Using Yoga For Weight Loss

Yoga can be put to good use for taking off excess pounds through the power of creating a state of mental and physical well being. The basic tenets of Yoga promotes a healthy lifestyle and when combined with a calorie reduction can help to speed up your weight loss. It will increase your metabolism by increasing the caloric burning process. All weight loss is based on using more calories than you take in. It will also allow you to increase your ability to concentrate and focus.

Your thyroid regulates your metabolism and is responsible for the chemical processes that transform food into energy. Yoga uses a series of twisting poses that will help to stimulate the work flow of the internal organs. This will cause your metabolism to increase and burn more calories which will eventually cause you to have a lower body weight. Another side effect is that it will help to improve your circulation and increase your energy level.

The various back bends combined with the forward bends will help to stimulate the metabolism. The poses that affect the neck region can be helpful in stimulating the thyroid if the weight problem is caused by a hormonal imbalance. Poses that will help the most for this include the camel, rabbit, plow, bridge and head stand. Going quickly between the various poses can help to accelerate the weght loss. Beware though that those seriously overweight may find some of these poses extremely difficult and should start slowly with the easier poses and add others as they become more confident in the easier ones.

You can use standing poses to increase muscle strengthening such as the warrior. These will help to create higher endurance and increase your caloric usage.

Remember that a gradual approach is best with all Yoga practices. The long term effects on your weight loss regime will become evident and even more so the inner peace and general well feeling that Yoga will promote within you.

Prenatal Yoga

What is it? As many may know by now, or not, the word ‘Yoga’ is derived from an ancient Indian word which translates into “union”. Yoga is a practice of poses and postures connected to the development of a person’s body strength and flexibility. Different poses or postures have, in themselves, different benefits.

Although it may look easy to a stranger’s eye, the alignment of postures are physically challenging for beginners, many of them may giggle at the awkwardness of their posture. I’ve personally thought and still think that yoga is a slow activity yet I find myself sweating profusely than any other sport that I’ve tried.

Prenatal Yoga (also known as pregnancy yoga) helps a pregnant mother to ‘slow down’, literally. During pregnancy, there will be many changes taking place in the human (mother’s) body. Hormonal changes, circulatory system changes, respiratory changes, body temperature changes to name a few.

Prenatal Yoga helps and encourages women to adapt to these changes in a positive manner – positive growth. The yoga stretches and poses help in strengthening the birthing muscles, improves blood circulation, reduces backache that are common among pregnant women, reduces anxiety and postpartum yoga quickens the recovery process.

Mental Power

Yoga itself is a physical practice but it starts and ends with the mind. Firstly, free your mind and do not think of anything else during your yoga sessions. Keep in mind that you DO NOT HAVE TO worry about chores, responsibilities and a hundred other things. The priority is me, myself and I.

Second of all, be patient. Yoga is not a get-healthy-quick scheme. Yoga is health program by means of determination, persistence and perseverance. Results may not show immediately as it varies from individuals but the one thing that is certain; the most profound results of yoga are achieved after sometime and not the early stages of practice.

Last but not least, consistent by frequency is the key of yoga. Do it every day and make sure that you do it. Yoga cannot work under ‘do-whenever-I-feel-like’ circumstances, the right momentum is required.

Common Techniques

There are few common techniques that are recommended for pregnancy. DO NOT ATTEMPT WITHOUT FIRST SEEKING EXPERT ADVICE – I’m merely showing what it’s about.

Back bend – Known as the bridge pose, is to lie on your back and bend your knees thereby lifting our hips by the strength of your thighs. This technique or posture strengthens your spine and thus spinal flexibility.

Cat and Cow Stretch – is to pose on all fours (hands and legs) like how a toddler crawls. Keep your spine straightened as a neutral pose. Cow stretch is done by attempting to look at the ceiling by first movement of the tail bone then the spine and finally the neck. Cat stretch is the opposite movement of cow stretch, attempting to look at your abdomen/stomach by first moving the tail bone, followed by spine then neck. Repeat poses alternately.

These are good for beginners to start with. For other poses, seek appropriate instructions:

Cobbler’s pose, extended triangle pose, goddess pose, half-moon pose, knee to ankle pose, pelvic tilts and one-legged pigeon pose.

The Benefits Of Yoga

Yoga has been known to be the best way of warming up you body before doing an exercise program. It is actually considered a very good work out even without doing exercise.

Why Yoga is as good as doing exercise? Yoga stretches the body’s muscles and practices a good breathing exercise, which helps in improving blood circulation. Doing the stunts of yoga can strengthen the back muscles, muscles of the arms, legs, and chest.

Yoga improves concentration and breathing because each exercise should be done slowly with proper breathing and full concentration.

Simple Yoga Exercise

You need stand erect with back straight, arms hanging at the side of the boy. Slowly raise your hands and try to reach the sky and breathe deeply and slowly. Try to stretch your arms slowly and breathe in. Bend forward slowly and breathe out. This time try to touch the floor.

While bending forward slowly, make sure that you legs are straight and keep them straight as possible. Try to stretch more your muscles by bending forward as much as possible.

Do not be frustrated if you cannot touch the floor or you cannot keep your legs straight. First timers usually cannot maintain their legs straight and their knees tend to bend slightly. The most important thing in yoga is the breathing. Make sure you breathe properly and concentrate more on this. You will perfect this method as you do this exercise on the following days.

During bending, make try to keep you head close to your body and be able to look between your legs. You can place your palms flat on the floor if you are limber. Try to breathe in again while maintaining this position. The most important thing in yoga is the breathing. Make sure you breathe properly and concentrate more on this. Holding on this position, try to lift your head and look forward.

When you go into the push up position, try to breathe out and walk backwards. Begin to breathe in as you lower your belly close to the floor. Try to shift your feet so they will land flat on the floor while you stretch your upper body upwards. If you want to stretch you neck muscles while doing this exercise, you can look up in the ceiling. However, make sure to raise your neck slowly. The most important thing in yoga is the breathing. Make sure you breathe properly and concentrate more on this.

To do an inverted V position, try to put your feet on the floor and you butt as high as possible. Make sure you can look between your legs and breathe out while doing this position.

The most important thing in yoga is the breathing. Make sure you breathe properly and concentrate more on this. Make sure when you breathe out, you exhale all your breath.

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Bikram Yoga

Yoga can help a person achieve better health, physical well being and also spiritual bliss though there are a number of different types of yoga to choose from each of which provide various benefits, and among them is one that is known as Bikram Yoga, which is very physical. In fact, Bikram Yoga is much more aerobic than other forms of yoga and it is named after a person known as Bikram Choudhry who was from Kolkatta in India. Having mastered the Hatha Yoga, and having also become a champion in this form of yoga, Bikram Choudhry then opened up a number of training centers where yoga was taught under the guidance of his own guru who was a person named Bishnu Gosh till he eventually formed a unique form of yoga that later came to be known as Bikram Yoga.

Essentially, when performing Bikram Yoga, a person has to be in a heated room where the temperature can be as high as ninety to hundred degrees which is necessary to warm up the body that in turn facilitates performing various postures. In fact, these postures require to be performed in twenty-six different postures starting from standing postures and on to backward as well as forward bends and some twists are also thrown in as well, and it takes approximately an hour and a half to perform the Bikram Yoga in which each posture is performed twice.

However, Bikram Yoga may not be suitable for everybody since it does require being physically fit; otherwise, it is not recommended if you are out of shape in which instance you should begin with other types of yoga to attain the proper levels of fitness after which you may take a stab at doing Bikram Yoga. Also, before beginning this type of yoga, you should have found out all there is to know about Bikram Yoga which will help you determine whether this form of yoga is suitable for you or not.

Bikram Yoga is also commonly referred to as ‘hot yoga’ and it has been used by famous personalities that have nothing but praise for such a form of yoga whose main purpose is to increase the strength of the body as well as make it more flexible and to make the physical and spiritual self unite as one. It consists of twenty-six asanas or postures and there are also two breathing exercises as well, and before beginning this form of yoga you should ensure that your stomach is not full of food and that you should also have first drunk a glass of water.

It is normal to begin Bikram Yoga with a meditation posture and breathing is supposed to be done through the nose and not the mouth and it should be normal as well as slow because the aim is to release tension from the muscles. The reason why Bikram Yoga is performed in heated conditions is that heat as well as humidity makes you sweat which will help remove whatever toxins are there in the body and also by performing postures in a heated environment, it helps the muscles to relax and also enables performing postures that would otherwise not be possible.

Yoga For Arthritis

Try Yoga Exercises Specially Tailored For Arthritics

Living with arthritis pain is not something that anyone would like to happen to them, and the need to find arthritis pain relief is on top of most sufferers’ minds. It could mean taking a pill, performing gentle exercises, stretching or trying some other means to obtain relief. So, if you have tried all other avenues and are still not satisfied with various methods of obtaining arthritis pain relief, then you would do well to consider practicing yoga that has been proven to be able to provide significant arthritis pain relief, as well as some other benefits too.

With the help of yoga, you can become stronger and more flexible as well as confident - even if you are suffering from arthritis. It is quite usual for an arthritic to cut down on his or her activities that will not however, be of much help as it can cause further stiffening of the joints as also extra pain. Your best bet under these circumstances would be to turn to practicing yoga exercises that will improve your blood circulation and it will also strengthen the bones and muscles. With yoga exercises, you should find that your confidence returns and you are able to live a full life once more, in spite of your arthritis condition.

Yoga for arthritis pain relief does not mean bending and contorting your body into weird and impossible positions just to get relief for your arthritis pain. It may be enough that you just practice breathing as also self-awareness, both of which are the core of yoga exercises, and which should help you find relief, even if you are merely standing and breathing using a yoga exercise known as Mountain Pose.

Yoga exercises can be modified to treat arthritics and they are useful and effective arthritis pain relief methods that only require using chairs, bolsters and some other props, which will still provide you with the complete benefits of yoga, and which may even result in your being able to dispense with the props in due course of time thanks to the effectiveness of such yoga exercises.

You may also need to consider where the best place to practice yoga is for your arthritis pain relief. Do you want to go to a yoga studio or do it at home? The choice is entirely up to you, and there are also many DVDs available that show arthritics how the yoga exercises shown in the DVDs can help you because such exercises are being performed by those already affected by yoga.

The bottom line is that you will not harm yourself by trying any of the various yoga exercises for arthritis pain relief available to you. On the contrary, yoga should significantly contribute to providing pain relief and you will become more healthy and also enjoy life more, and find yourself becoming happier and more confident thanks to yoga.

Yoga Vinyasas

When you think about yoga, you likely think first of poses that emphasize self awareness and flexibility. You can, though, link poses in series called yoga vinyasas. In these vinyasas, the poses are done in a free-flowing sequence that adds to your overall yoga experience. While your yoga teacher is trained to create vinyasas for you, there are also certain existing sequences that you can do on your own once you know what poses they involve. Two that are particularly popular in the West are the Sun Salutation and Warrior II.

Sun Salutation

One of the most popular sequences is known as the Sun Salutation. It is a single flow of 12 different yoga postures. With each, you should inhale to accompany your stretching and exhale as you contract or fold your body in. This particular vinyasas is designed to build your strength and increase your overall flexibility. Like with most vinyasas, you may find variations on this depending on what style of yoga you are using, but there are a few basic poses and a flow that is fairly consistent among the variations.

For the Sun Salutation, you go through the flow twice in order to complete one round. Do it one time for the right side of the body and the other time for your left. If you are crunched for time, still try to do at least one. Even that one half of a sequence will help you to feel revitalized.

The sun salutation starts with mountain. From there you go with hands up, head to knees, lunge, plank, and stick. Still flowing, you go into upward dog, downward dog, and lunge. Finally, the sequence finishes with head to knees, hands up, and mountain again. As you can see, the Sun Salutation is naturally circular just as many other yoga sequences are.

Warrior II

Another popular sequence for yogis in the West is called Triangle, or the Warrior II. This particular vinyasas emphasizes your breathing. Though it is usually recommended to try this moving between positions on the beat of your breath, you can experiment with different breathing patters to see what is best for you and how each affects you. In fact, this ability to freely experiment is what has made this such a popular vinyasas.

The sequence for Warrior II works through four poses. You will use Mountain, Triangle, Warrior II and the standing Yoga Mudra. Moving in that order, you will flow through the sequence in time with your breathing. This particular sequence will have a tendency to release stress and help with your flexibility. Be sure, as with all yoga, to pay careful attention to your breathing patterns while staying focused on yourself.

Once you begin to learn a number of yoga poses, you can begin to experiment with vinyasas on your own or with a teacher. They allow you to not only work within the poses, but also to maintain both a physical and mental flow when you perform your daily yoga. Additionally, you can find other yoga sequences that suit your skill level, need, and style of yoga. Overall, the vinyasas are a part of yoga that may help you see and feel results more quickly and more consistently.

History Of Yoga

Yoga is a union of body, mind, and spirit. The history of yoga is long and steeped in tradition. Yoga is an ancient system of health and fitness which originated in India. The word yoga has its first mention in the Rig Veda, the oldest of the sacred texts. Those that study Yoga estimate it's age to be four thousand year.

The history of Yoga can be divided into four main periods which are the pre-classical period, classical period, post-classical period and modern period. In the history of yoga, the book is called the yoga sutras. The history of yoga would not have been completed in the classical stage of yoga.

The word Yoga literally meant the Yolk that joins something together, such as an ox to a cart. The idea is that yoga unites all aspects of being into one.

What most people envision to be Yoga, those contortionist postures, is really only one small aspect of a much larger field of practices. The methods of yoga includes ethical disciplines, physical postures, breathing control and as well as meditation.

The 20th century witnessed a renaissance of yoga that caused a globalization of this ancient tradition. Modern approaches to yoga have created a clear delineation between the Hindu religion and the practice of yoga. Through the practice of yoga, an individual can gain information about physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well being.

Over the long history of yoga, different schools have emerged, and there are numerous examples branches and philosophies that have spawned. Ultimately, all agree on one common element the fundamental purpose of yoga is to foster harmony in the body, mind, and environment.

Today yoga is accepted as a comprehensive exercise to promote control of the body and mind. More than just a means of being fit and trim, yoga can help you live a healthy, whole, and empowered life. In recent decades, yoga has greatly and swiftly evolved. Yoga is the most diversified spiritual practice in the world. The living tradition of yoga now recognizes no borders as it continues to spread globally.