2023-06-16

YOGA FOR ALL

Dr Ranjini Rajasekharan - Naturopathic Physician Amrita Ayurveda & Naturopathic Hospital, Vinobhaniketan PO, Nedumangad, Trivandrum

Yoga, a 5,000-year-old corpus of Indian wisdom, is derived from the Sanskrit word "yuj," which meaning "to unite or integrate." Yoga focuses on bringing the body, mind, and breath into harmony through a variety of pranayamas, yoga asanas (yoga positions), and meditation.
Body, mind, and spirit are all brought together by the yoga technique. You may relax and de-stress through yoga. Stress is the root of all unpleasant emotions, including apathy, rage, envy, and others. By using breathing exercises, meditation, and some easy activities to reduce stress, you'll benefit both your body and mind and experience an internal sense of wellbeing and happiness.


A yoga lesson is composed of a series of precise movements, or poses, along with particular breathing exercises and meditation tenets. There are changes and alterations that can be made to a position if it hurts or proves to be too challenging for trainees. You can utilise props like blocks, blankets, straps, and even chairs to assist you benefit the most from the positions. Yoga is not a one-size-fits-all exercise; your ideal yoga routine will depend on your own requirements and objectives. More and more studies have emerged in recent years proving yoga's numerous health advantages.

According to studies, yoga can:

1) Relief back pain: Regular, rigorous stretching sessions and weekly yoga lessons both effectively reduce low back pain symptoms.

2) Strengthen bones: In a tiny study, it was discovered that yoga practitioners had more bone density in their hips and spine than those in the control group. Improved balance was seen in male athletes in one study after 10 weeks of yoga lessons compared to a control group of athletes who did not alter their training regimens.

3) Avoid mental decline: In one study, participants who practised both yoga and meditation instead of a brain-training exercise fared much better on a test of visuospatial memory, a type of memory crucial for balance, depth perception, and the capacity to identify objects and navigate the environment. Reducing mental anguish and the associated psychological and physical symptoms of stress was found to be aided by Iyengar yoga in a study involving 72 women.

4) Reduce depression: Yoga has been proven to reduce anxiety and depression in a study of coal miners with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or C.O.P.D.