How to Maintain Health and Wellness With Yoga

January 8th, 2012 by admin No comments »

Though often described as an optional health branch, yoga is a science in itself with intricacies that only the advanced teachers can explain. Though you can find many yoga masters in the west, most are born and educated in India. There are varieties of techniques in yoga which are most suitable for your individual needs. These techniques differ for a woman, a teenager, an aged individual, a child and an athlete.

Yoga for health and wellness has several benefits and fulfills needs for nearly all individuals. It helps everyone to play their roles efficiently, smoothly and comfortably. Yoga compared with other exercises such as gymnastics and aerobics has several advantages. You can practice yoga inside your house or outside alone or in groups. It needs to be practiced on an empty stomach and can be performed any time during the day.

Yoga for health aid prevents diseases and illnesses and maintains health and fitness in your daily life. Though all age groups can practice yoga effectively, some techniques are appropriate for some age groups only. For instance, asanas which include forward and backward bending are good for kids from 6 to 10 years.

Yoga for Health

Yoga when practiced properly has advantages of flexible joints, muscles, relaxed and tension free mind and effectively working vital organs such as heart, lungs, pancreas, liver and endocrine glands.

Yoga brings in wonderful changes that have a deep effect on the mental health of a person and these changes are reduction in tension and restoration of flexibility. Yoga also increases the capacity for alertness, attentiveness and motivation for tackling various problems. It also creates a powerful and positive connection between emotional and physical health.

There are specific health benefits associated with yoga which are unique and are beyond the advantages of any exercise program. It can be as energetic or as gentle as you need it to be. You can take help of a yoga instructor who can work with your individual fitness level for modifying various postures to suit you.

Yoga is one of several naturopathic approaches to enhance wellbeing and promote health. Iyengar yoga, in particular, focuses on healing. In this type, accurate application of alignment is used to free the body from the negative effects of poor alignment and improper posture. The instructors here use blocks, cushions, benches, straps and bean bags to make proper adjustments to the posture for absolute postural alignment.

You can maintain proper health and wellness by practicing various yoga exercises and postures regularly. Remember yoga complements other natural methods of healing for improving the energy flow throughout the body. Practicing different postures, therapeutic massage therapy etc. help ensure any minor discomforts are reconciled before they worsen and affect other areas of the body.

Radek Isner presents you health and wellness information for making your mind, body and soul better. For more details visit us at healthaidindia.com

By Radek Isner

Relieve Pain and Improve Functioning in Fibromyalgia Patients Through Yoga

January 8th, 2012 by admin No comments »

Unhealthy lifestyles and hectic schedules has led to many health problems. One such problem is ‘Fibromyalgia’ (FM). This is a disease in which the body is in an incapacitating condition. In the United States of America approximately 11 million people are affected by this disease. This is the number for US only. The cost of curing this disease on an average is $20 billion annually. The drugs for this disease are only up to 30% effective and improves only 20% of body’s functioning.

In spite of this huge expenditure you only get a partial relief from this ailment. Besides it is not easy for one to spend 20 billion dollars every year until the disease is cured. What is the solution for this then? Will one suffering from this will have o live with it forever? No. YOGA, as usual helps FM patients overcome this illness and improvise their health to a great extent.

Dr. James Carson, at the Oregon Health & Science University said,

“Although yoga has been practiced for millennia, only recently have researchers begun to demonstrate yoga’s effects on persons suffering from persistent pain. The Yoga of Awareness program stands in contrast to previous multimodal interventions with FM patients in that it integrates a wide spectrum of yoga-based techniques, postures, mindfulness meditation, breathing exercises, application of yogic principles to optimal coping, and group discussions….the findings of this pilot study provide promising preliminary support for the beneficial effects of yoga in patients with FM.”

FM is more prevalent in females. Approximately 80% of Fm patients are females. This is why mostly women were included in this research. Out of the total 53 women patients participating in this research 25 women were included in ‘Awareness of Yoga’, program while others were subjected to the standard treatment.

The yoga program, is designed in a way that it targets and cures, pain, sleep disturbance, fatigue & emotional distress caused due to Fm. Each session under this program, has approximately 40 minutes of stretching, 25 minutes of meditation, 10 minutes breathing exercises, 20 minutes of theoretical explanation and last 25 minutes involves group discussions regarding practice of this exercise.

After the completion of program when both the groups were analyzed for improvement, the yoga group showed greater signs of improvement. They experienced a more pain free life, fatigue free and greater coping strategies.

Thus, the research proves that yoga can dilute the effects of FM and thus helps these patients live a better life.

Carmela Turner is an expert in Seva Yoga who have taken Yoga Teacher Training. She knows different type of yoga which helps in keep your health good.

By Carmela M Turner