Yoga

Sometimes we call ourselves "modern" but we are still trying to catch up with Ancient knowledge.

Not just HATHA...

Yoga (/ˈjoʊɡə/; Sanskrit: योग,)  is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice or discipline, that aims to transform body and mind. The term denotes a variety of schools, practices and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism (including Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism) and Jainism, the best-known being Hatha yoga and Raja yoga. 

Yoga gurus from India later introduced yoga to the west, following the success of SwamiVivekananda in the late 19th and early 20th century. In the 1980s, yoga became popular as a system of physical exercise across the Western world. This form of yoga is often called Hatha yoga (only one of the yogas).

Yoga physiology described humans as existing of three bodies (physical, subtle and causal) and five sheets (food sheet, prana-breath, mind sheet, intellect, and bliss) which cover the atman, and energy flowing through energy channels and concentrated in chakras.

THERAPEUTIC:

Many studies have tried to determine the effectiveness of yoga as a complementary intervention for cancer, schizophrenia, asthma, and heart disease.

There is evidence to suggest that regular yoga practice increases brain GABA levels, and yoga has been shown to improve mood and anxiety more than some other metabolically-matched exercises, such as walking. The three main focuses of Hatha yoga (exercise, breathing, and meditation) make it beneficial to those suffering from heart disease. Overall, studies of the effects of yoga on heart disease suggest that yoga may reduce high blood-pressure, improve symptoms of heart failure, enhance cardiac rehabilitation, and lower cardiovascular risk factors.  For chronic low back pain, specialist Yoga for Healthy Lower Backs has been found 30% more beneficial than usual care alone in a UK clinical trial.

Now, in the largest study of yoga that used biological measures to assess results, it seems that those meditative sun salutations and downward dog poses can reduce inflammation, the body's way of reacting to injury or irritation.

That's important because inflammation is associated with chronic diseases including heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis. It's also one of the reasons that cancer survivors commonly feel fatigue for months, even years, following treatment.

Researchers looked at 200 breast cancer survivors who had not practiced yoga before. Half the group continued to ignore yoga, while the other half received twice-weekly, 90-minute classes for 12 weeks, with take-home DVDs and encouragement to practice at home.

According to the study, which was led by Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychiatry and psychology at Ohio State University, and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the group that had practiced yoga reported less fatigue and higher levels of vitality three months after treatment had ended.

Finding balance

Probably one of the most challenging thing to perfect is balance: in life, work, home, love, fitness, family, sleep, food...the list goes on. The thing is, once you think you find your balance, something inevitably sets it off balance again, and again the struggle begins, or continues, I don't know...I can't keep track anymore because it becomes a cycle, where one leads into and forms or becomes the next (yin yang anyone?).  Balance is a challenge, so I have a few simple tricks to help:

1. Accept change, embrace it, respect it. Change is what makes us, what made us, and what will end us.

2. Set goals. Short and long, at least one of each. Short term goals can be minutes or days or weeks from now. Long term goals can be weeks to years from now. Just keep on setting them, achieving them, and resetting them.

3. Have numerous game plans for these goals. You've heard people say plan A, plan B, plan C...let this be you. This is where you can stay ahead of possible changes, obstacles, life's curveballs. Go with the flow, bc there's always a plan B, or C, etc.

4. Have priorities, make the healthiest ones for yourself (you are priority otherwise all else suffers). For example, one of my top priorities each day is to fit in a workout. I used to live in a gym as a trainer and was able to workout with only an hour break (including a shower, at the gym), so now I have to find time to drive to the gym, shower, etc. but I either wake up early and workout, as long as I get to bed on time, as sleep is another priority, or I bring gym clothes and head straight to my Crossfit box or gym after work, before I get home.  Because I have picked my workout as a healthy priority, the rest of my balancing acts fall into a better placement, easier.  So I organize my sleep around the workout. I fit my food into a schedule around my workout (so I eat a larger meal 2-3 hours before and a protein carb shake or meal within 45 min after). I then choose healthier food, more organized sleep hours, and really, it just becomes easier once you pick your priority. Just make it healthy.

5. Don't stress if it doesn't workout. There's always tomorrow. Just don't wait for the day after tomorrow, that's when either yin or yang becomes stronger than the other, causing too much of an imbalance...and in Chinese medicine, this is what causes dis-ease.