Yoga Field

About the Author

Sarah Noelle Williams is an active member of ABC-of-Yoga. For more information, you can go to http://www.abc-of-yoga.com

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I titled this article Simply Yoga because I want to give you a down to earth, everyday view of yoga. You really don’t have to stand on your head, or tie yourself in knots to perform yoga and it’s great for your body, mind, and spirit. What I give you here is taken from my own personal experience with yoga.

Yoga Stretches
Whenever the subject of yoga comes up most people think you have to be flexible to do it. The beauty of simple yoga stretches is that you don’t have to be flexible to gain the benefits of it. For those of you that are out of shape and want to change that, yoga is a good way to start.

The advice that all yoga teachers pass on to their students is, do not push your body beyond its limits, it is not supposed to hurt. Start with simple stretches, when you feel a slight pull in your muscles, and I mean slight, that’s where you stop and hold the posture for a few seconds and slowly come out of the posture. Find the yoga postures that you feel most comfortable doing and with time you will discover improvement in your flexibility.

If getting up and down from the floor is difficult you can do Chair Yoga ( Visit: Living Words of Wisdom.). This is especially good if you are recovering from an illness or injury.

Yoga and Health
Your body was designed for movement. Muscles need to be put to work and need to be kept reasonably flexible. Yoga can warm up the body before performing strenuous exercise or sports activities, this helps prevent injury.

Yoga is a wonderful stress reliever. Stress is the leading cause of most health issues these days. You have a stressful job, family situations, even just thinking about the world’s events can stress you out. Carrying all that stress day in and day out causes health issues, headaches, high blood pressure, insomnia, just to name a few. All these left unattended build into bigger health issues. Yoga can relieve stress, therefore, the issues that result from stress are relieved as well. Yes, it’s simply yoga and its simplicity is the key that makes it so easy to incorporate into your daily life.

Everyday Yoga
I know every day sounds like a time consuming task, but it really isn’t, trust me.

Did you know that the simple stretch you do each morning when you wake up can be considered a yoga move? That’s the best and easiest time to incorporate yoga into your day. You can do it while still in bed, there are many yoga postures that are traditionally done on the floor that can also be done on your bed, how comfy is that! When your feet hit the floor first thing in the morning you can also do a few standing yoga stretches.

I urge you to get a good book of yoga postures and try the ones you feel most comfortable doing once a day in the morning or evening (a great time to release those tensions of the day). Even better to do it both morning and evening it’s a wonderful start and end to your day.

You don’t have to perform an hour long routine every day, but just one, two, or three of your favorite yoga postures will get you going on the way to better health. Progress begins with one small step at a time, remember it’s simply yoga and its simplicity will produce wonderful benefits for your body, mind, and spirit.

Living Words of Wisdom sharing ideas and methods to achieve a happier, healthier, body, mind, and Spirit.

About the Author

I’ve always wanted to know “why” am I here what is the purpose of my being on this earth in this body. In the 70s, with the big “new age” movement going on, Yoga was becoming popular. Fast forward to today, and here I am writing and sharing.

Many people believe that yoga is all about the physical aspects meaning the body becoming stronger, suppler, and the student being able to deal with stress more efficiently. Of course Hatha yoga which is the more well known of the yoga styles is to a greater extent about improving the body and these are  some of the advantages of making yoga part of your life. However, Kriya yoga is an advanced form, which focuses on spiritual growth as opposed to the physical context of yoga.

Typically, the practitioner of any yoga style should have studied any style of yoga for a year or more before embarking on the Kriya yoga route. Â This is because Kriya yoga is much more complex and requires even greater dedication and understanding of its principles.

Essentially all yoga disciplines teach the student about the inner life force and all yoga postures work at increasing the life force, opening up channels, clearing blockages, balancing inner energies.

The Kriya yoga student focuses on the energy in a different manner and works this energy up and down the spine. Kriya practice is to do with mastery of the breath and the concept is that the student directs this energy to rotate around the spinal centers (medullary, cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral and coccygeal plexuses) these spinal centers relate to the twelve signs of the zodiac.

The practice of kriya yoga is very deep and involved and the student must be dedicated to the practice to be able to progress and this is why it is recommended that students will have practiced other yoga methods and styles previously.

The techniques are very powerful and bring inspiration and clarity to the student; it opens up the spiritual eye and magnetizes the body. It takes students a long time to be able to grasp in fully the theory behind the practice and this is one of the reasons why it is important that the student does not self-teach this discipline. There are qualified teachers who should be contacted so as to instill correct techniques into the student; this will then help them to understand all that is Kriya yoga.

Essentially, the student will be able to decarbonize the blood and recharge it with oxygen, and this then rejuvenates all of the spinal centers and the brain. The idea is that the student will have control over the decay of body tissues by using the energy, this internal life-force and the power of their mind.

The student can still carry on with the other elements of yoga such as Hatha, Iyengar, Ashtanga etc, keeping the body strong is important and will help with the studies towards spiritual growth.

About the Author

“Learn Everything There Is To Know About Yoga” Search our Free Online Yoga Guide For More Yoga Information. By Bernard Matthews