Yoga Encyclopedia

Yoga is a 5000-year-old exercise about the body, mind, and spirit. Its purpose is to improve your body and mind. Yoga helps humans reach their full potential by raising awareness. Yoga postures use ancient and easy-to-master techniques to improve people’s physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual abilities. It is a way of exercise that achieves the harmony and unity of body, mind and spirit, including body-adjusting asanas and breath-adjusting methods. , Meditation of mind adjustment, etc., in order to achieve the unity of body and mind.

What modern people call yoga is mainly a series of self-cultivation methods.

Development path

Origin

Yoga originated in India, and has been called “the treasure of the world” for more than 5,000 years of history and culture. Yoga originated in the Himalayas of northern India. When ancient Indian yogis practiced their mind and body in nature, they inadvertently discovered that various animals and plants have natural methods to heal, relax, sleep, or stay awake. Naturally healed with any treatment. So the ancient Indian yogis observed, imitated and personally experienced the postures of animals, and created a series of exercise systems that are beneficial to the body and mind, that is, asanas. These postures have been tempered for more than five thousand years. The healing methods taught by yoga have benefited generations of people.

Yoga is not just a set of popular or fashionable fitness exercises. Yoga is a very ancient method of practicing energy knowledge, combining philosophy, science and art. Ancient yoga believers developed the yoga system because they believed that by exercising their bodies and regulating their breathing, they could control their minds and emotions and maintain a healthy body. Yoga is a system that helps humans reach their full potential by raising awareness. Yoga postures use ancient and easy-to-master techniques to improve people’s physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual abilities. It is a way of exercise that achieves the harmony and unity of body, mind and spirit, including body posture and breathing method. , Meditation of mind adjustment, etc., in order to achieve the unity of body and mind.

Development

Modern scholars divide yoga into four periods:

Pre-classical period

Classical period

Post-classical period

Modern development: Yoga has developed to this day, and it has become a practice method for physical and mental exercises widely spread around the world. It is highly praised because of its obvious effects on psychological decompression and physical health care. In modern times, there have also been some yoga masters with wide-ranging influence in the world. It is undeniable that the long-standing yoga will be more loved by people from all walks of life.

Practice Method

1. Yama: Refers to the precepts that must be followed, including no killing, honesty, no theft, no adultery, no greed, etc. The Yoga Sutra believes that before practicing yoga, a person must have sufficient moral cultivation, otherwise, his mind will not be calm.

2. Niyama: Refers to ethical standards.

3. Asana: refers to keeping the body stable, relaxed and relaxed. Including lotus position, hero sitting, auspicious sitting, vajra sitting, supreme good sitting and so on.

4. Pranayama: Refers to adjusting and controlling breathing. The “Yoga Sutra” points out that the three functions of breathing should first be paid attention to when adjusting the breath: the effect of inhaling inward, the effect of exhaling outward, and the effect of storing the breath in the chest and abdomen without exhaling or inhaling.

5. Pratyahara: Refers to the suppression of various senses, so that the activities of the senses are completely under the control of the heart.

6. Dharana: It is to focus the mind on one part of the body, such as the belly button, the tip of the nose, the tip of the tongue, etc.; it can also focus on an external object, such as the moon, idols, etc.

7. Dhyana: Also known as calmness, it is to unify the focused mind with the focused object, and to merge the subjective and objective.

8. Samadhi: It is to truly achieve the unity of the mind and the object of concentration.

Yoga Equipment

Yoga balls

Yoga balls are also called fitness balls or yoga fitness balls. It is a kind of ball sports tool for sports and fitness. The material is mostly made of soft PVC material. When the human body is in contact with it, the inflated fitness ball will evenly stroke the contact part of the human body to produce a massage effect, which is beneficial to promote blood circulation. The movement arrangement of the yoga ball is aimed at the main parts such as the abdomen, back and waist. When practicing, it is necessary to cooperate with slow, rhythmic breathing to stretch and squeeze, so that the muscles can be effectively massaged, relax, and consume fat. A way to improve concentration, reduce mental stress, and enhance the endurance of the limbs and spine.

Taboos

Taboo 1: It is not suitable to practice yoga for mood swings. Yoga is a sport that must cooperate with the body and mind. If the muscles are tight when you are angry, anxious, and tense, it is best not to practice yoga to avoid injury. Only when the muscles are soft can you be more healthy and safe.

Taboo 2: After a few classes, I feel sore joints and tendons, which may not be suitable for yoga. Some people are born with poor body flexibility, while yoga is to train the body’s flexibility and muscle strength. If every time after practicing yoga, joint pain or tendon inflammation occurs, it may be the body’s flexibility. Not enough, not suitable for yoga movements.

Taboo 3: People with osteoporosis, exercise caution. Some yoga exercises must support the weight of the body with hands or feet. If you have osteoporosis, it is possible that the strength of the core muscles is not well trained, so that when the elbow is supported, you accidentally fracture.

Taboo 4: High intraocular pressure, high myopia, inverted movements on the head and feet are not recommended. Forward bends or handstands will increase intraocular pressure. Therefore, people with high intraocular pressure and high myopia are not recommended to practice yoga.

Taboo 5: Yoga is not suitable for poor physical condition, early recovery from a serious illness, and early fracture. Yoga needs to be in good physical condition to achieve the effect of exercising body functions and muscles. If the physical condition is not good, muscles, joints, and ligaments cannot exert their strength, and it is easy to be injured when practicing yoga.

Taboo 6: Epilepsy, damage to the cerebral cortex. Many movements of yoga involve stretching to the neck, and if there is epilepsy or cerebral cortex damage, bending forward and back to massage the stretch of the neck may induce epileptic seizures.

Taboo 7: People with blood coagulation disease or blood coagulation disease should avoid practicing yoga. Yoga movements need to position, stretch and twist the limbs, which may lead to a decrease in peripheral blood flow, which is more likely to cause severe blood coagulation and cause cardiovascular disease.

Yoga Poses

Leaning forward

The forward sitting posture not only soothes the entire nervous system, but also calms the brain.

Especially for people who are new to yoga, the forward sitting posture is easier to complete than the forward standing posture, because it takes a little more effort to complete the forward standing posture, and it must have a certain balance ability.

Generally speaking, as long as the forward sitting posture is practiced, it will lay a good foundation for practicing standing posture. It also provides a practical choice for patients with hypertension or disease. If they are wise and obedient, they will not put their heads on Below the position of the heart.

Curved sitting posture

The spine twist is particularly useful for arranging the positions of the various vertebrae. It can effectively twist the spine above the waist. These positions can gently massage the internal organs in the abdominal area and provide fresh blood to nourish these organs. They can also expand the chest, creating conditions for better breathing, especially the use of chest breathing.

The twisting of the spine rejuvenates the nerve centers of the nervous system, which extend from the spine to the periphery of the body. So these postures have a greater impact on the autonomous nervous system than any other types of postures, especially the vagus nerve. It has the function of arranging and calming the body and the brain; so it not only makes the body radiant, but also invigorates the delicate chakra system.

Standing posture

In yoga, reverse postures are very important to all postures. The purpose of reverse postures is to restore symmetry to your body after performing those asymmetrical stances. At the same time, these reverse postures can also allow your thighs and spine to gain Relax and stretch.

Balanced posture

It refers to the use of the body in a balanced or equal manner to enable the body to move flexibly, pose and coordinate the limbs. It can make your brain quiet, serene and focused.

Relaxed posture

Effective movements are often when they are at their most relaxed when they maximize their energy.