Yoga: Natural Memory Booster

The best feature about yoga, which makes it ideal as a tool for enhancing memory is that it utilizes various components to boost overall body and brain function. Thus, it does not just work out your physical body but that of your brain as well. In fact, many believe that the mental aspect of yoga is far more powerful than its physical component.

To learn about certain components of yoga that deliver benefits to your memory power, check them out below:

*Asanas – The execution of exercises in yoga promote blood and oxygen supply to your brain. Thus, it nourishes your brain cells to gradually improve memory capacity. The best asanas for this objective are inverted postures.

*Pranayama – These exercises enable you to control the activity of your life energy inside your body and with exercises such as deep breathing, you can boost oxygen supply to your brain and therefore giving performance a boost.

*Meditation – This component of yoga best represents its mental aspect. Thus, you must always end your practice with some meditation to enrich your mind power and consequently get a boost to your memory.

It is undeniable the level of physical strength that performing yoga asanas deliver to the body. But its mental benefits are quite unparalleled as well. Indeed, regular practice of yoga asanas (and in combination with pranayama) is known to enrich your mental abilities, such as memory and intelligence. There are a few well known yoga asanas that are able to deliver such results and they are listed below.

Open-Legged Forward Bend

Regular practice of this exercise is known help avoid memory lapse, thus you need to incorporate it into your daily yoga sessions. To perform this exercise, spread your legs about 3 feet apart from each other while standing. Then, pivot your heels to slightly face outward to get into position and balance yourself.

As you begin to exhale, exert enough strength as to lift your chest. Then, bend forward from your hips along with your exhalation. Keep your hands at shoulder-width apart as you try to reach for the floor. If you can't do that, try stacking up a few books in front of you and aim for those instead. Meanwhile, you can bend your elbows such that it is facing the wall behind you. Perform 3 to 10 deep breaths before going back to your original position.

To perform this exercise, you will begin with your back against the floor and both legs close together. Rest your hands on either sides of the body with your palm facing the ground. As you raise your legs in a 30-degree angle, begin your exhalation. Then, slowly move up to 60 degrees and stop when you reach the 90-degree angle. You can use your hands and place it on your lower back as the elbows rest on the ground to provide stability to your legs as you are trying to maintain this pose.

Regular practice of Sarvangasana is ideal for increasing blood supply to your brain, thus activating brain function and improving your pineal and pituitary glands. Some of the other benefits you can enjoy with this pose include increased ability to grasp power and intelligence, and consequently better memory.

This pose starts off on a prone position with your chest facing the floor. With your hands on both sides of your chest, place your palm such that it faces the ground. Slightly lift your elbows upward and keep your shoulders as close to your chest as possible. Meanwhile, keep your legs straight and close to each other. As you raise your chest and lift your body upwards, begin your inhalation. As your upper body is raised upward, your lower body must not leave the ground. Avoid forcing your head upward too much as it could strain your back and neck. If you can, try to hold yourself in position for at least 30 seconds.

This particular asana is well known for its rejuvenating effect, thus ideal for memory enhancement. In addition, it has lots of other benefits such as ability to cure sciatica pain, slip disc, backache, cervical spondalitis, and many more.

All exercises or asanas done in a yoga routine are always combined with pranayama or breathing exercises. With regular practice, one can experience holistic mental and holistic development. If you want to learn more about pranayama exercises that you can perform to naturally boost your ability to retain memory, read further below.

Kapalbhati

This is a well known breathing exercise performed by yogis, which typically begins on a seated posture but the crossed leg or Padmasana is ideal for this one. With both hands on your knees, start by attaining complete relaxation. Take note of your breathing pattern. As you take your first deep breath, release it right away. Begin to inhale slowly and then exert force when exhaling. Imagine how it feels like when blowing your nose – that should be the same amount of force you must exert during exhalation. However, the process of inhalation and exhalation should be done continuously.

The above procedure should cover a round of Kapalbhati Pranayama and you must perform at least 3 rounds of 15 exhalations each day to experience the best results. However, leave a few minutes of rest between each round. You can also opt to go beyond 3 rounds, depending on how much you can handle.

As with the above mentioned asanas, this exercise brings pure life energy towards your brain. Thus, you can get more blood and oxygen supply in your brain to boost memory power. In the process, you can also eliminate any toxic substances that cause blockages to your brain and thus slowing down your ability to retain or process information.

Sitting with crossed legs, you must begin this breathing exercise on full inhalation and then expel the air through both nose with much force as you can muster. Then, return to inhalation-exhalation again. You have to perform the above steps for 30 to 40 times but in case you get tired in between, allow yourself to rest.

Then, use your hand to cover your left nostril. Thus, you only have your right nostril to breathe into. Take in as much air as you can before stopping your breathe for a few seconds. Do the same procedure on the other side. You can do this for 2-3 times.

This particular breathing technique is ideal for stabilizing your nervous system to improve memory power. Meanwhile, it is also a great technique to use for curing any problems associated with your brain.