How to Improve Your Eyesight Through Yoga

Over time, Yoga has proven remarkably beneficial for nearly every part of the body. However, the question lingers: "Can Yoga be used to actually improve eyesight?" Though solid research is lacking, there are at least three types of Yoga, which appear, at least circumstantially, to do just that.

Bates Method

Dr. William Bates, who died in 1931, was an American physician and ophthalmologist, who developed what is now called, the Bates Method for better eyesight. The method improves vision by relearning a supposed habitual strain to see. His theory, which proposes that the eye focuses, by elongating the eyeball, rather than by changing the power of the lens, was not upheld by his peers and remains unproven today.

Discover the 3 Most Popular Forms of Yoga

By Veronica Volk

Everyday life can be hectic with all that there is to deal with, such as jobs, families, and relationships. Therefore, it is important to find a way to get rid of the built up tension and stress within the body; it is not healthy for you. Yoga is known to help to relieve body stress, but it also provides other benefits.

For beginners to yoga, here is a short and quick overview of the 3 most popular Yoga types that many people choose as a starting point:

1) Hatha Yoga - This is the most popular and commonly practiced form of Yoga, and it's a combination of asanas synced with a balanced breathing. It combines meditation, pranayama (lengthening of the breath), and relaxation techniques. This make Hatha Yoga perfect for de-stressing the body and bringing a sense of peace of mind.

2) Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga - This form of Yoga helps to build strength and power; it is widely practiced among athletes and those looking to get more from their physical workouts. The focus here is to build a strong level of stamina from within and internally improve the body's health. Ashtanga Yoga is comprised of many different postures where bandas (seals) and ujjayi (victory) are used as a means of raising the body heat to cleanse to the body of toxins.

3) Kundalini Yoga - This type of Yoga is commonly known as the "Yoga of Awareness" because it helps to awaken blocked energy. It is a combination of physical and meditative balance, which improves the mind-body connection; it helps a person to become one body, mind, and spirit as it helps an individual awaken the unused or blocked energy. This deep state of relaxation results from a carefully structured combination of asanas, mantra chanting and pranyama.

You might want to spend a week practicing Yoga at a retreat center to make your experience more fulfilling. You need to be somewhere peaceful so that the calmness around you can surround you, and take your mind and body to a new higher level.

Six Branches of Yoga

By Michael Russell

Yoga is an ancient tradition from the Eastern world, and these oldest practitioners tended to look at yoga as a tree with six branches. What all six have in common are the asanas (the physical positions and movements), Pranayama (the structured breathing or breath control), meditation and a strong moral code.

1. Hatha Yoga

In Indian, "ha" means sun and "tha" means moon. Hatha yoga refers to these twin energy channels in the body. Its goal is to prepare the body for the more pure state of meditation to come in the 2nd branch. Hatha yoga was brought to us by an Indian yogi attempting to purify the body to make it fit for higher meditation. Western yoga is almost completely the Hatha yoga branch, and Westerners find mental and physical comfort in the first branch alone.

2. Raja Yoga

Raja and Hatha Yoga are highly interrelated. Raja means "royal" in Indian, and in the royal tradition, this branch of yoga has eight included branches as follows:

- niyama - self discipline - asana - positions - pranayama - breath control - pratyahara - sensory deprivation - dharana - meditation - samadhi - ecstasy

Raja yoga is often practiced by religious leaders and monastery dwellers. However, anyone can find benefits in the practice of raja yoga.

3. Karma Yoga

The basic teaching of karma yoga is that what we do and how we behave today will influence our happiness and fulfilment in the future, or a future lifetime. Understanding this cosmic principle helps us to create our current environment with love and positivity in order to forestall negativity in our future. Practitioners of karma yoga lead a life of selfless devotion and service to those less fortunate.

4. Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti is a Sanskrit term meaning love of God and mankind. Practice of bhakti involves controlling and channeling emotions and having tolerance for all who come into our lives.

5. Jnana Yoga

Jnana yoga is the branch of the intellect. Practitioners pursue scholarly paths, usually those of yoga masters or other spiritual traditions. In our Western religious culture, the Jnana yoga practitioner may be likened to the Jesuit priest, the Kabala scholars or Benedictine monks.

6. Tantra Yoga

Tantra yoga prioritizes ritual as the best way to experience the divine. The Sanskrit word tantra translates to weave or loom. Rituals in everyday life lead to a recognition of the divine in everyday life which leads, in turn, to a reverent attitude in everyday actions.

Tantra yoga is the most misunderstood of the six branches. The ancient book, "The Kama Sutra" is a well-known example of this misunderstanding of the real goal of tantra yoga. It is a book of sexual positions and techniques, and in Westernized yoga tradition, tantra yoga has become associated almost exclusively with these published sexual practices. Worldwide, however, most schools teaching this branch of yoga recommend celibacy.

When finally understood by Westerners, tantra's ritualizations of everyday events appeal to them. Western civilizations tend to make rituals of everyday events anyway - births, deaths, weddings, going to church, forming clubs, and all the many various ceremonies and celebrations commonly held are all tightly related to tantra yoga rituals.

One of the best things about the six branches of yoga is that you are not limited to just one, or to a series. You can pick and choose what you want to practice when. Follow your own path using yoga as your toolbox.ka

Ashtanga Yoga is a Demanding Style of Yoga

By Anne Clarke

If you have performed different types of yoga, you may think that you should make an easy transition to Ashtanga yoga, but this is not necessarily true. The fact is that Ashtanga is a much more difficult and physically demanding type of yoga than you might be used to.

Because this is such a physically demanding type of yoga, it is recommended that you do not try to do this type of yoga on your own. Those who achieve best results usually are able to find a teacher, class or workshop so that they can learn the proper forms and postures that they need to know in order to do this type of yoga properly.

The reason why Ashtanga is designed to be such an intense form of yoga is because its developers felt that if there is intense heat created inside a person's body, then this heat would work to help eliminate toxins and other impure things inside a human body. The desired result from doing this kind of yoga is a clear mind as well as a clear body.

In order to properly learn how to do this kind of yoga, the following steps should be followed:

Learn the poses - This sounds simple enough, but it can be much more difficult than it sounds. Ashtanga yoga is made up of a series of different poses. The poses are designed to promote the body's flexibility and strength. It is also hoped that this type of yoga is able to improve the circulation of blood and the function of some internal organs.

Breathe - Yes, we know this sounds self explanatory, but there are certain ways that you need to breath in order to properly complete this kind of yoga. In yoga, the breathing techniques are referred to as "pranayama." This process is what is said to purify the energy that flows through the body. Each pose that a person makes must be coordinated to go along with a certain kind of breathing in order to do this yoga properly.

Meditate - Meditation is a big part of any kind of yoga. This is true for Ashtanga as well. Meditation is used to help the person doing yoga relax their mind and get in tune with what it is that they are doing. Even when you are not performing yoga, meditation can help change the way you react to different situations. It can result in a more stable self that is calmer and more inspired to make proper choices.

Practice - You probably will not completely grasp hold of Ashtanga yoga the first time you do it. It can be difficult because it is an intense workout that still requires you to be able to control your breathing in a certain way. For some people, it takes a fair amount of practice to get this technique down. There is no reason why you should get discouraged if you at first feel like a fish out of water. Simply practicing this type of yoga and the breathing that accompanies it can help you understand what you need to do in no time.