Sandhya on Dyuelife

What is your first impression when someone mention about YOGA? Is Yoga a way to lose weight like some of the girls may think, or is it just an exercise from India? What is Yoga?

 Yoga is a process or practice whereby we start to become more and more aware of our self- in terms of body, mind and soul. In Yogic philosophy, the body and the senses are viewed as the way of the universal mind or nature to feel, explore, understand and enjoy itself. Problems arise when somewhere in the process, the lure of the senses take our consciousness so much to the external world that we loose our connection with our inner self, and our minds start developing an identity as separate from the universal identity, and then this starts developing other attitudes of possessiveness.
 

Sandhya has been an ardent practitioner of yoga for the past 6 years. She has been helping her husband, Manoj, in the conceptualization of Manasa Yoga, a style of yoga which incorporates scientific body alignment methods, at the same time firmly grounded in the timeless philosophy of yoga as expounded in the various Indian scriptures. She teaches traditional yoga in its most authentic and original form from India. Malaysian professionals named this training as Hatha Yoga.

 As a practice it combines the different styles of sun salutes, the whole range of yoga postures with specific alignment techniques, breathing exercises and meditation techniques with the very clear yogic understanding that everything in this universe, including each one of us, is nothing but vibrations of one universal mind or consciousness. The whole practice is an endeavor for realizing and living in celebration of the infinite potential within.

 Hatha Yoga, the science of yoga which tries to harmonize the body, mind and soul by working through postures, breathing exercises, energy locks etc.

The approach is to connect :-

  First, the body with the mind through the hundreds of postures,

 Then the mind with the breath through the breathing techniques,
 And then the conscious mind towards the sub conscious and eventually to the super consciousness
        (through the various meditation techniques) .

What are the benefits of Hatha Yoga?

  The Inverted Poses counter the effects of gravity on the body organs.

 The Back Bending Postures improve the health of your heart and coronary system.
 The Forward Bends invigorates the digestive, absorptive and eliminative systems of the body.
 The Twisting Poses squeeze and benefit the pancreas, and has been founded to help in dealing with
        the effects of diabetes.
 The ‘Savasan’ Practice, like sleep, rejuvenates the system and allows nutrition to flow into the 
        cells.

There are a lot of people wondering if yoga is the best way to lose weight? Sandhya said that is not the right intention for yoga practices, it is about being present at the moment and mind focusing. When you’re practicing yoga, yoga improves breathing technique, balancing your hormone and your body. There is actually no exact way of stretching for your body because everyone has different body condition. The most important thing is to listen to your body during the process and make sure you breathe accurately. Sandhya said: “We will choose the specific yoga practice for every student to match their requirements by referring to their intentions.” The best effect will show if you can practice yoga everyday for one hour while she suggests not to have any meal or beverage two hours before yoga practice.Sandhya do not agree that laughter yoga and hot yoga as the traditional yoga practice.

If you practice yoga always, it helps to improve quality of sleeps and better postures. For those who always felt stress, definitely yoga practice may helps you to be more relaxed while being peace and calm inner. Even if you are pregnant, don’t worry, you are still able to continue your yoga practice. It is actually recommended, because it helps to improve your breathing skill and helps while you are delivering your baby. However, this is only for those yoga practices which are specially design for pregnant women.

Originally published in DyueLife.com (link)