Yoga: an archaic esoteric practice that has been shrouded in a mysterious umbrage for many ages. Until recently, yoga has defined as “an ancient discipline designed to bring balance and health to the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions of an individual” (Ross 3). However, in today's age—professional athletes, strongmen, runners, and bodybuilders define yoga as a performance booster as they incorporate its teachings into their training regimens. Yoga practice emphasizes vigorous flexibility, conditioning, and balance work; mainly through Hatha yoga and Vinyasa yoga. As a result, factoring these aspects, it functions as an effective performance booster. Be that as it may, opposition lies in the testament of the benefits that yoga provides. Provided that, opposers emphasize the potential of injuries and time restraints associated within the practice of yoga. Consequently, this essay will consider these arguments and brief upon them. Additionally, I will put forward reasons for why yoga functions as an effective performance booster for athletes. …show more content…
Hatha yoga places a heavy emphasis on aerobics—incorporating slow, deep, and rhythmical breaths into its teachings. Due to this, runners use Hatha yoga to condition their aerobic capacity and function without being enervated. Furthermore, “running is a high-impact exercise” as“it puts a stress equal to eight times the body's weight on a person's feet” (Simon). As a result of this, over time, this leads to the constricting and dissipation of the leg muscles and foot joints, reduced flexibility, and reduced muscular strength. (Simon). On the other hand. Hatha Yoga has proven to “improve flexibility as well as endurance of joints and muscles and preventing injuries” in addition to helping with the ”stamina required for strenuous runs” (Surya Namaskar). Being that, Hatha yoga is used to effectively increase athletic performance for
Yoga: The word Yoga came from the Sanskrit word yuj which means to “join” or to “integrate”. It is the Indian ancient activity for the meditation and self-improvement. If we breathe slowly in a calm way then we will slow our heart rate and if we focus on the mind we will develop mental peace and well-being. Yoga makes the body strong, fit and flexible. It also improves the human body’s respiratory, circulatory, digestive system and hormonal systems.
In the United States, yoga has become a mainstream activity and is being used by increasingly more people mostly due to the physiological and psychological benefits correlated with it. Saper et al. (2004) conducted a study in order to address the prevalence of yoga in the US. They found that approximately 7.5% of adults (about 15 million) in 1998 had used yoga at least once in their lifetime and about 5% of adults reported they practiced yoga within the last year. Yoga claims to help reduce mental stress and anxiety. Correspondingly, studies have demonstrated the positive health effects of yoga in children (Butzer et al., 2015), adults (Streeter et al., 2010), and the elderly (Alexander et al., 2013),
Yoga can be defined as a non-aerobic exercise and is defined as an “ ancient Indian combination of techniques, which include physical postures, voluntarily regulated breathing, meditation, as well as certain philosophical principles” (Taimini, 1986, cited in Telles, Gaur & Balkrishna, 2009). One of the most popular forms of yoga, which is used frequently in the literature, is Hatha Yoga. Hatha yoga involves the use of breathing techniques, postures and meditation to better physical and mental wellbeing (Li & Goldsmith, 2012). It is suggested that during low exertion exercise, such as yoga, individuals are required to think about what they are doing, develop awareness of their bodies and feel their movements (Lidor, 1999). A recent study
In recent years around the world rise and hot yoga, not just a popular or fashionable fitness exercise. Yoga is a very ancient way to cultivate energy knowledge, philosophy, science and art can be integrated, can strengthen the harmony of physical and mental wisdom (Brems, 2015). Ancient Indian philosophy The basic structure of yoga, thousands of years of psychological, physical and spiritual discipline has become an important part of Indian culture. Ancient yoga believers develop yoga systems because they believe that by exercising your body and regulating your breath, you can take complete control of your thoughts and emotions and keep your health forever. In the United States, about 46.4 million people older than 40 years old have self-reported doctors diagnosed with arthritis. According to the National Arthritis Data Working Group, about 27 million people with arthritis suffer from clinical osteoarthritis, 4-10 million people suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, 5 million people suffer from fibromyalgia, 3 million People suffering from gout, 1.3 million people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, 0.6 ~ 240000 people have spondylarthritis, 0.4 ~ 310 million people with primary Sjogren's syndrome, 294000 cases of children suffering from adolescent arthritis, 161000 ~ 32 of 2000 patients had systemic lupus erythematosus and 49,000 had systemic sclerosis (Sharma, 2013). Yoga can relieve stress and effectively exacerbate arthritis. In addition, yoga can provide people with a
“Derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to yoke, join or attach, ’yoga’ can most broadly be thought of as any practice aimed at helping facilitate a union between the limited self and the Divine, or Ultimate Being” (Heerman, 6). For thousands of years the practice of yoga has been used to connect one’s mind, body and soul. We as humans live in a time where it is easy to become detached to our bodies, minds, and spirituality to the world around us. Yoga is a metaphysical practice this is infamous for connecting people to the unexplainable and magical side to life. Realization is a major component to yoga in the sense that people are always looking for self-worth, happiness, inner peace and acceptance. With yoga’s abilities to connect one thing to another, it is valuable to realize that everything humans need for fulfillment comes from within. We are caught up in unimportant matters rather than being in action and aware. It is hard for us to imagine a circumstance of complete calmness and repose in which thoughts and feelings cease to dance in eternal motion. Yet it is through such tranquil circumstance that it is impossible to achieve a level of enlightenment. “Tranquility of thought comes through the cultivation of friendship, compassion, joy, and impartiality in spheres of pleasure or pain, virtue or vice” (Miller, 38). Yoga is a simple process of reversing the ordinary outward flow of energy and consciousness, but it requires Meditation in order to practice. In this
Which brings me to present day when life’s stresses only seem to grow in stature as we “grow up” and we take on more and more in life, it begins to weigh us down. With this in mind, my own curiosity about how yoga was able to let me free myself from our over stressed world. Coupled with the staying power it has had in my life over an extended period of time has lead me to further my research on the subject of yoga. More specifically though I wanted to see how yoga can relieve stress and therefore assist in overall health and wellbeing. During many interesting readings that I have encountered in my research, I read a particular article that I chose for my source critique, The Most Important Part of a Yoga Pose, written by Jill Miller. I chose this article because Jill answers some of the original questions I had when I started yoga years ago.
Ironically, my mother was a “country club” yogi - yoga practice minus the philosophy. She practiced yoga to relieve the stress that tennis and running left on her body. I watched her stretch, stand on her head, and do backbends. I’d follow along side and try to out do her by throwing in the splits. I guess you can say I grew up as a yogi influenced by the spiritual yoga revolution in my community but balanced by my mother’s practical approach to physical health . As I reflect on thirty plus years on the mat, I realize there are many lessons to be learned from this timeless practice. With much of my adult life spent in service as a military officer followed by a successful career in the highly competitive medical device sales industry, I have used my yoga practice as a security blanket, a barometer to measure ethical decisions, and as a method to return to my
Why do yoga? The obvious reasons are to gain and maintain strength and flexibility, but researchers have found that the positive effects of yoga on your body and mind go far beyond the obvious. Yoga is an ancient practice originating in India. Nowadays it’s popular the world over. The benefits of being active and doing any type of exercise are well known. But is there more to the overall sense of wellbeing you feel after a yoga session than after doing other types of exercise? Scientific studies suggest that there is. Here are some benefits you didn’t know about.
Kundalini Yoga is an indispensable aspect of the Aquarian Teacher program in the sense that it is a science as well as a technology that assists candidates to develop comprehensively in their endeavors to become Kundalini Yoga instructors. Taught principally by Yogi Bhajan, the science focuses exhaustively on yoga traditions that harness the nervous and psychological as well as the physical energy of the entire human anatomy. This is because Kundalini Yoga combines breathing practices, chant, and meditation, together with physical exercises. The results of a research conducted by Arambula, Peper, Kawakami, and Gibney (2001) affirm this as they reveal that a considerable correlation exists between yogic meditation practices and human physiology. In other words, Kundalini Yoga is a communicational science that incorporates all yoga limbs into a remarkable practice of delight and excellence at the highest level of self-consciousness. The accounts above only provide a gist what Kundalini Yoga entails. For this cause, purpose-oriented research is carried out to assist in comprehending the concepts surrounding this mystical practice in a deeper way. This essay addresses a
Yogic practices is not exercise in the sense in which the word ’exercise’ is commonly understood. Both yogic practices and exercises have a common goal or objective, namely health protection and promotion. However , the effect of yogic practices is not limited to this only. It is expected that yogapractices should lead to a balanced personality.
Yoga has been an increased interest among individuals who want to promote physical and mental health. Yoga may be taught in groups and individually, that is tailored to a specific need and preference. A goal of yoga is to treat and soothe mental conflicts and reduce conscious and unconscious problems (Vorkapic, 2016). Many people begin to practice yoga because they have problems that they wish to reduce. Vorkapic (2016), mentions that if they did not acknowledge stressful problems that affect their lives, then they would not have had the motivation to incorporate yoga into their daily routine. According to yoga psychology, the strongest drive is
The proper exercise is simply moving our body. If we do not provide natural movement to our body then a great discomfort will ensue in a mean time. Proper exercise should not make practitioner unpleased, but it has to make practitioner pleasant and it has to be beneficial to one’s body. Yoga exercises are not only for the body, but also a gateway to widen mental and spiritual condition. Asanas is a yogic physical exercise, which means stable pose. It focuses on the flexibility of the body and the health of the spine. The exercise also affects organs, glands and hormones. Most often times, sun salutation is practice before the Asanas.
Yoga as a science has gained such a widespread popularity with many people embracing it considering the diverse benefits that the practice is associated with. Yoga doesn’t only provide a great way of exercising and relaxation, it equally enables people to connect deeply with whom they truly are which then leads to higher levels of consciousness and self awareness. The practice of yoga is associated with diverse benefits that people get to realize when they are more self aware. They are able to focus their energies on things that matter most to them and will be able to take actions that are beneficial to their lives.
The word 'yoga' comes from 'yuj' in sanskrit, which means 'unity' or 'Yoke' the relative meaning is to concentrate attention or 'use'. 'Asana' is one of the most significant tools of yoga helping to position the body in various positions with the total participation of the mind and self to establish communication between our inner and outer self (Iyengar, 2001). Yoga practices assume a critical part in the support of human systems. Yoga perfect builds up the body as well as produces intellectual capacities. Moreover, yogis procure dominance of the involuntary muscles of their body (A.M. Moorthy and J. David Manual Raju, 1983). In this study we try to discover the effects of aerobic dance and yogic practice on blood lipid profiles among university students. Yoga provides techniques (physically, mentally, intellectually and emotionally) for this growth. These techniques are also therapeutically useful for many of the stress-related problems. Sound health is an adjusted advancement of a person's identity and enthusiastic dispositions, empowering him to live in harmony with his condition. It is only a great adjustment to the biological balance in our body and this can be achieved by doing yogic practices and exercises: "Yoga has a total message for mankind, has a message for the human body, has a message for the human personality and has a message for the human soul." -Swami Kuvalayananda 2 regulates the dietary model and has a