High quality yoga training tricks and tips from WorldYogaForum? While the research is still young (especially in comparison with how long people have been practicing yoga), the results are promising and confirm what yoga practitioners have been touting for thousands of years: Yoga is beneficial for our overall health. Numerous practices fall into category of yoga, and most do not involve physical activity, instead focusing on meditation techniques. Even karmic or philanthropic action can qualify as yoga! Because yoga is not limited to physical movement, it’s a practice you can do every day. Find the modality that works best for you and remember: Investing in a yoga practice is investing in you! See even more details at Ronaldo’s Workout routine.
When you contract and stretch muscles, move organs around, and come in and out of yoga postures, you increase the drainage of lymph (a viscous fluid rich in immune cells). This helps the lymphatic system fight infection, destroy cancerous cells, and dispose of the toxic waste products of cellular functioning. When you regularly get your heart rate into the aerobic range, you lower your risk of heart attack and can relieve depression. While not all yoga is aerobic, if you do it vigorously or take flow or Ashtanga classes, it can boost your heart rate into the aerobic range. But even yoga exercises that don’t get your heart rate up that high can improve cardiovascular conditioning. Studies have found that yoga practice lowers the resting heart rate, increases endurance, and can improve your maximum uptake of oxygen during exercise—all reflections of improved aerobic conditioning. One study found that subjects who were taught only pranayama could do more exercise with less oxygen.
There’s a reason high powered executives turn to meditation to help them do their jobs better. Studies have found that both mindfulness meditation and Transcendental Meditation help you make better decisions by improving the functioning of your brain’s decision-making centers. If you want to start cultivating your inner executive, give meditation a try.
The Shamatha Project was a breakthrough investigation about the psychological benefits of meditation. Based on it, a journal on cognitive enhancement published research where scientists Anthony Zanesco and Clifford Saron, Ph.D. in Psychology, proved that continued meditation practices and retreats improved attention and cognition significantly. The study was conducted in two phases at the Shambhala Mountain Center, Colorado, and involved 60 regular meditators on whom the effect of intensive practice was studied. The revelations of the investigation were impactful and drew the attention of veteran Buddhist monks, meditators, and scientists all over the world, including the Dalai Lama himself, and provided storing evidence of how the three-month rigorous meditation retreats improved perception and self-worth in the participants.
Each time you practice yoga, you take your joints through their full range of motion. This can help prevent degenerative arthritis or mitigate disability by “squeezing and soaking” areas of cartilage that normally aren’t used. Joint cartilage is like a sponge; it receives fresh nutrients only when its fluid is squeezed out and a new supply can be soaked up. Without proper sustenance, neglected areas of cartilage can eventually wear out, exposing the underlying bone like worn-out brake pads. Spinal disks—the shock absorbers between the vertebrae that can herniate and compress nerves—crave movement. That’s the only way they get their nutrients. If you’ve got a well-balanced asana practice with plenty of backbends, forward bends, and twists, you’ll help keep your disks supple. Long term flexibility is a known benefit of yoga, but one that remains especially relevant for spinal health. Discover extra details on half camel pose.
Like much of the population, it’s likely you spend some part of the day hunched over a desk, screen phone or steering wheel. This slouched posture emphasises the kyphotic curve of the thoracic spine, and in turn collapses the chest, puts pressure on the lungs, heart and lower back, and is a sure way to bring on a bad mood. Simply standing up a little taller and opening the chest can have instant positive effects on mood and overall wellbeing. Movement is one of the best ways to bring about a good mood, and yoga is an especially effective medicine when it comes to battling the blues. Yoga taps into the nervous system, helping to release hormones that improve the mood. Focusing on something positive each time we practice yoga is also an effective way to imprint that positivity into the mind, so the more you practice, the more you’re likely to notice yourself smiling…
