Postural Yoga
Successfully fighting with depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue, back and neck pain through yoga and meditation I have realized that a key factor of this success comes from the improvement of my POSTURE. I have realized that the posture causes not only my physical pain, but also the psychological one (and vice versa).
According to a new research: Walking with a slouched or despondent body posture can lead to feelings of depression or decreased energy, but those feelings can be reversed by walking in a more upright position.
The next time you are feeling sad and depressed, pay close attention to your posture. According to cognitive scientists, you will likely be slumped over with your neck and shoulders curved forward and head looking down.
In an article published in the journal Biofeedback, Professor of Health Education Erik Peper found that simply choosing to alter body posture to a more upright position can improve mood and energy levels.
When it comes to posture, the way we ultimately feel has a lot to do with the associations we have with being taller. For example, if you take two people and you put one on a chair that is above the other person, the one that is looking down will feel more powerful because our associations with height and power gets triggered automatically when certain movements are made. The function of your body posture tells our brain that we are powerful, which, in turn, affects our attitudes. the way we ultimately feel has a lot to do with the associations we have with being taller. In a series of experiments, is was found that sitting in a collapsed, helpless position makes it easier for negative thoughts and memories to appear while sitting in an upright, powerful position makes it easier to have empowering thoughts and memories.
And what is Yoga about if not about the Posture? Practically all Yoga Asanas are done with emhasis on the spine.
Sitting upright with a straight spine; feeling that your strength emanates from your spine rather than from the muscles of your body. Paramhansa Yogananda gives us further instruction for a correct posture, for both the Hong Sau and Kriya Yoga technique. So let us check, point for point, if we really apply what he tells us to do.
- Face east, sitting on a woolen or silk blanket
- the spine straight
- the chest out
- the abdomen in
- the shoulder blades together
- the chin parallel to the ground
- the upturned, cup-shaped palms rest at the junction of abdomen and thighs
- the eyes closed or half-closed, looking up, without crossing them
Applying all these instructions, you will feel that your body, though relaxed, definitely expresses energy, even power. Especially your spine (the center of our body). Observe how radiant it feels!
At that point you may clearly perceive what Swami Kriyananda meant with "Your strength emanates from your spine rather than from the muscles of your body."
Now, still in meditation posture, just for fun, try for a moment not to apply Yogananda's instructions. Slump a little. Observe how your "meditative house" immediately crumbles. That bent posture, unfortunately, is quite tempting and comfortable, more so than the straight spine which requires some effort. But ask yourself: "Could I ever rise to superconsciousness like that?" And: "Could I affirm in that posture, I am divinely inspired?"
Let's see, then, what techniques we can apply to check up on the foundation of our "house of meditation": our posture.
Home
"Sitting upright with a straight spine; feeling that your strength emanates from your spine rather than from the muscles of your body."
"Emotions and thoughts affect our posture and energy levels; conversely, posture and energy affect our emotions and thoughts."
"Two minutes of skipping versus walking in a slouched position can make a significant difference on our energy levels. It only takes two minutes to change our hormones."
"While it is true that you are sitting this way because you are sad, it is also true that you are sad because you are sitting this way."