Yoga - Back Pain

One can greatly reduce back pain and help heal back problems with proper back exercises. This is no longer a theory and is accepted by all leading back care specialists and through yoga it can be contained easily.

CHAKRASANA (Wheel Pose)

1.Lie on your back. Bends your legs at the knees and place them nearer to the hips.
2.Place the palms by the sides of your head by bending the elbows and fingers towards your body.
3.While inhaling, slowly raise your body upward, resting on the feet and the palms, thus curving the spine. Retain the pose for a few seconds and, breathing normally, gradually increase the duration.
4. Concentrate on the spine. While exhaling slowly come back and rest in Shavasna for a while.

Benefits & Precautions:

Persons suffering from slipped disc, duodenal ulcer, hernia and cardiac problem should avoid this asana. Charakasana strengthens the vertebral column and increases the oxygen in-take capacity. It prevents respiratory disorders and relieves stiffness of joints, back, shoulder and the thoracic cage. It is very useful in treating diabetes, asthma, constipation and obesity.


SETUBANDANASAN (Bridge Pose)

1) Lie supine on the floor, and if necessary, place a thickly folded blanket under your shoulders to protect your neck. Bend your knees and set your feet on the floor, heels as close to the sitting bones as possible.

2) Exhale and, pressing your inner feet and arms actively into the floor, push your tailbone upward toward the pubis, firming (but not hardening) the buttocks, and lift the buttocks off the floor. Keep your thighs and inner feet parallel. Clasp the hands below your pelvis and extend through the arms to help you stay on the tops of your shoulders.

3) Lift your buttocks until the thighs are about parallel to the floor. Keep your knees directly over the heels, but push them forward, away from the hips, and lengthen the tailbone toward the backs of the knees. Lift the pubis toward the navel.

4) Lift your chin slightly away from the sternum and, firming the shoulder blades against your back, press the top of the sternum toward the chin. Firm the outer arms, broaden the shoulder blades, and try to lift the space between them at the base of the neck (where it's resting on the blanket) up into the torso.

5) Stay in the pose anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 minute. Release with an exhalation, rolling the spine slowly down onto the floor.

Benefits

• Stretches the chest, neck, and spine
• Calms the brain and helps alleviate stress and mild depression
• Stimulates abdominal organs, lungs, and thyroid
• Rejuvenates tired legs
• Improves digestion
• Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
• Relieves menstrual discomfort when done supported
• Reduces anxiety, fatigue, backache, headache, and insomnia
• Therapeutic for asthma, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and sinusitis

Yoga - Acnes & Cure

Acne, They are commonly referred to as pimples, spots and zits.
Of course, it will involve changing your life style, your waking, sleeping habits – getting them into discipline and order, that is – your food habits and some regular exercises.

Causes of Acne:
• Wrong eating habits
• Erroneous lifestyle
• Smoking
• Drugs
• Drinking
• Stress and worrying
• Unhygienic living conditions

The basic problem with people suffering from acne is excess of toxins in the body. Yoga helps by flushing toxins out of the system. Which can easily be achived through cleansing kriyas (techniques):

Vaman Dhauti (Drinking and vomiting water on an empty stomach)
Kunjal Kriya or Vaman Dhauti (regurgitative cleansing)
Preparation :
Wash the hands and make sure the nails are carefully trimmed.
Prepare about two litres of lukewarm (body temperature) water per person, adding one teaspoonful of slat per litre according to taste.
Technique I : Kunjal Kriya (the practice of vomiting water)
Stand near a sink or toilet, or if the weather is warm, in a suitable place outside in the garden or near on open drain. Drink at least six glasses of the prepared water one after the other, as quickly as possible, until it feels that the stomach cannot hold any more. It is most important to drink fast and not just sip the water.
When the stomach is full, the urge to vomit will occur automatically.
Lean forward, keeping the trunk as horizontal as possible.
Open the mouth and place the middle and index fingers of the right hand as far back on the tongue as possible.
Gently rub and press the back of the tongue. This should induce the water to gush out from the stomach.
If there is no expulsion of water it means the tips of the fingers are not far enough down the throat or that the tongue is not being pressed.
The more the practitioner relaxes into the practice, the easier it will be.
During the expulsion of water the fingers may be removed from the mouth although this is not necessary.
When the flow of water ceases, again place the fingers in the mouth and repeat the process.
Continue in this way until stomach is empty.

Shanka Prakshalana
The word Shankhaprakshalana comes from two words. Shankha meaning “conch” and prakshalana meaning to wash completely. The word shankha is used to represent the entire alimentary canal from mouth to anus. This practice is also known as “varisar dhouti”. This practice is also a part of kaya kalpa, which is an ayurvedic technique for physical purification and transformation, kaya means body & kalpa means transformation. Shankhaprakshalana is the process to clean the intestinal tract by removing the impurities with salty water.
NOTE – No one should try this in absence of Yoga Guru and without advice of medical practitioner.

Pre- preparation:
Plenty of clean, warm water should be available, add 2 tea spoons of salt per liter to the water and 1 lemon juice per litter. Please Do not add sugar.

Jala Neti (Nasal cleansing with water)

• Neti removes all the dirt and bacteria filled mucus from within the nose
• It also helps to drain the sinus cavities. This in turn, will help to reprogramme the body’s natural mechanisms against nasal infections such as hayfever, allergies, sinusitis and other upper respiratory complaints like sore throats and coughs, post nasal drip, inflammation of tonsils and adenoids.
• It is beneficial for illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis as it reduces the tendency for mouth breathing by freeing the nostrils of mucus.
• It has a cooling and soothing effect on the brain by drawing out excessive heat, and is therefore beneficial for headaches, migraine, epilepsy, temper tantrums, hysteria, depression and general mental tension.
• Neti is of great benefit for problems associated with the eyes. It helps flush the tear ducts, encouraging clearer vision and gives a sparkle to the eyes.
• It can be beneficial for certain types of ear disorders such as middle ear infections, glue ear, tinitis.
• Neti improves sensitivity of the olfactory nerves, helping to restore lost sense of smell, and thereby benefits the relationship with taste and the digestive processes.
• It has subtle effects on the pineal and pituitary glands which control the hormonal system. This has a harmonising effect on emotional behaviour.
• Neti affects the psychic centre known as Ajna Chakra which helps in awakening higher states of meditation.
• It helps to stimulate better powers of visualisation and concentration and gives a feeling of lightness and clarity to the mind.
• Neti is excellent for those trying to give up smoking. Since it reduces the tendency for mouth breathing, Neti re-sensitises the nose to the actual pollution of ingesting smoke, thereby de-programming the brain of the physical and psychological addiction.

Above all eat vegetarian diet, avoid junk and oily food and practice lots of yoga basic poses. If possible, include meditation as part of your daily practices to calm mind and body.

Yoga - Cure for Hypertension - II

Hypertension is also related to other diseases like stroke, heart attack. The two types of high blood pressure are as follows:

Primary Hypertension – It is also known as essential hypertension; commonly caused by stress and injury, primary hypertension has no specific symptom. Other causes comprise emotional disturbance, heredity, race, climatic condition, Obesity, smoking and alcohol intake.

Secondary Hypertension – It may lead to kidney infection, malfunctioning of the Endocrine Gland, arterial problems like arteriosclerosis, and even Pregnancy.

Since hypertension has no specific symptom, it became known to be a silent killer. If not detected at an early stage, it may lead to arterial cardiac and renal damage. Nevertheless, hypertension can be detected if people experience some mild and pounding headache, giddiness, hazy vision, ringing in the ears, and disturbed kidney functioning. If experienced continuously, it may lead to heart attack, heart failure, stroke, or paralysis.

In order to manage hypertension, lifestyle management, one of which is Yoga Lifestyle, helps treat and prevent hypertension. Some of the yoga poses are as follows:

Easy Pose (Sukhasana)
This is one of the classic Meditative Poses and is usually performed after doing the Corpse Pose. The Easy Pose helps in straightening the spine, slowing down metabolism, promoting inner tranquility, and keeping your mind still.

Shoulder Stretches
Shoulder Stretches are great in relieving stress and tension on your shoulders, as well as your entire upper back. Practice them daily for several weeks and notice the changes. Learn some basic stretches for the shoulders in this section.

Stand Spread Leg Forward Fold
People with lower back problems should avoid doing the full forward bend. For beginners, you may use props like a folding chair to support your forearms.

Cat Pose (Bidalasana)
This Pose teaches you to initiate movement from your center and to coordinate your movement and breath. These are two of the most important themes in Yoga practice. Keep in mind that the Cat Pose may not be advisable if you have any chronic or recent back pain or injury.

Half Spinal Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana)
This pose lengthens and strengthens the spine. It is also beneficial for your liver, kidneys, as well as adrenal glands. In this section, learn how to perform the Half Spinal Twist.

Wind Relieving Pose (Pavanamuktasana)
The Wind Relieving Pose works mainly on the digestive system. specifically, it helps in eliminating excess gas in the stomach.

Double Leg Raises
This is similar to a Single Leg Raise, only this time, you will raise both legs. In doing this Yoga Pose, make sure that the full length of your back is resting on the floor and your shoulders and neck are relaxed. This section covers the steps and guidelines on how to do this pose properly.

Anuloma Viloma
This is also called the Alternate Nostril Breathing Technique. In this Breathing Technique, you inhale through one nostril, retain the breath, and exhale through the other nostril.

Yoga - Cure for HyperTension

With yoga once can easily bring down high blood pressure and u know the consequences what would happen if blood pressure is not brought down ? But the exact cause cannot be pinpointed. Yoga therapists see it as a symptom and not as a disease. 

Step 1: The first step in the treatment of hypertension is identifying the symptom (i.e., high BP). 

Step 2: Getting to know the person’s lifestyle, family background. 

Step 3: Identifying the stress / pressure-causing factors. 

Step 4: Techniques to bring about the sense of release are prescribed next. It can be asanas for some; for others it would be pranayama; for others it can be some kind of meditation to reduce stress. 

Pranayama and Savasana are important yogic methods to control the blood pressure. Pranayama (breath control), conscious respiration, savasana (here a person adopts a dead-body-like posture and starts relaxing from the toes to the upper part of the body step by step), these yogic postures can remove the stress and control blood pressure. 

Yoga brings about relaxation and this removes the stress, a main cause of high blood pressure. Yoga is both a static and dynamic exercise and improves the cardiovascular efficiency in a healthy as well as a sick person. A person who never indulges in any kind of physical activity (either dynamic or static) has a very poor cardiac efficiency. 

On exercise his heart rate increases as if the same person has had physical training for six months. His heart rate will not jump but will steadily go up after a set of exercises. Extrapolating these findings to yoga which is both a static and dynamic exercise, muscle tone is created by static exercises; muscle and joints are made supple by dynamic exercises. People think that one has to run about 10 km in order to exercise. 

One can sit in a room and do yoga for the muscles to be equally sufficient. With yoga one can improve the cardiovascular efficiency in a normal person and in a diseased person. But one should be cautious regarding the underlying condition. Conditions like severe heart valve obstruction calls for care and caution.