Yoga
Yoga can be practiced at home by oneself easily, without any need for formal instruction. By practicing alone, this enables the body and mind to get in touch with the practice and with the own unique needs of the individual body.
Yoga is an ancient practice dating more than 5000 years. It brings health aharmony and peace to the mind and body.
The benefits of the practice are felt and realised during the practice and throughtout the day. Yoga enables mental agility and peace, physical flexibilty and strength. The internal organs are deeply massaged and purified, and this takes place during enjoybale and relaxing sretching.
There are many forms of yoga and there is no right or wrong way to practice thought there is an age old adage stating that yoga without love is like eating without food.
Any age culture size or shape can practice. Yoga is a vast science of spiritualisty, and not a religion. Yoga transcends difference by going to the root of all cultures and differences.
There are four paths of yoga, bhakti yoga, meaning devotion, karma yoga meaingin service, jnana yoga which is the yoga of knowledge and hatha yoga which is physcial practice. Hatha yoga is the yoga commonly taught in classes today which consist of physical postures, conatining their own magical and purifying benefits. Ha means sun and tha means moon. Yoga is a balancing of male and female, mind and spirit, body and soul, sun and moon.
Originally formutlated to enable the body to sit for meditaiton for many hours without being hurt, there are many techniques to yoga.
One technique is to allow the body to move as it feels. Moving and connecting to ones own soul in the process.
Kundalini is known as the serpent power which sits in the spine. It is said through certain yogic pratices to awaken, and give insight into universal consciousness. Allowing the body to move as it wishes can awaken the kundalini, and allow the kundalini energy to move through the body. If the body and mind can allow complete surrender to the kundalini, profound bliss is experienced. There is a form of yoga called Kundalini yoga however one should never attempt to force the kundalini to awaken. It should be a natural process, experienced through a steady practice of yoga and meditation. Similarly with Bikram yoga, yoga practiced in intense heat. This causes the body to contract into positions it is not ready for.
Also for the delicate nasal passages. One must be more gentle.
Pranayama is an important part of yoga. Prana means energy, and pranayama is energy control through breath control. There are many techniques available, all very useful.
A daily practice of yoga need not consist of more than ten to fifteen minutes. Yoga practiced with meditation and a healthy balanced diet enables peace, spiritual harmony and bliss in ones daily life.
Although allowing the body to move as it feels is beneficial also praciciing the traditional postures is of immense benefit. Each individual posture ofers a variety of different benefits, and ones practice can be tailor made to support ones health.
Francesca Marks is asked to instruct yoga and meditation all over the world. Having pracaticed all her life, it is a natural course of life for her. Her students rate her as one of the best yoga teachers in the world. Her style is clear, dynamic, strong and concise. All throughout her life she was travel in amongst many cultures, finding the root of universal consciousness in all, transcending diffences.es.