Do you feel stressed all the time? 24 hours in a day not enough? Don’t have any personal time to do your personal projects? Co-workers driving you crazy? Don’t worry. Yoga and meditation can provide the answer. For the stress can be reduced by managing and controlling it. Our mind controls whether we adapt to live with stress or reducing it and living a stress free life.
The factors that mainly control the kind of person we have become are genes we inherit, surroundings and standard of living we live. While the genes cannot be changed since we cannot decide who our parents can be, nor can the surroundings we grow up in, which can also be tough to overcome, we can certainly change our way of life. Simply controlling what we eat, how we eat, exercising more frequently and learning to deal with everyday issues with a open mind and positive attitude can help us lead a stress free life and Yoga can provide the answer for you. Once a person chooses to practice yoga he is naturally lead to choose a healthier lifestyle.
Yoga can help us solve issues, which cause stress on a daily basis. Performing yoga not only strengthens and tones the muscles but also helps the internal organs perform better, thus keeping us from getting diseases. The structural alignment and reinforcing the spine can be achieved by performing standing asahanas (postures). The blood pressure gets lowered and central nervous system gets relaxed by doing forward bends. Performing inverted asahanas purifies the lymphatic system, while the internal organs can be massaged with the body twists. Also the nervous, digestive and immune system gains strength and tone by the breathing exercises and asahanas.
While the effects of yoga on physical human body were mentioned above, yoga also affects the human mental state in a positive manner. Yoga will make you approach everyday problems, which cause stress, with a positive attitude. Once you start performing yoga you can feel your mind opening up and become clear and aware, your concentration and focus improves, gain self esteem, depression vanishes, healthier feeling. All these factors in turn reduce stress. Once the physical and mental states of the human body get in sync then you get projected into a new dimension where your perception of everything improves, your love and compassion for every living thing improves, you feel a connection to the Supreme Being.
Listed below are some practical techniques for dealing with everyday stress with a brief explanation.
1) Using your office chair for performing. Yes, that’s right you can take care of your body while you work by performing this simple yoga posture while sitting in your office chair. Grab the side or back of the chair then perform a twisting motion from one side to the other. Start with arching your back then come back to the initial position in a circular fashion. A good neck stretch can be obtained by moving your head up and down then side-to-side several times, Stretch your arms while standing up. Lifting the shoulders in shrug and releasing them suddenly can release tension in the shoulders.
2) Steps to relax. A crucial part of stress management is learning to relax. After completing any yoga asahanas (postures) or any form of exercise try lying down in a relaxing pose for some time. You will find out for yourself that your body and mind gets in sync. A person can awaken his inner self and wake up feeling refreshed and stress gone. This is hard to do in the office but for those lucky ones who have their own office, lie down on a mat for around 20 minutes and perform this posture. Be sure when you wake up you will find the stress gone.
3) Relaxation using focus Once your body is relaxed, focus your mind on every body part starting with the feet and train your eyes to follow upwards towards your head. This will be difficult at first to concentrate without falling asleep. Do not give up as you keep trying it you can feel the tension and stress go away each time you perform this posture. In conclusion try these simple steps while you are at your work or at your home, you will find out that your enjoying your life more and have become a better human being. You will experience success in your career and life.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Yoga
Showing posts with label Everyday Problems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Everyday Problems. Show all posts
March 1, 2009
February 24, 2009
How Yoga Works for Weight Loss
Yoga is probably not an obvious choice of activity when it comes to weight loss but despite the speed of the movements it is deceptively effective and here’s why.
1. Yoga strengthens and streamlines your muscles
During yoga practise you work your whole body, stretching and toning your muscles, streamlining and firming them. This gives you a lean firm body shape as opposed to the bulkier, short muscles you might get from weight training. With yoga you build strong lean muscle tissue which burn calories even while you are at rest.
2. Yoga calms you and clears your mind
If you are someone who eats due to stress and tension, then yoga will help you reduce comfort eating. The slow stretching movements and deep breathing in every yoga movement calm and relax you. The balance postures in particular necessitate that you clear your mind of all your every day cares and worries and use all your powers of concentration and focus. With regular yoga practise you will find that you become naturally more relaxed and able to cope with everyday problems.
3. Yoga normalises sluggish glands
The toning movements in yoga work not only on the muscles but also on the internal organs of the body stimulating them and normalising their function. Twisting poses, forward and backward bends and inversions are used to stimulate the endocrine system and postures like the shoulder stand and the fish help regulate the mechanism of the thyroid gland in the neck, all of which help boost your metabolism.
4. Yoga gives you energy and increases flexibility
By calming you and gently working on your muscles and increasing the levels of oxygen in your blood and to your brain, you finish a yoga practise (once you are used to the movements) feeling more energetic than when you began. This means that you tend to put more energy and movement into your day rather than sitting around feeling exhausted. And you build flexibility in your muscles and joints so that you enjoy a full range of movement your whole life. Witness the difference between the movements of a young girl and a stiff 80 year old woman. The young girl is bound to move so much more because muscles and joints are less restricted.
5. Yoga uses calories
This is where people believe that yoga is not helpful when it comes to weight loss and it’s true that aerobic exercise may very well burn more calories. However you will still use about 240 calories in an average 1 hour classic hatha yoga class and burn many more (about 400) with some highly physical forms such as astanga yoga. And you can practise yoga every day without over-exercising your muscles which is not the case for many forms of aerobic exercise
6. Yoga offers psychological benefits
Through yoga practise you tend to retune into your body and increase your self-acceptance and self-esteem. You build positive body confidence and help quiet any negative messages that may arise in your mind. Yoga teaches us to respect our bodies and this helps us when choosing our food and avoiding junk food and alcohol.
7. Yoga is for everyone
Most people can take up yoga even if they have been inactive for a while although you should always get your doctor’s approval before beginning an exercise program if there is any doubt about your health. While jogging and working out at the gym might seem too much to contemplate you can start wherever you are with a yoga class and make steady progress.
Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small
Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of “The Diet Exit Plan”, an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report “How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn’t want you to know” at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!
1. Yoga strengthens and streamlines your muscles
During yoga practise you work your whole body, stretching and toning your muscles, streamlining and firming them. This gives you a lean firm body shape as opposed to the bulkier, short muscles you might get from weight training. With yoga you build strong lean muscle tissue which burn calories even while you are at rest.
2. Yoga calms you and clears your mind
If you are someone who eats due to stress and tension, then yoga will help you reduce comfort eating. The slow stretching movements and deep breathing in every yoga movement calm and relax you. The balance postures in particular necessitate that you clear your mind of all your every day cares and worries and use all your powers of concentration and focus. With regular yoga practise you will find that you become naturally more relaxed and able to cope with everyday problems.
3. Yoga normalises sluggish glands
The toning movements in yoga work not only on the muscles but also on the internal organs of the body stimulating them and normalising their function. Twisting poses, forward and backward bends and inversions are used to stimulate the endocrine system and postures like the shoulder stand and the fish help regulate the mechanism of the thyroid gland in the neck, all of which help boost your metabolism.
4. Yoga gives you energy and increases flexibility
By calming you and gently working on your muscles and increasing the levels of oxygen in your blood and to your brain, you finish a yoga practise (once you are used to the movements) feeling more energetic than when you began. This means that you tend to put more energy and movement into your day rather than sitting around feeling exhausted. And you build flexibility in your muscles and joints so that you enjoy a full range of movement your whole life. Witness the difference between the movements of a young girl and a stiff 80 year old woman. The young girl is bound to move so much more because muscles and joints are less restricted.
5. Yoga uses calories
This is where people believe that yoga is not helpful when it comes to weight loss and it’s true that aerobic exercise may very well burn more calories. However you will still use about 240 calories in an average 1 hour classic hatha yoga class and burn many more (about 400) with some highly physical forms such as astanga yoga. And you can practise yoga every day without over-exercising your muscles which is not the case for many forms of aerobic exercise
6. Yoga offers psychological benefits
Through yoga practise you tend to retune into your body and increase your self-acceptance and self-esteem. You build positive body confidence and help quiet any negative messages that may arise in your mind. Yoga teaches us to respect our bodies and this helps us when choosing our food and avoiding junk food and alcohol.
7. Yoga is for everyone
Most people can take up yoga even if they have been inactive for a while although you should always get your doctor’s approval before beginning an exercise program if there is any doubt about your health. While jogging and working out at the gym might seem too much to contemplate you can start wherever you are with a yoga class and make steady progress.
Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small
Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of “The Diet Exit Plan”, an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report “How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn’t want you to know” at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!
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