The Yoga Central Blog

Compared to many other forms of sports and/or excercise, yoga requires very little in the way of equipment. Apart from confortable clothes, a suitable yoga mat is all you need.

Yoga mats are an integral part of our every day yoga practice. In fact, there are several types of yoga mats that are available in the marketplace. You can select yours from a variety of yoga mats that will depend on the type of yoga you perform. Read more about some of the most common types of yoga mats here.

Comments(0)

Asana is Sanskrit for “seat”. It is no accident that this word be selected to explain the “posture” of Yoga. The overall idea of the “seat” in this setting refers not only to the physical position of the body, but to the desired position of the spirit in relation to Divinity. This concept is often referred to as the “One Seat”, by Yogis and Buddhists equally.

Modern usage of the spoken word asana in reference to the tradition of Yoga in most cases intends the lesser definition; a physical posture or pose. Patanjali, in the Yoga Sutra describes asana as sitting meditation, where meditation is the way to a realization of the Self. Looking at these two purposes in contrast, we see the aim of asana as both simple posture and a path to the unity of spirit.

Although, as noted, the original idea of asana related to sitting meditation, that idea has developed over the centuries to create the collection of body positions that we are familiar with today. These poses have their origins in devotion and/or health, but eventually all are meant to lead back to the possiblity of sitting more comfortably in meditation.

Read more about the use and meaning of asanas in modern yoga here.

Comments(0)

Modern yoga practice often includes traditional elements received from Hinduism, such as moral and ethical principles, poses intended to maintain the body fit, spiritual philosophy, guidance by a guru, incantation of mantras (sacred syllables), quieting the breathing, and stilling the active mind through meditation. These components are sometimes adapted to meet the demands of non-Hindu practitioners.

Some Christians have altered the way of yoga to comply with their own approach to spirituality and out of concern for associating with spiritual practices of other non-christian religions.

Some Christians strongly oppose crucial components of yoga outright. According to Donal O’Mathuna, Ph.D., and Walt Larimore, M.D., in their publication Alternative Medicine, they state: “Yoga is an alternative therapy that is difficult to wholeheartedly accept or reject. As a set of physical and breathing exercises, it can improve general well-being. As a deeply religious practice with the goal of union with the divine, it is antithetical to biblical Christianity.”

I have written a longer article about Christian yoga that you can read here.

Comments(0)

Bikram Choudhury was the originator of Bikram Yoga. Born in Calcutta in 1946, Bikram began Yoga at the age of four with India’s most-renowned physical culturist at that time, Bishnu Ghosh, the younger brother of Paramahansa Yogananda (Author of the most popular book on Yoga, The Autobiography of a Yogi, and founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles).

He created Bikram Yoga after he unexpectedly met an injury in a weightlifting accident. He was so determined (he practised Yoga for at least four to six hours every day) that he had discovered some healing benefits in practicing some exercises. Many people have verified the benefits of Bikram Yoga so the routine was passed on and many people continued to practice it.

Some people apply Bikram Yoga for healing purposes and physical therapy. This type of Yoga was proven helpful in bringing holistic benefits to those who believed and practiced it.

Find out more about Bikram Yoga here

Comments(0)

If you’re seriously interested in knowing about yoga, you need to think beyond the basics. This informative article takes a closer look at things you need to know about yoga.

Yoga through meditation works remarkably to achieve harmony and helps the mind work in synchronization with the body. How often do we find that we are unable to perform our activities properly and in a satisfying manner because of the confusions and conflicts in our mind weigh down heavily upon us?

Stress is the number one suspect affecting all parts of our physical, endocrinal and emotional system. And with the help of yoga this things can be corrected.

At the physical level, yoga and its cleansing practices have proven to be extremely effective for various disorders.

Listed below are just some of the benefits of yoga that you can get.

Benefits of Yoga 1: Yoga is known to increase flexibility; yoga has postures that trigger the different joints of the body. Including those joints that are not acted upon with regular exercises routines.

Benefits of Yoga 2: Yoga also increases the lubrication of joints, ligament and tendons. The well-researched yoga positions exercise the different tendons and ligaments of the body.

It has also been found that the body which may have started doing yoga being a rigid one may experience a quite remarkable flexibility in the end on those parts of the body which have not been consciously worked upon.

Benefits of Yoga 3: yoga also massages all organs of the body. Yoga is perhaps the only exercise that can work on through your internal organs in a thorough manner, including those that hardly get externally stimulated during our entire lifetime.

Benefits of Yoga 4: Yoga acts in a wholesome manner on the various body parts. This stimulation and massage of the organs in turn benefits us by keeping away disease and providing a forewarning at the first possible instance of a likely onset of disease or disorder.

The more authentic information about yoga you know, the more likely people are to consider you a yoga expert. Read on for even more yoga facts that you can share. One of the far-reaching benefits of yoga is the uncanny sense of awareness that it develops in the practitioner of an impending health disorder or infection. This in turn enables the person to take pre-emptive corrective action.

Benefits of Yoga 5: yoga offers a complete detoxification of the body. It gently stretches the muscles and joints as we;; as massaging the various organs, yoga ensures the optimum blood supply to various parts of the body.

This helps in the flushing out of toxins from every nook and cranny of your body as well as providing nourishment up to the last point. This leads to benefits such as delayed ageing, energy and a remarkable zest for life.

Benefits of Yoga 6: yoga is also an excellent way to tone your muscles. Muscles which have been flaccid and weak are stimulated repeatedly to shed excess fats and flaccidity.

But these enormous physical benefits are just a “side effect” of this powerful practice. What yoga does is harmonize the mind with the body and these results in real quantum benefits.

It is now an open secret that the will of the mind has enabled people to achieve extraordinary physical feats, which proves beyond doubt the mind and body connection.

In fact yoga = meditation, because both work together in achieving the common goal of unity of mind, body and spirit which can lead to an experience of eternal bliss that you can only feel through yoga.

The meditative practices through yoga help in achieving an emotional balance through detachment.

This in turn creates a remarkable calmness and a positive outlook, which also has tremendous benefits on the physical health of the body.

There’s a lot to understand about yoga. We were able to provide you with some of the facts above, but there is still plenty more to write about in subsequent articles.

Comments(0)

There are many different types of Yoga. One of the most popular styles is Astanga yoga, which also is one of the most strenuous types of Yoga one can be involved in. Below follows a short article that describes the peculiarities in this particular branch of Yoga.

Ashtanga Yoga is the type of yoga which was created and established by a master named K. Pattabhi Jois. This type of yoga is known as the Eight Limb Yoga which has revolved in Pattanjali’s enormous idea. It showed that the optimum path of purification is made up of the eight spiritual practices.

These limbs can only be rectified by the appropriate application of the Ashtanga Yoga method. This variety of yoga method is quite dangerous to the mind.

The first four limbs that symbolize Ashtanga Yoga are:
- yama or moral codes
- niyama or self-purification and study
- Asana or posture
- Pranayama or breath control

These are regarded purifying practices which are externally correctable. Then there is the other set of limbs which are the internal practices:
- pratyahara or sense control
- dhyana or meditation
- dharana or concentration
- samadhi or contemplation

K. Pattabhi Jois declared that practicing these Eight Limbs as well as its sub-limbs of the external practices which contain the niyama and yama is impossible. In doing so, the body should be strong so that it can technically perform the methods well enough. If the body is weak, and the sense organs are not functioning well, practicing will never be productive at all.

This is a primary philosophy that K. Pattabhi Jois has applied, this is significant to comprehend so that in doing the practice, you are confident that the body will significantly improve and become stronger and healthier.

Vinsaya and Tristhana are performed in Ashtanga Yoga.

The Vinsaya is a style that makes Ashtanga and its fundamental principles different from the others. Vinsaya basically means the movement and respiration which is used for the internal cleansing process. Each movement done is accompanied by only one breath. Sweat is the most important product of Vinsaya. When you produce sweat, it only indicates that you are successfully applying the method. When you perform the Asanas, the body produces heat which causes your blood to “boil” and excrete the toxins outside of your body. The contaminations are found in your sweat. So the more sweat you produce, the more toxins are released.

The poses are used to fully develop the physical strength and health of the body. It is the sequence of practices that make this possible. There are three postures used in Ashtaga Yoga.

The three are grouped on different levels:

• The first is the Primary Series which aims on aligning the body and also detoxifying it.

• The second is the Intermediate Series opening and cleansing the energy channels which comes to the process of purifying the Nervous System.

• The last series would be the Advanced Series from A to D. In this set, the grace and strength are assessed.

The Tristhana is another yoga principle which symbolizes the close union of the three places of action and attention. First is the posture, second is the breathing technique ad last is the Dristhi of the Looking Place. All these three should work altogether to perform a function.

Breathing techniques are simultaneous and synchronized. It is important to make a single breath for one movement. Ujjayi Breathing is the Yoga Breathing Technique used in the implementation of Ashtanga Yoga. Applying this ancient technique must be prolonged after each and every practice. What you need to master is holding your pose longer at the same time hold your breath. This is an amazing breathing exercise that will intensify your internal fire and will toughen the Nervous System.

The breathing technique performed with vinyasa is called ujjayi [victorious breath] which consists of puraka [inhalation] and rechaka [exhalation] ). Both the inhale and exhale should be steady and even, the length of the inhale should be the same length as the exhale. Over time, the length and intensity of the inhalation and exhalation should increase, such that the increased stretching of the breath initiates the increased stretching of the body. Long, even breathing also increases the internal fire and strengthens and purifies the nervous system.

The reason that proper breathing is vital to the practice of yoga is that it enables you to calm your mind, and allows good thoughts to filter in. Without it, disorientation of the mind will occur and breathing patterns will become seriously affected. The whole basis of proper breathing is to insure a perfect state of mind, and a mind that is not agitated, angry and unstable… So, if you inhale for ten seconds… you should also exhale for the same length of time. This will insure the maintenance of the body’s equilibrium.

Both Ashtanga and Tristhana deal with the series of Dristhi. The Dristhi is defined as the point on which you acquire your focus or concentration while doing the Asana. This allows your mind to be purified and stabilized clearly.

Clearing your mind (that is sometimes compared to an over active monkey) and cleansing it can only be done in the Eight-Limb Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga.

Comments(0)