Your Mind Body and Soul

Hatha Yoga Poses – An Introduction

April 27th, 2009 Posted by Colleen Lilly | Yoga | no comments

Yoga – Weight Loss Made Easy With Yoga Stretches

By Julia Denham

Are you tired of weight loss programs which just don’t work? It’s time for a change: try something different. Yoga can help you to lose weight because it helps you to change your lifestyle. Forget about dieting, just do some simple yoga stretches every day.

1. Find a Beginner’s Yoga Class

You don’t have to be an expert yogi to lose weight with yoga. You can be a complete beginner. What matters is that yoga will change you, and the weight will vanish over time. It’s not a process you can force, you simply allow it to happen.

Start the process by finding a beginners yoga class in your area, and make a commitment to go to class at least once a week.

2. Spend Ten Minutes Morning and Evening on Your Favorite Poses

In yoga there around 10 primary poses with endless variations. Pick your favorite two poses, and do them morning and evening. This should take you around 10 minutes.

For example, let’s say you picked downward dog and the cobra as the poses you’ll practice outside class this week. Start your 10 minute session in mountain pose, paying particular attention to your alignment, and relaxing as you stand in the pose. Then do cobra pose. Perform the pose four times. Completely relax between each pose.

Complete your session by performing downward dog pose, increasing the length of time you spend in the pose gradually, until you’re spending around 90 seconds in the pose.

3. Allow Yourself to Lose Weight: Forget Dieting

You gained weight gradually. You didn’t have to think about gaining weight, it just happened, because of the habits you created. Changing habits is very difficult, especially if you try to impose change from the outside. Yoga helps you to change from the inside.

Within a few days of starting your yoga exercises, you’ll find that you no longer crave fast food. However, buying fast food is a habit. You may still find yourself buying fast food even though your craving for it is gone. Don’t try to force yourself to stop. One day you would just drive right past your favorite fast food eatery. You won’t have to think about it.

Is it really that simple? Can you really lose weight with just a few yoga stretches each day? Yes, you can. The key is to enjoy your yoga, and to forget about dieting. Weight loss will happen, and more quickly than you can imagine.

Discover yourself with yoga, a gentle form of stretching. Yoga strengthens both your body and mind, and is suitable for anyone, from children to seniors. Visit Easy Fab Yoga Blog at http://www.easyfabyoga.com/blog/ for daily yoga information, tips, and inspiration.

March 30th, 2009 Posted by Colleen Lilly | Weight Loss, Yoga | no comments

Beginner Breathing in Yoga

By Dave Benz

In yoga, many experts have the opinion that breathing is more important to successful practice than perfect pose form. You already have the basic equipment to reach your goals. Remember to consciously engage your breath and be aware of your breathing as you develop your skills. When performing Asana, keep in mind that it isn’t necessary or even possible to do it perfectly all the time. Especially for beginners, this should be more of a goal, and as with any form of meditation, you should try to be mindful and have progress, but also not beat yourself up about it.

You Don’t Need Any Yoga Props to Breathe.

We breathe all day every day, and as human beings it’s something we do as naturally as fish swimming in the water. As such respiration isn’t something we think about much. So why make such a big deal about it once you start practicing yoga? To return to the fish in water analogy, almost everything that is good to a fish comes to it through water. A fish in bad water will eventually sicken and die. A fish which cannot breathe in water will most certainly perish. Good water is necessary for fish not just to grow but to thrive. Anyone who keeps fish will tell you that the number one biggest challenge to keeping fish is water quality. People with aquariums need filtration equipment.

photo credit: stephcarter

So why are we so casual about how we consider air and breathing? We are in air all the time just like fish are in water all the time. We breathe air in and out. The air brings us oxygen, which our body uses in our brain, our organs, our heart, and blood. Air is something we all need not just to live but to thrive. Maybe you could even think of air as vitamins. You need to get your Vitamin O! Your vitamin O is being used by your body for your autonomic nervous system. So your heart rate, respiration, digestion, perspiration, and even how much your eye pupils are dilated. The equipment of your body. In addition, there is the somatic nervous system, which is the part which you control consciously. So it’s voluntary bodily movement, and sense organs. Beginning and ending.

So looking at it this way, you can see that breathing is how you bring that vitamin O into your body. It is something we need to survive. And when we exhale, waste products of our metabolism are leaving our bodies through our lungs. Our continued health and life hinges on this function. Like fish with water, air and breathing are central to everything we are.

Our breathing changes depending on our mood or situation. If you are stressed out you may breathe in a more shallow or constricted way. Others may breathe too much and hyperventilate. In another situation, maybe you’re reading in an awkward position, or slouching in a chair at work. Your breathing may be too shallow or small. Either situation needs to be remedied. To breathe as deeply as you should in yoga, you need to make sure your posture is correct. A person should not just pay attention to their posture, they should be aware of their breathing.

I wonder how it is that we don’t learn how to breathe. I guess it just comes naturally, but it is also something that is easy to forget about. When you practice, however, you become aware of your respiration, and breathe consciously, you can escape these situations where you aren’t breathing mindfully. This is even more important for beginners.

By now you’re probably seeing the connection between your mental state and the way you breathe. Scientists and physicians are aware of this connection as well as people who practice yoga. Think of the practice of breathing deeply and counting to ten when you are upset. In yoga with breathing we strive to connect mind and body. So take time in your practice to concentrate on your breathing. Be thoughtful and aware. A popular class topic for yoga teachers is breathing. You create harmony and connectedness inside and out. Visit my website if you’re interested in yoga for beginners and equipment.

Breathe deeply and regularly. Make sure your breaths are not shallow. This will improve the health of many parts of your body. Your skin will stay fresh and young. Your lungs will benefit and your heart will thank you. The different nervous systems and the brain will be nourished. Try to be a beginner every day. You don’t need equipment to do it. Mind and body will come together as one and it will be more easy to reach a relaxed, mindful state.

Dave Benz started folding origami more than twenty years ago. He has been gluten-free for over a year. He writes about origami, gluten-free diet, and horror books and movies among other things

March 24th, 2009 Posted by Colleen Lilly | Yoga | one comment