Isn’t this what we are really looking for? When you are happy and healthy inside, your face and body glow with a youthful inner radiance that no amount of expensive face creams or cosmetic surgery can give you. The Yogis of ancient India realized this well over 5,000 years ago.
The word yoga means ‘yoking’ or the joining together of body, mind and spirit with the universal spirit. Realizing that for positive health, happiness and peace of mind, both mind and body must work together in complete harmony; the yogis developed this wonderful system of personal development, the science of yoga.
Yoga is comprised of slow, deep, healthy breathing practices to stimulate oxygen to every cell, physical exercises to tone 100 per cent of the body both inside and out, balancing postures to strengthen the body and help us learn the power of concentration and focus, inverted positions to reverse the adverse ageing effects of gravity, stretching movements to keep the joints and spine in perfect condition, deep relaxation to help us release tension and relax, and meditation for calm, deep, inner peace.
The exercises, coupled with a healthy diet, keep the body in radiant health. The body becomes firm and beautiful, the skin glows with health, posture is corrected, stresses and strains vanish, and agility and tremendous flexibility are restored.
In my opinion, yoga is the best elixir of youth. By practising daily you will soon start to reap its magical benefits.
Inside each and every one of us is a force of energy called prana, literally translated as ‘lifeforce’. This life-force flows freely through the body in youth, but can dwindle with age if the body isn’t cared for correctly, resulting in such things as lack of energy, stiffness in the joints, tension, insomnia, obesity, depression and memory loss, together with poor posture, wrinkled, sagging skin and dull thin hair – i.e., the conditions we refer to as ageing. The modern way of treating this process lies in a special pill, potion, miracle cream or remedy – but these provide only temporary relief as you are treating the symptoms, not the underlying cause of the problem. The cause is obviously within ourselves.
Yoga proves that with proper exercise it is possible to stimulate the vital force within us. This doesn’t come about by applying a miracle cream to your face or by sweating it out in the gym, but by proper breathing, stretching and working your body so that tensions blocking the life-force around every organ, gland, nerve, tendon, cell, blood vessel, joint and bone are released and your body becomes nourished, revitalized and perfectly toned from within. This, combined with alleviating stress with deep relaxation and meditation and programming the mind to think and be 15 years younger, is the real secret to eternal youth.
This wonderful thing called youth cannot be found ‘out there’, no matter where you look, how many expensive face creams you buy, how far you travel or how much surgery you have. The secret of youth is within you.
All you have to do is learn the seven major rejuvenating secrets of yoga and commit to 15 minutes daily practice seven days a week, and you will do more for your body, mind, looks and feeling of well-being than you ever thought possible. You will look, feel and be 15 years younger.
The Seven Stay-young Secrets of Yoga
1. The Secret of Energy
The body has a natural energy flow that gives rise to a wonderful feeling of glowing health and well-being. It is, however, easily blocked or interrupted by feelings of tension, worry, anger, guilt, depression, etc. The tensions of the mind can lead to tension in the body, which can weaken the body and can eventually lead to disease.
Yoga gets rid of tension by allowing you to stretch your entire body from top to toe, both inside and out. The deep breathing that accompanies yoga practice increases the oxygen level in the bloodstream. Life-giving oxygen is needed by every cell; the brain in particular has a tremendous need for oxygen.
By stretching out tension, breathing deeply and then performing postures with your head below your heart, oxygen is carefully distributed to all the body’s parts, including the brain, and as a result you will feel and look refreshed and revitalized on finishing your yoga workout.
As you continue your yoga practice on a daily basis you will find that your whole body starts to feel better, and you will start to understand that daily stretching to unblock your energy zones, eating fresh, vital foods, learning to relax, and meditating to calm your mind and receive new ideas puts new life into you. The energy of youth is restored and you acquire a new and real zest for life.
An extra benefit comes from visualizing energy flowing through your entire system as you perform your yoga postures. As you concentrate on doing the movements, all negative thoughts will slip from your mind. Negative thoughts are the main energy-drainers, but no matter how tired you are before you start your yoga you will feel calm, focused and energized afterwards. Motion changes emotion.
Whatever you can do or dream you can begin it. Boldness has genius, magic and power in it. Begin it now.
GOETHE
2. The Secret of Perfect Shape
Yoga works 100 per cent of the body, carefully stretching, toning and firming all the muscles in accordance with their natural movements. This gives the body a beautiful shape, corrects posture and rebalances weak areas – correcting ugly, fatty deposits and giving the body the famous streamlined yoga look. Yoga will never give you a hulky-bulky, tight muscular appearance, as this is totally against yoga principles. If you tighten your muscles you are like a puppet whose strings are too taut, inhibiting the natural flexibility of the body and so limiting its movement, leading to unnatural ageing and stiffness.
Firmness of the muscles is essential to prevent the skin sagging and wrinkling and also to keep the internal organs in their correct place. Nothing looks worse than a dropped abdomen, and movements such as the Abdominal Lift are brilliant for keeping this area firm, toned and youthful. The bottom is toned and the back strengthened with movements like the Full Locust. The thighs get an amazing workout with the Camel, Sideways Leg Raise and Heron postures. The arms are perfectly toned with the Chest Expansion, Pose of a Mountain and Cow. The face and neck area become very youthful with the head and neck exercises and the Lion. The hair regains its lustre as the movements stimulate your scalp. Finally, the ageing effects of gravity are carefully reversed by yoga’s inverted postures such as the Shoulderstand and Headstand, which do wonders for the way we look and feel.
Grace, beauty, strength, energy and firmness adorn the body through yoga.
YOGA SUTRA 111.47
3. The Secret of Concentration and Focus
Once you start yoga, you realize that it is much more than an exercise system. The movements are quite intricate and this necessitates that you give full attention to what you are doing. By concentrating on the movement you are totally involved in the present moment and your mind is given relief from your normal day-to-day activities, so helping it to clear and giving it a rest. This means that after a yoga class your mind is calmer and much more able to deal with everyday problems, and your workload will seem easier. The balances of yoga necessitate total concentration and by focusing on a spot to help us balance physically we calm, clear and balance the mind.
Ayurveda, the holistic medical teaching of ancient India, says ‘What you see you become.’
One of yoga’s ancient texts puts it this way:
You are what your deep driving