We live in a contemporary world that is very fast-moving and stimulating. We are enclosed by yang activities such as playing sports, working, always active and energetic, and constantly endeavoring for success. From the start, we are taught to max out everything and rarely informed us of the philosophy of relaxation. While being active and strong are important parts of life, but according to the universe, everything should be in balance. Even Mother Nature regenerates and rests.

When you are active and on the go state of mind this is known as a yang element. Nonetheless, too much of this energy can lead to fatigue. And here comes the yoga postures that are muscle strengthening and heat building as in they need exertion of power.

On the other hand, yin is a downward energy in which you are not creating, not moving, and not pushing. You are rather reflecting, observing, and in many forms clearing your thoughts to free your mind. This yin energy in health and fitness allows the tissues to heal and allow the stress in them to be relieved. According to the study, people should include more yin yoga postures in their schedule to get them in touch with their sentiments and emotions. Yin yoga asanas are not about engaging the energy to muscles but about loosening into a pose that is held for a longer time to allow for an intense release within muscles and joints. 

Here are simple and effective yoga poses that will give you a little of both. Practice them and experience if you feel more harmonious later.

Cow Pose (Yin)

It is a simple yoga pose in which you body flows between two poses that bring flexibility to the spine and warms the body. To begin, start with your knees and hand in a tabletop setting. Keep your knees directly set below your hips and your elbows, wrists, and shoulders in perpendicular to the floor. Your head should be in a neutral state, eyes focusing on the floor. On inhalation, raise your chest and sitting bones toward the ceiling leaving your belly to expand towards the ground. Raise your head to look forward. Stay in the pose for a few breaths and then exhale while coming back. Repeat this asana 10-15 times.

Child’s Pose (Yin)

Balasana is a relaxing pose which helps stretch your lower body and as well as the upper body. This posture helps in stretching your lower back, shoulders, ankles, hips, and quads. It is a freshman posture that stretches and loosens the muscles while increasing flexibility and betters flowing to the joints, back, and muscles. To start with the pose, sit on your knees, keep your toes together while retaining your knees apart. Sit with your spine straight, take a deep breathing and on an exhalation, lean forward by laying your torso down between your thighs and your arms on the floor beside your torso and free your shoulder towards the floor.

Bridge Pose (Yin)

The Sanskrit name of this posture is Setu Bandhasana, practiced with an unfilled stomach.

This asana stimulates the entire back, including the upper back, hamstrings, and glutes while releasing stress and tension from the joints. It has a lot more other well-being benefits such as it cures sleeplessness, reduces anxiety, improves metabolism, and enhances blood circulation. To commence the exercise, lie flat on your mat with your feet extended on the floor. On a breath, push your body off the floor with your palm pushing on the ground. Your head and neck should lay flat on the mat while the rest of the body in the air. Maintain the pose for a couple of breaths and practice at least 3 times.

Downward Facing Dog (Yang)

The Sanskrit name of this asana is Adho Mukha Svanasana. It appears to be a relaxed pose but it is quite challenging. It tones your upper body, hamstrings, and shoulders all at once. This posture let your body releases the energy, helps relieve stress, and strengthens every one of your muscles. Start on your hands and knees as you extend your elbow and rest your upper back. Widen your fingers steadily through your knuckles and palms. Breathe as you tuck your toes and raise your knees off the ground while pushing the floor off from you as you lift through your pelvis. Hold the posture for 1 minute to get a proper result from the exercise.

Locust Pose (Yang)

This asana is a challenging one as it works on your whole body, including your core. It strengthens the joints and muscles of the buttocks, spine, legs, and back of the arms. Start by lying on your stomach with your arms beside your torso, forehead relaxing on the ground, and palms up. Inhale as you raise your upper torso, head, and shoulder, off the floor by balancing on the lower body. To make it more intense lift your toes upward along with your thighs, balancing on your stomach. Your entire body energy will be used to perform this asana.

Plank (Yang)

This yoga asana concentrates on building the power in every muscle in our body. It is a full-body exercise that works on the complete core, shoulders, arms, spine and more. It helps in growing your chest, glute, thighs, and calf muscles. To begin, you should pretend yourself in a push-up position, and then bend your arms at your elbow and so your upper body weight rests on your forearms. To do it correctly, you need to squeeze your core and glute muscles and hold the pose for as long as you can. Novices should try it for at least 30-40 seconds. Practice this pose daily and you will see the results in no time.

Today, Yoga is differentiated based on geographical grounds. Eastern Yoga and Western Yoga is nothing but a communication gap. The little improvements in Yoga are done in order to adapt to the changes. As you know that Yoga is a 5000 years old practice that continues even today. Knowing that the human age has come a long way, it is understood that with human evolution, we faced yogic evolution as well. Eastern Yoga is the original source of Yoga, while Western Yoga is a more adaptable one. There is nothing wrong with the two, it is a matter of choice, availability, and also personal preference.

India Yoga or Eastern Yoga is the original or the traditional form of Yoga, from which all the other forms and styles have been inspired. In the ancient teachings, the first form of Yoga that was ever introduced was Hatha Yoga, it further gave birth to Vinyasa Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, and other forms that exist today.

The reason of Yoga being so famous in Western countries is that many yogis like Swami Vivekananda contributed in spreading the awareness and extended the art of Yoga in the West. He felt that the need for Yoga was increasing in Western countries too, because of the many mental problems which were spreading like wildfire all over the world. So, al Yoga practices in the West are directly or indirectly attached to the Indian roots only.

9 Key Difference between Indian Yoga Vs Western Yoga

1. Yoga Centers and Yoga Ashrams
   One of the major differences is in the accommodation provided for yogis to nurture themselves. In India- more attention is given to the natural environment, as the main goal is to let the yogi connect with nature. To bridge the gap between the two, India prefers ashrams, which function organically using sustainable resources while in the West, the main attention has been given in setting up yogic centers.
2. Modern land and Spiritual land
   West is more inclined towards providing the modern amenities while India focuses more on enhancing the spiritual experience by appreciating minimalism. So, the East provides simple yogic living with only necessary requirements like yogis lived in the ancient world. This philosophy is borrowed from the lifestyle of yogis where more emphasis is given to cut on the outside world and garden the inside world.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
3. The difference in Diet plans
   Places like Kerala in India are known for their Ayurvedic influence all over the world. The idea behind it is to heal the body from within by using Ayurvedic herbs, spices, and other ingredients in the diet plan. Vegetarian food is served in the Yogic training and yoga retreats while in the West it is difficult for the organizers to keep up with the organic living standards. Therefore, West provides other diet plans as well which are not really a yogic diet plan that cleanses the body with herbal green teas, vegetables, and seasonal fruits. 
4. Yoga gurus and teachers
   The relationship of Indian gurus with their students is totally different from the Western Yoga teachers. Indian yoga gurus mold their students towards the path of spirituality, conscious living, and self-awareness before engaging the students into performing asanas and yoga postures. They use the ancient history of Yoga to help students understand better what they are diving themselves into. While the western yoga teachers mainly focus on exercises and physical movements more than mental flexibility.
5. Picked-out Yoga styles
   Few Yoga forms are a modified form of the older version of Yoga. In the West, fitness plays an important role which is why Yoga is also made more of a fitness practice. For example, new-age styles like Hot Yoga, Yin Yoga, Aerial Yoga, Acro Yoga, Aqua Yoga, etc. are more of an innovation than an existing idea of what Yoga really is. The traditional or original art forms of Yoga like Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga hold more substance in India.
6. Peaceful and Intense Yoga
   As we all know that Yoga is not just about body flexibility, it is more about harmonizing the mental, physical and spiritual health. The West is trying its best to enhance this ideology but India is already an expert in providing the best yogic training all over the world in a peaceful environment. Before creating an intense environment, the need to make the mind calmer becomes a priority.
7. Commercialization over Originality in West
   East and West are miles apart, but not when the goal is the same; which is to balance the mind, body, and soul. Mental health needs more attention than it gets, based on the current surveys of stress-related issues. This can be fixed through the mystical properties of Yoga, but only if the practices are not oriented towards commercialization. The more commercial it is, the less original it becomes!
8. Natural ambiance and Material luxury
   Creating a natural ambiance, that is, being in the middle of the forests, around the holy rivers, or just mountains. It raises the vibration, energy, and inner-power of the aspiring yogis. This cannot be achieved if material luxury is being given more importance than nature. In the spiritual world, real luxury is to have nothing and still be everything!
9. Long-term and short-term results
   Yoga doesn’t restrict itself to short-term goals; rather it is a mere pleasure to be patient to further enjoy the long-term goals. Only if you are consistent, disciplined, and passionate; you can gain the rewards which follow the trail of Yoga. West provides a wide range of programs but in comparatively less duration than the East.

West and the East are doing a great job to maintain the rhythm of Yoga in the hearts of people.

While there is so much talk about the connection of Indian with Yoga going on at the international level, here are some of the interesting facts about Yoga in India that are unsurprisingly beautiful.

Yoga originated here in India in the lap of the Himalayas

Yoga’s biggest truth is probably about its birth on the sacred soil of India. The origin of Yoga can be traced back to the Vedic Era, more than 5000 years ago, when many Indian sages and saints went on to study the science of inner health blended with the flavor of spirituality on the Himalayan peaks. The practice came into existence in the form of Yoga. Being the birthplace of the ancient science, Rishikesh, the north Indian spiritual town is regarded the world Yoga capital. Every year, millions of Yoga aspirants and spirituality lovers visit the country in search of the truest knowledge of Yoga and yogic way of living from the biggest Maharishis of the discipline.

Yoga is India’s own way of life

Indian way of life and the principles of living are quite different from the rest of the world. In India, people follow Yoga as their culture, as their religion. Apart from all the diversities such as linguistic, religious, social, etc. that the Indian society has, there is one thing that binds India and its citizens together- Yoga. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Dong to Dwarka, the spiritual science of Yoga is practiced with immense faith as an ideology. Yoga is not merely a physical exercise in the Asian nation but a way of life, unlike what most people in the western world think. As soon as you set your foot on the sacred land of India, the nuances of Yoga can be felt while talking to local people in the form of Namaskar salutation and open-arm welcome.

India is the biggest Yoga hub in the world

Without the shadow of a doubt, India marks the biggest center of Yoga and yogic education on the planet. Talking about the stats, the country is home to the most number of affiliated as well as unaffiliated Yoga schools in the world, in addition to the fact that almost the entire world’s greatest Yoga teachers either live in India or belong to this devotional nation. The country hosts the annual celebration of International Yoga Day every year on 21st June in the Yoga capital, Rishikesh. Apart from Rishikesh, Varkala, Goa, Gangtok, Bangalore, Khajuraho, etc. are the kernel of yogic activities in India. Whether you are seeking to attain mastery in the science or yearning to explore the beauty and depth of Yoga, the vast pool of Yoga schools in India disappoints nobody.

Indians celebrate Yoga’s traditional form

The traditional form of Yoga, which is the authentic genre of this spiritual science, is found more broadly in India than in other countries. India is different from the rest of the world in a sense that the Yoga knowledge that used to be taught in the Vedic era is still prevalent in the same form in the country of its origin. This is one of the major reasons people from all across the world travel to India for the yogic wisdom of the highest standard. The Yoga masters and Yoga centers in India believe only in the classical aspect of Yoga in its virgin form. While Hatha Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga are the basis of Indian Yoga education module, other Yoga types such as Yin Yoga, Vinyasa form, Kundalini Yoga, etc. accompany the teaching programs that are aimed at the overall development of a yogi.

Yoga is omnipresent in India

One of the fascinating facts about India is that the charm and beauty of Yoga can be found in almost every nook and corner of India towns and villages. It is also evident in smaller towns which are far away from the reach of modern science and industries. In the Himalayan region of the country, you can have a pleasant glimpse of yogis practicing on the mountain trails, in the temple complex, and by the holy rivers flowing down the Himalayan ranges. What amazes you the most is young yogis performing some of the difficult asanas right on the streets. You just cannot escape from the elegance of Yoga when in India.

To Know more about Yoga in India, join yoga teacher training in India.

This simple looking pose called Upavistha Konasana also has its root in the Sanskrit language. Herein, Upavistha is for the ‘sitting’, Kona refers to ‘angle’, and the ‘asana’ means ‘posture or pose.’ However, if practiced regularly, this asana can open up the hips and make your inner thighs, back, and the shoulders stronger.

The Science Behind Upavistha Konasana

After performing this asana with a relatively wider stretch, your thought process, as well as the emotions, get stimulated. This type of development happens mainly due to the challenge that Upavistha Konasana throws before you. In the process of doing this asana perfectly, you actually push your mental as well as physical boundaries. Just look at any picture of this asana and you will be amazed to see that even after enduring intense pain, yogis manage to stay grounded.

Ensure These Things Before Upavistha Konasana

Make sure to do this asana on an empty stomach. For best results, take your meal at least five hours before practicing the Wide Angle Seated Forward Bend. In order to prepare for this intermediate level Hatha Yoga Style Pose, you can consider Baddha Konasana, Dandasana or Supta Padangusthasana as the preparatory poses.

How to Perform Wide Angle Seated Forward Bend Correctly?

Step 1: First of all, get a firm yoga mat for performing this pose. Begin this asana by sitting in an erect pose with your legs open and at an angle of 90 degrees.

Step 2: Now, stretch your toes as straight as you can and keep it in proper alignment with the knees. In fact, you might start getting a feel of a curve in your lower back after this stretch.

Step 3: Further, place your folded palms on the floor in such a manner that they are just behind the hips. You might have to bend a little for maintaining a perfect balance in this pose.

Step 4: Now, take a deep breath that might help in lifting the sides of your body slightly. This inhale will create a hollow space in your spine. Pay attention to your posture in this mode while holding the breath for a few seconds. You will definitely be able to experience an intense but enjoyable stretch in your legs.

Step 5: Now, you can slowly exhale by getting ample support from the lower back.

Step 6: Repeat this process of inhaling and exhaling for a few times until your spine and legs feel comfortable.

Step 7: Finally, fold your knees in a gentle manner and pull back the legs together to feel the bliss.

The Top Five Benefits of Wide Angle Seated Forward Bend

Strengthen the Back: The very mechanism of this asana ensures that the inside portion of both the legs gets ample stretch. This proves extremely beneficial if you are suffering from sciatica or arthritis.

Fire-up the Core: During the process of bending and then breathing effectively, the abdominal organs get toned and stimulated. This leads to a better digestive system and a toned belly.

Acquire Mental Peace: One of the key benefits of benefits of Upavistha Konasana is its ability to ensure you have an extremely relaxed and calm brain. This happens due to rhythmic breathing and a proper flow of blood as a result of this asana performance.

Manage Menstrual Issues with Ease: You can also practice this asana in order to feel more at ease during menstruation. A keen performance of this pose regulates the menstrual flow and helps with making it a hassle-free process.

Despite being simple and less time-consuming, the benefits of Upavistha Konasana are more than amazing. With proper information and a relaxed approach (keeping the condition of your back in mind, particularly) you can improve the stamina of your body and be at peace in the mind.

To Know more about Upavistha Konasana, join yoga teacher training in India.

“The Best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” — Mahatma Gandhi

This quote by one of the greatest minds in the country surely holds a true meaning. A random act of kindness, paying forward, selfless attitude bring unconditional love and happiness to both the benefactor and recipient. Nobody ever loses by the act of compassion.

Since the time immemorial, living bodies are active and they cannot survive without action, by nature’s law. However, the altruistic portrayal of actions is the path towards elevation and happiness. It is the very essence of Karma Yoga laid down in the enlightening Vedas and Upanishads.

Karma Yoga– the yoga of action, selfless action aimed at making the practitioner achieve Moksha, Liberation from the bondage of worldly pleasures and psychological attachments. Karma Yoga is the performance of an action done with complete awareness, detachment, and love so that the practitioners can embrace higher spiritual contentment. It shows the individuals a way of fostering sacredness, spirituality, and significance in every moment of the life.

Karma Yoga: Its Meaning and Significance

1 Seva: The Bhagavad Gita states the first step towards Karma yoga is understanding one’s duties. When a person is aware of one’s duties then only they can serve others in the most selfless manner.

2 Ego: The sole aim of Karma Yoga is to transcend one’s own ego. Our ego blindfolds our perception and understanding depriving us to act from a place of intellect.

3 Attachment: Practicing karma yoga means fulfilling your actions without any attachment. Karma Yoga provides the practitioners with the wisdom and inspiration to act from the place of detachment for the benefit of the humanity.

4 The Expectation of Reward: Karma yoga is the practice of selfless actions without any gains in return for spiritual upliftment.

How can Karma Yoga Help Us?

1 Tread the path of liberation: The liberation of the soul is the way towards experiencing enlightenment as to our real existence. True. Liberation means attaining an inflated state that is devoid of ego and connecting with the supreme soul.  And, Karma Yoga is a credible path to achieve this. The wisdom of Karma Yoga is firmly rooted in renouncing the materialistic world and surrendering the self into the service of others for the experience of innate pleasure and upliftment of the spirit.

2 Attain Self-Realization: To come closer to the supreme deity and to immerse in the deep spiritual joy can be done through the practice of Karma Yoga. The karma yoga stands for knowing oneself through the actions performed. And, to indulge in altruistic actions is the way of connecting with the divine Self and the God.

3 Lead to Enlightenment: It is said that all the actions are intelligent vibrations. Evil deeds disconnect the man from the divine spirit whereas the good actions lead them to experience purity and joy. Karma Yoga is a path that prepares the mind of the practitioner for the reception of the light of knowledge. It encourages the person to indulge in good actions for the purpose of purification of the mind and oneness.

4 Spiritual Empowerment: There is no better way to experience absolute joy and contentment than a selfless service performed. When the individuals religiously devote themselves to the service of others, they overcome their own fears and feel the inner spiritual strength to live a life with a deeper meaning and a greater purpose.

5 Develop Positivity and Kindness: Love, Kindness, Humility, are not just emotions but they are the attributes to live a life in the realms of positivity and betterment. One of the best ways to develop and practice these feelings in everyday life lies in the act of Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga eradicates the sense of selfishness and helps entities adopt a broader, more receptive outlook towards life.

Aspire for self-awareness, spiritual bliss, and an enhanced version of the Self with Karma yoga.

To Know more about Karma Yoga, join yoga teacher training in India.

A carefully picked sequence of gently unfolding asanas in the morning can truly transform your body from rest to rhythm, connect your thoughts and infuse positive energy in the mind, orienting you for a day of hard work and productivity. When you compare your days starting with yoga and the days without, there is going to be an ocean of difference in energies and that’s what we are talking about!

The amazing health benefits of yoga are worth a jump out of the bed every morning real early, and here’s why:

To Prepare Mindfully for a Day Packed with Activities

Absorb the first light with your mind, body, and spirit through a short meditation. Learn a mantra that resonates with your intent for life and pronounce it in free verses. Let the message sink in and generate resolution in your heart. This resolution will take you through the day.

There could be volumes of chores and taxing hard work in the offing, but you must never let the weight of tasks weight your spirits down. An hour dedicated to cultivating mindfulness spent on the mat in the morning will fortify you with the resolve to stay put on the activities set for the day, organize and prioritize your actions before really taking them on.

To allow this concentration of motivation and intent to happen, incorporate postures that have expanded breath of stillness like that in the Tree Pose, or the Mountain. Uncomplicated standing balances are best for this session as you will be forced to wake up with them and at the same time find your mind’s response too.

Boosted Oxygenation and High Flowing Energy

Did you know, body movement by default involves a high degree of oxygenation at the cellular level? With that comes a sensation of feeling fresher, more filled with high spirits, and the confidence to beat the challenges of the day without much of a stress.

The best thing about the benefits of doing yoga is to feel holistically healed, not by the effect of some mood altering chemical drug, but simply with an invigoration from within. It is not before you seriously take to the practice of connecting with your inner self through yoga, that you can realize that the answers to all one’s disturbing questions were always lying nowhere outside but within. A fresh gush life affirming energy flowing to your brain will only make you more aware of this bright side.

Reducing Stress Responses in the Brain

Yoga makes one learn to choose the right door—chaos or calm. Stress has become such a nagging constant in the competitive scheme of modern day lifestyle that it is hard to make this choice in all certitude. Stress response or a volley of biochemical discharges take place in the brain, manifesting in symptoms like breath shortage, sleeplessness, hair fall, abrupt weight loss or gain, and other different disorders.

While stressful situations run a high chance of culminating later in the day, stress responses can be strategically reduced with yoga in the morning. Yoga teaches us to breathe in the right way of nature—to inhale and exhale diaphragmatically with the bellies relaxed and moving in consonance with the breath and the dome-like diaphragmatic curtain shifting to let air pass fully through the lungs. This is an efficient way to keep stress-induced hyper neural activity at bay.

Deep breathing involved benefits of daily yoga will generate in an individual a relax-and-digest response in place of a disquieting fight-or-flight line of impulses. With yoga in the morning, you can expect a calmer, sweeter day all in all, no matter what!

Up Goes Your Food Quota for the Day

Yes, with the body rattled metabolically with some action in the morning, you don’t need to put too hard a restriction on your food for the rest of the day. Yoga every morning benefits include a surefire regulation of slow metabolic rate, providing fire to digestion, and thus boosting up a weight loss regime.

Glowing and Looking Shipshape!

As you might be well aware, losing weight can be lousy if there is no toning exercise to bring the curves into shape. Thankfully, yoga is good for a two-fold approach of cutting weight and toning up, and as far as your personal beauty regime goes, there can be no better substitute to supple, glowing skin than yoga.

May thus begin each day for you, with beauty, heart, and rock solid will!

To Know more about the benefits of Yoga, join yoga teacher training in India.

As per directions in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the body is like a temple. Just as you cannot let dust and mire accumulate at the site of worship, it is profanity not to clean the body of the impurities. There are six main cleansing techniques, also known as shatkriya or shatkarma. Both from the point of view of mental and physical health, performing shatkriya are of utmost importance.

Dhauti, Bhasti, Neti, Trataka, Nauli and Kapalabhati are the basic categories in shatkarma with many variations under them. Let us take a quick look at these:

Dhauti and Basti Cleanse

This may come across as very unconventional, but in the healing sciences of ancient India, emesis or the act of vomiting has been a major way of wiping the internals of the body off toxins. In yoga and Ayurvedic practices, emesis is encouraged by inserting catalyzing elements in the body.

Traditionally, in Dhauti cleanse, the practitioner has to drink two to three glasses of extremely salty water. Inevitably, a vomit will follow, cleansing the digestive track. This has to be repeated with a few hours break in between. Alternatively, yoga masters recommend using a 20 inch piece of cloth, which is to be swallowed, letting it sink into your stomach. After a while, the cloth has to be plugged off, taking out the impurities with it and thus restoring the body its natural balance and vitality.

Needless to say, this is a guided method and should not be undertaken by rough handlers. At any 200 hour yoga teacher training course in India, you will surely have wise guidance in carrying this out.

Basti is a method similar to dhauti. Only in this case, a pipe is used to reach the bottom of the abdomen and mechanically pull out impurities like undigested food particles and viscous humors.

Neti and Trataka

Neti is a comparatively simple process to clean the nasal tract of pathogens and impurities. On a visit to the birth land of India for a 200 hour yoga teacher training in India, you can get a Neti vessel. In this vessel, a nasal pipe is attached for you to inhale lukewarm saline water and exhale it out just immediately. This cleans the sinews and improves the sense of smell over repeated practice.

Trataka is a shatkriya to clean the eyes, involving looking at a candle flame without blinking until your eyes are cleansed naturally with tears pouring out. Make sure to integrate meditation in the trataka method.

Nauli and Kapalbhati

Nauli refers to a special kind of abdominal massage, especially carried out by Ayurvedic experts to push toxins accumulated in the digestive tract towards the excretory valve. In a 200 hour yoga teacher training in India, you can enjoy nauli massage from the complimentary Ayurveda facilities. This is also known to implore digestive fire with a good kneading to the stomach, liver, spleen, pancreas, and gall bladder.

Kapalbhati is a pranayamic exercise of thorough inhalation and forceful, gusty exhalation. This is a great way to focus on the prana or life force through breath and channel it for purifying the body with great oxygenation and boost to the heart.

To know about Shatkarma in further detail, explore our Yoga Teacher Training In India.

Let us tell you a secret – “Yoga is for all.” There, we said it, just like a million other websites and yoga practitioners and believers. What’s stopping you? Age, inflexibility, injury?

Yoga, as we know it, was found 5,000 years ago and has come a long way and has undergone several modifications and innovations. ‘Chair Yoga’ is one such modification or innovation which, even though influenced completely by the practices of yoga studies’ is a slight deviation from your everyday yoga. Chair Yoga, also known as seated yoga, is a form of yoga which is practiced using chair as an important prop. It is a gentle, less demanding, form of yoga which is practiced sitting on a chair or standing and using chair as a support. This form of yoga is best suited for those with limitation as mentioned above, especially for the elderly.

Let us tell you five (and there are many more) chair yoga poses which can be practiced by anybody and everybody effortlessly.

1. Seated Mountain Pose

   Also known as the Tadasana (mountain pose), this modified posture requires you to calmly sit on a chair with your spine straight and extending. Take a deep breath and as you exhale, roll your shoulders down your back, pull your navel in towards your spine, and relax your arms down at your sides. Engross your legs by levitating your toes and pressing firmly into all four corners of your feet.

Benefit: This simple seated yoga posture helps you engage your core, focus on your breath, and check in with your body posture.

2. Eagle Arms

   One of the easiest chair yoga poses, to practice this posture, sit relaxed on your chair, and take a couple of deep breaths. As you inhale, stretch your arms straight on the sides, and as you exhale, bring them in front of you, take your right arm under your left, grabbing yourself, and give yourself a hug. Inhale again and as you do, life your elbows a bit higher and you exhale, roll your shoulders down and away from your ear.

Benefit: This seated yoga pose helps you stretch your wrists and the space in between the shoulder blades, two of the most difficult areas of your body to stretch.

3. Chair Cat-Cow Stretch

   Another key posture while practicing yoga in a chair, the chair cat-cow stretch required you to be seated in the seated mountain pose but with the palms of your hand resting on your knees or the top of your thighs. When you inhale, arch your spine and roll your shoulders up, down, and back. When you exhale, round your spine and drop your chin to your chest, letting the shoulder and head come forward.

Benefit: By practicing this form of yoga in a chair, you expanse your entire spine and improve spinal mobility.

4. Seated Forward Bend

   After the stretches, comes the seated forward bend. Seated is the mountain pose, inhale deeply and bend your upper body all the way down so your torso rests on your thighs and the palms of your hands rests on the top of your feet. Stay like that for 5-6 breaths or 30 seconds, and inhale again as you bring your body back to the mountain pose.

Benefit: This chair yoga pose helps you relieve stress and calm your mind at the same time stretching the spine and the back muscles along with massaging your intestine for a stronger digestion.

5. Simple Seated Twist

   The last in the series of yoga postures considered safe and logical as yoga for seniors is the simple seated twist. Before trying this pose, know not to force your back or body to twist more than its natural stopping point. Forcing such a twist can cause serious injuries. Having said that, inhale deeply and raise your hands to your sides and up. As you exhale, gently and slowly twist your body to your right while lowering your arms. While you twist your upper body to your right, your left hand should rest on the right arm rest and the left right hand should gently rest on the back of the chair helping you with the twist but not deepen it.

Benefit: This simple seated twist yoga in a chair posture helps you particularly if you suffer from lower back pain, indigestion, or circulation. This pose is also one amongst the ‘detox’ poses.

Please keep in mind that the above-mentioned asanas or postures are a modification of the regular yoga postures keeping in mind that we wanted to address the topic of yoga for seniors and for people who, due to an injury or any such physical limitation, refrain from practicing yoga. Yoga is for everybody and all of us can benefit some way or the other from it which is why millions of people around the world vouch for this amazing science and art. So, stop giving yourself excuses and sit on that chair already!

To know about these Chair Yoga poses in further detail, explore our Yoga Teacher Training In India.

Life is hectic today. Human beings have become almost robotic – mentally, physically, emotionally. We run after money more than we chase after keeping our relationships. We put our mind and body through rigorous hours, days and months of work, and take pleasure in being termed as “workaholics”. We promise ourselves at the beginning of every year (that resolution time of the year) that this year, we will be better – we will live healthier, we will eat fresh, we will not overstress ourselves, we will care about our people more than worrying about materialistic things. One month into the year, we can’t even remember half the things we promised ourselves. Why?

Believe it or not, but life now has become materialistic, goal-oriented, competitive. While this should be considered positive and fruitful, where are “we” in all this? Where do we make the time for ourselves? Why do we have the need to take a leave once in 6 months to find some time for ourselves, when we can do it every day for 15 minutes? Yes. We can do that. And, no matter how difficult it sounds, it is just a walk in the park if you know where to spend that 15 minutes correctly. One of the easiest ways to give yourself that little time to unwind is to implement yoga in daily life. And, no, you don’t need to enrol into a yoga training class for that.

If all the human advancements and technological innovations have brought us one good thing (although it also has its cons), it is the availability of information easily and anytime we want it. Platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo can help connect you to various free yoga lessons online. But, the question is how do you know what you really want or what is good for you? Let us help you with that.

• Start with listening to a few videos for yoga beginners which highlight the importance of yoga and how it would affect your life positively. If you are using YouTube or Vimeo, the popularity of the video(s) will tell you how useful it can be. However, even then, listen to a few, and select the one which best connects to you. What you need in the beginning is motivation and to know the importance of yoga in our daily life so you can begin your yoga journey.
• While looking for a yoga channel to tune yourself into, look closely for speakers or teachers who offer a regular program for your daily yoga practice. For example, there are some yoga teachers who offer free online video series such as “30-day yoga challenge” or “28 days of mediation” or “yoga series for beginners”. Play a couple of videos and see if you are still in sync with them.
• Once you have found a routine to stick to, make a calendar or a diary so you can self-patrol yourself and track the progress of your daily yoga practice. If you think it will be difficult to keep yourself in check, have a friend or partner join you in this practice and train with them so whenever any of you wants to quit, the other can talk them back into the routine. Such a practice with your partner can also help you both come closer on a spiritual level.
• A substantial importance of yoga that you will notice when you start practicing every day is the calmness you feel in everything you do. Make conscious efforts to stay happy and think positive, feel gratitude towards everything around you, big or small. Be happy that you are alive, that your loved ones are alive and healthy, and that unlike many others, you are still breathing. Realize, that we are all mortal beings and our time on this earth is limited, and that this life of ours is meant to be lived and not just survived. Don’t just tell yourself that you are important, feel that you are important.
• When you implement yoga in everyday life, you would automatically feel the need to change anything that makes you unhappy. We know that at times “unhappy” constitutes a job that fuels your home, a relationship that is tied by blood or several years of togetherness, or a commitment that is hard to break. Situations like these will always be challenging and almost impossible to be excused off, but ask yourself this – “will the world stop functioning if you weren’t there tomorrow?” Your answer should tell you what you can do to eradicate those dissatisfying conditions.

The most important thing that we all have in our lives is the ‘gift of life’. The second most important thing that we all have in our lives is the ‘ability to feel’. So, be aware of these gifts and be happy that you are alive and that you are a human full of emotions and feelings and the ability to change your life whenever you want it to change. So, smile when you wake up tomorrow, feel lucky, appreciate the miracle of life, and do anything that it takes to live the remaining days of your life with happiness, contentment, and love for yourself and for everybody around you.

To know about the Importance Of Yoga in further detail, explore our Yoga Teacher Training In India.

As we step outside, the voluminous rays of the sun hit our face and, with a squirm, we peek into our sports watch. We realize it is only 6:30 am in the morning. And the sun is already warming up to attack the whole city with its fiery, unrelenting rays.

It seems like only a few weeks ago when it used to be dark out and we used to wear one of our snuggly sweat shirts to fight the cold at this hour. But now, it’s time for these sweatshirts to be packed and stacked as the summer has finally reckoned itself.

Once we reach the studio, and begin to workout, the sweat only makes us irritated, dehydrated, meek and uncomfortable. The postures seem too tiring because of the added strain the temperature has put on the body. And now, we feel like going back to bed before its time to get ready for work!

The above scenario is quite a common occurrence in most of our lives. Staying motivated in summers is nearly as cumbersome as pushing ourselves to work out in the most chilling winters.

Both require effort, motivation and focus. So, What could you do to stay inspired to continuing practicing yoga despite the heat?

Set a target

The first thing you need to do is – SET A TARGET.

Whenever you pick yourself up, you need to know where you wish to lead yourself to. Do you want to get fit? Do you want to get into that dress you have been window shopping for? Do you want to become stronger and develop more endurance? Or do you simply want to feel more rejuvenated? Know your ambition and focus on achieving it. Before going on any expedition, a destination is necessary. Else, you would wander off and feel lost at some point.

Choose a west facing location for yoga practice

Those who practice yoga outdoors, they need to pick a spot where the rays of the sun does not tamper with their session. If you are practicing in the morning then try to pick a location which is west facing and is surrounded by greenery for the cool, organic feel.

Try out poses that would not be too strenuous

You could work around various floor twists, forward folds, supported shoulder stand etc. These pose would not tire your body too much and would maintain the ph balance of your skin as well. Nonetheless, always keep a water bottle to stay hydrated.

Experiment with time slot

If you are a morning person, then try to reach the studio before dawn. By the time, the Sun shall reach out to bother you; you would already be back in your apartment – cooling off under the cold shower. Alternately, if you are an evening person then you could practice yoga near dusk.

Get yourself a new workout wardrobe

It is time to stop layering up and to get rid of those Capri pants, ankle length bottoms now. Time to get into a pair of shorts, strap tops, long armholes, racer backs, etc.

Try Sheetali Yoga for Instant cool down

If you feel unusually warm, then try the age old ‘Sheetali’ yoga technique. It shall help you cool off instantly and you shall feel better in a matter of a few seconds.

It is not easy to beat the heat of the summer and stay motivated to keep practicing yoga. However, if you follow the given pointers then you would surely feel that little push of motivation to keep going.

Sure! You can stop or quit any given day. As long as you are comfortable with yourself, it is absolutely okay.

However, if you develop a saggy skin, lose that signature glow of yours or if you feel unusually meek and inactive, then you rather not complain or blame it on that naïve` and quite expensive selfie camera.

Stay motivated! Stay healthy!

To know more about how to practice yoga during the summers in further details, explore our Yoga Teacher Training In India.