Sivananda Companion to Yoga A Complete Guide to the Physical Postures, Breathing Exercises, Diet, Relaxation, and Meditation Techniques of Yoga image
Sivananda Companion to Yoga A Complete Guide to the Physical Postures, Breathing Exercises, Diet, Relaxation, and Meditation Techniques of Yoga Sivananda Yoga Center Staff Edition: 2000 Publisher: Touchstone Number of Pages: 192 ISBN10: 0684870002 ISBN13: 9780684870007 Dimensions: 8.00" w x 10.00" l x 1.00" h Weight: 1.50 lbs. Binding: Trade Paper Language: English List Price: 17.99

Description

The Essential Companion for Beginning and Experienced Yogis Alike A highly regarded organization for yoga studies and practices, the Sivananda Yoga Center created the first edition of The Sivananda Companion to Yoga in 1983. Since its publication, it has sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide and has become a standard text for both yoga students and teachers. Now with fresh, colorful pages throug...The Essential Companion for Beginning and Experienced Yogis Alike A highly regarded organization for yoga studies and practices, the Sivananda Yoga Center created the first edition of The Sivananda Companion to Yoga in 1983. Since its publication, it has sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide and has become a standard text for both yoga students and teachers. Now with fresh, colorful pages throughout, The Sivananda Companion to Yoga remains the classic guide to yoga. With easy-to-follow instructions, inspirational teaching, and detailed illustrations, this authoritative guide covers every aspect of the yoga lifestyle, including relaxation, exercise, dietary guidelines, breathing, and meditation. Whether you're using it in conjunction with a class or on your own, The Sivananda Companion to Yoga can help you * Develop a fit and beautiful body * Boost your energy and vitality at any stage of life * Reduce stress and experience greater peace of mind * Eat nutritiously and responsibly * Increase your powers of concentration and discipline Yoga is a journey toward physical and spiritual wellness. With this beautiful, bestselling guide in hand, you will experience the health, energy, and vibrancy that yoga can bring into your life.Chapter One Relaxation Living with mind and body relaxed is our natural state, our birthright -- it is only the pace of our lives that has made us forget. Those who retain the art possess the key to good health, vitality and peace of mind, for relaxation is a tonic for the whole being, liberating vast resources of energy. The state of our minds and the state of our bodies are intimately linked. If your muscles are relaxed, then your mind must be relaxed. If the mind is anxious, then the body suffers too. All action originates in the mind. When the mind receives a stimulus that alerts it to the need for action, it sends a message via the nerves to contract the muscles in readiness. In the hustle and bustle of the modern world, the mind is continuously bombarded with stimuli which may cause us to freeze in the alerted "fight or flight" pattern of response. As a result, many people spend much of their lives -- even while asleep -- in a state of physical and mental tension. Everyone has their own particular trouble spots -- whether it is a clenched jaw, a furrowed brow, or a stiff neck. This unnecessary tension not only causes a lot of discomfort but is an enormous drain on our energy resources and a major cause of tiredness and ill-health. For energy is being used both to tell the muscles to contract and to keep them contracted, even if we are only half aware of it. In this section we present the technique of relaxation, that is an essential part of your yoga practice. There are three parts to proper relaxation -- physical, mental and spiritual relaxation. To relax the body, you lie down in the Corpse Pose and first tense then relax each part of the body in turn, working up from your feet to your head. This alternate tensing then relaxing is necessary because it is only by knowing how tension feels that you can be sure that you have achieved relaxation. Then, just as in normal life your mind instructs the muscles to tense and contract, you now use autosuggestion to send the muscles a message to relax. With practice you will gradually learn to use your subconscious mind to extend this control to the involuntary muscles of the heart, the digestive systems and other organs too. To relax and focus the mind you breathe steadily and rhythmically and concentrate on your breathing. Mental and physical relaxation can never be complete, however, until you achieve spiritual peace. For as long as you identify with your body and mind, there will be fears and worries, anger and sorrow. Spiritual relaxation means detaching yourself, becoming a witness of the body and mind, in order to identify with the Self or pure consciousness -- the source of truth and peace that lies within us all. As you relax, you will feel sensations of melting down, of expansion, lightness and warmth. When all muscular tension is gone, a gentle euphoria suffuses the whole body. Relaxation is not so much a state as a process, a series of levels of increasing depth. It is a matter of letting go, instead of holding on; of not doing, rather than doing. As you relax the whole body and breathe slowly and deeply, certain physiological changes occur: less oxygen is consumed and less carbon dioxide eliminated; muscle tension is reduced; and there is a decrease in the activity of the sympathetic nervous system and an increase in parasympathetic activity. Even a few minutes of deep relaxation will reduce worry and fatigue more effectively than many hours of restless sleep. The Corpse Pose The Corpse Pose or Savasana is the classic relaxation pose, practised before each session, between asanas and in Final Relaxation. It looks deceptively simple, but it is in fact one of the most difficult asanas to do well and one which changes and develops with practice. At the end of an asana session your Corpse Pose will be more complete than at the beginning because the other asanas will have progressively stretched and relaxed yoContents Introduction to Yoga Relaxation The Corpse Pose Final Relaxation The Basic Session The Sequence of Asanas The Session Begins: Easy Pose Neck and Shoulders Eye Exercises The Sun Salutation Leg Raises The Headstand The Shoulderstand The Plough The Bridge The Fish The Forward Bend The Cobra The Locust The Bow The Half Spinal Twist The Crow The Hands to Feet Pose The Triangle The Basic Practice Charts Breathing Prana and the Subtle Body Basic Breathing: Kapalabhati Anuloma Viloma Brahmari Sitkari Sithali Advanced Breathing: The Three Bandhas: Ujjayi Surya Bheda Bhastrika Samanu Diet The Three Gunas Natural Foods Changing your Diet Fasting Meditation Mastery of the Mind Principles of Meditation Starting to Meditate Tratak Mantras Asanas and Variations The Headstand Cycle: Leg Variations Scorpion Arm Variations Lotus Headstand Single Leg Inverted Pose The Shoulderstand Cycle: Arm and Leg Variations Plough Variations Bridge and Fish Variations The Forward Bend Cycle: Forward Bend Variations The Head to Knee Pose The Side Splits Twist Leg and Arm Stretching The Inclined Plane The Backward Bend Cycle: Cobra and Locust Variations Bow Variations Wheel Kneeling Pose Warrior Kneeling Wheel Diamond Crescent Moon Pigeon The Sitting Cycle: Spinal Twist Lotus Lotus Variations Shooting Bow Leg behind Head Pose Splits The Balancing Cycle: Peacock Handstand Crow Variations Eagle Tree Standing Splits Lion Lord Nataraja Pose Standing Pose Head to Feet Pose Triangle Variations Cycles of Asanas Chart Kriyas The Cycle of Life Maternity Practice Schedule Special Asanas for Pregnancy: Modified Shoulderstand and Plough Wall Stretches Pelvic Lift Modifed Cobra Cat Perineal Exercises Relaxation Squatting Childhood The Later Years: Warm Ups Modifed Asanas Yoga and Health The Body's Frame: Muscles Skeleton Spinal Movements The Nutrient Cycles: Digestion Respiration Circulation The Vital Balance: Glands Nerves Glossary Recommended Reading Index Sivananda Centres AcknowledgmentsA bestselling classic--now in a larger trim size with a fresh new look. Easy-to-follow instructions, inspirational teachings, and color photos guide readers through every aspect of classic yoga--relaxation, exercise, and breathing techniques; dietary regimes; and meditation. (more) (less)

Table of Contents

Introduction to Yoga Relaxation
The Corpse Pose Final Relaxation
The Basic Session The Sequence of Asanas
The Session Begins: Easy Pose Neck and Shoulders Eye Exercises
The Sun Salutation Leg Raises
The Headstand
The Shoulderstand
The Plough
The Bridge
The Fish
The Forward Bend
The Cobra
The Locust
The Bow
The Half Spinal Twist
The Crow The Hands to Feet Pose
The Triangle
The Basic Practice Charts Breathing Prana and the Subtle Body Basic Breathing: Kapalabhati Anuloma Viloma Brahmari Sitkari
Sithali Advanced Breathing: The Three Bandhas: Ujjayi Surya Bheda Bhastrika Samanu Diet
The Three Gunas Natural Foods Changing your Diet Fasting Meditation Mastery of the Mind Principles of Meditation Starting to Meditate Tratak Mantras Asanas and Variations
The Headstand Cycle: Leg Variations Scorpion Arm Variations Lotus Headstand Single Leg Inverted Pose
The Shoulderstand Cycle: Arm and Leg Variations Plough Variations Bridge and Fish Variations
The Forward Bend Cycle: Forward Bend Variations
The Head to Knee Pose
The Side Splits Twist Leg and Arm Stretching
The Inclined Plane
The Backward Bend Cycle: Cobra and Locust Variations Bow Variations Wheel Kneeling Pose Warrior Kneeling Wheel Diamond Crescent Moon Pigeon
The Sitting Cycle: Spinal Twist Lotus Lotus Variations Shooting Bow Leg behind Head Pose Splits
The Balancing Cycle: Peacock Handstand Crow Variations Eagle Tree Standing Splits Lion Lord Nataraja Pose Standing Pose Head to Feet Pose
Triangle Variations Cycles of Asanas Chart Kriyas
The Cycle of Life Maternity Practice Schedule Special Asanas for Pregnancy: Modified Shoulderstand and Plough Wall Stretches Pelvic Lift Modifed Cobra Cat Perineal Exercises Relaxation Squatting Childhood
The Later Years: Warm Ups Modifed Asanas Yoga and Health
The Body's Frame: Muscles Skeleton Spinal Movements
The Nutrient Cycles: Digestion Respiration Circulation
The Vital Balance: Glands Nerves
Glossary
Recommended Reading
Index
Sivananda Centres
Acknowledgments

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