The practice of yoga was developed by an Indian Hindu by the name of Patanjali way back in the year 300. The word itself means discipline and the whole purpose of yoga is to stretch the muscles, increase the levels of concentration and to strengthen the body in general. It is also a great way to relax and de-stress your body.

There is little wonder that such an ancient form of discipline has turned out to be so popular amongst athletes and modern day entertainers. However, yoga can be practiced by anyone as an occasional simple exercise routine or on a regular basis as a total way of life.

The people who take part in yoga are known as yogis and many of them use this form of discipline to reach a high level of consciousness. They respect the fact that there are certain things they should not be or do such as being greedy, hurting others, lying and stealing and they adhere to things they should do like being clean, feeling content each day, having self control, and leading a studious and devoted lifestyle.

Yogis train themselves how to have physical control over their bodies by taking full and deep breaths. This is considered by them to be a life force and they count their lifespan in the amount of breaths taken and not in the years of their age.

Yoga is different from other exercises as it assists the body to become more flexible as well as improving ones strength. Due to this, some of the yoga exercises and positions known as asanas can look a little strange. You may feel at first that you need to be some kind of contortionist to perform the exercises, but this is not case - you just need to completely relax. Yoga allows you to ease into the stretches gently and you are not required to force yourself into any position. The regularly used expression no pain no gain simply does not apply when practicing yoga. You simply do the best you can at the time and at some point in the future you will find yourself doing more.

Balance is demanded by all yoga positions and as you are unlikely to be able to get this right when thinking about whatever it was you watched on TV last night, you need to learn how to concentrate on what you are doing. Once you have perfected this art, you will discover that you can concentrate on other things much better too.

You will find yoga exercises copy nature and many yoga poses outline the shape of creatures such as the cat, cobra, crab, dog, eagle and tortoise.

For instance, in the cobra pose, you would ask yourself just what it would feel like to actually be a cobra. You lie on flat on your stomach with your forehead resting on the floor and as you breathe in, slowly roll your head backwards whilst supporting your body with your hands. Keep that position and then come back down slowly, all the time moving as a snake would do.

All yoga exercises have been carefully thought out to encourage serenity and strength and every move affects a gland, a muscle or a nerve center.

With yoga you can choose to perform particular exercises to get rid of certain types of back pain or leg pain experienced from jogging. You can also use yoga as preparation for a skiing trip or even to help you overcome your feelings of fear or depression.

The many asanas of yoga, how to do them and the way in which they can work for you can be found in any good yoga book. Do you remember doing handstands and cartwheels in the past? There you go - you may well have already done some yoga without ever even knowing it!
Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of  My-Personal-Growth.com, a site that provides information and articles for self improvement and personal growth and development.
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There are certain medical conditions which make it inadvisable to do the inverted postures (headstand, shoulder stand and reverse posture). These are high blood pressure, dizziness, and serious eye problems. If you have any doubt, see your doctor before you start the asanas.

In some cases you may feel worse for up to two weeks after starting the asanas. This is because the yoga exercises cause the body to eliminate toxins, which spend some time in the blood before being eliminated. After this initial period of body cleaning, you will start to feel much better. The more toxins you have, worse you will feel in the beginning.

Some of the symptoms you may experience are a slight increase in your usual aches and pains, and a little stiffness. Your body may become slightly bloated and you may feel a bit drowsy during the day. You may feel sore in the back, neck and shoulder muscles for a couple of weeks. To minimize any soreness, start gently and don’t overdo it. Above all, never give up. Any discomfort will only be temporary and you will start to feel much better in a relatively short time.

 

It’s best to do the asanas in the early morning or the early evening before the evening meal. Never exercise on a full stomach. Before exercising, wait at least three hours after eating a main meal, about one hour after eating a light snack such as a piece of fruit and about half an hour after drinking juices. After finishing the asanas, wait about a quarter of an hour before eating.

The best time to do the yoga postures is about one hour after getting up or in the early evening. Wait about 15 minutes before eating. Don’t exercise immediately after getting out of bed, since you’ll be too stiff. Wait at least one hour. It’s not advisable to do the asanas before bed, since their stimulating effect may prevent you from getting to sleep easily.

Don’t take a hot shower or bath immediately after yoga, since this draws blood away from the internal organs and glands to go to the skin. A shower which is just warm is all right, since this is neutral and will not affect the yoga exercises.

 

Make sure you have good ventilation in the room where you exercise. Use a thick rug or about an inch thick firm foam. Don’t do them on the bed since it’s too soft, or on the floor without some padding, since that would be too hard.

Wear loose clothing, since tight clothes will restrict the circulation to some areas of the body. This would defeat one of the purposes of the asanas, that of increasing the circulation to various parts of the body.

Slowly, with no strain

Breathe slowly and deeply with the abdomen only. When inhaling, push out; when exhaling, let it return

Concentrate on the main organ or gland (with your eyes closed)

Be regular - aim to do the routine six times a week.

       

Yoga considers that most diseases are due to insufficient life force, either in the body as a whole, or a blockage of life force to one part of the body. This leads to a lowered body resistance or immunity to disease.

Those practicing yoga have learned many centuries ago that most diseases are due to reduced immunity. Medical science is gradually coming to the same conclusion.

When the whole body has lowered life force, the result is a lowered vitality level, poor health and susceptibility to infection. No infections would occur if the body’s life force is high enough to fight off the infection. Pathogens (bacteria, viruses and so on) are a normal part of life and will only cause trouble when the body’s resistance is too low to keep them in check.

The best way to increase the general life force of the body is by good nutrition, sufficient deep steep, a positive mental attitude and yoga.

A blockage of life force to one part of the body, such as the thyroid gland, is usually caused by a slight misalignment of a vertebra which impinges on the nerve that travels to that particular organ. This causes an interference to the life force (nerve impulses) to the organ. As a result, the organ not functioning at its optimum level. If the spinal misalignment is not corrected, the organ may develop pathology. It is much more difficult to correct at this stage.

The ancient yogis were well aware of the importance of the spine in relation to disease, since most of their asanas or postures were designed to make the spine more flexible to prevent spinal misalignments. Some of the asanas will even correct minor spinal misalignments.

The spine is so important for a high vitality level, good health and the correction of many health conditions that a whole science of healing has been developed to correct spinal misalignments. In fact, chiropractic is now the second largest healing profession after medicine and the fastest growing healing profession in the world.