Book IV
Exploring Yoga and Pilates
In this book . . .
Yoga and Pilates have been around for many years so you may have tried some of the exercises before. Book IV takes you through the basic exercises to get you started, and shows you how to incorporate breathing and movement together. Youāll also find a complete body workout with exercises designed to work every muscle and to strengthen and tone your body.
Here are the contents of Book IV at a glance:
Chapter 1: Understanding the Basics of Yoga and Pilates
Chapter 2: Integrating Breathing and Movement
Chapter 3: Getting Ready for Your Yoga Practice
Chapter 4: Stretching Your Body Through Some Yoga Postures
Chapter 5: Exploring Different Yoga Postures for Health
Chapter 6: Following the Classic Yoga Formula
Chapter 7: Seeing What Pilates Can Give You
Chapter 8: Giving Yourself the All-Body Pilates Workout
Chapter 9: Challenging Yourself with Advanced Pilates Exercises
Chapter 1
Understanding the Basics of Yoga and Pilates
In This Chapter
Taking a look at Yogaās origins
Understanding the five basic approaches to Yoga
Defining popular styles of Hatha Yoga
Finding out about Pilates principles
Appreciating the benefits
Using Pilates to improve your physique
Both Yoga and Pilates incorporate an extensive series of exercises and movements to tone and strengthen the body, and relax and calm the mind.
Understanding some of the basic principles of Yoga and Pilates is useful so you know how the exercises and approaches can benefit you. In this chapter we explore the origins of Yoga and Pilates, the different styles and the basic principles so you can get started on the exercises.
Yoga: What You Need to Know
Yoga originated 5,000 or so years ago in India and reached the rest of the world some 100 years later. It includes physical exercises that look like gymnastics ā some of which have even been incorporated into Western gymnastics. These exercises help you become or stay fit and trim, control your weight, and reduce your stress level. Yoga also offers a whole range of meditation practices, including breathing techniques that exercise your lungs and calm your nervous system or charge your brain and the rest of your body with delicious energy.
Moreover, you can use Yoga as an efficient system of health care, one that has proven its usefulness in both restoring and maintaining health. Yoga continues to gain acceptance within the medical establishment. More and more physicians are recommending Yoga to their patients, not only for stress reduction but also as a safe and sane method of exercise, as well as physiotherapy (notably for the back and knees).
But Yoga is more even than a system of preventative or restorative health care. Yoga looks at health from a broad, holistic perspective thatās only now being rediscovered by avant-garde medicine. This perspective appreciates the enormous influence of the mind ā your psychological attitudes ā on physical health.
The word Yoga comes from the ancient Sanskrit language spoken by the traditional religious elite of India, the brahmins. Yoga means āunionā or āintegrationā and ādisciplineā, so the system of Yoga is called a unitive or integrating discipline. Yoga seeks unity at various levels. First, Yoga seeks to unite your body and mind. Hereās how Yoga can help you with your personal growth:
Yoga can put you in touch with your real feelings and balance your emotional life.
Yoga can help you become less fragmented inwardly and more whole and real. In other words, it can help you understand and accept yourself and feel comfortable with who you are. You wonāt have to āfake itā or reduce your life to constant role-playing.
Yoga can greatly improve your links with other people. That is, you become more able to empathise and communicate with others.
Yoga is a powerful means of psychological integration. It makes you aware that youāre part of a larger whole, not merely an island unto yourself. Humans canāt thrive in isolation. Even the most independent individual is greatly indebted to others. Once your mind and body are happily reunited, this union with others comes about naturally. The moral principles of Yoga are all embracing, encouraging you to seek kinship with everyone and everything.
Finding your niche: Five basic approaches to Yoga
Since the late nineteenth century when Yoga was introduced to the Western hemisphere from its Indian homeland, it has undergone various adaptations. Today, Yoga is practised in five major ways:
As a method for physical fitness and health maintenance
As a sport
As bod...
