What is Yoga?
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice that originated in ancient India. It involves a combination of physical postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), meditation, and ethical principles (yamas and niyamas) designed to promote overall health and well-being.
The physical postures or asanas are the most recognizable aspect of yoga and are practiced to increase flexibility, strength, balance, and improve circulation. The breathing techniques, or pranayama, are practiced to increase oxygenation of the blood and improve overall respiratory function. Meditation is a practice of training the mind to be present and focused on the present moment, which can help reduce stress and increase mental clarity.
Yoga is not just a physical practice, but a holistic approach to health and well-being that encompasses the mind, body, and spirit. It is a popular form of exercise and stress reduction, and is practiced by people of all ages and fitness levels. There are many different styles of yoga, each with its own unique approach and focus, such as Hatha yoga, Ashtanga yoga, Bikram yoga, and more.
The Benefits of Yoga
Increase the self healing
The human body is excellently intelligent. It manages to maintain a complicated physiological balance day and night, through every stage of life. Practising Yoga helps the body to maintain this complex balance, which increases your capacity for self healing.
According to Yoga, the main cause of disease lies in difficult emotions.
Practising positive thinking and meditation makes it less likely that you will be affected by negative emotions. If you first pay attention to your body, practising Yoga asanas (postures), pranayama (breathing exercises), and relaxation, it will be easier to meditate and think positively. By eating well you can also support yourself.
In Yoga all these elements come together. As a matter of fact, the Sanskrit word Yoga means „union“. Practising Yoga, helps the body to find its natural balance and teaches the mind to be a responsible and clever driver of the body.
Freediving and Yoga
Yoga, breath training, bodily awareness, relaxation and meditation are really the foundations of personal balance, on the physical level and beyond, and an important part of freediving. Sportsmen of many disciplines, freedivers and their respective trainers all agree that Yoga and meditation are essential tools for optimum living and focusing to reach personal targets. If you are new to yoga and meditation you’ll be surprised at how much the pre and post dive sessions influence your mind and body towards full relaxation.
This combined practice helps us to equip our bodies to face the various challenges of freediving. It brings us into a physical condition which allows us to more easily handle the increased pressure found at depth by keeping the muscles that support the ribcage strong and flexible. In this way regular participation in such a regime reduces to a minimum the lung injury risks associated with freediving beyond a depth of 30m.
Its not only because we want to keep you safe, we value this combination so much because yoga and meditation have a profound ability to create the level of mind body stillness and poise that equals peak performance in freediving.
Yoga is a mirror to look at ourselves from the inside.
Yoga exercise (ASANAS)
Asanas (Yoga Postures) regenerate and rejuvenate the whole body. Primarily they work on the spine and the nervous system. The spine gains in strength and flexibility, and circulation is stimulated, bringing nutrients and oxygen to all the cells of the body. Asanas increase motion in the joints and flexibility in muscles, tendons, and ligaments. In addition they massage internal organs, supporting their functions.
Breathing exercise (PRANAYAMA)
Breathing is like no other body function, because it connects us with our environment.<br /> Plants take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen, while human beings and animals inhale oxygen-rich air and exhale air high in carbon dioxide. Breathing exercises help to increase the gas exchange in the lungs and in all the cells of the body.<br /> Breath control is an essential part of yoga: the word Hatha means „union of the sun (Ha) and the moon (Tha)“ ,where sun and moon refer to inhalation and exhalation respectively.<br /> Both Asanas and Pranayama provide excellent training for the breath, which increase vital energy, fine-tunes the nervous system, and eventually leads to control the mind.
Relaxation (SAVASANA)
Deep relaxation works on three levels, physical, mental and spiritual and is the most natural way to re energize body and mind. Regular relaxation acts like a car cooling system: keeping the engine from over-heating and ensuring the vehicle functions efficiently. During deep relaxation at the end of a Yoga class, the body uses only enough prana (life energy) to maintain vital metabolic activities.<br /> The rest of the energy gained during practice is stored.
Meditation
Meditation is the yogic key to peace of mind. Meditation techniques calm the mind and enhance focus. Regular meditation promotes physical and spiritual, as well as mental, well being. Before meditation, yoga practitioners clear the mind of negative thoughts and feelings, using concentration and positive-thinking exercises.
Yogi Diet
The yogic attitude to food is eat to live, not live to eat. Yogis choose foods with a positive effect on body and mind, and least negative effects on the environment and other creatures. Lacto-vegetarian diet is recommended, grains, pulses, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and dairy products. Fresh and unrefined foods are thought best, prepared simply, to prserve maximum nutrients.
Mudras
The meaning of ‘Mudra’, which is a Sanskrit word, is ‘seal’. Mudra hand positions are physical gestures that have an effect on the energy flow of the body. The old traditional practice of yoga connects the hand mudras to the changing spiritual and mental aspects of a person. The mudras are usually finger positions like in the Chin Mudra (Sanskrit:. छिन्मुद्र cinmudrā) where the thumb held together with the forefinger. Symbolically, it stands for self-realization. Chin Mudra is the mudra of consciousness, the Mudra, which leads you to the experience of pure consciousness.<br /> We use Chin Mudra mainly for meditation. Practicing the different types of mudras for health is considered good as it provides physical, mental, as well as spiritual benefits. Mudras, also known as hand yoga, typically involves placing the hands and fingers in certain positions as described in the Vedas.
