Yoga Life, Memory Enhancement by Yoga & Meditation

Memory Enhancement by Yoga & Meditation

Your brain plays a phenomenal role in carrying out daily tasks. Your ability to respond, comprehend, perceive and function well is related to the health of your brain.There are many yogic techniques that stimulate the brain and nervous system to improve memory and concentration. Dhayana, the sixth limb of yoga, is a state of focused attention used during asana, pranayama and meditation. Dhayana trains the mind to become clear, focused and one-pointed. Yoga is a science that harnesses the innate capability of the body to improve its powers and functioning. It can act as an instant cognitive boost. It helps relieve stress, which enhances the operation of the brain. Also, breathing through the left nostril activates the right brain and vice versa. 

Best Asana for brain

1-Padmasana (lotus pose)

get into a seated position and sit cross-legged, by placing your right foot onto your left thighs  and your left foot onto your right thighs, with the soles of your feet pointing upwards. Keep your hands in gyan mudra position, with your index finger and thumb together and extend the rest of your fingers downwards. Inhale deeply and exhale.

2.Paschimottanasana (seated forward bend)

Sit on the floor with your legs extended in front of you, with the tops of your thighs pressed into the floor as far as you can. Breathe in as you lean forward from your hips and extend your arms and reach as far forward as you can. Then exhale when you’ve stretched out completely. Place on your hands on the sides or on the soles of your feet

3. Halasana (plow pose)

Lie flat on your back with your arms and palms facing downwards and flat on the ground. Use your abdominal muscles and the help of your hands with them on your hips to raise your legs. Sweep them over your head till your toes touch the floor above your head in this lying down position. Inhale while you do so. Hold this position for a few seconds before bringing your legs back to its original position. 

4.Tadasana(Mountain pose)

From a standing position, bring the feet Lift up the toes, spread them wide and place them back on the floor. Feel your weight evenly balanced through the bottom of each foot, not leaning forward or back.Inhale and lift out of the waist, pressing the crown of the head up towards the ceiling, feeling the spine long and straight. Exhale and drop the shoulders down and back as you reach the fingertips towards the floor.

5. Padangusthasana or big toe pose

Stand straight with your feet at least 6 inches apart and legs straight.Keeping your legs straight, bend forward and touch your forehead to your knees. Try to move your torso and head together.

Straighten and bend back in cycles, but holding your toes all the time. Increase the torso stretch with every instance of stretching.

6. Vrikshasana Tree stand pose 

Stand erect. Keep the feet together.Fold the right leg and placed it at the top of left thighs with the toes of right leg should pointed downwards.The right leg should perpendicular to the left leg.Extend your arms above your head.Inhale and try to make Namaskar mudra with your palms.Balance the pose as long as you can because balancing is utmost important in Tree pose.Try to make your spine straight and feel the stretching from toes to fingers.With deep exhale bring your arms and leg down.Repeat the same with left leg. It completes one round.Do three-five rounds.

7. Sirsasana (headstand)

interlock the fingers, palms forming a cup. Place the head on the formed cup so that the crown of the head touches the palms. Raise the knees from the floor by pulling the toes towards the head. Slowly raise your legs upwards from the floor. After the body gets properly balanced in this position, gradually and slowly straighten the legs.Take care that you maintain equilibrium and you don’t fall backwardsMake sure that the spine and thighs are in line, straight and vertical.Relax the whole body as much as possible.Close the eyesBreathe slowly and deeply.This is the final pose of sirsasana. Stay in the final pose for a comfortable length of time.  Come back by flexing the knees and sliding them down to the floor in reverse order.

8.Best Pranayam for brain

Bhramari Pranayama Or Humming Bee Breathing

The humming bee breathing can improve your memory as well as concentration. It can help release any negative emotions from your mind and calm you down as well. Perform this pose every day to experience the calmness associated with the humming sound vibrations. You can also use this as an antidote to stress or fatigue.

Find a quiet, airy spot and sit down with your eyes closed. Smile gently.

Notice the sensations your body experiences within and the quietness around you.

Now put your index fingers onto your ears in the cartilage between the ear and cheek.

Inhale deeply. As you exhale, press gently down onto the cartilage.

Keeping it pressed, make a loud bee-like humming sound. Higher pitched sounds work better, but if you are more comfortable with a low pitch that's fine too.

Inhale again and repeat this 3-4 times.

Best way to improve brain and memory enhancement is meditation

Yogic meditation can also help the mind achieve its full potential. It can make you more positive and less stressed. One such meditation that can help you is the calm heart meditation with anjali mudra or salutation pose.

Settle down in a comfortable position on the ground or in a chair, in jnana mudra (with the thumb and index fingers of each hand touching), hands on knees with palms facing upward.

Relax any tension in your body as you feel your spine rise up out of your pelvic region. Let the back of your neck lengthen and your chin rest gently downward.

Focus on the center of your chest and start to chant "Om" as you exhale. It should feel like the sound is emerging from your chest itself.

Feel each progressive "Om" resonate and vibrate more, opening up your heart and washing away stress and tension. Do this repeatedly for a few minutes or as long as you wish. Most people meditate between 10 and 30 minutes.

When you want to end the meditation, bring your hands together in the salutation pose or anjali mudra, palms flat against each other and head bowed.

This technique will ease tensions, wash away anxiety, and calm the mind. It will also help you better manage the emotional ups and downs you experience every day.

Now that you know which asanas and breathing and massage techniques can boost your brain power, learn how to perfect these movements and practices under the guidance of a yoga teacher

memory enhancement by yoga Meditation

Yoga Life, yoga can help in Anxiety

What Is Anxiety?

Generally speaking, anxiety is a disorder that instigates fear, worry, apprehension, and nervousness. You can’t sleep, can’t concentrate at work, and can’t even enjoy life with friends because you’re worried about Exam, Future, work, debt and/or your marital status People can be in a general state of worry when they face a challenge. This is normal. It becomes a concern when the worry interferes with your sleep or daily activities. Anxiety occurs when your reaction is out of proportion to what is usually expected when you face a situation. Anxiety is nothing but a state of mind disturbance or fear where the cause is often unidentified. Although mild anxiety is very normal but it can be damaging in its advance levels.  Due to anxiety your body and mind goes extreme state of stress Stress, fear, anxiety if we start counting all those instances in life when we experienced these emotions, we may just lose count! Anxiety about an exam result or the reaction of our parents to the report card; nervousness about the first date or a job interview – we all would have lived through these moments. A little bit of fear is normal; in fact, just like salt in the food, it is needed so that we remain disciplined, focused and dynamic.The problem starts when this fear becomes persistent and so intimidating as to start interfering with our everyday life. Then it becomes an anxiety disorder – a state of excessive uneasiness, worry, or fear of the unknown, which needs to be treated – and this is where yoga can help.

Symptoms of an anxiety disorder:

1.You feel unusually panic, scared and uneasy.

2.Excessive Worrying

3.You tend to get uncontrolled, obsessive thoughts of past traumatic experiences.

4.You wake up from frequent nightmares.

5.You tend to repeatedly wash your hands.

6.You have problems sleeping.

7.Your hands and feet stay unusually sweaty.

8.You get frequent palpitations.

How yoga can help in Anxiety?

Yoga, pranayama and meditation are three powerful tools that are used for reduction and prevention of state of anxiety,Yoga and pranayama  and meditation  play an important role in your life to become healthy. Yoga brings stability, calms the mind, improve blood circulation and cure depression stress and anxiety. these exercises grow the mental power of self-belief, strength of mind, attentiveness, determination, and tolerance. And when all three are practiced together they will create an even stronger effect on relaxing the mind and sentiment. The breath also plays an important role in several cases of excess anxiety. To control anxiety due to breathing pranayama is best option, pranayama is a yogic breathing exercises. With the help of this the nervous system is naturally calmed and quieten. With a regular practice one can understand how to intentionally maintain a slow and calm breath every times to stop or control extreme states of anxiety. Sit Cari and Shitali pranayamas are helpful in case of anxiety due to breathing. 

The mind plays an important role in case of long-term anxiety. Yoga and meditation permit us to have rule over our feelings through mental disconnection and the capability to focus the mind on the present experience. 

yoga postures

These yoga postures can help achieve a happy and healthy mind and body. Asanas help release tension and negativity from the system.

1.Dhanurasana (Bow Pose)

2.Matsyasana (Fish Pose)

3.Janu Shirsasana (One-Legged Forward Bend)

4.Setu Bandhasana (Bridge Pose)

5.Marjariasana (Cat Stretch)

6.Paschimottanasana (Two-Legged Forward Bend)

7.Hastapadasana (Standing Forward Bend)

8.Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog)

9.Sirsasana (Headstand)

10.Shavasana (Corpse Pose)

Do these yoga pose daily for stability, calms the mind, improve blood circulation and cure depression stress and anxiety

Other way to relax in life?

1. Spend time with good people.
2. Laughter is the medicine of life.
3. Important to make room for relaxation.
4. Accept Stress and take it positively.
5. Relax your body by pranayama breathing techniques

6. Have a healthy diet, avoid excessive caffeine, eat fresh fruits and vegetables, drink more water.
6. Running jogging, walking in the park, swimming, cycling,

7. Think positively.
8. Spend time with positive people and avoid negative thinkers.
9.Think always logically when you are stressed.
10.Do meditation daily in a quiet place.

11.Stop feeling guilty or do not blame.
12.Each person has different expectations and priorities. Expecting more from life, let you unsatisfied.
13. Take care of things before they become a big problem.
Hope this may help you, do it under guidance of good teacher hope you find good teacher for  Yoga for anxiety in X town
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Read more

a good book to read for anxiety

Yoga Life, Yoga according to Swami Vivekananda

             "Arise! Awake! And stop not until the goal is reached." 

    

Swami Vivekananda is considered as a key figure in the introduction of Yoga to the Western world. Vivekananda described Yoga as a practice that joins a human to "reality" or "God". 

The Hindu concentrated on the internal world, upon the unseen realms in the Self, and developed the science of Yoga. Yoga is controlling the senses, will and mind. The benefit of its study is that we learn to control instead of being controlled. Mind seems to be layer on layer. Our real goal is to cross all these intervening strata of our being and find God. The end and aim of Yoga is to realise God. To do this we must go beyond relative knowledge, go beyond the sense-world. The world is awake to the senses, the children of the Lord are asleep on that plane. The world is asleep to the Eternal, the children of the Lord are awake in that realm. These are the sons of God. There is but one way to control the senses—to see Him who is the Reality in the universe. Then and only then can we really conquer our senses.  

Swami Vivekananda has influenced young minds to walk on the path of enlightenment for more than a centennial. Stretching his wings of spirituality out to the world, he started a revolution which still resonates among millions of his followers 

Every man must develop according to his own nature. As every science has its methods, so has every religion. The methods of attaining the end of religion are called Yoga by us, and the different forms of Yoga that we teach, are adapted to the different natures and temperaments of men. We classify them in the following way, under four heads:

(1) Karma-Yoga—The manner in which a man realises his own divinity through works and duty.
(2) Bhakti-Yoga—The realisation of the divinity through devotion to, and love of, a Personal God.
(3) Raja-Yoga—The realisation of the divinity through the control of mind.
(4) Jnana-Yoga—The realisation of a man's own divinity through knowledge.

These are all different roads leading to the same centre—God. Indeed, the varieties of religious belief are an advantage, since all faiths are good,so far as they encourage man to lead a religious life. The more sects there are, the more opportunities there are for making successful appeals to the divine instinct in all men. 

Each one of our Yogas is fitted to make man perfect even without the help of the others, because they have all the same goal in view. The Yogas of work, of wisdom, and of devotion are all capable of serving as direct and independent means for the attainment of Moksha. "Fools alone say that work and philosophy are different, not the learned.” The learned know that, though apparently different from each other, they at last lead to the same goal of human perfection.

Without non-attachment there cannot be any kind of Yoga. Non-attachment is the basis of all the Yogas. The man who gives up living in houses, wearing fine clothes, and eating good food, and goes into the desert, may be a most attached person. His only possession, his own body, may become everything to him; and as he lives he will be simply struggling for the sake of his body. Non-attachment does not mean anything that we may do in relation to our external body, it is all in the mind. The binding link of "I and mine" is in the mind. If we have not this link with the body and with the things of the senses, we are non-attached, wherever and whatever we may be. A man may be on a throne and perfectly non-attached; another man may be in rags and still very much attached. First, we have to attain this state of non-attachment and then to work incessantly. 

From a young age, he took delight in various subjects, including religion, philosophy, art, literature and social sciences. He was also drawn towards the sacred books of the Hindu religion. Bewitched in the charm of the wandering monks, he started meditating before the idols of Lord Shiva, Lord Rama and Mahavir Hanuman.

Curiosity in his eyes and the desire to get closer to the supreme power, he once asked his Guru, Sri Ramakrishna, “Have you seen God?” Without any qualms, his master replied, “Yes, I have. I see Him as clearly as I see you, only in a much intenser sense.” 

reference taken from The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda buy to read set of book

                                     

Yoga Life , lose belly fat with 30 minute Yoga

lose belly fat with 30 minute Yoga
Yoga Poses for Fast Fat Lossand the Yoga Beginner's Guide!
Obesity is extra fat stored in our body. When We take excess fat in our food it stored in our body mainly near belly area. Hence size of our belly increased. We can reduce it with the help of simple rules and posture of yoga. For it 30-45 minute practice daily is enough . Step are as follows


1.sit in comfortable pose and take deep breath and chent aum ॐ 3 times

2.Do warmup for 5 minutes
3.Do 5-10 tadasan and 5-10 tryaktadasan 

4. Do 5-10 katichakrasan

5. Do 5-10 trinkonasan (triangle posture.)

6. Do 5-10 padhastasan ( touching feet)

7.3-5 rounds surenamaskar (sun salutations)

8.close eyes and take 5-6 deep breath
9.sit in shukasan ( comfortable pose) and 5-10 side starching
10. Do 15-20 kapalbhati( forced blow air)

11.sit in vazarasan and slowly go to shashank asan( rabbit pose ) then slowly go to bhujang asan (cobra pose) and then come back to rabbit and then to vazarasan repeat 5-7 times

12.lay down on your back and lift your leg 5-7 time and do pavenmuktasan 

13. Try to do sarvangasan and halasan (plough pose) for 1 minute.

Repeat it daily and see the difference in 15-20 days.
 so lose belly fat ...
Watch video for new set 

Beautiful set of asana designed  Yoga Life AC

Yoga Life , astang Yoga

             Ashtanga Yoga (Eight Limbs Of Yoga)

Some time we refer yoga as the ashan or posture or physical exercise. but that asana and physical exercise are only a part of yoga which give strength to our body and makes us  free from many diseases .Maharishi Patanjali define yoga in his yoga shutra as follows

            योग: चित्त-वृत्ति निरोध:
          yogah citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ

 which means "Yoga is the inhibition (nirodhaḥ) of the "waves" or "disturbance" (vṛtti) of the "mind" or "consciousness” or “memory,” (citta)".Swami Vivekananda translates the sutra as "Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Citta) from taking various forms (Vrittis)."

In patanjali yoga shutra maharashi patanjali discribe eight limbs of yoga

Eight components or Limbs of yoga

In Patanjali yoga shutra there are eight limbs or aspects of yoga

1. Yamas

Yama is the first of the eight limbs of yoga outlined in the yoga sutras. It is also sometimes called “the five restraints” because it describes . Yamas are ethical rules in meny religions like  Hinduism , Buddhism and Jainism and can be thought of as moral imperatives. Maharishi Patanjali listed The five yamas in Patanjali in Yogasutra 

1. Ahiṃsā (अहिंसा): Nonviolence, non-harming other living beings
2. Satya (सत्य): truthfulness, non-falsehood
3. Asteya (अस्तेय): non-stealing
4. Brahmacārya (ब्रह्मचर्य): chastity, marital fidelity or sexual restraint
5. Aparigraha (अपरिग्रहः): non-avarice,non-possessiveness

Patanjali,  states how and why each of the above self restraints help in the personal growth of an individual. 

2. Niyama

Niyama is the second limb of the spiritual path as outlined by the ancient sage Patanjali in his yoga sutras The second Limbs of Patanjali's Yoga path is called niyama, which includes habits, behaviors  the niyamas are

1. Saucha: purity, clearness of mind, speech and body
2. Santoṣa: satisfaction ,contentment, acceptance of others,  optimism for self
3. Tapas: persistence, perseverance
4. Svadhyaya: study of Vedas and other knowledgeable books, study of self, self-reflection, introspection of self's thoughts, speeches and actions
5. Isvarapraṇidhana: contemplation of the Ishvara (God/Supreme Being, True Self)

As with the Yamas, Patanjali explains how and why each of the above Niyamas help in the personal growth of an individual

3. Asana

Asana is the physical practice of yoga, which is also commonly known as the yoga postures. Yet, asana is not just a simple exercise. It is a physical medium through which we can keep the mind calm and balanced.Patanjali begins discussion of Asana (आसन, posture) by defining it  as follows

                  स्थिरसुखमासनम् ॥४६॥

An asana is what is steady and pleasant.

Asana is thus a posture that one can hold for a period of time, staying relaxed, steady, comfortable and motionless. Patanjali does not list any specific asana, except the suggestion, "posture one can hold with comfort and motionlessness".  The posture that causes pain or restlessness is not a yogic posture. Other secondary texts studying Patanjali's sutra state that one requirement of correct posture is to keep breast, neck and head erect (proper spinal posture)

yoga scholars developed, described and commented on numerous postures. Padmasana (lotus), Veerasana (heroic), Bhadrasana (decent)

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika describes the technique of 84 asanas, stating four of these as most important: Padmasana (lotus), Bhadrasana (decent), Sinhasana (lion), and Siddhasana (accomplished).

according to some text lord shiva discribed 84 lakh ashan

4. Praṇayama

Prana is the life force, the vital energy needed by our physical and subtle layers, for us to survive. It is said that life force energy flows through thousands of subtle energy channels called the ‘Nadis’ (energy channels) and energy centers (junctions of those Nadis) called ‘Chakras’. It is very important that a good quantity and quality of prana flows through the Nadis and chakras as it determines one’s state of mind Praṇayama is made out of two Sanskrit words praṇa (प्राण, breath)  and ayama (आयाम, restraining, extending, stretching)‘Prana’ refers to the universal life force and ‘Ayama’ means to regulate or lengthen. Pranayam is a yogic way of breathing to increase our prana.After a desired posture has been achieved, the next limb of yoga, praṇayama, which is the practice of consciously regulating breath (inhalation and exhalation) This is done in several ways, inhaling and then suspending exhalation for a period, exhaling and then suspending inhalation for a period, slowing the inhalation and exhalation, consciously changing the time/length of breath (deep, short breathing)

5. Pratyahara

Pratyahara is a combination of two Sanskrit words prati- (the prefix प्रति-, "towards") and ahara (आहार, "bring near")

Pratyahara is bringing near one's awareness and one's thoughts to within. It is a process of withdrawing one's thoughts from external objects, things, person, situation. It is turning one's attention to one's true Self, one's inner world, experiencing and examining self. It is a step of self extraction and abstraction. Pratyahara is not consciously closing one's eyes to the sensory world, it is consciously closing one's mind processes to the sensory world. Pratyahara empowers one to stop being controlled by the external world, and take one's attention to seek self-knowledge and experience the freedom innate in one's inner world

6. Dharaṇa

Dharana (Sanskrit: धारणा) means concentration, introspective focus 

Dharana as the sixth limb of yoga, is holding one's mind onto a particular inner state, subject or topic of one's mind. The mind (not sensory organ) is fixed on a mantra, or one's breath or any part of body, or an object one wants to observe,  Fixing the mind means one-pointed focus, without drifting of mind, and without jumping from one topic to another.

7. Dhyana

Dhyana (Sanskrit: ध्यान) simply known as meditation literally means "profound contemplation"

Dhyana is contemplating, reflecting on whatever Dharana has focused on. If in the sixth limb of yoga one focused on a personal deity, Dhyana is its contemplation. Dhyana is uninterrupted train of thought, current of cognition, flow of awareness.

Dhyana is integrally related to Dharana, one leads to other. Dharana is a state of mind, Dhyana the process of mind. Dhyana is distinct from Dharana in that the meditator becomes actively engaged with its focus. Patanjali defines contemplation (Dhyana) as the mind process, where the mind is fixed on something, and then there is "a course of uniform modification of knowledge".  Dhyana is the yoga state when there is only the "stream of continuous thought about the object, uninterrupted by other thoughts of different kind for the same object"; Dharana, states is focussed on one object, but aware of its many aspects and ideas about the same object. 

8. Samadhi

Samadhi (Sanskrit: समाधि) literally means "putting together, joining, combining with, union, harmonious whole, trance"

Samadhi is oneness with the subject of meditation. There is no distinction, during the eighth limb of yoga, between the actor of meditation, the act of meditation and the subject of meditation. Samadhi is that spiritual state when one's mind is so absorbed in whatever it is contemplating on, that the mind loses the sense of its own identity. The thinker, the thought process and the thought fuse with the subject of thought. There is only oneness, samadhi.

yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines. Yoga has been studied and may be recommended to promote relaxation, reduce stress and improve some medical conditions . In today's age yoga is adopted as holistic health care. There are many yoga school in India. 

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