What is Yoga?

• Dates back more than 5,000 years predating written history.
• Stems from the desire for greater personal freedom, health and long life, and heightened self-understanding.
• Yoga means “to join together” and brings body & mind together into one experience
• Built on exercise, breathing and meditation.
• Yoga postures are designed to put pressure on the glandular systems increasing efficiency and total health.
• Breathing techniques are based on the concept that breath is the source of life in the body. Increased breath control improves the function of body & mind.
• Breathing & exercise prepare the mind for meditation, quieting the mind allowing for healing from everyday stress.
• Yoga helps balance emotion, action and intelligence allowing for man to be in harmony with himself and his environment.

Types of Yoga

• Hatha Yoga is what we practice primarily though there are many styles of hatha yoga. It incorporates physical yoga movements & poses, plus breathing exercises.
• Vinyasa is a style of Hatha Yoga and means “flow synchronized with breath”.   Sun Salutations are an example of a vinyasa flow.
• Yin Yoga – stretches the connective tissues with static stretches held for 3 – 5 minutes. It is a perfect complement to Yang or Vinyasa style yoga.
• There are many others.  Many are based on the lineage of the instructors. 

History

• Dates back more than 5,000 years and pre-dates written history. Stone carvings have been found dating back more than 5,000 years.
• Arrived in the USA in the 1800’s, became popular in the 1960s, particularly on the west coast when it came to TV and was taught to pop stars and movie stars like The Beatles.
• Myth that it is rooted in Hinduism. Hinduism actually evolved much later and incorporated some of the practices of yoga as have many other religions.
• Traditionally passed on individually from teacher to student through verbal teachings and practical demonstration. Today's yoga is made up of the collective learnings of teachers for thousands of years. Individual teachers base their practice on their lineage of teachers.
• Finally written somewhere between 1st and 5th centuries by Patanjali, a scholar. He wrote about ‘Ashanga” yoga which means 8 limbs.
• Yamas – how we treat others (restraint from harm, lying, stealing etc)
• Niyamas – how we live our lives (purity, contentment, tolerance, study…)
• Asanas – physical postures
• Pranayama – breathing techniques
• Pratyahara – preparation for meditation – quieting the mind
• Dharana – concentration – hold the mind on one specific object for a specified time
• Dhyana – meditation – focus on one thing
• Samadhi – realization of the essential nature of the self
• Today, many doctors recommend yoga for stress reduction, back pain, arthritis, depression and other conditions.
• Over 30 million people practice yoga regularly today. It is the most rapidly growing health movement today eventhough it was started thousands of years ago.

Yoga and Religion

• It is not a religion – no creed, fixed set of beliefs or godlike figure that is worshipped.
• Belief is that everything is supplied from within the individual, so no dependence on an external figure or religious organization.
• It does not interfere with any religion.

Who can practice Yoga?

• Suitable for most adults of any age or physical condition.
• Even those with physical limitations can find a beneficial routine of Yoga.
• Chair Yoga offers special techniques for those with physical limitations due to age, illness, injury, obesity, or inactivity.
• Strenuous poses are not recommended for women who are menstruating, pregnant or nursing.
  

Key Focus Areas for Beginners:

Body Awareness

• Important to become very familiar with how your body feels so you can tailor your activities to how you feel that day, and pay special attention to areas that may need extra help.
• This heightened awareness tells you more quickly when you're slouching or slumping so you can adjust your posture.
• It helps improve your proprioception, an internal sense that tells you where your body parts are without your having to look at them.
• It is key for balance.
• Relies on receptors in your joints, muscles, ligaments, and connective tissue. It is mostly an unconscious thing so we don't usually have to think about it, but if it is not working properly, it may cause you to stumble or fall (similar to being drunk, eg. sobriety test touching finger to nose).
• Sometimes if we've lost some of this awareness, we need to retrain it, and yoga is a key way to do that.
  

Breath Awareness

• The word for breath means spirit, life force and even God in some languages. From ancient times, the breath has been recognized as the key to our life.
• The oxygen you inhale when you breath is a major source of nutrients for your body. Breathing more effectively improves your entire health picture. Our posture of slouching cramps the area we need to breath.
• Through your yoga practice you will increase your lung capacity to bring more oxygen to the blood and to the brain and you'll also learn how smooth, steady breathing helps to reduce stress.
• This improved breathing will bring greater health to every part of your body, your circulation will improve, you'll have more energy, greater mental clarity, and improved digestion.
• Deep exhale is important to flush out toxins and also work the deep musculature of the pelvis and helps improve stability.
• It is important to breath in through the nose because the nose has various defense mechanisms to prevent impurities, bacteria and excessively cold air entering the body.
• Yoga poses are typically synchronized with the breath, and are guided by the breath, so you'll see that there is heavy reference to the breath throughout yoga class.

Balance

• One of the major benefits of yoga is improved balance.
• We get out of balance in many areas of our bodies. Our physical body structure – skeleton, muscles, tendons, etc. ; our emotions – depressed, agitation, etc. ; our internal systems – digestive system, blood flow, hormones, etc..
• Injuries, bad posture habits, or subtle imbalances at birth are all contributors to our structural imbalances. Hardly anyone is totally balanced.
• Our spine is the main channel for bringing our body into equilibrium.
• Through postural imbalances, we come to use muscles to compensate where a part of the body is stronger makes up for weakness in another part. You may have noticed you are stronger on one side or you may be able to bend further one way or the other. An example is when we sprain an ankle and we still try to walk, but put more weight on our good leg and ankle. After a few days of that you notice that your good leg is now sore because you've been walking funny. Most times this situation is temporary, but if you continue to “walk funny”, the imbalance is perpetuated.
• These imbalances can create other kinds of imbalance and structural damage to the body. Uneven bodies eventually lead to chronic illnesses and injuries through over compensation of one side.
• Through yoga, we are able to increase the overall structural integrity and strength of the body. Yoga also creates a balance in the musculature between strengthening and stretching. Muscles are toned and their ability to expand and contract is improved.
• Because your body is better balanced you will find that your chances for injuries will drop as you are in a much more attuned state.
  

Flexibility

• In the physical body, flexibility is just the ability to move muscles and joints through their complete range.
• It's an ability we're born with, but that most of us lose over time. Compared with our ancestors, our lives are restricted and sedentary so our bodies get lazy, muscles atrophy, and our joints settle into a limited range.
• But even if you're active, your body will naturally dehydrate and stiffen with age.
  Muscle tissue does not reproduce after age 2, so the original muscles we have grow with us as we grow and exercise. By the time you become an adult, your muscle and connective tissues have lost about 15 percent of their moisture content, becoming less supple and more prone to injury. Slowly our elastic fibers become more and more unyielding.
• Stretching slows this process of dehydration by stimulating the production of tissue lubricants. It helps muscles rebuild with healthy cellular structure and elasticity.
• Yoga also stretches not only the muscles, but all of the soft tissues of your body. That includes ligaments, tendons, and the fascia sheath that surrounds your muscles. Some of these connective tissues can contract and expand with the muscles, some just move with the muscles. These tissues give stability and support to the muscles. Stretching and strengthening of all of these tissues is necessary to maintain normal range of motion.
• Yoga increases the range of motion in joints partially because we are stretching the connective tissues, particularly the ligaments, but also because we are getting the synovial fluid going that increases lubrication in the joints. Yoga also creates space in the joints so that the synovial fluid can move around easier.
• The exercises lead to better blood circulation. All of your muscles and connective tissues need oxygen and nutrients brought by the blood. When there is an enhanced blood flow to your muscles and tissues strengthen and become more elastic.
• With practice, you can see benefits in a very short period of time. In one study, participants had up to 35% improvement in flexibility after only eight weeks of yoga. The greatest gains were in shoulder and trunk flexibility.
• The outcome is a sense of ease and fluidity throughout your body. With greater mobility there is less risk of falling and injuring yourself.
  
  
  Information compiled by:
  
  Rawls Whittlesey, RYT200
  Balanced Energy Wellness
  678-848-3319
  www.balancedenergywellness.com