Yoga harmony of soul and body. Treatment of the spine and joints without drugs or medications

Important principles of hatha yoga

Hatha yoga for beginners opens the path to harmonization of body and spirit. There are a number of aspects to this practice that complement each other. Yoga offers several directions that allow it to be used by modern people, regardless of nationality, age, profession, or religion. This practice can be perfectly combined with everyday activities, household chores, work, and it allows you to perform all these ordinary activities with ease, with a feeling of satisfaction and joy.

Important principles of hatha yoga

Hatha yoga is the first step leading to harmony and preparing a person for Raja yoga. This practice combines opposite principles even in the name: “ha” - “sun” and “tha” - “moon”. Hatha yoga is a teaching that allows achieve harmony, using physical means of influencing the human body (asanas, breathing, diet, etc.), as well as influencing the mind through meditation, concentrating during exercises, etc. Raja Yoga is different in that it places much greater emphasis on the mental aspect.

Exercises of this practice return flexibility, plasticity, and mobility to the body. For beginners, the book Hatha Yoga allows you to become familiar with the basic principles of achieving physical well-being. Asanas will help you become healthier, get rid of a number of diseases; they are designed to establish connections between the physical, energetic, and mental levels.

When practicing hatha yoga, you should be aware of the movements of your body and the thoughts that arise in your head. That is why instructors suggest stopping while performing asanas, describing sensations ranging from simple ones that arise in the body to rather complex experiences. Understanding your own body will come with time. In the process, a person begins to realize his presence at all levels of existence: physical, mental, energetic, informational.

Healing the body with hatha yoga

People often come to the practice of yoga with the goal of improving their health and gaining mental balance. The exercises do not cause excessive tension, do not have a traumatic effect on the muscles, and do not cause overwork. Asanas have an impact on certain muscles and organs; alternating them allows you to work through blocks in the body, improve breathing, and normalize your general condition.

Hatha yoga is often used among women for weight loss. This practice can be used even by very overweight people with impaired metabolism. It is good to perform the exercises in a certain sequence, which video lessons on hatha yoga will help you get acquainted with.
When choosing a set of asanas, you should not neglect the breathing techniques of yoga and concentrating on certain areas of the body, because they are an effective means in the fight against excess weight. However, you can get the best results from yoga by setting the right goal, because this practice allows you to solve not only one narrow problem, but also gain something more.

Yoga is a teaching about harmony, the union of the physical, mental, and spiritual principles in a person. To achieve the more global goal of finding balance, you should pay attention to the yogis’ view of the occurrence of diseases. They believe that illnesses are a consequence of improper distribution of prana - vital energy. Asanas change the state of things, redistributing energy that allows you to heal a variety of diseases.

The practice of hatha yoga leads a person to harmony and understanding of important life principles that help the body to be healthy and the person to be happy. Special exercises combined with special breathing and concentration allow you to solve not only physical problems, but also spiritual ones.

YourStartup Comments 0 Shares:

Modern yoga is yoga for the body, it is classified as fitness, gymnastics. Having developed throughout the world, it began to differ from classical Indian yoga, having lost its religious overtones. However, it continues to help relax the body and soul, develop muscles, improve flexibility, grace, and overall harmony. Today we will discuss in more detail what else yoga “heals”.

Yoga for the soul for the body

In fitness yoga, there are areas that have absorbed the ancient knowledge of sages from the youngest of practices - hatha yoga.

Let's look at the benefits of classes using her example:

Has a healing effect on the body;
Allows you to develop physical strength;
Gives you the opportunity to straighten your figure;
Cure illnesses, recover from injuries;
Develop body flexibility;
Increase endurance and achieve muscle tone;
Strengthen your spirit and mental health.

For many, yoga becomes a challenging way to achieve muscle relaxation and perfection in managing the body and self, but also a lifestyle.

A team of neuroscientists at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), led by Eileen Lueders, interested in researching the benefits of yoga, examined 44 people to understand how meditation affects their brains.

The first half of the subjects practiced meditation for 5-6 years, devoting from 10 minutes to an hour and a half to it a day. The second half went without relaxation at all.

As a result of MRI studies of the brain, researchers found that some brain structures in those who practiced meditation were very different from those who did not practice it at all.

It turned out that in a meditating person, the hippocampus, areas of the temporal inferior gyrus, orbital-frontal cortex and thalamus, that is, areas that allow one to control the emotional state and responses, are increased in volume.

In the future, scientists will determine the degree of influence of meditative relaxation at the cellular level. In particular, do meditators experience changes in the number of neuronal cells or increase connections between them.

Another group of scientists from the University School of Medicine in Boston, together with the staff of McLean Psychiatric Hospital, under the leadership of Chris Streeter, found that in just 3 classes a week, yoga makes it possible not only to achieve flexibility, but also to combat depression as a result of relaxation in patients.

For three months, researchers observed the emotional state of two groups of people. The first did regular exercise and walking for 3 hours a week, and the second practiced yoga.

MRI analyzes showed that yogis had an increase in the level of gamma-aminobutyric acid, and in fact it is the most important neurotransmitter of the central nervous system, being necessary for the normal functioning of the brain. This acid can relieve anxiety, having a calming effect on a person. Its low content is observed in depressive states.

Yoga for pain

Another group of researchers from the University of Oregon, led by James Carson, studied whether regular yoga practice helps relieve fibromyalgia (neuropathic muscle pain that spreads throughout the body). It is known that 80-90% of patients with this disease are women, so only they took part in the study.

25 participants of various ages took part in a special Yoga of Awareness program, and the remaining 28 underwent conventional drug treatment. It turned out that the results of yoginis in overcoming muscle disease were much better.

Finally, scientists from the University of Montreal published in the American Psychological Association journal a statement that regular yoga practice, while helping to develop flexibility, stimulates the work and development of the central region of the brain that controls reactions to pain. That is why yogic practices are recommended for patients suffering from neuralgia.

This is how the benefits of yoga are proven through science. But something else is interesting: everything that is being revealed today as a result of many years of research was already known to Indian sages thousands of years ago.

The practice of yoga has evolved from a fitness discipline into a phenomenon and has reached the peak of popularity thanks to celebrities such as Madonna. Yoga originated in ancient India as a means of achieving peace and understanding the truth. Today, yoga is perceived mainly as a practice that increases the flexibility of the body and allows you to “sculpt” reliefs.

In addition to its physical and aesthetic benefits, yoga can heal the body, mind and soul. Toned buttocks and beautiful legs are just part of what yoga gives. Since ancient times, it has been known about the powerful healing effect of yoga and its ability to treat many diseases. Mind, body and spirit are interconnected, according to the teachings of yoga. Warrior pose (virabadrasana), for example, can help relieve stress, and tree pose (vrikshasana) will help you feel the fullness of gratitude. You can calm down by lying in child's pose (balasana), or relieve neck pain by bending forward. People who practice yoga, no matter how long ago they began their practice, can relieve pain symptoms, mental suffering and internal discord without resorting to drugs and other remedies of orthodox Western medicine.

Physical healing

The story of yoga instructor Heidi Christopher is a great example of how yoga can heal the human body. She suffered from pain caused by cervical instability, herniation, and lumbar vertebral fractures following a car accident. Yoga helped Christopher reduce her pain symptoms and relax her tense neck muscles. Of course, pain in the neck or back can be a consequence of more serious disorders, which yoga, unfortunately, cannot completely cure, and then surgical intervention is required. However, in most cases, yoga can be an additional means of recovery after spinal surgery.

Mental health

Yoga is not only a pain reliever, but a way to gain control over anxiety and stress. Concentration in poses and complete switching of attention to internal sensations during yoga practice can act as a means of psychotherapy. While the mind calms down, negative thoughts of disappointment and fear are replaced by thoughts of gaining strength and harmony. Yoga makes a person calmer and allows one to achieve relaxation.

Researcher Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at Ohio State University, conducted a study of 200 breast cancer patients. “The yoga group was less likely to experience fatigue and lethargy and had a higher survival rate,” according to a National Geographic report. The energy that yoga provides allows you to feel balance, improves your mood, improves the production of endorphins, which affects mental health. The gentle stretches and gentle movements of yoga effectively increase the levels of hormones needed to relieve stress. Many yoga asanas help to achieve inner harmony, such as the eagle pose (garunasana) or the extended triangle pose (upavishtakanasana).

Journey into the depths of your own subconscious

Yoga practice is like awakening. Mindfulness, integrity and humility help you explore your inner self and reach new heights of self-realization. Spiritual practices begin with awareness. Yogis who are able to independently tune in to the awareness of each action subsequently gain confidence and heightened intuition. Self-knowledge pushes people towards personal growth, reducing the painful pressure of the ego, facilitating acceptance of this world and oneself. However, you should be prepared to feel insecure and weak at some point. However, by tearing off the veils from one’s own consciousness, the practitioner is ultimately able to fully enjoy conscious existence and happiness.

Abby Terlecki,

translation of an article from Yogitimes magazine

Yoga is an amazing teaching that contains the worldly wisdom of many generations; today it has become the meaning of life for hundreds of thousands of its followers. What do they find in this teaching, maybe the solution to all the secrets of the cosmos, man and his own self?

The art of yoga, and especially one of its main components - meditation, as knowledge of the Universe and oneself, has been practiced by Eastern sages for thousands of years. Yoga has become the cornerstone of the entire philosophy and religion of the East, on the postulates of which, as a guiding thread, the entire culture of human spiritual development is strung.
While the East was developing spiritually, Western civilization, under the yoke of cruel church dogmas and canons, tried with all its might to reject the teachings of yoga as cheap quackery.

Only in recent decades has the Western world decided to discover the philosophy of Buddhism. At first, Hollywood actors, followed by thousands of ordinary people, became devoted adherents of this religion, finding in it effective solutions to many psychological problems, and meditation became their vital necessity. Every Hollywood star got a personal yoga trainer and began to spend hours learning difficult poses in order to learn how to fall into a state of blissful nirvana.
What is the essence of yoga? Is it really just the ability to meditate?
Of course not. Yoga is a much deeper teaching that guides a person on the path of self-knowledge and harmonious development. With the help of physical exercises (assanas), which allow you to reveal your bodily potential, yoga improves the human body, and with the help of the age-old wisdom collected in its postulates, it opens the soul. The merging of the physical and spiritual principles of a person into one is the main goal of yoga.
What is meditation? A means that will allow a person to know himself, and a state of calm is its necessary basis. The human body and even thoughts must freeze and remain motionless for the entire duration of the session, which can last from several minutes to hours.
During meditation, all processes should occur naturally, and the only thing you need to put effort into is concentration. By focusing attention on a specific object (real or fictional), completely renouncing the world around him, a person clears his thoughts of psychological discomfort and irritation caused by ordinary feelings: envy, lies, anger, hatred. It is this negativity that gradually destroys the nervous system and provokes many diseases, both of the soul and of the body.
Gradually, meditation helps the meditator’s consciousness become brighter and more balanced. And after a few days, the person’s general condition improves, many problems disappear on their own, the reaction to what is happening around becomes more adequate, and life becomes more harmonious.

Yoga is the oldest Indian practice that strengthens not only the body, but also the human spirit. The emergence of yogic practices originates from India. Ancient Indian philosophers describe it as a desire for psychophysical harmony, concentration and constant practical exercise.

The formation of the word comes from Sanskrit, or more precisely, from the root “yoj”, which has many meanings, here are some of them: “unity”, “connection”, “harmony”, “union”. Yoga invites a person to find physical, mental and spiritual perfection .

The practice of yoga includes theoretical, professional and scientific knowledge, from which one can draw not only the physical performance of asanas (postures), but also spiritual and emotional aspects. Psychophysical control is especially important for people living in megacities, with their constant stress and hostile environment. With the help of yoga, you can prevent future diseases, and even treat existing ones.

You need to practice yoga regularly: if you are not yet mentally ready, then at first you can get acquainted with what spiritual aspects yoga touches on, why it is interesting and why it is so popular all over the world. If you already have the mood and a start has been made, then very soon you will be able to feel the impact of yoga on your body. The body will acquire flexibility and lightness, the mind will become enlightened, internal tension will subside, the figure and posture will improve, the senses and perceptions will become more acute, you will experience lasting vitality, the ability to survive stressful situations and react correctly to them.

The secret of yoga is simple: starting with improving a person’s physical condition, it gradually captures and influences all areas of his life. Many abilities manifest themselves precisely during yoga practice: internal energy awakens, mental abilities sharpen, feelings of fear and loneliness go away, a person is able to feel happiness simply because he exists.

Yoga also includes higher practices that require years of experience and training. Such practices are very complex, they are not suitable for our modern rhythm of life, and can even be harmful, because they require the highest concentration and complete dedication. If the goal is to heal the body and strengthen the spirit, then it is not necessary to go to extremes: use easy asanas for beginners, practice meditation and pranayama (the art of deep breathing).

You need to start with something simple: don’t be alarmed if at first glance a simple asana suddenly causes difficulties in execution, just do it the way you feel and can, and gradually, more and more complex asanas will become available to you.