What Exactly is Alternative Therapy and How Does It Boost Your Health and Well-being?

My first yoga retreat

I never wanted it to stop. It was a wonderful feeling of joy, love compassion and connection to everyone who was there with me. This was despite the fact that I had only met these people just three days ago. But at that moment, it felt like I had known them all my life.

This was my first yoga retreat. Four days of total immersion in the practice, philosophy and life of hatha yoga. We practiced yoga twice a day. Spent several hours in sitting and walking meditation and learned about the philosophy of yoga through talks and discussions.

We helped prepare and ate the most delicious home-made vegetarian food. I was on an energy high. I had so much stamina. It was the best short break I had ever had.

So why did it effect me so profoundly?

Our subtle energy body

Yoga works on our bodies and minds at many levels, and in a way that traditional medicine fails. Infact, many of the alternative therapies and practices, that have become so popular, work on our mind and body in powerful ways.

You may not realise it, but your body has a network of unseen energy channels. They follow the pathways of our nervous system and provide a constant supply of subtle energy that keeps us alive.

This complex mesh of energy channels, or 'meridians' as the Chinese call them, focus around 7 energy centers or 'chakras' that are vertically aligned from our crown to our abdomen. Yoga, and many alternative therapies and practices, increase, balance and harmonise this energy network.

Lao Tsu, the revered Chinese sage and chi kung master, said,

"When human beings are born, they are tender and soft. At death they are stiff and hard. All things, the grass as well as the trees, are tender and supple when alive".

It's this hidden energy system that keeps us alive, vibrant and healthy.

Shiatsu, acupressure and acupuncture

The study of our energy bodies can be seen in shiatsu, acupressure and acupuncture. These are just three of the many practices that originate from the East.

Shiatsu is a system of full body massage taken lying down on a futon. But it's more than just massage. Many part of your body are pressed and massaged where the subtle energy lines meet. The effect is both invigorating and relaxing at the same time. My first massage was so good I fell asleep.

Acupuncture is a curative system that is accepted by the western medical establishment because it works. Needles are inserted so they connect with the energy channels in your body. By placing these needles at the right points your energy and health is both rebalanced and restored.

The ancient art of yoga

Yoga, stretching and pilates is about exercising your muscles and ligaments, but it's more than this. The gentle stretching of muscles releases trapped energy and energises the muscles and ligaments the pose is working on.

Yoga involves stretching into a pose and holding the position while breathing in or out deeply and completely. There is a dynamic to this apparent stillness. You may be holding the position, but your deep breathing is moving energy and refreshes the parts of your body other exercise cannot reach.

So, the slow and steady movements free trapped energy, energise muscles and ligaments and refresh your whole body. At the same time you are developing strength and stamina while holding these poses.

Mind and body health

Traditional medicine and therapies work with symptoms, known illnesses and diseases. Holistic and alternative practices and therapies view illness as a warning that your system is out of balance. Many of these practices work on you at different levels, especially your subtle energy body.

It's all about re-balancing your mind and body so that it works properly once again. It's a 'whole'-istic view rather than a piecemeal view.

Maybe that's why modern medicine seems unable to cure some illnesses and health problems.

We have so much to learn.

Terry Dunn writes regular articles on how to use alternative therapies to improve your health. From aromatherapy to yoga, discover what it's like, how it works and how you can benefit. To read more articles, visit his website, http://www.holistichealthtalk.com

Yoga Bolster - Bringing Perfect Boost To Your Body

Yoga bolster is now sensibly used in diversified yoga poses such as, but is not limited to Bikram, Ananda and Kripalu Yoga. It boosts the capacity of the body to provide restorative healing. In Yoga Asana, yoga bolster may be used in its wide-ranging positions and can bring deep impact on the different systems of the body. Furthermore, firmness and flexibility may be afforded by the continued use of this multi -purpose tool.

Apart from being described by Pantajali, founder of Ashtanga Yoga, as a steady and comfortable posture, asana was proven to keep balance to the totality of mind and body complex. To keep this balance or to even boost the same, yoga bolster brings distinct upshot because it functions more as support for the body while it is on that steady position.

As pointed out in many books, innovations to the present yoga accessories are now deemed as all time high. Apart from yoga accessory descriptions in early yoga books such as Hatha Yoga Pradipika around 1200 AD, there are novel expositions which point out the innumerable benefits of today's trendy yoga accessories of which yoga bolster is a good example.

Bolster cushion or bolster pillow, and yoga bolster provide comfort and relaxation to a yogi. Usually placed under knees, ankles, or neck, the latter type can aid in the straining of the muscles. Some of those who dare to try Pranayama Yoga, a form of breathe control, have found the use of bolster desirable because of its new support features such as having an adjustable valve that allows airflow control.

With the air valve on the accessory bag, the air inside can keep first-rate support to the yogi as he makes micro-movements. Even when a yogi further expands to connecting postures and different breathing as in Vinsaya Yoga, bolster still proves to cater correct alignment of the body and thus, proper pose and balance is created and maintained. Moreover, in the same way as other yoga accessories like, yoga mats, yoga block, yoga strap among others, yoga bolsters also possess capacity to relieve many distracting tensions.

Today, bolsters come in different shapes and sizes and are now made to provide extra strength and support. Depending on the forms of yoga poses sought for, a yoga bolster can perfectly adjust and may be utilized in different styles to suit with personal comfort of the users. Of the famous available sizes, however, round yoga bolster is now widely used because of its ability to maintain proper alignment to the body.

As I said at the beginning, yoga bolster provides restorative healing. It provides relief from tensions and let me say this with reverberation: "There certainly isn't a medication you can buy or a gadget or a car that will make you feel good the way you do when your body is in perfect condition". So when there's something in your nearest store or online that you can grab now which gives perfect boost to the state of your health, waste no time!

The author works for an acclaimed educationalist and green living enthusiast, who now introduces his first and trusted source of yoga fitness equipment, yoga, Pilates equipment and other exercise accessories, to name a few. He is the person behind some of the coolest stores on the Internet. To know more about the author, visit Incline Bench Press dot net.