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Yoga & Health

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Yoga & Health

• Mind and Body
• Yoga Breathing
• Yoga - A Natural Stress Reliever
• Yoga and Relaxation
• Guidelines for Meditation
• Guidelines for Yoga Practice

Yoga - A Natural Stress Reliever

What is Stress?
It’s not stress that kills us …It’s our reaction to it! We believe there are two types of stresses when associated with human life and behavior. One could be deemed as being good and the other as being bad. The good type of stress we refer to is demand. Through demand we have an opportunity to grow and become more. The bad type is the reactive emotion of overwhelm and worry, a failure to cope under the situation. This type of stress leads to sickness and death. Stress is like a weight, you can use it to get stronger or you can let it squash you... the choice is always yours. The constant reaction of stress is not an illness… however it will cause illness!

Yoga is a real solution and it's free if you want it to be. Sure you can pay for a video or a class but the skills once learnt can be practiced anywhere and anytime. Become totally resposable for yourself and take control.

There are many ways to eliminate stress, here are some of them:

The physical act of breathing and practicing yoga:
The diaphragm, according to the science of yoga, is the seat of the intelligence of the heart and the window to the soul. During stressful situations, however, when you inhale and exhale, the diaphragm becomes too taut to alter its shape.

Yoga exercises develop elasticity in the diaphragm that will address this problem so that, when stretched, it can handle any amount of stress, whether intellectual, emotional, or physical. The practice of Yoga and it's breathing techniques help to integrate the body, breath, mind, and intellect.

Slow effortless exhalation during the practice of yoga, triggers a sense of calm and well-being to the body cells, it relaxes the facial muscles, and releases all tension from the organs of the senses: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin. When this happens, the brain, which is in constant communication with these organs learns to relax and become still and rested.

By having this state of control, invading fears and anxieties cannot penetrate the brain. When you develop this ability, you perform your daily activities with efficiency and economy. You do not use up all your valuable energy. You enter a mood of true clarity of intellect. Your mind is free of stress and is filled with calm and tranquillity.

Mentally learning to draw strength:
Through the act of self control you are able to really look at the full picture. You always have the choice on how you perceive it all to be. Look to act from strength and deal with whatever it is to be dealt with.

Get some perspective on the whole thing. Remember demands are a sign of life and what you take for granted someone in Afghanistan or Africa would swap places with you in a flash. So stop taking everything for granted and start to appreciate all that life has to offer. Start to live a life instead of living an existence.

You want a better quality of life and less stress well start to make better decisions and stop complaining. Negative emotions produce all sorts of ugly chemicals in your body that eventually cause illness and death. The road of no control leads to a town called death and despair!

Get reasons to actually live, become internal and learn that happiness is a feeling that radiates from the inside. If you think that a new car is going to make you happy think again.

Also remember that solutions aren't in a bottle so stop looking there. The solutions are always on the inside.

Yoga and Relaxation

Relaxation Techniques:
True relaxation is experienced by the body and mind when little or no energy is consumed. It is Nature's way of recharging. Since every action, conscious or unconscious, uses stored energy, relaxation is necessary good health and peace of mind. Without proper relaxation the body and mind become overworked and inefficient.

Physical Relaxation:
Certain forms of exercise increase the body's energy, but this is futile if we continue to waste energy by constantly keeping the muscles in a state of readiness when there is no need to do so. Some people find they have trained their muscles to be so tense that they cannot relax them even at night, creating a constant energy drain.

Yoga asanas are a technique for retraining the muscles to be able to relax. People who practice asanas often find that they need less sleep and feel more rested. This is because, when they lie down, they quickly fall into a sound sleep. Deep sleep rejuvenates body and mind, but light sleep, or the dream state, actually uses energy.

Mental Relaxation:
When the mind is constantly bombarded by stimuli, it becomes overloaded and exhausted. We may be unaware that we are doing it, but by thinking and worrying we are using up tremendous amounts of energy. The tension put on the mind by worries, whether real or imagined, can use more energy than physical work.

When worries get out of hand, energy resources are strained. Mental fatigue sets in, often resulting in wear and tear on the physical body as well. It is important to set aside some time each day for the mind to unwind and recoup its energies.

Whenever you experience mental tension, try breathing slowly and rhythmically for a few minutes while you concentrate on the breath. Yogic breathing exercises will may take conscious effort, but develop your ability to calm the mind using your own thought power. This leads to an experience of inner peace,with physical relaxation following the mental relaxation.

Spiritual Relaxation:
Complete mental and physical relaxation come only with an inner tuning to a higher source. As long as we identify with this body and mind, we all think we can rely on no-one but ourselves. There will always be tension and worries about the future. Tuning to the divine source brings the realization that all happiness comes from within. Yoga gives the techniques for this inner tuning, enabling us to break down the boundaries that separate us from each other, and from our own Inner Selves.

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