Yoga

Mudras For Good Health

Summary:

Keywords:

Yoga, Mudras

Article Body:

We present some brilliant, very effective and simple mudras, which you can practice anytime and anywhere:

• GYAN MUDRA – This is one of the most important mudras. It is widely used in all yogic meditation practices. Join the tip of forefinger to the tip of the thumb. Hold together gently for at least 15-30 minutes.

Advantages

• Increases intelligence and wisdom
• Purifies the mind of the practitioner
• Cures many mental problems
• Makes one joyful
• Cures intoxication and addictive habits

• PURN GYAN MUDRA – This mudra is known as the mudra of Lord Buddha, since it was propagated by him. Sit cross-legged. Keep both hands in 'Gyan Mudra' Posture. Now keep right hand near chest region. Keep left hand near knee region.

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Advantages

• Clears the aura in the subtle astral body
• Causes electrical changes in the electromagnetic activity of the brain leading to increased clarity and understanding
• Improves memory to a great extent
• Soothes irritable temperaments
• Improves intelligence and wisdom

• ABHAYA MUDRA - This is normally practiced after Gayatri Mantra recitation. Raise both your hands to the sides of your head. Touch the forefinger to tip of thumb (just as you do in Gyan Mudra). Hold the hand vertically straight by the sides.

Advantages

• Makes your mind fearless
• Gives you a feeling of courage and strength

• DHYAAN MUDRA - Sit cross-legged. Place hands in Gyan Mudra, on your lap. Right palm should rest above left palm in Gyan mudra

Advantages

• Makes you tremendously peaceful and tranquil
• Helps in increasing concentration powers
• Cures depression and other mental ailments
• Practitioner can experience the final state of eternal yogic bliss

• PRITHVI MUDRA - Touch the fore part of third finger (ring finger) to the tip of thumb.

Advantages

• Helps balance the earth element in the body
• Normalizes body equilibrium
• Makes you physically stronger
• Increases tolerance and patience
• Helps practitioners of spiritual meditation

• VARUN MUDRA - Touch the fore part of the smallest finger to the fore part of thumb.

Advantages

• Regular practice balances water element in body
• Improves physical appearance
• Decreases dryness in skin and body

• VAYU MUDRA - Fold the index finger (fore finger) on the base of thumb. Press the forefinger gently on the pad. Keep the other fingers away.

Advantages

• Helps in all nervous ailments
• Improves balance of air element in body
• Helpful in pains and aches
• Recommended for patients of Cerebral Palsy and Parkinson's ailments.

• PRAN MUDRA - Touch fore part of third (ring) finger and tip of fourth (little) finger to fore part of thumb.

Advantages

• Reduces body fatigue and thus energizing the whole body
• Improves eyesight
• Optimizes the circulation of the life current throughout the body

• MRITSANJIVINI MUDRA - Fold the index finger (fore finger) on the base of thumb. Press the forefinger gently on the pad. Touch the fore part of third (biggest) finger and fore part of fourth (ring) finger to the fore part of thumb.

Advantages

• Makes the heart stronger
• Very useful for people with heart ailments
• Helps normalize blood pressure
• Increases self-confidence

• SURYA MUDRA - Touch the third (ring) finger to the base of thumb. Press the thumb gently over this third (ring) finger. Keep the other fingers away.

Advantages

• Decreases Earth element in body
• Cures mental heaviness
• Reduces body fat
• Enhances weight loss

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Maybe Bikram is Right?

Summary:

I laughed at his rhetoric, equally, as much as watching Jerry Seinfeld or Ray Ramano, do a stand up comedy routine. The man is pure entertainment and he has a point.

Keywords:

health. healthy, yoga, fitness, bikram, right, wrong

Article Body:

For some reason, I had the time to sit down and watch a little television, and as luck would have it, Bikram Choudhury was being interviewed on 60 Minutes Wednesday.

My wife, Marie and I don’t often get home at that time of the night, as we are usually closing up the wellness center, so this was fate and a bit of luck.

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Our center does not have 105 degree Bikram classes or hot Yoga classes, but we are familiar with Bikram’s style and his wife’s many accomplishments. Rajashree Choudhury is a five-time winner of the All-India Yoga Championship competition.

I am not a Bikram fan, but I am not swayed by some of the anti-Bikram articles that work their way into the world of Yoga.

Before I touch some of the finer points of his interview, I must concede that he snatched the lime light with exuberance and now I know why some love him, while others don’t feel so warm and furry about him.

I laughed at his rhetoric, equally, as much as watching Jerry Seinfeld or Ray Ramano, do a stand up comedy routine. The man is pure entertainment and he has a point.

In reference to his style of yoga, he said “ I don’t sell cheesecake, you know that.” The fact is anyone who visits a Bikram style Yoga class knows what they are getting into. How could you miss 105 degrees Fahrenheit?

More to the point, America is a country of extremes and there are estimates that only 10% of the population exercises regularly. While, another 35% of the population, drift in, and out, of exercise, depending upon the season, a fad, or a whim.

The remaining 55%, of America’s population, have taken a pledge to avoid exercise at all costs. Maybe the “couch potatoes” can only grasp the concept of a “kick in the pants.”

Some people need a drill instructor personality and as Bikram would say, “torture chamber” to understand Yoga. America made him the “Guru of the Stars,” and he understands public relations. Let’s give credit, where credit is due. If you love Yoga and missed this interview, see if you can catch the re-run.

There is a strange need, on a massive scale, for “stern but loving parent” type teachers in Yoga classes. Now if you’ll excuse me, I am about to organize the Extremely Hot Navy Seals Power Yoga Boot Camp.

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Marjaraasana - For Sound Physical And Mental Health

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Keywords:

Marjaraasana Yoga Asana, Cat pose Yoga Asana

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Yoga today is all the rage. It is a subject that excites people’s curiosity and enjoys much popularity. This is especially so since the asanas (exercises) and pranayamas (breathing techniques) that owe their origins to ancient Indian wisdom have proved beneficial in promoting holistic health and mental peace as also in developing personality. In this article we will discuss Marjaraasana - the cat pose.

Process: Sit on your haunches with the knees and toes on the ground. Keep the palms on the floor in such a way that the distance between them is about the same as that between the shoulders, i.e. equal to the width of the back. Keep the distance between the palms and the knees about the same as that between the shoulders and the hips, i.e. equal to the length of the torso. The distance between the knees should be the same as the width of the waist. Turn the toes back so that the soles face upward. The distance between the soles should be the same as that between the knees. Relax the muscles in the trunk region and let the trunk descend under gravity. At the same time, let the neck and head curve backward as far as possible. Relax the stomach and close the eyes. Direct your attention to the entire body and practise conscious differential relaxation. Keep the mind engaged in pranadharana (consciousness of breath). This is the final posture of marjaraasana –maintain it according to capacity.

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An extension of the above posture can be attained in the following manner: staying in the final posture obtained above, open your eyes. Move the palms about 10-15 cms towards the knees. Curve the back upwards so that it shapes like an arch. Relax the neck and hang the head down. Draw the chin towards the chest and relax the abdomen, practice differential relaxation and then do prandharana. This is the final extension posture of marjaraasana- maintain it according to capacity.

Releasing the asana: Start by lowering the right leg by bending it at the knee, then rest the knee on the floor. Lower the head and make the back parallel to the ground, loosen it up and relax.

Benefits: The spine becomes flexible and supple; it helps to correct the functional defects of the back and spine. The health of the organs in the torso improves. You are relieved of backache and pain in the neck resulting from exertion. It also soothes the neck muscles and the lumbar region of the spine and invigorates the spinal nerves, improves blood circulation in the abdominal region thereby making digestive, respiratory and excretory processes. This asana is also useful in treating respiratory disorders.

Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautions before following any of the asanas from this article and the site. To avoid any problems while doing the asanas, it is advised that you consult a doctor and a yoga instructor. The responsibility lies solely with the reader and not with the site or the writer.
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Lower Your Blood Pressureby Practicing Yoga

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If you didn’t know by now, yoga asanas can help you in the treatment of high blood pressure, and help you lower blood pressure. Yoga asanas make stable your blood pressure, so lower blood pressure when it’s abnormaly high. Asanas have favorable effects on the nervous system. By practicing certain yoga asanas you can not only lower your blood pressure, but also reduce the effects of hypertension on the other organs of the body.

Keywords:

lower blood pressure, natural lower blood pressure

Article Body:

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Forward bends have the best effects on high blood pressure, so they can help you the most to lower your blood pressure. These exercises have a calming effect on the brain, the blood circulation to the brain is normalized, and they help you reduce the stress from the sense organs, things that lower blood pressure. So, the brain, the sympathetic nervous system and the sense organs are relaxed, the cardiac output and the pulse rate decelerate at the same time, and blood pressure stabilizes, so it lowers blood pressure when it’s high. Other asanas which have beneficial effects on the nervous system and help you lower blood pressure are Uttanasana and Adhomukha Svanasana , which have to be practiced with the head resting on props, so the blood circulates more freely into the aortic arch. These help you lower blood pressure.

Baddhakonasana and Virasana are some of the sitting asanas which can be practiced in order to get a lower blood pressure by the hypertensives , which in most cases are hard breathing. These poses eliminate the tension from the ribs and the intercostal muscles, so they help you to breathe with no difficulty, and lower blood pressure.

Other poses which help you lower blood pressure are the supine poses, like Supta Baddhakonasana which, by relaxing the abdominal region, and so the entire body, bring calm on the nerves.

Inversions asanasas such as Viparita Karanti and Halasana revitalize the nerves, assure the control over the lungs and diaphragm, so if you practice these exercises constantly, you will get a lower blood pressure. There are also useful the Svanasana and pranayama, which provide the control over the automatic nervous system. As the senses and the mind are chilling, the blood pressure stabilizes, and in case of hypertension it leads to a lower blood pressure.

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Learning About Hatha Yoga

Summary:

Yoga has become one of the most popular types of alternative medical treatments and its popularity is growing rapidly every year.

Hatha yoga is only one of many "types" of yoga that exists today.

Yoga was originally meant to be a spiritual treatment of the mind and the soul.

It has, in today’s world, become more of a physical treatment than anything else.

Hatha yoga is the type of yoga that prepares your body for its spiritual journey. This is mainly done with...

Keywords:

yoga,hatha yoga

Article Body:

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A few of the main factors for Hatha yoga are concentration on your breathing and your posture. This type of concentration can be more difficult than you think. Once you try this for yourself and see what this type of concentration can do, you will want to continue with this type of yoga. The purpose of practicing a great posture is to practice great meditation. You need to find a position that you can sit in for a long period of time. If you cannot be comfortable in your meditation and yoga positions, then you will be unsuccessful. The more postures and positions that you can acquire, a better meditative state will result.

Hatha is the form of yoga that anyone should begin with. Hatha begins with the basics of yoga and teaches you the inner workings of meditation and how you should begin. Once you master your own postures and positions of meditation comfort, it is time to master your breathing patterns. If you can master your own breathing patterns, than mastering your mind is not far out of reach for you. It takes many steps to reach these different levels of meditation and yoga. With practice and concentration anyone can do it.

If you are beginning your new adventure with yoga, Hatha is the form of yoga that you should begin with. If you want your yoga career to be successful you must begin with the proper steps and then learn in the right order. If you only learn the superficial methods of yoga, then you will not experience the desired results from this amazing technique of holistic meditation.

In today’s world, Hatha yoga mostly used for its physical exercise. We do not take advantage of the other benefits that Hatha yoga can give to us. It is a form of yoga that if done properly, can heal you in the most holistic way possible. Hatha yoga does evolve from its physical exercises. It is these exercises that begin and promote the mind and soul healing. No matter why you are participating in yoga, you can receive all of these benefits. The only way you can recognize them or use them to your benefit is to practice the other side of yoga, meditation. If you are unaware that these features, they will be of no use to you. When practicing yoga, you need to be aware of everything going on within you. Pay attention to yourself and you will instantly be able to see the changes that are going on within you.

Hatha yoga can be easy to learn if you are open minded and want to learn. It is a technique that can be mastered if you put all your energy and concentration into it. By learning the techniques of Hatha yoga, you are well on your way to an alternative way of healing in the most holistic way possible. -->