For many of us, the arrival of autumn means it’s time to stock up on Kleenex and cough drops. Along with seasonal allergies, autumn means colder weather that can bring with it colds and flu. But yoga can help by strengthening and balancing your basic weapon against sinus conditions — the immune system. Yoga postures, pranayama, relaxation and meditation are powerful tools for helping to stimulate or calm the immune response depending on the situation.

Increased allergy symptoms indicate that your immune system is working overtime. A stuffy nose, ears and sinuses, inflamed eyes, headaches, sore throat and difficulty breathing are all caused by the mucus-producing process of the inmmune system attacking innocuous invaders. Through relaxation, the nervous system can tell the immune system to settle down and stop attacking the foreign bodies, which are naturally cleared out in a non-allergic person by sneezing once or twice a day. When the immune system backs off, inflammation and mucus decrease and symptoms diminish.

Practicing any yoga posture in a relaxing way with slow deep breathing and the intention to let go and relax the nervous system can be very beneficial in decreasing the symptoms of allergies. Kapalabhati breathing is great for allergies as it forces out the mucus. (Don’t forget to keep tissues within easy reach!) The relaxation time at the end of a yoga class can also be an important part of decreasing allergic immune response. Encourage your students to relax and affirm that the relaxation will help decrease their reaction to allergens. However, be aware that students suffering from allergies may become too congested when lying on their backs; you can suggest they lie on the stomach or side if that’s more comfortable.

Relaxing the nervous system has been shown to help direct the immune system to attack the viruses and bacteria that increase in colder weather. Colds are caused by bacteria and affect the upper respiratory system, causing stuffiness, coughing, sore throat, etc. If the immune system is weak, the bacteria can go into the lungs and cause bronchitis or pneumonia. Viruses go deeper into the system, causing chills, fever or pain and aching in the joints.

But a strong immune system can frost the invaders within a few days, preventing more extreme manifestations of the illness and in fact strengthening the immune system. Again, yoga postures done in a relaxed way and slow, deep pranayama can help relax the nervous system and boost the immune response.

Another way to build the immune system and improve sinus-related conditions is to focus on the thymus gland. Located in the chest, the thymus gland is the locus of the immune system. Thus both the thymus gland and the immune system are stimulated by any posture in which we open the chest and breathe deeply into it. The most beneficial postures for this purpose are the Cobra, the Pigeon, the Fish, the Boat, the Bow and the Bridge.

Since the thymus gland corresponds to the fourth chakra, these postures can be enhanced by including chakra sounds such as the fourth chakra bij mantra “yum” or the fourth chakra vowel sound “ay.” Kapalabhati breathing or slow deep ujjayi breathing in postures where the chest is open can also be beneficial. Experiment with practicing the postures as you breathe deeply into the chest and sound the mantras. My audiotape on Prana Yoga, send out through KYTA last spring, will help guide you in combining the mantras with the postures.

With a relaxed nervous system and a focused and revitalized immune system, you’ll find you’re able to resist autumn allergens and throw off winter’s infections more readily.

       

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.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Sinclair

       

“Ho ho, ha ha ha,” students in a fitness class at the University of Michigan Health System chant repeatedly while clapping their hands and walking around the room.

They’re just getting warmed up; in the next half-hour, they will stretch their muscles and work on breathing exercises. They’ll also laugh for most of the 30 minutes, from self-conscious giggles to uninhibited belly laughs. All in the name of fitness.

This is a “laughter yoga” course, part of a growing trend in parts of the United States, India and other countries. The students are re-learning something children already know instinctively: that laughter makes you feel better.

“Kids laugh about 400 times a day, and adults only about 15,” notes Barb Fisher, a certified laughter yoga leader and the instructor of this class offered by the U-M Health System’s MFit health promotion division. “Laughter is a gift that has been given to us to make us feel better.”

Fisher teaches her students that not only is it fun to laugh, but that laughter yoga (also known as hasya yoga) can provide many health benefits:

• Help to reduce stress
• Enhance the immune system
• Strengthen cardiovascular functions
• Oxygenate the body by boosting the respiratory system
• Improve circulation
• Tone muscles
• Help with digestion and constipation

Even with all of these health benefits, though, laughter yoga shouldn’t replace other types of aerobic and weight-bearing exercises.

“Studies have shown that 20 seconds of a good, hard belly laugh is worth three minutes on the rowing machine,” Fisher says. “However, that does not mean we want to stop doing all other exercises. It means that incorporating laughter yoga can add to the benefits we see from our regular exercise routine.”

Like more traditional fitness classes, laughter yoga requires a warm-up period. Since students can’t necessarily start a class prepared to break out into deep laughter, they begin with the clapping and chanting mentioned above. Then they perform breathing exercises, followed by stretches and laughing games.

As developed by laughter yoga creator Madan Kataria, a family physician from India,

these laughing exercises can include many varieties, such as:

• Hearty laughter: Laughter by raising both the arms in the sky with the head tilted a little backwards.
• Greeting laughter: Joining both the hands and shaking hands with at least four or five people in the group.
• Appreciation laughter: 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 simultaneously.
• Milk shake laughter: Hold and mix two imaginary glasses of milk or coffee and pour the milk from one glass into the other by chanting “Aeee….,” and then pour it back into the first glass by chanting “Aeee…” Then, everyone laughs while making a gesture as if they are drinking milk.

The students in Fisher’s class have discovered the mental and physical benefits of these and other laughter exercises.

“The biggest effect that I’ve gotten from laughter yoga is what it’s done for me mentally, and that it has lightened up my day and my week,” says Deborah Slosberg. “I also think it has improved my breathing.”

“It gives me a relaxed feeling, and yet I actually feel like I worked out,” says Ann Twork. “You get back some of the child in you.”