Practice the Breath of Fire Kundalini Yoga Pranayama
What Is The Breath of Fire Kundalini Yoga Pranayama?
The first Yoga breathing exercise we will explore lies at the heart of Kundalini Yoga practice, it is the legendary Breath of Fire Yoga Pranayama.
Benefits of Breath of Fire Kundalini Yoga Pranayama:
Primary:
Quickly oxygenates your blood, thus helping the body detoxify itself and remove waste more effectively.
Builds lung capacity and helps purify the respiratory system.
Generates heat and increases your level of energy by activating the energy flows in your body.
Syncronizes your entire system under one rhythm, thus promoting greater internal harmony and health.
Secondary:
Balances and strengthens the Nervous System.
Magnifies the benefits of exercises done in conjunction with this breath.
When done forcefully, the pulsating of the diaphragm massages the internal organs, thus improving the digestive system.
Cautions for Practicing Breath of Fire Kundalini Yoga Pranayama:
If you feel dizzy when practicing Breath of Fire, you should stop and substitute normal breathing. If you suffer from vertigo, you should use caution in practicing this breathing exercise.
If you are menstruating you should not practice Breath of Fire, use Long Deep Breathing instead.
You should be careful practicing Breath of Fire if you have high blood pressure, heart disease or suffer from stroke or epilepsy. Also, if you have acid or heat related gastric issues such as ulcers you should use caution.
How To Do Basic Breath of Fire Kundalini Yoga Pranayama:
To practice this breathing exercise sit up in a comfortable position.
Elongate your spine upwards, lengthen your neck and subtly bring your chin back and in like a soldier at attention. This will align the spine with the back of your head.
Close your eyes.
Rest your hands in any comfortable position.
Relax your stomach muscles.
Now begin to breathe rapidly through the nose with equal emphasis on the inhalation and exhalation. It will be like very fast sniffing. Keep the breath shallow, just at the tip of the nose. Proceed at a comfortable pace and establish a steady rhythm. Pay no special attention to the chest or diaphragm other that staying relaxed. You will find the stomach pulses on its own in rhythm to the breath.
Water yoga is low impact and gentle on the muscles and joints, making it perfect for the elderly, pregnant women and people with injuries or chronic conditions. Additionally, the buoyancy of the water cushions falls and makes certain postures, like handstands, safer than on land. With a little creativity, almost any land asana will translate to water. However, there are some poses that lend themselves to water already.
Floating Forward Bend
In shallow water, hold on to the edge of the pool and place the soles of the feet against the side of the pool, with your knees bent. Slowly straighten your legs and rest your torso on your thighs. Hold the pose for 10 seconds. Repeat three times.
Wall Cobra
Stand in chest-deep water approximately one foot from the edge of the pool. Lean forward until your navel touches the wall of the pool. Arch your back and hold the pose for 10 seconds. Repeat three times.
Floating Boat Pose
Float on your back in the shallow end of the pool. Engage your abs, point your toes and hinge at the hips so that your toes and head are both out of the water. Extend your arms toward your toes and hold the pose for 10 seconds. Repeat three times.
Floating Half Bow Pose
Float on your back in the shallow end of the pool. Extend your right arm overhead and bend your left leg into the water. Grab your left ankle with your left hand, engage your abs and open your chest. If you begin to roll to the right, extend your right arm sideways to stabilize. Hold the pose for 10 seconds and alternate to the other leg. Repeat three times on each leg.
I love yoga, it’s similar to tai chi, and improves you flexibility and balance. What you do is not important. How you do what you do, is important! Yoga also means union. What union? Whether union between the body and the mind? Or the mind with the spirit? The traditionally accepted belief (or truth, depending upon the level of your spiritual progression) is the union between the Jeevatman and the Paramatman- between one’s individual consciousness and the universal consciousness.
Yoga is intensely linked to breathing. It is about channeling the energy through breath. Another intimate alley of yoga is meditation.
You can not think of yoga without understanding at least some of the basic techniques of meditation! Spiritual appreciation as to the nature of the human body, who controls it all of the time, is absolutely essential for proper understanding of various practices that make the science of yoga.
Have you tried out yoga on a paddle board? It’s beautiful!
If you are interested in yoga on water, check out these resources here!
Women doing yoga on water! click here! More info here!
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One of the main problems that deter a person’s success is their lack of concentration.
Lapses encourage disturbances to get in the way and stall progress. If ones wishes to proceed on their road to success, it is imperative they learn how to concentrate. Here, we show you some easy to learn exercises that are easy to implement.
1) Silence or Noise:
Most people cannot concentrate when it is too noisy, but others work better with music or others in the midst of a crowded room.
If you are not aware as yet what best suits you, then try out the different environments. How? Take a notepad and a pencil or pen with you and try and write down a letter in all the three circumstances in a set amount of time. Ten minutes.
That is all you will need to determine where your source of concentration lies. How? Check not only for length but also for development as that is more important.
2) Focal Point:
Every morning, before you leave for work or on the way, stare at any object for ten minutes. You can do this while in the toilet, car or bus. You will find this difficult, but whatever happens, do not move your gaze away.
Hold it. Wait. And then, as the minutes pass you will find yourself deeply meditating about things that happened to you yesterday or challenges you have to face in a few minutes.
In the beginning, you can do this while staring at the object from tip number two, but if you wish to move towards real concentration, do this separetly. Sit down on the floor. If its hard, place a cushion. Close your eyes.
Breathe. Count the number of inhales. When you have reached 100, start counting backwards but this time count the exhales.
Mastering this will take you a while, but once you do move on to other kinds of mathemathical calculations such as naming the months of the year from December backwards or alphabetically. After that, make up exercises as you like.
4) Movement:
Focus on an animal: cat, dog or even ant or bird. Follow their every movement as if they exist in a vaccumm. Study every tiny spot on their body. The point of this is to learn how to diversify your concentration in such a way that movement does not deter you from your goal.
Practice the above four tips and like magic, you will start enjoying life to its fullest because you will be able to focus on the things you want to focus on and disregard those that disrupt.
Practive the above tips daily and you will be that much more closer to achieving your dreams and goals.