Keep Calm and Do Yoga Site

Stress, fear, anxiety – if we start counting all those instances in life when we experienced these emotions, we may just lose count! Anxiety about the result of a Board exam or the reaction of our parents to the report card; nervousness about the first date or a job interview – we all would have lived through these moments. A little bit of fear is normal; in fact, just like salt in the food, it is needed so that we remain disciplined, focused and dynamic.

The problem starts when this fear becomes persistent and so intimidating as to start interfering with our everyday life. Then it becomes an anxiety disorder, a state of excessive uneasiness, worry, or fear of the unknown, which needs to be treated, and this is where yoga can help.

It’s also good to know that yoga alone should not be considered as the only treatment option. It should complement proper medication after consultation with a doctor or specialist. The doctor would guide you on the condition better and help you understand the type of anxiety disorder you may have – Panic Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, or Generalized Anxiety Disorder, to name a few.

Note: Allopathic medicines may have side effects; you may consider alternate lines of treatment such as Homoeopathy and Ayurveda.

How to know if you have anxiety disorder?

Top 10 yoga benefits Weight loss a strong and flexible body glowing beautiful skin peaceful mind good health whatever you may be looking for yoga has it on offer. However very often yoga is only partially understood as being limited to asanas (yoga poses). As such its benefits are only perceived to be at the body level and we fail to realize the immense benefits yoga offers in uniting the body mind and breath. When you are in harmony the journey through life is calmer happier and more fulfilling. With all this and much more to offer the benefits of yoga are felt in a profound yet subtle manner. Here we look at the top 10 benefits of regular yoga practice. 1. All-round fitness. You are truly healthy when you are not just physically fit but also mentally and emotionally balanced. As Sri Sri Ravi Shankar puts it Health is not a mere absence of disease. It is a dynamic expression of life in terms of how joyful loving and enthusiastic you are. This is where yoga helps: postures pranayama (breathing techniques) and meditation are a holistic fitness package. Yoga My personal fitness mantraMy weight-loss formulaMy mind sootherMy tool for better communicationMy creativity machineMy doubt repellerMy time planner 2. Weight loss. What many want! Yoga benefits here too. Sun Salutations and Kapal Bhati pranayama are some ways to help lose weight with yoga. Moreover with regular practice of yoga we tend to become more sensitive to the kind of food our body asks for and when. This can also help keep a check on weight. 3. Stress relief. A few minutes of yoga during the day can be a great way to get rid of stress that accumulates daily in both the body and mind. Yoga postures pranayama and meditation are effective techniques to release stress. You can also experience how yoga helps de-tox the body and de-stress the mind at the Sri Sri Yoga Level 2 Course. 4. Inner peace. We all love to visit peaceful serene spots rich in natural beauty. Little do we realize that peace can be found right within us and we can take a mini-vacation to experience this any time of the day! Benefit from a small holiday every day with yoga and meditation. Yoga is also one of the best ways to calm a disturbed mind. 5. Improved immunity. Our system is a seamless blend of the body mind and spirit. An irregularity in the body affects the mind and similarly unpleasantness or restlessness in the mind can manifest as an ailment in the body. Yoga poses massage organs and stregthen muscles; breathing techniques and meditation release stress and improve immunity. 6. Living with greater awareness. The mind is constantly involved in activity swinging from the past to the future but never staying in the present. By simply being aware of this tendency of the mind we can actually save ourselves from getting stressed or worked up and relax the mind. Yoga and pranayama help create that awareness and bring the mind back to the present moment where it can stay happy and focused. 7. Better relationships. Yoga can even help improve your relationship with your spouse parents friends or loved ones! A mind that is relaxed happy and contented is better able to deal with sensitive relationship matters. Yoga and meditation work on keeping the mind happy and peaceful; benefit from the strengthened special bond you share with people close to you. 8. Increased energy. Do you feel completely drained out by the end of the day? Shuttling between multiple tasks through the day can sometimes be quite exhausting. A few minutes of yoga everyday provides the secret to feeling fresh and energetic even after a long day. A 10-minute online guided meditation benefits you immensely leaving you refreshed and recharged in the middle of a hectic day. 9. Better flexibility amp; posture. You only need to include yoga in your daily routine to benefit from a body that is strong supple and flexible. Regular yoga practice stretches and tones the body muscles and also makes them strong. It also helps improve your body posture when you stand sit sleep or walk. This would in turn help relieve you of body pain due to incorrect posture. 10. Better intuition. Yoga and meditation have the power to improve your intuitive ability so that you effortlessly realize what needs to be done when and how to yield positive results. It works. You only need to experience it yourself. Remember yoga is a continuous process. So keep practicing! The deeper you move into your yoga practice the more profound are its benefits. Yoga practice helps develop the body and mind bringing a lot of health benefits yet is not a substitute for medicine. It is important to learn and practice yoga techniques under the supervision of a trained Sri Sri Yoga teacher. In case of any medical condition practice yoga techniques after consulting a doctor and a Sri Sri Yoga teacher. Find a Sri Sri Yoga course at an Art of Living Center near you. Do you need information on courses or share feedback? Write to us at info@srisriyoga.in. from Keep Calm Do Yoga https://keepcalmdoyoga.tumblr.com/post/171627363855

Yoga is a holistic package for happy living. It provides techniques to unite the body, mind and breath, and connect to the inner core of our being – the spiritual aspect of our lives.

Still yourself & shape up with yoga postures

Begin your inner journey now!

1. Get on to the yoga mat, your launch pad for a journey of inner discovery

2. Take your seat – making it steady and comfortable with yoga poses (no seat belt is required, when you are so stable!)

3. Breathe easy for takeoff – breathe in, breathe out and calm your mind with pranayamas

4. And just glide into meditation…

Ask yourself: Do trivial things easily throw you off balance? Are you confused? Is your mind in conflict?

The mind often oscillates between the past and future, causing worry and anticipation. Desires, fear, cravings, aversions grip the mind. To drop the conflicts in the mind, it is essential to bring the mind to the present moment.

Yoga cleanses the body and mind of accumulated stress and negative impressions. Pranayamas calm down the agitated mind. With regular practice of yoga poses, you will see that clarity dawns right away, body balance and flexibility improves, and makes you healthy, strong and alert.

Yoga & meditation maintains inner & outer harmony

What’s more – the balance, flexibility, alertness that you achieve on the yoga mat, reflects in your actions and attitude off the yoga mat too.

1. Learning to breathe through difficult postures can help you breathe through difficult times.

2. Stretching in the yoga poses to your limit without comparing with another, can lead to an attitude to do your best in a situation and let go. This attitude helps in overcoming stress.

3. Being physically flexible leads to mental flexibility. At the same time, being mentally flexible (for example: ‘I can do it’ attitude) leads to physical flexibility.

“The word yoga means skill – skill to live your life,

to manage your mind, to deal with your emotions,

to be with people, to be in love and not let that

love turn into hatred.” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

How can we obtain this skill?

Spirituality gives inner strength

“For me, spirituality is all about living a happier life ‘in the moment’, responding to situations rather than reacting, de-programming and connecting with my Self to come with a fresh response to situations that repeat. Yoga and meditation give me just that!” shares Sylaja Kannan, an IT professional from Bangalore, India.

The practice of yoga and meditation prove to be a powerful combination and many enthusiasts like to round their yoga routine with a meditation. When the wobbling body becomes steadier and the disturbed mind becomes calmer, meditation can provide a deep sense of relaxation.

Spirituality gives inner strength to manage difficult situations and to keep smiling. Being established in the Self, your inner peace spreads outward, and makes you a more responsible human being full of caring, sharing and love.

In sleep you get rid of fatigue, but the deeper stresses remain in your body. Meditation, yoga, and Sudarshan Kriya cleanses even the deepest layers of your consciousness, leaving you rested and refreshed.

Deepen your yoga practice and soar with your spirit

Do you find that you can smile in any situation? Do you recognize that something deep in you is non-changing? Deepen your yoga practice and experience the joy that you are.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says, “The truth about ourselves and our lives need to be updated. We need to revisit them and ask ourselves these questions again and again, ‘What do I want?’ ‘Am I doing the right thing?’ ‘Am I happy?’

Spirituality is not just some mumbo jumbo, sitting somewhere and doing something. It is revisiting the truth about ourselves…”

– Written by Daya Krishnan with inputs from Shriram Sarvotham, who has been a yoga enthusiast from a very young age.

from Keep Calm Do Yoga https://keepcalmdoyoga.tumblr.com/post/171600985460

Sleeplessness is a major health problem in America with 30 to 35% have brief symptoms of insomnia and 10% suffering chronically.

Many people get addicted to sleeping-pills and alcohol to induce themselves to sleep which poses more health problems. Follows these 5 natural tips to fall asleep in a jiffy.

#1 Meditation - Meditation takes away the restlessness and the worries from our mind which are a major source of insomnia. Try meditating for 20 minutes everyday to see the resus.

#2 A warm cup of milk - Studies show milk contains an amino acid called tryptophan, and melatonin, a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle. Having a warm cup of milk an hour before bedtime helps in drifting off to sleep more easily.

#3 Avoid caffeine after 12 PM - Excess caffeine increases irritability and triggers the sleepless cycle again. One key remedy to ease or cure insomnia is to limit or stop caffeine intake after 12.00 p.m. As a healthier alternative, I switched to herbal teas like chamomile or peppermint.

#4 Practice Yoga - Yoga not only releases Endorphins - the happy hormone, but also acts as a pain reliever and takes away the restlessness and stress from the body.

#5 Turn off your gadgets - Gadgets, especially smartphones, emit a blue light that disturbs our sleep cycles and make it harder to fall asleep in the night.

How to quickly fall asleep in 5 easy steps -Slide Show

from Keep Calm Do Yoga https://keepcalmdoyoga.tumblr.com/post/168826227230

Every adult gets an average of 2-3 colds per year. This results in loss of productivity lowered immune response and a general lack of well-being. The most common way to respond to a cold is popping a pill but that just eliminates the symptoms and not the cause. Try theseunusual methods to beat your cold instead. 1.Meditate How can one meditate with a stuffed nose? Contrary to popular belief mediation when you have a cold is the most successful remedy to beat the infection. It heals your body opens up your respiratory tracts and brings warmth to your chest. 2) Practice Yoga When your whole body is aching try to do yoga to stretch out the ching parts and increase your life force. Pranayama with Agni mudra and Vayu mudra increase body heat which helps dissolve cough build up without causing acidity. 3) Believe in yourself Your mind is more powerful than you think it. If you can train it properly then it can perform miracles. Whenever the cold gets you down refuse to accept defeat and carry on with your life like nothing has happened. You would be surprised how quickly you would be able to rid yourself off the infection. from Keep Calm Do Yoga https://keepcalmdoyoga.tumblr.com/post/168801261230

Amazing alternative therapies to get relief from cold

Do you dread the season changes that bring along a host of infections and the loathed common cold? What if we told you that there are some unusual ways to beat the cold instead of popping the pill?

ASAPScience recommends these easy yet fun ways to beat your cold.

1) Eat an Anti-Inflammatory diet - It slows down the movement of chemical compound Neutrophil, which helps in preventing congestion in the lungs.

2) Feed a cold.Starve a fever - This adage is not entirely true as you need to eat nutritious food both during a fever and a cold. It increases your immunity by increasing gamma interferon.

3) Eat fruits - Not just oranges but apples and other fruits also supply you with Vitamin C that helps fight off the cold and lead a generally better life.

4) Eat Garlic - Garlic can be useful not only to scare away vampires but to ward off your cold too because of its antibacterial and antioxidant properties.

Try these fun ways to beat cold along with being active. Trick your mind into believing you are perfectly fine and you won’t even realie when the cold leaves you.

from Keep Calm Do Yoga https://keepcalmdoyoga.tumblr.com/post/168767367855

Twist your way into a healthier life with Kati Chakra Asana

Kati Chakra asana literally means to rotate the waist. But this simple Yoga pose has many hidden benefits that are not visible to the naked eye.

#1 The Step-by-Step Guide -

It is important to listen to your body while doing any Yoga pose and it holds true for this pose too. Keep your movements slow and graceful. Make sure you do not jerk your body or you might end up injuring yourself. If you align your movements with your breaths then you will reap more benefits.

#2 Strong Abs - Since the pose works on the abdominal muscles of the body, this pose is really efficient in making the abdomen strong and reducing belly fat.

#3 Good for the spine - Working desk-jobs and having a sedentary lifestyle wrecks havoc on our joints and spine. Many people suffer from curvature of the spine (Scoliosis), Spondylosis and other back problems. All of which can be taken care of by practicing Yoga and Kati Chakra Asana in particular. It massages the muscles of the back and the spinal joints to relieve tension and pressure to keep stress away.

from Keep Calm Do Yoga https://keepcalmdoyoga.tumblr.com/post/168755006225

Our body is intricately connected through different bones and muscles. Sometimes we need to do specific exercises to work on specific areas but there are certain Yoga poses that are so versatile that they work both on the upper and lower body simulatenly.

One of these poses is Kati Chakra Asana, or the Standing Twist exercise. Imagine of Elvis Presley were a Yogi, this pose would have been his favourite.

#1 The Step-by-Step Guide -

I once saw my sister-in-law’s yogi girlfriend and the way she bent all her joints to touch weird extremities and decided to never pull off such strange yoga poses. That was before I came to know about the benefits of Sun Salutation.

After that I tried getting my inspiration from various yoga video and magazines but had my head all muddled up till I found this definitive guide that made me understand and practice the sequence really easily.

#1 Prayer Pose - This pose resembles a praying human, as it requires us to join our palms in the praying position in front of our chest and keep our feet flat together on the mat.

#2 Raised Arms Pose - In this pose we lift our arms up and stretch the whole body. It is essential to keep the biceps close to our ears and keep the gaze up towards the sky.

#3 Hand to Foot Pose - This pose entails us to bend forward and try to touch our feet. This pose is very extremely beneficial to our spine and blood circulation. This pose is also not advisable for people with spinal problems.

#4 Equestrian pose - This low lunge yoga pose will make you feel as if you are riding a horse, as is suggestive of its name. The back knee rests on the ground and the head and gaze are lifted. The other leg is situated ahead in between the two feet in a 90 degree angle.

#5 Stick pose - If you thought that yoga could never give you a good cardiovascular workout, try out the Dandasana. This is yoga’s very own plank routine that strengthens both the spine and the muscles.

#6 Eight Points Salute - In this pose gently bring your knees down to the floor and exhale. Take the hips back slightly, slide forward and rest your chest and chin on the floor. Raise your posterior slightly.

#7 Cobra Pose - Snakes do not have to be scary, especially when they are on the yoga mat. This yoga pose resembles a serpent in a hissing position and give us a good massage to our spines along with increasing mobility in the back.

#8 Mountain Pose - Also known as the downward dog position, the mountain pose requires us to breathe out, lift the hips and the tail bone up, chest downwards in an ‘inverted V’ (/\) posture.

#9 Equestrian pose - Then you very gentle step up to the front of the yoga mat and breathe in to bring the right foot in between the two hands that are resting on the floor.

#10 Hand to Foot Pose - Breathing out keep the left foot forward, and keep the palms on the floor.

#11 Raised Arms Pose - Breathe in and gently roll your spine up each vertebra at a time. This pose is extremely beneficial for the lungs and opens up the Heart Chakra.

#12 Palm Tree Pose - Also known as Tadasana, this pose resembles a tall palm tree that is erect. This is the last pose of Sun Salutations and invigorates the whole body with new energy.

The only guide you need if you want to get started with Sun Salutation. -Slide Show

from Keep Calm Do Yoga https://keepcalmdoyoga.tumblr.com/post/168753964915

The Art and Joy of Mindful Cooking When was the last time you enjoyed a meal without being hurried? How often do you pack a Take-Away mindlessly without caring for your health? Cooking can be a task but food can be medicine if cooked properly. Try these effortless tips for the next week and feel the change both from inside and outside. #1 Know what you eat - The three types of food Yoga classifies food under three main categories namely Sattvic Tamasic and Rajasic. The best food type for all is The satvic food type that is made from a vegetarian diet including fresh foods vegetables and ghee. Rajasic is the food type that causes restlessness and anger including food items like Biryani or spicy chilli and the worst is the Tamasic food type that causes inertia on the body. #2 Eat at the correct time Eating correct food is not enough. It only works if eat food at the correct times. If not then our digestion and body clock goes for a toss. #3 Eat the correct quantity Ordering fries today at Mcdonalds today is asking for 5.7 ounces than its original size when it started out. It is not surprising that the average weight of AMericans have also risen accordingly. We might be eating the correct food but if we do not pay attention to our portions then we are in for trouble. Overindulging leads to lethargy while under eating will not provide enough nourishment. The right amount of food cannot be quantified into cups or grams when we listen to our body attentively we will know when exactly to stop! #4 Check your state of mind Its not only how we eat but how we cook that affects both our food and our minds. A person who cooks with anger and sadness passes on the same energy to his/her food. Try meditating ten minutes before you start cooking or listen to some soothing music or chants while you cook to make all the difference. from Keep Calm Do Yoga https://keepcalmdoyoga.tumblr.com/post/168721239985