Asana, Pranayama, Yoga Nidra & Meditation
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The Top Ten Reasons to Try Yoga
A central premise in yoga is “everything is connected.” That’s clear when looking at the health and fitness benefits of yoga that have long been reported by practitioners and are now being confirmed by scientific research.
1. Stress Relief: Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body by encouraging relaxation and lowering the levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Related benefits include lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system, as well as easing symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma and insomnia.
2. Pain Relief: Yoga can ease pain. Studies have demonstrated that practicing Yoga asanas (postures), meditation or a combination of the two, reduced pain for people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, auto-immune diseases and hypertension as well as arthritis, back and neck pain and other chronic conditions.
3. Better Breathing: Yoga teaches people to take slower, deeper breaths. This helps to improve lung function and trigger the body’s relaxation response.
4. Flexibility: Yoga helps to improve flexibility and mobility, increasing range of movement and reducing aches and pains.
5. Increased Strength: Yoga asanas (postures) use every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength literally from head to toe. Yoga also helps to relieve muscular tension.
6. Weight Management: Yoga (even less vigorous styles) can aid weight control efforts by reducing the cortisol levels, as well as by burning excess calories and reducing stress. Yoga also encourages healthy eating habits and provides a heightened sense of well being and self-esteem.
7. Improved Circulation: Yoga helps to improve circulation and, as a result of various poses, more efficiently moves oxygenated blood to the body’s cells.
8. Cardiovascular Conditioning: Even gentle yoga practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.
9. Better Body Alignment: Yoga helps to improve body alignment, resulting in better posture and helping to relieve back, neck, joint and muscle problems.
10. Focus on the Present: Yoga helps us to focus on the present, to become more aware and to help create mind body health. It opens the way to improved coordination, reaction time and memory.
For more information, please visit www.yogaalliance.org and www.yogadayusa.org.
7801 Old Branch Avenue, Suite 400, Clinton, Maryland 20735
Toll Free 877.964.2255 Phone 301.868.4700 Fax 301.868.7909 www.yogaalliance.org
© Yoga Alliance 2006
Asanas are postures.
The Asanas we will be practicing are Hatha yoga based.
They are designed to gently stretch, tone and strengthen the body.
The spine is massaged as are the internal organs improving digestion, elimination and breathing.
Both dynamic and static Asanas are introduced creating a balanced program so every-body can participate.
Please inform me of illness, injury or pregnancy before the class.
“Yogasanas and the body-mind connections. The mind and the body are not separate entities although there is a tendency to think and act as though they are. The gross form of the mind is the body and subtle form of the body is the mind. The practice of asana integrates and harmonizes the two. Both the body and the mind harbour tensions or knots. Every mental knot has a corresponding physical, muscular knot and vice versa ”
- Swami Satyananda Saraswati’s book Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha.
Pranayama are breathing techniques.
A basic function of breathing is to bring life force or Prana into the body
We practice Pranayama after the yoga Asanas in class.
Pranayama is recognized as a means of rejuvenating the body and is known to have enormous curative value by increasing the intake of oxygen into the body.
Mood or emotions are closely linked with breathing patterns. In Pranayama we develop the ability to calm and control the breath and in this way we are able to manage the emotions and focus the mind.
Yoga Nidra is deep relaxation.
Yoga Nidra is a deep relaxation technique taught at the end of the class.
In Yoga Nidra, the state of relaxation is reached by turning inwards, away from outer experiences.
I will guide you with my voice to the state between sleep and wakefulness.
Yoga Nidra teaches us the ‘relaxation response’, resulting in decreased sympathetic (excitatory) nervous activity and increased parasympathetic (relaxatory) function. This “relaxation response’ is an important remedy to modern day stresses.
Yoga Nidra gives every cell in the body the opportunity to renew and repair and is an excellent way to heal the body.
Meditation is concentration.
If time is short we will be practicing a simple meditation technique at the end of class instead of a yoga Nidra. Sitting quietly we will be watching the breath. Meditation involves placing the mind in a calm and concentrated state in which our mental energies can be renewed and transformed.
I am easy to contact and happy to answer your questions to the best of my ability.