Leo Silveira Yoga » Yoga for Health

Yoga and Flexibility

donnahouston — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:35:05 +0000

Yoga is many things to different people. For some it is just an exercise class for others it is a way of life. There is yoga for children, toddlers, disabled and seniors; it is always great to see more and more men attending classes. For some reason yoga has been seen as a women’s exercise when some of the greatest teachers of yoga especially in the transition from East to west were men.

Men can benefit a lot from yoga because what most other exercises lack is the promotion of flexibility. Flexibility is essential for all humans to protect their muscles and joints, promote great range and ease of motion. Mixed classes have a great dynamic and it is great to see some of the body builders realize how difficult some poses can be and the ultimate importance of having flexibility and STRENGTH.

Many people are shocked when they first start doing yoga at how inflexible they are in some aspect of their body’s movement, we sometimes if we have done exercise in the past imagine that we can still touch our toes or do the splits, if we did them in the past. It is a bit like finding that your car that did do 60 miles an hour can now only do 30, it makes you think, I need to take more care of my body so that my body will continue to take care of me. Yoga to me is a way to check in with my body and get feedback, how are my arms and hips doing today, I am more aware and that is a good thing.

Like a car we can start taking our body for granted and instead of a big illness being a wake up call I would rather have had a warning sooner. Although it is great to get positive feedback from your body, everything is great today as we relax into our favorite and more challenging postures.

Donna Houston

Yoga for Tense Shoulders

donnahouston — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:32:29 +0000

The one of the best things about yoga and there are lots, is the improvement you see in your flexibility. As someone who did gymnastics as a child and teenager and could do the full splits at one time, I was shocked when I discovered that I could not touch my toes. I had always been vain about my flexibility but the old adage of if you don’t use it, you lose it is so true. Even when you take a break in your yoga classes, you notice the difference when you come back to yoga although if the break is not too long you get back to your former level quite quickly.

Although yoga is a great exercise for all over fitness you can concentrate on certain areas with specific poses and stretches. For example if like me you get very tight and tense across the neck and shoulders because of lots of typing and computer work. It is so hard to get a desk and chair to prevent this tension developing. There are a few yoga positions that I love which helps me a lot for neck and shoulder tension.

The first is the standing forward fold or Uttanasana, this is a great posture to relax the muscles of your neck, it is a very calming pose and it is one of my favorite yoga poses which is deceptively simple. You will know this pose from your class or DVD, remember to warm up before any exercise and do not attempt any yoga straight after eating, especially this pose.

First stand in Mountain pose with your feet slightly apart about hip width or two fists apart. As one of my yoga teachers pointed out to her class it is not about the circumference of your hips but more about having your feet below your hip bones, which are usually about two fists apart in distance. Check it out but remember to bend your knees and protect your back.

So from mountain pose, slowly slide your hands down the front of your legs and fold forward from your hips, not your waist. From there you can either clasp your elbows in opposite hands or behind your legs. Relax your body into the pose, I love it here and when I do home practice stay it this for a while. Remember to bend the knees slightly do not lock them. Relax and breathe, if you can not get down far at the moment brace your hands against your legs or bend your knees more but if possible just dangle and relax. I find that if I stay in a pose for longer the body will relax more into it and go further but not forcing any stretch.

Another addition to the pose is to stand on the palms of the hand with the large toe pressing lightly into the fleshy base of the thumb. To do this place your hand in front of the feet, knuckle side to the mat (do use a mat as carpets and hard surfaces hurt), fingers pointing to the feet, step the feet forward on to the hands. I find this extremely relaxing, another variation is to clasp the hands behind your back and bring them over your head whilst in the forward bend, if you are flexible in the shoulders then you can get your clasped hands parallel to the floor, if like me you have very tense shoulders this is quite a challenging variation.

Donna Houston

How Yoga can improve your Life

donnahouston — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:24:30 +0000

Many people find that once they have been practicing yoga for a while they want to take their yoga practice to the next level. For many people that step is having daily home yoga practice even if it is only for ten minutes after you get up. A home practice can improve and invigorate your life in many ways.

Having a home practice improves your self discipline and your yoga practice as you see improvement very quickly in your strength and flexibility. This is not to say that you discontinue your yoga classes, it is important to keep attending classes so that you do not get into bad or sloppy habits.

Yoga on a daily basis improves your mood and promotes a relaxed start to the day; some people even start and end their day with yoga, splitting their practice into two parts or even doing extra. It is important to be in tune with your body and obviously not to exercise if you are ill.

Yoga is not only great for the body but the practice of regular meditation, balanced postures and breathing exercises are wonderful for the mind and spirit too. These practices promote a feeling of calm which you have with you always and can recall in times of stress.

A number of research studies have confirmed the benefits of regular meditation on the mind and body.

Donna Houston

Health Problems that Yoga can Help

donnahouston — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:21:07 +0000

There are many reasons to encourage people to consider yoga as a way of maintaining your health; the one I love is that there is hardly any person that would not benefit from yoga. Gender, age, athletic ability, time none of these are barriers to yoga.

It costs no money, as you can get an older yoga DVD or video from the library or borrow one from a friend and although a mat is advisable, you can get away without one if you do not have a mat.

As for clothes any loose comfortable clothes will do, some do yoga naked (not at the gym obviously) and I’ve done yoga at the gym in my jeans, once when I forgot my stuff. I regularly start the day with a few sun salutations in my pajamas and do a couple of poses in the kitchen when I am waiting for the kettle to boil.

I love that there are people in there 80’s doing yoga as it encourages me to feel positive about my future health and the great possibilities for a healthy older age. There are all different types of yoga and restorative yoga for people who are ill or recovering from illness is great. They use cushions and blankets to support people in poses but most yoga teachers can help you adapt your yoga practice if you have any health problems.

In fact yoga has been proven in studies to help some conditions for example asthma and the regular relaxation at the end of yoga practice is great for people who suffer from stress or anxiety. In my personal experience yoga has helped my asthma, greatly reduced the amount of medication that I take and cut the amount and severity of asthma attacks. I know from visiting asthma forums that others have found the same benefits.

Using Yoga to Get Rid of Stress

donnahouston — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:57:02 +0000

Life in general is quite stressful, and there is really no one who does not experience some level of stress. Very many things that we do every day can cause a great deal of stress, even just waiting for something or someone for instance. What is important therefore, is to learn how you can manage the stress you experience. One of the best methods you can apply is the practice of yoga.

Yoga is a very effective means of relaxation, which is important in the alleviation of stress. As the various Yoga postures help in relaxing the muscles in your body, meditation will help your mind to relax as well.

Yoga is also quite helpful in developing a more positive attitude, which is something that will help you after your exercises. This means that yoga will give you long-term benefits that will help you to have a relatively stress-free life.

Yoga will help you to manage your stress, not by making you resist the negative feelings, but by changing your perception towards any such feelings whenever they crop up.

Another important aspect of yoga that helps in removing stress is the control of breath. The slow, deep breaths are very effective in relaxing both the body and mind. You will have even better results if you focus on the breaths by taking them with your eyes closed. Closing your eyes will help you to pay more attention to particular areas of your body. You will thus get into a better frame of mind.

Donna Houston