International Yoga Day 2018: 4 Times You Shouldn't Perform Yogasanas

Health benefits of yoga on our overall body and mind is not unknown. Yoga has been known to help curb a lot of diseases like diabetes, COPD diseases, arthritic pains and many other health issues. It has even shown wonders in helping curb obesity. You might want to try these 5 yoga poses for weight loss. Yoga is a valuable asset that has been treasured in our country since ancient times. Even our respectable prime minister Narendra Modi describes yoga to be the secret behind his healthy and fit body. But having said that yoga is way more in-depth and there is more to yoga than what meets the eyes. Yoga requires a lot of muscle flexibility and deep breathing techniques which means you have to be physically and mentally sound for performing the yoga poses. Just getting into difficult yoga poses does not ensure good health and well being. It could, in fact, do more harm than good. Here are a few situations suggested by famous Master Bindu Madhavi, owner, and director of Akshar Yoga Sahakarnagar, when you should avoid doing yoga.

1 When you are not well or suffering from fever: When you are suffering from fever your body is weak and lacking immunity. The physical weakness can induce injury while performing the asanas. Performing yoga asanas is about healing and respecting your body. You must give your body a little bit of space when you are ill and not go beyond what your body is able to do.

2 The smell and fragrance around matters: Yoga is a lot about breathing techniques. Good inhalation and exhalation are the major parts of performing yoga. We breathe all the time but breathing consciously while performing yoga holds a lot of importance. Our breath is the 'prana' or the vital force that we require for healthy living. It doesn't only help induce calmness in our body but also helps your lungs inflate completely to its fullest capacity and becomes a good exercise for your internal body. Therefore you must avoid practicing yoga if you live in areas that are surrounded by excessive foul smell, smoke or pollution. Look for a clean soothing surrounding for performing. You can use a natural source of your favorite fragrance while performing yoga as aromatherapy induces peace an tranquility inside you.

3 Soon after surgeries: You should avoid performing yoga if you have just been through a surgery. If you have gone through fractures, sprains or even a muscle pull you must avoid doing yoga. If you used to perform yoga before any of the above incidents occurring to you, you must resume only when your physician advises you to do so.

4 Immediately after a heavy meal: You should give yourself a break of a good 1-2 hours. Performing yoga immediately after eating you can face digestive issues like bloating and gas problems you can also feel nauseous and too uncomfortable if you perform yoga immediately after eating.

If you are suffering from asthma or any other breathing ailments you must be careful. As discussed above, yoga is a lot about breathing exercises. You must avoid performing yoga if face difficulty in breathing or suffer from other breathing ailments like asthma. However, you do not need to completely shun yoga if you suffer from asthma you can perform light yoga asanas like pranayama that is known to induce 'prana' or the vital force within you and the preferred time would be early morning.

You must understand that yoga is a lot about the holistic well-being of your body and mind. Don't think of yoga to be any form of yoga to be any form of exercise or even worse a compulsion.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 21, 2018 01:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).