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Archive for the ‘Yoga’ Category

You want to have a full life. You want to feel well. You want lots of energy, vitality, power, and stamina. Am I right so far?

Well, the great news is that all these can be yours. Yoga applies age-old secrets to everyday life in a modern, fast-paced world. Its practical application can restore your lost youth, put new zest into your every step, and empower you to fully enjoy a sense of health, energy and creative living. All this will do wonders for your future happiness…

Sounds good, huh? Well let me tell you a little about yoga…

Yoga is an ancient health-art developed and perfected over the centuries by wise men in ancient India. Yoga is not a religion, a metaphysical doctrine, or a philosophy. It is not magic, although the amazing improvements it can make in your health, your appearance and your youthfulness may often seem magical, even miraculous…

There are many different types of yoga. Contrary to popular belief, not all types of yoga involve difficult positions and postures, uncomfortable exercises or strenuous diets…

Yoga can take years off your face and years from your body, and add years to your life. There are certain secret methods by which the Yogis keep the flexibility and “spring” of early youth in their joints and muscles and limbs well into the declining years…

It is a common sight to see, in the crowded, colorful streets of Bombay or New Delhi, Yogis well into their seventies and even their eighties, with the straight, graceful posture of a boy, walking with the elastic, springy step of youth… with firm, healthy bodies, their hair dark and glossy and un-streaked with grey. Firm, unlined faces … clear, un-dimmed eyes…

Not only does yoga make you look and feel years younger, and years healthier, but it lends your body superb health. It works like magic because it enables the body to realize its full potential of great health…

You know that Nature has built into your body certain certain “defense mechanisms” for self-repair, natural safeguards against disease. Well, modern yoga helps the body’s machinery function smoothly, efficiently, and at peak performance…

Yoga encourages your body to derive every last possible atom of nutritive value from the food you now eat (so different from the natural diet of your ancestors) … to get every second of refreshment and rest from your sleep … to attain regularity, relief from little aches and pains, the ability to sleep deep and wake refreshed that can make the difference from feeling “pretty good” to feeling “terrific”!

Yoga assists all your muscles and bones and organs to operate at their maximum potential. Yoga stimulates into peak performance the hidden abilities of your body to throw off the attacks of disease that affect so many people we know and love…

Do you suffer from insomnia and stress? Have you lost your appetite? Do you find it hard to relax? Do you smoke too much, feel “worn out” by the afternoon, find as you grow older that you cannot enjoy full life and day to day vitality?

Yoga has the amazing power to relax and refresh you, soothe your nerves, calm your mind, give you the serenity and strength and inner stamina that is part of the “Magic of the East”.
Yoga prevents the premature grey in your hair, the ugly wrinkles in your face….

Yoga tightens those sagging muscles that give you that “tired look.” It puts new zest in your appetite, brings back the sparkle in your eyes, and gives that wonderful sensation of feeling “fit as a fiddle”…

If these benefits are important to you (and you’d be crazy if they weren’t) then its time you learnt about yoga!

Can we be as harmonic as those seven fictional characters on their way to mine their day away when we have a back ache? Can we obtain relief or do we have to endure a day of aches and pains while on the clock?

An article I recently viewed on the ArgusLeader.com website, indicates that back pain is the second leading reason people miss work. Truck drivers repeatedly have to deal with back pain from the continuous vibration of the spine while behind the wheel. Heavy lifting of patients and children puts nurses and parents at considerable risk. Statistics obtained from OccupationalHazards.com reveal that in the U.S., nursing ranks as one of the top 10 occupations for work-related musculoskeletal disorders. And, an estimated 12 to 18 percent of nurses wind up leaving their profession due to chronic back pain.

Now it’s understood that the career we choose can have an adverse effect on our physical health. You can sit behind a desk all day long in air-conditioning, you can drive a tractor-trailer down Route 66 daily, or work in the hospital emergency room. Simultaneously, you are putting severe strain on your neck and back. Can we take the time to heal ourselves before our issues escalate? Can we do something to alleviate the pain if it is already present? Is there anything we can do?

What is Yoga? It’s a system of exercises practiced for thousands of years as used to promote control of the body and mind.

Why Yoga? Because it can help. It has consistently been used to cure and prevent back pain by enhancing strength and flexibility. As many practitioners can attest, Yoga can offer effective healing that’s relatively free of side effects. The slow movements and gentle pressures reach deep into troubled joints. Additionally, the easy stretches in conjunction with deep breathing exercises relieve the tension that binds up muscles and tightens joints. Yoga is exercise and relaxation rolled up into one.

Who is a candidate? Each year, millions of Americans suffer from debilitating back pain. Both acute and long-term stress can lead to muscle tension and exacerbate back problems. Despite Western medicine’s phenomenal advances and powerful technology, two of the most commonly prescribed solutions—painkillers and surgery—do little to address the underlying causes of pain and can potentially cause side effects. In truth, a one-size-fits-all solution is impossible given that the causes and manifestations of pain—arthritis, strained ligaments, scoliosis, and herniated disks, to name a few—vary widely.

How does Yoga assist pain management? Yoga helps reduce pain by helping the brain regulate the secretion of natural painkillers into the body. Breathing exercises commonly used in Yoga can also help reduce pain. Muscles tend to relax when you exhale, because of this lengthening your time of exhalation can help produce relaxation and reduce tension. Maintaining a certain awareness of ones own breathing helps to achieve calmer, slower respiration and assist in relaxation and pain management.

What do I do to get started? First, rule out potential serious causes of the back pain. See your primary care physician and speak to her/him of your concerns. He will know how to proceed from there to investigate the cause of your back pain. Then, also inquire as to whether or not it is safe for you to practice Yoga as part of your recovery program.

Treat the injury with extra care. When you are in a lot of pain, usually the tissues are inflamed, it’s critical that you proceed at a slow pace. If you work in an aggressive fashion in order to improve your strength or flexibility too early on, it can cause you even more pain.

Looking for an experienced teacher with substantial training and experience should be your next course of action. A Yoga therapist will assist you by creating a program that is specific to your needs and limitations, especially those pertaining to your injury and medical condition. They will observe your form and practice, and track how you respond to the exercises. He or she will gauge which elements are likely to be helpful and determine whether modifications are necessary.

Studies have shown that strict bed rest can cause you more harm than good. Go ahead and try breathing exercises and practice a gentle asana as soon as you experience pain.

Stomach crunches are often prescribed by doctors in order to prevent recurring episodes of back pain. Looking at this from a yogic perspective this is imprecise. By doing to many crunches or ab exercises you can increase the tightness in the hip flexors, and potentially making the back problems worst. With Yoga, the approach is to examine which muscles need to be strengthened and which ones need to be stretched, and finally designing a program that would work on those specific needs.

Do avoid poses that worsen or aggravate your problem. If you have a lumbar disk problem, be careful with forward bends, especially those that include some form of a twist. Also, during transitions take care, attention tends to wander. Sudden changes of position should be avoided and stepping rather than jumping should be the standard.

Lastly, make certain to consult your physician before proceeding with any exercise program, including Yoga. Also, if Yoga is approved for you be sure to receive proper training from a qualified Yoga instructor.

This is part 2 of my series depicting the use of Yoga poses for alleviating health challenges and ailments. Do remember friends, Yoga works hand in hand with a proper diet. That can’t be overemphasized, so in learning these poses, keep in mind to learn how to improve your diet as well for success. Here we go:

11. Delaying Old Age: Sun Salutations, Shoulder-stand, Bridge Pose, Fish Pose, Wheel Pose, Abdominal lift and Breathing exercises.

12. Depression: Sun Salutations, shoulder stand and its counter pose, backward bending and balancing exercises.

13. Determination (lack of): Balancing exercises!

14. Diabetes: Head to Knee Poses (Sitting and Standing), Sun Salutations, Bow Pose. (Eat Lots of Celery and leafy vegetables and more Sub acid fruits such as The Stone fruits in Summer and apples and pears in Fall and winter, Berries in Spring)

15. Digestive Problems: Abdominal Isolations and lifts, Shoulder-stand, Plough Head to knee pose, Bow Pose, Peacock pose (A 2-3 day juice fast!)

16. Eye problems: Inverted poses: (Shoulder-stand and Plough Poses)

17. Excess Weight: Sun Salutations, Inverted Poses (plough and Shoulder stand) Bridge and Fish Pose, Bow and Breathing exercises (You must pick one: a restricted mono diet of fruit or a Juice fast for a week or two!)

18. Fatigue: Corpse Pose, Wheel Pose

19. Focus (lack of): Sun Salutations, balancing exercises and Breathing exercises.

20. Gastrointestinal Disorders: The Shoulder Stand Sequence, Head to knee Pose, Bow Pose, and The peacock pose.

21. Hips (Reduction of Fat): Spinal Twist, Twisted Crow Pose, Triangle Pose, Bow and Wheel Pose

22. Insomnia: The Inverted Poses, The corpse pose and Breathing exercises.

23. Jaw (Sagging): Sun Salutations, Shoulder stand and her counter poses, head to knee poses (sitting) and its counter pose, Wheel Pose.

That’s ‘D’ to ‘J’,
See you next series…

What was once ridiculed as a bizarre fad in health has been widely accepted as a way of life for many people. This ‘fad’ however has been in practice for over 5, 000 years and is known as Yoga. Though it is recognized as a form of exercise, some specific poses unique to this method of physical culture have been highly recognized and recommended in the drugless healing cycles for centuries.

With a sensible and proper diet with emphasis on Fruits and Vegetables (the Mucus-less diet), these specific ailments listed below can each be alleviated with a consistent and wise execution of the poses recommended.

1. Acne: Sun Salutations, the shoulder-stand and its counter-poses, head to knee poses, Peacock poses and Abdominal Isolation.

2. Arms (Sagging): Sun Salutations, Incline plane pose, Bow Pose, Wheel pose and the Balancing Poses (peacock and Crow)

3. Asthma: Deep abdominal breathing, Shoulder-stand, bridge and fish Pose, Bow Pose and Corpse pose (Abstinence from animal products and ALL processed foods strongly required! Fruits and Veggies Only!)

4. Back-Ache: Sun Salutations, Fish pose, bow pose

5. Bad Breath: Sun Salutations, Inverted Poses, Bow and Balancing Poses, Cleansing fire Pose and Breathing exercises. (Short fasts and Restricted Occasional juicy organic fruit diets are recommended)

6. Body Odor: Sun Salutations, the Shoulder-stand (15-20 Minutes after the poses are practiced, use a warm damp rag to wipe the pubic regions)

7. Bust and Chest (firming): Sun Salutations, Bow, Crow pose

8. Chin-(prevention of double chin): Fish, Wheel, Sun Salutations

9. Common Cold: Sun Salutations, shoulder-stand and her counter- poses, Breathing Exercises, Nasal Irrigation (Avoid Dairy, Grain and Animal Products and of course Processed Foods, this is a good time to do a short fast!)

10. Constipation: Inverted Poses, Sun Salutations, head to knee Poses, Bow Pose, the balancing poses (Peacock and crow variations) (Fiber Rich Foods- Dates, celery, melons etc)

This concludes the first part of the 3-part series on how to use Yoga and a Proper diet to alleviate health symptoms.