Yoga and Google Trends

Google Trends is an amazing tool to discover the searching trends in internet. It gives an outline of the keywords people used most often. I just check yoga searching trends from that site. Result it showed is very interesting. As we know, Yoga is originated in India. Same country is still is in eager to learn yoga. Google trends shows that Indian is first in the search for yoga. Second country is Singapore. Canad, USA and Ireland comes next with approximately equal in weight. See the result:

1.	India
2.	Singapore
3.	Canada
4.	United States
5.	Ireland
6.	Australia
7.	Chile
8.	Switzerland
9.	United Kingdom
10.	Sweden

While searching google trends with the keyword "Yoga", It also showed city wise Searching behaviour also. San Francisco City is top in yoga search. Delhi city in India comes 5th place. See the yoga trends:

1.	San Francisco, CA, USA
2.	Pleasanton, CA, USA
3.	New York, NY, USA
4.	Vancouver, Canada
5.	Delhi, India
6.	Boston, MA, USA
7.	Denver, CO, USA
8.	Chennai, India
9.	Seattle, WA, USA
10.	San Diego, CA, USA

Anyway, all the trend reslts on yoga in Google Trends Shows the increase in interest of Yoga worldwide. SEE Yoga search trends

A guide to Beginners in YOGA.

According to a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report, there were more than 3,700 yoga-related injuries costing a total of almost $11 million in medical care in 2004. The most common yoga injuries involve repetitive strain, overstretching the neck, shoulders, spine, legs and knees.

So before you pull out that yoga mat, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has this advice.

• Speak to a physician before participating in yoga if you have any preexisting injuries or conditions.

• Work with a qualified yoga instructor. Inquire about experience and credentials.

• Warm up well before doing yoga. Because cold muscles, tendons and ligaments are vulnerable.

• Wear clothing that allows for proper yoga movement.

• Start slowly while you learn the basics, such as proper breathing, before you see how far you can stretch.

• Ask questions if you are unsure of a yoga pose.

• Know your limits in Yoga. Do not go beyond your experience or comfort level in Yoga.

Ananda Yogi: A grand master on Yoga

Yogi Ananda, a 72 years old Yoga master started yoga for yogurt.

He is currently teaching the Indian spiritual yoga practice across central New York and in his home studio at White Birch Lane in Auburn. He started his Yoga Journey since his 11th age.

According to him, Yoga is his life, recreation and his socialization. His introduction to yoga came at a monastery in Bangladesh(The eastern area of India). A natural curist doctor offered Ananda a steady supply of sweet yogurt in exchange for every yoga lesson he took. The offer proved too tempting for him to resist.

But he surpassed his taste for yogurt by the his yoga passion. He wandered across India as a monk to learn more about yoga and acquire more experience. Following years of intense study that included eight years of seclusion in a Himalayan cave, Ananda began teaching at the International Yoga Teacher's Training Center in Calcutta. Aspiring yoga teachers came from around the world to be certified by Ananda. Yoga instruction also took Ananda across the globe, from Thailand and Indonesia to East Africa and Spain.

Ananda said that main aim of his life has been to spread awareness about the relation between soul and body by the practice of yoga.

In 1973, Ananda came to America at the behest of the California Board of Education. Board sponsored him to teach yoga at colleges in San Diego, Laguna Beach and San Francisco. Ananda then started yoga classes around the country. After he arrived at Syracuse University in 1974. Students and university staff encouraged him to stay there.

By the end of the decade, Ananda had established the Shankar Yoga Society in Syracuse and instructed celebrities like George Harrison, Peter Sellers and Linda Lavin at the New Age Health Spa in the Catskills.

“They mostly came to lose weight, that's not what yoga is about,” Ananda said with a lightly humorous tone.

Nowadays Ananda concentrates on teaching Yoga at Cayuga County Counseling services and companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb and The Syracuse Post-Standard. He has also conducted a course at Onondaga Community College for more than 25 years. Despite his decades of devotion to yoga, Ananda still shies away from designating himself a teacher.

“The more you learn [from yoga], the more you can then teach[Yoga],” Ananda said.

In his yoga classes, Ananda often uses the operation of a car as an organizing principle for the means of healthy human living he emphasizes. A balanced diet and plenty of water represent the proper fluid levels.

“We try to claim we're eating a balanced diet, but for most people that's a Big Mac in one hand and a large soda in the other,” Ananda said.

Lubrication amounts to rigorous, full-body exercise that loosen the joints and muscles. Breathing techniques, a facet of yoga commonly ignored by other instructors, represent the alternator in Ananda's car model. The exhaust system is comprised of bodily functions and relaxation provides people with a cooling system for the stress of daily living.

“Relaxation is in the mind; it's much more than just laying down,” Ananda advised.

Ananda's holistic approach to yoga contrasts the one-dimensional approach of other instructors. Ananda laments the rising commercialization of yoga, which he believes has brushed aside paramount aspects of the practice in favor of a chic fitness trend.

“One of these days, original yoga won't exist,” Ananda said.

Andanda's approach to yoga extends beyond the muscular flexibility mainstream yoga instructors flaunt. His yoga instruction encompasses philosophy and theology to emphasize the merger of body and mind in service of honesty and selflessness. Getting in shape is only a side effect.

“You can get exercise at the health spa,” Ananda said.

Ananda often encounters this superficial approach to yoga in his classes at OCC. Students who don't take the practice seriously will have a difficult time securing Ananda's approval.

“I want sincerity from my students,” he said.

One of Ananda's most sincere students has been Peter Mack, owner of Mack's Studios in Auburn. Mack began taking private yoga lessons with Ananda almost three years ago after hearing his name mentioned around town. A few lessons later, Mack was a full-fledged yoga convert.

“I was so enamored with it, and it was such a life-changing experience that I kept bringing new people over to try it out,” said Mack, 51.

He continues, “It basically puts all the pieces of your life together - your mind, body and spirit act as one and you feel whole. You find that all the power and the answers you could ever want are inside of you.”

Although Mack has practiced with other yoga instructors, he firmly believes that none can match Ananda's passion for yoga and dedication to its principles.

“He's here for everyone else except himself,” Mack said. “He gives his life to make others' better.”

Mack's comments echo those made about Mother Theresa, who Ananda served alongside on relief missions for victims of natural disasters in India. Today, Ananda's mission to spread awareness through yoga in Auburn begins with ridding his students' “exhaust systems” of the two snacks that repulse him most: soda and gum.

Health Benefits of Yoga

Yoga and meditation has a lot of health benefits such as management of stress, anxiety and improvement of musculoskeletal problems, physical and mental fitness.

Now there’s clinical evidence that suggests that yoga can also be used for reduction of performance anxiety and consequently, be beneficial in enhancing performance in musicians. Dr Satbir Singh Khalsa (PhD), Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, who has studied the effects of yoga on a group of musicians, has gathered data that proves this.

Dr Khalsa, who was in the city for some days, said, “Musicians when performing in front of thousands of people are faced with performance anxiety. In situations such as these, the relaxation response of the body is not activated producing chronic stress. However, yoga helps them to overcome this problem in many ways.”

Combinations of yoga techniques - “pranayama” or breathing exercises, “asanas” or physical exercise and meditation - helps in the production of Cortisol hormone. This hormone is helpful part of the body’s response to stress.Further, practicing yoga also regulates the autonomic nervous system responsible for controlling stress and anxiety.

Yoga not only catering to performance anxiety, but also helps to remove stage fear through its unique mechanism. Researches on this subject reveals that yoga and meditation helps in reducing stress and the effects of stress.

For instance, Dr Satbir adds: “A research paper on Yoga by Herbert Benson published in 1972, is a strong evidence on benefits of Yoga. It gives the information that Yoga and mediation reduces the consumption of oxygen in the blood, thereby lowering the physiological activity. However, stress is known to have increase physiological activity. Hence, it proves that stress or at least effects is lowered by mediation.”

Apart from secreation of stress hormones, yoga especially if practicised before a particular performance, directs the body and mind to concentrate on a particular thought rather than waving away. Yoga thus breaks the cycle of tension which otherwise builds up in the mind causing performance related anxiety.

Yoga is must in schools: Delhi Government

New Delhi, October 30: Gearing up for the Commonwealth Games, the Delhi government is set to make sports mandatory in schools with each student having to undertake at least one sports discipline. Each school will have to undertake two sports activities and prepare teams for participation in the zonal tournaments.

According to the newly-formulated sports policy all schools in the city must start yoga classes for the “general health” of their students. Schools must find yoga teachers for this Yoga Class. The government will also be planing to reach the private sector for the sponsor of students and sports persons for training for the yoga. The private sector will also help in the sponsorship of sporting events in the city.

According to the Government officials,The State will also try to arrange Arjuna awarders for the purpose of training students and sports persons for yoga in Delhi.

The Delhi government has also proposed job reservations in the government sector for outstanding performers in sporting events as representatives of the Delhi State at national and international sporting events, said sources in the department.

Sources in the Delhi government said that special funds are being kept aside for the implementation of this policy. The policy also proposes scientific research to be conducted by the government to enhance the performance of athletes in the State.

Before a week Mr.Ramadoss, Union Health Minister, talked about the importance of yoga practicing in schools. [See "Yoga is compulsory for schools: Ramadoss" ]

Kriya Yoga can help in busting stress- Swami Nityananda Giri

VIJAYAWADA: Kriya Yoga can help in busting stress and the yogic system enunciated by Paramahamsa Yogananda has great relevance for the mankind, said Swamy Nityananda Giri of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, Ranchi.

Speaking at an inaugural session of the three-day programme of Yogoda Satsanga Dhyana Mandali at TTD Kalyana mandapam here on Saturday evening, he said Kriya yoga was a scientific method of yoga.

Unlike other yogas, Swami Yogananda gave a simple ten-lesson module on how to practice yoga, he said and added that this would help the people in attaining peace and happiness by life energy relaxation.

Free work shop on Yoga

A free workshop on Yoga this weekend in Halifax will explore alternative approaches to physical and mental health.

"Right away, Yoga filters out or excludes a lot of people," Dr. Sodhi, a Halifax psychologist and psychotherapist, said Thursday.

"What we want to do is reach those people who would otherwise not be able to attend workshops like this."

For the first workshop, which runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Captain William Spry Centre in Spryfield, Dr. Sodhi has lined up three local experts to talk about the importance of tying together one’s spirit, mind and body with the help of yoga.

Dr. Sodhi’s wife, Satpal Kaur Sodhi, will lead a session on using Kundalini yoga to harmonize your endocrine system.

Dr. Jasmeet Chawla, a kidney specialist at Dalhousie University, will speak on controlling hypertension through yoga and meditation.

Dr. Timothy Walker, a Halifax psychotherapist, will talk about how stress-reduction exercises can integrate the body, mind and spirit by using yoga.

All three Yoga presenters agreed to provide their services free, Dr. Sodhi said.

"It will be very relaxed, very down to earth with simple language, very open," he said of the workshop. "After the three yoga sessions are over, the presenters will be available to answer yoga related questions."

Dr. Sodhi said he is confident that participants will leave the yoga workshop feeling better about themselves and eager to take part in future yoga sessions.

"I firmly believe that in every life there has to be a little bit of mysticism," he said. "Otherwise, what happens is you are automatized, you are caged, you are culturally conditioned, and you miss something that we call fathomlessly strange, the other kind of seeing."

About 20 people have registered for the yoga workshop so far, Dr. Sodhi said. He said any interested adults or teens can just show up at the Spry Centre. All they need to bring is a yoga mat, blanket and pillow. Lunch will be served.

Dr. Sodhi, 73, said the yoga workshop is an opportunity for the Sikh society to give something back to the people of Nova Scotia.

Mysore, a yoga destination for foreigners

The Mysore city has turned into a centre for yoga activities attracting thousands of yoga students and tourists from abroad. Foreigners are interested in practicing yoga from Mysore based yoga centres.

They are arriving in batches to Mysore and Bangalore to learn yoga.

Mysore city alone had 1500 foreigners between September and March to learn yoga from reputed yoga teachers in more than 50 centres spread across the Mysore city. While a few tourists stay one to three months, others stay six months to learn yoga and also teach it in their home country.

Yoga teacher K Raghavendra R Pai said that yoga has gained popularity in recent years. He said that there are more than 100 yoga centres in Bangalore, but the majority come for various reasons, including availability of accommodation, low cost of living and roads free of congestion.

The erstwhile Maharaja Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar had promoted yoga, he said.

The valedictory function of the Dasara yoga walk will be held on October 29 at 4 pm.

Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji will preside over the function. District in-charge Minister D T Jayakumar will release a souvenir. MLA M K Somashekar will preside.

He said that more than 5000 people will participate in the Yoga Walk marathon or Yogathan.

‘Yoga causes a positive change in personality, cures many disorders’-Dr Sat Bir S Khalsa

Ludhiana, October 25: Born in Canada and currently working in the US, Dr Sat Bir S Khalsa says the first thing he observes during his visits in India is chaos.

An Assistant Professor of Medicine in Harvard Medical School, Dr Khalsa has come to give a lecture on the effects of yoga at the city’s Majestic Park Plaza.

Dr Khalsa, who had been involved in sleep research, has been practising yoga for the past 35 years and has now undertaken researches on yoga for the past six to seven years.

“I have found yoga causes significant change in the personality of an individual and this can be proven scientifically. In one of my studies, I have observed that yoga caused a fall in the secretion of toxins and hormones which were released due to stress after the person started doing yoga”.

A positive attitute, a sharp mind and active body are some of the effects of yoga, which have been proven and researched in laboratories in India and abroad,

Yoga, he said, was a science and not merely a breathing exercise or gymnastics.

“Yoga definitely gives a spiritual high to an individual and peace of mind and spirituality is attained by even the practice of mere pranayam,” he said, recommending it for everyone.

He also elaborated on the diverse effects of yoga as a source of relaxation, which, he said, caused a positive effect on the autonomic nervous system.

The Border Security Force is turning to yoga!

Courtesy: IndiaEnews.com

The Border Security Force (BSF) is turning to yoga to keep its troopers fighting fit.

When A. Jayapaul, a former commandant of the Tripura-Cachar-Mizoram (TCM) frontier of BSF, saw his 'boys' suffering from stress, he decided to opt for yoga therapy.

'We have already introduced yoga during the morning physical training for 500 troopers in the Tripura-Cachar-Mizoram as well as Kolkata region informally,' Jayapaul, a yoga enthusiast himself, told IANS.

Psychiatrist John M. Ralte Long said here that separation from family and relatives could cause mental depression, which could lead to suicide and homicide among security forces. That is why they chose yoga for soldiers.

BSF personnel need yoga practice as they often complain of hypertension, heredity diabetes and other psycho-physical complications due to the nature of their job, which is to guard the country's land borders.

After introducing yoga to personnel in the Tripura area, the troopers started winning medals in the all India BSF athletic competition, Jayapaul claimed.

Said Anil Kumar, a trooper posted in Tripura: 'After practicing yoga, I won a gold medal in the marathon event at the BSF national level competition.'

Added Jayapaul: 'The boys are under duress. The rise in the number of suicides in the different forces is an issue of concern. I believe yoga can go a long way in relieving tension.'

'We have asked the defence ministry to make it (yoga) formal at least for personnel deployed in the far-flung northeast region,' he said.

Yoga helps drive mosquito borne diseases

With 88 fresh cases registered taking the total number of cases suffering from dengue so far to 1,908 in the capital, Chikungunya is playing havoc in south India with over 100 deaths and over 40,000 people found infected.

Yoga has the potential to strengthen a person's immunity to fight a disease like Chikungunya, claims a Yoga instructor in Bangalore.

People who underwent yoga are not attacked by the disease, despite all their family members suffer from it. If at all they get affected by chance, it was cured within three days.

Dengue is spread by female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, with symptoms such as fever, severe headache, joint and muscular pains, vomiting and rashes. Dengue fever, for which there is no vaccine, causes excruciating muscle and joint pains, high fever and severe headaches.

Like dengue, there is no vaccine for Chikungunya, and at best, symptoms can be countered through painkillers, intake of plenty of fluids and lots of rest.

Though the fever usually resolves on its own within three to seven days but the joint pains persist for months or even years.

Lilias Folan's experience in Yoga

BY CECILIA OLECK

[FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER]

Lilias Folan is an expert at journeys.

A renowned guru who helped introduce yoga to Americans through her PBS show, "Lilias! Yoga and You," which ran 1972-92, Folan often spends her weekends on the road conducting workshops for yoga devotees.

When she's not teaching, she's either at her home in Cincinnati or on a journey to her refuge, a 270-acre former sheep farm in Virginia that boasts a Civil War-era cabin made of chestnut logs.

But perhaps Folan's favorite journey is the one she can do anywhere, any time -- the journey into deep meditation and relaxation that she's been on for the past 40 years. She originally turned to yoga as a way to cure what she calls "the blahs."

Folan, 70, will be in Dearborn Heights this weekend to lead a workshop of classes, sponsored by the Yoga Association of Greater Detroit.

QUESTION: You're often thought of as the "first lady of yoga." Yet you got into the discipline in a thoroughly normal way. Can you tell us why you started doing yoga in the first place?

ANSWER: I began my yoga journey in the mid-'60s. Yoga was considered to be quite hippie, but that wasn't why I got into yoga. I went to my family doctor with a litany of physical ailments and he said, "Madam, there is nothing wrong with you -- you're suffering a case of the blahs. You need to exercise."

My back was aching, I had low energy -- taking care of two young sons -- I was tired all the time and smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day. ...

Yoga sounded interesting and a little different. I was curious and those are the kinds of things that bring people into yoga. In 10 weeks, I was sleeping better and in another two months my back felt stronger and six months later smoking gave me up.

Q: Now yoga is one of the most popular fitness trends out there. There are even classes that fuse yoga with other disciplines like tai chi, Pilates, etc. What do you think of its booming popularity -- and the spinoffs it has spun?

A: They're combining two traditions. I like to be clear about yoga and where it came from. It's 2,000 years old. This more contemporary use of yoga, it's fine. I just like to know my roots and where it came from. It's a deep philosophy and a science and study of itself. I've been 40 years on this journey and it's fascinating.

Q: What do you think it is about yoga that someone could practice for a lifetime and not grow out of it?

A: Isn't that interesting? I look at what you just said in wonderment myself and ask the same question. My feeling is that we have a deep wisdom in us that is dormant and it's young. As the years go by wisdom begins to deepen. ... That's the beauty of aging.

How many times can you do a downward facing dog, the basic pose of yoga? Well, it's deepened. There's a wisdom that has deepened as we practice.

By wisdom I mean that if there is an anger or fear that comes up, I can let it go by. I don't have to hold onto it.

Q: You focus a lot on helping middle-aged and older people discover yoga and your most recent book is "Lilias! Yoga Gets Better with Age" (Rodale, $22.95). What are some of the benefits?

A: What I do is say mid-aged and beyond. I'm sensitive about that. ... I have older students and I have students of all ages, size and shapes and all degrees of experience and I love that. I want to help people take the first steps with yoga.

It's easier to walk, stand, sit and sleep. ... I think mid-aged and beyond are looking at ways to maintain our health in our maturing years.

Q: What should someone look for in a good yoga instructor?

A: If you feel well and happy and energized at the end of the yoga class, chances are you are in good hands. In today's yoga world, many teachers are registered with the Yoga Alliance and that requires 200-500 hours of study. I'm a member of that. I'm an E-500 registered yoga instructor.

Q: What is a 1-minute vacation?

A: It's an experience that I bring into a yoga class. You just close your eyes and go into vacation mode.

What do you do when you're on vacation? If you're on vacation, you sigh, you say, "Isn't this pleasant?" You smile. For 30 seconds you just are on this desert island and it's the oasis within you.

Q: How often do you recommend that people do that?

A: If we think about it once a day, we're doing darn well. That's the good part of our yoga classes -- taking some nourishing part like that and putting it into your life.

Q: What would people be surprised to know about you?

A: One, I love to learn Italian. I love Italy and I love the language and I study Italian. Two, I love opera. I love to study opera and I love learning about it. Those are two of my passions. And I guess it's pretty obvious -- I adore my seven grandchildren.

Q: How has the practice of yoga changed over the years?

A: Big changes, big changes. One is that in the '60s everyone did the yoga postures the same way ... every age, no matter what, everyone did the postures the same way.

And frankly there were a lot of injuries. And that's where my teaching started to flower because I could see that there were problems.

Today there is alignment, props, consideration for age, yoga therapy. ... Now today there are many cautions. "If you can, do it this way, try it this way." There's also a huge respect from the medical community for the value of yoga postures, breathing and relaxation in managing stress.

It really is detrimental to your health to stay in a toxic body. And it's easy to turn around and it's fun. ... I want to have a good time. The joy is in the journey.

Yoga and Work Motivation- A report

By JOHN GAPS III
REGISTER COLUMNIST

October 19, 2006

Wednesday mornings start with soft music, relaxation and even chimes in the basement-level exercise area of Wesley Acres Retirement Community, 3520 Grand Ave. in Des Moines. The 7:45 a.m. yoga class is all about intention, focus and flexibility.

"The nice thing about yoga - it's for any age group, you can go at any pace," said Wellness Director Mary Heisterkamp. "Yoga helps the body continue to stay young (and) feel independent."

The hour-long Yoga class began with the four men, four women and Heisterkamp shoeless and seated. As they focused on yoga and breathing, Heisterkamp passed along affirmations.

"As you exhale, soften," Heisterkamp said to the seated class. "Start to connect to your breath, becoming present with yourself and your body. Today our intention will be centered on authentic success. No single definition fits all because we come in different sizes."

In that Yoga session eyes closed and hands on their laps, the participants quietly prepared for the extensions, twists and stretches that moved the body from the tips of their fingers to their toes.

"It's quite different," said resident Charlotte Scott, who preferred not to reveal her age. "I enjoy it. It keeps me more flexible. And I try to walk my mile or two every day."

With the lights dimmed Heisterkamp ended the yoga session gently with finger chimes and parting words of encouragement.

"Let yourself feel authentically successful today by the help of Yoga."

Yoga and Game

Want to improve your golf game and play better when traveling, all without taking a lesson, putting or hitting any balls?

That’s a tall order, but it might be possible if you visit www.yogaforgolfers.com. I’m not going to feed you a bunch of New Age hogwash: Yoga is no miracle cure, and while I have been practicing yoga for several years, I always dismissed the various golf yoga programs I have seen at resorts around the country. Why? Because the big myth of yoga for golf is that it improves your flexibility, and since everyone wants to hit it longer, many people look at it as a ticket to a better shoulder turn and more distance. If this is your goal, forget it. You are better off with a few good stretches in your bedroom each morning. Yes, regular yoga practice over time can increase your flexibility, but for many people it does not, because yoga was not invented to make people flexible.

What I’ve come to appreciate is that yoga can improve your golf game simply because the two have a lot in common. Here’s the deal: real yoga positions require you to do a million things at once, like pressing down the outside of one foot and the inside of the other while externally rotating one hip and internally rotating one thigh while focusing on your ankles and your rib cage while stretching your neck, that sort of thing. If you think about it, the issues sounds a lot like the golf swing, teaching yourself to do a lot of independent yet related motions all at the same time without short-circuiting the brain. All this builds muscle control and balance. It also focuses on stabilizing the lower body in most postures. That’s why doing yoga on a regular basis is good for golf.

But there are some shortcuts. Katherine Roberts, the founder of Yoga For Golfers, which she has been teaching for more than a decade, is a fixture on the Golf Channel as a hostess on several shows including The Big Break. Because Roberts travels all the time, teaching yoga clinics and shooting TV shows and playing golf, she often flies into town late and tees off early and has developed her own ten minute routine for adjusting the body to the abrupt shift from tarmac to tee. She shares her quick tips, as well as 8-minute pre and post round routines, in her latest DVD, “Lower Your Score,” her tenth in the yoga golf series, I had the good fortune to take one of Katherine’s yoga classes and then to play eighteen with her at the Sagamore, a resort with a classic Donald Ross course in upstate New York, and I can attest that her methods not only make you feel better while playing, in her case they make you look better to.

Purvottanasana in Yoga

Purvottanasana belongs to the clan of backward extensions and this week we show the completed pose.

"Purva" means the "east" or "front side" of the body. "Uttana" means "intense stretch." In this pose, the back of the body is extended and contracted while the front of the body is open and stretched.

This pose brings vigor to the spine and a sense of rejuvenation to the spirit. It helps relieve stiffness in the back after practicing forward bending asanas. The shoulders are stretched and opened and the wrists are exercised.

1. Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out straight in front.

2. Place your hands a few inches behind the buttocks, shoulder width apart. Point your fingers forward.

3. Press your palms down to straighten the arms. Rotate the upper arm bones out to lift and fully open your chest, then look at your chest.

4. Keep this open chest as you press your big toe mounds into the floor and lift your entire body up with an inhalation.

5. Lift your buttocks without letting your hips sag. Keep your arms straight. Distribute the weight evenly on your hands and feet.

6. Reaffirm the lift of your chest as you take your head back.

7. Lift the sides of the chest up and keep the shoulder blades into the back so that your shoulders do not round.

8. Now breathe evenly through your nose, feeling an even opening across the front of the body.

9. Stay for a few breaths, exhale and come down. Repeat a few times, working to increase flexibility and stability in the pose while maintaining evenness in the arch of the spine.

Yoga and Indian army

Kavita Suri discovers the new mantra being practised by the Indian army soldiers posted at Siachen Glacier, the world’s highest and coldest battlefield


Do you belong to that generation of young Indians who, after getting inspired by yoga guru Swami Ramdev, have made the ancient Indian health tradition a part of their modern-day stress-filled lives? If yes, needless to ask how yoga has worked wonders for you.
Though it is gaining popularity in recent times, the sages and rishis have been practicing it since aeons at the high peaks of the Himalayas.
And when part of these Himalayan ranges turn into the world’s highest and coldest battlefield, the army has to ensure its troops remain in good health and endure extreme weather conditions. Perhaps, this is the reason why the Indian army has adopted yoga for its troops in the Himalayas.
At heights ranging from 11,000 to 21,000 feet with temperatures that can plummet to minus 60 degrees Celsius, the army troops have started yoga for the past few months at the Siachen Glacier, which is the world’s highest battlefield and also in some other parts of Ladakh.
For keeping good health, yoga is a good option especially since any rapid training exercise in the rarefied air with very low oxygen concentration can lead to physical disorders. Soldiers posted on the icy mountains of the Siachen glacier are exposed to the physical extremes of high altitude and hypoxia, besides the psychological stresses of isolation, monotony, separation from family etc.
In such circumstances, yoga can prove to be very beneficial.
“We recently trained our first batch of soldiers in collaboration with the Morarji Desai Institute of Yoga, New Delhi,” informs Lt. Colonel H. Himashree, Officer in-charge, High Altitude Medical Research Centre (HAMRC), 153 General Hospital of the 14 Corps which is the highest multi-specialty hospital in the world.
Himashree who specialises in high altitude medicine and extreme cold conditions elaborates that they have trained various army units in Ladakh with the help of yoga instructors. These trained soldiers have gone back to their respective units and are now imparting yoga training to other soldiers.
“We are trying to make every unit self-sufficient as far as yoga is concerned,” she says, adding the two month-long training has been especially designed by HAMRC with DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation).
There are certain things the soldiers are not supposed to do in high altitude areas when they are inducted in these areas which they however, do not know.
So, nothing is better than a tailor-made yoga package on the dizzy heights of Siachen. The boys also undergo exams, which are both written and practical as well. When they pass it, they become trainers.
Till now, they have trained 102 trained boys with the help of instructors from Moraraji Desai Institute of Yoga, New Delhi at Karu, Partappur, Kumbathang and other areas in Ladakh with different units. These boys are now successfully imparting yoga lessons to the troops in different forward areas in Ladakh.
It is a combination of ‘pranayama’ and ‘asanas’ and meditation.
But even after the training, how successful is the course or training on the glacier where even taking a single step is a big strain in itself?
“Among all the asanas – Surya Namaskar, Pawan Mukhtasana, Padamasana, Dhanurasana, Halasana, that the troops practice at high altitude areas of Ladakh, Pranayama was found to be very useful to the soldiers at the glacier’s top,” says Colonel Himashree.
Five minutes of pranayama, i.e. deep breathing, alternate nostril breathing and abdominal breathing; and five minutes of meditation is working wonders for the troops posted on the world’s highest battlefield.
Confirms an officer Lt. Saurabh Tripathi who has just been de-inducted from Siachen glacier:
“As there is very small space available inside the posts on the top of the glacier, of all the Asanas and forms of Yoga, ‘Pranayama’ is proving to be very helpful. And for that, you don’t need to have more space”.
As the HAMRC is monitoring the progress of the soldiers, the feedback that they get is that Yoga is extremely helpful in high altitude areas.
Those who practise it are well but those who are not are suffering health wise, says Colonel Himashree.
As most of the soldiers give up smoking and alcohol before getting inducted, yoga certainly helps them in maintaining good health for those three months when they are posted here,” informs Brigadier Om Prakash who heads Siachen Brigaden based at Pratappur. Their physical fitness level increases and mental faculties get sharpened.
Yoga reduces wear and tear of the heart and the HAMRC says that its results show that it produces mental tranquillity, greater alertness, flexibility and enhanced tolerance to cold.
“Our objective is the soldier’s ability to survive and efficiency especially on the Siachen glacier where only half as much oxygen as the sea level is available, and the temperatures dip to minus 60 degrees Centigrade,” says Brigadier Om Prakash.
He adds that keeping the troops healthy and fighting fit under such adverse environmental conditions calls for detailed insights into human physiology at extreme altitudes and yoga seems to be the best option in those heights.

Uthrasan in Yoga

UTHRASANA:

Yoga posture Ushtrasana in a Sanskrit language means a camel, hence the name. The Camel is an advanced and powerful yoga posture, which should be only practiced by intermediate and advanced students in a full version. It opens up the whole front of the body and stimulates the respiratory, circulatory, nervous and endocrine systems.

The Camel pose is a yoga posture that should be done after the body is warmed up sufficiently as it provides a quite deep backbend. The yoga posture is a transition between the simpler prone backbend, the Bow pose (Dhanuranasa) and the more challenging backbend, the Wheel (Chakrasana).

After completing the Camel posture, always release the lower back by going into the counter pose, the Child's pose (Shashankasana) and stay there for a while.

The yoga posture Camel is very beneficial for the digestive and reproductive systems. It stretches the stomach and intestines. This difficult backward bend loosens up the vertebrae and stimulates the spinal nerves, relieving rounded shoulders.

It stretches the spine, back muscles, shoulders and arms. It improves flexibility of the spine and improves posture. It opens the throat as it strengthens the neck muscles and increases blood flow to the brain.

It is a good workout for the ankles, thighs and groins, and it helps to tone the calf, neck and abdominal muscles.

The Camel has many benefits for the practitioner; however, in some health conditions this posture should not be practiced.

Three important reasons (out of many) not to do yoga posture – Camel:

* Anyone with severe back problems such as Lumbago

(Lumbago is mild to severe pain or discomfort in the area of the lower back. It often occurs in younger people whose work involves physical effort but also not uncommon in older age.)

* In case of Hital hernia do not attempt this yoga posture.(Hiatal hernia occurs in the chest area and affects the digestive system.)

* In case of chronic knee or knee operation, or neck injury, avoid this yoga posture

Caution: Always check with your doctor if you have any doubts or concerns regarding the suitability of this pose for you. The reader of this article should exercise all precautions before deciding to attempt this posture and it is best to perform yoga posture in presence of qualified yoga teacher.

Mr.Subodh Gupta, a Corporate Yoga Trainer has conducted more than 500 workshops on Yoga and Stress Management.

Art of Breathing in Yoga

Hundreds of people gathered at Royal Albert's Palace yesterday to meet the Indian yoga guru Baba Ramdev.

Ramdev is known for healing diseases through Pranayama, an aspect of yoga that deals with breathing.

He runs Patanjali Yogpeeth at Haridwar and has been invited to deliver a lecture at a two-day conference on poverty alleviation being conducted by a standing council of the United Nations. The conference is part of a 2000 U.N. initiative that pledged to eradicate poverty by 2015.

Ramdev spent part of yesterday responding to an invitation by Albert Jasani, owner of Royal Albert's Palace, to speak on "Yoga and Health" at the banquet hall.

Draped in a saffron outfit and wearing wooden sandals, with no coat to protect him from yesterday's chilly weather, Ramdev performed seven exercises of Pranayama in front of the audience of about 700.

"Smooth and long breathing can prevent disease," said P. Ramanathan of Franklin, a yoga teacher who came to see Ramdev and believes in his philosophy of breathing in yoga.

Yoga and Pain Management

Scoliosis affects 2 percent to 3 percent of the population, or an estimated 6 million people in the United States, and there is no cure, the foundation said. Scoliosis affects infants, adolescents and adults worldwide with little regard to race or socioeconomic status.

The primary age of onset for scoliosis is 10 to 15, occurring equally among both genders. The disease can affect the quality of life with limited activity, pain, reduced respiratory function or diminished self-esteem, the foundation said.

Johnson's condition was diagnosed when she was in the 10th grade. She had surgery at age 17 to implant two medal rods to stabilize and straighten her spine. About three years later in 1991, she had the noticeable rods removed, but was then riddled with pain, soreness, numbness and tingling in her back and shoulders.

She learned to live with the pain and thought that it would just be her lot in life. As the pain steadily increased, a friend told her about yoga classes designed to ease the discomfort associated with scoliosis.

"It got to the point where I had to do something," Johnson said. Now at 34, she has learned to manage the pain.

Yoga's benefits and limitations

Valerie Kiser, a Clemmons yoga instructor, said that yoga can be very therapeutic for the discomfort and pain associated with scoliosis.

"I'm not saying it will straighten the back," Kiser said. "Bit it has changed the degree of the curve and reduced the pain by practicing yoga."

Joseph O'Brien, the foundation's president and chief executive officer, said that there can be benefits to practicing yoga. As someone with scoliosis who has had four surgeries, he said he has found some relief with yoga, although he doesn't practice it regularly. "You just have to be careful of what yoga can and cannot do," O'Brien said. "There is no evidence that yoga can reduce the curve or stop the progression of the scoliosis. There is, however, a benefit involved with learning how to breathe, increasing mobility and flexibility."

For Johnson, those are exactly the things that have greatly improved since she started practicing yoga four years ago.

Yoga Can Improve Sleep in Cancer Patients

The first study to look at the use of yoga by cancer patients found the combination of movement and meditation led to better sleep, report researchers at Rice and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The small study concluded that lymphoma patients who practiced Tibetan yoga for seven weeks fell asleep faster, slept longer, and felt that their overall quality of sleep improved, compared with a control group of patients with lymphoma who did not practice yoga. Those who practiced yoga also used less sleep medication. The study was reported in the April 15 online issue of the journalCancer.

The study had 39 patients randomized to either yoga practice or to a wait-list. The distribution of cancer stage across the participants was even, and 15 patients in each group were not receiving treatment at the time for their lymphoma. Patients in the yoga group were asked to attend seven weekly yoga sessions at M.D. Anderson. In the patient evaluations, all of the people who practiced yoga said they found the program useful, and more than half said they practiced some aspect of the program at least twice a week during the follow-up period.

Alejandro Chaoul-Reich, a graduate student in religious studies at Rice and co-author of the study, says the results have been encouraging. “This is another way to help with the healing process,” he says. A long-time practitioner of yoga, Chaoul-Reich says yoga can enhance a person’s meditative practice and allow them to be more in touch with their inner self. Yoga also can greatly reduce stress levels. “It is a good option,” he notes, “because you work with your body, energy, and mind. It can help you change your lifestyle. It’s very helpful in the way you live and relate to illness and other people.”

Although the study did not find differences between the groups in other quality-of-life measures, such as anxiety, depression, and fatigue, the study’s lead author, Lorenzo Cohen, indicates this was likely because the study was conducted during a short period of time. Cohen, an associate professor in the departments of behavioral science and palliative care and rehabilitation medicine and the director of the Integrative Medicine Program at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, says practitioners of yoga told researchers the techniques need to be practiced for at least six months before full benefits can be appreciated. “It’s remarkable,” he says, “that after seven weekly classes we were able to see significant improvements in overall sleep quality across a three-month follow-up time frame.”

Yoga usually includes regulated breathing, moving through various postures, and meditations. The type most commonly practiced in the West primarily comes from the Indian tradition, specifically the form known as Hatha yoga. Less commonly practiced is Tibetan yoga, about which little is known and whose benefits have not been researched, Cohen says. Chaoul-Reich, who led the weekly yoga sessions, points out that Tibetan yoga is different from other forms of yoga because the postures repeat particular movements and the breath is held.

“We believe this form of yoga may be particularly useful for patients undergoing and recovering from chemotherapy,” Cohen says. “The objective of using yoga in patients who have been or are being treated for cancer is not necessarily to increase length of life but to improve the quality of life. In cancer patients, fatigue is not necessarily directly related to the quality of sleep, but given such a small study, the fact that sleep was improved suggests that the health effects of yoga should be further explored.”

An ongoing study by Cohen and other researchers is measuring the levels of stress hormones and immune function in breast cancer patients practicing Tibetan yoga.

The study was funded by a grant from the Bruce S. Gelb Foundation. The co-authors are Carla Warneke and Alma Rodriguez of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Rachel Fouladi of Simon Fraser University.