Yoga practice can enhance your life in many positive ways A Brief History of Yoga:-

Hatha Yoga is a complete science of Life that originated in India many thousands of years ago. One of the oldest known pictures of someone practising a yoga pose is carved on a stone seal dating from about 2500 BC and was found in the Indus Valley.

In Sanskrit, the word 'yoga' means union; 'ha', means sun and 'tha' means moon. Therefore "hatha yoga" means a balanced union - a system for creating the balanced well being of the total person. Yoga joins body, mind and spirit into a balanced whole.

When not at rest, consider yourself STRESSED. Stretch that from just physical to mental, or emotional, and you have the makings of a breakdown. But there is little that most urban women seem to be able to do about stress, be it due to greater demands from family, work, or just balancing both.

Has it ever struck you that it really is all in the mind? Our in-house yoga guru and practitioner, Carmine Maliakal, explains below exactly how the healing powers of yoga de-stress you completely through the mind. Also, check the tips that follow. Believe her, since she’s herself an example of the flex-yogic who has attained moksha.

The subtle state of the body is ‘mind’ and the gross state of the mind is ‘body’. Both are inter-related and interdependent. Example: when asked, “What’s the matter?” the reply usually is “Never mind.” When asked, “What’s on your mind?”, the double-quick reply is “Doesn’t matter”. So, mind and matter are inseparable.

My simple rule where yoga and women are concerned: Yoga is an association for our existence and constitutes the laws of life. Mind control through meditation is an art of living in attention without tension at the physical, mental and verbal levels. All the tools lie within our mind, and learning to utilise them is a step towards a stress-free life. Actually, this art of witnessing helps to overcome the feeling of attachment and aversion, which are the root causes of all mental turmoil leading to stress. If staying healthy is a passion, you too could succeed.

The effects of Meditation on the mind

• The mind is quietened and reaches a still stage of tranquility.
• Energy is produced and this energy can be redirected to beat stress.
• Meditation calms and tones the nervous system, relaxes and harmonizes psychic energies, and recharges and cultivates serenity.
• Meditation reduces the number of thoughts to open the space between thoughts and to smooth out tense waves in the mind.

Only when the body has been steady and still for some time will meditation be experienced. Learning to relax periodically through Shavasana (letting go off the physical & mental tension) is also essential to coordinate and yield to the universal force to contemplate into Meditation. Tensions causes pain and block our life-force, however, prana and relaxation unfold it. So just being quiet and still and relaxing the total being is the first attempt towards busting stress.