Would Yoga be something for you?
The Yoga sport has a relaxing effect and tries to bring body, mind, and soul into harmony. It is an ancient philosophy and practice system that has developed in India over thousands of years.
The word yoga comes from the Indian Sanskrit and means “to connect.” This already addresses one of the goals of the 5000-year-old Far Eastern movement philosophy: to bring body, mind, and soul into harmony – a way to more health, joy of life and consciousness.
How does it work?
Yoga invigorates and activates the self-healing powers: Yogis succeed in this by concentrating, breathing consciously and adjusting their movements accordingly.
In addition, the exercises promote mobility and coordination and create new body awareness. Postural errors are corrected, and chronic muscle tensions are relieved.
Where can I learn Yoga?
Courses are offered by individual yoga schools, fitness studios, and adult education centers. If you decide to do so, you should pay attention to well-trained teachers who you can trust. Ask for a free trial lesson.
You can also learn most basics from online sources like Youtube, Instagram, etc.
For whom?
Whoever reacts to stress with neck or back pain is well advised to use the oldest anti-stress programme. As yoga is one of the most strenuous forms of exercise, it is recommended for young and old alike.
Hatha Yoga
The most famous part of Yoga is Hatha Yoga. It includes body-oriented practices such as yoga postures, the so-called asanas, breathing exercises (pranayama) and deep relaxation techniques.
However, advice for a healthy lifestyle and vegetarian wholefood nutrition can also be found in this yoga form.
The Asanas, the Yoga postures, develop muscle strength, flexibility and body awareness in a gentle way.
By holding the various poses calmly, blocked life energy is brought back to flow, inner healing powers are activated, and the internal organs are better supplied with blood.
The breathing exercises, which are also part of Hatha Yoga, can help the practitioner to return to natural breathing.
The background to this is the fact that many people breathe too shallowly due to stress, tension and incorrect posture, and in doing so absorb too little oxygen.
These breathing exercises should also overcome stage fright, unjustified fears, and irritability.
Deep relaxation is another important part of Hatha Yoga. Complete relaxation does not come by itself. Through Hatha, Yoga relaxation can be learned patiently and systematically.
Relaxation not only restores mental strength and calmness but also reduces stress hormones, strengthens the immune system and promotes healing processes.
Not all yoga is the same
In addition to Hatha Yoga, there are many other types of Yoga, including more spiritual Raja Yoga and more emotional Bhakti Yoga, but also Yoga forms such as spiritual Jnana Yoga or Karma Yoga, the Yoga of social responsibility.
- Raja Yoga includes mental training and meditation techniques.
- Bhakti Yoga is the part of Yoga that teaches devotion and love to God.
- Jnana Yoga belongs to the more philosophical part of Yoga, which explains Karma and R incarnation and offers meditation techniques for finding the truth in oneself.
- Karma Yoga is the yoga of action. It teaches to understand fate as an opportunity and helps to transcend the boundaries of one’s ego and to feel one with all beings.
Other forms of Yoga are Kundalini Yoga, Hormone Yoga, Marma Yoga or Kriya Yoga.
Health benefits of yoga
How healthy is yoga? More and more studies are dealing with this question and come to different results. But there is growing evidence that yoga can have positive effects and numerous benefits on the nervous system, mobility and blood pressure.
In recent years, more and more studies have provided evidence of the health-promoting effects of yoga. Whether for mental illnesses, back pain, asthma or cardiovascular diseases – yoga should have a positive effect.
But is that the case? On closer inspection, the studies show very different qualities.
For example, in some analyses there is no comparison with other sports, in others, the number of participants is too small for valid results. Nevertheless, the effect of the exercises on some bodily functions does not seem to be obvious.
Different results on the subject of back health
Especially when it comes to back health, for which yoga is particularly recommended, the studies come to contradictory results.
The scientist from the “University of Göttingen” was able to show that patients with back problems could significantly increase their spinal column mobility through ten weeks of yoga training.
In comparison to the control group, which carried out functional training with exercises such as knee bends, lunge steps, pull and push movements, the yoga group was able to improve the mobility of the thoracic and lumbar spine more strongly.
Yoga can strengthen the psyche and cardiovascular system
Yoga is also being used more and more frequently in the treatment of mental illnesses.
Psychologists have examined the effectiveness of the exercises in a meta-analysis. Among the participants were patients with schizophrenia and depression, but also those who suffered from substance dependence, anxiety, and other disorders. Yoga was shown to have a significant positive effect on symptoms.
However, the results were very heterogeneous and compared to sport or attention control; yoga was only slightly more effective.
The authors of the study argued that body-oriented yoga should be considered as a complementary treatment for mental disorders.
The effects of yoga exercises on cardiovascular disease have been well documented.
The subjects were able to reduce their blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and body weight through regular yoga exercises. The endocrine system and the nervous system also seem to benefit from the training.
Another study has shown, yoga can lower cortisol levels, increase melatonin and serotonin levels and reduce the proportion of proinflammatory cytokines.
Older people can also learn yoga.
A further advantage of yoga over some other physical exercises is that even unathletic people can start with it.
If movement is restricted, seat cushions, blocks, and belts can support the students and make some exercises possible in the first place. And even “Yoga exercises on the chair” are possible so that even older people who are no longer so mobile and powerful can experience the positive effects of Yoga.
More about chair Yoga at: https://www.millionsofpeachesblog.com/was-ist-stuhl-yoga-6-gesundheitliche-vorteile-von-stuhl-yoga/
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