Book of Yoga

    There is a welcome awakening among the people. This awakening is towards the adoption of our ancient or traditional wisdom, with all its practices, rituals and principles, which permeated the daily lives. This awakening has brought to light the need for 360 degree change in lifestyles away from the so-called modern lifestyle to the more traditional one. One aspect of this key change noticeable among the masses is the adoption of yoga. While this ancient science of wellness has existed for thousands of years, the awakening on mass scale has happened only now, thanks to some of the prominent yoga gurus of this and the past generation and the mediums of mass communication. The role of Late Shri BKS Iyengar , Baba Ram Dev , Shri K. Pattabhi Jois and other yoga exponents has been crucial in this awakening. Not surprisingly, you find that a whole lot of people are learning yoga and some of them are taking to teaching this wellness regime to the people as well. Many cities o...

    Rishikesh is one of the most beautiful and scenic locations situated in the laps of Himalayas in the state or province of Uttarakhand. Literally, it means the 'hair strand of a yogi' which signifies the importance of the city as a home of yogis since centuries. The practice of yoga, the divinity associated with this land and the influence of River Ganga on lives of people has contributed to make it a 'Capital of Yoga' for the world at large. Last few decades have seen fast development with many centers imparting Rishikesh yoga teacher training courses (YTTCs) mushrooming here. It is also the place where International Day of Yoga is conducted annually. While many of the Rishikesh YTTCs are quite old, many of these have been set up in past few decades. These centers are the prime destinations for people from other countries to learn yoga in order to become teachers. Most of the yoga training centres in Rishikesh are run by young people who have put in hard pract...

  Ustrasana is one of the difficult asanas in yoga. It has been named so because the pose depits a camel. It is not something which can be done with perfection and with ease in one go. It might require some preparation before one can actually get to do it. Before doing this asanas, it is important that yo do not have any spine related problem since the spine is required to stretch or bend a little backward along with the head. So, the muscles around the neck and cervical region along with those of spine, lower back and stomach area get stretched.  While Ustrasana can be done by most of the people, some people who are not able to do it can do the Ardh Ustrasana (or Half Camel Pose) and slowly try to achieve the complete posture. Let us first describe the Complete Ustrasana. Please have a look at the image on top. The beginning You can make the beginning by sitting either in Vajrasana (in which you can sit on both your legs bent backwards) or by remaining standing on your knee...

  It goes to the credit and appreciation of our ancient yogis that they knew about human body much better than we know it today, even with all the medical advancements. Their knowledge permeated not only through the body parts and organs but also with energy flows. They were able to establish the precise energy-centers, determine the flow of energies, find out why imbalances existed, knew their effect on physical and mental states of body and how to restore the balance in the energy flows. The aim of this article is to know about the imbalances of each of these vayus, its adverse impact on body and how to restore the balance. The Prana Vayu Prana Vayu is located at the topmost part of the body- chest and head. The element of air is dominant in this energy field which flows from navel to throat. This vayu is believed to be good for maintaining proper functioning of heart, lungs, breathing, eating, drinking, swallowing and circulation of blood. It is also crucial for mental ...