Yoga Queries
Q 1. Can Yoga help in alleviating the feeling of anxiety?
R. A combination of yoga asanas, meditation and pranayama breathing helps considerably to lessen the apprehensive feelings and tension of the anxiety attacks. Through yoga breathing and asanas the body is able to create calm, contentment to lessening an attack that the mind perceives as anxiety. As anxiety is fear based, proper breathing is the key. The breath is the first thing to mind triggers when the anxiety begins; the quickened hyperventilating, often held breath intensifies the anxiety, tenses the body and sends the mind into a full attack of fear.
A regular daily practice of yoga can catch an anxiety attack as it happens, lessen the number of attacks and for some people completely alleviate them, as yoga creates a calm which lessens the fear trigger. You may see results from only a couple classes and a substantial relief within months.
Q 2. Should women practice yoga during menstruation period?
R. Yoga inversions are thought to move against the flow of the menstruation and why it’s thought to practice all other asanas except inversions. Yoga theory suggests that inversions may stop, shorten or meddle with the menstruation flow. Additionally, it is thought that with an energetic breath like the kapalabhati pranayama and abdominal strengthening, intense stomach cramping may result. As each woman is different, we can leave this up to the individual whether they wish to practice a full yoga session or choose a more relaxed on that meets their needs.
Q 3. Can women practice yoga while pregnancy?
R. Pregnancy is not a medical condition; it is a beautiful time of growth and awakening for a woman and her baby within. Yoga is beneficial whether it’s the first class or a continuation of a regular yoga before you can practice all the asanas, if this is a first awareness of yoga you may go with an awareness of how you feel in class. It is a myth that women cannot practice backbends, inversions or twists. Yoga promotes women using their inner wisdom, so as the baby grows, the mum-to-be will notice less movement as she gains weight (but not lack of flexibility) and knows what works best for her. . Practice with a yoga teacher with pregnancy yoga experience optimally.
Q4. Can yoga cure migraines?
R. Migraines are caused by the sudden constriction and then dilation of blood vessels to the brain. Each person will have a different trigger causing the migraine; genetics, stress, allergies, pollution, or a physical injury. Regular practice of Yoga, including asanas, pranayama and meditation can help relieve some of the suffering, more manageable and even release it completely. Asanas help improve blood circulation and also relieve physical tension and stress, which may be a contributing factor to migraines. If it is an allergy triggered, sometimes time and head, neck and eye asanas help to release the pressure that builds.
With the varying triggers of migraines come the varying releases. Some people will work well to practice savasana, the corpse asanas in releasing the migraine. Simple awareness to a specific area of the body and relax that area, allowing the muscles to grow soft and release their holding. Begin at the feet and work your way up through the ankles, calves, knees, thighs, hips, stomach, chest, back, shoulders, neck, face and head. Take a few breaths at each area to explore where the holding may be. Repeat the exercise. A person may want to cover their eyes in savansana.
Others may want to move more, as each person is different experiment with the asanas and breathe to find what works for you. Yoga instructor may have suggestions as well.
Q 5. Does yoga help in getting taller?
R. If you are a fully grown adult, you won’t grow as a result of Yoga. However, a regular Yoga practice will improve your posture, which will have a similar effect. A regular program of asana and pranayama (breathing) will do the trick. If you are young and still growing, regular Yoga practice and a good diet will help you reach your full height.
As we grow older gravity compresses our bodies lessening our height from 1/4” to ½”. . An important point to note down here is that we grow until we are in our late 20’s.
Q 6. Does practicing Yoga require me to follow a vegetarian diet?
R. Although the traditional Yoga diet is vegetarian, you don’t have to be a vegetarian to practice Yoga. It is thought that vegetarianism promotes optimal health alleviating one of disease. In fact, a recent survey showed that only about one out of every three Yoga practitioners was a vegetarian
Soto Zen Reflective Meditation Buddhism Queries
Q 1. Are there any rules for meditation?
R. The practice of formal meditation is to meditate in a quiet room, and work towards maintaining to eat and drink moderately, cut all ties, give up everything, think of neither good nor evil, consider neither right nor wrong. Control mind function, will, consciousness, memory, perception and understanding; you must not strive thus to become Buddha. Cling to neither sitting nor lying down. When meditating, do not wear tight clothing. Rest the left hand in the palm of the right hand with the thumbs touching lightly; sit upright, leaning neither to left nor right, backwards nor forwards. The ears must be in line with the shoulders and the nose in line with the navel; the tongue must be held lightly against the back of the top teeth with the lips and teeth closed. Keep the eyes open, breathe in quickly, settle the body comfortably and breathe out sharply. Sway the body left and right then sit steadily, neither trying to think nor trying not to think; just sitting, with no deliberate thought, is the important aspect of serene reflection meditation.
Q 2. What pose should be adopted to sit for meditation?
R. When sitting, one should take care that one’s spine follows the natural curvature of a healthy spine, as seen in any good medical book, as much as possible. It is very important for a person learning to sit to get this right. What happens with the feet is not important; what happens to one’s spine is of the utmost importance. If the spine is not correct for the individual concerned, stiffness, pain and perhaps even hallucinations may result. The weight of the body is carried easily by the lower back muscles if this position is correct; one does tend, however, to develop something of a bulge in the front, popularly called a “Zazen pot”. This cannot be helped and should not be worried about. It sometimes happens that a person may have had a back injury of some sort during his or her earlier years and this may make sitting with a spine exactly right extraordinarily difficult. You should know that what we are attempting to do is to find the place where a person can sit best so as to have the very best results possible.
Q3. What does Serene Reflection refer to?
R. “Serene reflection” is a translation of two Chinese characters, mo (J: moku) and chao (J: sho). A study of these characters and the levels of meaning within them may be of help to us in understanding more about our practice.
The first character, mo, has an element in it that means black or darkness, making the whole character signify “dark, secret, silent, serene, profound” and also “to close the lips, to become silent”.
The second character, chao, has as element meaning “the brightness of the sun”. The whole character translates as “to reflect light, to shine on, to illume or enlighten”, as well as “to reflect upon, to look upon, to have insight into”.
The whole term thus becomes “serene reflection”, “silent illumination” or “luminescent darkness”. In the very description of our practice we have the “light in darkness” darkness in light spoken of in the works of the great masters of our tradition.
Q 4. What is the best place for meditation?
R. Although meditation can be done everywhere, it is very helpful to have a place set aside in your home for doing formal meditation. In monasteries, the meditation and ceremony halls are decorated carefully and beautifully to help strengthen faith in what they represent the beauty inherent in all existence, the Eternal (Buddha Nature) which is found within ourselves and all things. They are kept neat and clean and treated with great respect. In setting up your own sitting place, you can keep these attitudes in mind; for in doing so, you are encouraged to believe that there is something beautiful within yourself and all things, something that is worthy of care and respect.
