Did you ever imagine that stretching we do when we wake up in the morning is yoga? Yes, it is called the palm and is a very simple yoga exercise.Yoga does not have to be difficult to be effective.Nor it requires of us a certain age, physical state, or a specific medical condition, because yoga is medicine, not sport, and it adapts to each person.
Some basic and easy exercises to practice yoga we can do in our lives make a big difference in our health. The benefits of yoga is stretching for the health of spine, strengthening our muscles and stimulation of our internal organs and our entire system. Some yoga practices a day can also help increase our energy, relax, be more focused and motivated. Yoga makes our mind and body stronger and more flexible. Let’s see some yoga postures we can perform with ease.
Baddha Konasana (Posture Butterfly)
Sit with your legs and back straight. Now spread your legs a little and bend your knees so that your feet are near your pelvis and legs bent sideways. Board the soles of the feet. Let your thighs and knees relax and fall to the sides. Try to keep your back straight while you sit closer to your feet. Open the chest and take a deep breath. Take your feet with your hands firmly and begin beating legs folded like the wings of a butterfly for 30 seconds. Take a deep breath and exhale bend forward from the waist, keeping your back straight. Help yourself by pressing your elbows on your knees to bring your thighs closer to the ground. Keep breathing slowly and deeply for another 30 seconds. This pose opens the hips, lowers body temperature and releases tension and stagnant emotions.
Janu Sirsasana (Posture of Head on Knees)
Sit on floor with legs stretched forward and back straight like you do it in Dandasana. Bend your right knee and the sole of right foot to the inside of the left thigh. Keep left leg straight while foot flexed. Inhale and raise your arms, stretching the torso. As you exhale, bend forward toward your left foot, keeping your chest open and your left leg straight. Keep your hands on the left leg precisely on calf, behind the foot if you reach without forcing too much, or the floor. Try out the chest and forehead to your left leg. Close your eyes and breathe. Low deeper into each exhalation, but remember it is not important how far you get, as each body is unique. The asanas of this type promote mental and physical flexibility, promotes flexibility of the spine and calm the mind.
To master at these yoga postures and many others, get enrolled in the best yoga teacher training course in Rishikesh.
In the Yoga Sutras, there is talk of an interdependent process between dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (integration) defined by Patanjali as samyama, the perfect discipline to the total concentration. Once it is developed, it results in the ability to apply the total concentration at will and to connect to the universal consciousness.
Deep concentration is the main power of yoga and what opens us to universal knowledge. The steps of Raja Yoga i.e. ethical principles, postures, breathing and meditation of the senses, are intended to purify the body and mind, but the concentration, meditation and integration are the internal elements of yoga.
These steps are described and developed by Patanjali in the third book. They exist interdependently and are designed to release the thought of the practitioner and focus the energy that enables him/her to attain knowledge of the universe and the powers it holds. In yoga, there is no time, no space, and that divisions are an artifice of the mind. Yoga is a method to connect with the power of infinity.
The concentration begins with the recollection of the senses and it is defined as fixing attention on a single point, internal or external. Consciousness assumes the shape of the object. Concentration gives us mental clarity, efficiency in our work and inner balance. It is the first stage of meditation.
When meditation arises, there is a permanent attention to the point or object. Meditation somehow covers the three stages and it is the subtlest form of yoga that leads to higher consciousness. In meditation, we begin to perceive the unity of the world and its transcendent meaning. We start to get in touch with the joy of the universe that is our spiritual essence.
When it is deep enough, it becomes samadhi or integration. The distinction between objects is diluted and it is only the essential nature of all things, which is the same for all that exists. Samyama transcends the ego when samadhi deepens to the point of leaving new impressions of the mind that perpetuate the appearance of the separation of the material world. The veil of ignorance raises and there is no longer duality, sense of self, and we return to being one with the universe.
Each of the components of this perfect discipline is a step in the process of attaining spiritual freedom and are a step towards mastery of internal and external phenomena. However, the main power is interested in the ability to discern from consciousness (viveka), which is derived from pure contemplation and eventually leads to realization.
Pure contemplation is achieved when the subject is meeting meditates so absorbed that the distinction between subject and object disappears. The observer gets closer to the truth of the universe, in which there is no separation. Yoga holds that separation of identity which is artificial and come from the mind. The observer transcends the illusion of a separate and assumes the shape of the object referred to personal identity. The observer merges with the object and is completely absorbed by it.
Patanjali also focuses on the powers derived from samyama through concentration on various objects. This is where you begin to manifest the mystic powers of yoga siddhis. For a true yogi, these powers are most important to see the truth of the real and the unreal. Being one with everything that exists is our nature and this consciousness is the ability we receive by yoga. Samyama is the final phase that leads to pure consciousness, which in some traditions is defined as enlightenment or realization.
