Yoga Therapy – Ultimate Guide to a better life
How does Yoga give strength, longevity, flexibility to your body and as a result control your emotions by taming down your thoughts.
Yoga Is known for its benefits, in the western culture it’s been associated to beautiful bodies, expensive & trendy yoga studios and a multibillionaire industry. Is Yoga really for fit bodies? Is there any other benefit besides posing for Instagram to attract more followers? Let’s come to that.
When I first started yoga back on 2012 I went to one of the yoga studios back in São Paulo, I was so curious, have heard about yoga from a few people, but back than it was a far practice to all of this gyms and only few & chosen places taught the practice. I was so amazed by the studio, that had strict vegetarian teachers, they seemed so happy vs me and my stressed and clueless current job to pay the bills. The sexy and attractive figures shined on their own, they have that sense of community and early morning practices on Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo. I practiced for 3 months, simply loved the Chai in the end of the practice, I had this sweet young yoga teacher and I literally thought it was impossible to follow her up. I was more pissed and shy because I would simply sweat so much during the practice and remember walking up to her to ask her how could I dim down my sweat. Was it something wrong with me?
And she took me to a long conversation about the benefits of being Vegetarian, I just blocked the information trying to tell myself not to get brain washed by some weird vegetarianism “sect”. Literally 8 years after that I find myself Vegetarian, teaching Yoga & meditation, swear upon and have lived very closely the benefits of the healing lifestyle. Recovering from Psychosomatic disease, depression, stress, self-unworthiness and food impulsive disorders.
In the 8-fold path of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga, Asanas are the 3rd step. First you have to pass through the attitudes, the do’s & don’ts to make the path extremely more effective and make you a true yogi/yogini.
Speaking about the effect of Asana on our body & mind, there are originally 54 asana according to Hatha Yoga Pradipika, that if practiced with awareness, the right mindset and the correct breathing techniques, might just take you to the deepest mindful experience of your life. If the Asana practice is done mechanically it becomes just like any other work out. But the fact that you concentrate so much on your breath and actually investigate your body in such a way to follow the organic flow of the breath during the pose and the flow makes it something else altogether.
If done articulately with the breath it can perform “heavy” positive work on your nervous system which will reflect in many different ways. But the practice is such, that when done the right way can literally change someone’s life 360 degrees.
By releasing and softening your nervous system, stress & anxiety run away and jump the window. Those umber able number of thoughts that once were bugging you, begin to dissipate and you can actually find gaps between them. By the end of the practice when you actually sit for meditation you are on the top of the world. And you could actually sit for long time and dive deep into meditation, which usually doesn’t happen if you practice on a studio that have back to back classes and you have to leave the class, once you feel like you have almost reached Nirvana / Samadhi.
Keep your practice: longevity, strength, flexibility and most important peace of mind will come with it. Do your duty towards yourself? And indulge in the benefits.
