Tadasana

Tadasana -The mountain Yoga Pose

Stand with both feet touching from the heel to the big toe, keeping the back straight and the arms pressed slightly against the sides with palms facing inward.
Slightly tighten or flex the muscles in the knees, thighs, stomach and buttocks maintaining a firm posture. Balance you weight evenly on both feet.
Inhale through the nostrils and lift the buttocks off the legs arching the back and thrusting the abdomen forward and tilt the head as far back as possible.

Tips

Performing the tada-asana allows one to observe one's posture closely and clearly recognize those problems which get masked or ignored by day-to-day activities. As the posture is held and the breath, mind and body is quieted various effects will surface to indicate difficulties with the spine. Favoring one foot over the other, shifting back and forth, drooped shoulders, tightness in the neck and upper or lower back, and various other physiological disturbances may appear indicating the need for further yoga practice.

Benefits

Improves posture, balance and self-awareness.

Vrksasana

Translation: The Tree Pose

From Tadasana the standing pose raise one leg of the mat, bend the knee and place the foot on the inside of the thigh. Open the hip rotating the leg out until the knee and bent leg are sideways.
The hands can be placed above the head with the finger interlocked or with the palms together in prayer position. The arms can be bent or straight.

The tailbone has a tendency to turn out. Be aware of this and tuck it forward. Pull the navel back and up. This will create a neutral spine.

Tips

Engaging the toes will tone muscles in the lower legs and help the body gain firm balance.

Benefits

The complicated firing of the nerves needed to maintain balance exercises the mind as well as the body. Small muscles in the ankles become toned and strong. It is an excellent for ankle injuries however holding the posture too long may aggravate a problem and suppress blood flow.

Uttanasana

Translation: Standing Forward Bend

Lean forward and down with the upper body entering a mild boundary then try to straighten the spine a little. Lengthen the torso so that it is not too compressed. Place the chest on the legs if you are flexible and move energy through the top of the head towards the mat. Stretch up through the tailbone and straighten the back of the legs moving energy down through the heels.

Tips

The back is stretched more especially around the shoulders and neck. It is however harder to take deep breaths as the lung volume decreases.

To prevent stress it is always good to wait until the muscles give you a changing sensation allowing the body to move deeper. Have a little patience and enter a gentle boundary it is a less stressful way to engage in the relationship of asana practice.

Benefits

There is no pressure on the spine when it hangs. The spine is lengthened naturally and feels relaxed as a result.

This yoga posture increases the flexibility of the hamstrings and lower back. The mind is also soaked in blood preventing dryness from occurring. Blood soaks into the mind allowing fresh nutrients to soak into brain.

The hamstrings are stretched (the biceps femoris, semitendinosus and the semimembranosus).

Yoga Positions

Yoga postures known as Asana are an ancient part of spiritual worship in the art of yoga. It is a way of spiritual practice that involves the mind body and soul.

The Asana allow us to meditate on the body and gain a profound understanding and knowledge of its nature. Intellectual growth in the mind and strengthening and expansion of neurological connections serve us in the spiritual quest of unity and illumination.

Yoga Asana can also be destructive when done without proper guidance. It is easy to hurt the spine and inflammation caused by over stretching over a prolonged period of time can lead to all kinds of problems including physiological imbalance, autoimmune responses, anxiety and much more. Practice light and gently when performing Asana to prevent a negative response. Seek out a good teacher that pushes you harder in meditation than in Asana and your practice will lead to health and illumination.

Yoga for Bipolar Disorder

Bi-polar Disorder and Kundalini

Bi-Polar Disorder, Part I: The Kindling of Kundalini
Bi-Polar disorder, formerly known as manic-depression.

This is a disorder which is far from rare and appears to be manifesting itself in the lives of its sufferers at an increasingly earlier age. Bi-Polar disorder is now being diagnosed in teenagers. Until recently it was not being detected in people until they reached their 20's and 30's. This may be due to improved diagnostic methods, to an increase in awareness of its symptoms and how it affects the lives of the people who have it.

A clear sign of mania is rapid and pressured speech, increased creativity, sleeplessness, weight loss, and changes in behavior. As mania progresses, communication between brain cells becomes disorganized. The result is a pattern of consciousness that is disorganized. The expression of the psyche spills out as hallucinations (visual and auditory) and delusional thinking.

As the energy continues to build in the tissues, cellular damage can occur. The body's natural defense is to lower the energy flow and maintain homeostasis. Depression usually follows. Medical intervention is important due to the risk of cellular damage if mania is left to run its course.

Once a person becomes stabilized and returns to his normal level of functioning then that individual is ready to address the work before him, which involves the raising of Kundalini (consciousness) that his psyche is crying out for.


Bi-Polar Disorder, Part II: Kundalini and the Chakra System

Kundalini, together with the chakra system, allows the individual to experience the world he lives in. The cerebrospinal system (with its physical counterpart the endocrine glands and its astral counterpart the chakra system) is the circuit; kundalini the charge and consciousness - the pattern of experience of reality. Another way to say this might be: the chakras are the software, the endocrine glands and brain cells are the hardware, and kundalini delivers the information to the monitor (ego).

The chakras and the endocrine system as follows:

(Layers of Consciousness)(Chakra)(Endocrine Gland)

(Sensual gratification) (Sacral) (Gonads)
(Pursuit of pride and vanity) (Solar Plexus) (Pancreas)
(Compassion for others) (Heart) (Thymus)
(Clarity of communication) (Throat) (Thyroid)
(Expression of intuitive wisdom) (Brow) (Pituitary)
(Constant state of self awareness) (Crown) (Pineal)
(Constant state of spiritual will) (Basic) (Pineal)

In bi-polar disorder awakened kundalini energy stimulates the endocrine glands and the associated chakras, but the complimentary levels of consciousness have not yet matured. The result is a poorly developed individual, one who experiences great highs and lows of emotion, but with little or no control, as evidenced by the well-noted "mood swing".

A person may have a developed solar plexus chakra and receive intense stimulation of the thyroid gland, and so talk at length about self-centered accomplishments, with an eye toward ego satisfaction and aggrandizement. Compassion for others has not yet manifested in this personality; the development is lopsided. The pituitary gland may be stimulated, and the personality may have intuitive experience from the subconscious plane but not the superconscious plane. The personality is therefore unable to express intuitive wisdom.

Kundalini energy may awaken due to accidents, trauma, chemical sensitivity, or any type of stress. Only when the individual is able to mature psychologically, by removing developmental blocks formed in the natural process of growth out of childhood, can he or she begin to balance the flow of kundalini energy.


Bi-Polar Disorder, Part III: Balancing the Energy of Physiology & Psychology in the Bi-polar Person

The most important goal for a person with bi-polar expression is balance; proper channeling of psychic and physical energy. Many times the physical element is addressed only through medication which works in the brain cells. But remember the importance of the endocrine system (see part II). Proper functioning of the endocrine cells is as important as brain cell function. Body systems are interdependent and must be treated that way.

Physical exercise which maintains cardiovascular function can keep the endocrine system in balance and is imperative for people with bi-polar expression. In addition, psychotherapeutic process must be sought to remove energy blocks from the consciousness. Everyone, regardless of his personal experience of childhood, sustains psychic trauma. Everyone has some blockage in the chakras.

When psychological blocks are removed and physical knots in the body are worked out through exercise, energy can flow and heal the parts of the individual which are in need. Then growth can occur.

In summary, the following ideas are important:

1. Medication for stabilization of energy in brain cells (neurotransmitters)

2. Psychotherapeutic process for mental clearing away of traumas which occur in everyone as a result of being alive.

3. Physical conditioning with an emphasis on cardiovascular fitness to stimulate balance in the endocrine system (hormones)

It is reasonable to predict that an individual with an expression of bi-polar energy can learn to listen to the language of his body and by following sensible guidelines and healthy patterns of living be able to minimize the need for medications which can damage healthy organs over time.

Yoga for MS(Multiple Sclerosis )

Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which the body's defensive immune system attacks and destroys the fatty tissue -- myelin -- surrounding nerves in the brain and spinal cord.
These myelin sheaths perform the same function as insulation around an electrical wire. Without the myelin insulation, nerve impulses from brain to body can short out and become confused, misdirected, or be completely blocked.
Symptoms can include numbness and/or tingling in the extremities, weakness, lack of coordination and/or balance, gait difficulties, slurring of speech, blurred or double vision, bowel and bladder dysfunction, vertigo, and heat intolerance.

Physical activity is extremely important for individuals with MS, and yoga is now recognized as an excellent means of MS management, whether the individual manifests little or no outward signs of the disease, or whether they spend most of their time in a wheelchair.
The benefits of yoga postures (asana), working with the breath (pranayama), and meditation may include increased body awareness, release of muscular tension (thus relieving spasticity), increased coordination and balance, increased flexibility and strength, control over fatigue, increased tolerance to heat, improved circulation and breathing, improved organ function (including bowel and bladder), enhanced alertness, better management of stress and an overall feeling of well-being.

Yoga for a Better Night's Sleep

Yoga for Insomnia

If you have a hard time getting to sleep at night, incorporating yoga into your life can help, especially if your insomnia is stress-related.

Getting into a regular exercise routine may help you sleep better at night. Vigorous yoga, such as Power Yoga or Ashtanga, done at least three times a week is a good choice. Avoid intense exercise right before you go to bed by doing your practice earlier in the day.

Three-Part Breath is very helpful for clearing the mind of the day's clutter. Use this simple exercise to prepare your body for sleep.

Corpse Pose

Lying in bed, soften each part of your body from the toes up to the crown of your head. Then spend a few minutes just breathing. This will help create a break from your busy mind and allow you to relax for sleep.