Dragon Studios Hatha Yoga
Yoga means "joined together." The word comes from the ancient Sanskrit root word "yug," which means "to unify." Yoga is designed to keep the body healthy, the mind calm, and the spirit cleansed through a regular ritual of health and conditioning. A yogi is simply a practitioner of yoga --one who consciously unifies body, mind (including emotions), and spirit so they work together; rather than separately.
Hatha Yoga (literally Sun & Moon or perfect balance yoga) incorporates Bodily postures (asanas), breath control (pranayamas), and physical cleansing (Kriyas) all help to create a supple and relaxed body. Practitioners of Hatha Yoga experience increased vitality, renewed flexibility, and radiant health.
Dragon Studios offers a soft system of Hatha Yoga. Yogi Viirishwara defines a soft system as one that incorporates different asana based upon the need of the practitioner, and embraces all asana as part of the path to Yoga. By contrast a hard system would be a Yoga system that only focused on a specific set of asana, and either discouraged or disparaged other asanas. The Dragon Studios system of Yoga holds to the classic style of moving gently into poses and relaxing, then holding the poses for up to a minute or more. Included in our system are also several forms of Pranayama (breath-control) techniques, meditation, and deep relaxation (Nidra). Yoga is incorporated into our combined training as we believe that Tai Chi and Yoga are both complimentary to one another, and essential to the student.
Benefits of Hatha Yoga
Relaxation: yoga exercises – gentle stretching, breathing, meditation and guided relaxation calms the nervous system, emotions and releases body tension.
Concentration: focus, attention and concentration are promoted by a yoga practice of mindful movement and body awareness. The practice of balancing postures especially builds concentration.
Toning: holding yoga postures creates isometric exercise which tones every part of the body, including the internal organs.
Healing: yoga exercises the glands, organs and endocrine system; massaging toning and increasing circulation to stimulate, heal, and eliminate toxins from the body.
Flexibility: yoga postures gently stretch the muscles in the body, increasing the flexibility and lengthening the muscles, tendons and ligaments.
Nourishing: slow gentle movements with deep breathing energize the body rather than tire it. This, in combined with relaxation and yoga's healing benefits allows daily renewal and nourishment of the body-mind-spirit.
Studies Show...
Recent studies lend support to the beneficial aspects of Hatha Yoga:
Two small studies published in the February 2000 issue of the journal Rheumatic Diseases Clinics of North America found that yoga helps with pain associated with osteoarthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome.
A study published in the April 2000 issue of Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology showed yoga may be as effective as drug therapy in controlling hypertension.
A second study in the same journal documented a four-month yoga regimen significantly increased feelings of good health, as rated by a standardized "Subjective Well-Being Inventory."
Other studies, including one at the Roosevelt University Stress Institute in Chicago, have found yoga stretches reduce physical stress while increasing physical relaxation.
Hatha yoga has been studied in bronchial asthma where it has been found to improve lung capacities and help people breathe better.
Yoga has been used in the management of anxiety disorders, and one study demonstrated an increase in IQ points for children who performed a defined yoga protocol.