Yoga Basics

To put it briefly, yoga is extremely helpful for those suffering from a number of common disorders. Its cleansing properties allow the individual to feel refreshed and more energetic.

The following are the benefits of yoga:

1-A large number of yoga asanas target those areas that are not given that much attention during regular exercises. These joints, when worked upon with the help of various yoga positions, increase flexibility and make the body more elastic.

2-Along with targeting the joints, yoga also targets a large number of internal organs and exercise those as well. Those glands that never receive any form of attention, such as the prostate get thoroughly stimulated during yoga. Various yoga asanas make sure that a majority of the internal glands are given due attention. Consequently, this prevents the body from catching a large number of diseases as the organs are kept healthy. A few yoga asanas have been developed solely for this reason. Practicing them can undoubtedly help prevent several disorders and diseases.

3-Many yoga positions make sure that by massaging the various organs and joints, blood supply to these areas is increased. Due to this, negative toxins are removed from the body and therefore, those areas are cleansed completely. This allows the body to avoid premature aging, boosts energy levels and allows the individual to feel happier.

4-Apart from the above mentioned benefits, yoga also allows individuals to lose weight. Those muscles and joints that become lethargic over an extended period of time are given due attention due to which they become toned and allow the individual to look and feel better.

Interestingly, yoga asanas are not practiced to achieve the above mentioned benefits. They are basically "side effects". The main aim of yoga is to create a powerful and complementary relationship between the mind, body and soul. Over the years, yoga has come to be recognized as a plethora of exercises that not only improves their quality of life but also makes them physically healthier.

Those asanas of yoga that place great emphasis on meditation allow the individual to achieve this connection between the mind, body and soul.

Another added benefit of yoga is that it reduces stress and allows the individual to feel relaxed almost instantly. The soothing music that accompanies these exercises merely adds to the entire relaxing experience. The fluid movements allow the individual to get rid of the entire day's anxiety and stress which affects almost everybody and has a negative effect on the nervous system.

These yoga positions that focus on the benefits of meditation allow the individual to create a sort of balance that is guided by detachment. In other words, the meditative exercises create an environment which allows the individual to remain indifferent with respect to external happenings and the like. Consequently, the individual feels calmer and develops an optimistic outlook towards life. This in itself holds a large number of benefits and contributes towards a better physical appearance as well as a healthier body.

Yoga is an exercise that has been around for thousands of years and was initially followed only by the ancient yogis. For them, they performed the asanas to achieve self actualization and enlightment.

For them, they had to perform these exercises for extended periods of time. Therefore, naturally, they had to be physically fit and have tremendous energy. They also had to follow an extremely strict diet consisting of fruits and vegetables only. The various benefits of yoga allowed them to follow through and allowed them to achieve their objectives and stay on the correct path towards the achievement of self realization.

I was thinking today about how I need to increase my use of Yoga in my running routine. Problem is that I am on the road right now and have no workouts wiith me. Then I thought of Youtube and how there are several videos there for viewing.

With that, I will doing a Youtube Yoga workout to help enhance my running at least every other day and sharing it here and across the web.

So be standing by for some good stuff and hopefully I can become even mroe limber.

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Yoga can physically counteract the strains of running. This is important to runners, who produce a lot of endorphins. Endorphins can mask pain, injury or illness. Without developed body intuition you receive from Yoga, it's harder to understand these signals.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE YOGA BASICS GUIDE

In these times where health is given prime importance, things like running and yoga are among the most popular ways of exercises that the people are indulging in. The question that arises is that does running help burn fat. The answer to that question is yes running burns fat. But the key is interval training. Consistency is very important. Running with high intensity once does not yield satisfactory results.

So, what is actually required is that one should run with the intensity that is comfortable to him and to run consistently for a good amount of time. This is the only way to get satisfactory results. Another vital point to be noted is that if you are a beginner then you should always start slow. This is because in the beginning your muscles are not used to such kind of a workout and then there are more chances of causing injury to yourself if you indulge in heavy and rigorous running in the very beginning. It is a good idea to start with slow walking then move on to a little jogging and then running. Repeat this routine after regular intervals. This way you would be able to maintain a steady pace which would further lead to effective fat burning.

Running may be a very effective way of burning fat for a lot of people but it may not work out that well for a few people. This happens in mostly cases of people who are extremely overweight. In such a case, that is, if you are extremely overweight then running is not the right option for you because then there is more risk of having a injuring or hurting your joints.

With running, you put a lot of pressure on your tissues and joints so it must be done with caution. One must know the right technique, speed and balance. Then only you can burn fat running. There is a good way of reducing the pressure on your joints while running by running on grass or a softer surface rather than cement etc.

Yoga is an ancient Indian form of exercise that is being practiced not only in India but all over the world. It is a form of breathing exercise along with exercising of the inner and outer muscles through certain postures known as asanas. Yoga is considered to be one of the most effective ways of burning fat. But one must not forget to get an instructor or trainer to help you in learning yoga.

There are a few asanas that help burn fat especially around the stomach. There is pawan muktasan which means regulation of air, dhanurasan which means the bow posture, and bhunagasan. Then there is a certain breathing exercise in yoga known as the pranayam which is an effective way of burning fat. It has a lot of benefits like, it boosts up your metabolic rate which leads to higher rate of burning fat easily, it purifies your body and helps reduce toxins which aids to the process of natural weight loss, it also improves your digestive system. There are other poses too that help in burning fats. These are the triangle pose, side stretch pose, happy cow pose, twisted lunge pose, bow pose and many others.

Practicing the above mentioned poses along with the right breathing helps you lose weight easily. Just the poses which help exercise your muscles are not enough. Along with the asanas one requires to have the knowledge of correct and rhythmic breathing techniques also. Thus, the combination of the two is the key in burning fat.

FREE Yoga E-book
Yoga can physically counteract the strains of running. This is important to runners, who produce a lot of endorphins. Endorphins can mask pain, injury or illness. Without developed body intuition you receive from Yoga, it's harder to understand these signals.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE YOGA BASICS GUIDE

Even though a large number of people believe in the yoga asanas, a majority of them are not aware of its history. However, most of them believe that it is merely a form of exercise and do not know how it originated and why. Yoga has its roots around the time Induism was practiced. The asanas have been developed to allow the individual to achieve self-actualization and enlightment.

Yoga began during the period of the Indus Valley civilization. The asanas and yoga positions were carried out by the Indus as they highly believed in the concept of self actualization. Individuals at the time also believed very strongly in the concept of connecting mind, body and soul. According to the ancient yogis, God is an omnipotent entity that exists alongside the elements of reality. They called this Pantheism. Therefore, according to them, man is God as well. According to the ancient yogis, man's problems exist due to his ignorance. Therefore, in order to get rid of this ignorance; he must actively strive to do so.

Due to this history, the common question that arises is: Can the yoga techniques be practiced without focusing on its basic philosophy? No. It cannot. One cannot practice one part of it from the other and expect to achieve the benefits. To achieve the benefits and the objectives that create the foundation of yoga, one must achieve certain aims that form the framework of the meditative practices. However, if these practices are not carried out precisely, one may end up causing damage to their internal organs.

If one carries out an extensive research about the history of yoga, it is evident that on the spiritual level, it is not a hundred percent safe. The techniques and beliefs of yoga teach its followers to place greater emphasis on themselves rather than on the idea of God. It spells out the benefits of finding answers to a majority of problems by carrying out extensive introspection instead of depending entirely upon God. It also allows its followers to get tempted by evil spirits so that they wander away from God.

The meaning of life is often pondered on by every individual during some point or the other during his life. This need to know such answers is due to their ability to be able to choose from a large number of options. The level of difficulty of this question as well as that of the solution varies from individual to individual. The search to find the ultimate truth and the meaning of life is never-ending and every individual is on the same path to find the same answers.

Even though it may seem as though the answers are difficult to find and if not difficult, too vague to exist, the truth is that the answers lie in one simple fact: if one truly loves God in all His forms, he will be able to find answers to life's problems- no matter how big they are. Even though a large number of other ideas exist due to the existence of the large number of religions, castes and creed, they are all different because the above explanation is the main and core truth of the matter. If one accepts any other "truth", they will be proven wrong and will be disappointed at some point or the other.

Accepting this belief and incorporating it into ones life is the main goal that one should strive towards as that will be the turning point for every individual. The steps towards achieving this objective lie in the teachings of yoga.

Zen yoga poses are part of an Oriental system that combines the practice of asanas with Traditional Chinese and Japanese Medicine. Postures are categorized according to the primary meridian they affect. A meridian can be understood as similar to a blood vessel, in that it has an energetic structure that corresponds with the human body, but which is instead a channel for energy to circulate (instead of blood).

The alignment of these exercises with specific meridians is what makes zen yoga such a powerful healing modality. In fact, teachers of this Oriental system emphasize its' capacity to help treat the basic causes of illness.. This article will explore what is meant by that, and provide some illustration on how zen yoga poses can be adapted to an individual's problems.

Meridian exercises work by facilitating the natural flow of energy in areas where we experience blockages and stagnation. We may feel those areas of blockages as stiffness, aching, tension, pain, or simply a feeling of being uncomfortable. Zen poses open up their primary meridians, and as a result, they dispel 'ill' energy, and allow healthy energy to flow instead.

A little background on meridians may be helpful. There are 12 meridians, and they are named after different organs of the body. So, we have the Lung meridian, large intestine meridian, Heart constrictor, triple heater, liver, gall bladder, spleen, stomach, heart, small intestine, kidney, and bladder.

It's important to note that although these meridians each have an energetic relationship with the organ after which they are named, they are not just referring to the organ when we speak about them. Their primary meaning is an energetic reference, to a type of energy that runs along a specific channel, which just happens to be associated with a physical organ as well. So, when Oriental practitioners and yoga teachers talk about a particular meridian being out of whack in some way, this definitely does not mean that our organs are! I emphasize this because a lot of people tend to get alarmed by some of the terminology, and it just stems from a misunderstanding of the context in which it is being used.

By understanding how important the energetic aspect is in Oriental philosophy, it is easier to understand how they look at the symptoms of disease, illness, or any problems we feel in our bodies. Instead of focusing on the symptom itself, Oriental diagnosis looks at what is going on in the meridians, and a healing approach is based on this, instead of a rigidly defined solution for a set of symptoms. What this means in practical terms, is that one person's ideal solution to a bad back, or a stiff neck, may be very different to another's.

The good news is that you don't have to know a lot of theory to do zen yoga successful. And neither do you need to understand the intricacies of Oriental diagnosis to apply zen yoga exercises for your own specific problems. Masunaga offers this useful guide: "first find the exercise which is hardest to do... and then look for another one which is the easiest... If doing the easiest exercise causes an improvement in the performance of the most difficult one, or relieves a ... symptom, it is effectively reinforcing the Ki [energy] in the Kyo [deficient] meridian".

Masunaga was a leading shiatsu teacher in Japan who organized meridian exercises into a system that people could use themselves. He actually wrote that the best way to learn about zen yoga poses, was to practice them! Zen yoga seems more difficult in theory than it is in practice. It's actually a very fun, playful and gentle style of yoga that can readily be adapted to any level of fitness and health. Like tai chi, it has great health benefits, which can be explored in more detail through classes or publications.

References: Zen Imagery Exercises by Shizuto Masunaga

For more articles on different yoga types, click here. Rebecca presents yoga tips and articles here.


Article Source: Rhino Articles

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Yoga can physically counteract the strains of running. This is important to runners, who produce a lot of endorphins. Endorphins can mask pain, injury or illness. Without developed body intuition you receive from Yoga, it's harder to understand these signals.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE YOGA BASICS GUIDE

here are a large number of yoga techniques available due to which it may be difficult for the beginner to figure out the technique he/she wants to commence with.
The following are the different techniques available:
Bhakti Yoga: Bhakti yoga is one technique that requires the follower to be completely devoted, attached and have unconditional love for God. There are a number of forms under this technique:
*Kirtana
*Padasevana
*Vandana
*Sakhya
*Sravana
*Smarana
*Archana
*Dasya
*Atmanivedana.

Kirtana means following techniques that centre around singing about the magnificence of God.
Padasevana means following techniques that centre around providing services to God.
Sakhya means following techniques that centre around forming a relationship with Bhava.
Sravana means following techniques that centre around hearing about the goodness of God.
Smarana means following techniques that centre around devoting time and energy towards focussing on God's omnipotence.
Archana means following techniques that centre around the basic respect for God
Dasya means following techniques that centre around forming a relationship with Bhava as a servant.
Atmanivedana means following techniques that centre around surrendering one's own sense of being.

Karma Yoga:
According to Karma- every action has a reaction. Therefore, by carrying out this technique, people try to follow that particular path in life that takes away evil from their life and adds optimism to their lives. Karma yoga believes that every action depends on God. Every action is connection to God. It also centers around surrendering ones self for this purpose.
Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga:
This technique originated thousands of years back. This technique focuses on:
*Yama
*Asana
*Prayahara
*Dhyan
*Niyama
*Pranayama
*Dharana
*Samadhi
Jnana Yoga:
This technique basically focuses on the idea of knowledge and its benefits. The various stages are:
*Study
*Self-realization
*Desire
*Protection of the mind, body and soul
*Developing apathy towards objects
*Letting the world appear on a different path than that of reality
*Indifference to the world
*Bliss regarding truth.
Hatha Yoga

This technique is followed quite religiously in the West. It depends on the practice of following certain yoga positions and asanas. A large number of people prefer this technique as it offers physical advantages. The main aim of Hatha Yoga is to create a body that contains a mind that is able to follow a spiritual life. This is based on the belief that when the body is healthier and physically fitter, the mind will be able to focus on the spiritual part of life with greater concentration.
Kundalini Yoga:

This technique is thought to be one of the most powerful of its kind. The followers are encouraged to tap that energy that is reserved at the starting of spinal cord. This technique places emphasis on a number of yoga positions, the basics of chanting and the process of meditation. Breathing properly is considered to be extremely important.

Swara Yoga:

This technique places emphasis on the fluidity of the breaths as it passes through each nostril. The technique centers around focusing on this process at every hour of the day. This technique has been followed by a large number of people for over nine thousand years. Initially, it was reserved for royalty and the like.

Raja Yoga:

This technique focuses mainly on bringing about a connection between the mind, body and soul. The main aim to create a routine that places emphasis on one particular entity or God. This technique carries out exercises that allow the individual to make the life force travel along the length of the spine till it realizes that the mind is at par with the body and the soul. The focus is then shifted to an area that centers around the lower forehead and the surrounding areas.

FREE Yoga E-book
Yoga can physically counteract the strains of running. This is important to runners, who produce a lot of endorphins. Endorphins can mask pain, injury or illness. Without developed body intuition you receive from Yoga, it's harder to understand these signals.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE YOGA BASICS GUIDE

According to a number of sources, the best time to begin yoga exercises is early in the morning, before you have breakfast. Taking a shower is optional, although recommended. However, if you cannot practice the yoga asanas in the morning, you may even do so before sunset, that is, early evening.

You must always choose a time that is complementary to your entire routine, so that the entire activity does not become too rigid.

That being said, yoga asanas can be practiced at any time during the day. However, you must make sure that there is a gap of 2-3 hours between your last meal and the commencement of the activity. Practicing the asanas is recommended when the individual feels as though his/her limbs are stiff or aching. One must make sure not to carry out a large number of asanas that are centered around boosting energy levels before one is going to bed. The best yoga routine is followed by breathing exercises and must end with serious medititative practices.

These breathing exercises are called Pranayama and you must make sure that there is a gap of 2-3 hours between your last meal and the commencement of Pranayama. is recommended when the individual feels as though his/her limbs are stiff or aching. However, this breathing exercise must be followed immediately after the asanas so that the fluidity is maintained. Meditation will only prove to be successful if Pranayama has been followed properly.

You must make sure that there is a gap of 2-3 hours between your last meal and the commencement of the meditative exercises. These exercises are also recommended to be followed when the individual feels as though his/her limbs are stiff or aching.

The best place to practice these exercises is one which is quiet and where the individual is sure not to be disturbed. The place must also be clean and fresh air must be able to enter. This makes sure that the individual is able to concentrate.
One must also make sure that these asanas are not practiced in an area that received direct sunlight. That being said, yoga asanas must not be followed after sunbathing. Practicing these positions outdoors is recommended as long as the weather is pleasant and insects are not present.

When you are practicing these exercises, it is mandatory that you focus completely on yourself and nobody else. Your surroundings must be forgotten and due attention must be given to the asanas.

Every asana must be followed step by step and the instructions must be followed precisely.

You must also make sure that only those positions are carried out, that are possible and ones that your body is able to handle. It is mandatory that one must not strain their joints and muscles. Taking frequent breaks is recommended and comfort is the main key.

Breathing properly is very important while following these yoga positions. Breathing through the nose is recommended unless the asana requires the individual to breathe through the mouth.

Due to these reasons, if one is finding it difficult to breathe through the nose, one must consult a doctor.

Contrary to popular belief, almost everyone can follow these exercises. There is no age limit. However, the level of difficulty must be changed as one gets more fluid and capable.

Practicing yoga when one is under the influence of substances is not recommended as the benefits will not be achieved.

One does not need to give up smoking or eating meet before the commencement of this activity.

Wearing comfortable clothes that allow you to breathe freely and allow fluidity of the limbs is very important. Alongside, yoga mats must also be used so that the ground remains even.