Yoga

What is yoga?

Yoga is a mindful movement practice that

originates from India.It includes meditation, as well as a
combination of positions, strengthening, and breathing
exercises. The practice focuses on reconnecting the
participant with their mind and body and is regarded as a
form of physical, mental, and spiritual development.

The history of yoga

The practice of Yoga is believed to have started

with the very dawn of civilization. The science of yoga has
its origin thousands of years ago, long before the first
religions or belief systems were born. In the yogic lore, Shiva is seen as the first yogi or Adiyogi,
and the first Guru or Adi Guru. 
Several Thousand years ago, on the banks of the lake Kantisarovar in the Himalayas,
Adiyogi poured his profound knowledge into the legendary Saptarishis or "seven sages”. The
sages carried this powerful yogic science to different parts of the world, including Asia, the
Middle East, Northern Africa and South America. Interestingly, modern scholars have noted and
marvelled at the close parallels found between ancient cultures across the globe. However, it was
in India that the yogic system found its fullest expression. Agastya, the Saptarishi who travelled
across the Indian subcontinent,
crafted this culture around a
core yogic way of life.

A number of seals and fossil remains of Indus Saraswati valley civilization with Yotic motives
and figures performing yoga indicate the presence of Yoga in India.
 Now in the contemporary times, everybody has conviction about yoga practices towards
the preservation, maintenance and promotion of health. Yoga has spread all over the world by
the teachings of great personalities like Swami Shivananda, Shri T.Krishnamacharya, Swami
Kuvalayananda, Shri Yogendara, Swami Rama, Sri Aurobindo, Maharshi Mahesh Yogi, Acharya
Rajanish, Pattabhijois, BKS. Iyengar, Swami Satyananda Sarasvati and the like.

Medical benefits of yoga

Among the health benefits, the practice of yoga has been linked to several health benefits
that include decreasing chronic pain, stabilization of blood pressure, and stress reduction.
Supportive data also suggest that yoga improves, strength, flexibility, breathing, balance, spine
and mental health, and blood flow.

The effect of yoga on pain

Yoga has also been shown to be helpful for pain conditions. In a systematic review of
yoga interventions, nine of 10 randomized controlled trials suggested that yoga leads to a
significantly greater reduction in pain compared to the control interventions compared (standard
care, self-care, therapeutic exercises, touch, and manipulation, or no intervention).

Yoga for the prevention of disease

Yoga has also been associated with improvements in several cardiovascular risk factors. The
cardioprotective effects of yoga are believed to be mediated through stress reduction. Stress is
orchestrated through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which culminates in hormonal
secretion such as cortisol, glucagon, renin and angiotensin, and pro-inflammatory cytokines. The
physiological effect of the hormonal release includes increased blood pressure levels,
hyperglycemia, and a pro-atherogenic effect. In addition, increased heart rate and myocardial
workload occur, alongside platelet aggregation and the production of a prothrombotic (increased
risk of blood clots in vessels) environment. Slow breathing and meditation which are included as
part of yoga practices, can promote the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system; in turn,
this may increase the variability of the heart rate to improve vascular tone.

Yoga may also reduce the level of dopamine

and increase serotonin; this has been linked
to improvements to mental and physical
health. Moreover, the practice has also been
shown to reduce plasma levels of
inflammatory markers as well as markers of
oxidative stress. Relative to other forms of
exercise, yoga practices demonstrate equal or
superior effects in improvements to several
health outcomes which include ultra gnomic
function, stress, antioxidant status, as well as
patient recorded outcomes unrelated to physiological fitness. These include anxiety and
depression, quality of life, and pain.

Poses in yoga

There are different poses for any kind of pain in order to reduce it.

Yoga helps as well maintain our mental health. As a form

of low-impact exercise, yoga has been shown to lower stress
hormones in our bodies while simultaneously increasing
beneficial brain chemicals like endorphins and GABA. These feel-good chemicals help decrease
anxiety and
improve
mood.