Yoga Asanas - The Courage To Move Beyond Limitations

When I was 21 I suffered a slipped disc in my lower back. I couldn't sit down during the acute phase, only lie or stand, though standing itself was uncomfortable at the time. Once the acute phase had passed (with rest, although acupuncture and shiatsu are great), I had the fortune to meet some yoga teachers and I started going to their classes. I started out with Oki yoga, which is a Japanese form of yoga, and very good for healing the body.

I was given a series of correcting and strengthening exercises designed to improve my back and specific to the meridians that were in need of attention in my particular case. Oki yoga has postures classified on how they affect the meridians, which are like energetic pathways within our body. And that was the one thing that helped restore my back completely, to a state that was actually better than it was before I injured myself. When you are suffering an acute injury though, yoga really shouldn't be attempted until that stage has passed.

That introduction to yoga ignited a deep love of it through which I began to see the more subtle health benefits it brought to my life. Yoga can help with a wide spectrum of physical issues and injuries, but it is also an excellent alternative to the gym for those that find the repetition and distraction of it not to their taste. It is great for toning up your body, whilst gaining flexibility.

Yoga has a reputation for flexibility, and deservedly so. But it can also develop strength. Developing strength is particularly important for women. Women tend to be more flexible than men, but not as strong, unless they have been involved in fitness regularly. But unlike many traditional forms of exercise, yoga also strengthens the inner muscles and organs in our bodies. It makes a great preparation for childbirth!

Yoga also develops discipline. This comes in making the time on a regular basis to either go to classes, or practice yoga in your living room, or in the morning sun in the garden. But there is a more subtle level of discipline. It starts with bringing your mind to focus on your breathing, and then feeling the effects of a posture on your body. This conscious exploration is quite a different experience of fitness than usually seen at the gym - where loud music, televisions and other external stimuli fight for your attention. You won't see people with headphones on, or reading a magazine, whilst doing yoga.

This conscious exploration establishes a relationship with your body, and its importance cannot be overstated. So often, parts of us are frozen, or numb in some ways. This can express physically as pain, coldness, or stiffness. Energetically, it is as though despite trying to concentrate on an area, we just cannot feel connected to it.

In a more subtle way, when we feel the points of resistance within our body as we do a pose - when we breathe into that stiffness, and sometimes pain, we develop a resilience and mental fortitude. Yoga does, of course, help with concentration. But that process of releasing and going beyond the point of physical limitation is not limited to the body. It develops a quiet confidence and knowledge about one's own capacity that is not held back by the boundaries we may have falsely believed about ourselves before. With a yoga practice, we can get back in touch with what yogi's call our dharma, our purpose in life. And we find in ourselves, by virtue of our growing strength, the courage to follow that path.

And finally, a quote from a yoga teacher from Sydney, Australia, Eileen Hall, printed in the Australian Yoga Life magazine:

"Yoga is not about relaxation, it's not about losing weight, it's not about learning meditation. It's about discovering the divine being within ourselves."

References: Yoga Journal, November 2005
Australian Yoga Life, Nov 2005 - Mar 2006

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Get Physically Fit - And Your Mind Will Follow

We all know that we could use some more exercise. As a society, we are entirely too sedentary, spending a lot of time watching TV, playing video games and surfing the web - and far too little engaged in physical activity. This kind of lifestyle leads to obesity and low energy levels. We all are aware of this - but what you may not know is that low levels of physical activity means reduced cognitive abilities as well! As you get older, the difference becomes more and more apparent.

When you're physically active, your circulation is improved and with it, cognitive function. When you exercise regularly, you develop your entire circulatory system, including cerebral vessels. This is believed to be a large part of why exercise is beneficial to your brain.

One of the very best forms of exercise for improving your cognitive abilities is yoga. Yoga requires concentration as well as physical activity. It can be challenging at first, but don't get discouraged. You'll become better with practice and you will be able to move on to more advanced schools of yoga to get even greater cognitive benefits.

It may be news to you that about 20% of your energy is used by your brain - and just like any other part of you, it gets stronger with exercise. If you have trouble coping with stress and your responsibilities day to day, then you need to get more exercise; this will keep your body and mind in peak condition.

A lot of us have the best intentions when it comes to exercise, but we tend to put it off in favor of one thing after another until the day is done and we have no time left. We do this to ourselves; but once you do start getting regular exercise and start to feel the mental benefits, you'll make exercise one of your top priorities.

Rather than helping you to come up with reasons to dodge exercise, you'll start to find reasons to get more exercise. The results you'll see will keep you motivated and make you proud of what you've achieved. Sooner than you may think, getting regular exercise becomes a habit and you'll put off the less important things in life instead. Your brain will release more of the chemicals which produce a sense of well bring so you'll feel better on every level.

Regardless of your age or what level of physical activity you get now, you can still make some positive changes. Begin by exercising 15 minutes every second day and increase this by 5 minutes a week until you're at 30 minutes of exercise every other day. Once you've done this, promise yourself you'll make those 30 minutes a daily routine. Working up this makes it less of a challenge and makes you less likely to get discouraged.

We all have busy lives, but anyone can make 30 minutes a day to get some exercise. Try in the early morning so you won't make excuses about being too tired to exercise at night. You'll start the day off feeling great - you'll have already made some progress and done something good for yourself. There are plenty of different exercises out there, so you can do something which you like doing.

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