Introduction to Yoga Asanas and Postures


You must have heard about yoga by now even if you are not aware of what exactly it is or what does it involve. Yoga is a very old system of exercises that cover both the physical and the mental condition of a human being. The exercises or postures or asanas as they are called aim at exercising each and every tissue inside and outside your body towards attaining complete balance in its functioning.

People who are not really aware of what yoga involves mostly think that yoga is only about stretching exercises. This is further encouraged by the publicity it receives through pictures of people in different highly difficult postures. However, yoga is much more than that. It is a combination of meditation, breathing exercises and body postures. Each of the postures is beneficial to some parts of the body or organs.

Yoga can help with mental conditions as well – such as anxiety, depression, anger, forgetfulness and so on. This is why most people today turn to yoga as this can easily become a way of living which would the person who practices it of excellent health. Most of the yoga routines start with simple breathing exercise and postures and go across to highly complicated ones. However, each of the asanas help you in completing the next one and in this manner by the time you reach at the “difficult” one you would be able to do it without much effort.

The only thing that would be required is that you learn the asanas under the guidance of an expert as it is very important that you do each posture in the correct manner. There are many branches of yoga and hundreds if not thousands of asanas that cover each and every part of your body and its functions. Most people are not interested to learn the whole gamut of exercises; rather limit themselves to a system that cover the most pressing of their health problems.

Anyone can do yoga as it has absolutely no bar – whether this is age, sex or physical condition. Even pregnant women can benefit from yoga exercises. The best way to do yoga is early in the morning at sunrise. Both the air and the sun rays at that time are highly beneficial for humans beings. If you cannot wake up so early, you could it any time of the day you wanted but for best results the sunrise time is the best.

Another important pre-requisite for yoga is that you should be empty stomach when you practice it. This is another reason why the early morning time is preferred. Since yoga involves a number of stretching postures, you would be comfortable with wearing cotton, loose fitting clothing. In order to benefit the most from yoga you would need to do it daily for at least 15-20 minutes, though some routines involve upto 60-90 minutes as well.

Yoga is able to touch and regulate the function of each internal organ as well as the brain and the mind. People who practice yogic meditation find themselves capable of more control on their emotions and feelings. They are able to have better command on their concentration and memory and they work and function better. Yoga is indeed all about creating and maintaining perfect balance among your mind, body and the whole universe.