Stay Fit, Live Healthy & Feel Young Series 16

How the body benefits in aligning the posture.

🐌Regular gentle exercise such as Yoga is essential for promoting a healthy body, mind and spirit. It is vital to living a healthy life style and a valuable part of detox as it stimulates the metabolism and the lymphatic system as well as improving circulation- efficiently transporting oxygen and nutrients to cells while removing waste.

🐌 In this direction aligning your posture involves improving the balance between muscle length and muscle strength. Good posture is when all parts of the body are correctly aligned and therefore the minimum amount of stress and strain is placed on the body and its joints. Good posture is relaxed , needs less energy and muscle activity to maintain it. The body looks balanced and efficient, movement is smooth, easy and economical.

🐌Yoga does this perfectly, because when you hold an Asana or posture and then practices it's counter pose, the major muscles on the front and back of the body are both stretched and strengthened. It also provides an opportunity to unwind and reflect of healthy body. This creates tone as well as flexibility. Yoga asanas also have positive effect on the muscle connectivity tissue, or facia.

🐌 Muscles are elastic; after they stretch or contract, the fibbers return to their original length. Fascia, however, is plastic not elastic, which means that only if enough pressure is applied, will change its form and it will not revert to its previous shape when the pressure is removed.

🐌 Constant repetition of certain movements or body positions such as always carrying a bag on one shoulder or hunching in front of the computer, fixes the connective tissue into belt like, non elastic structure, causing postural problems.

🐌 When you hold an Asana for longer than a minute, this hardened connective tissue starts to be remodeled, bringing your posture back into proper alignment.

🐌 You can practice few specific asanas, will help to improve any faulty alignment gradually, particularly in the upper and lower back.

🐌 Dhanurasana (bow pose), corrective upper back curve those who works long hours with computers,counteracts by pulling the shoulders backwards and opening the chest. Matsyasana (fish pose) stretches out the shortened muscles in the shoulders and upper chest, and also eases hardended connective tissue, in the shoulder and chest area. Sarpasana (cobra pose) strengthens weak upper back and neck muscles.

🐌 Practice of Trikonasa, Vakrasana, Padahastasa, and Sasakasana are helpful to strengthen the muscles and soften the tissue; where the muscles of the abdomen weak, and the hamstrings and lower back muscles have become shortened. Connective tissue along the back the legs and back has hardened.