How often do you think to yourself that “should I be doing yoga” or “should I be hitting the gym?” Well don’t hit your brain so hard, let’s address this question together, but first, we wish all our readers a Very Happy International Yoga Day. This day is marked every year on 21st June to recognize the significance of simple yet powerful Yog Asanas that are one of the most effective ways of being mindful, healthy, and fit. How?
Well, they say Yoga is like a retreat to our body from our busy messy lives. It helps to calm
our minds and binds our souls to a mindful journey towards healthy well-being. The word yoga itself is originated from the Sanskrit word Yuj which means ‘to join’ or ‘to unite”. It is known to honor the physical, mental, spiritual, intellectual, and emotional aspects of an individual. It helps our minds avoid things that can cause an inescapable battle inside like violence and guide us towards a moral path. It teaches us the discipline, the ‘Niyama’ to follow the ethical and healthy practices, and ‘pratyahara’, the control that we need to observe while following a healthy diet. But most importantly it encompasses the ” Asanas”, the postures to keep our bodies fit, agile, and flexible to avoid improper expansion of fats in a human body.Performing these Asanas is like manipulating your energy in a certain direction and transforming your mind and body, away from all the compulsive and unhealthy practices in life. There are a total of 84 yoga asanas which means 84 postures and 84 ways to elevate your energy and attain joy, wellness, and blissfulness. Yoga has known to cure diseases like
● Asthma through pranayam and anulom-vulomserve.
● Arthritis through suryanamaskar.
● Diabetes through triangular posses that can help in controlling blood sugar levels.
● Hypertension and Depression through uttanasana.
● Poly Cystic Ovaries where the corpse pose can have a powerful effect on the functions of ovarian cysts.
● Lower Back Pain can be relieved through tree pose or the tadasana.
As time has evolved we have associated yoga we fitness and flexibility. The question now, is Yoga enough, or do we need some exercise?
Physical fitness results from cardio, muscular strength, endurance, body composition, flexibility, balance, agility, and power. Cardio exercises include aerobic exercises that allow the system to upgrade and move oxygen while endurance exercises include weight training and resistance training that elevate your muscle strength. Stretching is a great form of flexibility exercise that helps one to remove all the tension and stress between various joints in the body, soothing its functions and the great news is, Yoga facilitates this all.
Intensity
The only difference may be the intensity of a workout, and here we are not only talking about how much you sweat but the maximum percentage of your heart rate reached during an exercise which is 77–95% but in Yoga is as low as 42%. Hence one can group some cardio with active styles of Yogasanas like Vinyasa, Power Yoga, or Ashtanga Vinyasa to produce higher results.
Strength
Yoga is best known to push strengths that give a good exercise to maintain the muscles of our front side upper body. The Chaturanga yoga san, the forearm stand or handstand helps to enhance our chest, shoulders, and triceps but what about our back? You can add some exercise that enables you to Pull because that develops the backside of your upper body: the lats, traps, rhomboids, posterior delts, and biceps. Since your body needs strength overall, Off the yoga mat, rock climbing and bouldering can be a good supplement to yogasanas.
Movements variability
Yogasanas are certainly defined, we may follow them in different sequences or more or less indifferent sets. They certainly increase our control in every movement and release energy in different directions but what if you suddenly bent down to pick something up or decided to take the stairs or just turn to pull something up, is your body ready for this kind of sudden movement? Hence it’s important to move a bit away from the regular alignment and be prepared for some sudden unconscious movements and train your joints, tissues, and muscles for varied motions and positions. Introduce new shapes and loads into your movement practice that can boost your central nervous system, motor learning, and intermuscular coordination like squats, squat jumps, diamond pushups, or even a plank after or before your yoga sessions.Utakatasana or chair pose; Urdhva Mukha Svanasana or upward facing dog pose; Bhujangasana or cobra pose neutral and moderate in power and complementing it with Non-weight-bearing activities like swimming, water aerobics, exercise biking that the bones can tolerate and avoid the risk of fractures.
Nourishment is often overlooked but if you are so keen on losing those extra pounds, make sure your body is also consuming enough proteins to avoid weakness and dehydration. Exercise and yoga may be the king but right nutrition is the queen, do not focus on either of them, together they make a healthy province. Hexagon Nutrition deals with Micronutrient powders, also known as MNPs, one-gram sachets that contain essential vitamins and minerals, sprinkled onto food just before consumption that are essential to maintain nutrition and fight any kind of micronutrient deficiencies. Contact us at www.HexagonNutrition.com to know more and explore ways in which we can help you with your fitness journey.
|| मनःप्रशमनोपायो योग इत्यभिधीयते ||
The recourse to pacify the mind is called yoga.
Disclaimer: This blog is solely aimed at creating awareness for educational purposes and cannot be used as any professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Kindly consult your doctor/healthcare professional before working on the knowledge shared on the blog. Dependency on any or all information provided in the article will solely be at your own risk and responsibility and Hexagon Nutrition shall not be held liable, in any condition whatsoever.
