How Samkhya Yoga Can Help Increase Your Quality Of Life

This article describes 5 ways that Samkhya yoga can help to increase your quality of life, regardless of your personal circumstances and situation.

1. Increased Lung Capacity – by conducing Samkhya yoga twice weekly, you will learn how to breath more effectively and control your emotions as a result. Breathing exercises will also help you increase your VO2 max which is the maximum amount of oxygen you can intake in one breath. This is important for any healthy cardiovascular effort, as your lung capacity will directly impact on how your body will perform when exerted.

2. Reduced stress levels – research suggests that taking time out exclusively for yourself helps to reduce stress levels and having a time out from the everyday issues that trouble us all. By doing Samkhya yoga, your body will naturally be more relaxed and your muscles and internal organs will have had the opportunity to stretch and release toxins that are captured by an increase in stress levels. By doing so, you will become at one with your soul and you will work towards reaching a complete state of what is known as inner peace, or shanti.

3. Higher level of physical fitness – Samkhya yoga is an art which is underpinned by stretching and developing personal stretching capabilities over time. In doing so you will start to use fat stores as energy, putting the body in a higher state of physical exertion. As you do this, your body will become more supple, overtime resulting in an increased level of toning.

4. Relaxed mindset – because of the atmosphere within a Samkhya yoga class you will find yourself becoming extremely relaxed, entering a state of passiveness which is unrivalled in any extracurricular activity.

5. Meeting people – by going to a Samkhya yoga class you will meet like minded individuals that want to increase their quality of life through stress relief and relaxation, two facets which Samkhya yoga provides easily. By meeting these types of individuals you will find yourself making new friends that are on the same wavelength, happy to socialise with you in order to further improve both yours and their own quality of life.

Yoga: Benefits Of Pranayama

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