HEALTH
The Perks of Being a Yogi
But if you are reading this, I doubt
ashtanga is the way to go for you. So let’s
leave the basics for a while and try to explain
why yoga is extremely good for one’s health.
Even if we put aside all the mind work,
stretching alone helps to warm up your body,
provides the proper body liquids flow,
increases the range of movements you’re
capable of doing, improves posture by
lengthening tight muscles that pull areas of
the body away from their intended position
(because of so much time at our computers,
many of us have tight chest muscles which pull
the shoulders and head forward, leaving us
with a hunched shoulder look). Even a short
amount of time (10-15 minutes) of making
different asanas can calm the mind, provide a
mental break, and give your body a chance to
recharge.
Pranayama (breathing exercises)
enlarges one’s lungs and, therefore, their
capacity. The most natural way of breathing
for humans is inhaling in the stomach (this is
how babies and little children breathe), not in
the chest. Depending on the aim of doing
pranayama, it can be used for calming down,
or, on the contrary, for lifting the needed
energy for the day to come.
Furthermore, yoga improves your
balance. At first you’ll most definitely hate all
the balance asanas, the trick here is to train
your core muscles and to understand that if
your mind is not stable, neither is the body.
Your yoga-instructor is not a god of flexibility,
he just has put enough effort in creating a
connection between his body and mind.
After a certain period of time a yoga
novice will probably point out that the balance
and flexibility skills he acquired while practicing
can be applied to daily life. And here comes
the real positive side of yoga – you’re no longer
so easily distracted, you feel more confident,
because your spine is straight, chest is up, and
your head is clear. However, before it happens,
a novice should keep trying and trying, finding
the balance inside.
Modern psychology tells us that every
moment of our life our thoughts are either in
the past or in the future. But what about this
very moment? Lamenting the past mistakes
and worrying about future tasks, we often
miss the most precious thing we have – the
“now” time. The Present. Yoga teaches us how
to be present. Deliberately ignoring all the
distractions when keeping an asana, we train
the skill of concentration.
One of the meanings of the word “yoga”
in Hindi is “unity” or “coherence”. Unity with
what exactly? With your body, of course. The
yogis who have practiced for quite a long
period of time, confide that they can feel and
decode every hidden impulse and urge of their
organism.
So, coming back to the beginning of my
narration, I have nothing against cardio-
training or weight-lifting, and I’m not
suggesting that yoga should be the only daily
physical activity, but it most certainly could
become a nice change when you’re full of
anxiety and tension. We live in a “fast-food”
era, and, consequently, our brain demands
loud-music, super-fast, maximum-efficiency
sport with minimum effort.
In the circumstances we’re dealing with
now, people are obliged to search for the inner
peace themselves. So I strongly encourage
you to take up one yoga-class, or even just try
one Surya Namascar practice at home with a
Yo uTu b e t u to r i a l . Tr y to l e a ve a l l t h e
superstitions you may have heard and just feel
the flow, the joy of movement. Namaste.
Follow Anna on Instagram: @weirdanne
February 2019 №2
SUNRISE
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