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From India to the World: The History and Significance of International Yoga Day

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Picture of <b>Joanna</b><br>Ālaya Yoga

Joanna
Ālaya Yoga

From India to the World: The History and Significance of International Yoga Day


Yoga is an ancient practice that originated in India over 5,000 years ago. It is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline that aims to bring harmony between the body and mind. Today, yoga is practised by millions of people all over the world, and has become a popular way to reduce stress, increase flexibility, and improve overall health and well-being. One of the most significant events in the modern history of yoga is the establishment of International Yoga Day, celebrated every year on the 21st of June. It was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2014 after the proposal was put forward by India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. The purpose of International Yoga Day is to raise awareness about the benefits of yoga and promote its practice all over the world. In this article, we will delve into the history and significance of International Yoga Day, and explore how this ancient practice has become a global phenomenon.

The Significance of Yoga in India

In India, yoga has always been an integral part of the culture and way of life. Yoga is deeply rooted in Indian philosophy and spirituality and is considered to be a path to enlightenment and self-realisation.

Yoga has had a significant impact on Indian society and culture. It has been used for centuries to promote physical health, mental well-being, and spiritual growth. Yoga is also important to many religious and spiritual practices in India, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in yoga in India, as more and more people are turning to this ancient practice to improve their health and well-being. Yoga has also become a significant industry in India, with yoga studios, retreats, and teacher training programs popping up all over the country.

The Journey to International Yoga Day – How It Came to Be

The idea of International Yoga Day was first proposed by India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in 2014. The proposal was put forward at the United Nations General Assembly and was quickly adopted by the international community.

The purpose of International Yoga Day is to raise awareness about the benefits of yoga and promote its practice all over the world. The date of June 21st was chosen as the official date for International Yoga Day, as it is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Since its inception, International Yoga Day has become an important event in the global yoga community. It is celebrated in countries all over the world, with millions of people coming together to practice yoga and celebrate the benefits of this ancient practice.

The Importance of International Yoga Day

International Yoga Day is an important event for a number of reasons. Firstly, it helps to raise awareness about the benefits of yoga and promotes its practice all over the world. This is important because yoga has been shown to have numerous health benefits, including reducing stress, improving flexibility, and boosting overall energy levels.

Secondly, International Yoga Day is a celebration of the unity and diversity of the global yoga community. It brings together people from all walks of life, cultures, and backgrounds to practice yoga and celebrate the benefits of this ancient knowledge.

Finally, International Yoga Day is an important reminder of the role that yoga can play in promoting peace and harmony in the world. Yoga is a practice that emphasises compassion, mindfulness, and non-violence, and can be a powerful tool for building bridges between different cultures and communities.

How to Celebrate International Yoga Day – Yoga Practices and Events

There are many ways to celebrate International Yoga Day, whether you are a seasoned practitioner or a beginner. One of the most popular ways to celebrate is to attend a yoga class or event in your local community. Many yoga studios and community centers offer free or discounted yoga classes on International Yoga Day, so it’s a great opportunity to try out different styles of yoga and meet other practitioners.

If you can’t attend an event in person, many online resources are available for practicing yoga at home, such as Ālaya Yoga Online Studio, so you can practice yoga from the comfort of your own home.

Another way to celebrate International Yoga Day is to organise your own yoga event in your community. This could be as simple as gathering a group of friends to practise yoga in a local park, or organizing a larger event with music, food, and other activities.

Success Stories and Impact of International Yoga Day

Since its inception in 2014, International Yoga Day has had a significant impact on the global yoga community. It has helped to raise awareness about the benefits of yoga and promote its practice all over the world.

One of International Yoga Day‘s most significant success stories has been its impact on public health. Yoga has been shown to have numerous health benefits, including reducing stress, improving flexibility, and boosting your immune system. By promoting the practice of yoga, International Yoga Day has helped to improve the health of millions of people all over the world.

International Yoga Day has also helped to promote cross-cultural understanding and unity. By bringing people from different cultures and backgrounds together to practise yoga, International Yoga Day has helped to build bridges and promote peace and harmony in the world!

The Future of International Yoga Day

As the popularity of yoga continues to grow all over the world, the future of International Yoga Day looks bright. Each year, more and more people are participating in International Yoga Day events and celebrating the benefits of this ancient practice.

In the years to come, it is likely that International Yoga Day will continue to grow and evolve, with new events, initiatives, and partnerships being established all over the world. As the global yoga community continues to expand, International Yoga Day will remain an important event for promoting the benefits of yoga and bringing people together in a spirit of unity and harmony.

Misconceptions about Yoga and Its Practice

Despite the numerous benefits of yoga, there are still some misconceptions about the practice that persists. One of the most common misconceptions is that yoga is only for flexible and athletic people. In reality, yoga is a practice that can be adapted to suit people of all ages, abilities, and body types.

Another misconception about yoga is that it is a religion. While yoga has its roots in Hinduism, it is not a religion in and of itself. Yoga is a practice that can be incorporated into any religious or spiritual tradition, or practiced as a secular form of exercise and meditation.

Finally, there is a misconception that yoga is only for women. While it is true that yoga has traditionally been associated with women, there are many male practitioners of yoga all over the world. Yoga is a practice that can be enjoyed by people of all genders and backgrounds!

Conclusion – Why Yoga is a Universal Practice

In conclusion, yoga is an ancient practice that has become a global phenomenon. From its origins in India over 5,000 years ago, yoga has spread all over the world and is now practiced by millions of people in countries all over the globe. The establishment of International Yoga Day in 2014 has helped to raise awareness about the benefits of yoga and promote its practice all over the world.

Yoga can be adapted to suit people of all ages, abilities, and body types. It emphasises compassion, mindfulness, and non-violence, and can be a powerful tool for building bridges between different cultures and communities. Yoga is not just an exercise or a form of meditation, it is a way of life that can help us to achieve inner peace, harmony, and a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

Come join us on the mat on the 21st of June and experience the benefits of yoga on your own terms!
 
 

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Shoulder Opening Tips to your Practice

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Picture of <b>Monica</b><br>Ālaya Yoga

Monica
Ālaya Yoga

Shoulder Opening Tips to your Practice

Shoulder Opening Tips to your Practice 🙆🏻‍♀️

Why not add these Shoulder Opening Practices to your daily routine?

Safeguard your Shoulders today to prevent the most common Shoulder injuries. Strengthen & open your Shoulders with some small practices you can try any time of the day.

Why should we even have Open Shoulders? 

According to the APA (American Psychological Association), “Ongoing muscle tension in your neck and shoulders can lead to more serious issues like back and shoulder pain, body aches, and migraine and tension headaches.” 

Some more:

1. It helps you improve your posture.

2. It helps in multiple muscle movements around your shoulders.

3. Adds extra support to your arms whenever arm strength is required.

4. Reduces neck and shoulder stiffness.

5. It Gives you more flexibility and mobility.

6. Open and strong shoulders help you lift heavy objects and play sports.

7. Psychological effect: Open shoulders make you look more confident.

Ongoing muscle tension in your neck and shoulders can lead to more serious issues like back and shoulder pain, body aches, and migraine and tension headaches

Here you go with the tips for your shoulder:

Gomukhasana (Cow Face):

1. Sit in Vajrasana or Sit with your legs crisscrossed, placing one knee on top of the other.

2. Raise your right arm, fold it at the elbow, take your right palm behind your back, and take your left palm behind the back from down. Now your right elbow is pointing to the ceiling, and your left is pointing to the floor.

3. Try to hold your palms behind your back. If not, you can also use the belt, as shown in the image.

4. Repeat on the other side.

5. Breath, and hold for five breaths.

Forward fold with Clasp:

1. Stand with feet one foot distance apart or into a wide-legged position. You can also try this by sitting in Vajrasana.

2. Clasp your finger behind your back, inhale deeply, and open your chest.

3. With an exhale, soften your knees and fold forward, letting the head fall toward the ground and gently releasing the neck.

4. Aim your clasp hands to the floor beyond your head. Stay here for five deep breaths.

Ardha Uttanasana with the wall:

1. Stand an arm’s distance away from the wall. Inhale, lengthen your spine up, and raise your arms.

2. With an exhale, extend your spine and fold forward halfway through, making a 90 degree at your pelvic.

3. Place your palms on the wall, fingers pointing to the ceiling, and sink your chest towards the floor. Feel the opening in shoulder joints.

4. Breath. Hold for five breaths and repeat.

Reverse Prayer:

1. Sit in Vajrasana, or you may choose to stand with your feet together, float arms down to either side of your body and, bending elbows, reach arms behind your back.

2. Press palms together in a prayer position on the spine and reach hands as high up as feels good.

3. Stay here for five deep breaths.

In addition to these Practices, you can also explore a Shoulder focused themed session we are running this month every Thursday at 07:15 am with Lalit. You can also explore the Shoulder Focused Sessions in the Library, go to the Video Library, hit the search button.

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Yoga For Disc Bulges and Protrusions

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Picture of <b>Eveanna</b><br>Ālaya Yoga

Eveanna
Ālaya Yoga

Yoga for Disc Bulges and Protrusions

 
 
 
We get multiple questions from our clients about different medical conditions. This week we got a question from a new client about starting yoga with disc bulges. We know that this is an issue with many of our clients and we wanted to share our thoughts on this issue.
 
“Hi there- I just found out I have 2 disc bulges in my lower back, my doctor has suggested yoga, is there anything I should know before I start a class?“
David, Dublin 
 
It’s great that David’s GP suggested yoga, and we are delighted that he wrote into us so we could guide him. 
 
While we are always pleased to hear that doctors are referring their clients to holistic therapeutic practices such as yoga to manage these issues, there are some precautions that we should take when starting yoga when we have disc bulges.
 
Yoga is extremely therapeutic for disc bulges specifically for Lumbar Disc Protrusions.
 
Disc protrusions cause instability in the spine and as ligaments cannot be strengthened with yoga (or any excercise) we want to strengthen the muscles around the spine to counteract this lack of stability. Yoga also nourishes and aids healing of the spine by bringing fresh blood flow to this area. And when we improve our posture and core strength with yoga we can reduce pain or future bulges from occuring 
 
While yoga is a wonderful tool to aid recovery, a general flow class may not be appropriate without the proper modifications applied.

 Yoga is extremely therapeutic for disc bulges specifically for Lumbar Disc Protrusions.

Before we get to the yoga, what is a disc bulge?

A disc bulge refers to an extension or prolapse of disc tissues beyond the edges of the edge of vertebrae. In some cases this bulge can press on the nerve causing mild or severe pain depending on severity. 
 
Around 30% of the population have disc bulges, and we want to prevent them from progressing to fully herniated discs which can cause a host of issues such as lower back pain, sciatica, and even complete immobility due to pain in some extreme cases.
 
The issue with attending a general spectrum yoga class, especially without your teacher being informed about your disc bulges is that any forward folding (flexion) could exasperate a bulge. 
 
Now, there are yoga Asana (poses) that are extremely helpful for disc protrusion, however, they should be done in isolation, not in a general class that also includes a forward fold.
 
Any deep flexion, especially with a rounded back, could potentially turn your bulge into a full prolapse. 
 
Guidelines for practicing safely with a disc bulge 
  • Avoid forward folds or flexion if possible, bend knees 
  • If you do incorporate them into your practice, ensure you keep your chin forward and avoid rounding your spine, when we round our spine, and forward fold at the same time it pushes the prolapsed disc further towards the edge of the vertebrae 

How Yoga Can Help 

If we look at the issue of forward folds (flexion) bringing the disc further towards the edge of the vertebrae, we can see how back bends, or extension of the spine would do the opposite- bring the disc back towards the other side of the spine (where it should be!) 
 
With this in mind here is a sequence you can practice daily to aid recovery from 

Morning Time

5 x sphinx pose, held for 5 breaths followed by 5 baby cobra or full cobra held for 5 breaths. 
 
1 x Setu Bandhansana held for 10 breaths (you can use a foam yoga block to support your lower back here) 
 
From Setu Bandhasana bring one with both knees bent and feet planted on the floor bring place your hands behind one and bring it towards your chest until you feel a slight pull. Hold this for 15 seconds and do both sides. 

Evening Time

5 x Setu Bandhasana held for 5 breaths (you can use a foam yoga block to support your lower back here) 
 
From Setu Bandhasana bring one with both knees bent and feet planted on the floor bring place your hands behind one and bring it towards your chest until you feel a slight pull. Hold this for 15 seconds and do both sides. 
Attending a Yoga Class 
 
If you do attend a yoga class, remember the principle for avoiding or modifying your forward folds and keep your knees bent where possible- and most importantly, let your yoga teacher know so they can keep you safe with modifcations. 
 
Off the mat 
 
Don’t just apply these principle to yoga. When you get off your mat and head home to do the housework, take care of your family, or finally clean out the garage- the same principles apply. Avoid forward folding to avoid placing unnecessary pressure on the anterior portion of the disc.
 
Remember, always get medical clearance from your doctor, listen closely to your body, and avoid anything that causes you pain. 
 
Do you have any questions for us about this topic? What about another issue you are facing around injury, accessibility or anything related to your practise
 
Drop them in the comments- we love to hear from you! 
 

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Yoga To Improve Posture

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Picture of <b>Sarah</b><br>Ālaya Yoga

Sarah
Ālaya Yoga

Yoga To Improve Posture

YOGA FOR IMPROVE POSTURE

In today’s modern world of technology, we spend a long time on our phones, watching television, working away on our computers or scrolling through social media. Spending long hours hunched over on a chair or slouching on a couch can have adverse effects on our bodies. Especially for people who work in corporate jobs and a large chunk of their day just involves sitting in front of a computer.

This causes strain on your spine. Being hunched over for long durations can leave you feeling stiff in your body, and it can also cause irreversible damage to your posture and your spine. When we’re young, we’re all told to sit with our backs straight because maintaining good posture is so important for our bodies. As we grow older, however, and our work demands that we do the very opposite of sitting straight, our body slowly over time forms a habit of slouching. This may over time cause pain in your lower back, shoulders, and even your hamstrings.

This lifestyle brings with it the need to stretch and lengthen your body so that you can lessen the strain on your spine and your back from constantly being in a closed position. When you’re slouching, your breath is more shallow. Shallow breathing is the act of taking in a minimal breath, so your lungs don’t expand as they should. Rapid or shallow breathing can cause dry mouth, fatigue, or can even turn into panic attacks. Shallow breathing can also aggravate respiratory problems that may already exist.

As you practice regularly, you also gain a deeper awareness of the alignment of your own body and you may even find yourself making adjustments to your posture.

YOGA FOR POSTURE

Yoga can help your posture in numerous ways. The practise of stretching and lengthening your spine as you do in many yoga asanas can help reverse the damage that slouching may cause. It can help loosen up the muscles that may feel tight, but also, it can help you feel more relaxed in your body. With regular practice, yoga can also help alleviate any pain you may be feeling in your body.

As you practice regularly, you also gain a deeper awareness of the alignment of your own body and you may even find yourself making adjustments to your posture.

ASANAS THAT HELP WITH GOOD POSTURE

Backbends –

Asanas such as the cobra pose (Bhujangasana), wheel pose (Urdhva Dhanurasana), bridge pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana) and fish pose (Matsyasana) are all great for reversing the effects of a hunched back. These poses focus on lengthening the spine as well as opening the chest so you get a stretch all through the front of your body.

Twists –

Spinal twists are a great tool to help improve your posture. Triangle pose (Trikonasana), Supine spinal twist (Supta Matsyendrasana), chair twist (Parivrtta Utkatasana) as well as the eye of the needle (Sucirandhrasana) are poses that help you lengthen, strengthen and release any tension that you may be holding all throughout your back, and in your shoulders. They can also help alleviate any pain you may be feeling in your body due to bad posture.

Grounding poses-

Standing and grounding poses such as tree pose (Vrikshasana) are great to help you achieve balance and stability in your body. Mountain pose (Tadasana) in particular, is a great pose to help correct muscle imbalances as well as enhance posture. It also helps to deepen your own awareness of how small adjustments in your body can help you feel mental as well as physically more aligned in your posture.

PRANAYAMA

The breathwork involved in yoga gives you the chance to focus on your breath more and to find some time to be present in the busy schedules that we all endure in today’s world. When we’re doing pranayama or any kind of meditation, it’s also important to sit straight and keep in mind that your spine is long and your back is straight so that all the energy channels in your body are aligned. 

But more than that, finding even 10 minutes in your daily routine to sit and focus on breathing evenly and deeply can provide you with so many health benefits. It can help reduce stress, calm your mind, reduce high blood pressure and increase lung function. Pranayama offers many different breathing exercises that work to reverse the damage caused to your lungs through shallow breathing for long durations. Bhrammari breath (bee breath), Alternate nose breathing (Nadi Shodhana), as well as Nadi Shodhana with breath retention (Kumbhaka) are some pranayama exercises you can use during your practice.

If you’re in a profession that has you sitting for long durations, make sure to get off your chair and walk around every 20-30 minutes so that your body can readjust. There are even some chest opening asanas that you can do sitting in your chair.

Conclusion

It can be hard to be aware of your posture all the time. Yoga can directly target back problems, and help you fix your posture over time. You need only take little steps in your daily routine to combat bad posture. A little bit of mindfulness can go a long way to prevent injury or strain to your body. Even a small consistent practice can help you feel lighter in your body and your mind so that you have increased productivity the next day.

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