True Facts About Yoga
Yoga has become an increasingly popular form of physical and mental work out for the last several years. Most of the people look at yoga as just that, though. But yoga encompasses more than simply work out and meditation. There are some other facts about yoga people must know before getting started with.
The ancient practice of yoga started out in the East as a spiritual practice focusing on meditation, but in the West it is normally seen as a physical work out, for the benefit of staying healthy and in shape. Hatha yoga is the variation of yoga that describes physical work out process. Majority of the people practice this form of yoga. These yoga classes focus on physical exercises, breathing exercises, and meditation, which are especially beneficial for people with heart, back, or breathing problems. In studies, yoga has helped young and old people alike who have heart ailments. The studies have shown that yoga can effectively help to lower blood pressure and increase resistance to psychological stresses. Yoga helps to improve physical flexibility, endurance and strength, which is particularly beneficial to people with back muscle or joint problems. The yogic breathing and meditation assists those people to better manage their back ache.
A man, who practices yoga, is referred to as yogi and a female who practices yoga is called yogini and the term yoga means, to yoke and it can loosely be translated as to join or to unite. Yoga also can be described as a method of discipline. Yoga is believed to be made up of eight limbs, the pranayama or breathing, asana or postures, dharana or concentration, yamas or restraints, dhyani or meditation, pratyahara or withdrawal of senses, niyamas or observances and samadhi or absorption. The goal of traditional yoga was to achieve samadhi, which in fact was a state of inward enlightenment.
Most of the people who practice yoga today are involved with the limb posture or asana. People use these physical postures to increase physical strength and flexibility, while purifying the body at the same time. These postures are popularly known as the hatha yoga; where the word hatha can mean forceful or willful and can be translated into "ha", which means "sun" and "tha" meaning "moon". Hatha yoga is the physical work out and postures of yoga that allows the free-flow of energy throughout the body, as well as creating balance and inner peace and harmony.
When some people picture someone doing yoga, they have an image of a person sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed, thumb and fore finger pressed together, chanting the word "Om" from their inner self. Now one must know what does Om actually mean. Repeating the word Om is a mantra; it is a depiction of vibration of the universe around us. Everything has a pulse and ancient yogis created the sound Om to represent that universal pulse. Chanting Om at the beginning and end of a yoga session brings the person a sense of connection to the entire universe and is meant to be uplifting and soothing. Yoga is beneficial no matter how much or how little of it one can fit into his or her weekly schedule. The only thing that is needed for a yoga session is the body, mind and comfortable, well-fitting workout clothes. Then only people are ready for their first yoga experience.