Astanga Vinyasa Yoga

Astanga, or, sometimes, sperewly Ashtanga Yoga is really taught by a man named Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, in Mysore, India. He has brought Astanga Yoga to the west about 25 years ago and still teaches today at 91 years of age. Astanga Yoga began with the rediscovery of the old manuscript Yoga Korunta. Describe a unique Hatha Yoga system practiced and created by the old Vamana Rishi sage. It is believed that it is the original asana practiced by Patanjali.

Korunta yoga emphasizes Vinyasa, or a synchronized breathing movement, where one practices a posture with specific breathing patterns associated with him. This breathing technique is called Ujayyi Pranayama, or victorious breathing, and is a process that produces intense internal heat and a profuse sweat that purifies and detoxifies muscles and organs. This also releases hormones and beneficial nutrients, and is generally massaged again in the body. Breathing guarantees efficient blood circulation. The result is an improved circulation, a light and strong body and a quiet mind.

There is an adequate sequence to follow by practicing Astanga Yoga. One must graduate from a sequence of positions to move to the next. The primary series (yoga chikitsa) detoxifies and aligns the body, purifying it so that the toxins do not block. The intermediate series (Nadi Shodhana) purifies the nervous system when opening and cleaning energy channels, allowing energy to pass easily. The advanced series A, B, C and D (Sthira Bhaga) integrate the grace and resistance of the practice, which requires intense flexibility.

It is better to find a trained and knowledgeable teacher to help him through this discipline. It is an intense practice that is rigorous, six days a week. You are guaranteed that you find inner peace and compliance with each breathing you take.

The Ultimate Guide to Yoga Basics and Posture Benefits

 

What are the Basic Postures with Benefits?

The basic postures with benefits are a sequence of poses that are designed to help you relieve stress and improve your mental and physical health.

The basic postures with benefits are a sequence of poses that are designed to help you relieve stress and improve your mental and physical health. It is important to practice these poses regularly in order to see the desired results.

The following article is a guide on how you can incorporate the basic postures with benefits into your daily routine.

Benefits of the Standing & Seated Postures

The standing posture is the most common posture in the workplace. It is a natural position that we adopt when we are interacting with others. But, it can get tiring and cause back pain as well as other discomforts.

The seated posture is a more formal position that allows for better communication and less physical strain on the body.

Benefits of the Twisting & Forward Bending Postures

It is important to know the benefits of Twisting and Forward Bending postures. These postures are essential for a person to be able to perform certain activities.

Twisting Posture: This posture is used when a person needs to lift up something heavy or move something from one place to another. It also helps in maintaining balance and stability.

Forward Bending Posture: This posture is used during any activity that requires moving forward, such as running, jumping, or walking. It also improves the body’s ability to absorb shock and reduce stress on the back muscles.

Benefitions of Backward Bending Attitudes

Backward bending attitudes are a philosophy that is based on the idea that you should accept what has happened and learn from it. This philosophy helps people to find peace in the present moment and have the ability to move forward with their lives.

The benefits of this attitude are many. It helps us to be able to live in the present moment and not worry about what has happened in the past or what will happen in the future. It also helps us to find peace when we have lost something or someone important to us because it allows us to focus on what we still have and be grateful for it.

Conclusion: Start Practicing Yoga Today to Experience a Complete Mind & Body Transformation

Yoga and Applications in cancer treatment

A cancer remedy exists thanks to the use of yoga, said a San Antonio cancer specialist in Texas, during a seminar in Oklahoma City in the 1980s.

But the doctors refused to recognize the remedy, said Colonel Hansa Raval, M.D., pathologist of the American army. Dr. Raval said that his work in cytotechnology _ a diagnostic branch of medicine designed to identify the first stages of cancer _ was unsuccessful until it begins to seek the use of unconventional treatment methods.

The specialist said that she had witnessed the use of Raja yoga and meditation, paralyzing arthritis, headache and even cancer.

And even if RAVAL offers evidence which, according to her, were collected during two years of study at the World Spiritual University of Brahma Kumaris in India, she was dismissed by other members of the medical profession as that Kook.

The success of yoga as a treatment method is due to another RAVAL hypothesis proposes that 98% of all cancer is psychosomatic.

It is not the song or the recitation of Mantra, said the doctor. It is not based on the Scriptures. It is not a cult. It is not biofeedback. It's deeper than that. It is a complete meditation method, a detailed understanding of what the soul is.

RAVAL maintains that medical schools depreciate the study of unconventional cancer treatment methods in favor of conventional methods such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy and machine treatment.

Medicine schools teach students that human beings is only a body. But the Spirit has the power to heal the body. By definition, psychosomatic means a combination of mind, or soul and body.

The soul creates the disease, but the body suffers. If the psyche creates the disease, the only way to cure it is the psyche. It is a very simple formula: to treat the seed of the problem.

In addition, studies in parapsychology all indicate the treatment of the disease by the treatment of the soul.

The global spiritual university, which has branches in 30 countries, teaches peace and perfection for health and happiness thanks to the use of Raja Yoga. The University has won the status as a non -governmental member of the United Nations and has offices in the United Nations Building in New York.

Raja Yoga teaches students to seek their soul world to get answers on where they came and why cancer entered their bodies. They learn what role of religion, stress, family and lifestyle have played in cancer.

What do you think is the ideal time to practice yoga?

 Fragment of an interview with José Antonio Cao, certified Yoga teacher - Iyengar Method.

Jordys González (JG) - You told me that yoga is easy to practice. If I dedicated 30 minutes a day, I don't know if it's a lot or a little time, but 30 minutes in a disciplined way, it would be good to practice yoga before going out to the outside world or when I return, to relax from day to day.

- I know it depends on many factors, but what do you think is the ideal time to practice yoga?

José Antonio Cao - Look, better than not practicing is practicing, so there are people who have schedules that make it impossible for them to have a certain time of day, but if they could have hours to choose from, if they can't choose, the one they can… practice it.

If they could choose, I would advise them to choose the one in which they have more peace of mind in practice. If you get up in the morning and it turns out that by getting up 20 minutes earlier you are going to make sure that no one is awake at home, this is going to be the best.

JG - Fantastic, before going out and facing everything, right?

José Antonio Cao - Of course, because when you wake up, during sleep, the brain takes care of removing that outer layer of thoughts that make the mind so restless that a minimum degree of concentration is very difficult.

When you wake up you are mentally fresher, although physically you are more contracted and more closed, internally you will better receive the benefit of the practice.

But if you can't, because work is very early and you can't get up earlier. When you get home, take at least five minutes, so that what was done during sleep we can do it... even if it's a little bit.

That is to say….I already left work and arrived at my house.

JG- Disconnect….

José Antonio Cao - Yes, because in yoga first you have to say "now we start with yoga", now, this little bit is only yours. It is the moment between what I practice, and me…., just for me. It is what many do in the bathtub, it is what many do when they sit down to read their favorite magazine.

Yoga has to be that, it has to be a continuous discovery, it is… what is going to happen in the next chapter of my practice?

 JG - Not an obligation, but learning to enjoy that moment, that is my moment, a moment of power.

José Antonio Cao – That… has to be an enjoyment, it cannot be torture, it cannot be another discipline………. Because of disciplines and pressures we are already full!

 JG - I know that discipline is important, but just hearing the word "Discipline" is as if we were saying "I have to", and in yoga it is not "I have to", it is rather... "I want to do it" right? ?

José Antonio Cao – Exactly, rather “I'm going to do yoga”, like someone who says “I'm going to do a sudoku”, “I'm going to sit down at...”

Yes... because it is a liberation, at that moment the mind says "ah... that's good", I'm not thinking about work, I'm not thinking about family duties, I'm not thinking about anything, I'm thinking about myself, about my practice and what I'm getting out of that, and when you're done practicing, the state you end up in is always so much better than the state you started in…always.

So, even if it costs that little bit of time, it is important to dedicate it to your practice, you think "those 15 minutes are hard for me to get out of," but in reality when you finish you say "it's good that I got them out" and "I won't forget how I feel after I finish to practice".

JG - I also think that there is always, always, a benefit that is to say "I did it", "perfect"

Jose Antonio Cao – Exactly.

JG – That is to say “today I did something else for myself, today I added something to myself”, better than the fact of saying: “well, it doesn't matter tomorrow I'll do it”, and tomorrow comes, you wake up and say “ah… not yesterday I did it". It's a bit of philosophy, shall we stay with that?

José Antonio Cao – We are left with that.

JG – Well…I sincerely invite you to enjoy this course…it's fantastic…also, by modules, well structured.

I invite you to do something…either if something hurts or you have a specific physical problem, I recommend that you listen to José Antonio's advice. And if you want to deepen or take up yoga perhaps as a lifestyle and do it in an easy and fluid way, I think this course will be a good start.

Turn your body into the best ally of your mind

 Fragment of an interview with José Antonio Cao, certified Yoga teacher - Iyengar Method.

Jordys González (JG) – José, I have a question. In neuro-linguistic programming, I believe that in all this, one thing is always tied to the other, it is said that either... you can change your physiognomy with your mind, or you can even change your thoughts with your physiognomy.

This is also dealt with in yoga, isn't it? that one thing connects with the other perfectly.

José Antonio Cao - Yes, a prominent yoga teacher who is Prasant Iyengar, son of the Iyengar teacher, once wrote that: "Asanas, as a yoga exercise, are iconographic archetypes of the consciousness of the human being."

When one adopts a posture, he is adopting it from the core of his being, to his skin, which is what he told you before, in the first question. Virtually nothing is left out of the exercise.

If the physical body adopts a figure, it is suggesting to your psyche that it adopt a behavior, and it is telling your thoughts to flow in a certain way.

Then the physical movement, the energetic movement, the mental movement, are aligned in a certain way, then one induces the stability of the psyche through the stability of the body.

And like most beginning practitioners, they only perceive something specific on a physical level, from the skin directly, because that is the tool that is used. But it does not mean that with this tool we are limiting ourselves only to that layer, this tool is capable of influencing all the others, even if they do not realize it at first... but it's happening.

That is why deep, long-term character changes are taking place from the first time the practitioner adopts a yoga posture, well done... That is the result.

Yoga empowers and balances your body to the limit

 

Fragment of an interview with José Antonio Cao, certified Yoga teacher - Iyengar Method.

Jordys González (JG) - José, 2 other questions that I think are fundamental to explain - What is the final benefit of yoga, what is it for, why practice it?

And… What is the difference, perhaps, between doing yoga and another sports modality, another fitness or training modality, or another discipline?

José Antonio Cao - Yes, teaching yoga is extremely difficult, because each student is a world, and each personality of the students is a challenge to my faculty as a teacher, to present him with yoga, rather according to him.

Yoga is very versatile, but at the same time it is very complete.

The fundamental difference that it has with the practice of fitness or the practice of spinning, aerobics or any other discipline, which also uses the physical body, is that yoga never takes as its goal the results that reach the physical body, but rather, they are one more tool and a step to reach a harmony that is beyond, to a result of well-being that is beyond, and that includes, but is not limited to the elasticity, strength, balance, health of the physical body merely .

So, from my experience as a teacher I can tell you that I have had students who come to yoga and have told me "I want to lose weight", "I want to be stronger", "I want to gain elasticity", so...

To gain elasticity there is stretching, to lose weight there are many methods that are sold to lose weight, to gain strength there are all the other disciplines that we said, there is fitness, etc...

But yoga, apart from giving all that, connects it in such a way that it balances it.

A yoga practitioner will never have more strength than his joints support, he will not have more elasticity than his muscles can hold, so as not to injure himself, he will not have more control or more nervous development than necessary, for your body to function properly.

So, yoga is defined by harmony at any of its levels, yoga is defined by integrality. From the beginning the practitioner puts all his levels of existence in the practice of yoga, even if he does not know it... it is there.

However, when practicing fitness, his body is practicing and his mind can be perfectly listening to music, totally scattered. In yoga that does not happen.

Yoga is sport; is yoga fitness?

 You can Cultivate the body through Iyengar Yoga

Yoga can be adapted and can be applied, depending on the character of the person, to a more sporting practice, to a practice of physical cultivation, but it can also be applied to therapy, to medicine.

Yoga can be practiced as an art, it can be practiced as a philosophy of life, it can be practiced as a religion, it can be practiced practically, as whatever one wants.

Because the expression of yoga depends on who practices it, yoga has no limitation in that regard. That is why I said, according to the belief of each one, whether they believe or not, in the soul or in the spirit, whether or not they are materialists….

But what can not be left aside is that we all have a body, we all have emotions, we all have thoughts, and even if we do not feel them they are there, and thoughts manifest directly in our body, they manifest in our state of mind. and chemically speaking.

So, those relationships that cannot be denied today, since it is a reality, are all put into practice. If one is an athlete, yoga is a sport, but if one is a philosopher, yoga is a philosophy.

Yoga, a unique tool to enhance our life

 It is interesting how we get used to using extremely sophisticated tools, being content to know what they produce and how they are used.

Totally ignoring their configuration or content, computers, GPS, and other multiple devices that make modern life easier for us, are of daily use even in the lives of the smallest.

In all these cases (electronic devices) their design has a specific and practical purpose and leads to its execution with maximum efficiency.

Extrapolating this pragmatism to any daily use, we include various disciplines in our entertainment assuming a similar operation. But it turns out that in some cases the "black boxes" we use have not been made for such an obvious purpose, nor is their design unidirectional. Such is the case of Yoga.

In the vast majority of beginners, the practice of Yoga is undertaken being an absolute victim of our inertia, projecting it just as the body casts its shadow, in the way we move, breathe and relate to the exercise.

Almost without exception, the beginner hopes to gain more strength, balance, flexibility, or whatever else he or she hopes to find in practice.

It establishes a relationship of beginning and goal with the exercise, linear, that measures in time, effort and results. It is continually evaluated against these parameters.

The faster you understand that developing any skill to the extreme is unnecessary in Yoga, the faster your development in this discipline will be.

The uniqueness of this practice lies in the fact that its realization does not depend only on the exercise itself, but rather on the relationship that we establish with it.

The exercise, which in most cases is the goal, here is just the means, the pretext... The real goal is to study our behavior in it. The most interesting moment that a Yoga teacher can experience in teaching is the moment when her student finally understands this enormous principle.

It is from then on that he stops pursuing Yoga and begins to live it. He stops strengthening his strong parts and begins to observe their contrasts. He stops caring about quantity, and starts caring about quality.

As I said at the beginning, being a victim of our inertia, we enter Yoga as if it were another field in which we must play our cards and become stronger, and win something. And the mere fact of understanding that such behavior is useless disarms us.

There is no competition, there is no goal (at least quantitatively measurable) and it is in fact curbing our inertia and learning new behaviors of our body, our brain, our emotions, our mind... what will bring enjoyment and the realization of that much persecuted relaxation, well-being and other golden dreams.

There is no “learn yoga in thirty days” magic. There is no minimum measure of effort, time or money that assures us that from then on we will understand Yoga.

The only thing that can make the learning of Yoga closer is that we stop paying so much importance to what is done and pay attention to what we do not do in the posture.

I quote a phrase from Guruji Iyengar: "Yoga is always practiced from the invisible."

What part of your body or mind are you not paying attention to? Why?

When are the results of Yoga seen?

 Improve tiredness, get more energy, more agility, improve and shorten digestion, are some of the first indicators of rapid results

Fragment of an interview with José Antonio Cao, certified Yoga teacher - Iyengar Method.

Jordys González (JG) - When can I start to see the results?

For example, if I start today, I see your course, or I see a module of your course and I start applying it, when can I see any results? At least in that section, that module or for that ailment. Of course taking into account that I am consistent, consistent and disciplined with the practice of yoga.

José Antonio Cao - This is the most difficult, isn't it?

If you do exactly what is said to be done, the result is very fast, because the physical body (musculoskeletal), which is the first to find out about the result, is toned up and responds. In practically less than two months the results are already seen and people notice differences.

There are many small indicators that my students like to hear, which can be, for example, the time that the person wakes up in the morning, it can be the time of digestion of food, which decreases.

JG- We notice that it shortens, right?

José Antonio Cao - Of course, because the digestive system is toned, it can also be the ability to go up and down stairs. This action costs less, because the body seems to be lighter since there are many muscles that begin to work, which were previously outside the system, and these details are small indicators that the external musculoskeletal machinery is actually being fine-tuned.

This is a result that is obtained very quickly, especially if they are people between an average age, approximately between 20 and 65 or 70 years old, a person who still has a stable body.

Then, obviously, the most powerful results, the most medium and long-term results, which are what a slightly more mature practitioner seeks to have, would have to depend on the character and physiognomy, and physiology of the person, since He will have them after 3, 6, 8 months or sometimes a year, depending on the practice he has had, but he always has it quickly.

Who can practice yoga?

 No matter your age or physical condition, you can practice Yoga.

Fragment of an interview with José Antonio Cao, certified Yoga teacher - Iyengar Method.

Jordys González (JG) - Who can practice yoga and who cannot practice yoga?

José Antonio Cao - Yoga can be practiced by almost all of humanity, there is a very small part that would be excluded from the practice of yoga and basically it would be those people who have major brain dysfunctions, mental problems more than physical ones, because yoga is you can practice even sitting or lying down.

A person does not necessarily need to have a figure, a physical form, or previous preparation to enter a yoga class. It is true that the way in which it is taught also depends a lot, but basically, if a teacher is able to really apply yoga to the person, and make it tailored to him, there are very few people who cannot practice it.

It is very important to differentiate between the person who comes with a problem and the healthy person who comes to practice yoga. In the first group, which is the group, let's say... more delicate, it is always advised that the person has seen a specialist who has diagnosed their ailment before, that they come safely, endorsed by a doctor, so that they can locate this person, this student, in an accurate practice, who practices what he really has to practice and not what seems to be, that will come in handy.

JG - Not the symptom, but the problem?

José Antonio Cao - The origin of the symptom you have and the symptom, which is sometimes the same and sometimes different. If we already know what the person has and if the person is already sure of that, their practice will be accurate, what can never happen is that yoga is applied badly, and of course it generates negative results, there would be no reason.

If the practice is always carried out, followed by the word of a specialist, followed by the correct information from the doctor, then there should be no problems. I have a lot of experience, over many years of teaching, and I have seen improvement in practically general bodily discomfort, even psychic, when it is treated correctly.

But if it is no longer a person who has a disease, but a person who is totally healthy, even in that case, the order of practice has to be the one that the teacher dictates, because yoga is an ocean of information, we have yoga for everywhere.

JG - Is it perfectly possible to lose a student?

José Antonio Cao-Yes, in fact a large part of the problem is that the student gets lost, and that he receives so much information that he has none. That he receives so much information, sometimes contradictory, that he feels insecure. So, the easiest thing is to trust the teacher, follow the rhythm, and follow the order that the course dictates.

If the course is well designed and if the teacher is a true yoga teacher, there will be no chance that this person will not improve, there will always be a positive result.

An All-Around Yoga Exercise: 12-Step Salute to the Sun

 One of the Yoga All-Around exercises is a 12-step tribute to the sun. Do it once or twice when you wake up in the morning to help reduce stiffness and refresh the body. Some repetitions at night will help you to relax; Insomnia often finds that six to 12 rounds help them fall asleep.

1. Stand with your feet a little separated, your palm together, thumb to your chest.

2. Take a deep breath -deeply while slowly raising your hand over your head, and bending back as far as possible, while tightening your buttocks. Hold for three seconds.

3. Slowly breath and bend forward, keep your knees straight, until your fingers touch the floor outside your feet. (If you can't touch the floor, go as close as possible.) Bring your head to your knees.

4. Inhale gently, bend your knees, and if your fingertips are not outside your feet on the floor, place it there. Slide your right foot back as far as you can, with a right knee about one inch from the floor, (Lunge position). Now look as high as possible, curve your back.

5. Before exhaling again, slide your left foot back to the right side, and with your weight supported on your palms and toes, straighten both legs so that your body forms a flat plane. Make sure your stomach is pulled.

6. Slowly breathing, bend your knees to the floor, bend with your hips in the air, lower your chest and forehead to the floor.

7. Now take a breathing slowly and look up, bow your head back, then remove, followed by your upper chest, then the lower chest. Your lower body - from the navel down - must be on the floor, and your elbows must be a little bent. Hold for three to five seconds.

8. Exhale slowly and lift your hips until the legs and palms are flat on the floor and arms and legs straight in the V position upside down.

9. Inhale gently and bring the right foot forward as in position 4. The foot must be flat on the floor between your fingertips. The left foot must be almost straight behind you, with a little knee from the floor. Lift your head, look up and curved your back.

10. Slowly breath and bring your left foot forward on your right. Straighten your feet and stand up, try to keep your fingertips on the floor, and try to touch your head to the knee like in position 3.

11. Take a breathing slowly, lift your arms up and fountain again as in position 2. Don't forget to tighten your buttocks. Hold for three seconds.

12. Slowly breathing, lower the arm to the side. Relax. Repeat the series.