What Is Yoga?

Yoga is an ancient India-born physical, mental and spiritual practice. In the 20th century, it became popular in the West. The word, yoga, comes from the Hindi language “Yoke” which means “concentration.” Thus, yoga is the practice aimed at relaxing the mind, body, and spirit. Its ultimate goal is to attain freedom from stress and negativity.

Yoga – As A Workout

Research shows Yoga is the most liked workout type in America. This is a type of exercise that allows you to move your body to different positions to become more fit or flexible. It also improves your breathing and relaxes your mind.

Benefits Of Yoga

Yoga practice is said to have many mental and physical health benefits.

Some of its major benefits are:

Yoga decreases stress: It is known for its ability to relieve stress and promote relaxation. Indeed, multiple studies have shown that cortisol, the primary stress hormone, can be decreased in secretion by doing regular yoga. It relieves anxiety: Many people start to practice yoga as a way of dealing with anxiety and panic attacks. Yoga reduces inflammation: Some studies suggest that practicing yoga may also reduce inflammation in addition to improving your mental health. It improves heart health: The health of your heart is an essential component of overall health, from pumping blood throughout the body to supplying tissues with important nutrients. Studies show that yoga can help improve heart health and reduce multiple heart disease risk factors. It improves Quality of Life: Yoga as an adjunct therapy to improve the quality of life for many individuals is becoming increasingly common. It fights depression: Studies show that yoga may have an anti-depressant effect and may help to decrease depression symptoms. Yoga could Reduce Chronic Pain: Chronic Pain is an ongoing problem that affects millions of people and has a range of possible causes, ranging from injury to arthritis. It could promote Sleep Quality: In addition to other disorders, poor sleep quality was associated with obesity , high blood pressure, and depression. It helps induce sound sleep and also manages the sleep pattern. Yoga improves flexibility and balance: In order to improve flexibility and balance, many people add it to their fitness routine. Could Help Improve Pranayama Breathing, or yogic breathing is a yoga practice that focuses on breathing exercises and techniques.

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Yoga Poses

In the physical yoga practice (asana) there are over 300 positions, here are 8 most important poses of yoga:

Mountain Pose

Mountain Pose is the foundation for all standing poses; it gives you a sense of how to reach your feet and feel the earth beneath you.

Downward Dog

In most yoga practices and classes, we use downward Dog to stretch and strengthen the whole body.

Plank

While using the whole body to support us, plank teaches us how to balance our hands. It is a great way to reinforce the abdominals and learn to use the breath to help us remain in a challenging pose.

Triangle

Triangle is a wonderful standing position for stretching the waist sides, opening the lungs, strengthening the legs, and toning the whole body.

Tree

Tree is an incredible standing balance for beginners to work on in order to gain focus and clarity and to learn to breathe while standing and keeping the body on one foot in balance.

Warrior 1

For building strength and endurance in yoga practice, warrior poses are essential. They give us trust and stretch the hips and thighs while building strength throughout the lower body and core.

Warrior 2

Warrior 2 is an external hip opener that opens the thighs and groin inside. For many side positions, including triangle, extended angle and half moon balance, it is a good starting point.

Child’s Pose

Everyone needs a good resting pose and the Child’s pose is a great one not only for beginners but for all-level yoga practitioners.

What To Take Care Of

Like other exercises, there are some recommended do’s and don’ts of this workout. Let’s focus on the do’s; that is what cannot be ignored.

Arrive Yoga classes early. Getting to class about 10 minutes early can help you settle down and align your attitude with the class’s purpose.

Do let your teacher know about your injuries or conditions that may affect your practice. If you have an injury, you can’t or shouldn’t skip poses or try a modified version.

To create a purpose. You may find it helpful to dedicate your practice to a specific intention to help you focus. This could be to become more conscious and understanding, more compassionate and loving, or healthier, stronger, and more skilled.

Be calm. Sharing a class with people you know is great, but having an extended or loud conversation can be distracting to yourself and others.

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Things To Avoid

Here are some listed don’ts. Take care of not practicing the following habits while a yoga class.

DON’T eat before class for two or three hours. You may experience cramps, nausea , or vomiting if you practice yoga on a full stomach, especially in twists, deep forward bends, and inversions.

Do not bring to class pagers or cell phones. Leave socializing and business outside the studio, so there is no disturbance to the peace of practice.

Don’t push that. Instead of trying to go into a pose as deeply or entirely as others might do, do what you can without straining or hurting yourself. Do not enter the class late or leave early; other people are disrupted.

Conclusion

Take time to think about what you’ve done in class afterward, so you can keep what you’ve learned. Review the poses you have practiced and note any instructions that make sense in particular. Even if you remember one thing from each class, you will soon have plenty of information to deepen your own personal practice.

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