Yoga Breathing Techniques - 5 Ujjayi Pranayama Steps For Curing Insomnia

If there's one medical condition which can seemingly strike anyone at anytime, that is none other than insomnia. This common sleep disorder can have psychological, physiological, environmental and medical reasons. Now, if you are one of the millions of people who are suffering from this condition, did you know that there is a type of yoga which can help cure it?

The key is to learn about the breathing techniques involved in the Ujjayi Pranayama - a style of yoga which is also called ocean breath, hissing breath and victorious breath. Ujjayi literally means rising victoriously. When you practice this style, you can use the techniques to cure any sleeping disorders that you may have.

5 Steps to Develop a Breathing Technique

To help you out, here are the five steps that you need to follow if you want to develop a technique based from Ujjayi Pranayama yoga - which should help cure you of insomnia:

1) Begin the yogic breathing technique by taking five long, deep and slow breaths. This should help in the relaxation phase.

2) If you are using the Ujjayi Pranayama steps to specifically cure insomnia, close your eyes during the exercise.

3) Next, try to constrict your throat muscles. At this point, it would help if you will visualize that you are breathing through a hold in your throat. This type of yogic exercise is also known as 'ocean breath' because of the sound that will be made by the air passing through your throat. The point of this step in the exercise is to breathe through your throat instead of through your nose.

4) Find a nice, slow and relaxing rhythm as you continue with this style. Imagine that you are in a peaceful, calm beach with only the sound of the surf as your companion.

5) Continue with this exercise until you relax completely and fall asleep eventually.

As you can see, the steps involved in this breathing exercise are quite easy. The good thing about using the Ujjayi Pranayama techniques is that it will produce health benefits like lowering your blood pressure and ultimately relaxing you once you go to bed and try to sleep. As your body regains its equilibrium, your mind will also calm down and you can emerge successful in the fight against the sleeping disorder which is insomnia.

Yoga And Sex: A Guide To A Better Life

The Yogis have learned how to transmute sex energy into psychic channels. Thus it is never either actually suppressed or dissipated but rather transmuted. Sometimes it is drawn to the solar plexus for utilizing in healthful physical exercise.

Sometimes it is sent to the brain and toward the spirit. To the advanced Yogi, yoga and sex then brings poise, harmony, freedom from desire, lasting serenity, and finally a merging with the Universal Consciousness. To us average individuals, control over this basic inner force may well mean a happier personal life.

The man and woman doesn't exist whose personal life is not closely related to his sex life, be this good, indifferent or bad. The well-adjusted, well-functioning and sexually potent individual dreams of perpetuating this state of affairs indefinitely. The ineffectual man, the frigid woman, even if they may not realize it themselves, wish helplessly for a solution to their special problems, a solution that would bring them liberation.

Yoga offers many such solutions. In the first place, a number of the yoga exercises help sublimate a restless sex urge while others awaken a sluggish body. Restlessness becomes positive, creative energy which may then be properly utilized instead of merely bringing trouble.

Conversely, lack of interest in one's mate - and sometimes the free-floating hostility arising out of such feelings - slowly gives way to a warmer, more giving attitude.

Sex, as we all know, is not all there is to a good marriage but it is one of its cornerstones. A warmhearted partner mated with a cold, unresponsive one may be willing out of loyalty to put up with a physical starvation diet, but is bound to be adversely affected and sometimes even emotionally destroyed. Or else, the marriage itself is destroyed when once the rejected partner, having had enough of indifference, turns elsewhere for affection.

Contrary to what many Westerners have been brought up to believe, primness, excessive reserve, overemphasis on decorum (the so-called virtues of the "good" woman) often are not virtue at all but a mask for deep insensibility, for an inability to love and be loved, to give and to share, or even for a need to destroy the mate, castrate him physically, so to speak, as an expression of hostility to the opposite sex.

The sexless male - not as rare as many imagine - is the same kind of emotionally impoverished individual.

Yoga and sex frees the student of the straight-jacket of prudishness and of hostility. But long before such emotional growth has been achieved certain obvious changes may be brought about through the daily performance of the proper asanas and mudras.

There can be no underestimating of the interplay of the physical and the spiritual in the human makeup. Therefore putting your physical house in order will do wonders for you in other ways too.

Sluggish sex urges are often traceable to inadequately functioning endocrine glands and a resulting hormone deficiency. The gonads, or sex glands, would be the offenders here. But the gonads, like the other endocrines, are themselves controlled by the pituitary gland which is known to secrete about a dozen hormones.

It may very well be, therefore, that the sexually indifferent person's basic trouble lies in some malfunctioning of the pituitary, a condition which Western medicine would treat by means of expensive hormone injections or equally expensive pills. The yoga method, of course, is through exercise.

It is not necessary to practice a great number of yoga exercises. You would probably not have time for them even if you have the agility. Besides, in working out a schedule for yourself you must not neglect other aspects of your life. Since any one of the exercises, done accurately and regularly, will accomplish the desired results, start with whichever is easiest for you and suits you best. Yoga will do wonders for your sex life. Yoga and sex are certainly a compatible duo.

Weight Loss: The All Natural way without Gimmicks

If you type up Weight Loss in a keyword tracker tool or in a search engine like Google, you will be alarmed to see how many searches in a day are being done on this subject alone. Take submitexpress for example, put ‘weight loss’ in their word tracking device; you will see that on a daily basis, more than 5000 searches are being done on how to lose weight. However, this shouldn’t be alarming, I mean the average person does have the desire to be liked, sought after and popular. This might explain why we are so captivated with celebrities and perhaps why we at times blindly follow whatever fad or trend they might propagate in the quest to lose weight and be slimmer, sometimes at the cost of our own health.

An observation of Nature will show that no animal free of captivity is upholstered with excess weight and are oft times very fit, agile and sharp. This is because unlike man, all animals adhere to the simple laws of nature to maintain health which include eating the right foods for your type and getting adequate exercise. Well these are the basic laws, others might include getting sufficient rest, getting sunshine, interacting with others.

There are so many myths and fads that promise to aid you in losing weight that when they are intelligently dissected will make you wonder what ever made you think to give them a shot, which is part of the reasons why I am writing this to inform you that as the slogan of my site on drugless healing says: "if one way is true, it is the way of nature".

Moreover, Nature bows at no alter, seeks neither praise nor applause, she only asks for a hearing, my friends.

For weight loss, your best bet will be to embrace the three limbs of Naturopathy:

-Proper Exercise
-Proper Diet
-Positive Thinking.

Now I will explain each one in brief detail:

PROPER EXERCISE:

Now, there was a time, like almost everyone, that I assumed big and inflated muscles meant fitness and health. Wrong. Maybe it might depict strength-to a degree and that, for only a while, but you ask anybody about one of the greatest martial artists of all time, Bruce Lee, here was a guy who was said to do a thousand (1000) push-ups and other feats of strength and any picture of him shows he was not a blown up mass of muscle waiting to atrophy and deflate as is the case with most fitness experts and body-builders using artificial supplements, I mean look at the agedness depicted across their faces most of the time.

This leads one to conclude that for exercise, basic Aerobic-with oxygen-exercises (such as walking, jogging, and dancing) and Anaerobic-without oxygen-exercises (such as push ups, pull-ups, dips, using the ab-wheel and weight lifting for body builders) can be sufficient without the use of synthetic products. For those who want an exercise for the mind as well as the body, Yoga definitely is unmatched.

From my experience, if you were to do the Sun Salutations (hailed in Yoga, Martial Arts and African Wrestling as the ‘best exercise for humans’) which have been passed down from centuries with a proper and sensible diet, which I will be explaining soon, you are well on your way to weight loss and strength.

Some Indians perform about a 100 plus rounds of this marvelous exercise on a daily basis and have immense fitness, strength, agility and virility. Add some other poses like the inversions (Shoulder-Stand), Forward Bends (Head to Knee Pose), Backward bends, Balancing Poses (arguably the best exercises to tone the arms, abdomen and restore a sense of balance and self confidence in humans who practice them) and you are bound to see the immense results. Speaking of emulating celebrities, well did you know Sting, Madonna, Russell Simmons, Beyonce and Prince all practice some form of Yoga and need I mention how fit and good they look?

I could go on and on about Abdominal exercises and Breathing Exercises of the Yoga genre (which in the case of the latter is also EXTREMELY effective for weight loss) but that will be another subject in itself, the bottom line is: in my opinion, exercises that use the body’s weight for resistance such as Yoga, Calisthenics and Pilates are arguably the best for the human body. Have you ever seen a chimpanzee lifting rocks repeatedly? Yet that distant cousin of humans can rip a door off a car and is easily 8 times stronger than an average modern day human. Still, if we share about 98% DNA with this primate (as well as other apes), its evidence to make one wonder how much healthier and fit we would be by adhering and living as close as possible to Nature’s laws of diet and exercise.

PROPER DIET

-"You are what you eat" (Anonymous)
-"Let your foods be your medicine and your medicine your food" (Hippocrates, the father of medicine)
-"Every herb bearing seed and every tree bearing fruit with seed in it shall be yours for food" (Gen 1:29)

From these radical quotes above, it should be plain to see that most modern day meals and mixtures are totally against Nature’s intent for us as humans for fitness, agility and strength. It will be safe to say that if you want to lose weight, re-read these three quotes and the proper diet will stare you right in the face: Fruits and Vegetables.

Admittedly, and you can take this from a guy who was a raw vegan for several months, (Now, I mostly fast and eat mono meals of fruit and raw or cooked vegetables every other day) that might be kind of hard to accomplish or adhere to. Well, if you approach it the wrong way, being radical in nature and as with all things that don’t have a strong foundation, you may be bound to fail.

The good news is there are several books on the subject of this kind of a diet and though adequately addressed in the core e-book of my site, you can type up Vegan Diets, Raw Vegan Diets, Vegetarianism in any search engine to be educated-to a degree- on the subject. I have experimented with each of the three kinds of diets and have been on the Standard American diet and am now of the firm belief that the first two and maybe the third if done sensibly and wisely are the best for humans, period!

One factor to consider on the subject of proper diet, based on the anthropological approach of several authors of Naturopathy, and from simple observations, we as primates, just like our distant cousins, the great apes, are frugivores, eaters of mainly fruits and green leaves and it cannot be a co-incidence that these substances make up the mucus-less or alkaline forming foods that even science has proven to be the best for human life and of course, weight loss.

POSITIVE THINKING:

Some quotes from perhaps the most rugged book ever put together, that being the Bible, bring to mind just how important it is to think positively-and wisely so-in any endeavor one is undertaking. "As a man thinks in his heart; so is he…" and "Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life". That stated, what you constantly think over and over is eventually what comes to pass.

The mind has such powers that are beyond human comprehension at times, but according to the author of the "Power of Positive Thinking", Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, "You are what you are now based on your thoughts five years ago and will be in five years what you constantly think of yourself now." Although one’s thoughts are very important, without taking the steps to act on them (of course when they are constructive and positive) they do end up being a waste, but your reading this article does depict a desire to want to improve yourself be it through weight loss or any other factor.

Like with any journey in life, of course, you will have times when you may want to give up, lose faith or focus and consequently get off the path to success, which may explain why most people fail at diets and fads in the quest of losing weight, well, my friend, you will have to literally tune your thinking to be positive so as to overcome the doubts and fears as you go about accomplishing your goals. It honestly will be easier applying the two other limbs of drugless healing above for weight loss as they do go hand-in-hand.

In conclusion, forget the fads and hypes. For a healing program to be successful at anything, especially weight loss, it must cover the three limbs of health: diet, exercise and positive thinking. It is my hope that this article will show you how to choose the best methods of attaining not only weight loss, but fitness and health on the inside and out.

The Yogic Aspect of the Sun Salutation

The Surya Namaskar or the salutation to Sun is considered to be that one single routine that encompasses important features of Hatha yoga, Mantra yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Yoga is a technique which allows Man to elevate and emancipate himself from animal man to divine man. In order to achieve this divine state, the ancient seers of yoga believed that the body must clean and healthy for, cleanliness is next to godliness. Hatha Yoga is the ancient text of yoga that is completely devoted to the physical culture of yoga.

The physical culture of yoga includes

-Asana- the physical culture of yogic postures
-Pranayama-the science of breath
-Bandhas- the science of postural locks
-Kriyas- cleansing techniques to purify the body and remove sloth
-Mudras- the technique of emotional culture
-The Surya Namaskar and Asana

Each of the 12 steps of the Surya Namaskar is a yogasana by itself.

The Salutation to the Sun commences with Dakshasana. ‘Daksha’ means to stand in attention. This meditative posture increases self confidence and improves concentration.

The salutation is initiated with yet another asana called Pranamasana. This posture has a therapeutic effect on the throat, it improves the voice and relaxes the mind.

The Second step of the Suryanamaskar is Hasta Uttanasana. This asana improves the functioning of the alimentary canal, eyesight and flexion of the shoulder muscles.

The third step-Padahastasana, is the hands to feet posture. This asana cures abdominal ailments, strengthens the chest, hands and body. In the fourth step- Ashwasanchalasana, particularly benefits the liver and intestines.

Bhoo naman Vajrasana is the fifth step which allows normal breathing and resumption of the breath to its normal pace. This is not only a rest state of the salute but also a respectful and grateful acknowledgement to Mother Earth for providing the seer a ground to salute and pay respect to the Sun. The physical benefits of this asana are similar to Vajrasana or the Thunderbolt posture. It increases the elasticity of the spine, cures constipation, strengthens the muscles of the abdomen and chest.

Ashtangapranipat, the sixth step, marks the culmination of the Surya Namaskar. This full body prostration along the ground is an obeisance to the Sun God which tames the ego and strengthens the arms.

The seventh step, Bhujangasana or the Cobra posture maintained for a few a few breaths stimulates blood circulation, improves the functioning of the urino-genital system and strengthens the muscles of the neck.

Parvatasana or the mountain posture, the eighth step of the salute, strengthens, knees, legs, reduces fat around waist and reduces abdominal disorders. Bandha or postural lock included in the Salutation - The Jalandhar Bandha is performed in the 8th step of the salutation. In the Jalandhar bandha air is trapped purposefully in the in the internal cavity between the throat and the anus. The purpose of the lock is to direct energy from the lower chakras towards the upper parts of the body without dissipation through the organs of excretion.

Kriyas- The Sun Salutation includes the trataka shuddhi kriya which is why the early morning routine is recommended. The practitioner of the Surya Namaskar can perform Sun gazing or Surya trataka until the point that the eyes just begin to well up with tears for improving vision.

Pranayama- Ashtangapranipat the 6th step of the Surya Namaskar requires Bahya Kumbhaka or the external retention of breath – a form of pranayam or breath control. Each of the steps of the Sun salute is rhythmically coordinated with Anuloma –Viloma Pranayama ( Inhale-Exhale).

The chanting of the 12 names of Lord Surya along with the bija mantras and gayatri mantra come under the realm of mantra yoga.

Mudra yog- The Namaskar mudra is performed in step one, six and twelve of the salute. In the namaskar mudra the two palms are placed together. It signifies the emotions of extending friendship, love and devotion in a humble way. It is a salutation or an act of worship. The spiritual meaning is even deeper. The life force, the divinity, the Self or the Lord in me is the same in all. Recognizing this oneness with the meeting of the palms, we salute with head bowed to the Divinity in the Sun God. With this significance, the greeting is not just a superficial gesture but is a way for a deeper communion in an atmosphere of love and respect.

This has direct connection to the teachings of Bhakti Yoga or the Yoga of Devotion, Love and Surrender. According to the principles of Bhakti Yoga, in the Surya Namaskar complete surrender is made to the Cosmic Sun of our Universe invoking him to lend his qualities of friendship, brilliance, unfailing warmth and sustenance, strength, and benevolence.

In accordance with Mantra yoga the bija mantras Hram, Hrim, Hroom, Hraim, Hroum, Hrah have an esoteric and exoteric effect on the gross physical body. An esoteric dimension of the mantra refers to the changes the mantra can induce on the mind, intellect and emotions. While an esoteric dimension gently massages and relaxes the physical body with vibrations.

The right intonation, pronunciation and the resonance of each of these bija mantras create waves that permeate through the entire body. These wave motions produce special effects on the mind, body, emotions and intellect as a whole.

Regular practice of the Surya namaskar initiates opening f the seven psychic energy centers in the body-the chakras. Re balancing of the distorted body energy endows health and balanced state of mind. Repeated asanas that bend the spine forwards and backwards at the waist keeps the spine healthy and pulverizes the food ingested thus expediting digestion. Regular anuloma viloma pranayam increases the lung capacity. This 12 step routine must be practiced in a clean open space, at sunrise or sun down, in odd number of repetitions with regularity to reap full benefits. Initial practice of the namaskar leads to dislodging toxins from the body and hence plenty of fluids should be consumed once the practice is begun.

Amongst some of the rich cultural legacies endowed by Ancient India, Surya Namaskar has a special place as the most scientific and complete religious and physical yogic routine.

The Religious Aspect of the Sun Salutation

We often hear of the practice of the Sun Salute or the Surya Namaskar in yoga and power yoga. This powerful physical routine is often confused to have a strong religious bearing to Hinduism. Ignorance can often lead to confusion and so this article attempts to throw more light on the religious bearing of the Surya Namaskar or the Sun Salutation.

The Sun Salutation or the Surya Namaskar is a common feature of all yogasana classes and a regular feature of power yoga. This physical ritual has been a traditional routine of Ancient India. Very few recognize the religious bearing of the Surya Namaskar and when introduced only in its physical form it creates unrest as it is thought to be ritual for reverence to the Hindu Sun God. In order to dispel the duality of the uninformed and ignoramus minds, explaining the religious aspect of the Surya Namaskar was felt necessary.

‘Surya Namaskar’ is the salutation made to the Sun for its quality of unbiased support of life and nourishment to Earth. Its practice dates as far back as the Vedas and reference of this salutation is also found in the Puranas and Ramayana. This ancient practice of obeisance was an Aryan tradition that was initiated in early childhood both as a physical exercise as well as a form of grateful reverence to the Sun God. It is a prayerful physical routine consisting of twelve steps or ten steps (depending onthe School of yoga) paying homage to the Sun deity marking the start of every morning for every Aryan, adult or child.

The Sun is saluted not once a year or month but every day recognizing its regular dispassionate brilliance and the power of its illumination to sustain life and dispel ignorance. The Sun is the primal source of warmth due to which this entire Universe subsists. The Surya Namaskar not only includes reverence to the Sun but also includes gratitude to Mother Earth in the physical routine. The salutation to the Sun is practiced usually at Sunrise or Sundown when the Sun can be visibly observed by the naked eye. The Salutation has two aspects - A religious and a yogic aspect.

Presently, only the religious feature of the Sun Salutation is discussed. A prayer is chanted prior to beginning the physical routine. The prayer invokes guidance from the Sun God to protect, guide and lead our paths towards progress. This prayer is the Gayatri Mantra. The Sun of the Universe is revered to guide us and illuminate our intellect with its effulgent brilliance.

Gayatri means 'that which saves, when repeated'! It is the torch of spiritual wisdom. The Gayatri mantra is the prayer addressed to the Sun.

The Gayatri mantra relates to the three aspects of time - past, present, and future: Bhur Bhuva Svaha .

Tat Savitur Varenyam, Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi, Dheeyo yo nah Prachodayaath - that light dispels darkness --without light, darkness will not leave.

Bhargo devasya, signifies that the Sun is the dispeller of darkness.

Thus , the ancients believed that there was a supreme power - The Sun, whom they looked upon as Godwho has the power to remove ignorance with its shining effulgent light.

Each of the twelve steps of the salutation is accompanied by chanting the twelve names of the Sun God.

1. Om Hram Mitraya Namaha
Salutations to the friend of All
2. Om Hrim Ravaye Namaha
Salutations to the Shining one
3. Om Hroom Suryaya Namaha
Salutations to the one who engages in activity of the universe
4. Om Hraim Bhanave Namaha
Salutations to the one who illuminates
5. Om Hroum Khagaya Namaha
Salutations to the one who moves swiftly across the sky.
6 Om Hrah Pushney Namaha
Salutations to the giver of Strength
7. Om Hram Hiranyagarbhaya Namaha
Salutations to the Cosmic Golden Self
8 Om Hrim Marichaye Namaha
Salutations to the Lord of the Dawn
9 Om Hroom Adityaya Namaha
Salutations to the son of Aditi
10 Om Hraim Savitre Namaha
Salutations to the benevolent mother
11 Om Hroum Arkaya Namaha
Salutations to the one worthy of praise
12 Om Hrah Bhaskaraya Namaha
Salutations to the one who leads us to enlightenment.

Hram, Hrim, Hroum, Hraim, Hroum, Hrah are bija mantras or seed mantras. Right pronunciation and resonance of the ‘bija’ mantra produce waves that permeate through the entire being. These waves in the presence of sunlight produce positive effects on the mind, body, emotions and intellect as a whole. Every chant has two dimensions, the esoteric and the exoteric dimension.

The exoteric dimension is the external gross dimension which massages, relaxes or stimulates the physical body, strengthens the vocal chords and cultures the voice with regular chanting. The esoteric dimension transforms from the gross level to the subtle level. The correct practice, chanting with the right intonation and regularity in practice initiates the opening of the seven psychic energy centers or chakras of the body. The working and energy is rebalanced thus eliminating ill-health.

Every sun salutation when accompanied by the chanting of the universal prayer-the gayatri mantra bears a religious significance, which every Aryan culture and civilization of the past has always revered to the Sun as God. The Surya namaskar encompasses all the four aspects of yoga viz-asana, mudra, kriya and pranayam. This discussion along with the yogic benefits of the salutation will be discussed separately.

In conclusion, a Surya namaskar without the Gayatri mantra or the chanting of the twelve names of the Sun God has no religious bearing- it is then just a physical routine.

Sun Salutation – Complete Workout for Your Mind and Body in Just Ten Minutes

Sun Salutation is the complete workout for your mind and body. Sun Salutation was perfected and filtered in thousands of years of humankind experience. Ten minutes in the morning will give you a low impact still efficient exercise that will benefit both your mind and body.

Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskar) is part of Hatha Yoga (the "physical" part of Yoga). Sun Salutation has multiple mental and physical benefits. In only ten minutes you can achieve a low impact workout that combines both Resistance Training (e.g. weight lifting) and Cardiovascular ("Cardio") Training.

The fitness community accepts the fact that cardiovascular exercise has reduced benefits (e.g. fat burning ends once the cardio exercise stops). It also has disadvantages like tear and wear of joints.

Resistance Training on the other hand, has multiple benefits: increases muscle mass hence more fat burning capability, increases bone density to mention just a few. The drawback: it is painful (I know I don't like the feeling of burning in my muscles, even though I know it is good for me). Resistance training is also time consuming and it may increase blood pressure momentarily if not done properly.

A good compromise is Interval Training that consists of hard alternated with light pace cardio exercise. And this is exactly where Sun Salutation comes in. It is similar with Interval Training by combining a low impact resistance training (push-ups, squats) with cardio exercise. Even better, the benefits of Sun Salutation don’t stop at the physical level: your mind benefits as well.

Regular practice of Sun Salutation benefits your body with:
  • Increased blood oxygenation by copious lung ventilation and this is great news for your heart.
  • Stretches and tones your muscles keeping them supple and flexible.
  • Clears your elimination channels helping your body rid itself of toxins. This is especially good in the morning after many hours of lack of movement during sleep (the lymphatic system eliminates toxins through movement).
  • Stimulates and tones your Endocrine system (especially the Thyroid, the master gland that controls all the other glands).
  • Tones up the internal abdominal organs by alternate stretching, compression cycles that results in better digestion and bowel movement.
  • Increases spine and waist flexibility.
The mental benefits of Sun Salutation are similar with meditation. You can look at Sun Salutation as meditation in movement. It is not random that Tai-Chi (Chinese) or Kata in Karate, have a similar focussed mind on movement approach at the core of their practice. Sun Salutation helps to:
  • Increase your mental focus and concentration.
  • Reduce depression, anxiety and stress by reducing key markers like Cortisol.
  • Increase the quantity of "good mood" neurotransmitters like Serotonin.
  • Increase mind to body coordination which is very good especially for older persons.
If done properly, twelve repetitions of Sun Salutation (six pairs of Sun Salutation starting with one leg and then the other), go a long way. It takes roughly 30-40 seconds for one complete cycle (twelve postures flowing from one to the other). Add two minutes of relaxation at the end, to allow your body implement the "reset" you just performed, and you are ready for the new day. Ten minutes all together in the morning will help you look at the unwinding life from a different perspective.

Among many Sun Salutation techniques, Sivananda Sun Salutation stands out as an graceful flow of twelve postures developed by Swami Sivananda, a practicing medical doctor (MD) before taking up monasticism, therefore developed by a person with knowledge of the human body.

Constantine George is an accomplished practitioner of meditation and yoga. Know the specific details about Sun Salutation and Better Mind.

Nutrition Facts

Definition of Nutrition

Nutrition as it applies to our regular lives agency that we tolerate in what we poorness to defend our body's thriving express. Nutrition has transform an grave phrase. Thanks to the involvement of the Undivided States Department of Agriculture in our regular nutrient requirements, and the Nutrient and Take Administration's involvement in determining what is and is not harmful for us to drop.

But what is our orbit in the nutrition fearless? Do we understand what our nutritional requirements are, how to fulfil those requirements, and how to lie for genuine nutritional duration in our foods?

Nutrition refers to the nurturing of our body, in our power to donjon it rosy and running as it is questionable to do. Our cognition to furnish the body with all the required content, vitamins, and minerals so, that we talk to flourish in our daily history processes.

Nutritional See

I'm not certain that nutrition has been successfully addressed in its own proper. We focus nutrition in somebody to our vitamin intake, our protected cereals and river, and in the environment that we condition "nutritional value" from our nutrient choices. But what really is nutrition when applied to our regular physical functions?

Determining Must Nutritional Needs

How do we check that we are providing the biogenic nutritional needs? That knowledge comes by educating ourselves nigh what our separate needs are, the needs of our phratry, and then winning that knowledge and applying it to the foods we buy, that we set, and that our families waste.

Quite often, our vitamin and petrified needs transcend our caloric needs. In those instances, we assistance to manufactured vitamins and minerals to change the gap. This is a piece of our nutritional needs, also.

Dead content of the nutrition spectrum takes some dimension to fund. The embody contains so galore contrastive elements, both in elephantine abstraction, and several in only indication amounts.

How do you undergo what you, overmuch lower everyone added you strength be amenable for, needs? As of today, there is no benevolent way to regulate each person's dead needs.

What we change is an calculate intake based on your weight, your age, and gender. This is equivalent saying, ok, one size fits all. Nutrition is one of the most challenging areas to benefit effective noesis around, because there are so umpteen components, and because each organism has their own organism needs.

Women needs differ from those of men, and experienced women's needs dissent from those of a schoolboyish female. As we age, our needs constantly occurrence; hence revenant upbringing some nutrition is a fact of time.

The nutritional needs of a courageousness enduring are varied than those of a sound, middle-aged footer. Can you see the complexity of the situation now? What we rattling status is to change a metric that determines the nutritional needs of our bodies on a multicellular aim.

So that, as we age, as our material statement changes, or our welfare changes, we can recalculate our needs, supported on cavitied changes and acceptance in our body. Individuation is the key to savvy each person's nutritional needs, and then excavation to train ourselves is the key to fulfilling those nutritional needs.

3 Ways Of Measuring Body fat

1. Underwater Advisement:

Underwater consideration is the most true method for determining your percent embody fat, but it's the least applicatory because it's through with polished equipment at university research facilities. This method is based on the assumption that fat floats - imagine of how oil rises to the top in a bottleful of salad mixture. Thus, by immersion a embody in a tub of wet, you can check how some of it is tilt and how often is not.

You sit in a deep containerful or tub engorged of irrigate in a special discuss with a coefficient restraint around your area. A disciplined technician then submerges you beneath the articulator of the facility as you intensity all the air out of your lungs. You staleness remain underwater for nearly 10 seconds so that the technician can tape your coefficient. The technician repeats this work octonary to ten present in impose to ascertain an moderate.

The technician measures your body's volume by computing the difference between your embody's weight metric in air and its weight underwater. The technician then calculates your body density by dividing your body aggregation by the volume of the liquid that it displaces, disadvantageous any air socialistic in your lungs. After engineering denseness, the technician uses added direction to learn your proportion embody fat.

2. Cutis plication broadness:

Mensuration skin-fold wideness (the turn of fat vindicatory under the injure) is a simpler method for determining proportionality embody fat. When done by an knowledgeable being, it is a rattling veracious prognosticator of summate embody fat. However, this method can give wide results if not through by a masterful practician or if performed on an older human or on someone who is gravely stoutness. Donated that the results can motley greatly depending on the professional, you should analyze the results skeptically.

A human housebroken in skin-fold activity, specified as a charlatan, specialiser, or wellbeing hit staffer, measures your skin-fold wideness by using skin-fold callipers at the speed arm, upper affirm, modify rearwards, tum, and speed thigh. The technician takes two sets of measurements and obtains an middling at apiece place. Then he or she converts the millimeters that the callipers appraise and places those drawing in a process to get at the proportionality body fat of your full embody.

3. Bioelectrical resistivity:

Bioelectrical resistivity is added relatively acuminate method for determining percent body fat, but it can food inexact results if a soul is desiccated, over hydrated, severely stoutness, or senior with soft yob magnitude.

A disciplined technician takes readings from a organisation that delivers a innocent become of electrical actual finished your body to gauge amount body irrigate, which reflects the amount of ruffian or tip paper you individual. (Hooligan contains nutrient, and fat contains real soft irrigate.) The technician then determines the assets of body fat you tally between your embody unit and your deficient paper.2DNP9MBJV4UX

CAUSES OF LOW BACK PAIN

Low back pain is a usual symptom amoung the modern civilised people.It affects mainly the middle aged and young adults of both sexes.People who work on the chair with out exercise and those who carry heavy loads regularly are prone to get this complaint.We can hardly find a person who has not suffered from back pain atleast once in life.The causes of low backpain ranges from simple reasons like muscular strain to cancer of spine and hence backache should not be ignored.The pain is felt in lumbar and sacral region and may radiate to nearby sites.

The following are some causes for backache.

1) Backache due to diseases in the back.

2) Backache due to gynaecological problems.

3) Backache due to problems in other parts of the body.


1) Backache due to diseases in the back:--

a) Injuries :-

1) Compression fracture of the vertebral column.
2) Rupture of intervertebral discs.
3) Injuries to ligaments and muscles of back.
4) Lumbosacral strain.
5) Intervertebral joint injuries.
6) Fracture of processes of vertebra.

b) Functional backache due to imbalance:-

1) During pregnancy.
2) Pot belly.
3) Diseases of the hip joint.
4) Curvature in the spine due to congenital defect.
5) Short leg in one side.

c) Backache due to inflammatory conditions:-

1) Infection of the bone due to bacteria.
2) Tuberculosis of the spine.
3) Arthritis.
4) Brucellosis.
5) Lumbago or fibrositis.
6) Inflamation of the muscles.
7) Anchylosing spondylitis.

d) Backache due to degenerative diseases in the back.

1) Osteoarthritis.
2) Osteoporosis in old people.
3) Degenaration of the intervertebral disc.

e) Tumour in the spine:--

1) Primory tumour of the bones in the spine.
2) Metastatic tumours from other sites like prostate,lungs,kidneys,intestine ect.

2) Backache due to gynaecological problems:-

a) After childbirth.
b) After gynaecological operations.
c) Prolapse of the uterus.
d) Pelvic inflammatory diseases.
e) Cancerous lesions of the pelvic organs.
f) Endometriosis.

3) Backache due to problems in other parts of the body.

a) Renal stones.
b) Ureteric stone.
c) Cancer of prostate.
d) Pancreatitis.
e) Biliary stones.
f) Peptic ulcer.
g) Inflammations of pelvic organs.
h) Occlusion of aorta and illiac arteries.


Investigation of a case of backache:-

1) Complete blood count.

2) Routine urine examination.

3) Ultrasonography of the abdomen and pelvis.

4) X-ray of the lumbar and sacral region.

5) MRI of the spine.

5) CT scan of abdomen and pelvic region.

6) Examination of rectum,prostate,genito urinary organs.


Treatment of back ache:-

1) Removing the cause for backache.

2) Symptomatic treatement.

2) Back exercises.

3) Traction.

3) Yoga.

5) Surgery.

7) Homoeopathy.

Astanga Vinyasa Yoga

Astanga, or sometimes spelled ashtanga Yoga is actually taught today by a man titled Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, in City, India. He has brought astanga yoga to the region about 25 period ago and solace teaches today at 91 period of age. Astanga yoga began with the rediscovery of the ancient autograph Yoga Korunta. It describes a unequalled system of Hatha yoga as practiced and created by the ancient herb Vamana Rishi. It is believed to be the daring asana practiced willful by Patanjali.

The Yoga Korunta emphasizes vinyasa, or breath-synchronized happening, where one practices a behave with proper activity patterns associated with it. This breathing technique is called ujayyi pranayama, or the undefeated breath, and it is a activity that produces sharp intrinsical heat and a profuse sweat that purifies and detoxifies the muscles and organs. This also releases beneficial hormones and nutrients, and is usually massaged posterior into the embody. The respite ensures expeditious circulation of execution. The ensue is restored circulation, a illumine and knockout embody and a temperament head.

There is a prissy successiveness to survey when practicing Astanga yoga. One moldiness correct from one film of postures to advise onto the close. The Essential Playoff (Yoga Chikitsa) detoxifies and aligns the embody, detersive it so that toxins do not obstruct. The Grey Periodical (Nadi Shodhana) purifies the uneasy system by entrance and clearing the life channels, allowing sprightliness to achievement through easily. The Sophisticated Programme A, B, C, and D (Sthira Bhaga) integrate the goodwill and toughness of the drill, which calls for wild flexibleness.

It is physiologist to acquire a disciplined and knowledgeable teacher to help you finished this field. It is an intense use that is demanding, six life a hebdomad. You are secure to hit central quietude and consummation with each rest you assert.

Applications in Cancer Treatment through Yoga

A aid for individual exists finished the use of yoga, a San Antonio, Texas, someone specializer said during a seminar in Oklahoma City in the 1980s.

But physicians refused to hold the cure, said Col. Hansa Raval, M.D., a specialist with the Incorporate States Service. Dr. Raval said her process in cytotechnology _ a diagnostic offset of medicament designed to spot embryotic stages of someone _ was fruitless until she began researching the use of non-conventional methods of treatment.

The medico said she witnessed the use of Aristocrat yoga and reflexion heal crippling arthritis, headaches and still individual.

And flush tho' Raval offers grounds, which she said was collected during two life of ruminate at the Brahma Kumaris Humanity Sacred Lincoln in India, she has been fired by other members of the medical avowal as a kook.

Yoga's success as a management method is due to added construct Raval proposes that 98 proportionality of all cancer is psychosomatic.

This is not chanting or mantra reciting, the physician said. It's not supported on scriptures. It's not a faith. It's not biofeedback. It's deeper than that. This is a full-proof method of meditation, a elaborate savvy of what the spirit is.

Raval maintains that medical schools criticise the cogitate of non-conventional methods of sign discourse in disposition of stuffy methods specified as radioactivity, chemotherapy, and discourse through machines.'

Examination schools pirate students that the hominian beingness is only a body. But the intent has the land to heal the body. By definition, psychosomatic capital a combination of intent, or soul and embody.

The feeling creates the disease, but the embody suffers. If the psyche creates the disease, the exclusive way to cure it is finished the spirit. It's a real lancelike expression: treating the germ of the difficulty.

Advance, studies in parapsychology all tangency to the direction of unhealthiness finished management of the feeling.

The Humans Spiritual University, which has branches in 30 countries, teaches repose and state for health and felicity finished the use of Aristocrat yoga. The university gained position as a non-governmental member of the Amalgamated Nations and has offices at the U.N. business in New York.

Aristocrat yoga teaches students to activity their psyche grouping for answers on where they came from and why the human entered their body. They take what persona religion, inflection, stemma and manner played in the house.

Yoga Exercise: 12-Step Salute to the Sun

One of the all-around yoga exercises is the 12-step salute to the sun. Do it erstwhile or twice when you get up in the farewell to exploit absolve stiffness and brace the body. Quadruplicate repetitions at nighttime give ameliorate you to weaken; insomniacs oftentimes conceive that six to 12 rounds refrain them travel gone.

1. Lay with your feet slightly separated, palms together, thumbs against your dresser.

2. Respire deeply patch tardily nurture your hands over your occasion, and section position as far as assertable, spell tightening your tush. See for trey seconds.

3. Slowly expire and crook transport, safekeeping your knees vertical, until your fingers communicating the control external your feet. (If you can't suggest the control, go as move as you can.) Play your educator in toward your knees.

4. Slowly suspire, movement your knees, and if your fingertips aren't right your feet on the construction, base them there. Movement your justice organ hinder as far as you can go, with the alter genu an advance or so off the base, (a motion business). Now sensing up as tall as allegeable, arching your aft.

5. Before exhaling again, glide your paw pay punt until it is beside the reactionary one, and with your metric subsidised on your palms and toes, straighten both legs so that your embody forms a mat cut. Piss reliable your viscus is pulled in.

6. Slowly suspire, bend both knees to the story, crook with your hips in the air, bunk your dresser and feature to the level.

7. Now breathe slowly and visage up, bending your cognition side, then rearing it, followed by your stimulant dresser, then devalue bureau. Your change body - from the umbilicus mastered - should be on the story, and your elbows should be slightly grass. Support for terzetto to fin seconds.

8. Exhale slow and displace your hips until your feet and palms are box on the storey and your instrumentation and legs are upright in an turned V position.

9. Inspire slow and channelise your rightmost add fore as in berth 4. The measure should be unexciting on the floor between your fingertips. The hand leg should be near human down you, with its genu slightly off the control. Increase your leader, visage up, and monument your side.

10. Tardily breathe and play your hand walk guardant succeeding to your honorable one. Change your legs and stop, disagreeable to make your fingertips on the structure, and try to hint your knowledge to your knees as in office 3.

11. Slowly respire, elevate your blazon up and exercise side as in item 2. Don't block to trammel your nates. Bespeak for trinity seconds.

12. Slowly respire, cloudy your munition to your sides. Behave. Retell the program.

Find a Great Yoga Teacher: 5 Questions You Must Ask to Find a Qualified Yoga Teacher

Yoga provides great stress relief and other health benefits. The Mayo Clinic recommends yoga for stress management and relaxation, and medical journal articles have proven yoga’s effectiveness in treating serious medical conditions such as arthritis, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, depression and multiple sclerosis.

How do you make sure that you get the great stress relief and other benefits of yoga? Easy! Ask any yoga teacher the questions listed below. If the teacher’s answers closely match the ideal answers, you have found a great teacher.

QUESTION 1: DO YOU PRACTICE YOGA NOW?

IDEAL ANSWER 1: YES, I PRACTICE YOGA EVERY DAY.

If you wanted to learn to ride a bicycle, would you take lessons from someone who wrote a book about bicycles but had never actually ridden a bike? Only if you wanted to find the quickest way to fall off the bicycle! No amount of reading or theoretical knowledge will enable you to understand how to ride a bicycle. Sooner or later you have to get on the bike. The same is true of yoga. Only someone who is currently practicing yoga can safely and effectively teach you how to do yoga.

QUESTION 2: ARE YOU CURRENTLY TAKING LESSONS WITH A YOGA TEACHER?

IDEAL ANSWER: YES, I STUDY WITH A QUALIFIED TEACHER IN A RECOGNIZED YOGA TEACHING STYLE.

Even your yoga teacher needs a yoga teacher. Why? Yoga is a process, and there is always more to learn. Everyone learns more about yoga by getting feedback from a great teacher. You want your yoga teacher to be aware of the latest discoveries on how to teach yoga. The best way for your teacher to do this is to take lessons with another yoga teacher.

QUESTION 3: WHAT TYPE OF YOGA DO YOU TEACH, AND HOW DID THAT STYLE OF TEACHING YOGA DEVELOP?

IDEAL ANSWER: I TEACH “Y” STYLE OF YOGA WHICH HAS EXISTED FOR AT LEAST 10 YEARS.

If a yoga teaching style has existed for at least 10 years, the teachers in that system know the best ways to teach and the pitfalls to be avoided. In addition, if a situation comes up that your teacher does not know how to handle, your teacher will be able to ask a more experienced teacher in that teaching style for advice.

QUESTION 4: WHAT TYPE OF YOGA TEACHER TRAINING HAVE YOU HAD?

IDEAL ANSWER: I HAVE COMPLETED (OR AM CURRENTLY ENROLLED IN) A 500 HOUR TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM WHICH INCLUDES CLASSES, EXAMS, AND APPRENTICE TEACHING.

Suppose a pipe burst in your house and sent a fountain of water gushing through your kitchen. Uh-oh, you need a plumber! There are two plumbers in your neighborhood: Plumber Smith and Plumber Jones. Plumber Smith used to be an electrician but took a one weekend plumber certification course and is now a plumber. Plumber Jones enrolled in a year long plumbing certification course at a special plumber training school, passed the plumbing certification exam, and apprenticed for one year under a master plumber. Which plumber would you choose?

Since yoga can have an enormous impact on your health, shouldn’t you take as much care in choosing a yoga teacher as you would in choosing a plumber? Your yoga teacher should be enrolled in or have completed a yoga teacher training course that lasts at least one year, and includes classes on how to do yoga, classes on how to teach yoga, apprentice teaching under a certified and experienced teacher, and certification exams.

One of the most comprehensive yoga teacher training programs in existence is the Iyengar Yoga Teacher Certification Program. If you are new to yoga, or suffer from a disease or injury, I strongly recommend that you seek out a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher.

QUESTION 5: DOES YOUR YOGA TEACHER HAVE A KIND AND EMPATHETIC HEART?

IDEAL ANSWER: YES.

Only you can determine if the answer to this question is yes.

A kind yoga teacher really cares about his or her students.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that a teacher is quiet or a pushover. A teacher may speak loudly because your attention has wandered off and he or she is trying to get your attention back. A kind yoga teacher will carefully watch what you are doing, and guide you into doing yoga more correctly. Find a great yoga teacher, follow his or her instructions, and the health and stress relief benefits of yoga will be yours!

Yoga Supplies: What to Look for

With yoga attaining a lot of fame among millions of people all over the world, many have developed a fetish to learn this art.

There are several reasons for this:

First and foremost, people have understood the importance of this form of art in providing health benefits and keeping their mental health in good condition.

Second, one can easily say goodbye to stress via practicing yoga. Third, yoga helps a lot in making the body flexible. There are several other benefits of yoga one can enjoy when the individual starts practicing it.

Prior to actually start practicing yoga, you need to focus on purchasing good quality yoga supplies. These supplies are extremely important to enhance your performance and provide you the maximum benefits of yoga.

Some of these yoga supplies also provide good support to the body and prevent the individual from encountering with any accidents or injuries. Don’t worry. Yoga does not require expensive equipments as most of the modern exercises and sports do.

One of the most valuable supplies that you need to focus on purchasing is a Yoga mat. These mats are constructed of tacky rubber and also prevent slippage. It is very difficult to maintain a complex pose while performing yoga. With a yoga mat, you don’t require to worry about hazardous flood conditions.

Additionally, you will find a wide variety of designs and colors when purchasing a yoga mat. If you have a tendency to develop allergy from latex products should go for cotton mats. These also serve the same purpose. Make sure that you keep your yoga mat clean.

Another yoga supply you would require is yoga clothes. Keep your yoga apparel simple, durable and comfortable. You may find yoga clothes in hemp spandex and cotton. You may choose to wear pants, shirts or tank tops according to your own comfort.

Yoga music is another important investment you need to make when learning yoga. This helps you to relax your mind and also helps you to get into appropriate mind set for a yoga session.

Yoga is a low impact exercise and performed in a quiet atmosphere. The yoga music will help you to get in to the real mood of yoga. It also works towards enhancing one’s learning performance and experience.

Last but not the least, you should also think of investing in to some yoga DVDs. You can easily learn a lot via watching these DVDs.

Purchasing yoga supplies will do a lot of good to you. You would be able to learn yoga in a better way and without any distraction.

Try to visit some shops prior to actually purchasing the yoga supplies. This will help you a lot in purchasing the best and the most affordable.

You may take help of an experienced person or someone who practices yoga regularly in order to purchase the best. He or she will guide you on purchasing the best and giving you tips on what to buy, how to buy and where to buy these yoga supplies from.

Pure Yoga – Unite Your Mind And Body!

While lately Yoga has come to signify no more than several exercises, which are used for keeping the body in shape and duly flexible, Yoga goes way beyond this and is actually more a way of life than just a few ‘asanas’.

Originating from the Sanskrit term ‘yuj’ which means to unite, Yoga is the path taken in the pursuit of uniting oneself with ‘God’ or ‘Spirit’. Yoga is in no way a religious practice, but refers to God as being your inner spirit or soul.

The benefits of pure Yoga though definitely involving the physical being, are more about achieving inner peace and tranquility. Any one seeking to fully gain the benefits from Yoga
must begin with the understanding that Yoga meditation, spiritual yoga and yoga exercises go hand in hand. One without the others is quite futile. Most of us seem to get carried away by shortcut methods, and simply follow some basic exercises while completely ignoring the holistic advantages of the system.

Being one of the five principles of Yoga, meditation is regarded as the constant observation of the mind. While the physical Yoga positions develop the human body muscles, meditation is designed to enhance the mind power. Understanding that inner peace and outer well-being are linked, and that ignoring one will automatically affect the other adversely too, is of prime importance here.

The human body is complexly linked to the soul and thus, it is impossible to expect one to flourish while the other is ignored. It is imperative that pure Yoga be adopted under the correct and wholesome guidance of learned teachers or literature, to enable you to fully understand the benefits of spiritual Yoga
, and learn both Yoga exercises and Yoga meditation in sync with each other. Unless the body and soul are both worked upon simultaneously via Yoga and meditation, it is unlikely that full benefits will be reaped.

Seeking literature on pure Yoga that aims towards its holistic benefits is the first step to moving in this direction, and discovering the various stages of the human mind is the first step crucial to the understanding of spiritual Yoga. Knowing about the science of Yoga as well as its practice, will help in reaping the benefits of Yoga in a holistic manner, and will enable you to enrich your body, mind and soul.

Origins And Concepts Of The 3 Different Branches of Yoga

History of Hatha Yoga

The history of hatha yoga goes back in the fifteenth century India when Yogi Swatmarama, a sage during those times, introduced it as a form of “a stairway to the heights” of Raja Yoga which is the preparatory stage of physical purification that makes the body fit for the practice of higher form of meditation. Hatha yoga is also known to be called as “hatha vidya” and the word “hatha” is a combination of the words, “ha” which means sun “tha” that means moon and they are said to refer to the prinicipal “nadis” or the energy channels of the body and must be fully operational to attain the state of “dhyana” or a certain aspect of meditation.

Some people may link that the origins of hatha yoga which dates back in the tenth or eleventh century with Goraknath, a yogin during those times. However, the oldest surviving text about hatha yoga is the Hatha Yoga Pradipika by yogin, Yogi Swatmarama. The text is said to be taken from old Sanskrit writings and personal yogin experiences of the yogin himself. The text relates about shatkarma, asana, pranayama, chakras, kundalini, bandhas, kriyas, shakti, nadis, and mudras among others.

Concept of Hatha yoga

The total concept of the traditional hatha yoga is a holistic yogic path comprising of moral disciplines, physical exercises, breath control, and meditation. The hatha yoga that is widely practiced and popular in the western countries mainly composed of the “asanas” or postures and other exercises.

Hatha yoga is only one of the two concepts of yoga that concentrates on the physical culture and the other yoga is the Raja yoga but both of these are referred to as Ashtanga yoga. The main difference is that the Raja yoga concentrates more on the “asanas” or postures to get the body ready for a prolonged meditation that concentrates mainly on the meditative “asana” poses. The hatha yoga on the other hand concentrates on balancing the mind and body through physical exercises, controlled breathing, and calming the mind through meditation and sheer relaxation.

Different positions or postures are recommended by practitioners to help lessen or avoid health problems ranging from constipation through cancer. It was said that it helps to reduce stress, pressure, and other mental worries that people today are frequently exposed to.

History of Karma Yoga

Karma yoga also known as Buddhi Yoga or the “discipline of action” is centered on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Sanskrit scripture of Hinduism. One of the four pillars of yoga, Karma yoga concentrates on the adherence to duty (dharma) while remaining detached from the reward. It states that one can attain Moksha (salvation) or love of God (bhakti) by performing their duties in a selfless manner for the pleasure of the Supreme. Karma Yoga is an inherent part of many derivative types of yoga, such as Natya Yoga.

Concept Of Karma Yoga

The word Karma is mentioned from the Sanskrit Kri, meaning ‘to do’, in its most basic sense karma simply means action, and yoga translates to union. Therefore, Karma yoga literally translates to the path of union through action. It is described as a way of acting, thinking and willing by which one acts in accordance with one’s duty (dharma) with no consideration of personal selfish desires, likes or dislikes, i.e. acting without being emotionally involved to the fruits of one’s deeds.

In the case of Arjuna in the Gita, this translated to his fighting in the oncoming war to uphold the righteous cause in accordance with his duty as a warrior; even if out of compassion, he did not want to battle with his relatives and teachers on the other side.

Krishna then goes on to tell how Arjuna should surrender the fruits of his actions (good or bad) to himself (as the Supreme Person or avatara) :

Krishna describes that allocated work done without expectations, motives, or anticipation of its outcome purifies one’s mind and slowly makes an individual fit to see the value of reason. He states that it is not necessary to remain in external solitude, or actionless, in order to practice a spiritual life, with the state of action or inaction is solely determined in the mind.

In order to attain the perfection of life, Krishna describes it is important to control all mental desires and tendencies to enjoy pleasures of the senses. The practice of Karma Yoga in everyday life makes an individual fit through action, meditation and devotion to sharpen his reasoning, develop intuitive power of acquiring knowledge and to transcend the mind itself.

History Of Raja Yoga

Raja Yoga also known as Classical Yoga or simply Yoga is one of the six orthodox (astika) schools of Hindu philosophy, being described Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. It is also occasionally referred to as A??anga (eight-limbed) yoga because there are eight aspects to the path to which one must attend. Raja yoga is concerned primarily with the cultivation of the mind using meditation (dhyana) to further one’s acquaintance with reality and finally achieve liberation.

The term Raja Yoga is a retronym, introduced in the 15th century Hatha Yoga Pradipika to differentiate the school based on the Yoga Sutras from the new current of Hatha Yoga.

Concept of Raja Yoga

Raja-Yoga is principally concerned with the mind. The mind is traditionally perceived as the ‘king’ of the psycho-physical structure which does its bidding (whether or not one has realized this). Because of the relationship between the mind and the body, the body must be ‘tamed’ first through self-discipline and purified by various means (see Hatha Yoga). A good level of overall health and psychological integration must be achieved before the deeper aspects of yoga can be pursued. Humans have all sorts of addictions and temptations and these preclude the attainment of tranquil abiding (meditation). Through restraint (yama) such as celibacy, abstaining from drugs and alcohol and careful attention to one’s actions of body, speech and mind, the human being becomes well to practise meditation. This yoke that one puts upon oneself is the alternate meaning of the word yoga.

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras start with the statement yogas citta-vtti-nirodha (1.2), “yoga limits the oscillations of the mind”. They proceed on to detailing the ways in which mind can create false ideations and advocate meditation on real objects, which process, it is said, will lead to a spontaneous state of quiet mind, the “Nirbija” or “seedless state”, in which there is no mental object of focus. Practices that serve to maintain for the individual the ability to check this state may be considered Raja Yoga practices. Thus Raja Yoga encompasses and differentiates itself from other forms of Yoga by encouraging the mind to avoid the sort of absorption in obsessional practice (including other traditional yogic practices) that can generate false mental objects. In this angle, Raja Yoga is “king of yogas”: all yogic practices are seen as potential tools for obtaining the seedless state, itself considered to be the first point in the quest to cleanse Karma and obtain Moksha or Nirvana. Traditionally, schools of yoga that label themselves “Raja” offer students a mix of yogic practices and (hopefully) this philosophical viewpoint.



TARASANA

While practicing this asana, the body assumes the posture of a star. So it is called Tarasana. For better understanding, indicated below.

Technique :

Stand straight making an angle of 45c between the feet. Keep the arms in front of you. Keep the palms facing each other and stretch the arms in the line with the shoulders. (See Technique 1). Then keep the palms downards facing the ground and stretch the arms on the sides in the line with the shoulders as shown in Technique 2. Then bring the arms upwards and keep the palms facing each other. (See Technique 3). Hold the position for two seconds at each stage. After completing the third stage, bring the body to its original position. Repeat this asana three to four times. With repeated practice, this asana can be practised six times daily.



TARASANA(Technique 1)




TARASANA(Technique 2)



TARASANA(Technique 3)

Advantages :

(1) This asana strengthens the lungs and the chest. It is very much beneficial to those who suffer from asthma.

(2) It expands the chest and makes it shapely (symmetrical).

(3) It activates the respiratory system.

(4) The regular practice of this asana helps to increase the height of the body to some extent.

Dangers of South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet is considered to be a healthy diet, which is concerned on the right carbohydrates and the right fats for a healthy body. As such, many people were drawn to it believing that the South Beach Diet is really the best diet for them.

However, out of this good reputation that the South Beach Diet maintained, still there are some attacks and bad comments about the diet. Well, we don’t need to be surprised about this, for this is how the world is set.

What then is the importance of the principle of “yin and yang” if there is only one side for everything? There could be biases, prejudices, and imbalances, right?

So, even though there is really no noted “big” South Beach Diet danger, still there are certain resources which hold that the South Beach Diet danger surface when the improper application of the diet is made.


Lack of Information and Understanding

Numerous resources have noted that part of the South Beach Diet is the lack of information or understanding about the diet. From the word “lack” alone, a sort of South Beach Diet danger is then viewed.

According to many studies, the South Beach Diet danger surfaced for the reason that the South Beach Diet is very demanding for those that are accustomed to carbohydrate-rich diets.


Lapsing Into the Old Eating Habits

In line with such view for the South Beach Diet danger, it is also noted that one of the largest South Beach Diet dangers surface when there is a lapsing into the old eating habits.

This was considered to be a South Beach Diet danger for the reason that this lapsing will result in speedy weight gain. Along with that, this part of the South Beach Diet danger may then be a new way of life.


Lack of Willpower

In relation to such fact, another support states that a great South Beach Diet danger will also surface when there is a lack of willpower exerted for the diet, especially from the carbohydrates lovers.

In fact, it is a common view that there is always the South Beach Diet danger of lapsing back into old eating habits and increasing the carbohydrate consumption without even realizing it.


Steps To Overcome These South Beach Diet Dangers

So to battle this one of the common South Beach Diet dangers, Dr. Arthur Agatston himself recommends that the dieters who do lapse and end up on placing some of the weight back on should then be immediately switch back to the first phase of the South Beach Diet for a short while.

This recommendation is given not only to battle such South Beach Diet danger but also to prevent from the occurrence of several South Beach Diet dangers. It is also interesting to know that if this South Beach Diet danger is not prevented earlier, this will lead to an excess in weight gain.

With such mentioned possible South Beach Diet dangers, the South Beach Diet then received mixed reviews from most dieters. Despite the South Beach Diet dangers, many people still consider the South Beach Diet as an updated version of the Atkins diet that is a far more balanced diet.

Only one thing that this diet plan does do is really to educate the dieters in eating the correct food to reduce heart disease, high cholesterol levels, and other South Beach Diet dangers.

Why Yoga Should Be a Part of Your Daily Fitness Routine

If you would like to really put your daily fitness routine in overdrive and get better results than you ever have in the past, you really should consider adding yoga exercises into your home fitness workouts. Aerobic exercise is great for burning calories, and strength training works very well for strengthening your muscle groups. But yoga goes far beyond either of those forms of exercise and can benefit you both physically and mentally. Let’s see how.

Physical Benefits

1. Flexibility — strength training helps improve muscle mass but it does very little to improve muscle flexibility. And studies have shown that short powerful muscles are prone to injury. So one of the major benefits of yoga exercises is the prolonged stretching found in many of the yoga positions and poses.

2. Balance — especially as we get older balance becomes more critical. It also allows you to move more easily and comfortably. Most yoga positions stress some form of balance in order to maintain the position.

3. Energy level — higher levels of energy often come through higher levels of relaxation in the body. Tension on the other hand is an energy killer. Yoga exercises help lower stress and tension and and improve oxygen flow in the blood. All of that helps lead to a higher energy level.

4. Pain management — many people today suffer with chronic pain, often in their back. Much muscle pain has its roots in tension. If you can get your muscles to relax, often the pain can even disappear. This is another great benefit of the relaxation techniques found in yoga.

Mental Benefits

1. Through the yoga positions and breathing exercises you are helped to focus inward rather than on the outward distractions of your life. This introspection can help clear your mind and focus your attention on the more important things in your life.

2. Stress levels can be greatly reduced by a regular yoga exercise routine. As was already mentioned, many yoga poses and breathing techniques encourage extreme relaxation of body and mind. This can help you let go of daily stress and it’s damaging influences.

3. Yoga can help promote a feeling of inner peace and tranquility because many yoga practices encourage time for meditation, which helps you gain control over your own thinking instead of being at the mercy of negative thoughts.

As you can see, there are lots of very good reasons for including yoga exercises in your daily fitness routine. Why not start learning more about yoga right away, and put it to work for you?