Initiation to Yoga : Make Your Life a Haven of Peace With Simple Yoga Techniques

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In this world of chaos and rush, many people find themselves stranded after a hard day of work, including myself. Getting rid of the tension accumulated during the day is a very difficult chore. One practise which have saved me countless times from stress is Yoga, more commonly Hatha Yoga. A discipline which comes from India, yoga has been gaining steady popularity across the globe during the last decade. Although it is shunned by the medical community, I personally have found it to be very appeasing to both the body and the mind. Mental relief, tension breakdown, healthy heart and other virtues make yoga one of the best discipline to maintain a balanced life.

There is not one Yoga but various types of yogas which have different technical approaches. I'm no yoga instructor or guru and what I'll show, is knowledge I've gleamed from two years of documentation on the net and in books.

Hatha yoga, which combines asanas (Hindi word for postures) and pranayama (master of one's breath) is the common form of yoga in the occident, basically because it is the accessible one. It is more dynamic than other forms I know and helps the body gain vitality.

In search of union

The term "yoga" comes from an ancient hindi word "yuj" meaning union. Hatha yoga is a discipline which consists of

    * moral values
    * rules of life
    * practise of postures or asanas
    * mastering breathing techniques
    * concentration
    * meditation

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yoga Techniques

A session of Hatha yoga has a very defined time table:

    * Initial Relaxation
    * Preparation of mind and body
    * Postures(asanas)
    * Breathing Technique (Pranayama)
    * meditation
    * Final Relaxation

Fixed postures (asanas) are the most visible and popular parts of doing yoga but the other parts have their importance as well. The principle is simple. You must stay as long as you can without any forced efforts on your part in a posture to allow your energy to flow everywhere in your body and deep inside your muscles and organs. The practice is more complex though because a posture can sometimes demand some mental effort and a certain suppleness of your body. But this comes automatically with practise.

The "shavasana" or the posture of a corpse, by which a session of yoga starts and finishes with, is the posture of relaxation. It is essential to get rid of mental and physical tension. Here is a video showing you how to do it:

Breathing in Hatha yoga

Floor exercises are very important if you are suffering from backpain. Here is how to do it:

Floor Exercises in Hatha yoga

After a session of yoga you can focus your energy with this yoga posture.

Focusing Energy in Hatha yoga

You can find other such great videos at Expert Village - Hatha yoga Courses by Marcelle Lee.

Suryanamaskar

If ever you don't have time for practising yoga for a long period of time, this yoga technique will suffice largely for you. Suryanamaskar which literally translates to "Salute to the sun" was done traditionally when the Sun is just at the point of rising above the horizon, that is, early morning; although this is not essential. It consists of 12 sequences which work all parts of your body and take only about 1 minute to complete.