Yoga is a powerful tool for achieving balance between mind and body, combining breathing practices, meditation, maintaining physical tone and proper nutrition. Yoga is also a freedom of choice: you can do it to maintain your shape and develop flexibility, or you can completely immerse yourself in this world of Indian teaching and find a new quality of life.
Every year, the popularity of yoga is growing. Adherents of this movement train in performing complex asanas, go to India to enlighten and learn higher truths, do not share the excitement of going to McDonald's, and promote a healthy lifestyle and the joy of life. But is yoga really so useful and does not carry any contraindications and harm?
Breathing and not in a hurry - we find the benefits of yoga for the body!
The meditative properties of yoga have been known since ancient times. One of the exercises on the basis of which the practice of yoga is based is proper breathing. By breathing evenly, you calm the nervous system, saturate the blood with oxygen and relax. No wonder they say about an indecisive person: "he is afraid to breathe."
Breath is life. By the state of breathing, it is easy to determine the state of a person: confused fast breathing in everyday life indicates stress experienced. When you are calm, your breathing lengthens and becomes even.
You should breathe fully through your nose. Another ancient piece of advice: “If you don’t know how to answer the question, take a breath in, then answer.”
The ability to breathe correctly in critical situations will help bring the mind and emotions in order, get rid of anger.
When breathing, use the diaphragm, do not strain the stomach, maintain a constant rhythm and depth of breathing.
Performing the practice of full breathing, you will feel how the body comes in tone, the concentration of attention increases, blood circulation improves, and you become more alert and confident.
Is there life without meat or not - the benefits of vegetarianism or harm?
Supporters of yoga adhere to a healthy diet, managing to exclude meat from the diet. As far as I know, meat products are rich in amino acids necessary for normal functioning of the body. More recently, doctors claimed that without meat a person cannot function normally and the body is exhausted. But today, opinions are divided, and more and more doctors and nutritionists are talking about the benefits of the so-called “informed diet”.
Replacing meat products with plant foods lowers cholesterol, while consuming fruits and vegetables energizes the body with vitamins and amino acids. Of interest is also the fact that some children voluntarily refuse meat. But the exclusion of meat from the diet of children under 3 years old is a rather risky event, entailing a decrease in hemoglobin levels, a deficiency of vitamin B12, as well as a lack of calcium, zinc and other useful trace elements.
The transition to vegetarianism should be smooth and deliberate, it should be understood that filling the diet with a variety of nutritious plant products in Russian climatic conditions is not easy and quite expensive. Dumplings, rich borscht and grandma’s pies with meat allure to themselves, especially when you come home from the cold, and carrot salad for dinner. To begin with, when switching to a vegetarian system, try adding beans, lentils to the daily menu, baking cabbage pies, replacing meat dumplings, for example, with potato dumplings with soy sauce, and choose sweets such as nuts, honey, goats instead of sweets for tea , dates and dried fruits, and then dinner will not be sad.
Those who have embarked on the path of vegetarianism are not recommended to drink alcohol, which is quite logical, because with such a “diet” intoxication of the body and intoxication occurs much faster. It is better to drink more water (at least 1 liter). Women who choose to practice vegetarianism are advised to consume more iron-rich foods to prevent anemia. During pregnancy and in the postpartum period, a woman needs a sufficient amount of protein, so you should not fanatically stick to vegetarianism in such a period. The health of the baby is the main thing. There is always freedom of choice, and yoga does not make you refuse meat-eating, but gives a direction to thinking about vegetarianism and raw food diet.
There is power and we need mind!
The development of flexibility and endurance is not the only positive effect of yoga on the body. It allows you to get a feeling of lightness by removing lactic acid, reduces the level of cortisol, which helps to combat stress, and also balances the body and mind.
Yoga classes have a number of contraindications.
It is not recommended to practice yoga if you have the following conditions:
· high pressure,
· intervertebral hernia,
· Diseases of the internal organs in acute form (pancreatitis, appendicitis),
· Postoperative or post-traumatic period,
· heart diseases.
During menstruation, yoga is not contraindicated, but try to refrain from inverted poses.
Yoga exercises are not contraindicated for pregnant women, but they should be approached with special care and it is recommended that they be discontinued starting from 4 months pregnant. However, you can practice breathing exercises. Yoga classes during pregnancy deserve special attention:
· During practice, you are freed from emotional stress and anxiety, establishing a special connection with the baby.
· Exercises can strengthen the muscle corset of the spine, relieve swelling, increase the elasticity of the pelvic muscles.
· During practice, sharp forward bends should be avoided, try not to strain and do everything smoothly and preferably with support. Twisting poses are contraindicated, and starting from 3 months old, postures performed on the stomach.
· Inverted postures are recommended that normalize hormonal balance (bridge, half-bridge), as well as asanas for opening the hip joints (Malasana, Utkanasana, Badhakonasana).
· Starting from the third trimester of pregnancy, Shavasana is best performed lying on one side. Do not be afraid to relax and enjoy the process without stress.
Like any exercise system, yoga requires a reasonable approach to performing asanas. It should be understood that development and improvement does not take place in one day, so you should not start right away with complex exercises. It is advisable to engage with a teacher who can verify the correctness of the exercises and help achieve new results.
Thus, the properties of yoga are more likely to be positive than negative. As with any activity, you should treat yoga wisely, not try to set unimaginable records in the field of achievements, until you are ready for this, adhering to the awareness of desires and actions.
Having established the right connection between your inner desires and external actions, you will find the balance we need so much in everyday life and strengthen not only the body, but also the spirit. And this is good!
