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Posts Tagged ‘Yoga’

Yoga to Improve Quality of Life

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Yoga is an ancient art originating from India. Its primary focus is the development of inner peace through stretching and breathing exercises which help to channel energy into ones soul. This article describes 5 ways that Yoga can help to increase your quality of life, regardless of your personal circumstances and situation.

1. Increased Lung Capacity – by conducing yoga twice weekly, you will learn how to breath more effectively and control your emotions as a result. Breathing exercises will also help you increase your VO2 max which is the maximum amount of oxygen you can intake in one breath. This is important for any healthy cardiovascular effort, as your lung capacity will directly impact on how your body will perform when exerted.

2. Reduced stress levels – research suggests that taking time out exclusively for yourself helps to reduce stress levels and having a time out from the everyday issues that trouble us all. By doing yoga, your body will naturally be more relaxed and your muscles and internal organs will have had the opportunity to stretch and release toxins that are captured by an increase in stress levels.

3. Higher level of physical fitness – yoga is an art which is underpinned by stretching and developing personal stretching capabilities over time. In doing so you will start to use fat stores as energy, putting the body in a higher state of physical exertion. As you do this, your body will become more supple, overtime resulting in an increased level of toning.

4. Relaxed mindset – because of the atmosphere within a yoga class you will find yourself becoming extremely relaxed, entering a state of passiveness which is unrivalled in any extracurricular activity.

5. Meeting people – by going to a yoga class you will meet like minded individuals that want to increase their quality of life through stress relief and relaxation, two facets which yoga provides easily. By meeting these types of individuals you will find yourself making new friends that are on the same wavelength, happy to socialise with you in order to further improve both yours and their own quality of life.

The Most Effective Use Of Yoga Chairs

Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

Have you ever wondered if what you know about yoga chairs is accurate? Consider the following paragraphs and compare what you know to the latest info on yoga chairs.

Think about what you’ve read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about yoga chairs? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?

Yoga chairs are of course, chairs used for exercises for chair yoga, a fitness craze that has been sweeping across the ranks of senior citizens and people with low general mobility. Before we can discuss yoga chairs, we should first discuss the exercise for which yoga chairs are used: Chair Yoga.

Chair yoga, is the gentlest form of yoga. It makes use of yoga chairs (basically any sturdy chair that doesn’t move). The student uses the chair for support, to stand on, or for sitting- whatever a particular exercise demands at a certain time.

It is not a traditional form of yoga and consequently may not be seen as “real” yoga by some practitioners. The Asanas, or yoga stances and exercises are by and large, derived from Hatha Yoga.

Chair yoga is widely practiced in retirement homes, adult day-care centers, and senior fitness centers. This has led to the perception that chair yoga is only for senior citizens and that chair yoga was developed only for them.

On the contrary, anyone can practice chair yoga if they are so inclined. There are chair yoga students of all ages and all the spectrum of capabilities who use the practice to be able to reap some of its benefits. Conditions helped by chair yoga are numerous, from depression to hypertension, from vertigo to carpal tunnel syndrome.

Between Yoga Chairs and Asanas

Yoga chairs are used in the facilitating of the Asanas the students take. These yoga chairs are particularly important for chair yoga practitioners who suffer from disabilities or mobility problems.

Chairs will help the student keep balance, prevent them from exerting undue effort, and keep them from experiencing strain that they would otherwise feel if they were to eschew the use of yoga chairs. Many Asanas can be adopted to make use of a chair.

Yoga chairs are often used with yoga mats in order to perform some Asanas. However this is not the case in many classes as some classes are composed primarily of students with movement problems so severe that they have trouble getting off of a floor from a prone or supine position. In these classes, stances that involve sitting are most likely to be practiced.

Specialized yoga chairs are available that claim to have benefits but some of these claims are spurious and unproven. Care should be taken in purchasing a specialized yoga chair as they may cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars and not give back any concrete benefits to the user.

These are just very basic things; you can add more based on your own experience and knowledge.

When word gets around about your command of yoga chairs facts, others who need to know about yoga chairs will start to actively seek you out.