Yoga for Health

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Yoga for Health

• Bonnie Berk, RN, MS, ERYT

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What is Yoga?

• Yoga means to join or yoke together the mind,
  body and spirit.
• The aim of Yoga for Health is to bring balance
  into the body physically, mentally and
  emotionally.
• By connecting to ourselves through the breath, we
  can bring our bodies from a state of dis-ease
  to a place of health.

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Proven Benefits of Yoga

• The health benefits of Yoga are clearly
  documented in a compilation by the International
  Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). Based on
  literature searches, IAYT reports the following
  physiological benefits of yoga based on regular
  practice of traditional yoga poses, breathing
  exercises and meditation

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Benefits of Yoga

• Stable autonomic nervous system equilibrium
• Pulse rate decreases
• Respiratory rate decreases
• Blood pressure decreases
• EEG alpha wave increase ( theta, delta and beta
  waves also increase during various stages of
  meditation

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Benefits of Yoga

• EMG activity decreases
• Cardiovascular efficiency increases
• Respiratory volume and vital capacity increases
• Gastrointestinal function normalizes
• Endocrine function normalizes
• Excretory functions improve
• Musculoskeletal flexibility and joint range of
  motion increase

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Benefits of Yoga

• Posture improves
• Strength and resiliency increase
• Endurance increases
• Energy levels increase
• Weight normalizes
• Sleep improves
• Immune function normalizes
• Pain decreases

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Psychoneuroimmunology

• Medical field of investigation that studies the
  relationship of the mind and body, as well as its
  effect on health and disease.
• Hippocrates, the father of Western Medicine,
  taught his students to look at psychosocial
  factors surrounding individuals in order to
  understand certain diseases.

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CNS and Immune System

• Recent studies show a bidirectional
  relationship between the central nervous
  and immune systems.
• Researchers continue to explore the
  mysteries of how diseases affect behavior
  as well as the role of psychosocial
  interventions on preventing disease,
  decreasing the severity of illness and
  positively impacting disease outcomes.

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Stress Response Fight or Flight

• Heart rate increases,
• Blood flow is shifted to
  skeletal muscles,
• Pupils dilate,
• Immune function altered -a decrease in the number
  of T-lymphocytes, reduced natural killer cell
  activity against tumor cells and decreased
  production of cytokines.

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What is Allostatic Load?

• Refers to the long-term effect of chronic stress
  on the body, the wear and tear
• Researchers believe that increases in the
  allostatic load increase vulnerability to certain
  diseases

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• Yoga is an antidote for stress and a potentially
  powerful complement to living a healthy, balanced
  life.

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History of Yoga

• The earliest archeological evidence of Yogas
  existence is found in stone engravings that date
  back to around 3000 B.C.
• Both yoga and Shamanism have similar
  characteristics in their attempts to
• improve health and promote healing through
  spiritual mediation.

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History of Yoga

• The oldest known yoga teachings are found in the
  Vedas, the sacred scripture of Brahmanism that is
  the basis of modern-day Hinduism. The Vedas are
  said to be the oldest sacred texts still used
  today.
• Most anthropologists agree that an oral tradition
  existed long before a literary tradition which
  gradually set in from about the 2nd century BCE.
  Yoga was used as a tool to live in harmony, mind,
  body and spirit.

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History of Yoga

• Yoga shares some characteristics with
  Hinduism and Buddhism.
  During the sixth century B.C., Buddha
  started teaching the importance of
• meditation and the practice of physical
  postures.
• At the age of 35, Siddharta Gautama, the first
  Buddhist to study yoga, achieved enlightenment,
  described as an intellectual understanding, an
  intuitive knowing and a total transformation of
  the heart and mind.

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Pantanjali

• Wrote The Yoga Sutra around the second century in
  an attempt to define and standardize classical
  Yoga.
• It comprises 195 sutras or threads as well as
  an Eightfold-Path.

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Eight Limbs of Classical Yoga.

• Yama social restraints or ethical values
• Niyama personal observance of purity, tolerance,
  and study
• Asana or physical exercises
• Pranayama breath control or regulation
• Pratyahara sense withdrawal in preparation for
  meditation (contemplation)
• Dharana concentration
• Dhyana meditation and
• Samadhi ecstasy.

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Swami Sivananda

• Well-known teacher, and doctor in Malaysia who
  opened schools in America and Europe. The most
  famous of his works is the Five Principles of
  Yoga which are
• Savasana proper relaxation
• Asanas proper exercise
• Pranayama proper breathing
• Proper diet and
• Dhyana positive thinking and Meditation
  (contemplation)

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Living Mindfully Through
the Breath

• There is a direct link between our breathing and
  the way we feel physically and emotionally.

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Breath Awareness

• We speak of a sigh of relief, of gasping in
  horror, of holding the breath in anticipation, of
  being breathless with excitement.
• Laughing, sighing, yawning, yelling, gasping,
  screaming nature provides us with all these
  responses to help us fulfill the emotional
  demands of the instant. Physically, the breath
  gives us the extra oxygen we need for all these
  functions.

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Pranayama Breathing in the Life Force
By deliberately controlling the breath, we can
consciously alter many physical and emotional
functions of the body like the heartbeat, blood
flow, mental states and hormones.
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The Art of Yoga Breathing

• Begin by observing the natural
• inhalation and exhalation of your
• breath without changing anything.
• As you inhale, say to yourself, I
• notice I am inhaling, and as you
• exhale, say to yourself, I notice
• I am exhaling.
• Stay focused on the breath for
• five 5 breath cycles.

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Three-Part Breathing Part I

• Begin to inhale deeply through the
• nose while filling the belly up
• with your breath. Expand the
• belly with air like a balloon.
• On each exhale, expel all the air out from the
  belly through your nose. Draw the navel back
  towards your spine to make sure that the belly is
  empty of air.
• Repeat this deep belly breathing for five (5)
  breath cycles.

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Three-Part Breathing Part II

• On the next inhale, fill the belly up with air
  as described before. Then when the belly is full,
  draw in a little more breath and let that air
  expand into the rib cage causing the ribs to
  widen apart.

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Three-Part Breathing Part II

• As you exhale, let the air go first from the
  rib cage, letting the ribs slide closer together,
  and then from the belly, drawing the navel back
  towards the spine. Repeat for five breaths.

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Three Part Breathing Inhale

• On the next inhale, fill the belly and rib
  cage up with air as described before. Then draw
  in just a little more air and let it fill the
  upper chest, all the way up to the collarbone,
  causing the area
• around the heart (which is
• called the heart center
• in yoga), to expand and rise.

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Three Part Breathing Exhale

• As you exhale, let the breath go first from the
  upper chest, allowing the chest to drop slightly,
  then from the rib cage, letting the ribs slide
  closer together. Finally, let the air go from the
  belly, drawing the navel back towards the spine.

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Three Part Breathing Think of a Water Pitcher

• As you inhale, you fill the water pitcher (your
  body) from the bottom up
• As you exhale, you empty the water pitcher (your
  body) from the top to the bottom.

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Three Part Breath Putting it All Together

• You are practicing three-part breath! Continue at
  your own pace, eventually coming to let the three
  parts of the breath happen smoothly without
  pausing. Continue for about 10 breaths.

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We know that life begins with the first breath
and ends with the last, but it is how we breathe
in between that greatly impacts
how well we live this life! -
Nancy Zi (The Art of Breathing)