Yoga for the intellect

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Anyone can develop intelligence and increase productivity with yoga. You don't have to stand on your head or meditate for a long time. There are simpler techniques (not only asanas) that you can devote very little time to every day or apply to them directly in a moment of fatigue and lack of inspiration.

Simple asanas

In order to increase concentration, yoga uses inverted postures: blood flow is directed to the head, providing the brain with sufficient nutrition. The most famous pose for increasing intelligence is, of course, the headstand. But there are a couple of significantly more accessible invigorating asanas that help increase attention: the dog's downward posture and the bend with legs wide apart.

Prasarita padottanasana

The most stable and accessible pose in yoga is a tilt with legs wide apart. By lengthening the spine, the posture relieves the clamps in the lower back and improves mood.

Depending on your fitness level, you can bend less (leaning on your hands) or deeper (folding your arms behind your back).

Adho mukha svanasana

Probably everyone has heard about the downward-facing dog's pose. By simultaneously slowing down the heartbeat and promoting blood flow to the head, this pose helps restore strength and relieve fatigue.

Ideally, you should achieve maximum spinal stretch by placing your feet fully on the floor and arching your lower back. But first, you can raise your heels and bend your knees, gradually pulling the tailbone higher and higher.

Don't look up!

Shavasana

Another approach to improving performance is total relaxation. There is no better posture for this than shavasana. Usually yoga practice ends with this pose. But you can do it yourself to relieve fatigue and stress.

The essence of the pose is complete relaxation. Lie on your back and listen to your breathing, throwing thoughts out of your head. It's not that hard to do if you focus on the sensations. Relax all muscles, from the tips of the fingers and toes and from the crown of the head to the center of the body. If it's cold, cover yourself with a blanket.

Pranayama

Various breathing exercises are also great for improving brain function. Due to the regulation of respiration, biochemical processes with the participation of oxygen are improved, including the processing of fats and carbohydrates into ATP, which is necessary for active work.

Full breath of yogis

Do this exercise at the beginning of a new stage of work. By focusing on your breathing, you clear your thoughts and be able to fully surrender to the new project.

Technique for performing a full breath of yogis:

• Sit in a comfortable position without crossing your legs or arms.
• Exhale deeply, expelling the air from the lungs as much as possible with the help of the abdominal muscles.
• Slowly and calmly let air into your lungs, feeling it fill the lower, middle, and upper parts of your lungs.
• Exhale, paying attention to the movement of air through the lungs.
• Take a couple of regular breaths to relax your abdomen and chest.

The exhalation should be twice as long as the inhalation. Do 10-20 of these breaths.

Alternating breathing with different nostrils

Another breathing exercise to help you focus is alternating breathing. It includes the following steps:

• Exhale through the left nostril with the right nostril closed (fingers) - twice.
• Inhale through the right nostril with the left closed - twice.

You should start by performing six such cycles, gradually increasing to ten.

Mudras

For situations where there is no opportunity to perform an asana or retire for breathing exercises, there is the so-called yoga for the fingers. You may have noticed that the fingers in difficult situations - during tense negotiations or waiting - themselves assume this position.

A certain position of the fingers leads to a certain energetic state of the soul and body. Take note of a couple of mudras to improve memory and focus. Even in the midst of a meeting, you can fold your fingers into the following unobtrusive natural positions.

The mudra of concentration

The tips of the fingers of both hands are connected so that the little fingers and thumbs form rings, and the other six fingers form a ridge above it. This mudra helps to improve communication between the left and right hemispheres, quickly find a lost idea or concentrate for a longer period of time.

The mudra of knowledge

The thumb and forefinger form a ring, and the rest of the fingers are extended. The mudra of knowledge helps to relieve mental stress.

Meditation

Meditation is the most difficult yoga practice and requires special concentration. You need to fully concentrate and get all the fuss out of your head. Meditation allows you to harmonize the mind, getting rid of too active thinking, which in fact only leads to "clouding".

Start practicing meditation for a short time: it is difficult to stop going through scraps of thoughts at first, even for a couple of minutes. In order to make it easier to concentrate, you can count in reverse order. Increase the origin gradually.

Over time, when your concentration is at a sufficient level, give up counting and just listen to the breath. This practice will improve your memory, attention and concentration, as well as calm your nerves and teach you to highlight the main thing.

Yoga is the strength of the body, stability of the mind and clarity of thought.

Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar