Hello my wonderful new yogi friends, as you can guess from the title, this blog post will be discussing how yoga can help with your mental health! My name is Anna and I am the newest contributor for this wonderful YogaHub blog. My posts will range from Asanas to Yoga Philosophy to Spirituality, as these are what I am deeply interested in at the moment. This week though I want to talk about how yoga can help with mental health….
As the weather sets in for autumn, you may notice your body and your mind being swept up with the change. After an active summer, it may be hard to slow down to the pace of autumn. As the late sunny nights of summer die off, the feeling in the air is more of introspection and getting cosy and snug indoors. Check out the following poses for helping to stay grounded and joyful through the transition: Cow Face Pose –…
Anahata – the heart chakra Here we are – chakra number four! Anahata, more commonly known as the heart chakra, is situated in the centre of your chest. Radiating out from both the front body and the back body, Anahata marks the movement from a more physical element to a more spiritual one as we travel up through the chakra system. We feel a lot of vulnerability in the heart chakra, and so we often close it off and guard…
There are so many people who start yoga with the intention of gaining flexibility. While this is a huge benefit from keeping a consistent yoga practice, it’s not the only thing thing that your body will gain from learning asanas and yoga sequences. Would you believe that, in terms of keeping a sustainable, healthy yoga practice, strength building is equally as important as gaining flexibility? There is a saying from a book written more than 1,700 years ago in regards…
For lots of us, the sound Om probably conjures up lots of images like this: Which is not necessarily the most relatable visual for many of us who are squeezing ourselves into a 6pm Flow class after a long day at work. But Om is, by its very definition, for everyone. So let’s dig a little deeper, past the clichĂ©s and the stereotypes, and find out what it is about this sound that makes it so magical. If you’ve ever attended a…
I was speaking with a friend the other day about a situation that was bringing up a lot of anxiety. After a while, we both started to laugh about where the present moment was when this seemingly so problem felt so big. I think we all have these times. On occasion, the present moment seems totally there–maybe while you’re in your yoga class, or while you’re having fun talking to a friend, or doing an activity you really enjoy. But other…
Here it is! Chakra number 2. I’m sure you’ve all been waiting with bated breath since you learned all about Muladhara (the root chakra) with me over here. So now that we’re all good and grounded, let’s start movin’ on up. To Svadhisthana – the Sacral Chakra. Where is it? Our (sacred) second chakra is located above the pubic bone and below the navel, and is home to our deepest emotions, creativity, sexuality, and intuition. A balanced sacral chakra brings a…
There are so many times I need to remind myself to remember and enjoy the simple things. These times are a proper stop-in-my-tracks kind of reminder. And what I’m always so surprisingly surprised about is how these reminders of simple things can be found in the simplest of places. There’s a security guard who works near my apartment. I pass him most days and wave. On occasion, we’ll talk, but often I’ll cut the conversation short or it will go…
I once read a quote that said, “Meditate for an hour everyday. Unless you’re too busy. In that case, meditate for two.” For many of us, it’s not meditating that’s difficult. It’s finding the time to do it. While taking a long period of time to meditate can seem virtuous, it’s not always practical to keep up. Try out the following ways of managing your time to include meditation in your every day. 1 – Start early. Meditation is something…
The heart is known as our seat of compassion. It’s where we love from. It’s what floods us with joy when our heart beams. Physiologically, the heart is connected to our central immune system. Just at the centre of the chest is the Thymus Gland. This gland is our immune regulator. Additionally, the area of the heart is connected to the lungs and our breath. So when we do heart openers, we are working with expanding and clarifying the breath,…
