There is more to yoga and Ayuvada than just asanas and medicinal plants! Both of them encompass all of human life and the entire universe. Both Yoga and Ayurveda are historically closely related and have developed in tandem with each other since ancient times. They have diverged in modern times, over the last hundred and fifty years, particularly outside of India, in which Yoga without Ayurveda was for a long time the norm.
When I began yoga in the late 1990s, it didn’t occur to me to find a class or buy a mat, I just laid out a towel and copied as best I could from a book. About a year later, then in class, I discovered sticky mats, which, back then, was really carpet underlay. Other props did not exist in my consciousness.
Yoga is a great way to work on your flexibility and strength. Just about everyone can do it, too — it’s not just for people who can touch their toes or want to meditate.
Some type of yoga are about relaxation. In others, you move more. Most types focus on learning poses, called asanas. They also usually include attention to breathing.
Having children was always part of my vision, but as it got closer I became worried that life as I knew it would be over. To me, the most surprising thing is it’s not as hard as it seems… After all, only half of it is up to the parents. Kids have an amazing capacity to learn, adapt, and figure things out.
The solar plexus chakra is located below the heart chakra and above the scaral chakra.
But what does the solar plexus chakra represent for you in your life?
Here’s everything you need to know about this important chakra.
In the practice of Yoga, you are encouraged to use your body in many ways, but ultimately with the intention of drawing yourself inward. Mudras are powerful tools for accomplishing this. The term mudra applies to the use of hand gestures during meditation that carry specific goals of channeling your body’s energy flow.
If there’s one word that seems ubiquitous every January, it’s “detox”. Anyone hoping to wash away the excesses of the holiday season will look for ways to be better and healthier, at least than they were the year before. The fact is, detoxing isn’t a thing. It is well dressed (and well marketed) pseudoscience.
Madhi sodhana, also known as alternative nostril breathing, is a very relaxed, balancing breath that is used to help calm the nervous system and aid in a restful night’s sleep. By increasing the amount of oxygen taken into the body, it’s believed that this breath can also purify the blood, calm the mind, reduce stress, and promote concentration.
The word yoga, from the Sanskrit word yuj, means to yoke or bind, and is often interpreted as “union” or a method of discipline. A male who practices yoga is called a yogi, a female practitioner, a yogini.
On the outskirts of the last decade, a small and humble minority has been pushing back against the pumped up power craze that swept through the nineties, and still largely has a hold on modern postural yoga. Now that the longstanding kingdoms that once guarded yoga’s legacies have fallen, and individuals are left more to their own devices, this once obscure and unsung song is finding a new chorus of practitioners.
