Yoga Teacher Training India

It has become common knowledge that yoga is good for you. Currently yoga is being used as a therapy for cancer, infertility, lung disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, insomnia, high blood pressure, and joint pain. Yet there is very little awareness and understanding on exactly how yoga heals, even in the yoga and medical communities. The key is to understand the relationships between stress, yoga and disease. Medical research estimates as much as 90 percent of illness and disease is stress related. A few of the many diseases and conditions that have been linked to an overactive stress response include: cardio-vascular disease, depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, some types of diabetes mellitus, some autoimmune diseases, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, reproductive problems, and suppression of the immune system. What we feel as stress, is the product of the sympathetic nervous system or the “fight or flight” response: an almost instantaneous surge...

According to the American Heart Association, coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, causing about 1.5 million heart attacks each year. Recent research has shown yoga and meditation to reduce blood pressure, lower the pulse rate, improve the elasticity of the arteries, regulate heart rhythm, and increase the heart’s stroke volume. Yoga, in short, is good for your heart. Stress is considered a major contributing factor in heart disease. Stressful situations raise your heart rate and blood pressure, and release stress hormones, which all can injure the heart and the blood vessels, especially during prolonged or repeated exposures. Yoga is widely known for its ability to reduce stress and promote a calm relaxed state, which in turn reduces stress hormones, decreases the heart rate and lowers blood pressure, helping to control and prevent heart disease. The breath has a strong influence on the rhythm of the heart through the i...

Purification (shaucha) is a central aim of all the yogic practices, and is the first principle of self-discipline (niyama) in Patanjali’s eight-limbed approach. The yogis have discovered that impurities in our internal body adversely affect our state of mind, and prevent the attainment of real wisdom and spiritual liberation. Through the yogic practices of asana, pranayama, tapas and shatkarma, the body and the mind become cleansed and our spiritual development is accelerated. The physical postures of yoga purify the body through movements that increase and improve the flow of blood, oxygen and prana (life force energy) in the tissues, muscles and organs. The yoga poses squeeze and massage the muscles and organs to move out old stagnant blood and bring in fresh blood full of nutrients and oxygen. In the more dynamic postures, heat is created and sweat is produced to facilitate the release toxins through the pores of the skin. The breathing techniques of pranayama purify the mind ...

While we all are bound to suffer from the occasional cold or flu, the practicing yogi/yogini is less likely to come down with the sniffles, and when he/she does, tends to have a much faster recovery rate. This is true because of yoga’s known abilities to regulate the immune system, keeping it strong and healthy to withstand infections, and yoga’s ability to boost immune function with specific yogic practices. Yoga’s stress reducing abilities is one of the primary reasons a regular practice of yoga helps prevent and cure the common cold. Stress is known as a major contributing factor to catching a cold or flu, as stress hormones cause the thymus to shrink in size, causing it to poorly function as a producer of immune cells. Besides the general calming effects of most yoga poses, restorative poses and forward bends are especially calming to the nervous system, helping to reduce whole-body stress. The following poses are known to be especially calming to the body and mind: child, shav...