Although
this class often involves more sitting than other styles, it is still
physically demanding. This class offer both physical and mental challenges.
Type:6» Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation).
Regular practice of Sun Salutation offers a lot
of interesting benefits for every part of the body. These powerful yoga
poses have a great impact on the heart, liver, intestine, stomach, chest,
throat, and legs -the whole body from top to bottom. It purifies the
blood and improves blood circulation throughout the body and ensures proper
functioning of the stomach, bowel, and nerve centres. Practicing Sun Salutation
daily helps balance the three constitutions -Vata, Pitta and Kapha -that
the body is made up of.
Besides, there are many types of yoga’s, from
where you can start your daily schedule with peace mind.
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