There are a number of specific Bikram yoga poses that you will need to learn and that have to be performed in a room that has a temperature of ninety to one hundred degrees Fahrenheit and where humidity levels are also high. Bikram yoga is named after the founder Bikram Choudhury who after years of studying yoga, under the well-known yogi Bishnu Ghosh, developed this unique form of yoga that has today gained in popularity, especially in the Western world.
Union of Mind and Body and Spirit
By performing Bikram yoga poses it is hoped that you will be able to unite your body with the mind and spirit, affect greater flexibility of the body while also increasing its strength. Part of the increased popularity of Bikram yoga lies in the fact that it enables a person to strengthen the muscles as well as the lymphatic, nervous and endocrine systems.
There are a total of twenty-six different Bikram yoga poses that need to be learned and mastered that must be performed in a room with desired level of heat and humidity. It must also be remembered that each of the twenty-six Bikram yoga poses should be performed twice in each session.
These different twenty-six Bikram yoga poses include those for standing, and for backward and forward bends and a number of twists. The advantage of performing Bikram yoga poses in a heated room lies in the fact that it has been proven that a practitioner will get the maximum benefits at a certain level of heat when the body becomes more flexible and less prone to injuries.
No doubt, many of the different Bikram yoga poses are challenging and not everyone will be comfortable performing them. Though with greater amount of heat in the room, the body increases its flexibility and so it becomes easier to practice the Bikram yoga poses, and in addition allows for reaching greater depth of each physical pose in a shorter period of time.
Because of the heat, the body will also sweat more and so lead to expelling of harmful toxins from the body and of course, as mentioned before, reduces the chance of injuring one. In any case, each of the twenty-six Bikram yoga poses are especially designed to enable the practitioner to strengthen their bodies and stretch muscles and joints as well as ligaments, and so leads to improved physical well being.
If you have thought about attending a Bikram yoga class, you will do well to follow your inclinations, as you will be getting an excellent opportunity to perform different Bikram yoga styles that will suit your needs. Though of course, to identify the proper style, you will have to make an effort and do your own research beforehand.
Though Bikram yoga poses are challenging and involve greater physical activity, there are various poses that can suit people of different abilities and so whether you are a novice or experienced you can pick the type of pose that you feel the most comfortable with and provided you can stand the heat, there will be nothing stopping you from achieving a better state of health and fitness.
Author: blogger
Yoga Strategies To Help Cram For Exams
A feeling of anxiousness or anxiety prior to taking an examination is normal. In fact, some experts believe it is healthy as it serves as an effective stimuli that prompts one to come up with a preparation strategy for an upcoming examination.
But some people are not good with handling their nervousness and anxiety such that it affects their performance in the exam. This is most especially true for those who are cramming for their exam. This makes them repulsive to any preparation method as they are unable to clear their mind.
Allow Body Movement
When an individual feels tensed about the idea of taking an examination that s/he isn’t fully prepared for, the tension is manifested throughout the entire body. Although you have short preparations to ensure that you perform well on your exam, that feeling of nervous tension often reacts on you mentally making you incapable of thinking logically.
Hence, a trick of releasing body tension and nervousness would be really helpful in remaining calm prior to taking your exam. Allowing as much body movement as possible is really helpful. You can do simple exercises such as walking, jogging, or stretching. This will effectively calm your nerves and release any tension that is building up. Doing these body movement enhancement exercises are also quite helpful in waking up your nerves and senses.
Reducing Anxiety and Stress
Stress and anxiety are two of the worst mental and physical health enemies. When people suffer from stress or anxiety, you lose synchronization and focus. This is a deadly combination when you are about to take an examination. The negative emotions or thoughts that you might be having could prevent you from thinking clearly. As a result, you have difficulty remembering all that you have reviewed for the exam and put you at risk for low performance.
Performing Rhythmic Breathing
Rhythmic breathing has been known to offer a wide range of benefits as a yoga practice. Among the physiological effects are increased oxygen supply and re-establishment of the body’s natural rhythm.
Mentally though, rhythmic breathing offers benefits that would help those who are cramming for their exam. It helps bring about calmness of the mind, increase your level of self-confidence, and improve concentration ability. These are all mental abilities that would help improve your performance in an examination. Thus, retention of important information that you need to be able to respond to the exam questionnaires is a very useful benefit of practicing this particular yoga breathing technique.
Deep Breathing
Deep breathing in yoga has been known to effectively combat stress. As you know, preparing for an exam is such a stressful situation to be in. The level of stress also adds up when the actual time of the examination is drawing near and you have not done enough preparation to be confident on your exam performance.
Deep breathing comprises of full and cleansing breaths. This relaxation technique is very simple to perform and yet its effects on the body are very powerful. Here are the steps you can follow:
Find a comfortable sitting position. Make sure that your back is straight while you place on hand on your chest and the other resting on your stomach.
Use your nose for breathing in. Do this fully such that you can see your hand resting on your stomach rise. There should also be movement on your chest.
Use your mouth for exhalation. Do this in a sudden and forceful manner to empty out your lungs.
Repeat the same process all over again.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Here is another well known strategy used for stress relief due to its effectiveness. It involves two process that follows a systematic approach. The first step is involved with tensing specific muscle groups, while the second part helps in releasing that tension to provide relaxation. This is also a very good relaxation technique to use if you are suffering from muscular tension in specific areas of the body. It takes only a few minutes and would be very effective to perform a few minutes before starting your examination.
You must begin by trying to relax and make your entire body comfortable. You can start with slow and deep breathing to provide relaxation. Once you are ready, you can focus your attention on your right foot. Try to tense your muscles on your right foot by squeezing it and holding this position for at least 10 seconds. After that, relax your right foot and bask in the feeling of relaxing your foot.
Use the same method on your left foot this time. The same sequence of creating and releasing tension should be done. Follow this pattern by slowly working your way upwards in your body.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation must not be confused with meditation. The former is more effective if you want to use this method for stress relief or reducing anxiety caused by cramming for an exam. The idea of mindfulness is basically enabling you to get rid of any negative form of thought and becoming more engaged with the present moment. This quality allows you to focus on the task at hand, which in this case is the exam, and increase ability to concentrate.
Although deeper than regular meditation, it does not equal zoning out though. There is still that certain level of awareness of your physical environment but attaining a more specific focus. This will be able you to be more guided in your mental activities.
Guided Visualization
Lack of focus and unorganized thoughts are very characteristic among individuals who are anxious or cramming for an exam. This is crucial as you could basically forget all the information you have patiently reviewed on previously.
To follow this relaxation technique, you must imagine a serene and tranquil scene. Your goal must be to find peace and release any form of tension, whether mental or physical. It could be somewhere tropical or your favorite place as a child, but it has to have a calming effect on you. Do this with your eyes closed and allow yourself to drift away into the scene. Take note of all sensory impulses too for a more effective stress relief.
Tai Chi
Tai Chi is one particular yoga style that you can practice to provide more physical and mental harmony that would help your exam preparation. It comprises of a series of slow and flowing movements. Some of the benefits of practicing Tai Chi includes relaxation of mind and body, revitalized energy, and increased concentration ability.
Tai Chi is a low impact yoga style that you can perform, which suits even those with minimum fitness level or any age level. Plus, the above mentioned benefits will truly help you cope with the tension of an upcoming examination.
How To Heal Skin With Yoga Mudras
Yoga gives your skin a healthy glow by balancing your hormones and boosting the flow of oxygen-rich blood to your skin. This keeps your skin resilient and prevents dryness and excessive sagging. Yoga also tones the muscles of your face and neck. These poses target your facial skin. Medically Poor diet and poor stimulation of the circulatory and excretory systems and subsequent build up of toxins are the root cause of skin eruptions and through yogic way of living you can easily overcome these problems.
Yoga paranayama especially Shitli Kumbhak has the potential to reduce facial wrinkles; it also improves blood circulation and purify the blood, reduces toxins and acidity and prevent skin infections.
Process:
For this paranayama fold the tongue and protrudes a little from the mouth. Slowly inhale through the mouth. While inhaling one should feel coolness inside the neck. Then swallow the breath and hold inside your stomach. After holding the breath for a few seconds, and exhale slowly through the nose.
Yoga body cleaning processes known as Shatkarmas are extremely powerful in that they work on specific areas of the body that have the maximum impact upon our health. These detoxification yog techniques are a sort of cleansing that helps the body rid itself of toxins. When the different systems of the body have been purified, the overall result is that energy can flow through the body freely. One’s capacity to work, think, digest, taste, feel, experience, etc., increases and greater awareness develops.
Yog Massage with different kind of oils is the best for the skin. These massages also increase the circulation to the face and skin that will bring much-needed nutrients and oxygen to rejuvenate and remove toxin-causing matter.
Practice of Varun Mudra will enhance the physical beauty and decrease the dryness of the body and glow the skin. For Varun Mudra join the fore part of little finger with the fore part of the thumb.
In addition, to these some Ayurvedic beauty tips.
– Mix a half teaspoon of turmeric with almond oil, apply to the skin with a facial sponge, and rinse off.
– Some herbs like Neem, Tulsi and sandalwood have been extremely effective in curing acne, eczema treatment, eczema cure and other diseases of the skin. Especially the face pack of Sandal wood.
– Mud packs are best for skin, as they give the best cooling effect to the skin.
Mudra for the Controlling Herpes
As shown in figure this mudra is formed by crossing the hands in a way so that both the fore fingers of the hands are locked and cross the thumbs of both hand in such a way that the tips of both are joined.
Benefits:
Practice of this yog mudra is very helpful in controlling the Herpes. As per the Indian medical science imbalance of Vat and Pitta dosh is the main cause of this problem. Through the practice of this yog mudra this problem can be controlled.
If you wish to learn more on yog mudras you can visit www.mudrasforhealing.com.
About Author : :
Skin is what every man and women are conscious these days and we have done some research with old and new yog mudras to let you rejuvenate your skin. I Acharya Vikrmaditya, yoga expert would like you to know more about these miracle mudras.
Yoga Health News
Yoga Health Foundation announces Yoga Month 092008, a global awareness campaign to inspire a healthy lifestyle.
Los Angeles, November 05, 2007 The Yoga Health Foundation, a non-profit organization registered in California, has announced Yoga Month 092008, a grassroots, community-based global campaign to educate people about the health benefits of yoga and to inspire a healthy lifestyle.
Yoga Month is a year-round campaign and will peak September 2008 with millions of health & socially conscious individuals practicing yoga at thousands of yoga studios, parks and homes around the globe.
The 10 City Yoga Month Tour featuring lectures and concerts will visit yoga-passionate cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, Miami, Austin, Denver and San Diego.
Yoga has been practiced for the last 5,000 years and transformed into one of the most popular and effective methods to balance body mind, stay flexible, fit and healthy and prevent disease – mainly because it works., says Johannes R. Fisslinger, president of the Yoga Health Foundation and initiator of the Yoga Month campaign.
Yoga is attracting North American participants in numbers as high as 20 million. A recent Harris poll revealed that more than 100 million North Americans would like to practice Yoga for its health benefits.
With many Hollywood celebrities like Gwenyth Paltrow, Madonna, Russell Simmons, Courtney Cox and Nicholas Cage, Meg Ryan, Ricky Martin practicing yoga and 27 billion spent in yoga-related products even traditional advertisers are paying attention.
The extensive list of current Yoga Month partners include magazines like Fit Yoga, Yoga+ Joyful Living, LA Yoga, Yogi Times, Yoga Journal, Yogamates.com, Whole Life Times, studios like Yogaworks, Exhale, Jiva Mukti, Power Yoga, Dahn Yoga and Bikram Yoga and teachers like Seane Corn, Hala Khouri, Bryan Kest, Nike’s Margo Kellison, Larry Payne, Shiva Rea.
Yoga Month will benefit local community leaders and inspire sustainable healthy lifestyle projects like Yoga for Kids, at-risk-youth, breast health or AIDS prevention.
For more information and for Yoga Studios & Teachers, Community Leaders and Media & Sponsors sign up, please visit www.yogamonth.org.
Find out about the Cost of Poor Health and why Yoga Month 092008 will make a difference in the future of health care.
Yoga, Nutrition And You – How They All Work Together
For many practitioners of yoga, it’s hard to completely separate the discipline from other aspects of their lives, such as nutrition. To them, getting the proper balance from yoga not only concerns the fitness-building and stress-reducing benefits of yoga, but also includes a nutrition plan that supplies the proper nutrients to assist in the creation of both.
Combining yoga and nutrition is not a new development. Yoga instructors have been touting the benefits of proper nutrition for years. But it has become part of a new awareness recently thank to scientific studies that back up the claims regarding diet that yogis have been espousing for centuries, namely that nutrition is a big part of the quest for balance between the mind, body and spirit.
As we’ve said, combining yoga and nutrition is not a new development. In fact, there is an entire practice of yoga, called Anna Yoga, which is directed at food as it relates to fitness and a healthy spirit. But while the information concerning healthy eating may not be the same among the various kinds of yoga, some of the belief are relatively the same: consume modest, reasonable portions of food that is high in nutrients and low in toxins. These include lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. It is a diet that has existed among practitioners of yoga for decades but today’s doctors have only recently begun to understand and encourage.
Among yoga practioners, food is divided into three categories: Rajasil, Tamsik and Satvik. Rajasik (food of the king) is food that is overly processed or seasoned. Candy, processed foods and beverages and alcohol are classified as Rajasik foods. Tamsik foods are elaborately prepared foods that are high in sodium and usually highly spiced. Finally, Satvik foods are considered the ideal diet by yoga enthusiasts, foods that are consumed in as close to the original state as possible, meaning fresh vegetables and fruits that, if cooked, are lightly seasoned and prepared to keep most of their nutritional value.
Satvik foods are, therefore, easily digested and have exceptional nutritional value. When eaten in conjunction with the performance of the health benefits of yoga, Satvik foods are considered an important part of a well-conditioned mind and body.
Even if you are not a regular student of yoga, adhering to a Satvik diet can have great benefits.
One of the main concepts of nutrition and yoga is that the food used be as fresh as possible. Fresh fruits and vegetables and the enzymes they contain are favorable over frozen or canned foods, where the canning process has taken out many of the vitamins and minerals of the food. In addition, some instructors recommend eating a large portion of the fruits and vegetables raw to absorbe more of their nutritional value.
Green vegetables are held in special regard by many yogis, who consider vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, lettuce and cabbage to have the highest nutrients and life force. Fruit is also considered highly nutritious and full of the life force. Because of the natural sugars in fruit, they can supply a quick but nutritious and sustained source of energy without the toxins.
While many yoga practitioners shy away from meat (including fish and poultry), it is not entirely off the list for everyone involved in yoga However, yoga instructors recommend moderation in taking in meat as it may contain toxins such as lactic acid, fat, cholesterol and other chemicals that can slow the growth of muscles gained from the practice of yoga.
Finally, the way in which the food is prepared for consumption is also one of the keys to nutrition for yoga practitioners. Yoga experts recommend that you eat your meals slowly to give your body time to absorb all of the benefits and nutrients contained within. Yoga exercise, many experts believe, will help in preparing the body to use the nutritional benefits of nutritious eating.