Yoga Increases your blood flow

Everything gets better with Yoga, including the circulation of blood in your body. Some basic relaxation exercises in Yoga will naturally make blood circulate in your feet and hands. Your cells are also nourished with more oxygen to perform better. Twisting poses in Yoga are said to remove venous blood found in internal organs, allowing fresh oxygenated blood to come in at the release of the twisted body part. Venous blood from the pelvis and legs are allowed to flow back to the heart when inverted poses are taken. 

Leg swelling that result from kidney or heart problem can be relieved in the process. The red blood cells carrying oxygen, as well as hemoglobin can receive a boost through Yoga practice. It does not end there, Yoga also thins the blood, causing platelets to be less sticky and reducing the level of proteins that cause the presence of clots in the blood. This can be a life enhancer, reducing the risk of strokes and heart attacks caused by presence of clots in the blood.

Ashtanga Yoga

One of the more advanced styles of yoga offered at the retreat is Ashtanga yoga. This style originates from Mysore, India where it was developed by TirumalaiKrishnamacharya and Krishna PattabhiJois. The practice of this style is intense, both physically and mentally. Poses are not held but instead the practitioner is constantly moving. There is also a specific order of poses that should be followed in order to rediscover your full capacity for physical, mental, and spiritual growth. You will learn how to combine correct breathing, postures, gazing point, and bandas (energetic locks), to acquire control over your own senses and consciousness. Those we practice Ashtangawith devotion will gain balance of mind and body.

Ashtanga Mysore Style

For those who prefer to move at their own pace, Mysore style might be right for you. Each practitioner is allowed to have their own practice, with the teacher only moving you to the next posture when you are ready. You will have responsibility for your own practice and speed of learning. Your personal sequence of pose will become a part of you, as you practice them daily, committing them to memory until they become instinctual.

Your teacher will also fully learn your practice and those of your fellow students. This connection between you and your teacher and your fellow practitioners helps to create a sense of community. You will soon learn the names of the community members and be inspired as you see others accomplishing amazing things in their own practices. Knowing that you have all started from the beginning, putting in extraordinary effort and work to reach your personal goals is truly life affirming.

The path of Mysore is not an easy one. You must challenge yourself to meet your own goals. You cannot leave the learning process up to your teacher; it is on your shoulders to improve yourself. You will arise early in the morning, when the world is still,to devote yourself to your practice.

Have a truly relaxing holiday with a yoga retreat in Thailand

 

Holidays are the one thing that we all look forward to with great excitement and anticipation. The time of work, the chance to indulge in some sun, new and exotic food to try and of course some time to simply sit and do nothing are of the aspects that make the thought of a holiday so appealing. However, in reality it often doesn’t turn out quite like that and most of us will have had a holiday at one time or another, from which we actually returned home more stressed than when we left. At the end of the day living out of a suitcase, keeping the kids under control for a fortnight and waiting in endless queues at the airport all create unwanted stress and frustration.

For a vacation that truly allows you to relax, how about incorporating some yoga into the experience. A yoga retreat allows you to spend some time doing nothing but clearing out your own mind and body of the clutter and toxins that have built up over the year. You can choose how much time to spend at a retreat such as the Yoga Retreat – Koh Phangan, with choices including 5, 10, 14 and 30-day programs. You could incorporate this into your Thailand holiday or you could spend your entire vacation staying in the serenity of the island retreat and leave feeling truly rejuvenated.

Combining yoga with detox for a full body cleanse

Many people believe that the best way to properly cleanse both your mind and body at the same time is through a combination of yoga and detox. The result of such should be a feeling rejuvenation, energy and clarity of mind. They compliment each other wonderfully as the detox cleans your body of the nasty toxins and substances that have built up and prevent you from adding any more to it. In the meantime, yoga offers a form of gentle exercise, which helps to promote weight loss and keeps the blood flowing around the body. It also provides you with a mental and emotional cleanse that it gained through controlled breathing and reaching a completely peaceful and relaxed state of mind.

 

The Yoga Retreat in Koh Phangan offers an excellent selection of courses, some of which combine detox with yoga and can be carried out for various lengths of time depending on your availability. A detox is a great way to give your body a fresh start and they always best carried out under the guidance of experienced professionals. At this particular retreat on the beautiful island, Koh Phangan individuals are surrounded by supportive staff who can offer their advice and assistance as well as make the experience all the more enjoyable.

Yoga Retreat Classes

Overview of classes offered by yoga retreats

Yoga retreats usually offer courses or packages that last for a number of days and sometimes as long as a month. They often integrate a number of different healthy living workshops such as yoga and meditation as well as detox and fasting. Longer retreats are ideal for those coming on holiday looking specifically to focus and develop their yoga skills or to get reenergised and rejuvenated before heading home. However, there are shorter options in the form of daily workshops and even hourly classes enabling you to integrate yoga, meditation or another area into your holiday to the extent that suits you. 

Health and wellness retreats such as The Yoga Retreat on Koh Phangan, tend to focus on yoga and meditation when it comes to hourly classes. This is because you can easily pick up where you left off when it comes to exercise such as yoga, whereas detox, fasts and cleanses require a number of days in order to be carried out properly. As well as paying for individual hourly classes, The Yoga Retreat also offers special passes whereby you pay for 10, 20 or 30 classes in one go in order to benefit from a significant discount. 

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The Eight Limbs Of Yoga

The eight limbs of yoga are the basics and core of yoga practice. The eight limbs was designed by the great sage Patanjali. He shared an eight-limbed path thousands of years ago that forms the basic framework of a yoga practice. The aim of the practice is that after a while, none of the elements will be worth more than another in terms of hierarchy.

The Eight Limbs are:

1. Yama – Universal Morality (there are 5 yamas; non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence and non-hoarding)
2. Asanas – Posture of the body (dissolves tension, builds strength, eliminates toxins and increases circulation)
3. Niyama – Personal observations (5 niyamas; cleanliness, contentment, purification, sacred texts study and devotion)
4. Pratyahara – Controlling of your senses (touch, taste, see, smell and hear)
5. Pranayama – Breathing exercises (stops your breathing from becoming restricted, erratic or choppy in mood swings)
6. Dhyana – Meditation and devotion (dissolves separateness and creates peace)
7. Dharana – Concentration levels and awareness (creates a calm and still mind)
8. Samadhi – Unity (the goal of all yoga, creates a complete state of consciousness)

Start by practicing the first limb, then extend to the second, the third and so on. Eventually, when you get used to practicing and get good at these practices, you will have achieved all that Patanjali aimed for each person to achieve by doing so. However, in order to perform them correctly, you need to be able to focus, relax and clear your mind so that each practice (limb) comes naturally to you. Prepare to reach the height of your human experience!

Introduction To Hatha Yoga

Hatha yoga is something that not many people may have heard of, not even the people who steep themselves into the systems of alternative medicine however it is a system that has been around for many a years.

Hath yoga otherwise called hatha vidya is a method of yoga that was taught in the 15^th century by Yogi Swatmarama in the spiritual home of yoga India. The system finds its roots based on differing breathing exercises and in particular that of asanas and pranayama techniques.

Swatmarama started that this system of yoga was a stepping stone in the preparation stage of body cleansing so that the human body could then reach higher stages of meditation and yoga. It is believed that Hatha yoga gives the chance to become much more aware in yourself and life and that it goes much further than traditional  breathing exercises which are normally only for a healthy body.

Swatmarama taught that by using this type of yoga that you would not just be strengthen and purifying the body but you would also be working towards a healthy mind while promoting a body and mind connection. Much of the traditional models of yoga that are practiced nowadays have some link to this method of yoga making it one of the fathering methods for that which people undertake now.