Yoga n Diet

YOGA
Yoga and Ayurveda are two interrelated branches of the same great tree of Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge is the ancient mantric science of the seers and yogis of India designed to shows us the inner workings of the universe and of our own from the cycle of birth to death.

Ayurveda addresses all aspects of medicine including diet, herbs, drugs, surgery, bodywork and its own special clinical procedures like Pancha karma. It provides life-style recommendations for health, longevity and disease prevention as well as special methods for rejuvenation of body and mind.

Yoga is a series of exercises that is performed to improve health and flexibility. People of any age, sex or any fitness level can practice yoga. It is a complete science of helping the mind to become clear or pure. A clear mind is not affected by stress and a clear mind produces a healthy body.

Yoga and relaxation
There are various types of relaxation; physical, mental and spiritual. The stretching and moving of your body during yoga practice releases the physical tension. Deep yoga breathing helps in mental relaxation. Spiritual relaxation is achieved when both the mind and the body are relaxed.

Yoga as a Psychology
Yoga develops concentration of mind and the power of attention required to sustain any healing practice. It is reflective meditation, the inner balance of awareness, which allows the mind to heal itself. Samadhi is the unitary state of mind that develops the full healing power of body and mind and releases us from physical, emotional and spiritual suffering. The internal practices of Yoga are primarily for treating the mind and used in Ayurveda mainly for dealing with psychological disorders.

Yoga and Meditation
Daily yoga meditation helps in mental purification and offers clarity of thought. It increases concentration and focus.

Concentrate on your breath. Do not scold yourself if your mind wanders. Just bring your focus back onto your breath. If you can work with sounds better, use a sacred word or chant mantra. You can also view the image of your favourite deity in your mind’s eye to help you focus.

Yoga and lifestyle
Develops a positive attitude; like compassion, faith, trust and love. It teaches you to eat healthy, naturally produced, unrefined and unprocessed foods like fruits, vegetables etc. Yoga lays a great stress on elimination of unhealthy products like alcohol, smoking, non-veg and processed food, thereby decreasing toxic overload on your internal organs and thus they perform better.

Yoga and Pregnancy
Yoga eases many of the problems present during pregnancy like nausea, cramping, high blood pressure etc. It maintains good posture, and thus eliminates back pain. The deep yoga breathing and yoga meditation techniques cause mental relaxation and thus the pains during pregnancy and childbirth are minimized. The relaxation also aids in speedy recovery of the body after the childbirth.

Yoga and Children
A child’s body is very flexible. Starting yoga at this tender age can help in increasing the height of the child. Yoga meditation aids in increasing the concentration. Since yoga concentrates on wholesome or static diet, the child learns the good eating habits and learns to love the different types of fruits and vegetables. Visualization helps in increasing the child’s imagination. Try to make their session playful. Don’t force them to exercise if they don’t want to.

Yoga and Seniors
As we age, our body starts developing various health problems. Our muscles become weak. We lose balance and coordination. Yoga is a great antidote for these problems. It is safe and gentle on joints and so seniors can move around safely. It improves breathing and circulation. Yoga classes can be a great social activity.

If you suffer from any problem, it is advisable to speak about it with your yoga instructor or the doctor. Don’t do any exercise which will pressurize the problem areas like knees, heat et al.

Yoga Poses n Exercises
Each poses helps you become more aware of your body, mind, and environment. While beginning your yoga exercises, experiment with the poses, moving in and out as you feel comfortable. If you approach the poses with playful curiosity, feeling of frustration and competitiveness will not enter your mind. While practicing your yoga exercises, make sure that you don’t feel any discomfort or pain.

Yoga Poses and breathing
Breathing is an essential part of practicing yoga exercises. You should never hold your breathe during a pose. Also make sure that your breath is never forced or strained. Labored breathing is sign that you you’re working too hard and should come out of the pose slightly.

When one starts practicing yoga, one can hold for three full breaths through most yoga poses. If you feel comfortable in the pose, hold for longer, if uncomfortable, you should come out of the pose immediately.

YOGA POSES
- Seated poses
  Seated poses are useful for practicing breathing exercises and relaxation or meditation techniques. Seated poses are also often used as a warm up or as a starting point for other poses. Performing seated poses can help improve your posture and open your hips.
- Standing poses
  Standing poses are often used as warm up or as a starting point for other poses. Standing poses are beneficial for strengthening your legs, opening your hips and improving your sense of balance.
- Inversions
  Inversions are excellent poses to perform to improve your blood circulation, quiet your mind and improve your overall health. Inversions are also believed to reverse the ageing process and reduce the effect of the gravity on your body.
- Relaxation and restorative poses
  It is important to take time to perform relaxation or restorative poses at the end of each yoga practice. You can use this time to relax your body and mind and allow energy released by the poses in your practice to move freely throughout your body.
- Counter poses
  A counter pose is a yoga pose that stretches your spine in the opposite direction from a previous pose or returns your spine to a neutral position.
- Twists
  You can perform twists to stretch and strengthen your back and abdominal muscles, increase the flexibility of your spine and improve your circulation. Twists improve the functioning of your internal organs by providing them with a fresh supply of blood as you twist and release your body.
- Balancing poses
  Balancing poses are great for improving your balance and coordination as well as developing your ability to remain grounded in a pose. Keeping your body balanced encourages you to focus, quiet and balance your mind.
- Forward bends
  Forward bends stretch the entire back of your body, especially your hamstrings. Forward bends are also often used to release tension, calm your mind and soothe your nervous system. Similar to back bends, forward bends help keep your spine strong and supple.
- Back bends
  Back bends are among the most challenging poses in yoga. Bending backward helps strength your back and keep your spine strong and supple. Back bends also open the front of your body, especially your chest.

YOGA THERAPY
- Right Posture
  A set of postures that tone up the muscles and internal organs, revitalize the system, create overall awareness of the body and its function and help tranquilize the mind. they also energizes and stimulates the body’s major endocrine glands. And by toning up the internal organs, they also prevent and cure many an illness.
- Right Breathing
  A set of simple breathing techniques that slowdown and normalize breathing while simultaneously exercising subtle influences on the entire system.
  
  Breathing Exercises are developed by the ancient yogis. They are used to purify by controlling, regulating, and channelizing the energy in the body. Energy / vital-force is taken in through the air we breathe, and since the breathing exercises increase the amount of air we take in, they also increase our intake of energy.
- Right Cleansing
  A set of easy and effortless hygienic procedures that draw the attention to the affected areas and buttress the body’s own cleansing mechanisms.
- Right Diet
  Most, of not all, illnesses are in some way linked to wrong food habits. A slight modification in dietary habits can rehabilitate the entire system.
- Right Relaxation
  A relaxing asana done several times as part of the Yoga program. A process designed to soothe both mind and body. Yoga holds that tension is dis-ease (i.e a state if unease) and relaxation is health. To this end the whole eightfold path of Yoga is to purify the body mind complex.
- Right Mindset (Meditation)
  Meditation is a technique used to stabilize the mind, increase concentration and will power, balance cellular and chakra energy and develop one-pointedness.
  
  All these, if performed together and consistently, help rid oneself of a variety of psychosomatic disorders. Which is why, every yoga therapy session should include all these practices. They help eliminate the aggravated toxins from the system, balance the tri-doshas and stimulate the essential biochemical substances in the affected organs.

DIET

Wrong diet and lifestyle are the main causes of diseases in Ayurveda. Vata, Pitta and Kapha are the fundamental operating principles in our physiology in Ayurveda.

Vata is responsible for all movement in the body — circulation of blood, movement of food down the digestive tract, mental activity, etc. Vata is associated with cold, lightness, dryness and movement.

Pitta governs transformation and metabolism such as digestion of food and its transformation into bodily tissues, "digestion" of ideas and experiences, and more. Pitta with heat, light, sharpness and acidity

Kapha gives solidity to the tissues, holds together different parts of the body and balances the bodily fluids. Kapha with cold, heaviness, oiliness and slowness.

Ayurveda provides a manual for living a healthy life. It treats illnesses like heart disease, hypertension and arthritis. Ayurveda considers an overweight individual as one more susceptible to illnesses. It recommends a diet unique to the person's mind-body type. The unique diet will help bring the body to a healthy and constant weight. Follow these steps to learn how.

yoghourt drink (lassi) in your recipe section help to lose weight. Lassi can be used as a low calorie snack between meals, and it has the advantage of not impairing the power of digestion for the next meal, as well as keeping the bowel flora healthy.

Follow an Ayurvedic food chart and eat the quantity of food recommended for your body type. Eating more than your body can digest before your next meal creates fat deposits. Buying the recommended food may cost less than your current grocery expenses.

Maintain regular meal times and have balanced meals. Uncontrolled eating habits also contribute to weight gain.

Learn how to combine food items properly. Eating incompatible food items at the same meal slows down the digestive process.

- Start the day with a tbsp. of honey and the juice of half a lemon mixed into a glass of warm water.
- Follow it up with a breakfast of wheat cereal or Mung bean sprouts with a cup of skimmed milk.
- Have a refreshing midmorning glass of juice--preferably orange, pineapple or carrot.
- Choose a lunch of salad and whole grain bread or whole wheat chapatis. Use carrots, beets, cucumbers and tomatoes in your salad. You may eat these vegetables raw, steamed or boiled.
- Drink a glass of buttermilk with your lunch. For a boost to your digestive system, add a little salt, ginger, cumin seeds and coriander.
- Try a mid-afternoon snack of coconut water along with dried fruits, lemon tea and vegetable soup.
- End the day with a dinner of whole grain bread or whole wheat chapatis, steamed vegetables and fruits. You can have any fruit of the current season except banana and apple.
- Eat more fruits, vegetables and low calorie meals. Bitter vegetables help weight loss.
- Use as little salt as possible, or eliminate it altogether. Avoid milk products like cheese and butter.
- Drink carrot juice and mint tea regularly. Mint helps to flush fat. You can use green mint in your meals as well.
- Have some cabbage regularly. Cabbage stops the conversion of sugar and carbohydrates to fat.
- Take some honey. Honey helps to move fat in the body so it can be used for energy. If you plan to fast, a drink of honey, lemon juice and warm water will keep you energized.
- Try the Ayurvedic gum, Guggulu or Commiphora Mukul, which is meant for weight loss.
- Begin an exercise regimen. Yoga is part of the Ayurvedic lifestyle.