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

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!

Yoga has been touted amongst the best and most effective, time tested and natural way to eliminate various diseases and problems with the body as well as the mind. It is an antiquated craftsmanship that strengthens the body as well as relaxes the brain with the right dose of mindfulness as well. Yoga tends to stimulate the nervous system and the endocrine, digestive and circulatory systems and improve the functioning of the same. 

The postures mentioned below affect at least one of these systems, thereby clearing the path for a strong immune system. These postures are as follows:

Shishuasana (child posture): Shishuasana is a phenomenal stance that de-congests the abdomen and constructs a superior and stronger immune system.
Setu Bandhasana (bridge posture): Setu Bandhasana opens the heart and enhances the blood flow. It increases the energy in the body to build a strong resistance against pathogens.
Halasana (plow posture): Halasana is a pose that requires a backward bend. It discharges white cells in the body and strengthens the immune system.
Bhujangasana (cobra posture): Bhujangasana is a mid-section opening posture which discharges white cells that enhance the body s resistance.
Dhanurasana (bow posture): Dhanurasana is yet other posture that enhances the flow of white cells by putting weight on the working of the digestive system.
Matsyasana (fish posture): Matsyasana stretches the abdomen and chest and strengthens the thymus. This enhances the body's invulnerability level.
Vinyasa Adho Mukha Svanasana (flowing downward facing dog pose): Begin with the plank pose, palms lying on the floor just underneath your shoulder and extend the legs backwards. The whole body should form a straight line like a board. Taking a full breath, lift your hips off the floor. Hold yourself on the hands and heels. Your head needs to point towards the ground. Take full breaths, two or three times, as you hold the position. Breathe out a deep breath, relax and return to the plank posture. Gradually bring down your body. Slide your hands backwards, allowing your palms to rest alongside the chest. Toes need to be in contact with the mat or the floor.
Yoga is a holistic routine that strengthens the body physically and also mentally. Subsequently, the body s immune system additionally enhances in such a condition. A sound life can be effortlessly accomplished if we figure out how to embrace a healthier way of life, healthy food decisions, and standard routines of yoga and meditation. Ayurveda, yoga and meditation are the perfect variables to carry on with a sound life.
Yoga is not an alternative option to medicines. It is a careful step to keep infections under control. Along these lines, one need not sit tight waiting for the seasonal flu to affect the body because it can be cured effortlessly with yoga.

Yoga - How it Can Boost Your Immunity?

Yoga is a great way to get rid of diseases and health conditions from heart problems to sciatica and depression. There exists a body of research suggesting that yoga is the best healing therapy for improving spine alignment and joint health. But on the flip side, research also suggests that yoga can t cure cancers though it can help one deal with chemotherapy.

But you can certainly try yoga for these diseases and conditions



Digestive disorders: There are a number of asanas and pranayamas like the child pose or bala asana and kapalbhati pranayama, which can alleviate indigestion, gas and flatulence. These also help in bowel movement. The Boat pose which is done by stretching your legs and arms straight out parallel in front of you and then raising legs so toes are above eye level is very good for stomach disorders and so is the downward dog pose.
Heart disease: Bhujangasana or cobra pose stretches the chest, massaging organs inside, including heart, and allowing more blood flow to it, thus stimulating and strengthening heart muscle. Kapalbhati pranayama is also very good for the heart since it increases the absorption of oxygen in the blood. Yoga is proven to be an excellent heart risk improvement practice according to current research too.
Depression: Anulom vilom pranayama is extremely effective in tackling anxiety and depression. It slows down breathing and is effective against hypertension too when done regularly over a long time. The deep breathing done while doing this pranayama helps slow heart rate and allows the lungs to absorb more oxygen.
Diabetes: Surya namaskar or the twelve sun salutation poses help control diabetes as it promotes the production of insulin. The corpse pose is good too.
Headaches: Migraines and headaches are common problems that can be handled using yoga. Poses like Sirsasana that increase the flow of oxygen to the brain can alleviate migraines easily.
Thyroid disorders: Yoga asanas like shoulder stand, inverted pose, plough pose and the fish pose all help in making the thyroid gland work optimally again. The cobra pose and Ujjayi pranayama also work wonders by re-balancing metabolism and working on the throat reflex pathways to cure thyroid imbalance. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a doctor and ask a free question.
Body pain: More than 50 percent adults will face body pain due to a number of reasons in their lifetime. Simple stretching or yoga stretches can both help in the prevention of body pain. Tadasana is very good for aligning the vertebral column and getting rid of body pain. Surya namaskar stretches are very helpful too.

7 Common Diseases That Yoga Postures Help In Managing It

Ayurveda literally translates into  the science of longevity.  It not just looks at treating the symptoms of the patient, but at getting to the root of the issue for a holistic treatment. In addition to various products, yoga is an integral part of maintaining overall health in Ayurveda.

Patrons of yoga would agree that yoga has multiple benefits, not just in treating diseases, but in maintaining the overall health. The following are some of the most obvious benefits of yoga.

Weight management: Yoga normalizes body weight by multiple ways including restoring hormonal balance, reducing cortisol levels, improving depression (which can lead to binge eating), etc. Do not worry about calories not being burned during yoga. Yoga is a very good stress reliever and people who are not stressed are rarely obese.
Pain control: Whether you have a headache or back pain, knee pain or muscle pain, try specific yogasanas. There are people who would vouch for the fact that they could completely stop their pain killers with effective yoga.
Strength: Yoga makes a person strong in addition to improving flexibility. In most forms of exercises, some may give strength, others may give flexibility. But yoga is one of the few approaches, which combines the two. Range of motion of the joints is improved, healing is quicker, and ligaments and muscles are more elastic with yoga.
Brain functioning: Yoga improves memory and cognitive functioning. Because meditation and focusing on oneself is such an integral part of yoga, it promotes brain function. It improves memory, clarity of thought, attention span, and helps in decision making.
Reduces stress: By improving overall well-being, yoga is one of the best methods for stress management. This in turn leads to reduction of a host of other diseases including hypertension, diabetes, stroke, sleep disorders, etc. There is also a heightened feeling of well-being, reduced depression, better self-esteem, improved motivation, and other effects which improve overall health and happiness quotient.
Anti-degenerative effects: The body is in a constant state of degeneration and with age, this is accelerated. What yoga does is to arrest degeneration   be it the muscle mass, the skin tone, or the joint flexibility. It has a whole lot of metabolic benefits including reducing glucose, sodium, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, VLDL, and catecholamines. Simultaneously, it helps by increasing HDL cholesterol, hematocrit, hemoglobin, lymphocyte count, white blood cell count, thyroxin, total serum protein, oxytocin, prolactin, and cholinesterase among others.
Restores function: For impaired body systems, whether it is nervous or digestive, musculoskeletal or neurologic, yoga does wonders.
There is no restriction on where to do yoga. Unlike gymming, swimming, or cycling, there is no definite set-up required. So, go embrace yoga and see the benefits for yourself.

Yoga - 7 Ways It Improves Your Health!

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!

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