Pilates is similar to Yoga in some ways as it brings about a balance between the mind and the body and in doing so is highly effective at reducing and eliminating stress. Pilates emphasizes on physical conditioning and there’s nothing quite like it. Pilates uniqueness lies in the fact that all movements originate from the commonly overlooked “core muscles” that lie deep in the abdomen and surround the spine. Pilates often focuses on isolating these muscles in order to engage them effectively. This improves the blood circulation and thus helps maintain your internal bodily health and improve the tone and texture of your skin. Unlike some forms of resistance training that can add size albeit quite small to muscles, Pilates can help you to become strong while remaining lean, alternatively helping you to become lean if you’re carrying excess weight.

Although both Yoga and Pilates provide many benefits, Yoga’s focus has always been on how to make you feel, with the added benefit of stretching and strengthening muscles.  Pilates’ primary focus is to tone muscles effectively and shaping the way you look and carry yourself. If you are looking for an agile, rejuvenating workout that will provide as much of a lift for your brain as your body, then Yoga is the way to go. If you’re interested in a more dynamic system of muscle conditioning, and want to improve your core strength, Pilates may be the answer.

Pilates is rightly regarded by many people as one of the best forms of overall body fitness and conditioning and this is exactly the reason why so many professional athletes add Pilates training to their regular fitness training. The balance between strength and flexibility creates a healthy, vigorous and symmetrical workout for all muscle groups resulting in a leaner, more balanced, and stronger body.

As we age, one tends to lose is good posture and Pilates can go a long way in addressing that problem. Good posture also helps with the energy flow through the body and it is common for people who start doing Pilates to have a lot more energy.

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Why Yoga? It hikes flexibility and strength, provide help for relieving stress and controlling weight, and lowers risk of heart disease and sleep problems.

Yoga Day USA was created by Yoga Alliance, the international gold standard for professional yoga teachers and schools and the leader in setting standards that protect the health and welfare of society.

For more on Yoga Alliance, go to yogaalliance.org.

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Most people tend to hold in patterns of tension emerging from daily stress, lack of exercise, bad posture or other grim habits. These patterns make us stiff thus freezing many of our movements. As everything in a human body is connected, stiffness and restricted movements in turn affects our mental flexibility, interfering with our thoughts and our physical actions.

There is no doubt about the fact that Yoga is one of the best remedy to remain young. Not only will it help to improve your health but it will also help to make you look a lot younger. Yoga exercise routines improve blood circulation and circulation is an important factor in maintaining good skin. By maintaining a better skin condition you will inherently look a lot younger as poor skin condition is one of the sure signs that you are aging. The increased circulation that is brought about from Yoga raises the temperature of the blood and pushes it towards the surface of the skin.

In doing so it carries more oxygen and nutrients to the skin giving you a healthier glowing complexion.

Through regular practice of yoga, especially the inverted postures, the gravitational effect is reversed, resulting in reduction of facial wrinkles, and improving skin tone, giving it a natural glow. The inverted yoga posture is also believed to prevent premature graying of hair, because while adopting such a posture, the blood circulation to the scalp is increased. Also during this posture, the pressure exerted on the blood vessels on the neck is removed, and hence the blood flow to the scalp is doubly increased.

Doing the correct asana will help you to achieve and maintain a better posture. Yoga not only helps with the elasticity of your body through stretching the muscles but it also improves your strength and posture as well as helping you to achieve a better state of mind and relaxation.

The transformation impact of yoga on the nervous system, results in a positive mental and emotional attitude. Regular practitioners of yoga usually feel more enthusiastic, optimistic and creative, and as they get older, they begin to develop an ageless appearance.

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In yoga studios of suburban Delhi, there’s a new asana for sexuality, which is bringing a revolution in the lives of men and women. Delhi-based yoga expert Mini Shastri advises Surya Namaskar every morning for a scared sexual connection.

” Surya Namaskar is a combination of 12 different poses, back bends, forward bends. While doing the namaskar you contract and expand your nerves to the pelvic girdle, which is your sexual core. This stimulates your sexual hormones and helps you achieve a new sexual equilibrium. While kundalini yoga is also beneficial for a better sex life. For instance, vrkasana or the scorpio pose helps your reproductive organs.”

Awake your sensual being

Ellen Barrett’s book Sexy Yoga, is designed to open up seven chakras (energy centers) that involve sexuality: root, sacral and heart. “Yoga means union or yoke in Sanskrit, and it focuses on bringing the body into harmony with the mind and spirit. The awareness of sexuality through yoga is deeper and more intimate. Yoga is about discovering the joys of elegant sexuality,” says Barrett.

Why are more people rediscovering the yogic position on sexuality? “Yoga helps you in creating a balance. Kundalini yoga helps you create bio-energy, It activates your sex hormones. There’s a spiritual connection between yoga, sex and celibacy on the other. Yoga helps you achieve your needs, you can be celibate or satisfied sexually through yoga, it helps you supress or express sexual desire. Kundalini yoga is a bio-science of sexuality and psychology. It can rejuvenate through breathing exercises, which enhance consciousness, with bio-magnetic awareness, you can use your charms sexually. We have higher forms of prayananam ,” says Kundalini yoga expert, Meena Nanda, who teaches dynamic life management for well-being.

Do we really need Nude Yoga?

Perhaps, some people are taking yoga for sensuality a bit too far. Like New York-based ashtanga yoga teacher Aaron Star is the founder of Hot Nude Yoga, which combines ashtanga and vinyasa yoga session. “The students discover breathing techniques that will help you to relax and bliss out. The practice involves the classic stretching postures and breathing exercises, coordinated with chanting and meditation to stimulate the release of so-called kundalini energy. It uses the energy of sex to raise the kundalini energy to the higher chakras. It is a good idea to be a regular practitioner of ordinary yoga before you embark on yoga for sex,” says Star.

Mudras for Sexual Healing

Sexologist Dr Prakash Kothari believes, yoga is the perfect for emotional, sexual and spiritual well-being. “There are certain asanas that enhance physical intimacy — bhramari prayanam , chanting of Om with eyes and ears closed reduces anxiety, helps in contracting and expanding sexual nerves. While vajrasana helps in erectile dysfunctions, vajroli and ashwini mudra can help pregnant women pursue a healthy sex life after delivery. These mudras help the pelvic muscles. I also advise surya namaskar to those who have endrocrine imbalance. If you follow these excercises, yoga can really improve your sex life.”

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Yoga is a science that has been practiced for thousands of years. It is based on ancient theories, observations and principles about the mind and body connection which is now being proven by modern medicine. Substantial research has been conducted to look at the health benefits of Yoga – from the Yoga Postures (Asanas), Yoga Breathing (Pranayama), and Meditation. Regular practice of asanas, pranayama and  meditation can help such diverse ailments such as asthma, arthritis, arteriosclerosis, blood pressure, chronic fatigue, diabetes, digestive disorders, varicose veins and  heart conditions.

It can easily be adapted by any person at any age and in any physical condition. However, some techniques are more suited for specific age groups. For example, some asanas that involve forward and backward bending are good for children aged 5 to 10 years. At about 10 years of age, the asanas that have an upside down position and deep breathing can be started. Relaxation is necessary for all, irrespective of age. People in all age groups can therefore practice mediation regularly. It is desirable that older people avoid asanas that involve excessive stretching.

Yoga has become extremely popular in recent years due to multiple benefits offered if practiced regularly.
One of the great things about yoga is the fact that it is very powerful at relieving stress irrespective of the type of work you do, your role in life or the type of food you eat. Yoga can help everyone play his or her roles more efficiently, more smoothly and more comfortably.

Releasing stress from the body boosts the energy levels and gives a refreshing feel to the mind and body. This in turn improves your mental as well as physical posture thus making you healthier, stronger and effectively younger. The limberness that developes from doing regular yoga exercises work wonders on aches and pains, having constant pain and the energy that it absorbs from your body, is very often mirrored on the face, making you appear tired and older.

Yoga teaches you to focus on living for the moment not in the past or the future. If you can learn to live for the now a lot of your stress will disappear. It is amazing how just a mind set can change your life. Yoga not only works out the tension in your body but prepares your mind to deal with daily stress. Your thinking will become clear and decisions easier to make.

The first time you start your yoga practice you will notice why you can use yoga for relieving stress. The tension in your body will melt away and you will come out of your practice feeling happy and relaxed. People who practice yoga tend to not have any problems sleeping or unwinding at the end of the day.

More and more individuals are now are realizing all the important benefits of Yoga and it is no longer sidelined as an old person’s activity. In fact many professional sports now use Yoga as a critical part of their training routines to reduce injuries, improve strength, temprament, concentration and overall health.

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Increasing flexibility will help reduce the aging process. As we age, lactic acid build up contributes to muscular fatigue resulting in loss of range of movements, but yogic stretching helps release lactic acid from the muscle cells into the bloodstream so that it does not deter muscular contraction thus avoiding many other problems such as strains, sprains, cramps and pulled muscles. Stretching also assists in shaping your posture, allowing you to have a more youthful tone as you age.

Having a good posture can certainly make you look years younger, this is where flexibility plays a key role if you want to look young for years to come. Regular stretching helps reduce any blockages in the body and help the blood to flow more freely. This in itself will help you to look younger and improve your body and skin condition. It also helps to reduce stress which is a major cause of aging. It is easy to incorporate stretching throughout the day as it can be done anywhere and at any time. By doing it on a regular basis the exercises become easier as the muscles become more accustomed to the movements.

A body which may have been quite rigid at the beginning of learning yoga will start to experience a remarkable flexibility in all parts, even those parts which have not been consciously worked upon. Correct yogic stretching develops the entire body. It only takes a few minutes of stretching every day to help flex your muscles, release stress, boost your energy level, enhance your skin tone, and gives you the freshness and beauty of a youth.

Stretching is very important for gaining flexibility of the body and this stretching can be done effectively with the help of Yoga. Yoga stretching can also help to have greater strength, flexibility, and range of motion while reducing injuries, aches, pains, stiffness, and tension. People who stretch regularly and maintain a flexible body tone are less likely to require joint replacement (like hip, knee etc…) as they grow older.

There are tones of benefits of having and maintaining a flexible body and the collective effects can be very beneficiary in years to come!

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The goal of yoga is a state of ‘samadhi’ (a state of bliss). Although this may seem abstract and strange at first, yoga does not teach abstraction. It simply takes you to the first step in the process, knowing that you will automatically progress. We start by being aware of the body, after which the concentration shifts to the breath, then the mind takes priority. With some effort and devotion the practice of yoga helps one to ultimately move beyond the mind to a state of constant awareness and bliss!

Yoga can easily be adapted for any person at any age and in any physical condition. Yoga has become more popular in recent years due to the many benefits that can be had from regular yoga exercises.

One of the great things about yoga is the fact that it is very powerful at relieving stress. For those people who are aware of how stress affects the condition of the skin and the aging process, it is easy to understand how powerful yoga can be to help wind back the clock.

By releasing stress from the body energy levels increase and allow you to participate in more activities. This in turn increases your physical fitness and mental fitness. With the ability to perform more physical activities the body becomes healthier stronger and effectively younger.

The suppleness that comes about from doing regular yoga exercises reduces the amount of aches and pains that we suffer as we get older. Having constant pain, and the energy that this saps from your body, is very often mirrored on the face, making you appear older.

Anti-Aging and yoga are very closely connected. Yogis look young even when they turn old because yoga involves less wear and tear of muscles. The muscle tone remains untouched, leading to a very healthy skin. The immunity of the body is increased because there are less toxins in the body leading to the body falling sick less often. Yoga works at all levels of the body to ensure that every aspect of the body’s functioning is smooth, balanced and in equilibrium!

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