by Michael Russell
For strengthening the hips and thighs, few poses beat Virabhadrasana II (Warrior Pose II). Hip and thigh strength is useful for many everyday activities, from going up and down stairs to bending over to pick up your grocery bags. Also, strong hips and thighs can contribute much to overall knee health and protection.
Warrior Pose II derives its name from the powerful lunging thrust made with a sword used by ancient Indian soldiers to combat their foes. This lunging motion is great work for the large quadriceps muscles on the front of your thighs.
This pose can do more than just build strength. Many knee problems that arise from misalignment can be corrected with Warrior II. To check your knee alignment, stand in front of a mirror with bare legs. If your kneecaps point straight out over the midline of your feet, this is healthy. However, if kneecap points inward and your thighbone also rotates inward in relation to your shin, this can be problematic. This position can cause undue stress on the knee ligaments and cartilage.
Two actions must be focused on in Warrior II to correct this misalignment. Stretching the hip adductors is the first thing. Do this by lying on your back perpendicular to a wall with your feet on the wall and your knees and feet bent at 90 degrees. Imagine sitting in a chair that has fallen over backward. While opening the knees to the sides, move your feet farther apart so that your shins remain perpendicular to the wall and parallel to the floor. Allow your inner thighs to relax and stretch while you stay in this pose for 5 breaths.
Then, while remaining on your back, create the form of Warrior II by leaving your right foot where it is and extending your left leg out to the side while turning your foot inward as you plant your sole on the wall. Your left arch should line up with your right heel so that a line drawn between them would be parallel to the floor. Stretch your arms out to the side and stay there for 1-2 minutes. Then repeat on the other side.
Another secret for correct alignment of the bent leg in Warrior II is strengthening the external thigh rotators like the gluteus maximus. To build these muscles, stand with your back to the wall with your feet 4 to 41/2 feet apart. Set your right foot out 90 degrees, parallel to the wall and rotate your left foot in a little. Make sure your right hip is touching the wall. Bend your right leg into Warrior II and ensure that your right thigh is parallel to the wall and your right knee points out over the center of your right foot. Then place a rolled-up yoga mat between the wall and your bent knee. Press your knee firmly into the rolled-up mat through your left foot, keeping your left knee straight and your left thighbone pushing back toward the wall.
This work to strengthen your external hip rotators and open your hip adductors will allow you to align your knees and thighs safely in Warrior II. Once you can safely engage in practicing Warrior II you can accomplish much towards strengthening the quadriceps. Practice this pose consciously and slowly. Focus on correct biomechanics. With time and practice you will train your quads and hips to support your knees in an optimal aligned position when bending.
Becoming mindful of this alignment will allow you to be aware of protecting your knees when bending and performing everyday activities. Warrior II will not only provide your yoga practice with a healthy foundation, it will extend this healthiness in your entire life.
Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Yoga
by Michael Russell
The leading cause of death for both men and women in United States according to American Heart Association is Coronary Heart Disease, which causes approximately 1.5 million heart attacks each year. Recently, research has shown that yoga and meditation have been known to reduce blood pressure, regulate heart rhythm, improve the elasticity of the arteries, lower pulse rate and increases the heart’s stroke volume. In short, practicing this ancient art of body/mind wellness is good for the heart.
The factor that contributes heavily to heart disease is stress. Situations which are highly stressful, increase the heart rate and blood pressure. The stress hormones get released during a stressful situation; extended or recurrent exposure of these hormones can injure the heart and the blood vessels. Yoga promotes a relaxed state of mind and body and is also widely known for playing a vital role in reduction of stress hormones, decreasing the heart rate and lowering blood pressure.
The way a person breathes strongly influences the heart rhythm through the inner connections in the central nervous system. Pranayama, which is the yogic name for breathing exercises, encourages taking slow, deep breaths and reciting yogic mantras verbally. Due to this method of taking slow, deep breaths the heart rate slows down and more oxygen enters the blood. This in turn induces a calm and well being throughout the mind and body. The chances of having a heart attacks and strokes gets greatly reduced because of this slow steady breath rhythm.
Heart Disease can be controlled and prevented by using specific types of Yogic Asanas (Postures). The Chest can be opened up to improve respiration and functioning of the heart by using the upper back- bending postures. The side bending yogic postures has been shown to help remove the physical and energetic blockages in the heart and chest. In order to promote the functioning of the heart, compression of the heart and lungs a good posture is required and spine lengthening yogic poses provides just that.
The preferred yogic asana for relaxation is called the Savasana (Corpse Pose). In order to perform this asana a person lies down quietly on a flat surface on his/her back with the arms by his/her side for 10 to 15 minutes. The concentration is placed on the flow of the breath. This practice promotes tranquility and rest, which is healing to the heart. This yogic posture has been known to reduce the blood pressure within a matter of weeks. Using inversions can increase the blood circulation.
Research has shown that a person performing yoga and meditation at least three times a week has been shown to reduce their blood pressure, pulse and their overall risk of heart disease. Meditation is well known for its ability to provide tranquility to the mind and decrease the level of stress. Meditation also reduces emotions like anxiety, hostility and depression, which are harmful to the heart. The practice of daily meditation has been shown in the studies to reduce the blood pressure and also the amount of fatty deposits in the arteries.
While Practicing yoga a person is automatically led to choose a healthier lifestyle, which involves reducing or avoiding alcohol, foods rich in cholesterol and fat, refined sugar and caffeine. While heart disease can be averted or controlled by above-mentioned yogic postures, if all of them are performed together a potent therapeutic synergy is created on the heart. It has been shown by the famous Dr. Dean Ornish’s heart-healthy lifestyle studies that not only can heart disease be prevented or controlled but also it can reversed through a healthier diet, meditation and yoga.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Yoga
by Shriram Sharma
Generally while discussing Kundalini Shakti (Divine Serpent Power) we talk of 6 Chakras but in reality they are 7 in number. Sahasrar or the 1000-petalled lotus is the pinnacle of all Chakras. Because it is in the brain it is considered a chief. It is labeled extraordinary because there are 5 Chakras in the Merudanad (spinal chord), the Ajna Chakra between the eyebrows and then the Sahasrar in the head region.
The 7 Lokas (worlds) are described. Their names are Bhooha, Bhuvaha, Svaha, Mahaha, Janaha, Tapaha, Satyam. Even in the Islamic scriptures it is said that God resides in the 7th heaven. Since ancient times a similar description is given in the Christian religion too. The planet Earth is one yet 7 classes of creatures reside on it viz. sand, stone, trees, herbs, minerals, water.
One should note that the 7 worlds can never be found in the interstellar space of our material universe. They are neither there up in the sky nor below our planet Earth. In reality they are present in human consciousness. This is because the macrocosm (universe) is present in the microcosm (human psyche). Hence instead of straying away in the external world these 7 Lokas should be looked for within i.e. in our consciousness. Thus one can contact these worlds.
According to Ayurvedic medicine the body has 7 minerals and they are blood, skin, juices, flesh, bones, marrow and semen. Although these are visibly separate, yet they are tightly interwoven within. All these 7 put together constitutes our gross body. When the 7-fold aspects of the individual is discussed, it includes length, breadth, height (the 3-fold aspect i.e. holography), special orientation (time-space) and the fifth is anti matter. It is the fifth aspect which corresponds to the subtle body that harbors extrasensory potential. The sixth aspect is the thinking process and the seventh is divine sentiments. The first 4 aspects are inert and the remaining three are aspects of consciousness.
Before killing Vali Lord Ram displayed his divine prowess to Sugreeva by uprooting 7 trees simultaneously with one arrow only. In reality these 7 trees correspond to the 7 Chakras of our subtle body. Because Abhimanyu had not awakened these 7 Chakras in an apt manner he could not come out of the Chakravyuha net laid down by the Kauravas despite the fact that he had attained divine wisdom while yet in his mother Uttaraís womb. Kundalini Shakti (Divine Serpent Power) is so valuable that it has been locked in the 7 Chakras of our subtle body which are the locks of a divine vault.
When we talk of the 7 Chakras (plexuses) they are situated in this order from the base of the spine viz. 1.Mooladhar 2.Svadhishthan 3.Manipoor 4.Anaahat 5.Vishudhi 6.Ajna 7.Sahasrar. Along with the Ajna Chakra at certain places they mention a Bindu Chakra too. Thus Sahasrar (Brahmarandhra) is considered the ultimate station in the form of a 1000-petalled lotus or the 1000-headed serpent. In reality together with this there are only 7 Chakras wherein the Sahasrar rules over the lower 6 Chakras. It is very much similar to the pituitary gland being the chief of all endocrine glands. These 6 Chakras can be said to be both separately situated and also as related to one another just as seasons of a single year are related to one another. They are also called stones of 6 miles and that the 7th one instead of being a stone is a sacred temple.
A certain section of Yogis call these Chakras as 7 bodies i.e. 1.Physical body 2.Etheric body 3.Astral body 4.Mental body 5.Spiritual body 6.Cosmic body 7.Divine body. The physical body can be seen with our gross eyes. The organs within the body can be perceived by touching them or via other means.
The second body is that in which thoughts are born. Here one experiences dualities viz. likes/ dislikes, respect/ insult, oneís own / aliens, contentment / discontentment, union / separation and other such sweet/ bitter experiences. This is the ethereal body which the Theosophists label as ethereal double. They think it is synonymous with the Prana Kosha or the vital sheath. But in actuality it has a more widespread boundary. This is seen and measured as ëBiofluxesí. Leadbeater had discussed this through ìMan-Visible-Invisibleî. It is also called the Ideosphere.
The third body is related to thoughts, logic, intellect, and divine intellect. It is related to social behavior, civilized behavior, ideology, liking, culture etc. In the mental body there is ecstatic experience of artistic skills and in it manifest delicate emotions. This is the world of sensitivity. In this body resides compassion, generosity, ideals etc. The fourth body is the mental body in which glory manifests and our daring and valor matures over here. It is on this basis that man authors his future. If it is aptly utilized man reaches the pinnacle of his life and if it is distorted, it leads to his downfall.
The fifth body is the spiritual body and is a storehouse of extrasensory potential. The sub conscious mind is within its jurisdiction. In the sixth body are created Rishis, men of austerities, Yogis, men of self-control etc. In the seventh body the difference based on ìmine and yoursî is overcome. Over here is awakened the sentiment of ìworld as one single familyî and that ìall beings are a part of my very soulî. Here one experiences oneís soul and the body of Brahman. This is the area of heaven and spiritual liberation.
In the Shiva Purana there is a strange legend about Shivaís son Skand or Kartikeyaís birth. Lord Shiva felt that he needed to beget a valiant son who would overcome the demons and establish the reign of demigods. Thus he accepted the prayer of the demigods. Shivajiís semen manifested as fire. Parvati, his consort, was unable to bear this fire and hence Vaishwanar took the form of a female and imbibed this semen in the form of fire in her womb. When Skand was born he manifested so much divine brilliance that there was a problem as to who would rear and nourish him. Parvatiji did not have any experience. Hence this task was taken up by the 6 Kritikas (Pleiades Stars). They reared and nourished Skand. Skand manifested 6 mouths so as to drink milk from the 6 Kritikas. Hence Kartikeya is also called Shadanan (6-headed). As soon as he gained might he attacked the demons and by gaining victory over them he asked the demi-gods to take over the reins.
This Skand incarnation should be looked upon as the group of the 6 Chakras (plexuses) related to Kundalini Shakti along with its influence. Shivaís Retas (semen) is nothing but Kundalini fire power and in order to imbibe it the inner Vaishwanar is invoked. The 6 Chakras as the 6 Kritikas give milk and by becoming a valiant soul in the intense arena of the soul, a realized spiritual aspirant who has activated his Kundalini power utilizes it for pious spiritual goals.
These 6 Chakras present in the subtle part of the Merudand can be compared to powerhouses of electricity and also transformers. Its function is to attract energy in the subtle world and thus nourish the gross, subtle and casual bodies.
According to Tantra Science the chief powers of the world are classified in 7 ways: Parashakti, Jnanshakti, Icchashakti, Kriyashakti, Kundalinishakti, Matrishakti and Guhyashakti. The union of all these are called ìGrand Unification of Farsusî and material research is being conducted in this field.
In spiritual science one finds a description of 7 worlds, oceans, mountains, continents etc. It cannot be correlated to Geography. This is because in reality it is a description of the spiritual arena along with its creation and potential. These 7 are the vault of jewels and in it one finds all that which man requires in his gross and subtle life.
Shriram Sharma Acharya, founder of the International Gayatri Family, was a great Yogi, seer and incarnation of God who wrote volumes of scientific literature mainly on spiritual subjects for world welfare and peace. For more scientific e-literature please visit: http://www.shriramsharma.com/
DESCRIPTION: Three free e-books on Indian Gayatri Science, Kundalini Yoga & Biography correlated to Neurosciences-ESP, Endocrinology, Anatomy, Physiology, Psychology & Sociology for 1) material & spiritual prosperity & 2) uniting the world peacefully as one family. Ours is a strictly non-commercial website which aims at realizing the age old dream of great leaders and thinkers of the world viz. ìA beautiful borderless world.î KEYWORDS: Kundalini Yoga Gayatri e-books biography Guru world peace mind psyche god nerve subtle consciousness soul divine trance endocrine glands ESP Chakras plexus meditation concentration intellect prophecy thought thinking Cheiro Nostradamus Aurobindo bliss brain Vedas solar sun energy sacred pure sense organs Prana Avatar Upanishad light cell hypothalamus pituitary
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