Keep Cool In Summer By Practicing Yoga And Other Techniques

Summer is a time of change as there is scorching heat mostly in the subcontinent of India. So the yogi gives few of the tips to keep cool this summer with proper yoga and meditation techniques. Summer takes away the extra energy by way of perspiration so the yogi prescribes the steps to keep the body cool and hydrated. Summer essentially means different things to different people. But one of the facts which is all the while true is the heat of the summer. Beat the heat with proper yoga, pranayama and meditation techniques. 

Cool Your Body Through Pranayama

The busy schedule in summer may be more distressing and may call for more drainage of energy and make you perspire more. The yogi prescribes the Sheetali Pranayama for cooling the body temperature down.

The procedure for Sheetali Pranayama is to stick the tongue out by curling the sides of the tongue upwards towards the centre of it. Then the breathing should start through the mouth and the breath should be held for few moments and then the breath should be exhaled through the nose. 

Repeat these steps five to ten times at one time and you will be feeling much cooler.

Drink More Water

Summer is a time of more dehydration. That is the reason why you should drink more water. The reason is body has 70 percent water and during perspiration this water content of the body gets drained. The yogi advises to include the Sheetkari Pranayama in the routine. 

Sheetkari Pranayama to control thirst

Summer makes one to become thirsty a lot and thus Sheetkari Pranayama can help a lot in controlling your thirst. This is how you can try to do it. But one has to keep in mind that Sheetkari Pranayama is not a substitute for drinking water. The best thing to do is to drink lots of water but in case if you feel too dehydrated you can try this.

Close your right nostrils with the help of your right thumb and start exhaling completely through your left nostrils and start breathing through your left nostril. The next time you should close your left nostril with the little ring finger of yours and start exhaling through the right nostrils. Repeat the procedure for five to ten times. People who had been doing this have said that this reduces the urge to feel thirsty and keeps the body cool but it is not a substitute for drinking water. 

Calm the nerves

It is often noted that in a hot whether the chances of losing temper, impatience and getting more tired is always more. This is where cooling of the nerves are important. This can be done through the Chandravedi steps. This is a breathing or pranayama technique which has a cooling effect on the nervous system and the subtle energy channels of the body known as nadis. 

How to do it? 

First of all clench the teeth keeping the tongue pressed against the teeth but keep your mouth open. In that condition keep breathing in. Then close your mouth and start breathing out in normal pace through the nostrils. This should be repeated five to ten times inhaling the breath from the left and exhaling the breath from your right nostrils. After this take rest in Shavasana.This is sure to refresh and relax you to a great degree. 

Art Of Living Makes The World Meet At World Cultural Festival

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar the founder of Art of Living has implemented many breathing techniques and formulated such courses for the sake of human good. It encompasses breathing techniques, pranayamas, asanas, meditation techniques and many such activities that alleviate stress and helps one to develop leadership qualities, human values and more importantly, helps one to lead a happy life. The goal of his movement is to uplift human beings and flourish the importance and practice of human values among people, countries and communities at large.

Life, he says is celebration and it should be all the days of one’s life. The philosophy is only meditation and yoga without celebration is lame. So that is the reason Art Of Living Foundation has organized the World Culture Festival on the March 11th to 13th of 2016.

This is something not new and Art Of Living has been offering opportunities to people to showcase their culture and wanted to tie a knot among all the world cultures. The attempt was as if that there is no boundary and limitation of culture and culture is all the same as long as it resembles and embodies human values.

World Culture Festival being celebrated on this March in New Delhi is also a festival of culture where all the cultures of the world will meet on a single platform provided by Art of Living foundation.

India represents one of the most ancient cultures and in this festival, the cultures of the world will unite and will be singing and enthralling the public far and wide in the same tune and vibration. This will certainly commemorate that the entire world is ours and we belong to the big universe. India is hosting this function and it is held on the grounds of India. It is also true that for anything good there are both positive and negative comments and criticism too.

One of it is the hindrances to the bio-diversity of the Flood plain of Jamuna river where the function is taking place. In regard to this the founder of Art Of Living already admitted there are 5000 volunteers of Art of Living working there and not even a single tree is cut down. Why not! The organization itself holds these values and one among it is the conservation of the environment. This is also argued that government is also spending funds to sponsor and help the event to happen. That is also one of the negative ways of looking at it as I personally feel that where there is a scope and revenue generation of India as well and where people from different countries will host their events, it is demeaning for the government if it does not lift the face of Indian culture and its representation to the world. The reader may think I am biased but you may be against Art of Living but just think that isn’t it government’s duty to see that the face of India is being uplifted to the world. In this case if the government patronizes, it may not be for Art Of Living but for the nation’s image itself. 

We have talked so much but we have forgotten to inform what are the specialties of the programme World Culture Festival 2016. Among portraying the best of the world cultures this festival will bring unison of 10, 000 musicians, yoga aspirants and around 25000 artists from around the globe who will be performing on the same stage to create a picturesque diaspora of culture, dance, music and many other specialties of any region.  The experts believe this will be a huge platform for many of the artists who are masters of their own art forms but are in isolation. 

Yoga techniques to Quit Smoking

Smoking is injurious to health and yet one can’t quit smoking or leave it. This is true of the smokers. Probably the smokers understand the value of this statement as the hard core addicts have probably realized how hard it is to leave or quit smoking. Smoking is really injurious to health and nowadays on the packets of cigarettes it is clearly inscribed that “Smoking Kills”. In spite of that people are not able to quit smoking and they go on puffing the smokes in the air.

In earlier days it might have been a bit glamourous as our culture has been influenced a lot by the British customs and habits. But those days it was not so much known about the deadly effects of smoking. Nowadays people know about the ill effects of smoking and how deadly it can be. Nowadays smoking is no longer considered as glamourous but instead smoking is considered as stupid and people may also take it as ridiculous and think that the person does not have control on his habits. But the smokers often feel helpless in the hands of this malicious addiction and they do not know the way out of it. There are many techniques and measures available in the market which even the doctors also advocate but out of the all these yoga for quitting smoking.

Through yoga there are ways to get rid of smoking and the yogis insist yoga is one of the best ways to do so. There are few asanas and breathing techniques that can free you of the bad habits of smoking.

KapalBhati Pranayama

KapalBhati Pranayama improves the circulation of blood and energizes the nervous system, rejuvenates the brain cells and calms your mind. This pranayama also clears and cleanses the nadiswhich are the subtle energy channels and helps one to resist the urge of smoking.

NadiShodhon Pranayama

releases the accumulated stress and tension and calms your mind by purifying and balancing the nadis. This pranayama helps the eradication of many respiratory problems and helps counter the side effects of the de-addiction.

Bujanga Asana (The Cobra Pose):

The cobra pose expands your chest and improves the blood circulation too. It is helpful in reducing the fatigue, relieving stress and it eventually minimizes the urges of smoking.
SetuBandhasana: (Bridge Pose)

The Bridge pose or the SetuBandhasana pose opens the lungs and helps in improving the flow of oxygen in the body. It essentially calms the mind, reduces the anxiety levels, stress and depression and thus prevents you from getting the increased urge of smoking. 

Apart from these Trikonasana and Sishuasana also helps in reducing the stress levels and bringing a mental equilibrium and balance in the body.

Sarvangasana or the shoulder stand helps the brain and the body to be flooded with blood and helps eliminate the stress levels and even depression too to an extent which helps reduce the urge for smoking.

Shavasana which is a posture of resting the body at the end lets the body to go to deep rest and a meditative rest which helps in relieving the stress levels from the body. The Practice of this posture at the end helps in reduction of blood pressure and anxiety too.

The experts say that when the body is less stressful and the mind is calm, the urges of the smoker to smoke reduces considerably. This helps in quitting the habit of smoking as the urge for smoking reduces considerably.