Five yoga practices to alter your life

Yoga, dating back thousands of years, is not an uncommon term anymore and known all over the world. The fame of yoga is due to people like Paramahansa Yogananada and contemporaries like Ramdev Baba of Patanjali Ayurveda and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev of Isha Foundation. There are, of course, many other organizations and yoga teachers working extensively toward making a huge difference to the lives of people worldwide.

The origin of yoga is attributed to ancient Bharat (known as India in English). It is one of the main six schools of Hinduism philosophy. The word yoga means union and in a true sense, it means union with the divine-self or our highest-self. It mainly consists of certain disciplines that include physical, mental and spiritual dimensions.

The practices of yoga are even being adopted by and integrated into institutions of secular education system worldwide, owing to its immense benefits. Even the most skeptics have realized the importance of practicing yoga in daily life. It has helped many individuals across the world in fighting depression, physical ailments, emotional and mental diseases, and has also shown great results in maintaining physical fitness. However, the main purpose of yoga is spiritual upliftment.

There are many yoga techniques developed by ancient Hindus keeping different aspects of human body and life as a whole. Writing about all of them in one article is next to impossible, and lot of them must be learnt under the direct supervision of a professional yoga teacher. However, there are certain techniques that can be discussed here and anyone of any age group can practice at their discretion. We’ll discuss five such simple yoga techniques that can alter one’s life for good.

1. Bhastrika

Bhastrika is done in the following manner:

Sit straight with spine erect
Take a deep breath in 2.5 seconds (inhale the entire breath into your lungs)
Breath out in 2.5 seconds (exhale the entire breath out of your lungs)
Breathing should happen using nostrils
Do not move your head
Breathing should happen in the chest region and not the stomach area
Repeat the process for at least two minutes in the beginning and then it can go up to 5 minutes

Following are the benefits of Bhastrika:

Respiratory system will remain strong
Illnesses related to respiratory system such as cold, cough, allergy, asthma will be kept at bay
Body receives great amount of oxygen
Boosts immunity

2. Kapalbhati

Kapalbhati is done in the following manner:

Sit straight with spine erect
Just exhale by applying sudden jerk on your stomach
Inhalation happens automatically
Repeat the above process for 5 minutes

Following are the benefits of Kapalbhati:

Keeps all the internal organs located in stomach region health
These internal organs include liver, spleen, intestine, kidneys, prostrate, uterus, etc.
Helps in curing diseases related to these organs
Helps in burning belly fat

3. Anulom-Vilom

Anulom-Vilom is done in the following manner:

Sit straight with spine erect
Inhale through right nostril keeping the left nostril closed with index finger of right hand
Exhale through left nostril keeping the right nostril closed with thumb of right hand
Inhale through left nostril keeping the right nostril closed with thumb of right hand
Exhale through right nostril keeping the left nostril closed with index finger of right hand
Repeat the above four steps (alternate breathing) in the same sequence for 5 minutes

Following are the benefits of Anulom-Vilom:

Keeps nervous system healthy
Keeps mind healthy
Cures hypertension and migraine
Cures insomnia
Releases anxiety and stress

4. Brahmari

Brahmari is done in the following manner:

Sit straight with spine erect
Close the right ear with right hand thumb and close the right eye with the right hand palm
Close the left ear with left hand thumb and close the left eye with the left hand palm
Keep the mouth closed
With both ears, both eyes and mouth closed in the above manner, take a deep breath and make a long humming sound involving upper part of your nose and forehead
Repeat making a long humming sound as mentioned above for 5-7 times

Following are the benefits of Brahmari:

Helps in releasing stress
Helps in mental peace
Helps in curing blood pressure related diseases
Helps in curing sugar related diseases
Helps in sound sleep
Helps in eliminating negative thoughts
Promotes positive thoughts

5. Udgeeth

Udgeeth is done in the following manner:

Sit straight with spine erect
Close your eyes
Chant Aum after taking deep breath
Repeat chanting Aum 9-11 times
Go into silence for a couple of minutes

Following are the benefits of Udgeeth:

Helps in releasing stress
Promotes inner silence and peace
Helps in opening third-eye (Ajna Chankra)
Helps in developing higher perception
Helps in developing intuition

For demonstration, clarity and more details, one can visit the following YouTube channel of Ramdev Baba:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEqtuE522h-a3zuveM9PhUQ

People get attracted to yoga for various reasons, some for physical fitness, others for getting rid of different illnesses and some others for spiritual progress. However, the best part of yoga practices is that it allows overall growth, i.e. physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, irrespective of the intention of the practitioner.