the Benefits of Physical Exercise and Fitness: 'Why Yoga is the Best form of Exercise for your Body'

'Why Yoga is the Best form of Exercise for your Body'

Power Yoga Blog - March 29, 2010

Yoga is an ancient science geared towards bringing both body and mind to a state of perfect balance.  While the ultimate goal of yoga is spiritual in nature, practicing yoga yields tremendous benefits on the physical, mental and emotional level of the practitioner. Looking back at the roots of Yoga, it appears that the original practices originated in India around 5,000 years ago and were perfected over time in an effort to provide the perfect combination of physical and mental practices that would ultimately bring vibrant health, strength, longevity, and stress-free living to its practicing adepts.  No other physical discipline is as complete and holistic or brings such impressive results as yoga does.  That's why Yoga has endured the test of time, transcending scores of generations, governments, cultures and religions in order to offer its benefits to all people throughout the ages.  Because Yoga understands that individuals have distinct physical and mental compositions (personalities) and are therefore attracted by different disciplines and sources of entertainment for their mind, it has adapted and given birth to many branches which cater to different groups of personalities.  Some people may have a more physical approach while others may prefer mental activities, yet, others will be drawn to more emotional pursuits while some are very spiritual in nature.  Whichever type of Yoga fits your personality is the Yoga you'll practice with more ease and enjoyment and which will yield the most powerful results in terms of your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.  This is exactly what the ultimate goal of Yoga is, i.e. the union with all aspects of yourself on all levels of your being, and it is not as difficult as you may think.  In the West, the primary focus of Yoga has been on the physical aspect and benefits of this system and there is nothing wrong with that.  After all, spiritual masters themselves say that ‘your body is a temple' and you cannot neglect it without negatively effecting your health and overall well-being. The Asana branch of Hatha Yoga which entails all the physical postures of yoga primarily focuses on keeping a clean, healthy body and mind so that you can thrive on all levels of your being and truly enjoy life, light and carefree.  In order to achieve the best possible results, Asana Yoga blends focused breathing and deep concentration with physical poses. It joins breathing, moving and thinking together. The benefits of yoga are extensive.  Many books have been written on the subject and but none can give a fully exhaustive list of all the advantages brought about by the practice of yoga.  Typically, an Astanga Yoga practice includes poses dedicated to engage every cell of your body, heart, kidneys, liver, eyes, bones, brain, nervous system. It is, beyond comparison, the epitome of perfect exercise programs that is essential to complete health. Oxygenating the entire bodily system is one of the greatest benefits of vigorous exercise and the deep, regular breathing inherent in any Yoga practice strengthens and increases the lung's capacity of the practitioner. Astanga Yoga is by far the best, most complete form of exercise.  With each practice, your body’s muscles and bone fiber become stronger as you perfect each pose.  Further, unlike popular belief, yoga practices also include a cardio element, especially Astanga Yoga.  Astanga Yoga sequences are systematic and strengthen every muscle in the body, including the heart. If you practice Power or Astanga Yoga for just one hour a day, you will get as much ‘cardio' as if you had done a work-out at the gym.

The key to living a long, healthy and happy life

'The key to living a long, healthy and happy life'

Enjoying a full, healthy and happy life doesn't take that much; it's all about the little things that make an incredible difference.... For more, read below.

Following are a few small deletions or additions to make to your daily life that will not only make you healthier but will also make you happier.

1. EXERCISE: Exercise is vital to human health and exercising today can be the key to your later quality of life. Pace your exercise program to your health, in times of illness, range of motion exercises will insure you maintain as much movement as possible. When you are healthy, exercise will help build muscle or aid in lung and heart health. Listen to your body and pace your exercise program by what it dictates.

2. REST: Rest is a form of therapy and it is essential for your body to have when you are under physical or emotional stress. If you need it then don't fight it. Try to lay down each day for a 20 minute total rest period. Total rest meaning that you do absolutely nothing during this brief lay down. Although you do not need to sleep to receive the benefits of this rest period it is amazing the amount of energy that it will replenish you with.

3. ALLOW YOUR BODY TO SWEAT: In today's world of deodorants and air conditioners we don't sweat enough. Like the kidneys excrete waste from the body so does the process of sweating allow our bodies to rid itself of harmful waste. Sweating helps reduce the accumulation of heavy metals such as lead, mercury and nickle and also serves to secrete toxins such as alcohol and nicotine residues from our bodies. Sweating reduces bacteria in our bodies and can actually strengthen our immune system. When you sweat profusely, just remember to add additional water so that dehydration does not occur.

4. REDUCE THE POLLUTANTS THAT YOU ARE EXPOSED TO: Be aware of the pollutants that you are exposed to and take the appropriate measures to reduce that exposure. If you smoke; find a way to quit. If your water system is an older one than it may contain lead and other contaminants. Most water purifiers are very reasonably priced and can be purchased at your local department store. With the amount of water we ingest daily it is very important to insure that it is as pure as it can be. If you live in a very polluted community consider a move to a cleaner environment. Eliminate the use of as many plastics as possible and instead switch to glass, wood, cast iron or steel containers and surfaces. Do not use non-stick baking utensils as the coating currently contains a toxin which leaches at high temperatures. Reduce the amount of electricity that you are exposed to. Evening and night is when you are most likely to be home and exposed so simple things like throwing out the electric blanket, reducing the amount of lighting you use, removing the electric clock from the bedside ( or better yet replacing it with a wind-up one), sitting back from the T.V. or computer and reducing the amount of time you spend doing those activities. Instead spend more time outdoors.

5. DETOXIFY YOUR DIET: Eat foods rich in antioxidants. These combine with those dangerous free radicals in your body and serve to strengthen your immune system. Reduce sugars and starches, chemicals and preservatives, also fatty foods such as french fries and red meats. Eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Switch from fatty red meats to leaner white meats, or no meat at all if you can. Minimize alcohol consumption. If necessary add vitamins from a natural source, such as the blue-green algae E3Live, to supplement your diet.

6. REDUCE YOUR STRESS: Stress can cause irreparable damage to the immune system which leave you open to all kinds of future illnesses. Stress kills! Reduce it any way that you can.

7. BE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE: We each have our own unique qualities and these are our gift to this old world that we live in. Be proud of all those special qualities that make you......you. Also know that sometimes changes in your life can alter who you are and require you to set new attributes and goals for yourself. Always push yourself to be the best that you can be but also understand that there are times when you just need to hide away and recuperate.

8. SMILE: When you put that sweet little grin on your face your brain does an amazing thing and it releases a little chemical known as "endorphins". These endorphins are the body's natural pain killer and will reduce feelings of emotional or physical pain. The more that you smile, the more often that you will find yourself smiling, without your even thinking about it. Then without knowing when it happened, you will discover that you have actually become, a much happier person.

9. LAUGH: You may have heard the saying that, "Laughter is the best medicine". Well this is a fact. Laughter is one of those things, like smiling, that makes you feel good. It is also a great form of exercise with all the same great variety of health benefits for your body that exercise will give it. Find any reason that you can to laugh, the more that you practice laughing, the more often that you will find it occurring naturally.

10. LOVE: Love with all your heart and soul. Don't be afraid to give freely of yourself and your emotions to as many living creatures as you are able to. The kindness that you give will not only make you more content with your life, but it will create a wave of kindness, that stretches out far beyond what your eyes are capable of seeing.

PRESERVING MENTAL HEALTH FOR A LONG AND HEALTHY LIFE

PRESERVING MENTAL HEALTH FOR A LONG AND HEALTHY LIFE 

'Avoid Nightmares with Conscious Work'

New York Times, July 27, 2010 

Western Medicine and Therapists are beginning to realize the immense benefits of ancient yogic techniques and to integrate them in their own practice. Emerging techniques such as "Mastery Dreams" are directly derived from yoga practices such as 'Psychic Sleep' (Yoga Nidra) or "Detached Awareness of the Inner Space of Consciousness" (Chidakasha Dharana) and are used to resolve past trauma and unresolved subconscious material which continuously affect us on the conscious level through our fears, preventing us from enjoying a carefree life.  Unlike the dream state where awareness is lost, during these techniques the practitioner is able to directly access the level of the unconscious mind and through the practice of detachment and desensitization he/ she is able to neutralize all the mental impressions stored there.  Once the emotional content of memories, suppressed fears and desires is removed it stops the resulting ingrained negative behaviors and patterns from affecting the sufferer in his daily life.  For more, read below.

Nightmares resulting from traumatic events usually fade over time, as the haunting images and terrifying plots become less intense. The dreams may also naturally evolve into what some specialists call “mastery dreams,” in which the dreamer has found a way to ease the pain or horror — say, confronting a rapist or saving someone from a fire. But when that does not happen of its own accord, many therapists use behavioral interventions to reduce nightmares or guide the waking patient toward having a mastery dream — using the conscious mind to control the wild ways of the unconscious. Some of these techniques have been in use for years. In one treatment, known as lucid dreaming, patients are taught to become aware that they are dreaming while the dream is in progress. In another, called in vivo desensitization, they are exposed while awake to what may be haunting them in their sleep — for example, a live snake, caged and harmless — until the fear subsides. Both techniques have been researched extensively. More recently, therapists and other experts have been using a technique called dream incubation, first researched in the early 1990s by Deirdre Barrett, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School. And Hollywood has just produced its own spin on lucid dreaming and the idea of controlling dreams, with the release earlier this month of “Inception,” a thriller whose plot swirls through the darkest layers of the dream world. As Dr. Barrett wrote in an online review of “Inception,” for the International Association for the Study of Dreams, “I love the idea of millions of action film fans the world over leaving theaters asking each other if they’re ever had a dream in which they knew they were dreaming — or whipping out their smartphones and Googling to find out if you really can learn to influence dream content.” Using dream incubation for problem solving, Dr. Barrett, the author of “The Committee of Sleep,” which expanded on her initial research, asks patients to write down a problem as a brief phrase or sentence and place the note next to the bed. Then she tells them to review the problem for a few minutes before going to bed, and once in bed, visualize the problem as a concrete image, if possible.