The Practice of Hatha Yoga

Summary:

Hatha Yoga is mainly practiced for health and vitality. Hatha Yoga was introduced in the 15th century by Yogi Swatmarama. Hatha yoga focuses on the purification of the physical being which leads to the purification of the mind or vital energy.

 

The Practice of Hatha Yoga

Hatha Yoga is mainly practiced for health and vitality. Hatha Yoga was introduced in the 15th century by Yogi Swatmarama. Hatha yoga focuses on the purification of the physical being which leads to the purification of the mind or vital energy. The exploration of these physical-spiritual connections and body centered practices led to the creation of Hatha Yoga. Today In the West, hatha yoga has become wildly popular as a purely physical exercise regimen divorced of its original purpose. 

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Whatever the historical details, Krishnamacharya has become the undisputed father of modern-day hatha yoga. Krishnamacharya's first lessons in yoga were from his father and his grandmother and passed on through generations of practice.

Hatha Yoga follows in that vein and thus successfully transcends being particularly grounded in any one religion. This exploration of these physical and spiritual connections and body centered practices led to the creation of Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga has been included in the life style of these traditions. Hatha Yoga classes tend, among other things, to emphasize physical mastery.

Hatha also means a force or determined effort, and yoga, of course, translates as yoke or joining together. The very name hatha yoga, a combination of "ha," meaning sun, and "tha," meaning moon, denotes the union of opposites. Through the practice of yoga an individual can gain information about physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well being.

Hatha Yoga represents opposing energies: hot and cold, fire and water following the theme of ying and yang, male and female, positive and negative. Hatha yoga attempts to balance the mind and body. The balancing of the mind and body is brought about via physical exercises (also known as asanas), controlled breathing (pranayama) and relaxation or meditiation.

Pranayama refers to breath control in yoga. In this yoga is defined as a means of binding or controlling the breath and the mind using the syllable Om. In this case yoga has extremes, practices of fasting, breath control, and postures to transcend the body, and not cultivate it. Asana body postures that are contemplative in nature and are designed to align the body and bring about the optimum situation for relaxation.

Traditional yoga is a holistic yogic path and is becoming wildly popular.

  

Keywords:

hatha yoga, yoga, yogi, health, healthy, purification, assana, meditation, physical, spiritual,

The Power of Stretching

Stretching gives one the ability to have explosive power available at one's fingertips without the need to warm up. Of course most of us are not martial artists or agents. But, you'll be happy to know there are plenty of other benefits.

The Power of Stretching

Your muscles ache from a good stretch. This is quite normal and is part of the process. Stretching has seemingly been with us and particular with athletes since the beginning of time.

A very key point to good stretching is to hold the stretch for at least seventeen seconds. This is a pearl of wisdom gleaned from a ballet teacher a few years back. She said that any stretch under 17 seconds was just not effective.

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The 17 second rule is exceeded in the high intensity Bikram's yoga where stretches are held for about 30 seconds. Don't forget the high level of heat that is used in Bikram's to extract that last little bit of stretch out of your muscles. An interesting twist that is not necessary to gain benefits from stretching. But, it can't hurt, right?

So what kind of benefits can you expect from stretching? That's an easy one. Have you ever seen the movie, Blood Sport? Did you know that Frank Dux could truly stretch his body to the extreme. The actor that played him was quite elastic as well.

Great elasticity is also something you might see in well trained Spetsnaz(Russian)agents. They often work out with Russian kettlebells too. They are for superior strength gains and the ability to withstand ballistic shocks.

Why are stretching and flexibility considered important to these people? Stretching gives one the ability to have explosive power available at one's fingertips without the need to warm up. Of course most of us are not martial artists or agents. But, you'll be happy to know there are plenty of other benefits.

Let me give you an example. After learning to sit in the full lotus position for long periods of time, my ankles became very flexible. One day I was walking along and my left foot fell into a pothole. This mishap pushed my ankle sideways to about 90 degrees from it's normal position.

Amazingly, this didn't even hurt, not one bit. If my ankle hadn't been so flexible, I may have suffered a sprained ankle. At the very least, it would have hurt for days.

Key point: stretching helps us to avoid injuries. Not only that but if you do have a muscle, tendon or ligament injury it should heal faster, theoretically speaking.

Stretching actually grows the ligaments, tendons and muscles being stretched. They really grow longer over time.

Check with your physician before undertaking any type of exercise, including stretching.

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Keywords:

stretching, yoga, bikram, lotus, ligaments, tendons, muscles, ankle, exercise, stretch, health, injuries, elasticity, Frank Dux, ballet 

The Most Important Yoga Pose When You are on the Go

With over 84, 000 poses in Yoga alone, one pose that must be singled out for daily practice will be the All-members pose known also known as the Shoulder-Stand. With its counter poses, this one pose exercises and tones all the parts of the human body.

 

The Most Important Yoga Pose When You are on the Go

With over 84, 000 poses in yoga to choose from for practice, yoga enthusiasts and practitioners might be left confused on just which ones are the most important.

With our daily demands and commitments, most of us might not have the time to perform so many poses therefore we should focus on the one that is of the most benefit for daily practice and that is the Shoulder-Stand (known in Sanskrit as Savangasana).

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It is my recommended favorite of the inverted poses. Its ease and reminder that as a kid, you tried it before, makes it one that I emphasize even more so than the Headstand you might be familiar with as they share almost if not all the same benefits without the fear of standing on your head.

Inverted poses reverse the action of gravity on the body. Instead of everything being pulled towards the feet, the orientation shifts towards the head. On emotional levels the Shoulder Stand turns everything upside down throwing a new light on old patterns of behavior.

It improves health, reduces stress and anxiety and increases mental power and also increases self confidence. In addition, the abdominal organs, liver, spleen, stomach, kidneys and pancreas receive a powerful massage helping them work better.

In Sanskrit, Sarvanga means all parts so as the name suggests, it affects all the bodily organs. It stimulates the thyroid gland, balancing the circulatory, digestive, nervous, reproductive and endocrine systems. It is indeed a panacea, a cure all. Obesity and corpulence are alleviated by this pose as well as constipation and enlargement of the liver and the spleen.

It is best practiced with its counter poses in specific durations for maximal efficiency and when planned correctly, the whole sequence could take less than 6 minutes to carry out, depending on your schedule.

Personally, I make the point as a practitioner to incorporate the sequence into my daily regimen with other forms of exercise, but I always place the most emphasis on this one pose for all the benefits above.

So next time when you are unsure of which pose you have to include in your session when you are on the go, make it a point to go for the Shoulder-Stand. Your body will thank you for it.

Yoga Centers in New York City

Laughing Lotus Yoga Center

Yoga Centers in New York City

The program at Laughing Lotus Yoga Center, New York City, is created and run by Jasmine Tarkeshi and Dana Flynn. It is a step by step (Vinyasa) class that teaches yoga postures culminating in supreme consciousness, freedom of the mind and unification with the divine. The guiding doctrine based on yoga sutras of Patanjali, provides the road map to deliverance. Probing into the self, holding group discussions and chanting the sutras, students learn and experience the reality presented by yoga and its application to everyday life. The school registered with Yoga Alliance, offers a two hundred hour schedule to its students, offering them an ideal ground to begin their soul enlightening journey. Its concentrated course work and dedicated teachers provide the perfect mystical environment for the seekers to practice and benefit from a rigorous session of:

• asanas
• pranayama
• mudra
• mantra

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Jivamukti Yoga School

The Jivamukti Yoga Center in New York City holds hatha yoga, meditation and Sanskrit classes for people of all ages, practicing yoga at any level (beginners, intermediate or advanced). Group meditation and spiritual meetings help in opening up the mind and freeing it from all worldly restrictions of forms and senses. At Jivamukti, special significance is laid on learning from early texts of Patanjali and Upanishads. Guest speakers and performers of international repute, belonging to various fields of spiritualism and art are also invited for students' advantage. The learners here are enabled to take up yoga and experience:

• detachment from forms and senses
• boundless love and freedom
• beauty in all
• sublime happiness

Atmananda Yoga Center

This center in New York City was set up as a sanctuary for agitated minds; a place to soothe and calm frayed nerves. One can take up yoga practice only or tune to the finer aspects of meditation. A holistic approach to yoga is taught here in order to overcome the problems and pains caused by everyday life. A regimen for all levels is offered.
If you want to be a yoga teacher, you can benefit from the various certification programs offered. You can learn and teach other fellow beings the rewards of:

• Atmananda sequence
• meditation
• alignment and adjustment
• anatomy and physiology
• yogic philosophy
• communication techniques

Services for your well being like deep tissue massage, Thai yoga massage, ear candling, astrology and nutrition counseling are also provided by Jivamukti Yoga Center, charging on hourly, daily or monthly basis to suit you.

Bikram Yoga Center NYC

Donna Rubin and Jennifer Lobo are the owners of Bikram Yoga studios at four suitable areas of Manhattan. As many as 250 yoga classes are conducted every week. For beginners there is an exceptional offer of paying only $20 for 10 days. Bikram yoga is practiced in a heated room. A set of 26 hatha yoga poses along with two breathing exercises will shape and tone every muscle, joint and organ of your body. The yoga's detoxifying effects are magnificent on your mind and body. You can join Bikram Yoga Center for an occurrence that is:

• stimulating
• reviving
• revitalizing
• successful

Bikram Yoga * DOUBLE YOUR FLEXIBILITY* in 28 days... 7 Secrets of Nutrition and Flexibility. Free 7-day email course at link above.

Bikram DVD *BIKRAM YOGA LOVER?* Get the definitive home study course on Hot Yoga. Giant 300-page book, 2 DVDs, pose chart, and more.

YOGABODY Naturals LLC is a yoga educational and nutritional supplement company aimed specifically at students of yoga asana. Founded by Lucas Rockwood in 2007, the YOGABODY community now includes over 10,000 students and teachers worldwide.

"Powerful Yoga for Real People"

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The Journey Of Yoga Through Mind

The physical benefits of yoga are well known. What is perhaps less well understood is the process of transformation that yoga creates on other levels, in the mind and spirit. It is one of the key differences between it and other forms of exercise that are similar, such as pilates.

 

The Journey Of Yoga Through Mind

Article Body:

Yoga is a transformative art, and deceptively simple. At least, although the advanced yoga postures are in fact difficult to the unpracticed, and look it, the changes that yoga can bring into one's life belie the apparent simplicity of stretching muscles.

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After all, we stretch muscles at the gym during a warm up. So what is the basic difference between yoga and regular workouts, including pilates. Pilates, after all, took some of its inspiration from yoga. Or at least the aspect of yoga that is made of the physical exercises, the asanas.

Yoga integrates the breath and consciousness with physical stretches in a way that I haven't even felt in pilates, although pilates is great as a way of strengthening the internal muscles of the body as well, particularly the pelvic floor.

But in yoga, through the breath, and focusing on it within our body, we come to a greater understanding of both our body and ourselves. We begin a more conscious relationship with our individuality. We meet that unique expression of ourselves expressing physically in that moment. And we are able to begin a process of changing that which is blocking the vital flow of our energy.

That is why it doesn't matter what state we are in when we begin practising a yoga posture. We might be more or less stiff, or in pain, or distracted, than usual. It is a journey of discovery, not of trying to fit ourselves into an external idea, even if that idea is represented in that moment by the yoga posture we are trying to do. Desikachar writes that the body can "only gradually accept an asana". We should not strain ourselves, or judge ourselves, if we cannot fit into that posture. That posture is a possible outcome, yes, but what we do in our practice of yoga is to take the journey.

Desikachar makes another important point: "We should remain flexible so that we are still able to react to changes in our expectations and old ideas. The more distanced we are from the fruits of our labors, the better we are able to do this... Paying more attention to the spirit in which we act and looking less to the results our actions may bring us - this is the meaning of isvarapranidhana in kriya yoga"

The asanas are a way of preparing ourselves to more fully meet the challenges of life in a way that does not throw us off balance, and increases our capacity to adapt to those changes that are inherent in life. They allow us to be more sensitive and aware to what is really going on inside us, and in life itself. This growing self knowledge then provides us with a more complete picture in which our responses to whatever situations confront us more accurately reflects what is truly present. There is a deeper engagement that goes beyond the vagrancies of the mind, the self doubt, the domination of our preconceptions and expectations, or our need for something to be a certain way.

When we are distracted or preoccupied with doubts, worries, and fears, and even hope that is attached to an outcome (need), the vital energy of our whole being is leaking, diffused. Through yoga practice, we are able to clear the detritus, to redirect our diffused energy within, to sit within the body, our being, again. This is an energetic aspect of self-mastery. Integral to this is the knowledge of oneself as whole, and simultaneously a part of the wholeness that is within everything.

References: Desikachar, Heart If Yoga

 

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