Yoga Postures

Yoga Postures & Asanas

Yoga Postures and Asanas exercise every part of your body. The stretching involved helps in toning your muscles and joints, including your spine and your entire Skeletal System. Yoga not only facilitates in improving your body but also aids in keeping your glands, nerves and your other internal organs in radiant health. By releasing physical and mental tension, you will liberate vast resources of energy.

The Yogic Breathing Exercises known as Pranayama revitalize the body and help control the mind, leaving you calm and refreshed; combine this with the practice of positive thinking and Meditation, and the result will be increased clarity, mental power and concentration.

Postures are gentle stretching movements designed to help balance the mind and body. The Yoga Postures are designed to rejuvenate the brain, spine, glands and internal organs. They work by increasing the blood and prana supply to these areas and by stimulating them with a gentle squeezing action. The asanas were designed with economy of time and effort in mind. Most of them work on more than one aspect of the body at the same time. For example, the twist asana benefits the spine, adrenal glands, liver, pancreas and kidneys. The Yoga Asanas produce their beneficial effect on the organs and glands in three ways:

  • The position of the asana causes an increase in blood circulation to the specific target organ or gland.
  • The position of the asana often produces a slight squeezing of the organ or gland. This has the effect of massaging the organ or gland and stimulating it.
  • Deep breathing and visualizing the target area sends an extra supply of prana to the area.

Yoga's effect on the spine is to increase its flexibility. This ensures a good nerve supply to all parts of the body, since the nerves from the spine go to all the organs and glands.

Just like any other exercises, Yoga follows a series of poses. You start by opening or warming-up. The first thing you do is to sit quietly for a few minutes. This will allow you to gather your energy, let go of all your concerns, and become centered. This will also help you in planning about the Yoga Poses you want to do. Then you shift from feeling the outside to the inside by centering your attention to your Breathing. Breathe freely, then breathe deeper after a few minutes. Then you may start with opening poses. Remember that Yoga Poses are done slowly and meditatively combined with abdominal breathing. These gentle movements not only reawaken your awareness and control of your body, but also have a profound effect spiritually - freeing you from fears and helping to instill confidence and serenity. And at the end of the Yoga Session, you will find yourself relaxed and full of energy - quite unlike other forms of physical exercise which cause fatigue through overexertion.

Yoga Poses or asanas are based on seven primary types of movements: 1. flexion; 2. extension; 3. hyperextension; 4. abduction; 5. adduction; 6. rotation, and; 7. circumduction. These are basically the movements your body can make. A Yoga Pose may be one or a combination of any of these types of movements. The locust pose, for example, uses hyperextension. These poses are designed to release tension in your muscles and joints in order to make your body stronger, more flexible and balanced. This section will teach you the Basic Yoga Session - from warm-up to cool-down. A Basic Yoga Session will include opening poses, standing poses, salutations, shoulder and hip exercises, back and forward bends, inversions, twists and finishing poses.

How to Perform the Asanas

There are three stages to each asana - coming into pose, holding it, and coming out of it. These postures are designed to release tension from different areas of your body making each pose relatively important. It is also important to merge your poses with your breath. You should learn to stay with the flow of breath to stay with the feeling of the pose. The Yoga Poses must be done continuously until the final pose.

Asana poses usually starts by sitting still, breathing slowly and deeply as you try to concentrate your mind and make yourself centered. Your movement and your breath should be coordinated, that the two already becomes one and the same. You allow your breath to be your guide in your movement and in your stretch. This will enable you to have full attention on the flow of your breath and let your breath lead you into the feeling-tone of the pose. It will make you more sensitive if you need to go further into a pose or stretch and how long you need to stay in a pose. Always release your body from an asana with as much grace and control as you used to come into it.

The Systems of Yoga - Breathing and Meditation

The interconnection between Yoga Exercise, Breathing and Meditation is the key to the system.

One basic assumption of the Yoga Sutras is that the body and the mind are part of one continuum of existence, the mind being more subtle than the body. This is the foundation of the yogic view of health. The interaction of body and mind is the central concern of the entire science. It is believed that as the body and mind are brought into balance and health, the individual will be able to perceive his true nature; this will allow life to be lived through him more freely and spontaneously.

Yoga first attempts to reach the mind, where health begins, for mental choices strongly affect the health of the body. Choices of food, types of exercise, which thoughts to think, etc. all affect the body. As practiced traditionally in India, Yoga includes a set of ethical imperatives and moral precepts, including diet, exercise, and meditative aspects. In the West, Yoga focuses primarily on postures (gentle stretching exercises), breathing exercises, and meditation. Yoga is frequently used in Western medicine to enhance health and treat chronic disease as well as stress.

Pranayama: Breathing Techniques

Pranayamas are specially developed breathing techniques. Yoga Breathing produces a huge storage of energy in the solar plexus area. This will cause the body to radiate vitality and, if any sickness is developing, the body can call upon some of this energy reserve to combat the disease. Yoga breathing also improves brain function (intelligence and memory), as well as increasing the elimination of toxins from the system. The total effect of Yoga asanas and breathing is to produce a state of high vitality and rejuvenation.

Meditation and Positive Thinking

The benefits of the postures are greater if you concentrate the healing action where it is needed. You can incorporate a variety of affirmations, meditation/concentration practices and visualization. Meditation and concentration is covered in detail elsewhere. Many times focusing on an object or sound (like clicking of a clock) can help us concentrate and leave our distracting thoughts away. An affirmation is a declaratory statement of yourself. They are inner-self conditioners. Our inner mind will believe everything we say with conviction and emotional force. It take some persistent repetitions to get the desired result. Typical affirmations that can be used are:

  • I am at my desired weight (for dieters)
  • My lungs are pure and clean (for smokers who want to get out of the habit)
  • I feel continuously alert, vital and useful (general), etc.

Even more powerful technique than affirmation is visualization. Here, we show our subconscious mind a picture of what we are talking about. Forming such picture inside your mind is called visualization. To be effective, visualization should involve all senses, not just sight. Imagine the state or thing we want. How does it feel when we have it? What will you be with it? What does it feel? What does it look like? How does it sound? How does it taste? How does it smell? For healing therapy, visualize the state without the condition. For example, for those trying to lose weight, visualize yourself in the desired weight and physical condition and imagine the life in the new state. In other words, you should mentally see the affected area as it receives fresh blood circulation, oxygen and physical massage. A diabetic should visualize the healing energies flowing into the pancreas, near the stomach. A rheumatic can concentrate on the release of synovial fluid. Synovial fluid is a lubricant and also disperses waste matter which can cause stiffness at joints.

Thus, most effective Yoga therapy involves a three-pronged attack. When you practice postures, you are strengthening the body. When you control your breathing, you are creating a chemical and emotional balance. And when you concentrate your mind on affirmations, you are practicing the power of prayer. But when all three approaches are synthesized, you are entering the most powerful mystery of healing: the basic harmony of life.

Principles of Yoga

The Five Principles of Yoga are the basis of attaining a healthy body and mind through the Practice of Yoga.

Principle 1: Proper Relaxation
By releasing the tension in the muscles and putting the whole body at rest, you revitalize your Nervous System and achieve inner peace, making you feel relaxed and refreshed. This relaxed feeling is carried over into all your activities and helps you conserve your energy and let go of all worries and fears.
Principle 2: Proper Exercise
This principle revolves around the idea that our physical body is meant to move and exercise. Proper Exercise is achieved through the Yoga Postures or Asana which systematically works on all parts of the body - stretches and tones the Muscles and Ligaments, enhances the flexibility of the spine and the joints, and improves Blood Circulation. The asanas are designed to regulate the physical and physiological functions of the body. Practicing these Yoga Poses makes your body relaxed, gives you more strength and energy, and rejuvenates the various systems of the body. The Yoga Posture goes together with Proper Breathing. Each movement and stretch should be guided by your breath, making your movement and your breaths coordinated and feel like one and the same. The execution of the Asana is beneficial to the body, and at the same time contributes to spiritual and mental growth.
Principle 3: Proper Breathing
This means breathing fully and rhythmically, making use of all the parts of your Lungs to increase your oxygen intake. Proper Breathing should be deep, slow and rhythmical. To achieve this, you need to be able to regulate the length and duration of your inhalation, exhalation, and the retention of air in your lungs or the pauses between breaths. Yoga Breathing Exercises or Pranayama teaches you on how you can recharge your body and control your mental state by regulating the flow of Prana - the life force. This helps you achieve a calmer and more focused mind, and increases your energy level.
Principle 4: Proper Diet
What you eat extremely affects your mind. Improper diet results to mental inefficiency and blocks spiritual awareness. Proper Diet is one that nourishes both mind and body. It should be well balanced and based on natural foods. Proper Diet in Yoga also means eating in moderation and eating only when you are hungry. We sometimes tend to eat when we are upset, using food to fill the gap or the emptiness that we feel. Bad eating habits will cause our senses to be dull that we won't even notice how much we eat or how it tastes and may result to diet related ailments like Obesity and Diabetes. Food should sustain our body. It should keep the body light and supple, the mind calm, and it should also help in keeping a strong immune system.
Principle 5: Positive Thinking and Meditation
The way we think highly affects our way of life. Practice keeping a positive outlook in life, this will facilitate in having a peaceful mind. Positive thinking and Meditation helps you remove negative thoughts and put your mind under perfect control.

Benefits of Yoga

Yoga as we all know it is aimed to unite the mind, the body, and the spirit. Yogis view that the mind and the body are one, and that if it is given the right tools and taken to the right environment, it can find harmony and heal itself. Yoga therefore is considered therapeutic. It helps you become more aware of your body's posture, alignment and patterns of movement. It makes the body more flexible and helps you relax even in the midst of a stress stricken environment. This is one of the foremost reasons why people want to start Practicing Yoga - to feel fitter, be more energetic, be happier and peaceful.

The information is grouped into three categories-physiological, psychological, biochemical effects. Furthermore, scientists have laid these results against the benefits of regular exercise

Physiological Benefits of Yoga

  • Stable autonomic nervous system equilibrium
  • Pulse rate decreases
  • Respiratory rate decreases
  • Blood Pressure decreases (of special significance for hyporeactors)
  • Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) increases
  • EEG - alpha waves increase (theta, delta, and beta waves also increase during various stages of meditation)
  • EMG activity decreases
  • Cardiovascular efficiency increases
  • Respiratory efficiency increases
  • Gastrointestinal function normalizes
  • Endocrine function normalizes
  • Excretory functions improve
  • Musculoskeletal flexibility and joint range of motion increase
  • Breath-holding time increases
  • Joint range of motion increase
  • Grip strength increases
  • Eye-hand coordination improves
  • Dexterity skills improve
  • Reaction time improves
  • Posture improves
  • Strength and resiliency increase
  • Endurance increases
  • Energy level increases
  • Weight normalizes
  • Sleep improves
  • Immunity increases
  • Pain decreases
  • Steadiness improves
  • Depth perception improves
  • Balance improves
  • Integrated functioning of body parts improves

Psychological Benefits of Yoga

  • Somatic and kinesthetic awareness increase
  • Mood improves and subjective well-being increases
  • Self-acceptance and self-actualization increase
  • Social adjustment increases
  • Anxiety and Depression decrease
  • Hostility decreases
  • Concentration improves
  • Memory improves
  • Attention improves
  • Learning efficiency improves
  • Mood improves
  • Self-actualization increase
  • Social skills increases
  • Well-being increases
  • Somatic and kinesthetic awareness increase
  • Self-acceptance increase
  • Attention improves
  • Concentration improves
  • Memory improves
  • Learning efficiency improves
  • Symbol coding improves
  • Depth perception improves
  • Flicker fusion frequency improves

Biochemical Benefits of Yoga

  • Glucose decreases
  • Sodium decreases
  • Total cholesterol decreases
  • Triglycerides decrease
  • HDL cholesterol increases
  • LDL cholesterol decreases
  • VLDL cholesterol decreases
  • Cholinesterase increases
  • Catecholamines decrease
  • ATPase increases
  • Hematocrit increases
  • Hemoglobin increases
  • Lymphocyte count increases
  • Total white blood cell count decreases
  • Thyroxin increases
  • Vitamin C increases
  • Total serum protein increases

Yoga Benefits versus Exercise Benefits

  • Yoga Benefits
    • Parasympathetic Nervous System dominates
    • Subcortical regions of brain dominate
    • Slow dynamic and static movements
    • Normalization of muscle tone
    • Low risk of injuring muscles and ligaments
    • Low caloric consumption
    • Effort is minimized, relaxed
    • Energizing (breathing is natural or controlled)
    • Balanced activity of opposing muscle groups
    • Noncompetitive, process-oriented
    • Awareness is internal (focus is on breath and the infinite)
    • Limitless possibilities for growth in self-awareness
  • Exercise Benefits
    • Sympathetic Nervous System dominates
    • Cortical regions of brain dominate
    • Rapid forceful movements
    • Increased muscle tension
    • Higher risk of injury
    • Moderate to high caloric consumption
    • Effort is maximized
    • Fatiguing (breathing is taxed)
    • Imbalance activity of opposing groups
    • Competitive, goal-oriented
    • Awareness is external (focus is on reaching the toes, reaching the finish line, etc.)
    • Boredom factor

Pregnancy yoga

Yoga is the ideal exercise for pregnant woman. It is widely recommended by midwives and doctors to expectant mothers as a way of keeping fit and mobile.

During pregnancy, yoga:

  • keeps the body supple without straining
  • boosts energy
  • relieves stress and anxiety
  • relaxes and promotes restful sleep
  • can be used to relieve pain in labour and childbirth
  • can relieve common minor ailments during pregnancy
    (e.g. swollen joints, heartburn, constipation)
  • can help the expectant mother to bond with the unborn baby through breathing and visualisation techniques

The Practice of Yoga can help you prepare your mind and body for labor and birth as this helps you focus, to concentrate and keep you healthy. The Yoga Poses are gentle ways of keeping your body active and supple and minimize the common Pregnancy Symptoms like morning sickness and constipation. It can also help in ensuring easier labor and smooth delivery by relieving tension around the cervix and birth canal and by opening the pelvis. The Breathing Techniques can also become handy during labor. It also helps in restoring your body shape, uterus, abdomen, and pelvic floor, and in relieving upper back tension and breast discomfort after childbirth. Special care, however, is needed in choosing the Yoga Poses that you will practice, you should avoid poses that requires laying on the back or belly.

For the first trimester, standing Yoga Poses are advised as this will help strengthen the legs, promote Circulation, generate energy, and may reduce leg cramps. It is also advisable to do some stretching such as the hamstrings stretch to avoid Sciatica. During the second and third trimester, you may reduce your time spent for practicing the Asanas to prevent fatigue and overwork. It is also not advised to practice from the tenth to through the fourteenth week of Pregnancy since these are crucial times. Supine poses, backbends, and twisting can also be done with modification or if the body is on an incline. Do not overstretch the abdomen; the emphasis of your twisting poses should be on the shoulders and the upper back and not on the abdomen. Avoid doing inversion poses though some experience Yoga practitioners usually still feel comfortable doing this until the seventh month

It is recommended to begin the classes in the third month of pregnancy and continuing throughout (once or twice a week, as time permits) in order to gain maximum benefit, but it is possible to begin at any point in your pregnancy.

A minimum of six classes enables you to acquire a basic ‘embodied memory’ of the key techniques. The practical usefulness of the yoga increases in proportion to the woman’s familiarity with the techniques taught, and familiarity comes through repetition and variation on a core range of practices. This is particularly important in relation to the breath work and visualization that is the foundation of the yogic approach to gentle birth.

Although classes are pre-booked, there are no fixed start and finish dates for ‘courses’ of classes: this means that those with hectic work schedules or commitments can to attend classes on different days, and that women at different stages of pregnancy share the same classes.

Mother & Baby – Postnatal

The postnatal period is a very special time for mothers and babies. This programme of classes is specially designed to provide a warmly supportive environment in which to enjoy getting to know your baby, sharing beneficial practices to aid postnatal recovery and learning to relax in each others' presence over the postnatal year and beyond.

Yoga Angels – Kids Yoga

The practice of yoga helps children maintain and develop their flexibility, strength, sleep better, improve concentration and perform to their full potential at home and in school. The combination of breathing, posture work and relaxation/visualization techniques help children to gain in self- confidence and come to terms with many of their physical and mental developmental changes. Classes begin in September