When you get a compliment'smart thinking or you are intelligent or that was intelligent of you, you definitely feel good. These comments fill us with confidence, admiration and pride and we want it to happen to us again and again. But owing to a busy schedule and long working hours it might not be possible. Having said this, it does not mean that a person cannot stay intelligent throughout. This can be easily achieved by regular meditation. Regular meditation and yoga helps the mind to be more reflective and efficient.

Here are reasons how yoga and meditation lead to an intellectual learning and growth:

 Utilizes the brain: almost everyone uses one half of their brain more and this leads to imbalance. Meditation is believed to sync the left and the right hemispheres, thereby allowing neural connection and great processing power. When logical left and creative right brains start working in harmony, then solving problems becomes easy; and it also increases creativity, deep thinking comes to be known of and concentration and focus magnifies. Highly successful people usually display whole brain synchronization.
 Functional capabilities of brain enhance due to meditation: research backs it that meditation increases the gray matter thickness of the brain regions, thus making the brain smarter, bigger and faster. This is very similar to doing physical exercise which makes the muscles denser and stronger. The increase in functional capabilities of brain is based on the concept of neuroplasticity, which states that our intelligence is not based on genetics and there are some things which can be done to improve the way our brain works. Meditation is a good brain enhancer with an ability to increase intelligence.
 Beneficial brainwave patterns can be seen: meditation can help to guide the brainwaves into beneficial frequencies. The frequencies: alpha, theta and delta when guided can show case a myriad of benefits including idea generation, creativity, cognitive functioning, and intellectual capacity. Meditation helps to transform these beneficial states of mind and help boost the iq.
 Develops intuition and insights: these are generally obtained through listening and developing to the inner voice. Thus meditation forms to be the basic key to tap these latent abilities. The intelligence can be mapped through tests and quizzes and is valuable at each level to stimulate insights and creativity. As per some people, inner intelligence, is considered to be the most important and best success in the world. Successful people including steve jobs have stated that their super revolutionary ideas and business acumen came through their intuition.
 Meditation helps in improving both short and long term memory: the key memory areas hippocampus and frontal lobe show increase in activity during meditation. By stimulating these areas, the short and long term memories are improved.

Can Yoga Improve Your IQ?

Did you know that yoga poses help you in achieving greater flexibility rather than develop it? If you are suffering from stiff hamstrings, painful lower back and locked-up hips and tried many yoga poses without any help, then you may not have tried the right poses. When the body is stiff, it feels like you are trapped within your own body. Flexibility exercises can help in alleviating joint stiffness that may have developed due to a wide array of reasons. Here are the main asanas that are great for joint flexibility.

1. Big toe pose or Padangusthasana: This yogic pose can calm the nervous system and relieve stress and anxiety and stimulate your kidney and liver to optimize their functions. With regular practice, your calf muscles and hamstrings would stretch and your thighs would become stronger. If you are suffering from indigestion and insomnia, then big toe pose is a must try and it also helps in alleviating the symptoms of menopause.

2. Bound angle pose or Baddha Konasana: This pose offers a host of benefits that include stimulating your abdominal organs, prostate glands, ovaries, kidneys and bladder. It also stimulates blood and oxygen circulation throughout the body and improves the heart condition. It is a therapeutic treatment for high blood pressure, anxiety, mild depression, fatigue flat feet, asthma and infertility. With consistent practice, you will be able to stretch your knees, groin and inner thigh.

3. Child's pose or Balasana: This resting pose calms the mind and improves digestion to a great extent. It helps in elongation of the lower back by opening up and stretching this part of the body where all the weight is dumped while you sit and work all day long. This pose is perfect for opening up the hip and reducing hip pains and improving their flexibility.

4. Cow face pose or Gomukhasana: When performed regularly, this pose helps in deep stretching the hips, thighs, ankles, armpit, shoulders, triceps, chest and deltoid. If you had been suffering from a chronic knee pain, this pose can help relieving it. It also aids in strengthening the spine and abdominals, and its folded variations are a great way of decompressing lower spine and clearing the hip joint.

Increased flexibility is one of the topmost benefits of yoga that would surely equip you with the freedom of movement and relaxation. However, it is always important to consult an expert before you try these poses, as they can evaluate your medical history and select the ideal yogic postures that would work best for you.

Improving Joint Flexibility Through Yoga

Yoga is the healing system par excellence. It can help all of us stay healthy without medicines and surgeries. It is also the go-to modality for spiritual and mental peace. The selection of yoga asanas for different age groups is extremely critical in yoga. How asanas are done, at what time and for how long are some of the basics that matter a lot too.

Here are a few easy-to-do asanas for three different age groups:
Age: 9-19
Before the age of seven, children should not do yoga. This is because their heart s capacity to pump blood is limited and it may not be able to handle the heightened load during practice.

1. Virabhadrasana: This asana strengthens the muscles of the legs and makes leg and back muscles flexible. It tones the abdominal organs too. It helps children be active and fit.
Method:

Stand straight with your legs wide apart.
Turn your right foot out by 90 degrees.
And turn left foot in by 15 degrees.
Lift both arms sideways to shoulder height with your palms facing upwards.
Now breathe out and bend your right knee.
Turn your head to your right. Push your hips down and hold the posture.
Breathe in while you come up.

2. Naukasana: This asana works on the muscular, digestive, circulatory, nervous and hormonal systems, and gets rid of belly fat.
Method:

Lie down flat on a mat on your back.
Breathe in and hold the breath.
Raise your arms, shoulders, head and trunk off the ground.
Balance body on buttocks and keep the spine straight.
Keep arms in the same line as your toes with palms facing downwards.
Age- 20-34
1. Sukhasana: This asana is excellent to calm and soothe. It eliminates anxiety.
Method:
Sit with your legs stretched in front.
Bend your knees and fold your legs towards your middle.
Cross your legs and keep the arches of the foot on the thighs.
Sit with your hips in a neutral position.

2. Trikonasana: This is a very good pose for the spine and pelvis. It cures a backache and is good for digestion.
Method:

Stand erect, inhale and step to the right with left heel turned inward.
Exhale and reach out over your foot with your right hand, bending to the right.
Feel the stretch.
Raise the left hand vertically upwards.
Turn your head to look up towards the left thumb.
Age- 35 and above
1. Vajrasana: It improves blood supply to upper torso and head and builds stamina. Excellent for digestion and can be done on a full stomach.
Method:

Stand on your knees with the lower legs stretched backwards, with toes crossing.
Now lower your body to sit on your heels with buttocks resting on them.
Keep your hands on knees and head straight.
Breathe in deep and concentrate on the breath.
2. Halasana: Cervical spondylosis, back pain and shoulder stiffness can all be cured through this asana. It is very useful for menopausal women too.
Method:

Lie on your back with knees bent and legs together.
Place your hands underneath the back supporting it.
Exhale and swing your knees and thighs over your torso.
Raise your hips and abdomen to support the position.
Straighten your legs parallel to the ground.

Yoga Asanas For Different Age Groups!

International Yoga Day is observed on 21st June every year to spread awareness about the importance and effects of yoga on the health of the people. The International Yoga Day aims to raise awareness worldwide of the many benefits of practicing yoga. The United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 2014, announced that June 21 will be seen as International Yoga Day or World Yoga Day. Since 2015, International Yoga Day is been celebrated worldwide. 
Do you know about the various benefits of yoga for your body and health? Yoga is the answer for a lot of aspects which everyone desires, such as a peaceful mind, a strong and flexible body and a healthy, glowing skin. It is commonly perceived that yoga aims at weight loss, but there are numerous benefits, which you can get by practising yoga regularly. Here are the various ways in which yoga is ideal for your everyday life. It covers lots of aspects associated with your health and body functioning.

Yoga for overall fitness
You need to be physically fit, as well as perfectly balanced emotionally and mentally. This ensures that you are healthy in the true sense. Health is like a dynamic expression of life-based on how happy, loving and enthusiastic you are in life. The various postures of yoga help in maintaining overall fitness, and balance both your mind and body in an ideal way.

It helps in improving health.
It gives you an enhanced strength of mind.
Your physical power and stamina get boosted.
Your body is perfectly detoxified.
Yoga for weight loss
Yoga is excellent for weight loss purposes. The Kapalbhati Pranayama and the Sun Salutations are effective yoga practices, which help you to lose excess weight. With regular yoga practice for a long time, you become extra sensitive to the types of food your body demands. This is effective for keeping a check on your weight.

Yoga for stress relief
Some minutes of yoga every day is a good way of eliminating the stress that you experience in daily life. It refers to both physical and mental stress. Certain yoga postures, meditation, and Pranayama are ideal practices for getting rid of stress.

Yoga and inner peace
In today s hectic world and the hustle-bustle of daily life, every person desires some peace. This peace can be found within your own self and you do not always need to escape to the mountain to breathe freely. Practising yoga regularly will give you immense inner peace, which is equivalent to a mini holiday to some nice, serene place. Yoga is very essential for calming your disturbed and troubled mind.
Moreover, yoga poses massage your organs and help in strengthening your muscles. The various breathing exercises and meditation forms associated with yoga are great for releasing unwanted, undesirable stress from your system. This, in turn, improves your immune system and prevents you from getting affected by frequent diseases and health conditions.

World Health Day - Making Life Healthier With Yoga!

A number of health problems are rooted in mental instability. Frequent bouts of anger and frustration can lead to stress and related problems. One of the most efficient ways of dealing with this instability and stress is meditation.
Vipasana is an ancient meditative technique that promises to allow a person to see the true nature of things. In Buddhist tradition, it literally translates to insight to the true reality of nature namely impermanence, suffering and the realization of non self. It focuses on self observation and the connection between mind and body and aims to eradicate mental impurities.
Vipasana meditation can be broken down into four stages.
Discovering Vitakka and Vicara: The first stage of Vipasana explores the connection between body and mind. This is done by concentrating on inhaling and exhaling and the feeling of air passing over the skin in front of the nose. Vitakka and vicara refer to the concentration and thought required to feel the connection between mind and body.
Disappearance of Vitakka and Vicara: In the second stage, the connection between mind and body is felt effortlessly. Thus, in this stage both vitakka and vicara fade away. This is known as anapana meditation and helps develop control over the mind.
Happiness: When a person reaches the third stage of vipasana, he stops focusing on emotions like pity, sadness, exuberance and only feels happiness. This frees the mind of negativity and hence purifies it.
Equanimity: The fourth and final stage is characterized by mindfulness and leads to clarity. At this stage, a person feels the desire for freedom and understands nature to be ever changing.
Vipasana is taught at a ten day residential program. Here, participants must adhere to a code of discipline that includes absolute silence and abstaining from any form of communication, sexual activity and substance abuse. Participants are taught the basics of the meditation technique and how to practice it but to benefit fully from it, regular meditation is necessary. Advanced vipasana students may attend 20, 30, 45 and 60 day courses to practice vipasana. An introduction to vipasana is also given to children in the form of short 3 day courses.
Ultimately, vipasana enables the practitioner to experience peace and harmony within oneself and with the rest of the world. It frees the mind from craving and hence also helps people abstain from social evils like stealing and killing. Thus, vipasana has the capacity to change minds and character and helps practitioners lead fulfilling, healthy lives. 

Vipasana - See The True Nature Of Things

Have you been stressed out lately and feel like you have lost your mental peace? You should consider trying yoga for reviving your peace of mind. Yoga poses integrate a combination of physical health and spiritual health, which allow you to cope with the various tensions you experience in everyday life. You get a calm and relaxed state of mind and your sense of both internal and external well-being also improves. Here are the best yoga poses, which help you bring mental peace.

Anjaneyasana - high lunge: For performing this yoga pose, you should stand up straight and bend forward on one of your knees, keeping your other leg stretched behind. Your arms should be held above your head, and you must inhale and exhale all the time. This pose gives you positive energy, which enhances mental power and strength.
Anjaneyasana - low lunge: This yoga pose involves the bending of one knee in a low lunged position, keeping the forward knee flexed at a 90 degree angle. Your arms should be stretched. This yoga asana is good for increasing your mental focus, and helps in releasing all sorts of tensions. It is very effective for total mental peace.
Garundasana - eagle pose: This is a high level yoga pose that helps in improving your concentration and balance. All negative mental energy you possess get dispelled. It involves a chair pose, with one of your left arm wrapped around another. Your arms should stay entwined. This asana enables you to develop mental and physical harmony, which results in inner peace.
Natarajasana - dancer s pose: This is another effective yoga posture, which helps in boosting your concentration power. It involves standing on one leg while you bend forward having one arm stretched in front, and another grabbing your foot of the leg, which is raised.
Virabhadrasana - warrior pose: This yoga pose aims at combating your inner conflicts in order to attain a relaxed mental state. You need to stand on one leg, bend forward, raise your other leg, and clasp your hands behind your back. This practice is effective in eliminating negative emotions, which upset your mental peace.
Urdhva prasarita eka padasana - standing split pose: This yoga asana involves standing with one of your legs resting on the ground, while the other one is extended upwards. Blood rushes to your head, which improves your mental functions. You also experience a serene state of mind, which is important for a sound mind.
Apart from these, the Adho Mukha Vrksasana or the Handstand is also effective for attaining mental peace. Here, you need to propel your body upwards, supporting your entire body weight on your hands.

How Yoga Can Bring You Mental Peace?

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