Tag Archives: yoga darshan

Culture and History, Education, Social Studies

Why you should try yoga?

Top 10 Unexpected Health Benefits of Yoga | Shape

What is yoga, and why is it so popular? Yoga is a series of stretches and poses that you do with breathing techniques. It offers the powerful benefits of exercise. And since yoga is gentle, almost anyone can do it, regardless of your age or fitness level.

Yoga is a 5,000-year-old discipline from India. It was developed as a practice to unite the mind and body. There are many branches of yoga. All yoga styles can help balance your body, mind, and spirit, but they achieve it in various ways.

A study in The Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine (among others) shows that yoga can build strength in addition to flexibility. And flexibility is the key to strength. When your muscles and the tissues that surround them are super tight, you’re not able to move as much weight with a full range of motion in the gym. Doing yoga helps loosen up those tissues so you can get more out of your strength sessions.

Research in the International Journal of Yoga shows that yoga not only reduces stress, but can help lower anxiety and depression, too. (It can also help battle insomnia, helping people who have it to sleep sounder at night, per researchers in Southern India.) There are as many types of yoga as there are machines in the gym, each having their unique benefits. There’s something for everyone: From hot yoga to aerial yoga to a good ‘ol Vinyasa flow to Ashtanga and Kundalini.

A study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that yoga can ward off heart disease helping to keep your heart in good form. Since that’s one of the key reasons people do cardio in gyms, to boost heart health, it’s interesting to note that similar benefits can be reaped from a yoga class. The twisting, stretching and folding of a yoga practice are good for the digestive system, the circulatory system, the lymph system and more. It’s a great way to detox the body and can improve your cardiovascular system. And all this while developing stronger muscles. A gym workout is focused just on strengthening muscles and boosting cardio.

Yoga is a different experience in a yoga studio, but you can easily practice yoga at home, outside or in small spaces. All you need is about 6 feet by 4 feet and you have your own yoga studio. A gym workout requires more equipment and more space.

Yoga eases your aches and pains. A gym workout increases them. Yoga slowly stretches muscles and opens the energy channels of the body. The increased flexibility keeps muscles and joints lubricated and healthy. Weights and treadmill can cause strain which leads to soreness and injuries.

Yoga helps you breathe easier. During times of stress, it’s easy to forget to breathe, really breathe, and not just shallow breaths. Without deep breaths, it’s harder to think clearly and fatigue can set in. Yoga focuses on the breath so that when you need it most, those deep breaths are the norm.

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Culture and History, Education

Yoga and Mental Health

Patanjali in Yoga sutras says “Yogah chitta vritti nirodhah”  which means the primary aim of  Yoga is removal of fluctuation of mind. Yoga brings about positive health by causing relaxation of the whole body, slowing down the respiration (making it quiet and deep) and calming the mind, thereby helping in improving attention and concentration. It improves awareness of the body, emotions and mind; and the flow of healing ‘Pranic Life Energy’. It increases self-reliance and self-confidence, thereby improving the ability to handle stress. It improves self-regulation thereby helping us take the responsibility of our own health. Improvement of dietary habits and facilitating natural emanation of wastes is also an important part of Yoga.

In general, yoga helps reduce anxiety and improves the senses of well being. It leads to better interpersonal relationships, increases attentiveness lowered irritability levels, and an optimistic outlook in life in healthy individuals.

Yoga has been shown to help improves symptoms in several physical disorders, like diabetes, hypertension, asthma and also in mental disorders, like anxiety, depression and psychosis. Yoga practice has been reported to help depressive symptoms since a long time. It lifts the mood and improves interest in activities, attention /concentration/memory, sleep and appetite. It has been found to have effect on the cognitive/behavourial aspects due to its mindfulness component. Research at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience has also shown that the practice of yoga has effects on biological parameters like increasing the parasympathetic tone, reducing cortisol levels and decreasing the neuro-inflammation in patients with depression. In fact, Yoga has been used as a sole treatment for patient with mild to moderate depression in several recent studies in India and abroad. In patient with psychotic disorder such as schizophrenia, yoga practice has been shown improve socialization, motivation to do activities, occupational functioning, ability to recognize others emotions/feelings, and cognitive abilities. This is probably brought about by the increase in the ‘cuddle hormone’, namely oxytocin, by yoga.

Yoga holds promise as a complementary therapy in cases of tobacco, alcohol and opioid dependence along with routine medical intervention and psychological interventions, with effects during both the acute withdrawal phase and long term relapse prevention. The mechanism include direct decrease in sympathetic discharge that accompanies the withdrawal state as well as improvement in negative mood states and stress reduction during the long term maintenance phase that may prevent a relapse.

The systematic methods of concentration taught in yoga practice have been thought in yoga oractice have been thought to potentially help reduce attention deficits. In addition, yoga may produce a state of calmness and contentment which is lacking in children with Attention –Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Yoga may offer benefits as an effective tool to increase imitation, cognitive skills and social-communicative behaviours in children.


Yoga was practiced in ancient times for overall general well-being and spiritual progress. Current research evidence suggests that yoga can be used as an add-on therapy or in some instances as a sole therapy for psychiatric disorders as well. It not only improves the symptoms, but brings about the holistic change in an individual.