Ayurveda: A art of healthy living

Daily yoga practice is a good investment in health. Even a twelve minutes a day from your daily schedule spent on practicing yoga will win a refreshed mind and improved digestive, circulatory and respiratory systems.But even if you don't have that much time, Yoga is for you too.Besides regular yogic asanas there are some body exercises which you can perform while doing your regular work.This outline will help you to understand yoga without getting intimidated by the details.

The morning time has been recommended as best suited for all sorts of Yogic exercises.As after night's sleep the body remains best fit physically & mentally to receive the cosmic energy with the help of yogic exercises.Moreover in the morning hours air is cool & pure and has a healing & soothing effect on the body.With this in view the basic steps in the morning yogic routine are:

Complete Breath (Pranayam): To get the benefit from pure morning air.

Spinal Roll:

Sun salutation:

While these general Asanas are helpful for everyone, you may opt for other yogic asanas peculiar to your health needs & problems and add them up in your daily yogic schedule.These asanas will be discussed further in next sections.Atlernates do exist for every yoga asana, if your daily schedule or constrains don't allow you to practice some asana there would be some other asana you can practice to get the same effect or benefit.

Before we begin it would be appropriate to get the knowledge of the environment in which practice of yoga has been recommended.

For best results one should keep some considerations in his mind for practicing yoga. yoga should be practiced on the floor, bed should be avoided.The place of practice should be neat, clean and well ventilated. There should be constant supply of fresh air at the place. Windows should be kept open for cross-ventilation.But during winter draft of cold wind should be avoided.

One should maintain silence while doing yoga. Any conversation, mental activity and even listening to music should be avoided. Silence helps in preserving energy as well as in being attentive during practice.

Caution:Female practitioners should avoid yoga practice during menstrual period and during advanced stage (after the fourth month) of pregnancy. Under such conditions, yoga practice should be generally discontinued.Another important advice is to begin the practice with only a few asanas during the first week. When two or three-asanas have been practiced for a week, the next two asanas should be added during the second week.

Next Topic:

The Complete breath (Pranayam)

Quick Links:

Sun Salutation (SuryaNamaskar)

Simple Daily Exercises

Treatment of Diseases through Yoga