Author: Yogacharya Dhakaram

Yoga has been influencing lives of many people. A lot of us have found a way of life in yoga practices and postures. It guides us into healthy living, thinking and adoption of good things that help us in balancing our lives. Having been practices for ages now, Yoga had lost its way into history until it became famous again due to unavailability of alternate benefits or measures to improve our living. More and more people are devoting themselves into Yoga and transforming their lives into much simpler and peaceful way. If you have been wondering where to start doing the Yoga practices from, then you don’t have to worry anymore, there are series of exercises you have to start doing to achieve the perfect balance of mind and soul. To start with, we have this Adho Mukha Svanasana or the downward facing dog pose to help you get into yoga!

What is Adho Mukha Svanasana or the downward facing dog pose?

Adho Mukha Svanasana or the downward facing dog pose is a yoga pose that almost reflects a posture as that of a dog when bending downwards and hence the name. It is a great pose for any beginner to get started with yoga and has numerous benefits. It is easy, does not require much of strength and learning to perform and hence you can start doing it now!

What are the health benefits of Adho Mukha Svanasana or the downward facing dog pose?

Yoga in itself is very healthy and full of benefits and so it is very unlikely for any yoga pose to not have health benefits. When we are talking about the Adho Mukha Svanasana or the downward facing dog pose; it becomes essential to know how this simple and easy pose can help you in numerous ways to improve your health.

• The stretching in this asana makes your body stretch and pick up the body weight through spine, and it also pulls the abdominal muscles to help build strength.
• As this is an inversion pose making the hips and the lower back pull upwards and the head to face downwards, the reversal in the pull of gravity makes the blood circulation move through the brain. It helps fresh blood flow in the body.
• The compression and relaxation of the digestive organs including the liver, kidneys and spleen make it easier to digest food and makes the organs healthier.
• As the pose requires you to pull the weight of your body on hands and legs, it builds a pressure on the hands and leg’s muscles burning more calories and providing strength.
• The inverse blood flow and the relaxation caused when holding on this position makes your mind calmer and peaceful and decreases anxiety.

What you should know before doing the asana?

The Adho Mukha Svanasana is known to relax the muscles, the release of endorphins caused when stretching the muscles, relaxes the body. If your joints or muscles feel tension anywhere while doing the pose, you might be doing it wrong. You have to be empty stomach before starting off with this pose. Make sure you balance your body right and don’t tilt left and right. This pose is a beginner friendly pose but if you feel that it is becoming tough for you than cater some guidance from a yoga teacher. There are some factors to be kept in mind before doing yoga:

Who should do Adho Mukha Svanasana or the downward facing dog pose?

Anyone who has back pain, or shoulders pain or has been on a weight loss journey is advised to practice this pose. It gives strength, flexibility and calms the muscles around the shoulders and spine. People facing issues with a straight spine are also proven to have beneficial results with this asana.

How to do the Adho Mukha Svanasana or the downward facing dog pose?

Practicing yoga is an easy task once you know how to do it. Learn the yoga from an expert or perform sometime in the guidance of an expert to master the art. Always have a relaxed and calm outlook towards yoga, as it is a very peaceful journey into a balanced life. You can perform this Adho Mukha Svanasana by following these steps:

Breathing methods while performing the asana

For any asana to be fruitful, you need to get your breathing correct before starting with the asana, during the asana and even after the asana is over. You should take deep long breathes and calm down your senses. While starting the pose slowly inhale and raise the lower body and hold on to your breath when you are holding the pose. While coming back to normal you need to exhale slowly until you end the asana. 

7 Easy Steps to Do Vriksasana and the Benefits Provided by this Asana

In the recent times, yoga has become one of the best modes of workout for people throughout the world.While yoga can help burn fat, it is not primarily used for losing weight, since the fat burning properties of yoga are quite limited and slow. So, why is yoga such a big deal then? One of the biggest silent killers in the recent times is stress. Stress can lead to some of the worst types of diseases and can, in fact, affect all the organs in your body. From ulcers to kidney damage, stress is one of the deadliest types of silent killers that we end up ignoring on a daily basis.

Effects of stress

To help you get an idea about the true effects of stress on modern society, it was found in a recent research that average high school students in today’s day and age have more anxiety than mental patients in the 1970’s. From studies to social media criticism and body image related issues, stress can stem from multiple sources and we don’t really do that much about it. With most students getting lesser and lesser sleep, stress can take years off your lives. Yoga is one of the best ways to get rid of stress from your mind and heal your body from the effects of stress.

How can yoga help? 

The inhalation and exhalation practices that are very common in yoga poses allows a huge influx of oxygen into your lungs, thus making your blood oxygen content higher, which allows the body to relax. Moreover, yoga is always combined with meditation that can help you to calm your mind and can improve your sleep levels and even possibly cure milder forms of insomnia. Moreover, the stretches that are a part of yoga poses can help you to get rid of a lot of the pains and aches that come from stress and can help to keep your body vitalized and rejuvenated. When combined with a good diet and adequate sleep, yoga can help you to live a better quality of life by making you more capable of dealing with the stress of modern life. 

With over hundreds of yoga poses to choose from, the Tree pose, or Vriksasana can be one of the best poses that can help you to improve balance, aids in stretching of some of the major muscle groups in the body as well as can help you to correct some common problems like flat feet and sciatica.

Here are the steps that you need to follow to do the Vrksasana.

1. Stand with your feet slightly apart, your back straight and your arms on your sides with fingers pointed, or the Tadasana. From this neutral pose, gently shift your weight on the left foot, while keeping it firmly placed on the floor and bend the right knee. Now slowly reach down using your right hand and take a hold of your right ankle.
2. Bring your right foot up and place the sole of your right foot against the side of your inner left thigh and if possible, you can press the right heel to reach the inner sides of your left groin with your toes pointing downwards to the floor. The centre of gravity of your pelvis should be straight over the left foot.
3. Now rest your hand on the top rim of your pelvis, making sure that your pelvis is in the neutral position and the top rim is parallel to the floor.
4. Now, try to lengthen your tailbone towards the floor and firmly press the sole of your right foot against your left thigh and counter it with resistance from the outer part of the left leg. Now, on to the hands.
5. Press your hands together in the Anjali Mudra, or in a Namaste, with your palms touching each other, and stretch them to be centred directly above your head. The body should be balanced by aligning your centre of gravity in a straight line.
6. Now fix your gaze onto any point roughly 4-5 feet away from you.
7. Hold this position for anywhere between 30 seconds to a full minute, then step back into Tadasana while exhaling deeply and then repeat with the legs reversed. 

This is a level 1 yoga pose, which means that it is not really that difficult to do and doesn’t really take too much effort to perfect. While the regime is quite easy to do and does not really take a lot of twists and turns that can lead to you getting a sprained muscle or any type of an injury, there are a few cautionary measures you should take before attempting it. Avoid this pose if you have headache or low blood pressure. If you have high blood pressure, do not raise your arms overhead.

If you feel imbalanced during this pose, there are a couple of steps that you can use. The first step is to do a number of deep inhalation and exhalations to improve your concentration. If you are trying it for the first time, you can use a wall to support your back to prevent any type of unsteadiness. If you find your leg slipping from your thigh, just place a piece of folded sticky mat can be a quick fix. If you wish to take it to the next level, you can try doing it with your eyes closed for added improvement in concentration.

Benefits

1. Vriksasana can help you to strengthen the spine and in the process, improve your balance and aids in improving your poise. 
2. It helps in improving nerve and muscle co-ordination.
3. It can help to tone your leg muscles and can strengthen the tendons and the ligaments in your leg.
4. It can make your knees stronger and loosen up your hip joints.
5. This pose can also help to strengthen your shoulder, eyes and inner ears.
6. It is extremely effective in providing relief from sciatica and flat feet.
7. This can help to build patience, making you flexible and sturdy at the same time.
8. It can help you to deepen the thorax
9. It can help to boost your concentration and sharpen your mental faculties and therefore, is recommended for students.

With a huge array of benefits, the Vriksasana is one of the easier yoga poses that you can try as a beginner. So, if your stress levels are high and you want to lead a longer and happier life, this yoga pose is a must for you, as it can help to significantly improve your posture, your concentration levels, as well as treat any pain in your legs.

Yog Guru Dhakaram

Yogasana: Ustrasana or ‘The Camel Pose’

Yoga is the fitness mantra that the world is getting obsessed with today. Yoga combines the strength in body and mind and helps heal the body from within. It transforms the mind and body into a healthier, lighter and calmed-down state. People, who practice yoga regularly, preach yoga and its benefits, and have been influencing people to adopt more of it for a healthy and peaceful living. Yoga does not involve any excessive outside weight or training. It is the simplest of practice that makes natural changes in the body to make you more happy, peaceful, fit and calm. There are a lot of poses that work for different aspects of your body in Yoga. Today we are going to know about Ustrasana or The Camel Pose.

What is Ustrasana or ‘The Camel Pose’?

“Ustra” means camel and “asana’ means pose and hence the English name ‘The Camel Pose’. Ustrasana is a intermediate level Yogic pose known to open the heart chakra or the Anahata. It is counted in the intermediate pose because it is sometimes unachievable by beginner level practitioners of Yoga. So even if you have been doing Yoga since a month now, you can try doing Ustrasana. Ustrasana is known to be strengthening the body, adding flexibility to the body and improves digestion.

What are the benefits of Ustrasana or the camel pose?

The benefit of Yoga in itself is unlimited and vast. When we talk about a Yoga pose it should be understood that it has got dual benefits- One for the physical fitness and the other for the inner peace and healing. Ustrasana is beneficial for a lot of reasons:

• Stretches the body
• Improves digestion
• Helps heal the lower back pain
• Strengthens the body
• Improves body posture
• Helps to heal and balance the chakras
• Helps fight the tension during menstrual periods
• Cures constipation

What you should know before doing the asana

Yoga is one of the self-healing arts and Ustrasana is a highly practiced pose. Ustrasana works subtly towards healing and releasing body tensions. It helps loosen up the tight muscles and cures ailments like bad respiration, constipation, body ache, body fat etc. It has to be remembered that Ustrasana does not do a one day wonder and has to be practiced regularly for good results seen overtime.

Who should do Ustrasana?

Although Yoga is highly recommended for all age groups and kinds of people, but there are certain poses which are specifically beneficial to heal some diseases or fight against some specific pain. Ustrasana is recommended for people having asthma, spondylitis, diabetes, and digestive problems, overweight etc. It is also proven beneficial for constipation, menstrual problems, reducing fat in thighs and arms, peace and restoration of mind. 

How to do the Ustrasana or The Camel Pose?

Doing Yoga poses needs quiet and peaceful place. It also requires a Yoga mat to protect you from the hard scratch from the floor and give a comfortable resting. Just relax your senses and start with the method below:

1. Kneel on the Yoga mat and put your hands on your hips
2. Make sure your shoulder and knees are in line and the soul of the foot is facing upwards.
3. Inhale and pull your tailbone towards your pubis. And along with it raise your body up with your hands holding the soul of your feet. Raise the body till the arc is formed making you feel like the heart has been raise very high.
4. Do not strain on your body, try to keep it neutral and feel a stretch.
5. Stay in the posture for 20 seconds.
6. Breathe out and slowly come down to the starting position.

Make sure the whole process is done really slowly, relaxed and does not harm you in any way.

Breathing methods while performing the Asana

While performing yogic asanas it is very essential to breathe right to achieve maximum benefits. In Ustrasana you need to Inhale deeply and then start with the pose. You can hold your breathing while holding the pose for twenty seconds or you can breathe once or twice while on hold. When you are returning to the relaxation mode, you need to exhale slowly until you end the pose. Keep your breath deep and slow.

Precautions

Yogic asanas require certain comfortable and calm environment to practice them. They are:

• Wear comfortable clothes! Yogic asanas should be done in proper comfortable clothes that help your body breathe and stretch and are not attracting glances.

• On a soft surface. Use that yoga mat or buy one or if you are comfortable use a bed-sheet. Never do yoga asanas on bed or sofa.

• Quiet and calm place: Yoga needs concentration, peace and relaxed mind and so try to stay at bay with noise and repercussions.

On a proper time. Morning is the best time to practice yoga but if you are not a morning person you can choose to do it in evenings during sunset.

Under a trainer. If you are a beginner, it is highly advised that you take guidance of a trainer and learn Yoga before practicing daily.

Yog Guru Dhakaram

Know why Sirsasana Yoga or The Yogic Head Stand is amazingly effective!

Keeping healthy is of prime importance in this world today. People are busier than before with their lives and professions. To succeed in these aspects of life it is extremely important that you maintain your health. Without a healthy mind and body, you will never be able to succeed in these fields. A healthy body also helps in keeping one more confident about himself or herself. It gives you the boost required to emerge triumphant and achieve your goals.

Exercise and eating right is the easiest way to stay healthy and in shape. It is very important that one knows what to eat so that they can stay fit. Exercising is also a must. Be it gym or yoga, it is most important that you exercise so that the body metabolism is maintained.

Keeping fit has become such a major issue these days, that we are appropriately celebrating World International Yoga days so that people all around the world are aware of the importance of yoga and exercise.

Advantages of Yoga are many. Here we list a few.

• All-round fitness:A person is said to be truly healthy when he or she is not just physically fit but also has balance mentally and emotionally.
• Weight loss:Popular yoga exercises like Sun Salutations and KapalBhatipranayama  help to lose weight. Also with regular practice, the body becomes more sensitive to the kind of food our body asks for and also the time of eating gets fixed. This in turn helps in keeping a check on one’s weight. 
• Greater flexibility & posture: Include yoga in your daily routine  and reap the benefits of a body which is strong, flexible and supple.
• Improved immunity:The different yoga poses massage organs and help in strengthening muscles and improves breathing techniques. Also meditation releases stress and maintains immunity.
• Stress relief:Yoga postures, meditation and pranayama are extremely effective ways to  de-stress the mind and feel relaxed.
• Stronger relationships:Yoga and meditation work on keeping the mind peaceful. With Yoga, you are benefitted from the strengthened special bond you share with people close to you.

Next we look into one of the most important yoga asanas which is very effective for the body. This asana is called the Sirsasna or the famous Yogic Head stand. It has numerous benefits and including this in your yoga routine is essential to get the best benefits of yoga.

1. Essential for a healthy brain: Brain is the controlling centre and the most important part of the body as it helps in proper functioning of the physical and mental aspects of the body efficiently. The headstand yoga pose or the Sirsasana allows manifestation of the brain in an enhanced way. It can rejuvenate the entire brain and thus improve its functioning. Sirsasna ensures an enriched oxygenated blood supply to the brain cells- the effects of which reach billions of cells in the body.
2. Prevents Headache & Migraine: Sirsasana helps in strengthening and relaxing certain blood vessels in the brain and hence prevents the occurrence of Headache & Migraine.  But it is important to know that this asana should not be done when a person is suffering from either of these ailments. Sirsasana injects mental calmness thus reducing occurrence of ailments related to mental tension.
3. Cure for Diabetes :Thesirsasana is known to show positive results for those people suffering from diabetes. The malfunctioning of the pituitary gland leads to the problem of diabetes and this yoga asana sees to it that the illness is cured. More supply of oxygenated blood helps in curing the disease. This asana is seen to be more effective than modern medicinal diseases.
4. Treat sexual disorders: Sirsasana has also been effecting in fighting sexual disorders such as prostrate problems, leucorrhea, spermatorrhea,hydrocele and many menstrual and menopausal ailments. This yoga pose directs blood from the associated sexual endocrine glands and organs, which helps in improving the functional effectivity of the affected glands and organs.
5. Cures thyroid problems: The yogic head stand directly acts on the thyroid gland, balancing the various metabolic functions of the body. This yoga pose helps in bringing nourishment to this vital organ.
6. Control pituitary functions: Since sirsasana increases effective blood flow to the different parts of the body, it helps in rectifying nervous and glandular disorders by reaching out to the nervous system and the endocrine system.
7. Enhances Skin complexion and treats skin problems: Sirsasana helps in increasing blood flow to the facial skin too. The oxygenated blood thus helps in getting a fair complexion and more importantly removes pimples and acnes. t is very effective in treating skin problems.
8. Relieves Anxiety : Anxiety is a primary factor which causes sexual disorders and other health related problems. Sirsasana itself and also with other meditative asanas of Yoga helps in keeping the mind peaceful,calm and also increases concentration. 
9. Enhances vision of the eye:  The asana triggers the brain effectively bringing more cautiousness to the sense organs. It is seen to improve the overall functions of eyesight, taste and sense of smell. Regular practice of this yoga pose has helped in treating various types of problems like astigmatism, myopia and cataract and general bad hearing.
10. Prevents hair fall: Hair loss is a common problem faced by many due to various reasons. also greying of hair is a concern for many. As a solution to all these problems, the Sirsasana is a great blessing. It manages to cure these problems if you practice the asana regularly. 
11. Eliminates lethargy: The vitality and growth of our body largely depends on two glands- the pineal gland and the pituitary gland. As blood supply to these glands increase, their functioning becomes better and the body doesn’t tire easily.
12. Improved RBC count: If you practice sirsasana regularly, you will find that there has been a significant improvement in the haemoglobin content of your blood.
13. Memory power: Mental functions such as intelligence, memory power are improved as more blood reaches intricate quarters of the brain and nourishes it. Thinking power increases and also the power to think is enhanced.
14. Resists cold &cough: Through this asana the lungs gets the capability to resist different climate conditions and relives the body of diseases like coughs, tonsilitis and the common cold.

Thus, it is clear what a simple asana can do. All it requires is regular practice. The perfect posture of the asana will not happen at one go but as you keep practicing, you become more flexible and the posture becomes perfect. Through this process, you become more healthy, fit and fine.

Yog Guru Dhakaram