How One Simple Breathing Technique Can Prolong Your Life: Nadi Shodhana

'In a recent six-year study conducted on over 2800 men from Copenhagen, Denmark, scientists discovered that the resting heart rate has a whole lot to do with the length of our lives. Ancient yogis knew this too, when they pointed to elephants and other large mammals with slow breathing rates and slow-beating hearts that lived to be over 100. Conversely, animals like dogs and squirrels live short lives because their hearts beat faster and their resting heart rates are often higher.'

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How yoga helps Multiple Sclerosis

Photo Credit: Inner Spirit Yoga Center


'Every morning, Homa Fani, 56, of Los Angeles, spends about an hour practicing Iyengar yoga. A form of Hatha yoga, Iyengar focuses on breathing, alignment, and postures to improve strength and flexibility, and to enhance the mind and body. 

Fani, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis more than 20 years ago, says that practicing Iyengar yoga regularly helps her better manage her disease. "When you have MS and you get up in the morning, you need to stretch your body and do things that help you continue for the rest of the day," she says. "Practicing yoga - breathing and stretching - not only helps me physically but it also helps me mentally and emotionally."'


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World's oldest yoga teacher still going strong at 93

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Free Online Yoga Instruction at DoYogaWithMe.com

Editor’s Note:  'Yoga is without doubt one of the most transformational and life enhancing practices that one can do to find peace of mind and health in this crazy world.  Unfortunately, however, Yoga classes have become prohibitively expensive for many in some areas, and are hard to find in other areas.  Today, Waking Times is proud to feature an introductory article written by Paul Cooper of DoYogaWithMe.com, a fantastic website that offers high quality Yoga instructional videos online for free, where anyone with access to the internet can receive excellent Yoga instruction.  While it is best to work with a seasoned instruction who personally address the specific needs of the student, the ability to practice Yoga for free online is a unique and special gift.'

Paul Cooper
Waking Times

'Yoga continues to grow in popularity around the world (except in India, of course, where it originated). As someone who’s old enough to remember the aerobics craze in the 80s, I’m guessing that yoga is trending so strongly because it nurtures the mind as well as the body. As work becomes more and more stressful, a form of exercise that is also meditative and calming is more appealing than ever.'

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Improve Your Posture and Your Health In One Simple Step

'Want to improve your posture quickly, for free, with almost zero effort?


I recently did it. So can you.


I don’t deserve any credit for this accomplishment. I didn’t invent the technique, nor, as I mentioned, did implementing it ask much of me. I can, however, vouch for its effectiveness.


I was introduced to this magic bullet by an acupuncturist, and I have an acupuncture theory on why it’s so beneficial (see below), but getting acupuncture is not required.


This solution to better posture is something you can do completely on your own, anywhere, anytime, without ever opening your wallet. You don’t even have to get up from the couch.'


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Man’s amazing transformation is just the inspiration you need

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Qi Gong for energy, immune system, and lungs

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Bedtime Blues: What to do when you can't sleep

 
By Carrie Angus, M.D.

'It's 3 a.m. You're scheduled to give a big presentation at eleven, only eight hours away. You desperately need to sleep so you will be rested and alert when your big moment comes, but here you are staring wide eyed at the bedroom ceiling. Your mind is agitated and your body won't relax. The harder you work at getting to sleep, the wider awake you are. You've already tried counting sheep, watching the late show, and making yourself a snack-all to no avail. In desperation you reach for a sleeping pill.

This is a common scenario in the United States, where approximately one third of all adults suffer from some type of sleep disorder. Insomnia, the most common type by far, is clinically defined as the inability to fall asleep after lying in bed for thirty minutes or the inability to sustain sleep for more than a few hours without waking. Practically speaking, however, insomnia can be defined as unrestful sleep.'


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Yoga Proven to be a Viable Solution for Back Pain

'Along with knee pain and even obesity, back pain is one of the most widely experienced health complications rendering individuals with feelings of disability today. While chronic back pain is often thought of as a negative side-effect of getting older, the “naturally occurring” symptom is actually completely preventable. While these methods are often utilized for different reasons, two techniques have proven to be fabulous in treating back pain for years — yoga and stretching.'

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Namaste Yoga 71 - Restorative Yoga

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The Health Benefits of Yoga

 



'When some people think of yoga, they imagine having to stretch like a
gymnast. That makes them worry that they're too old, unfit, or "tight"
to do yoga. The truth is you're never too old to improve flexibility.




The series of yoga poses called asanas work by safely stretching your muscles. This releases the lactic acid that builds up with muscle use and causes stiffness, tension, pain, and fatigue.
In addition, yoga increases the range of motion in joints. It may also
increase lubrication in the joints. The outcome is a sense of ease and
fluidity throughout your body.




Yoga stretches not only your muscles but all of the soft tissues
of your body. That includes ligaments, tendons, and the fascia sheath
that surrounds your muscles. And no matter your level of yoga, you most
likely will see benefits in a very short period of time. In one study,
participants had up to 35% improvement in flexibility after only eight
weeks of yoga. The greatest gains were in shoulder and trunk
flexibility.'





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Yoga improves mood, reduces inflammation and relieves chronic diseases

 

'As it turns out, yoga is no longer just a gentle stretching for aging hippies. Ongoing research shows that this ancient ritual improves mood, helps breast cancer survivors, reduces inflammation and counteracts fibromyalgia.

It's common knowledge that yoga improves mood and shrugs off stress, but until recently, we didn't know why. Chris Streeter, MD, and his colleagues from Boston University School of Medicine discovered that it may be because of yoga's ability to increase levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an endogenous antidepressant neurotransmitter present in the brain.'

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