Yoga for Beauty and Health

About the Book This book is for you even if you've never tried yoga before. You do not need to be able to "do" or "be" anything but yourself, and simply have the desire to lead a healthier, stronger, and more fulfilling life. This book is all about a healthy body and mind through practicing Yoga. It is written keeping view of the new syllabus of Yoga for University and Competitive examinations. The chapters are the reflection of years of experience and. practical implications. The book opens some new vistas of Yogic practice.

About the Author Swami Tirthankar Nath the Yoga Guru is highly learned in the Yogic methodologies. He has been teaching Yoga to the students of USA and Canada for last fifteen years. His career started from the Himalayan centre of Yogic Vision and he continued to learn Yogic meditation from different gurus. A simple and spirited man he is internationally praised for his great service to mankind. He has more than twenty published books and he has travelled across the globe teaching Yoga.

Preface The practice of yoga may greatly aid in helping you look more youthful and more radiant well into your old age proving that the old adage 'age is but a number' is true. Those who regularly practice yoga have a certain glow about them that comes from within and radiates outward. However, it is vital to note that to enhance your beauty with yoga; you must follow strict guidelines that you should incorporate in your daily life. You have to discipline yourself, eat a healthy diet, practice yoga every day, and learn to balance your physical and spiritual selves.

Regular yoga practice will not only aid you in achieving true inner beauty, but physical or outer beauty as well. It helps in losing excess weight and unwanted fat, all while improving your flexibility to maintain proper body posture also essential to making you look more-youthful. As you know, detoxification is important to keep your body looking and feeling healthy and doing yoga asanas or postures will help in getting rid of toxins that have accumulated in your body. It will likewise aid in improving blood circulation to provide that radiant glow to yoga skin and hair.

You can also enhance your beauty with yoga because it aids in maximum absorption of nutrients since it is capable of aiding in absorbing nutrients at the cellular level. Because of this, all body organs will function at their best, which in turn will lend a healthier glow not only to your face, but to the whole body. In addition, practicing yoga regularly has been shown to considerably elevate your mood since it can greatly reduce stress levels, most especially when done with proper pranayamas or breathing exercises.

Pranayama yoga is the art of controlled breathing. With regular pranayama yoga practice, you stimulate your internal body organs and learn to free your mind of unnecessary mental clutter. This in turn will reflect well in your physical appearance. In general a daily 30-minute pranayama session, along with specific yoga asana is required to feel and see the benefits Mudra holds the power to change your body's internal and external health and emotions which includes mental, spiritual and physical aspects. Mental health itself comprises of many key things like anger, disturbance, intelligence and emotional balance.

Similarly spiritual health has to do with concentration, meditation and peace of mind to be achieved.

Physical health and fitness is known to all which includes your body health and fitness measures, your body stamina and endurance power.

This book comprehensively covers all aspects of yoga, from the physical, which helps a person become stronger and more centered, to the philosophical and mental states of understanding that yoga helps bring about. The Beauty of Yoga in Life delves into the origins of yoga and how it has developed over the centuries, as well as spurring mental faculties through the mind body benefits. Since 2,000 years before Christ, yoga has been used in India and perfected by others to strengthen and bring health to both mind and body. The word yoga means yoke, a yoking together and a bringing of harmony to oneself, especially useful in today's stressed populations. The spiritual understanding of yoga is explained and how all paths of yoga lead not only to self-improvement but to spirituality.

Introduction Yoga refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India. The word is associated with meditative practices in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. In Hinduism, it also refers to one of the six orthodox'(astika) schools of Hindu philosophy, and to the goal towards which that school directs its practices. In Jainism it refers to the sum total of all activities-mental, verbal and physical.

Major branches of yoga in Hindu philosophy include Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Hatha Yoga. Raja Yoga, compiled in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and known simply as yoga in the context of Hindu philosophy, is part of the Samkhya tradition. Many other Hindu texts discuss aspects of yoga, including Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Shiva Samhita and various Tantras.

The Sanskrit word yoga has many meanings, and is derived from the Sanskrit root ''yuga,'' meaning "to control," ''to yoke" or "to unite." Translations include "joining," "uniting," "union," "conjunction," and "means." Outside India, the term yoga is typically associated with Hatha Yoga and its asana (postures) or as a form of exercise. Someone who practices yoga or follows the yoga philosophy is called a yogi or yogini. The Vedic Samhitas contain references to ascetics, while ascetic practices (tapas) are referenced in the Brahma Gas (900 to 500 BCE), early commentaries on the Vedas. Several seals discovered at Indus Valley Civilization (c. 330~1700 B.C.E.) sites in Pakistan depict figures in positions resembling a common yoga or meditation pose, showing "a form of ritual discipline, suggesting a precursor of yoga", according to archaeologist Gregory Passel. Some type of connection between the Indus Valley seals and later yoga and meditation practices is speculated upon by many scholars, though there is no conclusive evidence.

Techniques for experiencing higher states of consciousness in meditation were developed by the shamanic traditions and in the Upanishad tradition.

While there is no clear evidence for meditation in pre-Buddhist early Brahmin texts, Wynne argues that formless meditation originated in the Brahmin tradition, based on strong parallels between Upanishad cosmological statements and the meditative goals of the two teachers of the Buddha as recorded in the early Buddhist texts.

He mentions less likely possibilities as well. Having argued that the cosmological statements in the Upanishads also reflect a contemplative tradition, he argues that the Nasadiya Sukta contains evidence for a contemplative tradition, even as early as the late Rg Vedic period. The Buddhist texts are probably the earliest texts describing meditation techniques. They describe meditative practices and states which had existed before the Buddha as well as those which were first developed within Buddhism. In Hindu literature, the term "yoga" first occurs in the Katha Upanishad, where it refers to control of the senses and the cessation of mental activity leading to a supreme state.

Important textual sources for the evolving concept of Yoga are the middle Upanishads, (ca. 400 BCE), the Mahabharata including the Bhagavad Gita (ca. 200 BCE), and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (150 BCE).

Book's Contents and Sample Pages