What is Yoga and how can it help you? Burnout series - post 8

YOGA A regular Yoga practice provides a gentle, natural way of supporting the immune system. Yoga helps lower stress hormones that compromise the immune system, while also conditioning the lungs and respiratory tract. Yoga also stimulates the lymphatic system to get rid of toxins from the body, and improves the circulation. Yoga is not just about holding postures, according to Dr Kathleen Fry. President of the American Holistic Medicine Association "Yoga is unlike other forms of exercise that focus only on certain parts of the body. Yoga works on everything.” To understand the benefits of a regular yoga practice, it is helpful to look at The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali which refer to eight limbs of yoga, each of which offers guidance on how to live a meaningful and purposeful life. 1. Yama The Yamas encourage us to be good and kind to one another. 2. Niyama The attitude you take toward your own self-care and growth. The Niyamas will help you see that taking care of yourself in more ways than just the physical is a massive part of the yogic path. 3. Asana Postures are used to connect with your own inner world. Asana, the third limb, is about becoming embodied and uniting all aspects of yourself—body, mind, heart, breath, and soul - to find acceptance. 4. Pranayama The life force or prana (energy) that keeps you alive in this life, is your breath. Pranayama, the fourth limb, is the balancing of this life force. Focused movement of the breath balances the flow of vital forces in the body. 5. Pratyahara The fifth limb Pratyahara, is about withdrawing the senses from the outside world and instead shining them inside yourself. Sensory withdrawal allows the senses to become stronger because they aren’t being focussing on external stimuli. Pratyahara is not about shutting out the world, but refocusing your attention inward so that you become less fragmented and more clear. When you see yourself clearly, it’s easier to see others clearly too. 6. Dharana With the sixth limb, Dharana, your focus draws in on one thing. The object of focus isn’t the point, it’s just a tool for going deeper. Mantra or breath can also help. The purpose now is to still the wandering mind and become steady. Having one single point of focus and staying connected to it. 7. Dhyana Dhyana is about letting go of the focus and becoming completely immersed in the present. This is meditation, it is contemplation with no object or specific focus. Becoming absorbed in an activity (be it running through the woods, reading a book, performing on stage or just sitting quietly) where there is no thought, just the direct experience of the task at hand. That is the seventh limb, Dhyana. That could be seen as the definition of meditation. 8. Samadhi It happens as a result of practice and can also happen rather spontaneously. The body, the senses, the mind are at peace. It is a space of simply being, experiencing truth and connection. Samadhi is the binding together of all the limbs. It is a complete understanding and a total immersion in presence. It is in a sense, when you become the Universe.