Yoga For Thyroid Disorder

The thyroid is akin to a computer’s motherboard producing hormones that regulate the body’s metabolism through back-and-forth chemical conversations with the brain and the pituitary gland. The thyroid can tip into over-production or hyperthyroidism with physical expressions of nervous energy, heat intolerance, menstrual problems, rapid heart rate, and a range of other issues. Low hormone production or hypothyroidism is often misdiagnosed because the symptoms look like aging-fatigue, weight gain, muscle pains, bowel movement changes, mental confusion or forgetfulness, and depression. Both conditions are more common in mature women, ages 30-60.
Hypothyroidism is a condition that can impact anything from your weight to your fertility. What’s unfortunate is that a large chunk of the population has been diagnosed with underactive thyroid(hypothyroidism) and yet there’s few options out there for treatment aside for taking medication. What many people don’t know is that yoga can have quite the impact on the way your thyroid performs. Here’s how yoga can help to improve thyroid imbalance.
Yoga is one of the ancient techniques for dealing with thyroid problems. Regular yoga practice can help to deal with thyroid problems efficiently. Yoga is far more than exercise. It helps to bring mind, body and spirit into perfect balance. It is an excellent alternative for treating people suffering from thyroid diseases. Yoga is recommended by many doctors these days as it stimulates the thyroid glands and helps in balancing metabolism.

Shoulder stand

1. Place a folded blanket so the upper back and shoulders can rest upon it for support. Lie on your back and ensure that your head and spine are aligned. Legs are straight and feet together.

2. Arms rest along the sides, palms down. Relax your entire Body Mind.

3. Press lower spine gently into the ground, contract the tummy muscles and raise the legs to the sky. Pressing down with arms and palms, smoothly lift the buttocks and roll the spine up and away from the mat.

4. Bend elbows and use your hands to support the backs of your rib cage. Use each and every finger and the palms of each hand to make that connection of warmth and stability. The higher up you place your hands, the straighter your pose will be.

5. Notice how each vertebra feels as each slowly ascends. As the torso raises upward, notice the subtle movement of the cervical spine (back of the neck) Be aware of all sensations your experience.

6. Gently tuck chin into chest. Keep your chest expansive.

7. In the final phase, your legs are vertical, together, and in a straight line with the trunk of your body. Your shoulders, nape of neck and back of the head supports your body. The arms provide support. Your feet are completely relaxed. Your breath is slow, deep and rhythmic.

8. To return, bring straightened legs forward until your feet are above your head. Slowly release your hands and press the arms and palms into the mat for support. Contract the abdomen and gracefully descend, vertebra by vertebra. Lower the buttocks. Press lower spine into the mat as you lower your legs. Keep those knees straight. Retain the breath until you land.

9. Rest. Let your heartbeat and breath quiet before proceeding. Notice all sensations running through your body.

Bow Pose

1. Begin lying prone with the arms extended to the sides of the body, the legs hip distance apart, and the forehead on the ground. 

2. Bend the knees towards the buttocks and place the hands around the outside of the ankles. Inhale to begin pressing the feet into the palms until both sides of the chest draw up off the floor. 

3. Reach through the top of the head. The body should look like an archers bow.

4. To release from this pose, lower the chest and quietly return the legs to the floor.

Fish Pose

1. Come to lie on your back.

2. Come up onto your elbows.

3. Slide your body towards the back of the mat while keeping your forearms in place and puffing up your chest.

4. Drop the crown of your head back to the floor, opening your throat.

5. To come out, press strongly into your forearms and raise your head off the floor.

6. 6. Release your upper body to the floor.

Was ist Yoga?

Yoga, die Disziplin bedeutet, wurde im Jahr 300 von einem indischen Hindu namens Patanjali entwickelt. Sein Zweck ist es, die Muskeln zu dehnen, den Körper zu stärken und zu erhöhen Konzentration. Es kann auch helfen, zu entspannen, wenn Sie Probleme tun haben.

Kein Wunder, dass diese alte Disziplin geworden unter den modernen Entertainer und Sportler beliebt. Je nachdem, wer sie praktiziert, kann Yoga einfach eine Reihe von Übungen oder insgesamt Weg des Lebens sein.

Einige, die Yoga praktizieren, genannt Yogis, versuchen Sie, die Disziplin zu verwenden, um ein hohes Maß an Bewusstsein zu erreichen. Sie respektieren bestimmte Enthaltungen (die Dinge nicht zu tun), wie nicht lügen, stehlen, gierig oder Schädigung anderer Menschen. Sie üben auch bestimmte Gedenktage (Dinge zu tun), wie sauber sind, Inhalte selbst kontrolliert, fleißig und widmete.

Physische Steuerung ist auch in Yoga wichtig. Yogis trainieren sich in voller, tiefe Atemzüge zu nehmen. Sie betrachten die Atmung eine Lebenskraft, Zählen einer Lebensdauer nicht in Jahren, sondern in der Anzahl der Atemzüge gemacht.

Im Yoga Sie in Abschnitte zu erleichtern, niemals zwingen, sich selbst. Der Spruch no pain no gain-einfach nicht gelten. Sie haben nur die besten können Sie im Moment, und zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt werden Sie noch mehr tun.

Alle Yoga-Posen und Nachfrage. Und da kann man nicht ausgleichen, wenn Sie über die letzte Nacht der TV-Show denken, Yoga erfordert auch Konzentration. Lernen Sie in Yoga zu konzentrieren, und werden Sie besser in der Lage, im Baseball, Tennis oder auch Schule konzentrieren.

Yoga exercises copy nature. Many yoga poses can be traced to the shapes of creatures, such as the cobra, cat, dog, tortoise, crab and eagle.

All yoga exercises promote strength and calmness. Each move’s effects on a muscle, a gland or a nerve centre are carefully thought out.

You can choose certain exercises to rid yourself of particular pains, such as back pain from back-packing or leg pain from jogging. Yoga can help condition you for skiing or help you control feelings of depression or fear.

Any good book on yoga will describe various asanas and tell how each works. You may even have done yoga exercises already. Ever done a handstand, or the wheel. Many exercise programs borrow from yoga.

A Simple Yoga Exercise Breathing

The a capella group Mosaic’s “Take Five” performance (see video below) is a talented demonstration of breath control. If we could only break into a riff every time we needed to truly take five during the day, life would be easy.

Easy because all that oxygen coursing through our blood would help us feel more connected to our creative and compassionate self. Pranayama, the extension of breath, is a Yogic discipline practiced to absorb and distribute the vital life energy, also known as Prana. As we slowly inhale, our body is filled with life-giving energy. Then, as we slowly exhale, our nervous system begins to relax and our reactions to internal tensions soften.

The yoga for exercise breathing below is very subtle. Yet, over time and with consistent practice, it becomes a very powerful tool for mental clarity, emotional balance, and physical health. Take Five and practice this yoga breathing technique throughout the day and before sleep. Make music through the cultivation of your own breath.

This simple breathing practice can be performed in five minutes—or up to five rounds.

• Sit upright in a comfortable position or lie on your back with knees bent, feet on the floor.

• Relax your abdomen and focus your attention there.

• As you inhale to a count of three, invite the belly region to fill up like a balloon in all directions with breath.

• As you exhale, slowly extend your breath to a count of three so that your abdomen naturally releases all the air out.

• Repeat

How to avoid backache ?

Back injuries and their resulting chronic pain are, unfortunately, common today. These injuries happen whether you’re doing lifting or sitting by a desk every day. The following tips can help save you from a painful back injury, and help you alleviate existing backache.

Avoid any repeated stress on your exact same muscles, regardless of which stance or position you’re in. Especially when cooking or cleaning or doing other repetitive tasks, at work or otherwise, you should try to avoid making the same exact motions for long periods of time. Changing your posture and simply moving around your whole body can help.

Make sure that you drink plenty of water every day. A good diet is a great way to help alleviate backache. Not only can you get a healthier body, but you can take some pressure off of your back and help it significantly.

One of the main things that can cause a sudden back injury is lifting something without knowing the true weight of it. The content of the box can be surprisingly heavy and can put unexpected strains on your back. Avoid relying on the box’s label to judge its contents.

It can be quite difficult to live a normal life if your back is in pain. Simple things like bending over, lifting items, or even just sitting in a chair, can be significantly challenging. Read on to find some tips to help relieve your pain, if this is all too familiar to you.

However you may avoid or reduce backache by following precautions
1)Obesity will increase stress on your back so you must have a balanced healthy diet in order to keep your weight within normal range and diets rich in minerals vitamins to maintain a healthy spine.A persons normal weight differs from person to person, a good body mass index({mass kg}/{height(m)}{height(m)} is a good criteria to determine someones normal weight.
2)Always try to have a good posture while sitting or standing.Improper posture while sitting or standing disrupts the normal spine curve alignment and this improper alignment will lead to increased stress on muscle and increased wear and tear problem.
3)Avoid lifting very heavy objects which you do not lift up in your daily routine as they might put sudden stress on your back and even lifting any sort of object try to align your back in correct position and lift the weight gently.
4)Always start your exercise after stretching and a proper warm up, as warm up before excercise makes your muscle warm and flexible which will help in sustaining the stress during excercise while stretching will help you in removing the back stiffness which develops due to immobility of various muscle.
5)Avoid sudden quick twisting or bending movements as they may tear those ligament which are holding your vertebrae or might injure or displace your vertebrae.

Exercises for back pain

First, you'll need to find a low-impact workout. Do not attempt jogging, running or other forms of exercise that jar the entire body. This is a quick way to exacerbate your back pain. You'll need to find a different option to attain the pain relief you seek. Thankfully, there are numerous options available that offer very real benefits. What's the lineup, you ask? The first step should actually be a visit to your doctor, who will diagnose your condition and recommend a series of exercises for back pain. If you have already been to the doctor and are still searching for the best exercise routine, you have several options.

Here are some of the exercise to help you get rid of you back pain :
Knee rolls:
Start position: Lie on your back. Place a small flat cushion or book under your head. Keep your knees bent and together. Keep your upper body relaxed and your chin gently tucked in.
Action: Roll your knees to one side, followed by your pelvis, keeping both shoulders on the floor. Hold the stretch for one deep breath and return to the starting position
Repeat eight to 10 times, alternating sides.
Tips:
• Only move as far as feels comfortable.
• Place a pillow between your knees for comfort.

Back extensions
Start position: Lie on your stomach, and prop yourself on your elbows, lengthening your spine. Keep your shoulders back and neck long.
Action: Keeping your neck long, arch your back up by pushing down on your hands. You should feel a gentle stretch in the stomach muscles as you arch backwards. Breathe and hold for five to 10 seconds. Return to the starting position.
Repeat eight to 10 times.
Tips:
• Don't bend your neck backwards.
• Keep your hips grounded.

Deep abdominal strengthening
Start position: Lie on your back. Place a small, flat cushion or book under your head. Bend your knees and keep your feet straight and hip-width apart. Keep your upper body relaxed and your chin gently tucked in.
Action: As you breathe out, draw up the muscles of your pelvis and lower abdominals, as though you were doing up an imaginary zip along your stomach. Hold this gentle contraction while breathing from your abdomen for five to 10 breaths and relax.
Repeat five times.
Tips:
• This is a slow, gentle tightening of the lower abdominal region. Don't pull these muscles in using more than 25% of your maximum strength.
• Make sure you don't tense up through the neck, shoulders or legs.

Pelvic tilts
Stretches and strengthens the lower back
Start position: Lie on your back. Place a small, flat cushion or book under your head. Bend your knees and keep your feet straight and hip-width apart. Keep your upper body relaxed and your chin gently tucked in.
Action: Gently flatten your low back into the floor and contract your stomach muscles. Now tilt your pelvis towards your heels until you feel a gentle arch in your lower back, feeling your back muscles contracting and return to the starting position.
Repeat 10 to 15 times, tilting your pelvis back and forth in a slow rocking motion.
Tips:
• Keep your deep abdominals working throughout.
• Don't press down through the neck, shoulders or feet.

Source : Health Boss

Weight Loss Secrets

Many people have been facing the problem of losing weight, at some point of their life. You always want get rid of the body fat quickly and easily. Getting rid of weight in short term sounds fabulous, but the results doesn’t last longer. But remember that you should never follow fad diets. There are many other healthier options to lost weight fast.

A healthy diet and daily physical activity will help you shed some pounds off your body. But you need to remember that you should not starve yourself to death.

Usually, losing a considerable amount of pounds in a healthy way is always a long process. Here are some tips which will help you jumpstart your weight loss regime.
How to Lose Weight Fast:
If you want to lose one or two pounds in a week then you have to burn about 500 or more calories every day for a week. The best and the fastest way to get rid of weight are to exercise a lot and eat less.

For example, if you intake about 1000 or 1200 calories per day then you have to do exercise for about an hour each day. Doing this will enable you to lose 3 to 5 pounds in just one week. You should remember that, cutting down more calories a day will be dangerous and may lead to various health issues.

Cut down salt and starches as they tend to lose on more weight as they are mostly fluids, and do not contain fat. Reducing fluids and fluid retention, results in weight loss.

Here are some weight loss secrets :

1. WATER,it plays a very important role in LOOSING WEIGHT. If you drink 10-12 glasses of WATER a day your METABOLIC RATE of body increases and helps in absorb NUTRIENTS better. It will also helps in  eliminates WASTE MATERIALS and TOXINS due to which you are unable to reduce your weight even after so much of tries and which interfrnce the METABOLISM.

2.Take PROTEINS as much you can because it not only helps in making good MUSCLES but it also less FATS and CARBOHYDRATES in our body. EAT natural protein like OATS, SOY etc. EGGS and MILK are two other foods which are rich in proteins but they are also rich in FAT. But you can take low fat milk and eggs without yolk.

3. We generally consumes 3 meals a day but if you want to loose your weight you have to take 5-6 meals a day by which your metabolism is keep on working and also reduces the pressure on DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. Thos helps you to shed ADDITIONAL WEIGHT.

4.Never miss your BREAKFAST,you think it willn't reduce weight but if you will helps you in reduce weight as if you take BREAKFAST you willn't feel hunger and due to which you willn't eat JUNK FOODS.

5. EAT a lots of EGGS, VEGETABLES, FRUITS AND NUTS instead of JUNK FOODS.

6. If you are fond of LATE NIGHT EATING or going for restaurants or hotels then you have to leave this because these habits effects you very much and gains weight very much early.

Benefits of Yoga for Stress

Is Yoga helping to overcome stress

Yoga for Stress

That's the question being posed by new research at the University of Adelaide, which is hoping to better understand if, and how, yoga can be used as a therapy for stress - and who can benefit most from it.


The study is being conducted by Psychology PhD student Kaitlin Harkess who has been a yoga instructor for the past seven years.

"Anecdotally there's a lot of evidence to suggest that yoga can have benefits for people experiencing stress; I've seen that from my yoga students over the years. But it's one thing just to accept this as fact, it's quite another to put it to the test scientifically, which is what we're doing with this new study," Ms Harkess says.

"Yoga is growing in popularity in Western countries, but so are stress levels in our everyday lives.

"Severe forms of stress can be extremely debilitating for people - they can suffer physical as well as psychological and emotional impacts from stress. Anxiety, burn-out, depression, these are all of interest from a clinical psychology point of view. But stress can also result in real problems with people's immune systems and cardiovascular health, for example.

"Yoga involves controlled movement of the body, breathing and relaxation techniques, and these might be broadly applicable to helping people overcome stress in their lives," she says.

South Australian women aged 35-65 are needed for the study. They must be new to yoga. By participating, women will learn a basic form of yoga and attend a free yoga class twice a week for two months.

Ms Harkess says women who participate in the study will fill out a standard psychology questionnaire to help determine their level of stress. Those taking part in the study can give blood so that biochemical markers for stress can be tracked.

"There have been small studies in the past suggesting that yoga is beneficial in overcoming stress, but we're looking for 90 women to participate, which will be the biggest study of its kind so far," Ms Harkess says.

Learn About Yoga Nidra

The practice of yoga relaxation  has been found to reduce tension and anxiety. The autonomic symptoms of high anxiety such as headache, giddiness, chest pain, palpitations, sweating, abdominal pain respond well. While most people treat yoga as a body workout, the truth is a yoga routine provides deep restoration to your body and mind. And to make your practice more effective, it’s ideal to end your yoga sequence with yoga nidra. In yoga nidra, you not only enjoy the complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation but also get to explore the tremendous powers hidden in the deeper layers of subconscious and unconscious mind.

In the deep relaxation state of yoga nidra, the mind is in a state between sleep and wakefulness and its receptivity is many times more than its receptivity in wakeful state. The secret is that the subconscious mind is at front in this state while the conscious mind takes the back seat. The subconscious mind is a very obedient disciple and immediately carries out the orders that you put to it. By practicing yoga nidra you can completely train your subconscious mind. Then the ordinary conscious mind and intellect will follow the suit. The subconscious and the unconscious mind are the most powerful forces in the human being. In yoga nidra you learn how to access these powerful forces to gain knowledge, cure diseases, increase creativity, and to realize your true self. Yoga is usually practiced after to yoga workout or meditation or sudarshan kriya taught at Art of Living classes.

Yoga Nidra vs. Meditation

Yoga nidra is not quite the same thing as meditation. In yoga nidra practice you are lying down and the exercises help you move into a semi-hypnotic state, somewhere between being awake and being asleep. During meditation you usually sit with your spine as vertical as possible and remain alert and aware.

You can think of yoga nidra as a way of preparing for meditation; in the yoga tradition it is understood as being a practice of sense withdrawal that prepares you for moving into a state of meditation. It turns your attention inwards and helps your mind and body reach the calm mental state required to meditate effectively.

Meditation does not come easily to busy people. Most people find sitting still and silent for any length of time a huge challenge. It's particularly hard if your mind is over active, or your body is tense.

Mastering the art of yoga nidra first will help you with this, and to eventually tackle the much greater challenge of relaxing the mind during a sitting meditation practice or while practicing sudarshan kriya technique.

Yoga Asanas : Hip Toning

Yoga asanas can be of great help in preventing the stiffness caused. By practicing a few simple yoga poses daily one can notice the improvement in the circulation of blood in the lower part of the body and how the body responds to it. These asanas are similar to compound exercise which targets more than one muscle group. Along with relaxation of the hips, these asanas can be extremely beneficial to release tight hamstrings.

Body Rotations

Sit comfortably in cross legged posture, preferably the padmasana. You can sit in sukhasana if sitting in padmasana is uncomfortable to you.

Keeping the spine erect and shoulders in a relaxed position take a deep breath in.

As you exhale bend forward and down from the waist keeping the spine erect as much as possible.

As you breathe in, start rotating the torso from the hip, keeping the spine in a straight line. Make an upward movement.

As you exhale bend back down making a complete rotation.

Repeat steps 1 - 4 a few times in one direction and then reverse the direction of the movement.

This helps to relieve tension in the lower back and strengthens the spine. Do as much as you can without exhausting yourself.


Paschimottasana

Keeping the spine erect stretch your legs out straight in front of you. Toes should be flexed towards you.

As you breathe in raise your hands above and stretch up. The fingers and thumbs should be facing towards the sky.

Breath out and bend forward from the hip joints, as you move forward trying to touch the toes with your fingers feel the stretch in the back, hamstrings and hip joints. Make sure not to fold the legs from the knees.

Hold your toes with the fingers and try to pull them towards you.

Breathe in and as you breathe in lift your head slightly and lengthen your spine.

Breathing out, gently move the navel towards the knees.

Repeat these steps two or three times.

Drop your head down and breathe deeply for 20-60 seconds.

Stretch the arms out in front of you.

Breathe in, with the strength of your arms, come back up to the sitting position.

Breathe out and lower the arms.

This posture stretches the lower back, hamstrings and hips.


Poorvottanasana

Stretch your legs straight in front of you. Make sure to have the spine erect and feet together.

Lift the body up from the pelvic region ensuring the whole body is in a straight line and tense.

Maintaining the above mentioned posture, relax the head by letting it go loose and fall back towards the floor and hold the posture.

As you breathe out, come back to sitting position and relax.

This posture stretches the shoulders, hamstrings and hips.

Source : Hip Toning Yoga Asanas

Why Yoga for Pregnancy ?

Pregnancy is one of the most beautiful experiences gifted to a woman. Yet this nine-month journey brings with it a variety of changes and emotions to juggle with. Yoga can help you cope with this journey, making it smooth and enjoyable!

As is evident in the case of Meghana Bragta, yoga enthusiast and first-time mother, as a would-be-mother she was better able to accept the changes during the nine months. She shares, "Sahaj Samadhi meditation helped me a lot, especially in the last trimester. It helped me accept my body and all the changes happening. Nadi Shodhan Pranayama (Alternate Nostril Breathing) helped me relax and handle anxiety. I would practice Butterfly Pose and in the latter half of the pregnancy, when my feet would swell due to water retention, I practiced some yoga postures lying on my back."

1) Yoga postures can help ensure easier delivery. In the first trimester, opt for standing yoga postures as they help strengthen the leg muscles, improve circulation, increase energy and can also help reduce leg cramps.

2) Note from Sri Sri Yoga experts: Do not practice yoga poses that put pressure on the abdomen and difficult yoga postures during the advanced stages of pregnancy. Do not overstretch the abdomen; the emphasis of your twisting poses should be on the shoulders and the upper back and not on the abdomen. Avoid doing inversions. It is also not advised to practice yoga postures from the tenth through the fourteenth week of pregnancy.

3) Relax with breathing techniques. The second and third trimester is the time to relax so draw energy from breathing techniques such as Ujjayi pranayama (Victory Breath), Nadi Shodhan, and Bhramri (Bee Breath). They will help you deal with emotional changes and relax the mind completely.

Yoga : From the Eye of an Investor

“Mutual Funds are sub­ject to mar­ket risk. Please read the offer doc­u­ment care­fully before invest­ing”.

Aren’t we familiar with the above lines? The disclaimer which finds its place on all mutual fund policies, investment bonds, shares. This is not to discourage you from investing; it’s to make you understand where the fundamental of investments lies. You start somewhere with the fundamentals of investments and make a small start which gradually reaps you fruits in future. Keep an eagle’s eye on the market and you start tapping the market. Investment is all about wealth building. The wise used to consider health as one of the investment which urged them to come up with a proverb “health is wealth”. Yoga is a tool which can help you to invest you in health.

Everyone is becoming aware about yoga postures and its offerings. People have started realizing the importance of yoga.In both the fields the best practice is to start young. Autobiographies of great investors suggest that they started young. Autobiographies of yogis suggest they started young too. Both the practices need to have strong fundamentals to grow as change is the only permanent thing in this world. One helps to achieve things which matter in our daily life whereas the other helps you to reduce the list of things that matter in our daily life. End result – Savings. The list of similarities would go on because they both are so very closely connected and part of our day to day life. Here I try to put down a few observations which are useful whether you are at a stock exchange or at your yoga studio.

 

“Yoga benefits are sub­ject to your own risk. Please start investing in yoga today”.