Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Health through Yoga”
In this blog I will be discussing the the physical and physiological effects of breathing. There are two main reasons we breathe. The main reason is the physiological reason of getting oxygen into our cells. Perhaps surprisingly to many people the best way to achieve this is to safely breathe as little as possible (hypoventilation) to stimulate the Bohr effect …
By Simon Borg-Olivier, 1st April 2014 The sat-kriyas of hatha yoga are six kinds of ‘cleansing processes’ for the body and the mind. They have many manifestations. One of the best explanations of these sat-kriyas and their many variations can be found in the Yoga Makaranda of Sri T. Krishnamacharya. The kriyas are of six types: 1. Dhauti Kriya, 2. …
What I learnt from doing yoga underwater: 1. How to use my ‘inner body’ to move and enter postures rather than relying on gravity or momentum. 2. How to flow smoothly between postures in curves rather than jagged edges in order to gather energy with each movement rather than just expend energy. 3. How to move in and out of …
In this short video below I discuss the seven main ways you can exhale and how by understanding and mastering these ways of exhalation you can stimulate the pleasure centres of your brain, improve core strength, save energy, reduce stress, make your spine more mobile and flexible, and massage your internal organs to improve the function of your digestive …
Hip problems, arthritis and osteoporosis are very prevalent in later life. It is very important to strengthen your hips by carefully applying specifically chosen muscle activations in an intelligent combination of postures and movements. As exercise-based physiotherapists and long standing yoga teachers and practitioners Bianca Machliss and I (Simon Borg-Olivier) have seen over and over again the need to not …
Bad diet, an unfocused mind, stressful practice, not using your diaphragm, holding postures too long, over-tensing muscles, not being able to properly activate muscles and abdominal over-breathing can all make your yoga practice ineffective and impede your progress for a lifetime. We previously posted an article about the basic tenets of the Yoga Synergy Method, which can make any style …
Although there are many benefits to learning how to use all the muscles of breathing, and to learn to breathe in many ways, in the more advanced stages of yoga it is the art of breathing less than normal (hypoventilation) that gives the most physiological benefits. The less you breathe in and out the more you will build up carbon dioxide …
Breathing less than normal can calm the nervous system, decrease appetite and cause more oxygen to be transported to the brain. Breathing more than normal can have some beneficial effects too, however it also can make you feel dizzy, jittery and hungry. It is also better to keep breathing exercises and physical exercises separate until one is firmly established in the physical exercises. Once one no longer needs to focus on …
by Simon Borg-Olivier MScBAppSc(Physiotherapy) I am constantly being asked during workshops and after classes what my opinion is about different yoga styles. I do not want to speak against any style of yoga because, with the right principles, all yoga can be performed in a safe and effective way that will help you both physiologically and anatomically. A yoga practiced …
Many people in the world of yoga, Pilates and fitness tell their clients and students to do something like ‘pull the navel to the spine’. If you google this expression you find articles that give a flurry of controversy on whether on not it is a good idea to ‘pull the navel to the spine’. In this video, exercise-based physiotherapist …
