The Benefits Of Performing Yoga For Heart Health

By Faye Martins  | 

Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years. It was developed alongside Hinduism, which is one of the world's oldest religions still in practice today. The reason so many people practice yoga for heart health resides in the way that it addresses the mind, the body, and the link between the two.

To understand how yoga works on the body, it's vital to first understand how this ancient practice works to fortify both the body and the mind. The benefits will then become more sensible to even novice practitioners as the core principles are understood.

The Core Philosophy of Yoga

Yoga was designed as an ancient system of healing by the people whom began practicing this discipline several thousands of years ago. The main idea was that the mind and body are linked as two parts that form a whole, which meant that more than physical activity was required to keep a person healthy.

This is why yoga focuses on not only physical movements, but it also focuses on fortifying the mind. Inner calmness is one of the concepts vital to yoga practitioners because of how they can positively affect the body while working to create a mental discipline that makes all aspects of an individual's life better.

The idea that the mind and body are linked is becoming increasingly clear in modern medicine. Numerous scientific studies have begun to investigate the link between a sound mind and a healthy body.

It then makes sense that this ancient practice that intertwines mental discipline with fairly gentle movements has a positive influence on everything including the cardiovascular system, the leg and elbow joints, and the mental state of a person.

It can even be influential in fighting things like depression and stress, which allows the body to maintain itself in more efficient ways while improving a person's general quality of life.

Furthermore, yoga focuses on fortifying the body in ways that support a better range of movement and more flexibility. This acts as a preventative measure that tends to reduce the occurrence of injuries by making the body more limber overall, which in turn makes it more capable of absorbing everything from traumatic shocks to repetitive injuries that can cause things like chronic knee and elbow problems.

Understanding How Yoga Benefits the Body

Once the principles of yoga are understood, the plethora of benefits it brings makes more sense. By addressing this mind-body link, this practice works to revitalize the body, to protect it, and to even make it more capable of acting like a well-oiled machine.

For example, one of the most pronounced benefits of yoga is how it can positively affect the heart system. It trains the mind to relax, which greatly helps to reduce the overall stress that an individual encounters. It also trains the body to become more physically fit, which means that the heart requires less effort to circulate blood.

When yoga is practiced regularly, it can carry other benefits that extend far past heart cardiovascular health. It can result in more restful and fulfilling slumber, a reduction in external dependencies like addictions, and better stress management skills.

That's why some of the best practitioners tend to be relaxed, thoughtful, and youthful in appearance. The power that this age-old practice has to change the very core of an individual is awe-inspiring by itself, but the large range of age groups and types of people whom can practice yoga to receive these many benefits is even more exciting.

Faye Martins, is a Yoga teacher and a graduate of the Yoga teacher training program at: Aura Wellness Center in, Attleboro, MA. To receive Free Yoga videos, Podcasts, e-Books, reports, and articles about Yoga, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/

Guide To Proper Meditation For Couples

By Stacey Burt

Stress is the reason for many physical conditions to occur. When you are experiencing a great deal of stress, you also tend to be affected emotionally. And most of the time, your decisions are also influenced. You cannot think properly and it causes you to not to think clearly. This is also the usual reason why couples fight a lot and break up even.

In order for you to not experience the various negative effects of stress and so that your relationship would not suffer, there are various things that you can do. But probably the most efficient and most practical one would be meditation for couples. This is one way for you to both evaluate and fix all the problems that you are going through as a couple.

Meditation has been existing for quite some time now. And it has proven itself in so many ways from improving some of the functions of the organs to ridding your brain of the turmoil that causes stress. It also has a lot of emotional benefits that it is usually recommended if you are feeling out of sorts.

Today, this is an activity that is not only for individual doing, it can also be a form of therapy for couples. More and more relationships have been healed and strengthened because people choose to do this activity together. If you are having marital problems and is undergoing counseling for it, you might want to try meditating together.

This would not be effective if you are the only one who is interested about this. You also need to get your partner agree and participate, otherwise it would not be effective. In order to fix the problem, you both need to be present and do the activity together.

It has the capacity to lessen all your negative emotions. This happens while it sharpens your focus on the things that happened. This way, you will have a better understanding on the situations that you have encountered and the reasons about the argument. This will make making up easier and faster.

For the meditating area, it needs to be a place that you are both comfortable with. It could be your room or your living room as long as it is quite and free from distractions. This would mean that all your gadgets and devices such as the computer must be turned off. This is to avoid any distractions in the middle of the entire activity.

According to experts, there is really no particular position to follow if you ever want to have a meditation session. But it would be better if you both have your back against each other and sit in a cross legged position while your hands are resting in your legs. The way for you to clear your thoughts would be to take deep breaths and let it clear your mind.

You might be able to think of a lot of things. But instead of ignoring them, it is important that you accept them as they come. This way, you will be able to let all the thoughts go easily.

About the Author:

Our meditation for couples is a 21-day program that is proven to be highly effective. To take part today, simply visit our website at http://21-daymeditationsforcouples.com.

All About Yoga Mats

Yoga Class at a Gym (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Mariah Johnston :

Yoga mats are available in a large range of shapes and dimensions to look after all of your physical and spiritual needs. There are so many options available when it comes to buy a mat and sometimes it can be difficult. In this article you will find very useful information about these mats that will help you getting most out of these mats.

There is no doubt that yoga mats are one of the most popular yoga products and accessories on hand. These mats have now become a significant part of yoga. A good strong yoga mat will provide you support and grip as well as providing you cushion from the floor plus it will also help with improving the balance.

Before buying a yoga mat it is very important to know about what kind of mat you are looking for. You need to know what kind of yoga you want to occupy and which kind of ground you will be practicing on. A right type of mat will help your stability and provide comfort during your yoga exercises so it is very important that you choose right type of pad for doing your yoga in order to get most benefits from it. For traction upon slippery surfaces, cotton yoga mats could be backed with natural rubber, and may also be padded by helping cover their natural padding like made of wool and buckwheat hulls.

Natural or organic yoga mats are produced using natural rubber, and all sorts of natural plant extract materials for example cotton, hemp, jute along with other "floating" fibrous grasses. The manufacture connected with one of these organic mats will furthermore not contain any non biodegradable chemical compounds most of the growing or production processes.

These mats are available in numerous size versions, though most typical is 24 inches wide by 68 inches long, thickness can differ from only a couple of millimeters to 400 millimeters which are more comfortable of mats.

Yoga exercises do not need much equipment apart from a yoga mat and when it comes to buying a mat, there are lots of options to choose from. In addition to different dimensions you also have choice of choosing from numerous designs and materials. The price depends on the material and size and you could be searching at a variety of between $30 for any average pad as much as almost $200 for any top quality mat.

ZooStores proudly offers the finest Pilates Equipment from Top Manufacturers including STOTT Pilates, Stamina, and IMX. They carry a wide selection of Equipment from Reformers to Cadillacs to Pilates Chairs along with Pilates Accessories and DVDs. You can also find a top quality yoga mat for you and get top yoga mat reviews at ZooStores website.

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Can You Really Learn Yoga at Home?

Yoga Class at a Gym (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Michael Deslippe :

Options for learning yoga at home were pretty scarce way back when I first started. There were a few videos and books available, but nothing that could really teach you step by step what it was all about. The internet was still a long way away...

I learned much of what I know about yoga from the source... India. I spent years travelling that magical place, and had several great experiences along the way. But even after spending month after month in traditional Yogashrams, a real profound sense of what yoga was all about still seemed to elude me somehow.

But then I came across Swami Gitananda's "Yoga Step by Step," and everything changed. I had never seen a yoga book like it before, and I still have yet to see anything like it again today. Actually, it's not just a book. It's a real comprehensive correspondence course that changed my way of looking at yoga instruction forever.

In fact, it changed my life!

It showed me how much I was missing in yoga, and it also showed me how well it could be taught via photos, diagrams and the written word. Now with the video capabilities of the internet, it can be done even better!

Years later, as a yoga teacher, I'm now capable of sharing that experience. Over the past few years, I've gotten a good reputation as the author of some well respected online training programs, and I have Swamiji, my guru, to thank for that.

I still teach yoga classes because I believe there is much to be gained from them. But my experience has shown me how limiting they can be. It's difficult to provide much depth of instruction in the modern yoga class setting, and difficult to teach students how to safely and confidently practice at home.

The Internet has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities.

There are tens of thousands of yogic websites online already, but for the most part, most teachers who created them are still stuck in their yoga classes... yet to realize the great teaching potential of this global medium.

Teaching people how to practice yoga at home, from home, is the way of the future. If only just a few teachers start to realize how to use the internet to effectively share their teachings and get more people off the couch and doing yoga at home, then that future looks enlightened indeed.

Yogacharya Michael is the Founder of International Yogalayam http://www.discover-yoga-online.com and creator of The Yoga Tutor, a step-by-step online yoga training website. For your FREE TRIAL of The Yoga Tutor, visit http://www.theyogatutor.com

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The History of Yoga and Its Archaeological Evidence

Let's Yoga (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Julie Burns :

The history of yoga is based during the epoch of the Indus Valley civilization. The yoga exercises and philosophies are practiced by the Indus to instigate spiritual growth and awareness. The yogis promote inner unification with the finite jiva or transitory self and with the infinite Brahman or eternal self. Brahman is a name used by the Hindus to mean 'God.'

Yogis usually believe that God co-exists with all of reality, manifesting itself to all living things that breathe life, from humans to flora and fauna. This belief is called pantheism which is the view that everything is God. Yoga views man's problem and suffering in terms of ignorance. Human beings simply bound themselves to materialistic things and forgetting to serve God, the source of all things. That's why humans need enlightenment or an experience of union with God.

Earliest archaeological evidence indicated Yoga's existence and can be found in engraved stone seals which illustrate figures of yoga positions. The stone seals depict yoga's existence dating around 3000 B.C. However, archaeologists and scholars, have reasons to suppose that yoga existed long before that and traced its origins in Stone Age Shamanism. Both shamanism and yoga have comparable characteristics predominantly in their efforts to polish the human condition at that time. Both methods aspire to treat community members and the practitioners act as chief religious mediators or gurus.

A number of steatite seals were unearthed at Indus Valley Civilization sites describing figures in a certain yoga position. These meditation-like postures are forms of ritual discipline, signifying an originator of yoga. There are particular figures that were discovered in the core of Mature Harappan relics that indicate Harappan devotion to ritual discipline and focus and that the yoga poses may have been used by both humans and their deities. Some type of link between the Indus Valley seals and later yoga and meditation practices is backed by many other researchers.

These archeological discoveries allow people to cogitate with some good reason that an ample range of yoga activities was already accepted by the pre-Aryan India people. A seal recently revealed in the Cholistan desert evidently depicts a "yogi". The puzzling Indus Valley seal images display figures in a position known in hatha yoga as Mulabhandasana. The most commonly known of these images was named the Pashupati seal by John Marshall who uncovered the artifact and who believed that it represented a "proto-Shiva" figure.

The genesis of the 200-scriptured Upanishads describes the inner vision of reality ensuing from Brahman devotion. The Upanishads further elucidate the teachings of the Vedas. Yoga also shares some attributes not only with Hinduism but also with Buddhism as well. Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, studied yoga and obtained enlightenment at the age of 35.

Later, around 500 B.C., the Bhagavad-Gita or Lord's Song was created and this is currently the oldest known yoga scripture. The Yoga Sutra, composed of 195 aphorisms or sutras, was written by Patanjali around the second century attempting to classify and even out yoga at that time. Then, yoga was introduced in the West during the early 19th century. It was first studied as part of Hindu Philosophy and began as a system for health and vegetarianism. During the 1960's, Hindu gurus gave further details about the system of yoga and its philosophies.

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