Laughing Yoga Health Benefits

Looking for a healthy pick-me-up? "Laughter Yoga" is a relatively new concept that still emphasizes breathing like traditional yoga, but encourages laughter as exercise for the belly, diaphragm, lungs, and perhaps most importantly, the mind. Laughing Yoga proves true the old maxim - laughter really is the best medicine! As simple and profound as traditional yoga breathing, laughing yoga helps the practitioner feel happy and healthy. Laughing yoga encourages healthy breathing, but its benefits reach far beyond the lungs. Laughing yoga practitioners profess general health improvements such as lower frequencies of respiratory infections like colds and the flu, but they also claim to experience a genuine mood-lifting effect. It's truly incredible how just a bit of laughter can improve your whole day!

Originally launched by a physician in Mumbai, India in 1995, laughing yoga is based upon the scientific principle that the human body cannot differentiate between "fake" laughter and "real" laughter, so no matter how you slice it, the body will reap the same physiological and psychological benefits. Whether "real" or "fake," laughter lowers the levels of stress hormones in the blood stream. Laughing fosters hormone levels that literally "put us in a good mood." Many laughter yoga devotees claim to have used these exercises to overcome depression, or at least to laugh away troubles after a long, stressful day.

A session of laughing yoga requires you to leave your shyness at the door, but if you have trouble doing so, your "laughter leader" will help you shed your inhibitions. Exercise warm ups include lots of clapping, eye-contact with your fellow practitioners, rhythm and movement, and simple chants to promote heavy exhalations from the belly, invoking classic yoga diaphragmatic breathing. Most of all, warm-up exercises are designed to ease the class into a silly mood. Before you know it, you'll find yourself laughing. Sometimes your laughter leader will lead you through "gibberish" exercises, encouraging everyone to babble like babies. Sound silly? Of course it does! That's what makes it so effective at promoting laughter and feelings of child-like playfulness.

As a modern adaptation of an ancient practice, Laughing Yoga not only often incorporates traditional yoga postures, but also method-acting techniques to shift your mindset and stimulate the imagination. Your leader may intersperse bouts of laughter with light physical exercise. Whatever approach or method your laughter leader uses, laughing yoga is designed to invigorate, energize and entertain.

As the laughing subsides, your leader will take you through laughing meditation, then finally relaxation and grounding exercises. As opposed to warming up, laughing meditation takes place seated with eyes closed, and laughter starts deliberately and gradually. This can often be a cathartic experience and may bring up other emotions as well. Once the group has settled, as in most forms of traditional yoga, the leader will guide you through "yogic sleeping" in order to bring your energy levels back down to normal, leaving you feeling both relaxed and re-energized.

Stretches That Help Relieve Back Pain

Exercises are essential for proper body health. That is why they are emphasized for all school going kids and people of all ages. Not only do they help you keep fit, they also improve the way your body responds to certain situations such as attack by diseases. They make your body strong and increase its ability to resist diseases. There are various forms of exercises that are essential for your body. One good example is stretching exercises. The following are some of the stretches that helps relieve back pain.

Connective tissues and muscles shorten over time. This results in less litheness. If you have not used your muscles for a long time, they will become stiff and weaker. In case you suddenly start using those muscles, the chances of being injured will be greatly increased. However, if you regularly stretch them using various exercises, these muscles will lengthen and strengthen. In this case, the risk of injury will be highly reduced.

When doing stretching exercises, it is normal to experience a pulling sensation. This sensation can be uncomfortable. In case you experience a painful sensation, it means you are probably over stretching your muscles. When this happens, you have to reduce the stretch to retain comfort. However, you can stretch further but gradually as you consider your pain threshold.

One of the most common mistakes that a lot of people make when stretching is to bounce into the exercise. Bouncing is a bad idea as it is an abrupt and sharp movement that can harm and damage to your muscles.

You ought to pay attention to the particular muscle which you are stretching and slowly push your threshold without causing harm to yourself. Be careful not to permanently damage your body tissues. If you are not sure how it is done, ask a gym specialist to guide you.

In a few months, if you are consistent in stretching exercises many times a week, you will be more limber. If you want faster results, then increase the duration and frequency of your exercises. Do not forget that you are not supposed to overdo it since injuries could occur and lead you to being crippled for a while.

Stretches also improve posture and range of motion. Since back pain will be reduced or completely done away with, you will not have to sit or stand in a particular way to prevent the effects of the painful ordeal. You will also be free to move anyhow without painful feelings. Your ability to relax is also improved.

Perhaps one of the most important things stretches do is improve your blood circulation. This is vital for the normal functioning of the body. Most body activities rely on proper blood circulation to be effective. It also allows time for mental activities such as visualization. It also decreases soreness during and after exercises.

To learn more about stretches that helps relieve back pain, visit the internet for more details. Learn how to keep fit and be flexible. These exercises help you feel light. They actually make you more capable of walking long distances without tiring easily. Do this every day for a few minutes and you will not regret.

Yoga Apparel and Clothes - Getting Acquainted With The Best Yoga Tops

Yoga is considered to be one of the healthiest and most relieving exercises in the present day times. Yoga has been there for centuries, without any reduction in its importance. There has only been constant evolution and betterment in order to make it fit for the present situations. Nowadays, since yoga classes are becoming quite popular, you need to pay special emphasis on the yoga apparel and clothes as well. This is quite important because proper tops help the teachers in keeping a check on the muscle and bone movements of the students. Any kind of alignment errors can be corrected there and then.

A good number of yoga experts suggest the students to wear formfitting tops and bottoms. There may be some obese students might look forward to hide beneath loose fitting clothes. Therefore, it becomes quite important to know about ideal tops for various types of yoga. Every yoga type is different from each other and therefore, you might need to fit yourself in ideal tops in order to avail proper benefits.

1. Power Yoga Tops 

Various forms of strenuous yoga like Ashtanga and other power yoga asanas need more support. This condition might especially apply to the women having large assets. Therefore, you need to wear something that can provide more comfort and that too, without drawing much attention towards the assets, like in the case of sports bra styled tops. Women can go for various yoga tops that are especially designed for power yoga. They are capable of providing a modest look to the upper portion.

2. Moderate Yoga Tops 

Hatha, Iyenger and other forms of moderate yoga asanas might call for the need of tops that are capable of providing medium level support and sheer comfort. There are certain yoga tops that are ideal for such kind of classes but can appear to be too revealing to some students. Therefore, choosing proper formfitting tops for moderate exercises would be an ideal option.

3. Hot Yoga Tops 

Hot yoga like Bikram and other similar forms are generally practiced in closed rooms, with temperatures rising above 104 degrees and the humidity level of over 40%. Cotton yoga tops will become heavy and uncomfortable within no time. Therefore, small and thin tops, made from sports materials, will be ideal for such kind of yoga sessions.

So, these are some of the best tops that can be given a thought while choosing best yoga apparel and clothes.