Yoga Benefits

By practicing the Anti Anxiety Breath, you consciously empty your lungs of stale air and your bloodstream of excess carbon dioxide, which can leave you feeling irritable, fatigued, and anxious. You then can inhale deeply, naturally replenishing your energy and restoring your well-being with fresh air.

Benefits

Relieves anxiety, fatigue, and irritability

Focus

Do not rush, resist the temptation to inhale for longer than 4 counts each time. Concentrate on the exhalation, totally emptying your lungs progressively with each exhalation by pulling in your abdominal muscles.

1. Lie on the floor on your back with your arms at your sides, palms facing up, feet flopped apart.
2. Squeeze your shoulder blades together to open up your chest.
3. Watch your breath, in and our, for 3 breaths. Begin to slow your breathing.
4. Inhale slowly as you count to 4, then exhale for 4 counts by contracting your abdomen.
5. Inhale as you count to 4, then exhale as you count to 5.
6. Continue inhaling for 4 and increasing the length of the exhalation by 1 count each time until you are exhaling for 10 counts.
7. Release by taking a Full Yoga Breath and relax.
   

   

8. Repeat, starting with 4-count inhalations and 4-count exhalations, increasing the length of the exhalation by 1 count each time until you are exhaling for 10 counts.
9. Return to your own breathing pattern, and relax. Notice how clean your lungs feel and how easy it is to breathe. Become aware of any sensations in your body after completing this technique, and enjoy a few moments of stillness as a result of your mind slowing down.

Many of the yoga postures in this vinyasa create a “lock” or pressure over a gland, which squeezes out the stale, toxic blood from your body like water from a sponge. The posture is held while breathing deeply to build up a fresh supply of oxygenated blood to the gland to improve its function. The most popular vinyasa, Salute to the Sun, is a 12-step sequence. You should be able to complete seven repetitions in 10-15 minutes. Symbolically, this sequence draws in energy from the sun so it can be used for your highest pure ­poses throughout the day, ideally, it is done first thing in the morning. It is the best exercise to maintain body weight.

Benefits

Stretches and tones all muscles and joints, strengthens bones, improves respiratory and heart rates, increases energy level, improves concentration, cleanses the glandular system of toxins, lifts depression and anxiety, speeds metabolic rate for weight maintenance.

Focus

Keep your movements smooth and graceful, keep your breathing even and rhythmic. Envision yourself being inwardly calm and serene as you breathe deeply throughout the sequence. Salute to the Sun can be practiced as fast as you like-at an aerobic pace, or more slowly and mindfully. However you choose to practice this vinyasa, complete the warm-up and  stretching  first.

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your hands in front of your chest palms together, fingers pointing up. Inhaling, circle your arms wide out to the side, and join your palms overhead. Exhaling, return your hands to your chest, palms together, fingers pointing up. Slowly release your arms to rest at your sides.
2. Inhaling, extend your arms overhead, and arch backward slightly. This pose creates a lock over your parathyroid glands, for calcium balance, and your adrenal glands, which control stress levels.
3. Exhaling, bend forward, keeping your back straight. Place your palms flat on the floor, outside your feet (bend your knees if necessary). Tuck your chin under. This pose creates a lock over your thyroid gland, which balances your metabolic rate.
4. Inhaling, step your left leg straight back. Bend your right knee in a forward lunge. Extend through your chin. This pose massages your internal organs in your abdomen to encourage elimination.
5. Exhaling, extend your right leg straight back and tighten your abdominal muscles while supporting your body weight on locked arms and your toes This weight-bearing pose tones your arm and leg muscles.
6. Inhale, then exhale. Hold your breath as you drop to your knees and sit back on your heels. Place your elbows, chin, and chest on the floor, keep strong arch in your lower back. This pose creates a lock over your adrenal glands, which control stress levels.
7. Inhaling, lift your elbows, and slide your body forward and up. Exhaling, drop your hips to the floor, and arch your back. Keep your legs wide and the tops of your feet pressing into the floor. This pose creates a lock over your thymus gland to balance your immune system.
8. Turn your toes under your feet for support. Exhaling, push up onto your feet and hands, drop your head between your shoulders, lift your hips toward the ceiling into an inverted “V” shape, and press your heels toward the floor. This pose puts pressure on your pineal and pituitary glands, which control appetite, sleep patterns, mood, sexuality, and intelligence. It also increases blood supply to your head for clear thinking and a clear complexion.
9. Inhaling, step your left foot forward between your hands, bending your left leg into a lunge. Drop your right knee to the floor. Look forward, and lengthen through your chest.
   

   

10. Exhaling, step your right foot forward to meet your left foot. Drop your upper body down toward your thighs, with your chin tucked under. Straighten both legs. This pose creates a lock in your thyroid gland, which controls your metabolic rate.
11. Inhaling, stretch your arms forward, straighten up and raise your arms overhead, and arch backward strongly, with your head back. Exhaling, circle your arms wide, then bring them down to your sides.
12. Inhaling, circle your arms wide out to the side, and join your palms overhead. Exhaling, bring your hands to your chest, palms together, fingers pointing up. Close your eyes. Inhale deeply and slowly, and release your hands to your sides.
13. Repeat the 12-step sequence 6 more times.

On completion of the Salute to the Sun -

• Stand quietly while your heart rate and breath return to normal.
• Lock your knees, and pull your abdominal muscles in.
• Tuck your buttocks under, and lift up through your rib cage while lengthening your spme.
• Lift your shoulders up, back, and down, your chin should be level with the floor. Lengthen your entire spine so that the vertebrae align themselves evenly. Imagine being pulled up by a string attached to the crown of your head.
• Hold this relaxed “perfect posture” pose for  Full Yoga Breaths , eyes closed, then open your eyes and relax.

You may have picked up this site because you want to lose a dress size. Yet the practice of hatha yoga offers you the opportunity to go beyond that, to achieve a health, weight and maintain it forever. In addition to improving the aerobic capacity of your heart and increasing your metabolic rate to burn fat, you will learn how to visualize something you want in your life so clearly and consistently that your mind is open to positive suggestions about how to achieve that goal, whether it is losing weight, getting a new job, or having a more satisfying relationship. Use your breath to calm your emotions and mind so that you can manage any fears, doubts, or anxieties that are stopping you from reaching your goals.Value yourself the way you are, and to be thankful for all that you have achieved already in your life.

Make conscious decisions about your lifestyle, based on common-sense nutritional guidelines plus your intuition, which will allow you to maintain a healthy weight.

When you practice the techniques, you will join millions of people who have experienced the profound benefits of practicing yoga regularly. An increasing number of film stars and athletes do yoga, and 15 million Americans include some form of yoga in their fitness routine-twice as many as did 5 years ago. Seventy-five percent of all health clubs in the United States now offer yoga classes, for people just like yourself

The physical benefits of returning to a healthy weight are enough to prevent obesity-related illnesses. Yet it is the emotional, mental, and spiritual nurturing of the practice that often brings people to yoga. Once you try it, your cravings for food, alcohol, and other stimulants may be replaced with a healthy craving living life to the fullest.

This visualization allows you to access your deep, intuitive wisdom that knows the answers to all questions about your health. You only need to create the right conditions for this to occur by practicing a relaxing breathing technique that quiets your mind. In this quiet, reflective state, you can ask a question, sit quietly, then expect to “hear” the answer.

Benefits

Develops intuitive wisdom for self-healing

Focus

Make the lengths of your inhalations, exhalations, and holding of your breath the same.

1. Sit on the floor in Cross-Legged Position.
   (If this position is not comfortable, sit on a folded towel to tilt your hips forward and take the pressure off your knees. Alternatively, sit with your legs stretched out in front, leaning against a wall if necessary, or sit in a chair.)
2. Close your eyes. Begin to observe your breath in a very detached way.
3. Inhale for a count of 4, hold your breath for a count of 4, exhale for a count of 4, and hold your breath for a count of 4. (This is one round.) Complete 7 rounds of this breathing technique as you become as still as a statue.
4. Imagine that you are walking along a beach. You see a path in the sand dunes that leads to an old house.
5. You walk up the path and come to a door with carved symbols on the door. As you look at the door, it opens.
6. You step inside into a long passage lined with sits.
7. You walk along this passage until you come to a room where a wise old woman is sitting at a desk.
8. As you enter, she looks up at you and smiles. Ask the wise woman “What do I need to do to enjoy perfect health and well-being?”
9. The woman hands you a dark purple site with your name engraved on the cover in gold, you take the site and sit at a large desk. In this site are the universal records of everything that you are, everything that you can be and everything that you will be in this lifetime.
10. The site falls open to a page on which appear the answers to your question.
11. Sit quietly, and reflect on exercise.
12. See the images that appear in your mind of how you can improve your health.
13. Sit quietly in the silence. Watch your breath, your posture, and the images in your mind in a very detached way.
14. In the silence, listen to your own interior world for 10-15 minutes.
    

    

15. Gently bring your mind back to your body on the floor and your awareness back to the present. Deepen your breath, and welcome it as your life force and energy source.
16. Let your chin fall to your chest, then drop your head backward to stretch through your neck. Rotate your neck a few times, then sit quietly. You are now ready to get on with your day, knowing that those images of how to improve your health have been firmly imprinted on your subconscious mind and are ready for you to actualize.