Yoga And Organic Go Hand-in-hand

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The explosion of yoga lifestyle in todays world has lead to more and more people adopting the principles of yoga into their day-to-day. It is based on the principles of focus, concentration, discipline and love. Yoga provides a complete perfect state of mental, physical and spiritual balance so as to attain inner peace. To attain this state an individual needs to be fully concentrated while practicing yoga and performing different asanas.

Yoga requires physical movement of the body and for that you need clothes which are comfortable to wear so that you can perform different asanas easily. Moreover uncomfortable clothes even make you lose concentration and are a huge distraction during the whole process. Concentration is something which is something that is very important while performing yoga. The last thing that anyone would want is to lose focus because of the clothes they have worn. It is often observed that people wearing proper yoga apparels get better results as it enables the person to have a better focus while performing different asanas.

Organic apparels are the most effective and popular type of yoga apparels. These have become very popular due to the level of comfort they provide which can never be provided by non-organic clothing. Organic clothing is better at absorbing sweat and it does not cause any irritation or itching during rigorous body movements as they do not contain any chemical materials.

Also, organic clothing is a testimony to the principles on which yoga is based. It teaches us to live in peace and harmony with the natural world and respect all the living organisms. Organic clothes are made from organic crops which are farmed using absolutely no chemical materials or genetically modified seeds. Chemicals fertilizers such as pesticides, insecticides, etc. which are used during farming destroy the soil and land quality and pollute the surrounding air and water of the environment. Hence organic clothes not only provide comfort to the body while performing yoga but also protect our surrounding environment.

If you too are the one who lives a yoga-lifestyle promoting sustainable living then we at Kooshoo can provide you with a wide range of organic yoga clothes such as headbands, hair ties, hot organic yoga apparels and more which is both eco-friendly and comfortable. Yoga clothing these days comes in a variety of designs and attractive colors too. The apparels we provide you with come in many fancy designs and up to date with the fashion world.

Yoga Helping With Anorexia And Bulimia

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We all know that long term eating disorders can be potentially harmful and dangerous to our health. The most common eating disorders are: anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa (commonly called Anorexia) – is a psychiatric illness that describes an eating disorder characterized by extreme low body weight and body image distortion with an obsessive fear of gaining weight.

Bulimia nervosa (commonly called Bulimia) – is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent binge eating, followed by compensatory behaviours. The most common form is self-induced vomiting, fasting, use of laxatives, enemas, diuretics and over-exercising are also common.

Eating disorders are better dealt with when your mind is calm. To become more peaceful and calm yoga can be of great help. It has been said that by practicing yoga regularly we can reduce depression and restore a balance of the mind.

Yoga can be a great tool and should be utilized in treating eating disorders. That doesnt mean we stop getting help from the professional medical world. But what we can do is to have the best of both worlds; the medical field of brilliant minds and the intuitive and spiritual world to help us calm our mind and lift our spirit.

Bulimia and anorexia have a very huge potential to destroy lives, and not only the lives of the sick but also the lives of their family and friends. If professional help is not sought there could be painful and tragic consequences. And there is help at hand.

So if you have an eating disorder or you know someone who has helped them by encouraging them to take up yoga. A well-maintained medical program combined with yoga can do wonders.

Everyone has the power to take control of their life. With the help and support of the medical community, their nearest-and-dearest and yoga community they have the chance to fully recover and become once again healthy and happy individuals.

If you are knew to yoga you may get confused of the different types of yoga on a market today. There is Hatha yoga, Ashtanga yoga, Scientific yoga, Bikram yoga, Power yoga, Sivananda yoga, and many others.

The most common form of yoga is Hatha and Scientific yoga which are the nearest to the true ancient form of yoga from India. The classes will include relaxation and deep breathing which are both very important to release stress and keep the mind calmer.

Power and Ashtanga yoga yoga are more aerobic-style yoga, with emphasis on cardio. Bikram yoga is performed in a heated room to accelerate detoxification.

Yoga A Part Of The American Health Quest For Decades

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It might surprise many people to learn that yoga has a long history in the United States. For a lot of Americans, their knowledge of yoga may only date back to the 1960s, when the concepts of spiritualism and meditation were embraced by the countrys counterculture.

But it might surprise you to learn that yoga has a far longer history in the U.S., dating back to the late 1800s.

In 1883, the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago welcomed Swami Vivekananda, who received a standing ovation when he greeted his “sisters and brothers in America” in the audience. His idea that all of the religions of the world are merely separate parts of a larger religion was a new concept to those hearing him speak about the mind, body and spirit.

Swami Vivekananda was followed by Yogendra Mastamani, also from India, who arrived in the U.S. and settled on Long Island, N.Y. in 1919 and established the American version of Kaivalyadhama, an Indian organization that made major strides in the scientific exploration of yoga. Mastamani introduced Hatha Yoga to the United States.

A year later, Paramahansa Yogananda, of one the most well-known yogis in the U.S., settled in Boston and brought kriya yoga to the United States. He created the Self-Realization Fellowship, which now has its headquarters in Los Angeles. Yogananda also wrote the world-famous best seller, “Autobiography of a Yogi”, a book that is still an inspirational resource for many yoga instructors and students.

In the 1930s, Jiddu Krishnamurti brought the yogi to new level of awareness in the U.S. thanks to this popular, eloquent speeches on Jnana-Yoga yoga, which is the yoga of discernment. His enlightening talks brought him attention from a number of celebrities, including actors Charlie Chaplin and Greta Garbo and writers Aldous Huxley and George Bernard Shaw.

In 1924, the U.S. imposed a restriction on the number of Indians it would allow to move to the U.S., meaning students who sought the teachings of yogis had to travel to India. One of these students was Theos Bernard, who traveled to India and came back in 1947 to write the book “Hatha Yoga: The Report of a Personal Experience”, an influential book which is still widely today.

The same year that Bernard penned his examination of Hatha Yoga, Russian-born yogi Indra Devi opened one of the first Hatha Yoga studios in Hollywood and earned the title First Lady of Yoga. In addition to housewives across the nation, Devi counted among her fans Hollywood stars Gloria Swanson, Robert Ryan and Jennifer Jones. Devi passed away in her Buenos Ares home in 2002.

But the man who is generally credited with introducing yoga to middle America is not even a native of India. Richard Hittleman, who studied in India for a number of years and returned to the States in 1950 to become a yoga instructor in New York, introduced a non-spiritual-based yoga to the United States and forever changed the way yoga was thought of and taught in America. It was Hittleman who placed emphasis on the physical side of yoga, letting a Western audience focus on the bodily aspects of yoga and not just the mind. Hittleman’s goal was to teach American students to gradually embrace the spiritual side of yoga, which many people have.

While Hittleman was expanding the influence of yoga on the East Coast, Walt and Magana Baptiste were building yogas reputation as a viable study on the West Coast with their San Francisco studio established in the mid 1950s. Both of the Baptistes were students of Yogananda and Walt brought the influence of Vivekananda to the practice, creating an entirely new approach to yoga. Their yoga influence is being continued by their daughter and son, Sherri and Baron.

Also in San Francisco, Swami Vishnu-devananda, arrived from India in 1958 and, with sponsorship from famed artist Peter Max, created the landmark book, The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga. It became an essential guide for yoga instructors and practitioners. Vishu-devananga would later go on to create the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta yoga centers, which has become one of most prominent yoga school franchises in the entire world.

As the 1960s embrace of counterculture got into full swing, more and more people began to investigate the spirituality of yoga and possibly the most famous group of yoga practitioners were The Beatles, whose association with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi made him one of the most famous yogis in the world. He created the Transcendental Meditation school of yoga that today employs more than 40,000 instructors and approximately 4 million followers worldwide.

In the late 1960, Harvard professor Richard Alpert left on a journey through India and returned as Ram Dass, who captured the imagination of the young people of America and sparked their interest in the potential of yoga with his 1970 college tour to support his book, Be Here Now. It implanted the idea of taking a spiritual quest as a dream of many young people.

In the 1970s, yoga continued to grow as studios began popping up all over the nation. Mount Madonna, founded by Baba Hari Dass, brought residential yoga instruction to Santa Cruz, California. Shrila Prabhubada began the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which led to the international spiritual study of Bhakti Yoga. In the mid-70s, Pattabhi Jois came to the U.S. and brought Ashtanga-vinyasa Yoga to the masses At Woodstock, Swami Satchitananda was probably the most popular non-musician to appear there. Swami Sivananda Radha is the female yogi credited with first investigating the link between the spirituality and psychology of yoga. And the teachings of Swamii Chidananda, who himself was a student of yoga master Swami Sivananda, were delivered to the world by one of his former students, instructor Liliias Folan through her landmark PBS television series “Lilias, Yoga and You” which aired on the network from 1970 to 1979 and made yoga available in every home in the U.S.

Yoga has continued its influence across America with classes and studios in cities all over, from the smallest town to the major metro areas. In addition, the advent of digital media, including CDs, DVDs and streaming Internet video, yoga can go anywhere, further giving it a foothold in the United States.

Yoga Benefits Of Pranayama

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Pranayam is made up of two words Prana + Ayam.

Prana is the vital force present in whole cosmos. We have been provided Prana, the supreme source of energy by the creator. Proper utilisation of this free source of energy can make remarkable changes to our physical and mental health, vitality and self confidence. Prana is more subtle than air and can be defined as the energy essence that is within everything in the universe.
Ayama means to control or to give a rhythm or a definite flow.

In this sense Pranayama may be defined as a process and technique through which vital energy can be stimulated and increased and this brings about perfect control over the flow of Prana within the body. Pranayama locks the scattering of pranic energy, consolidates it at the centre of your body-mind complex and laser-beams it to an intense awareness of the self. In simple language Pranayam can be said to be the right form of breathing technique to control our energy.

Breathing Technique: We can train ourselves to breathe more slowly and more deeply. We can reduce our breathing rate from about fifteen breaths a minute to 5-6 breaths a minute. Reduced breathing rate leads to slowing down the heart rate as more oxygen can be pumped even with less number of breaths. Time of exhalation should be longer than that of inhalation in the breath cycle.

Types of Pranayama:
1.Bhastrika Pranayama
2.Kapal Bhati Pranayama
3.Baghi Pranayama
4.Anulom Vilom Pranayama
5.Bhramari Pranayama
6.Udgeet Pranayama

Most of us are not well aware of tangible and intangible benefits of Pranayama. All benefits of pranayama cannot be written down, few of them are listed below:-

Healthy Heart: Heart is the key organ of our body which beats about 70 times per minute to pump blood non-stop all your life. The health of your heart indicates our life expectancy and quality of life in old age. More oxygen in the blood means more oxygen to muscles of the heart.

Better Blood Circulation: As a result of better breathing techniques, the freshly oxygenated blood travels from lungs to the heart. The heart pumps it via arteries and blood vessels to every part of the body, where in turn is absorbed by every tissue and cell. This improves the blood circulation and more oxygen energy reaches all parts of your body.

Stress Management: Pranayama is an excellent stress relief technique. Pranayama practice provides freedom from negative thought, anger, depression, lasciviousness, greed for money, arrogance etc. With pranayama fluctuations of mind are controlled and it prepares the mind for meditation. With practice of pranayama, we can experience lightness of body, feeling of inner peace, better sleep, better memory and better concentration whereby improving the spiritual powers/ skills. Mental peace and clarity of thought occur in our mind. Cheerfulness and enthusiasm is increased in life.

Functioning of Body Organs: By practice of pranayama all body organs gets more oxygen, toxins are removed from body; therefore onset of various diseases is prevented. Better functioning of autonomic system improves the working of lungs, heart, diaphragm, abdomen, intestines, kidneys and pancreas. Digestive system improves and diseases pertaining to digestive organs are cured with good appetite. General irritability due to lethargy/ fatigue vanishes. Pranayama strengthens the immune system. Pranayama reduces wear and tear of internal organs.

Longevity and Quality of Life in Old Age: Higher the breath rate, lower the life of creature in the world. Dog and monkey have higher breathing rate and lower life in contrast with elephant and tortoise taking four to five breaths in a minute and it lives up to 200 years or more. As a person with sedentary lifestyle reaches middle age, lung tissues tend to grow less and less elastic and lung capacity decreases. Pranayama can help to reduce the effects of following old age problems.

Female Hair Loss Treatment

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It is a natural tendency for women to focus more on their beauty as it is a combination of many factors ranging from their complexion, dresses, and hair style. When they face the problem of hair loss and dandruff, they can spend any amount of money to cure the problem. There are medicated treatments which can help women grow their hair back but some of these treatments have risky side effects. A natural female hair loss treatment can be just effective and cost a lot less.

1. One of the effective tips to grow hair faster naturally is to get your hair and scalp massaged every week. You can even undertake head massages on your own at home itself. All you have to do is to take any of the good quality essential oils for hair growth such as coconut oil or olive oil and warm it a bit. Next, using your finger tips, massage your scalp with the oil. Follow this up by wrapping your head with a towel soaked in hot water and later wriggled, for fifteen minutes so that the hair can get some steam. Leave the oil overnight and in the morning wash it as usual.

2. Aloe vera is nothing short of a miracle plant. It soothes sunburn, moisturizes skin, and even cleanses the body when taken internally. It should come as no surprise, then, that aloe is also touted for its hair-regrowth properties. The gel helps to stimulate the hair follicles and sooth the scalp, encouraging new hair growth.

3. Take some garlic cloves and drop them into one cup of milk and let it sit for one hour. This will allow the sulphur from the cloves to be released into the milk. It will also help eliminate some of the smell from the garlic. Apply the mixture onto your scalp and let it stay on for about 15 minutes and then rinse it off with lukewarm water.

4. As tension and anxiety have become a part of all our lives, we should learn to keep them under control by learning yoga and meditation as they are good stress-busters. High stress levels trigger hair fall thus learning to manage stress is very important.

5. An easy hair mask recipe is to mix two egg yolks in two tablespoons of yogurt and massage the scalp with this mixture. Leave it on for half an hour and then wash off. Another hair mask that is very beneficial for hair is made by mixing a cup of milk and a tablespoon of honey. For getting rid of dandruff, an effective hair mask is made by grinding fenugreek seeds which have been soaked overnight and leaving the paste on the scalp and hair, every time before shampooing for half an hour.

6. If you can stand the smell, apply onion or garlic juice before going to bed, and sleep on it. Slice a clove of garlic in half, and rub it on any balding areas. Squeeze juice from an onion, and do the same. For sensitive scalps, you may want to leave the treatment on for a half hour before shampooing. Always apply the garlic or onion with deep massaging motions to increase scalp circulation.

7. An African tea called rooibos which contains a large number of antioxidants can fight free radicals and also prevent hair loss. Green tea is another good antioxidant which can be applied on the scalp to prevent hair loss. It also has anti inflammatory qualities.