Yoga Central – Cobra Pose

This is the latest article in our yoga central series and today we will be looking at a pose known as Cobra Pose or Bhujangasana. We will look at how to properly carry out the pose, the benefits you can get from it and anything that you need to consider before beginning. Please read the entire article before trying the pose.

How to Carry Out the Pose

We have put together instructions on how to carry out the pose correctly however there are also a number of modifications that can be done to make the pose easier as well as deeper. These modifications will be found lower in the article.

1. Begin lying on your front on the floor. Interlock your hands behind your back, resting on your hips, keep the elbows slightly bent. Breath in, expanding the chest and breath out and lift the up off the chest keeping the elbows slightly bent. Hold for about 10 seconds and then release placing your hands under your shoulders.

2. With your hands under your shoulders in the floor anchor the pose by pressing the hips and the feet firmly into the ground. Do not over activate the bottom.

3. Now breath in an gently lift your torso of the ground, keeping the elbows bent. Imagine your hands are still interlocked behind your back. Keeping the neck long gently lift up until you are comfortable or until the arms are straight. Do not compress the neck and keep your gaze forward and slightly down.

4. If you are comfortable and can keep the neck long, take the head back deepening the pose. Continue to keep your gaze slightly down. Remember to anchor the pose through your feet and your hips.

5. Hold the pose for 15 to 30 seconds and remember to breath. Then exhale and gently lower yourself back to the ground and rest. Repeat the exercise.

Tips and Precautions

If you are new to this pose then it is important not to strain your back. Only lift yourself as far as is comfortable and gradually build up to the full pose. If you are very stiff then you may want to use a chair to make the pose easier. You can place a folding chair against the wall and place your hands on your chair and the balls of your feet on the floor to do the pose.

This pose is not suited to everyone and you should ensure that you do not push yourself further than you can naturally move. Often if people spend a lot of time sitting or driving due to work the lower back can become tight and it is important to take this pose slowly. There are some circumstances when you should not carry out this pose and that includes if you have a back injury or suffer from carpel tunnel syndrome or headaches. You should also not consider carrying out this pose if you are pregnant.

Benefits and Focus

There are a large number of benefits to carrying out this pose and is one that focuses on the lower back and aids in strengthening it. People with sciatica could also find it soothed by this pose. It also has significant benefits for people suffering from stress and fatigue. It is a great exercise to do in the morning to help wake you up. The pose can aid in opening the heart and lungs and so can be therapeutic for people suffering from asthma. Physically it will help to strengthen the spine as well as stretch the chest, shoulders and abdomen and stimulating the abdominal organs.

This article has been supplied by alternative therapies directory. You can also find more information on our Yoga page.

Article Source: Yoga Central – Cobra Pose

Arthritis Treatment and Emotional Release

Arthritis Treatment: Over the years, I have spoken with many people who either have or once had arthritis. One of the most striking things about those who are able to completely heal themselves, is that they have sought healing not just for their bodies, but also at the level of their thoughts, emotions and spirit. I have been struck again and again, how with an illness as difficult as arthritis, it is generally mandatory to address the body, but that alone isn’t enough.

Emotional Release—The Importance

Last December I developed chest congestion, fatigue and a high fever. You could say that I had contracted what half of Phoenix seemed to have caught and on one level you would be right. But there is more to the story. No matter how much I rested, no matter how much I humidified the air, not matter what home remedies I used, and no matter what prescription medicine I took, I couldn’t seem to get over the lung congestion.

About a month into this congestion, I was talking with one of my teachers. She said what I was holding in my lungs was grief. And indeed I was grieving. When I did what she suggested to release grief, I felt a shift. Within half an hour my lungs had cleared enough that I could breathe freely. Within a day they were almost entirely clear.

Arthritis Treatment and Emotional Release—How it Feels

In the case of my successful arthritis treatment, what was hindering me from healing was two underlying emotions, fear and anger, that were stored in my body. They were stored so deeply, that I couldn’t have even told you they were there, until I reached a place during meditation where these emotions started to release.

Just like with the grief trapped in my lungs, when the fear and anger that had been causing my arthritis left my body, what I experienced was a slight shift within my being. If I hadn’t have been paying close attention, I might have missed it. After the shift, there was a sense of more ease in my body and something returning to the way it should be.

With the releasing of grief there was no crying. With the releasing of anger there were no angry words or gestures. With the release of fear, there was nothing other than an uncomfortable feeling leaving my body. The healthful changes in my body were immediate and lasting.

Sometimes we think that releasing emotions involves some sort of big display. Emotions can release in a healing way at those times too, but those sorts of displays don’t necessarily lead to healing. What is critical is not the outward display, but the release inside your being, which can occur whether or not anything is apparent at the surface.
Guided Meditation CDs for Emotional Release

To help people learn this emotional release process, I have created a 6-CD set of guided meditations that teach some powerful and effective ways to do this release work. What I teach I learned through the Buddhist tradition, particularly the Tibetan practice of Tonglen and the ancient Buddhist practice of Vipassana, which is the modern day practice most like what the historical Buddha taught.

Let me guide you through the meditations that were instrumental to the releases of anger that lead to my own healing from arthritis.

Anger leads to inflammation in the body. Releasing it is critical to deep healing of arthritis. It is better than any anti-inflammatory drug. I recommend adding it to your arthritis treatment program.

Sale on 2 CD set:

Intro Guided Meditation CD plus Anger Releasing CD.

Separately each CD is $27.

Get the 2 CD set for only $27: arthritis treatment and anger release CD set

View Barbara’s larger arthritis treatment guided meditation CD collection

Article Source: Arthritis Treatment and Emotional Release

How to Have An Instantaneous Spiritual Awakening

It is possible to have an instantaneous spiritual awakening. And the process is quite simple.

If you do the following exercise with your complete attention, you can have an instantaneous spiritual awakening that can move you beyond the experience of body and mind identification to the experience of the Self. You will experience yourself as formless, conscious energy.

The first thing to understand is that you cannot realize the Self through the senses.

You cannot taste the Self, see the Self, hear the Self, smell the Self and you cannot touch the Self.

Consider this:

You have your eyes open.

You see and then label what you see.

You think ‘This is my body. This is my computer. I am using my hands to type on the computer.’

And so your mind immediately labels everything you see and you automatically assume that these labels are true. You see your hands; you call them your hands. And they appear very physical, very solid and separate from the keyboard that you are typing on.

But close your eyes and be still.

From this point of stillness tell me about your hands. Without moving them or looking at them. If you can’t see them, then where and what are they?

You can say that you feel your hands resting on your mouse or keyboard. But what is that feeling? What is the sensation that you are calling your hands?

In order to have an instantaneous spiritual awakening, you have to forget the defining that they are your hands and actually experience what is here beyond the words. Experience what is here beyond the thinking. Beyond the five senses.

With your eyes closed, forget the defining of your body and experience what you refer to as your body.

Not a part of your body but the whole thing.

With your eyes closed, there is the sensation that you are here, but instead of defining it as a body, as a name, simply feel it. Feel the sensation of what is here.

Feeling without touching. Feeling without using words. Do this now.

Here you experience something that you cannot define, you cannot accurately describe.

Because what is here does not have boundaries and cannot be described by the senses.

But there is an experience of existing.

There is the awareness of existing.

Here, existing and awareness are one and the same. You cannot separate these three things. You are here, you are aware that you are here.

This is not something that you can learn or understand. You have to close your eyes, let go of thinking and experience it right now.

Close your eyes and notice your experience of existing in this moment. You will instantaneously experience that what you are is not solid. What you are does not have boundaries. In fact, it feels like formless energy.

Here, you have moved beyond the mind and body. You have had an instantaneous spiritual awakening.

And you will see this spiritual awakening is not a state that comes and goes.

This experience of existing beyond the mind and body is what is always here.

Now it is just a matter of keeping your focus here. Keeping you focus on this experience of yourself beyond the body and mind. The experience of formless energy.

If you followed this exercise, then you easily had an instantaneous spiritual awakening. And every time you practice this simple exercise, this feeling of the Self beyond mind and body will become more apparent, more clear and more blissful. It will lead to even greater spiritual awakenings.

Blessings,

Kip”

Highly Recommended: Learn How to Awaken Yourself
To Your Natural State of Unconditional Peace
Visit the Enlightened Spirituality Website

Article Source: How to Have An Instantaneous Spiritual Awakening

Benefits of Yoga Breathing Exercises (Pranayama)

Yoga evolved in ancient India more than 4000 years back. The word “Yoga” originates from the Sanskrit language and means, to join or integrate, or simply union. The meaning of Yoga is union of the body, mind and spirit with truth. Yoga encompasses the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of life.
 
In spite of all its greatness and goodness though, Yoga was never practised on a large scale in India in the sense that the common people were not in its ambit. It is only in the last decade or so that Yoga has spread among the masses, thanks to Yoga Gurus like Baba Ramdev and literally tens of millions of people in India and elsewhere are coming within its fold and benefitting from it in a very real sense. You just speak with anyone who practises yoga and they will quickly extoll an endless list of its benefits and sing its praise. Housewives, businessmen, sportspeople, teenagers and the aged are all practising a variety of yoga asanas (postures), dhyana (meditation) and pranayama (breathing exercises). For many, yoga becomes a way of life – often giving a more spiritual side to their lives.
 
The modern world scenario with its stressful life and cut-throat competition is providing a very fertile ground for the growth and spread of Yoga. Medical practitioners always questioned the efficacy of Yoga, but now it is being prescribed even by doctors for health ailments and illnesses, as a stress reliever and to complement other fitness programs. There are numerous documented cases of yoga relieving or curing serious illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, and respiratory illnesses like asthma, diabetes, bloodpressure, etc.

The sphere of Yoga is very very big. However, for the common man practising Yoga, the problem is of shortage of time because of which he cannot go into all aspects of Yoga. So two aspects become very important for him for good health, physical fitness, flexibility and mental relaxation, viz namely asanas (physical exercise) and pranayama (breathing exercises). Here, I will concentrate on Pranayama.

As you all know, oxygen is the supreme necessity for our bodies and without it we cannot survive perhaps even for a couple of minutes. There is almost unlimited oxygen all around us. But we do not know how to get its benefits fully as we never utilize our full lung capacity. Consequently our body is sort of starved of oxygen. Pranayama is a technique to govern the breathing process. Breathing is normally an unconscious process. Through Pranayama, a person learns to consciously govern the breath to bring harmony into the body, mind and spirit. Regular breathing exercises tremendously increase the capacity to inhale and absorb life-giving oxygen. The capacity of the lungs even during unconscious breathing increases. There are four breathing exercises which are particularly helpful :

1)BHASTRIKA PRANAYAMA : In this you repeatedly breathe in to the full capacity of your lungs and then breathe out completely. Should be done for minm. 2minutes ; maxm is 5 minutes
Helps heart, lungs, brain, nervous system, and in migraine, depression, paralysis, etc.
   
2)KAPALBHATI PRANAYAMA: In this breathing exercise, you exhale completely and with force while pulling in your abdomen.
Inhaling is done in a normal manner. Should be repeated 30 times, maxm 10 minutes.   
Helps in diabetes, constipation, gastric problems, hepatitis B, obesity, cholesterol, asthma, snoring and even in cancer and AIDS. 
                          
3)ANULOM VILOM PRANAYAMA: This pranayama is slightly more complicated but the benefits are enormous. (a) Close your right nasal orifice with your thumb and breathe in deeply with your left nose. (b) Now open the right nose, close the left nose with middle and ring fingers, and breathe out completely with your right nose. (c) Next, breathe in deeply with the right nose, close the right nose with your thumb, and breathe out completely with the left nose. Start again with (a), then move onto (b) then (c).
Repeat for at least 10 minutes.
Helps in heart, high blood pressure, heart blockages, arthritis, migraine, depression, neural system, paralysis, asthma, sinus, allergy, Parkinson’s disease, etc

 4)BHRAMARI PRANAYAMA: Here you close your ears with thumbs, keep index fingers on your forehead and rest three fingers should cover both eyes. Breathe in deeply and then breathe out through the nose while making a humming sound like a honey bee. Should be done seven to ten times.
Helps in cases of tension, hypertension, high blood pressure, heart, heart blockages, paralysis, migraine pain, etc. Improves concentration and confidence.
 
Now let us summarise the benefits that accrue if a person does Pranayama every morning (or evening) for a period of 20 to 25 minutes

It increases lung capacity and improves breathing efficiency,

It improves circulation, helps normalize blood pressure and improves cardiovascular efficiency,

It boosts the immune system and enhances immunity,

It increases energy levels and gives a lot of positive energy,

It strengthens and tones the nervous system,

It combats anxiety and depression and improves sleep,

It improves digestion and excretory functions,

It provides massage to the internal organs, stimulates the glands and enhances endocrine functions,

It normalizes body weight and provides great conditioning for weight loss,

and lastly it improves skin tone and complexion

 ARE YOU NOT DEPRIVING YOURSELF OF THE BENEFITS OF YOGA AND PRANAYAMA?

The author nunu ram is fascinated by the net as an unlimited source of information. He searches for useful things and loves to pass on the same to others also. For more details, please go to the following site:

http://nunus-behealthy.ucoz.com
http://www.squidoo.com/pranayama-breathing-exercises
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Article Source: Benefits of Yoga Breathing Exercises (Pranayama)

Advantages offered by a Laughter Yoga Class

Laughter is the easiest form of meditation and it brings instant relaxation to your body. Dr. Lee Berk of California labels laughter as a state of eustress, which in psychological terms, is the opposite of distress. This is the reason why you may find many talking about laughter yoga as stress management yoga .

If you are one of those who do not know how to practice laughter yoga, you can join a laughter yoga class. A laughter yoga class you teach you a wide variety of laughing exercises like

* Hearty laughter: This exercise is practiced by raising both the arms in the sky with the head tilted a little backwards.
* Greeting laughter: You are required to join both the hands and shake hands with at least four or five people in the group.
* Appreciation laughter: In this form of yoga, you have to join your pointing finger with the thumb to make a small circle while making gestures as if you are appreciating your group members and laughing at the same time.

All these forms of laughter yoga taught in a laughter yoga class help you by offering multiple advantages.

Laughter yoga instantly lowers blood pressure for hypertensive persons. It stimulates the brain, expands and enriches the blood vessels with oxygen, and sends more blood racing to the extremities.

The stress hormone cortisol is reduced during laughter. On the other hand, the level of the happiness hormone oxytocin is enhanced. This happiness hormone triggers a spike in immune-boosting antibodies

Laughter also raises the antibodies immunoglobulin A in the respiratory passages. These antibodies strengthen the immune system of the body and protect it from infections, allergies and cancers.

Laughter causes the endothelium – the inner lining of blood vessels – to dilate, increasing blood flow.

Laughter is a form of stationery jogging and provides the same health benefits as vigorous aerobic. This it does by stimulating the heart and blood circulation. 20 seconds of heavy laughter is equal to 3 minutes of hard rowing and will burn up to 400 calories per hour!

Laughter increases the levels of endorphins in the body – these are natural pain killers and help in fighting arthritis, spondylitis, migraine, and muscular spasms.

There is a host of laughter yoga classes in New York. One can join any laughter yoga class as per your needs and requirements. One renowned yoga class in New York is Yoga Laff. You can visit their website yogalaff.com for more information.

Laughter yoga is the best stress management yoga that helps to induce laughter & removes all your stress. Laughter yoga classes in New York help you by offering various advantages like yoga of laughter lowers your blood pressure, it increases the levels of endorphins in the body, it causes the endothelium – the inner lining of blood vessels – to dilate, increasing b

Article Source: Advantages offered by a Laughter Yoga Class

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