What is the Surya Namaskar?

Also, known as “Sun Salutation,” it’s an ancient practice of expressing respect and gratitude to the Sun God. Without the Sun, there’s no life on Earth. Ancient rishis of India understood that the Solar Plexus, the central point of the body, located behind the navel, is the energy powerhouse of the human body.

With regular practice of the asanas of Surya Namaskar, the Solar Plexus is enhanced, thereby stimulating one’s decision-making skills, intuitive abilities, confidence, and creativity.

Tutorial Of Surya Namaskar

             

    

Take a look at the incredible benefits of practicing Surya Namaskar daily:

1: Aids in Weight Loss

When done at a fast pace, Surya Namaskar is an excellent tool to lose weight. The postures help in stretching abdominal muscles, thereby providing you with a rigorous cardiovascular workout. It’s an efficient way to shed those extra kilos, especially around the belly. Also, it helps in improving metabolism, increasing the rate at which the body burns off calories.

2: Enjoy Glowing Skin

Your skin feels tired and lack lustre? Make Surya Namaskar a part of your morning routine. It helps in increasing blood circulation, providing your skin with an inner glow. It also helps in preventing wrinkles, crow feet, and acne, making you look radiant and ageless.

3: Regulates Menstrual Cycles

Surya Namaskar is highly beneficial for women to regulate irregular periods and other hormonal imbalances. For pregnant women, daily practice of these postures helps in easy childbirth. However, pregnant women should follow Surya Namaskar only under expert guidance.

4: Puts an End to Insomnia

Surya Namaskar helps in improving sleep patterns. The asanas help in calming your mind, providing you with a good night’s sleep.

5: Regulates your Digestive System

Suffering from constipation, bloating and other digestive problems? Turn to Surya Namaskar. It helps in the smooth functioning of your digestive tract, by increasing the blood flow to your intestines and other vital organs. The forward bend posture expands your abdominal space, aiding in the release of trapped gasses from your body.

6: Keep your Blood Sugar Levels in Check

According to experts, regular practice of Surya Namaskar helps in increasing insulin sensitivity, thereby controlling your blood sugar levels.

7: Enjoy Rock-hard Abs

With daily practice of Surya Namaskar, your core muscles are strengthened providing you with great abs, that you can proudly flaunt. Apart from being a workout to your abs, Surya Namaskar helps in strengthening your muscles, joints, and ligaments as well as improving your overall posture.

8: Detox your System

During Surya Namaskar, your body goes through an active inhalation and exhalation process, making your lungs energized and the oxygen levels in your blood increases. This helps in purging your system of accumulated carbon-dioxide and other toxic gases, providing you with a refreshing start to the day.

9: Prevents Hair Fall

Hair fall is a chronic problem faced by men and women of all ages. The yoga postures like the mountain pose (Parvatasana) and the forward bending pose (Padhastasana) increase blood flow to your scalp and head. This helps in reducing hair fall and prevents premature greying of hair.

10: Keep Anxiety at Bay

Surya Namaskar helps in regulating the functioning of the endocrine glands, especially the thyroid. It also helps in soothing your nervous system, thereby assisting you in getting of anxiety, panic attacks and reducing your stress levels.

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 Modern life is full of stress, fatigue, anxiety and a number of other issues connected to health and weight. Unhealthy habits, tons of work, irregular working hours, sleep deprivation and many other factors ruin your mental and physical health. Thousands of people neglect their wellbeing and ignore health issues because of lack of time. This is a major mistake that leads to unwanted consequences. Now let’s keep in mind that every problem such as this has a solution, and this case is certainly not an exception. Yoga and meditation, together with pranayama benefits, are keys to your overall health and energy. These practices strengthen the body, lower the levels of stress and anxiety and help one to slim down.

Quite a few people don’t realize that one of the major components of yoga and meditation is breath-work. Proper breathing guarantees 50 percent of the success. There are various breathing techniques, each one having some differences in benefits and so it is important to know about both the techniques and their benefits.

What is pranayama?

Pranayama is one of the main components of yoga. This is a breath regulation technique which promotes both mental and physical wellbeing. It can roughly be translated from Sanskrit (original language of the founders of yoga) as the “control of life energy”. Practically speaking, it is a set of breathing exercises and patterns. During this technique people control their inhalation and exhalation while following a specific sequence of breathing and holding of breath. Many people use pranayama not only as a part of yoga, but as an independent practice as well. Renewing and enhancing the connection between your mind and body is the main aim of this technique.

Pranayama benefits

Pranayama has a healing effect on your mind and body. Below you can see a quite impressive list of pranayama benefits for your health:

1. Promotes healthy and high quality sleep

Many people underestimate the importance of healthy sleep, and unfortunately this is a big mistake on their part. Necessary amounts of high quality sleep support growth and development in children and teens, as well as healthy functioning of the brain. It’s also necessary for the maintenance of your physical health. Pranayama may be quite useful for improving your quality of sleep.

According to a study, Bhramari pranayama, one of the pranayama techniques, works to slow down the heart rate and breathing within 5 minutes of practicing. This is a nice option for calming down your body before bedtime . Another research study has shown that it can improve the quality of sleep in people who suffer from a sleep disorder, known as obstructive sleep apnea . People who have this disorder repeatedly stop and start breathing during the sleep . This technique also helps to decrease sleepiness during the day and manage snoring.

2. Boosts your daily mindfulness

As a rule, people don’t pay attention to breathing, most likely because the process happens autonomously and automatically. The idea of pranayama as a yoga component, however, is to focus on the present moment. This experience of one’s mind is known as mindfulness. According to a recent study, people who practice this technique show the signs of significantly better developed mindfulness than those who don’t neglect to practice pranayama.

3. Helps to lower stress levels

As was mentioned above, there are harmful effects of stress to one’s body. According to a research study, pranayama is an efficient method for stress relief. The authors of the study suggest that such an effect is achieved due to the process of pranayama to calm down the nervous system.

4. Improves work of your body systems

Pranayama is a breathing technique and as a breathing technique, it is a nice exercise for your lungs. According to a recent study, pranayama can significantly improve the function of one’s lungs. This technique can be especially useful for those people with allergic bronchitis and asthma. It can be additionally helpful for people who need recovery therapy after such serious lung conditions as tuberculosis and pneumonia .

Pranayama is also supportive of the digestive system. The belly breathing required in this technique activates your diaphragm. This is a muscle that is located below your lungs and above your internal organs. When you practice pranayama, the movement of the diaphragm provides your digestive organs with a gentle massage. This technique offers benefits for your immune system as well. The work of your diaphragm also moves the lymph – which contains white blood cells – around your body. White blood cells are primarily working to help protect your body against for
eign invaders and diseases. By practicing pranayama on a regular basis you can strengthen your immune system and protect yourself from the development of various medical conditions.

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 OK, we get it, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Every kid’s TV show, health class, and helicopter parent has ingrained this into your brain. As much as the kid in you may want to resist advice from all of the above parties, they were right. If you are someone who exercises, spends time on your feet, or uses your brain in virtually any capacity during the day, you should be eating breakfast. But there’s something important that the Disney channel may have forgotten to tell you: what you eat during your first meal of the day really matters.

Why Is Breakfast So Important?

During your sleep, your metabolism slows down to recover from the activity of the day. When you fail to eat breakfast in the morning, according to Dr. David S. Ludwig of Children’s Hospital Boston, you start off with an energy deficit — you leave your body without the fuel it needs to run. But this isn’t just about your body; while your brain only takes up 2% of your body’s weight, it may be using up to 20% of your body’s energy (aka, calories from food) to run smoothly. If you’re a sufferer of half-awake work mornings, we’ve got a shocker for you: your nitro cold brew, in all of its caffeinated glory, may not be cutting it.

OK… So What Should It Look Like?

Let’s be honest: breakfast is often an out-the-door afterthought. Whether it’s a heaping bowl of sugary cereal or a processed protein bar, sometimes the only criteria for “good breakfast” is how quickly you can down it before your busy day. But what if the very thing you’re doing to speed up your morning routine is actually setting you back? A “healthy breakfast” doesn’t have to be complicated, and may be the secret to avoiding that 3pm sugar crash. We’ve broken it down to four simple rules to start your day right.

1. Pick Whole Grains

Can’t give up on cereal? You don’t have to. But try to swap out your sugary cereal for something that boasts tons of whole grains, like bran cereal or steel-cut oats. Why? High fiber, whole grain choices won’t spike your blood sugar. Plus, the high fiber content of whole grain items means they take longer to digest, which will keep you full for so much longer. Bye bye, afternoon sugar cravings.

2. Healthy Fat Is Your Friend

Healthy fats don’t just keep you full for longer (like your new BFF fiber), but they also have been proven to improve cognition. Add foods with healthy fats to your breakfast, and you may just notice a game-changing difference in your day. From nut butter to olive oil, there are so many simple ways to sneak healthy fats into your favorite meals — why not give it a try?

3. Protein, Protein, Protein

Many typical American breakfasts are lower in protein — saving the protein all for later meals in the day. Instead, you should be spreading out your protein intake throughout the day for maximal muscle absorption. And just like healthy fats, a good source of protein will help keep you full for longer!

4. Sit Down & Slow Down

It seems simple, but this tip may just make the difference in your breakfast. When you take breakfast out the door or on the road, you may not be processing what you’re eating. According to a study at Harvard Medical School, being distracted while eating not only makes you eat more during the meal, but makes you eat more later on in the day, too. Waking up just 10 minutes earlier and making a meal that fuels your body shouldn’t be seen as a chore — it should be seen as an act of self love.

Whether you are someone who overcomplicates breakfast or skips it entirely, it’s time to redefine the most important meal of the day. You don’t have to do a whole breakfast makeover; instead of taking away your favorite first meal foods, start by adding things in. Swap out your sugary cereal for whole grain oats or granola; add some peanut butter to your smoothie bowl; top your toast with an egg, or just take your rushed breakfast to the table. By planning out your breakfast with our 4 tips in mind, you’ll have the mental and physical energy to take on your day — and you may just find a brand new routine that you love.

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