Let's re-examine our lifestyles to live long - Yoga Practitioners

Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - The International Association of Black Yoga Teachers (IABYT), Ghana, said the best resolution Ghanaians could give themselves for the golden jubilee anniversary would be to re-examine their lifestyles to improve life expectancy of the country.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency during a Yoga Clinic in Accra, Mr Issah Musah Adams, Public Relations Officer of the IABYT-Ghana, expressed worry over the declining age and rate at which Ghanaians loose their lives and attributed the problem largely to unhealthy lifestyles. "Many Ghanaians are dying at tender ages because of unhealthy lifestyles but this can be reversed when people learn to have a positive mental attitude, emotional stability, good nutrition, regular exercise, stress management and sufficient sleep".

He said with a poor sense of one's spiritual state, people might be inclined to accept certain norms or cultural beliefs as true and therefore be complacent and allow such things to influence their behaviour.

"It is not uncommon to observe people dramatize lack of energy or show symptoms of aging or disability because they erroneously believe certain conditions around them are normal," Mr Adams said.

He said more and more people were becoming apathetic and disinterested in their living because they did not have a clear sense of purpose and therefore became tired of coping with life's challenges. On the practice of Yoga, Mr Adams said the time had come for Ghanaians to embrace it for healthy lifestyle because all over the world today, Yoga had become a complementary form of therapy. He said Yoga practice is not a religion but a way of life that teaches people how to observe certain norms either by way of physical or mental exercises in order to stay healthy always.

"Yoga practice through meditation and adherence to good nutrition guide is being used in hospitals and clinics in most countries as a form of treatment for several ailments such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes, stress, stroke, asthma among others."