Anti-aging Secrets of Yoga Revealed
How would it be when one could extend the youthfulness in their life? When a person has the physical vigor of their twenties in their fifties, it would be advantageous and inspiring. He would be in a certain state of his intellectual experience with the biological condition of a young active man. This is not a fallacy, but a possible reality.
Even though aging is an inevitable biological process that eventually leads to the troubles of old age yet, it can be minimized and controlled. Anti-aging is an established truth in yoga. The unconfirmed reports show that yogis of yore lived more than 200 years of age and even for about 500 years. (Read also 3 Natural Ways for Younger Looking Skin)
There are different ways to stay looking young in which the techniques of yoga can be placed in the top position. The young-looking appearance of a person in the yogic practice is that it rejuvenates the body from the inside out. This is one of the specialties of yoga focusing on the internal vital organs which makes them healthy and energetic.
The yoga practitioners are benefited from the lower heart rate, reduced blood pressure, optimal metabolism, and reduced respiration rate with the improved respiratory capacity which adds up to it.
Pranayama Breathing
Yoga focuses on slowing down the breath. This is done by using the pranayama breathing techniques of deep breathing practices.
In a shallow breath, the oxygen supplied to the body is insufficient, and thereby the respiration rate is increased. The 25% of the oxygen inhaled is used by the brain and the rest is supplied to the kidney, heart, muscles, and other parts of the body where the shallow breath allows only a lesser partial quantity of oxygen to the organs.
In the deep breathing exercises, the body is supplied with a surplus amount of oxygen where the cells and brain cells are rejuvenated. The cells get oxidized effectively by reducing the contamination of the body. The proper purification of the blood is also done by removing the toxic materials. These all process, in turn, reduces the workload of the heart. Thereby, the heartbeat is reduced results in its enhanced lifespan.
This also slows down the process of cell division to an optimum level than the people having the hassles of stresses. The studies have shown that the cells have an allotted number of cell divisions which will be used up to a maximum extent in the young age and when it is totally used up in old age, then it is the end of life in the body. The fact is “aging of cells slow down to make us to age slowly”. This all process results in the young-looking body and the lifespan will be increased with the better health conditions.
It is noted in ancient times that there is a close connection between the respiration rate and the lifespan of living beings according to their body statures. The rabbit’s respiration rate is about 30 – 60 cycles per minute with a heart rate of 120 – 150 per minute. Its lifespan is about 8 – 12 years.
Whereas the tortoise breathes 5 times in a minute and its lifespan is about 100 – 200 years and even more than that. This correlation can also be seen in the other mammals.
Secrets of Anti-aging Meditation
It is not strange that we have to go through many stressful situations in the day to day life. The stress hormone such as cortisol produced in the body really makes one age faster. The meditation practices induce the anti-stress hormone DHEA to reduce stress. Normally, the production of the DHEA will be at maximum at mid-twenties and decrease as we age up depending upon the individuals.
A research paper in the International Journal of Neuroscience stated that regular meditation practices for a period of 5 years could significantly make one look 12 years younger. It became quite familiar for me when a stranger consider my age as 21 or 22 whereas I am in my late twenties.
The significant role of meditation in young-looking appearance is due to its effect on telomeres which are found in the cells. The lengths of the telomeres which are at the cap of the chromosomes get shorter after each cell division. Eventually, the length won’t be sufficient for the cells to continue the division where the fraying of telomeres causes aging.
In a regular meditator, the telomerase ‘immortality enzyme’ which slows down the cellular aging will be produced sufficiently which is responsible for the length of telomeres in the cells resulting in prolonged youngness and longevity.
Meditating in the Sahasrara chakra induces the hormone ‘melatonin’ which is an antioxidant that slows down aging too. The degradation of the fibrous protein ‘collagen’ will be slowed down in a regular meditator which reduces the wrinkles, maintains the elasticity of the skin, increase complexion, and sustains the youthfulness of the skin.
The powerful kundalini meditation practices that deal with the chakras and the control of the glands in the body verily respond to the meditation by triggering the glands to segregate the requisite level of hormones. Meditation works from the subtle level to the gross level.
There are claims that few yogis lived recently in the 19th and 20th century had their lifespan more than the average person. Few philosophers argue that the yogis who lived for more than 200 years might not be with their physical body but with their astral body. (See Unlocking the Mysteries of Astral Body)
Kayakalpa Yoga for Young Looking
Kayakalpa is one of the ancient techniques of yoga focusing on prolonged youthfulness where ‘kaya’ means the body and ‘Kalpa refers to immortality in Sanskrit. The techniques of kayakalpa for anti-aging involves two processes
- Tuning the nervous system in such a way as to withstand the aging of the cells.
- The method of recycling the sexual vital fluid (life force) to rejuvenate the body.
The purpose of the technique is to preserve this vital energy so that it, in turn, has an effect on the body’s biomagnetism which prevents one from various health hazards. By preserving this energy, one becomes potent with a healthy and young-looking body.
These yoga techniques are so powerful that even the decay of the yogi’s body slows down after death. A report from Time Magazine on 4 Aug 1952 “The absence of any visual signs of decay in the body of Paramahansa Yogananda is the most extraordinary case”.
