Yoga 1/2

That's right... Yoga. Now hold on. Don't think that yoga is something that women in their late 50s do to preserve their youth. No no. Also don't think of some monks with shaved heads breathing deeply and trying to transcend out of this body or something...

In my opinion, yoga is an exercise. Breathing exercise. See, when we think of exercise we always think of running, playing sports, gym and doing similar activities. But breathing itself can be an exercise. A great, cheap and very useful one. Possibly more useful then any other exercise. These breathing "exercises" should go forward to become something normal to you. A way of life, you can call it.

In modern times we do a lot of things. We stress out about something trivial. We are constantly in a strain to achieve things (from school, to work and so on). If someone had experience with anger management or with some fast decision making or even with marksmanship, you might have gotten the advice that before you rage/make a decision/shoot you should breathe deeply. Take a few deep breaths to calm yourself.

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Try paying attention to your breathing. Do you breathe properly? Now what sort of a question is that? From what I researched, there are actually three types of "breathing":
1. Lower abdomen
2. Middle abdomen (solar plexus area)
3. Higher abdomen (lung area).
Don't get confused here. We are breathing with our lungs. But go out to the bathroom and look yourself in the mirror... Watch your body. What part of these three listed areas does move when you breathe? It's characteristic that the lower abdomen moves with men. The middle abdomen usually moves with athletic individuals. And the lung area usually moves with women. All of these breathing movements have a reason, but I will not go trough them that much.

What is wrong here is that if you don't see one of these areas moving properly, you probably aren't breathing with full capacity of your lungs. Not breathing efficiently can have effects, bad effects, on your body. Your blood circulation stagnates and blood may not go everywhere where needed. Lack of blood circulation can effect your feet, brain, movement... Everything. Breathing also helps your kidneys function better, helping them process waste. Proper breathing also helps you digest. It helps you focus better, keeps your mind clear... And so on and so on...

This is just a short intro about yoga and breathing. In my next post we'll go trough the details of breathing exercises. Until then, stay healthy! :)