Yoga for Blood Circulation | how to increase blood circulation

The circulatory system is an essential part of what keeps us going.  It is also referred to as the cardio-vascular system and consists of the heart and the blood vessels.  The hearts job is to pump blood to different parts of the body and this blood carries vital nutrients and oxygen to the different organs.  It travels via the blood vessels.  The heart is divided into four compartments that each have a different role.  The compartment on the upper right is responsible for collecting the incoming impure blood from all over the body and moving it on to the lower right compartment.  The lower right compartment sends the blood on to the lungs for purification.  The purified blood is then returned to the heart - this time in the upper left ventricle from where it is moved into the lower left compartment and then back out as fresh, pure blood to the remainder of the body.

  The blood is primarily carries through main arteries that are thick tube like structures leading from the heart around the body.  The arteries branch into many sub arteries which in turn will divide into thin-walled capillaries.  The capillaries interact with the organs directly and due to their thin walls they pass oxygen and nutrients to the organs and tissues that need them the most.  The used resources are ejected from the tissue and back into the capillaries to be fed on through specialized veins to return the impure blood back to the heart to start the entire process once more.  This is a difficult job as the pressure has decreased this far from the heart so the veins are assisted by valves to regulate the flow.

  The important thing to understand about the way the circulatory system is set up is that it has two main parts, the blood system and the lymphatic system.  It is the job of the lymphatic system to remove waste from the circulatory system.  The two different systems run almost side by side but while the blood system has a pump - the heart - the lymphatic system does not have a single organ designed to power it's operations.  This job falls to the muscles, which pump the lymphatic system by contracting and expanding.  This is of course where Yoga comes in.

  Yoga is a discipline unique in it's combination of focus on body, mind and spirit.  The body component is taken care of with a series of poses and postures, which are designed to clear blockages in the circulatory system and ensure that everything is flowing as it should at an even regular rate.  It also flexes the muscles and strengthens them very efficiently over time with a minimal amount of 'grunt'.  This strengthening and constant working of these muscles pumps the lymphatic system and makes out body many times more efficient at the removal of waste matter.  As a result people who practice Yoga regularly can expect that they will have a greatly enhanced immune response system and be able to deal with infection and disease better than their non-Yogi counterparts.

  Furthermore the benefits start before this.  Yoga sessions will usually being with a series of standing exercises emphasizing long slow breathing exercises.  These breathing exercises are common to all forms of yoga and force us to concentrate on our breath and it's pathway trough the body each time we take a fresh breath.  The exercises are designed especially so that people are not restricted in where and when they can practice them and ideally would use them instead of our slower shallower normal breathing pattern.
 
  Because the breaths are longer and deeper the oxygen intake is increased.  Combined with the enhancing effects that the exercises have on the regularity of circulation in the blood system the oxygen is much more efficiently transported to the muscles of the body.  If these muscles, along with our other organs and tissues are not receiving the oxygen and nutrients we need then we starve them and become ill as a result.

  As you can see Yoga is of great assistance to the complex and interlocking system of circulation.  It recognizes the basis and importance of the system and helps to being it back into balance.

Lifestyle Choices to prevent Heart Disease

Lifestyle Choices to prevent Heart Disease

Can Yoga Help Asthma?

Simply lifting a person's level of fitness can help to reduce the number of asthma attacks for many people.

Yoga is one of the best methods to help people to learn and implement better breathing habits and this is something that can help those who suffer from asthma considerably.

There are various different reasons why people get affected by asthma and for a lot of them it is brought on during times of stress.

Yoga has proven to be one of the best ways of reducing and eliminating stress from people's lives and that alone can often be all that is needed to ensure that a person no longer needs to suffer from asthma attacks.

Anxiety is often a precursor to an asthma attack and once again yoga has been proven to reduce anxiety attacks in most people.

By simply learning and applying the breathing techniques that are taught in yoga a person can control situations that would normally have set off a reaction. Any time that the asthma can be controlled without the use of medication in the form of inhalers or other solutions the asthma sufferer goes one step further to eliminating it from their life. The mind is very powerful and it can affect the body functions both positively and negatively and each time the asthma sufferer manages to handle a situation where an attack would have occurred it sends a powerful and positive message to the subconscious that will add support to the next time such an event is encountered.

For some people with asthma it is the panic and anxiety that they feel when an attack begins to develop that makes the situation all the worse. The calm and relaxed manner that yoga helps these people develop also helps to reduce the impact of these events and in doing so either eliminates them or makes any asthma attack milder than what would normally be expected.

Dealing with Chronic Pain

For some people there seems to be no alternative in their life other than to accept the fact that they have to live with chronic pain each day of their life.
The pain can also stop them from doing specific forms of exercise.

Medications rarely help and often they have other side effects that cause problems that add another factor to the difficulties the pain sufferer has to endure.

Obviously then an alternative method of pain management where medications aren't required or where they can be reduced is welcomed by these people.

Yoga offers the opportunity to help people manage their pain and sometimes eliminate it from their life.

When we feel pain it naturally causes the body to become tense and tighten the muscles in the area of the pain. This natural reaction actually makes the pain more intense and using simple yoga relaxation techniques will help to retrain the body's response to the pain.

Breathing techniques that are taught in yoga help the body to become more relaxed and without the additional tension in the muscles the pain can be reduced somewhat.

As people become more advanced with their yoga training they will be able to calm themselves and relax more easily and when they feel pain they will be able to instantly relax and reduce the impact of the pain.

These relaxation techniques also help the brain to release more of the positive chemicals that not only make the person feel better, but help to reduce the effects of the pain.

Yoga exercises also help to strengthen the body as a whole and quite often the additional strength and flexibility that is gained from yoga in other areas of the body is sufficient to reduce the pain considerably in the affected area and in many cases eliminate it completely.

Risk Factors for Heart Disease

Risk Factors for Heart Disease
Heart Disease

Benefits of yoga | How To Get The Most From Yoga

Yoga is an ancient art that has been refined and modified by many great teachers across the ages.  It now comes in so many different styles and techniques and different people may find different versions of Yoga more suitable for them.  This is because Yoga is a very personal exercise routine with strong emphasis on looking within oneself in order to achieve personal balance and wellbeing.  Regardless of which individual version of Yoga you practice there are a number of things that apply to Yoga universally rather than to individual branches of the discipline.  If you want to get the most from your Yoga session you will learn to understand these things and develop them into your Yoga routine.

  You will find that much of your time performing Yoga is spent in a sitting or lying position, however the beginning of a Yoga session is usually a standard standing pose.  The standing pose is the most natural position for a human to find themselves in, yet we spend remarkably little time practising standing correctly.  If you begin your Yoga session with a standing pose you are free from the stress of having to take on an unaccustomed position and this allows you to focus on other fundamentals of the Yoga Discipline.  For instance you can concentrate on regulating your breathing and feeling the full healing benefits of each breath.    The standing pose is so natural to us that we don't need to pay it any conscious thought and can focus on our breath entering the body and flowing through us.  The standing pose is also beneficial to bringing the body into alignment and centring ourselves both physically and spiritually.  Leonardo Da Vinci produced a famous diagram showing the perfect symmetry of the human body when it is in it's natural standing pose and this position has always been the most natural for us to find our centre and balance.

  The bulk of a Yoga session is spent in placing our body in positions or poses that stretch and activate the body.  These poses are entered into gently and gradually so there is no risk of injury.  Many poses have a number of different levels so we can get more and more benefits from them as our body becomes more used to them.  This is perhaps best demonstrated by a simple forward stretch.  When a gym teacher tells a pupil to touch their toes the pupil is performing the same exercise whether they can reach forward and touch the floor or whether the stretch only goes as far as their knees.  The only difference is the level of incline.

  The forward stretch is also a perfect example of how the natural movements of Yoga are used outside of a Yoga class or session - in this case in stretching and warming up before sports or other physical activities.  Most children who's coaches take them through a stretching routine before a game of football have no idea that many of the poses are borrowed directly from a Yoga session.

  The key to enjoying and benefiting from this main phase of the Yoga session is to pace it to your level.  As with the child who can only forward stretch to knee level you do not need to perform the exercise at the highest level from the first time you experience it.  Find your comfort zone and then move a fraction beyond it.  Then each new session try and maintain that level and push a little further if possible.

  The end of a Yoga session is also an important stage.  This stage usually consists of a group of restoration and restorative poses and positions that are designed to allow the energy to flow back through your body.  A good Yoga session releases pent up energy in your body and allowing this energy to flow freely to all parts of the body is a critical part of gaining the maximum benefits from Yoga.

Healthy Heart Remedy | Emergency Care

Emergency Care

Yoga For Depression

Yoga is a very powerful method of helping people to come out of the depths that depression can hold them in.

When people get depressed they have an unbalanced view on life and it is very difficult to change the thought patterns that create this outlook.

It is not possible for the majority of people to do so without some form of assistance and for the majority of depression sufferers that assistance is generally in the form of anti depressant medication.

That in itself can cause other problems and often the anti depressants are worse than the depression itself as they can unbalance hormones and create bigger problems that the depressed person will then have to deal with.

Yoga and in particular the breathing techniques that are taught in yoga will help to bring about a calmness in the mind with a reduction in the anxiety that is associated with depression.

These breathing techniques are an extremely powerful way of handling and reducing negative thoughts. As the depressed person has less and less of these negative thoughts it becomes easier to focus on the things in life that are good, positive and make them happy.

Inward negative thinking begins to get replaced with positive thoughts and the endorphins that yoga helps to release add to the powerful action in the fight against depression.

It is often said that people use yoga to cure depression when all the medications have failed to work.

For people who have used medication to solve their depression problems there is the necessity for many of them to deal with the process of coming off their medication and that too can be assisted considerably with yoga.

The more often yoga is practiced the more powerful the force against depression will be.  Once people begin to see the positive results they are getting it usually isn't too difficult for them to find time for yoga on a daily basis.

Heart Attack Complications

Heart Attack Complications

Different Types of Yoga

There are several different types of yoga and you really need to choose the one that you believe will give you the most benefits for what you are trying to achieve.

All forms of yoga will add benefit no matter which one you choose because the various types of yoga will always focus on creating a calm and balance in the mind and body while helping to increase flexibility and fitness at the same time.

What many people regard as the most extreme form of yoga is Bikram yoga where the routines are performed in heated rooms where the temperature is set at 95 degrees or more. For some people this can add stress to their exercises and for that reason there are many people who believe that performing under those conditions is detrimental to your well being.

For the people who use the Bikram yoga on a regular basis they believe that the increased temperatures help to relax and cleanse your body and in doing so give you more benefits over the standard forms of yoga.

The more common form of yoga that you will find in most centers throughout the country is Hatha Yoga. This is probably the best form of yoga for you to choose if you haven't done any form of this exercise in the past as it will teach you all the basic types of poses that will also be applicable to various other forms of yoga if you intend to move into those other areas at a later date.

It is excellent for people who haven't done any exercise previously and for elderly people as all the movements are slow and relaxing and will assist in helping you to gain more flexibility without concern for injury.

One step up from Hatha Yoga is Vinyasa yoga which is performed at a faster pace and focuses a lot on breathing during the movements. The stretches that are involved in Vinyasa yoga are more advanced than those in Hatha and are possibly not quite as suitable for a beginner.

There are many other variations of yoga apart from these that I just mentioned but they all have the same philosophy of getting the mind and body to work as one to bring about a balance in your life.

What Is Heart Attack

What Is Heart Attack