4 yoga asanas that can help you concentrate better

Want to be able to focus better? Here is a natural way to help you do just that.

How many times have you experienced that feeling of not being able to focus and just wished there was some way to help you? Well, often lack of concentration is a result of stress, fatigue or simply not being conditioned to do that. While you may believe that a break will help bring back the focus, concentration is something that is to be conditioned. That is where yoga can offer you the perfect solution.

Not only does it help improve your ability to concentrate but it will also shape your overall personality and behaviour. These asanas are great for parents who want to help their children concentrate on the daily activities they perform. Yoga practices are a must for improving a child s overall health and state of mind. While performing the asanas, the child s thoughts and feelings are kept away thus giving the child an opportunity to focus on doing just the asana. This is coupled with a desire to be totally involved in the asana to attain strength, steadiness, relaxation and higher awareness.

Asanas must be performed alone, quietly, with attention to measured movements and controlled breathing. The advantages to doing this is that you or your child will eventually become immune to irritants, distractions, etc. which helps with prolonged concentration.

Yogendra pranayama 1 yogendra breathing technique 1

This asana is great to help oxygenate your body, giving your brain all the nutrients it needs to help you focus. What's more is that doing this asana regularly helps improve breathing, the tone of your skin and keeps you and your organs free of stress related damage.

Here's how to do this asana

• Stand erect, relaxed and with your feet apart
• You can also perform this asanas while sitting in sukhasana or padmasana
• Inhale slowly and continuously
• Exhale in the same manner
• Do ten rounds

Utkatasana or the chair pose: This asana also helps improve concentration as while you perform it you are required to focus on one point in your body. Further, this asana requires you to control your body and mind so that you can hold the pose for a few breaths.

Here's how to do this asana

• Stand erect with your feet 12 inches apart and your arms resting by your side
• Inhaling, raise your heels and simultaneous raise your arms parallel to the floor with your palms facing down. Alternatively, you can hold on to a firm chair or window sill for support while you raise your heel off the floor
• Exhaling, lower your body to the squatting position, thighs touching your calves
• Slowly, inhale and come up to the starting position

Talasana iii or the palm tree pose (third variation): This yoga pose helps open up your chest and massages your spinal cord. It also helps release stress and calms the mind. What's more this asana helps rejuvenate your body thereby helping you focus better.

Here's how to do this asana

• Stand erect with your feet 12 inch apart and chest thrown forward
• Inhaling, raise your arms upward and join them above your head
• Simultaneously rise on toes
• At maximum position of stretch, maintain the asana for four seconds.
• Exhaling lower your arms and bring your heels down

Ekpadasana or the one leg pose: This asana is known to help synchronise your mind and body, beat stress and improve concentration. This is because while performing the asana, you are required to balance on one foot and breathe in a controlled manner -- both of which require you to concentrate and calm your mind.

Here's how to do this asana

• Stand on the floor keeping your back erect and look at a point at your eye level
• Slowly, shift your weight on your right leg
• Bend your left leg at the knee and place it on your right thigh as shown in the picture
• Keep your arms stretched out at shoulder level to balance yourself
• Once you are stable, lift your hands up and join them in Namaste over your head
• Hold the pose for as long as you can
• Repeat the process for your left leg

Image source: Getty Images

---

For more articles on yoga, visit ouryoga section. For daily free health tips, sign up for our newsletter.