Yoga: Harmony of Body, Mind and Soul
Hardly any other sport requires as little equipment as yoga. And yet, through individual exercises (asanas) such as the Downward Facing Dog or the Pigeon and dynamic exercise sequences such as the Sun Salutation, you can bring your body into harmony with your mind and strengthen your muscles at the same time. What's more, it's now long past the point of boring yoga sessions in the living room. Just as diverse as the exercises are now the yoga variants. The offerings range from motivating group classes to SUP yoga to beer and climbing yoga. A lot has also happened in terms of sustainability in recent years.
Yoga has long since been practiced not only on the sports mat in one's own four walls or in group classes. In recent years, a number of new yoga variations have been developed and established. From yoga in combination with High Intension Training (HIT) to goat yoga and sun salutations on a surfboard, everything is included. With the new exciting facets of the sport, yoga devotees are also growing in number.
Two sports couldn't be more different than yoga and high intensity training (HIT). And that's exactly what fitness trainer Anna-Maria Jansen makes use of: The combination of the two activities offers a comprehensive full-body workout for men and women. At ISPO.com she explains exercises and gives training tips.
Snowboarding, surfing, skateboarding or mountain biking are extreme sports that put a lot of strain on the body and also have a high stress level. The situation is completely different with yoga. This creates a physical and mental balance, corrects imbalances in the body and calms the mind. The combination of the two approaches is therefore becoming increasingly popular. Yoga is now also a fixed part of the training schedule for many outdoor and action sports enthusiasts. Surfers and mountain bikers in particular benefit from the combination of relaxation and action.
Yoga is a teaching that originated in India and has been known for about 3000 - 4000 years. The term yoga means both bowing and integration. Nowadays, the sport mainly aims to unite the body, mind and soul. However, the Indian yogis were more concerned with mediation and a position in which they could stay for a long time with focus. Therefore, they developed positions and exercises to make the body more flexible and to calm the soul and mind - this was the origin of yoga.
Yoga is one of the six classical schools (later two more steps were added) of Indian philosophy. In Western Europe and North America, yoga is often associated only with the physical exercises that are subordinate to the category of asana.
The eight-limbed path according to Patanjali:
- Yama - desirable social behavior
- Niyama - personal rules of life
- Asana - body control
- Pranayama - control of energy through breathing techniques
- Pratyahara - ability to direct the mind from the outside to the inside
- Ddharana - concentration
- Dhyana - meditation
- Samadhi - contemplation
Holding up a mirror to yoga enthusiasts and questioning their sustainability? Anyone who practices yoga wants to be in harmony with their body and mind. However, startups like hejhej-mats, which produce closed-loop yoga mats, prove that this harmony can also be extended to the environment and nature - in line with the first path of the yoga philosophy. In addition, the range of sustainable sportswear is also becoming increasingly larger.
Sustainability is often such a thing. If you honestly want to make your life more sustainable, you're immediately dismissed as an unworldly eco with dreadlocks, Birkenstocks and a hemp shirt. Sinah Diepold is a yoga teacher and founder - and she is concerned with sustainability. She explains how to live a more sustainable life, what it has to do with self-love, and why sustainability and yoga get along so well.
Cheaply produced yoga mats from the East? No thanks! With the startup hejhej-mats, the founders Anna Souvignier and Sophie Zepnik have developed the first sustainable yoga mat in Germany. Despite all the hurdles, the two power women have asserted themselves on the market and today successfully run a sustainable and socially responsible company.
