Yoga Love

Yoga and Running

2011-04-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

"Everyone who has run knows that its most important value is in removing tension and allowing a release from whatever other cares the day may bring."
-Jimmy Carter

Being a runner myself, there is absolutely no way my body can survive the strain without yoga. Each and every hour run is followed by 30min or more of yoga. The muscles are warm and respond with immense gratitude as you create flexibility and space in muscles, tendons, and joints. Du

ring the course of an average mile run, your foot will strike the ground 1,000 times. The force of impact on each foot is about three to four times your weight. By incorporating yoga into your running regime you are decompressing the body for this physical stress. The body needs this like water, creating a perfect balance of strength and flexibility. Keeping your body injury free, so you can keep running.

Runners can use their yoga practice to balance strength, increase range of motion, and train the body and mind. Breath is a prime example. Yoga focuses so intently on pranayama, the art of breath control. The same tool which calms the mind and body for yoga and meditation works to create a rhythmic breathing in running. This calm and controlled breath allows you to fall into a meditative state, listening to your calm/controlled breath, barely noticing the miles as they fly by.

Now we understand why the body benefits from the marriage of yoga and running, but more importantly our mind is of greatest benefit. Take this commercial from Asics 2011 Global Campaign. This is something runners and yoga practitioners can attest to feeling on the second half of that yoga class or the final stretch to your run. Your body has a rhythm, releasing all of the “I can't”, worry, and stress from your physical body. Replenishing your mind and body with confidence, endorphins, and self-satisfaction.

The body, mind, and spirit connection of running and yoga is undeniable. Both are enriched deep in cultures around the world, and used as a personal tool not only for a healthy body, but a strong mind as well. A moving meditation, cleansing the spirit through its practice.

There are three cultures that not only shine in their ability to run impressive distances, but using the tool of running for meditation, fun, clarity, and peace. All the qualities which are direct fruits from any yoga practice.

The Tarahumara are an isolated tribe of Rarámuri (running people) living in one of the most remote places on the planet: between the mountains of Copper Canyon, just west of Chihuahua, Mexico. Christopher McDougall quotes Caballo Blanco in his book Born to Run, on his wisdom shared before a run;

“Think Easy, Light, Smooth, and Fast. You start with easy, because if that’s all you get, that’s not so bad. Then work on light. Make it effortless… When you’ve practiced that so long that you forget you’re practicing, you work on making it smooooooth. You won’t have to worry about the last one – you get those three, and you’ll be fast.” If you changed the last word of Caballo's advice to "fluid" = yoga.

Next are the marathon monks, who live in the Enryaku Temple atop Mount Hiei. Their practice begins by walking or running approximately 50 km around the mountain to return in time for meditation and the meal. This is done over 100, 700, or 1000 days, depending on how far along the initiated is in his monastic training.

Last June I ran the relay for the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Diego. Running the 3rd leg of the 4 part run, I had several hours to get settled and warm up with some yoga. I had my YogaPaws so was able to do yoga right there on the pavement without hurting my hands or worrying about face planting.

I remember just hanging out, waiting for second leg runners to surface when the announcer called out that the first full marathoners were about to pass. WHAT! I thought the runners were not supposed to be here for another 20 minutes! We all rushed to the side of the road only to see a glimpse of 4 Kenyan runners wisp by. They seem to be floating along, huge smiles, waving to the cheering crowd. This was my first and only experience witnessing

the super athlete endurance of these amazing people. No wonder they’ve been major players in nearly every major marathon worldwide; with two exceptions (South Korea and Ethiopia), Kenya has dominated the Boston Marathon since 1991. Kenyan Richard Limo won the 2010 Rock and Roll, running 23.6 miles in only 2:09:56. I still remember his smile.

Getting early start on yoga for a lifetime

2010-05-17T16:50:00.001-07:00

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Snatam Kaur was introduced to yoga as a young child. Now she is passing on yoga's physical and mental benefits to a new generation of children.

The singer/songwriter, whose father Sat Santokh Khalsa was a manager for the Grateful Dead, is coming to London on Thursday for a concert. She's also offering a children's yoga class that day.

"I think it's really important to teach children yoga and meditation because I feel if they can learn it when they're young, it will be something that's natural when they're older," the New Mexico resident said.

"The way I teach it is pretty much how I learned. I use a lot of imagination and stories and songs. The focus of the class is to give children yoga tools and positive affirmations for life."

Kaur said parents are encouraged to bring children and babies to the class, but suggested the best age for participants is between two and eight.

In her yoga classes for kids, she incorporates stories, singing, yoga postures and positive messages.

"We do a lot of running around and animal noises and also songs with movements. The songs are positive affirmations."

Kaur, 38, said one of her friends, a yoga instructor, told her that yoga should be as familiar to kids as brushing their teeth.

"That was really inspiring to me," she said. "Having a daily yoga-meditation practice is important for children and adults.

"My daughter, (18 months), really likes to sing and dance so we incorporate yoga dancing into our morning."

Kaur said benefits for children include learning how to balance energy and tap into their own positive life forces.

"One of the exercises I teach is breathing deep. This is really helpful, even for adults, in challenging situations when you are frustrated or scared or angry."

Kaur suggests doing yoga is also a great opportunity for parents and children to spend time together "in a centred way."

An important part of the class is having children learn positive affirmations. "I do believe (this) helps them to deal with life."

She said sometimes it can be challenging to get kids to pay attention but for the most part, they become quite engaged during the classes.

"With children, you never quite know what to expect so I kind of just roll with it and try to provide an opportunity for children to have fun with yoga so that they have a positive association with it."

Kaur has been teaching kids' yoga for seven years while touring as a performer, promoting peace and compassion through her singing that blends ancient songs and contemporary melodies and is rooted in Indian chants.

As a teenager, she was influenced by Grateful Dead music. "Especially in context with yoga and meditation. They did a lot of improvisational work in their concerts and so that's really inspiring to me. In meditation and yogas, the idea is to get in touch with your soul. Having that kind of improvisational inspiration has been with me ever since."

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Perfect Yoga Poses

2010-04-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

Yoga

Yoga is a practice that dates back to more than 5000 years ago. In the U.S., the most commonly practiced type of yoga is Hatha (referring to the sun and moon) Yoga. The goal of Hatha Yoga is to achieve union of the mind, body and spirit through a series of postures (called asanas, also referred to as poses) and breathing exercises (pranayama).

Yoga is popular in the U.S. Researchers estimate more than 15 million Americans currently practice yoga. About 75 percent of health clubs in the U.S. offer a yoga class. Many people use yoga to relax, reduce stress and improve their overall physical fitness. According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, yoga may improve mood, reduce blood pressure and heart rate and increase the efficiency of the lungs. Researchers are also testing yoga’s effects on low back pain, insomnia, smoking cessation, diabetes risk, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, immune function and HIV.

Toning with Yoga

Candace Morano, Yoga Specialist in New York City, says yoga helps people become more health conscious because it teaches them to become more conscious and aware of their bodies, ultimately leading to better choices in a healthy lifestyle. It improves strength and flexibility and lengthens the body. Thus, it’s a good way to tone the muscles.

Three of Morano’s favorite poses for toning the body are the plank, upward facing dog and warrior II. The plank pose looks like a push-up position. It’s done facing the ground while standing on the tops of the toes and supporting the upper body with the hands. When a person is in proper position, the legs, hips and upper body form a long line. The plank pose builds strength in the arms, wrists, spine and core.

The upward facing dog pose is also done in a prone position, facing the floor. Instead on being on the toes, the toes are pointed down, allowing the tops of the feet the rest on the floor. The palms of the hands are face down and the chest is raised off the floor. This pose aligns the spine, tones the shoulders, strengthens the triceps, firms the buttocks and stretches the chest, opening up the lungs.

The warrior II pose is performed in a standing position. The right leg is forward, bent at about a 90-degree angle with the foot turned slightly to the right. The left leg is held straight behind the body and the foot turned to the left at about 90 degrees. The arms are raised at the side of the body, palms down and in a straight line across the shoulders. The warrior II pose tones the legs, hips and arms and strengthens the inner thighs.

Yoga is a technique that should be practiced year round. It takes time to see results, so those who are looking to tone their bodies for swimsuit season need to start now. Morano recommends practicing three times a week for at least 12 weeks. She also says people who are beginners to yoga should get some help from an instructor to learn how to properly perform the poses. DVDs are also good, but don’t provide feedback if you have questions or are unsure how to breathe and move through the various poses.

For general information about yoga and yoga poses:

www.yogasyz.com

Role of Yoga Therapy in Asthma

2010-04-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

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What is Yoga Therapy?

Ancient yog techniques, due to their psychological and physical effect on body and mind can be employed in the treatment and management of Physiological and psychosomatic disorders, but it should be remembered, that basically traditional yog was not developed as a system of therapy.

Yoga therapy in its present form is a new discipline, created by the marriage of traditional yog with modern medicine. By tailoring yoga practices to individual needs. Whilst taking medical consideration into account, yoga therapy is more effective than general yoga practice as a safe means of treating medical conditions and also applies equal focus on mind, body and spirit, but avoids judgment and communicates the form and essence of yoga.

What is Asthma?

Asthma is an ancient Greek word meaning "Panting Breath". It is the most troublesome of the respiratory diseases. An asthmatic attack begins when the bronchial tubes in the lungs become constricted. The tubes having become narrow, the inhaled air becomes trapped in the tiny air sacs at the end of the tubes, making the release of beneath difficult.

Asthma attacks occur when, the muscles around the bronchi go into spasm. The bronchi narrow and breathing becomes difficult. Inflammation can also swell the lining of the air tubes. Mucous may increase blockage to the air tubes as well. The reason that bronchospasms can be triggered by allergies is that histamine, the chemical most responsible for allergy symptoms, seems to play a role in asthma attacks as well. But many other things besides histamine can trigger an attack : strenuous exercise, cigarette some, respiratory infections, industrial chemicals, aspirin, pet dander, indoor pollution and the sulfites added to many foods. Stress also plays a role in asthma. Severe anxiety can trigger attacks, and stress generally aggravates asthma symptoms.

Physiology of Asthma

Respiration, like other essential bodily functions, is involuntary. Our bodies are programmed from birth to perform these functions automatically, without having to think about them. Respiration is unique, however, since it can be voluntarily modified by the average person. This capability is the basis for breathing techniques that have been part of the yoga tradition for thousands of years. For asthmatics, these techniques can be the foundation for a program of breath retraining that can help them manage their disorder. Breathing is ideally a process of maximum efficiency with minimum effort. Its efficiency depends on the correct functioning of the diaphragm, a strong sheet of muscle that separates the heart and lungs from the abdomen. Each breath starts in response to a message from the respiratory center in the brain which causes the diaphragm to activate. It flattens into a disc, making the lower ribs swing out and thus increasing the volume of the chest cavity. The lungs follow this expansion, creating a partial vacuum that pulls air into the lower lungs, much like a bellows.

When we exhale, the diaphragm simply relaxes. The lungs have a natural recoil that allows them to shrink back to their regular size and expel air. The abdominal muscles and muscles f the rib cage can enhance this process, but it is the release of the diaphragm and the recoil of the lungs that are the crucial elements in the exhalation. After a pause, the breath cycle begins again, a pumping rhythm we can all easily feel. When our breathing apparatus is working efficiently, we breathe 14 times per minute at normal condition. In a healthy person, this rate increases appropriately when the physical needs of the body require it.

Like other involuntary bodily functions, breathing is usually controlled by the autonomic nervous system, which enables the human organism to run like a well-oiled, self-correcting machine. There are two branches to this system: the parasympathetic and sympathetic. The parasympathetic branch, known as the "relaxation response," controls resting functions of the body. It slows the heart and breathing rate and activates digestion and elimination.

The sympathetic branch has the opposite effect. It rouses the body and regulates active functions related to emergencies and exercise. When emergencies arise, the sympathetic branch floods the body with adrenaline-the well-known "fight or flight" response. The heart rate goes up and breathing rate increases to supply the body with an infusion of oxygen. If the danger is real, the increased energy is used. If not, the including anxiety and hyperventilation (overbreathing).

Since few of us are immune to the constant stresses and strains of modern life, the alarm bells of the sympathetic nervous system are constantly being rung. It is a real juggling act to maintain a healthy autonomic balance, a challenge at which asthmatics generally fail.

Although most asthmatics are unaware of it, we tend to chronically breathe at a rate two to three times faster than normal. Paradoxically, instead of providing more oxygen, verbreathing actually robs our cell of this essential fuel. We do take in more oxygen when we overbreathe; but, more importantly, we also breathe out too much carbon dioxide.

Most of us learn in school that when we breathe we expel carbon dioxide as a waste gas, but we don't learn that expelling just the right amount of CO2 is critical for healthy breathing, If CO2 levels get too low, the hemoglobin that carries oxygen through the blood becomes too "sticky" and doesn't release sufficient oxygen to the cells. Eventually, starved for oxygen, the body takes drastic measures to slow breathing so CO2 and build back up to safe levels. These measures produce the classic symptoms of an asthma attack: Smooth muscles tighten around the airways, the body further constricts them by producing mucus and histamine (which causes swelling)-and we're left gasping for breath.

Modern Treatment of Better or Worse

Successful treatments for asthma have always been elusive. Remedies changed little through the ages and have included herbal tinctures, relocation to arid climates and, believe it or not, smoking tobacco and cannabis. With the development of bronchodilators or "rescue" inhalers during the 1960s, everything changed. These beta-agonist drugs (the most popular is albuterol) bring rapid relief from the most common symptoms of asthma. Airways quickly reopen, wheezing stops, and mucus clears. This lets the asthmatic relax and breathe more easily. These sprays seemed to be the big breakthrough that would banish asthma forever, but they have a downside. Many asthmatics overuse their inhalers. Though doctors warn against this, it's easy to seem how such a pattern develops. People are less likely to avoid the situations that trigger asthma attacks if they know a puff or two from an inhaler will magically banish their symptoms. Inhaler overuse can also mask a silent increase in chronic airway inflammation, giving asthmatics a blunted perception of how severe their asthma is, so that they put off getting further treatment until they have a real crisis. According to the Canadian Respiratory Journal (July/Aug. 98), "regular use of short-term betaagonists as maintenance therapy for chronic asthma is no longer recommended." Articles in several other prominent medical journals have also documented that even normal use of albuterol eventually worsens asthma. In other words, while inhalers relieve symptoms in the short term, in the long run they contribute to an overall increase in the frequency and severity of attacks.

Doctors now recognize the limits of rescue inhalers and often recommend the use of newer drugs, primarily corticosterids, which treat an asthmatic's chronic inflammation. With the development of these anti-inflammatories, medical treatment of asthma has entered a new era. Prednisone, the most popular of these drugs, is now the last line of defense against asthma and has saved many lives, including my own. Regular use can reduce the need for bronchodilators and prevent asthma attacks. However, prednisone is a potent drug with severe adverse effects that can include dependence, hormonal changes, weight gain, glaucoma, and severe bone loss. With long-term use a person can be affected by problems more crippling than asthma itself.

Yogic Treatment

Exercise -I : Deep Relaxation

This exercise helps you establish a calm state before doing the other exercises. Begin by lying down with a firm pillow or a folded blanket under your head. Bend your knees and rest your feet flat on the floor. It that is not comfortable, place a bolster or rolled blanket under the knees. Feel free to shift your position and stretch if you become uncomfortable. Some people like to play calming music as well. Place your hands on your belly, close your eyes, and turn your attention inward. How do you feel? Are you uneasy, uncomfortable, buzzing, or distracted? Is it difficult to lie still? Is your mind racing? The goal is to let go of all that, which is not always easy. It may take several minutes to relax deeply. Give yourself time.

With each exhalation, let your belly sink away from your hand and into the back body. After a gentle pause, can you feel the belly rise effortlessly when you inhale? This relaxed action cannot be rushed, so don't force the movement in any way; an easy rhythm will settle in as your state of relaxation deepens.

Exercise - II : The Wave

I call this exercise "The Wave" because of the soothing movement that ripples up and down the spine when the body settles into your natural breath. This movement helps unlock the diaphragm and massages the abdomen, chest, and spine, releasing tension that can interfere with healthy breathing. After Deep Relaxation, place your arms on the floor alongside your torso. Close your eyes and turn your attention to the belly and the way it melts into the pelvis each time you exhale. Begin The Wave by gently relaxing the lower back into the floor as you exhale, and then lift it a couple of inches as you inhale. The hips stay on the floor as the lower back rises and falls. This need not be a big movement, and the pace of breathing should be slow and easy. Allow yourself to settle into and slightly amplify this rhythmic wave, and notice if you can feel movement all the way up and down the spine. Repeat this exercise 10 or 15 times before continuing to the next technique.

Poor breathing habits may confuse you and cause you to reverse the coordination of movement and breath, so pay close attention. If you find yourself feeling tense, take a few normal relaxing breaths between cycles.

Exercise - III : Softening the Inhalation

In this exercise you will try to soften the effort you use to inhale, and to decrease the length of your inhalation until it is shorter than the exhalation by as much as half. When you first try this exercise, you may feel an urgent desire to breathe in more. Instead, remember that over breathing is a habit that perpetuates your asthma.

To identify your basic relaxed breathing rate, begin by counting the length of your exhalation, the pause afterward, and the following inhalation. After several minutes, start to modify your breath rhythm to emphasize the exhalation. Use the baseline length of your exhalation as the gauge for any modifications you make : In other words, don't struggle to lengthen your exhalation; instead, shorten your inhalation. With practice, this will become easier. In the meantime, take several of your baseline breaths between cycles if you feel anxious or strained.

Exercise - IV : Complete Diaphragmatic Exhalations

An inability to exhale fully is a defining symptom of asthma. I practice this frequently whenever I feel short of breath. Lie on your back with your eyes closed and arms stretched out along your sides. Beginning with an exhalation, purse your lips and blow the breath out in a steady. Your will feel a strong action in the belly as the abdominal muscles assist the exhalation. Your exhalation should be longer than usual, but it is important not to push this too far. If you do, it will be difficult to pause after exhaling and your subsequent inhalation will be strained.

Pause for a few seconds after your exhalation, relaxing the abdomen. Then, keeping your throat open, allow the inhalation to flow in through the nose. Because of the stronger exhalation, you should be able to feel the inhalation being drawn down effortlessly into the lower chest. Count the length of the exhalation, the pause, and the inhalation. At first, try to make the exhalation at least as long as the inhalation; do this by shortening your inhalation, as in the previous exercise. (Unlike the previous exercise, in which you breathe at your normal resting rate, your breath here will be both longer and stronger.) Eventually, aim to make your exhalation more than twice as long as the inhalation and to make the pause after the exhalation comfortable rather than hurried. Since asthmatics find exhalation difficult, it may help you to imagine the exhalation flowing upward, like a breeze within the rib cage, as the breath leaves the body. Repeat five to 10 cycles of this exercise. As with all the exercises, I recommend you take several normal breaths between cycles.

Exercise - V : Extended Pause

This exercise is designed to help regulate the CO2 levels in the body. It doesn't give the same quick fix as an inhaler, but it can turn an asthma attack around if you start it early enough. By pausing before you inhale, you give the body a chance to slow down and build up the level of carbon dioxide. An overbreather may find this to be the hardest exercise of all. At the outset it may the difficult to pause for even a few seconds, but if you keep trying you will notice improvement, perhaps even during a single practice session. Eventually, the pause can extend up to 45 seconds or even longer.,

Position yourself as before : on your back, knees bent, with feet flat on the floor. In this exercise I recommend that you consciously shorten your inhalations and exhalations. (Your breath rate should not become rapid, though; the shorter inhalations and exhalations are balanced by the longer extended pause.) Inhale for one or two to four seconds, and then pause. During the pause should be like the natural relaxation that occurs as you exhale. You can extend the pause by consciously relaxing wherever you feel specific tensions.

As with all these exercises, patience yields better results than force. Repeat the exercise 5 to 10 times, and feel free to take normal breaths between cycles.

There are, of course, many other breathing techniques that can be beneficial in the management of asthma, but I can personally vouch for the transformative power of the exercises in this program.

Exercise - VI : Catch Your Breath

Once I understood that breaking the cycle of over breathing is essential to overcoming asthma naturally, I could draw on all my years of experience with pranayama. I experimented with breathing techniques to see what would restore my natural breath rhythm. Over time I settled on a handful of exercises that were both simple and effective at slowing my breath rate and reducing the incidence and severity of my asthma. There are certain precautions to consider as you embark on this program. The program may ultimately reduce your dependence on medication or enable you to do away with it altogether, but this should not be done hastily or without the approval of a doctor. If you have diabetes, kidney disease, or chronic low blood pressure, have had recent abdominal surgery, or are pregnant, you should consult with your physician before doing these exercises, I also strongly suggest that asthmatics avoid additional breathing exercises which call for rapid breathing (kapalabhati/bhastrika), retention of the inhalation (antara kumbhaka), or tightening the throat (strong ujjayi). Asthmatics must realize that many breathing exercises which are quite beneficial for a normal breather may have a paradoxical impact on an asthmatic, and also do Jal-Neti, Ghrit-Neti, Gomukhasana, Matshyasana daily with above exercises.
Nutrition

Some studies indicate that people with Asthma have environmental allergies. Although food allergies may also contribute to the problem, some researchers believe food allergies only rarely sinusitis. If other treatment approaches are unsuccessful, people with sinusitis may choose to work with a nutritionist in order to evaluate what, if any, effect elimination of food and other allergens might have on reducing their symptoms.

Histamine is associated with increased nasal and sinus congestion. Vitamin C (2,000 mg three times per day) reduced histamine levels in people, has been reported to relieve symptoms of acute Asthma. Eliminate mild and all milk products from the diet, including prepared foods that list milk as an ingredient. An overwhelming majority of patients report dramatic improvement in Asthma conditions after two months of this dietary change.

Do not smoke. Do not spend time around smokers or in smoky environments.
Emotional Aspect

There is an emotional aspect to every illness. Often times, it is the emotional thoughts or "excess emotions" that will lead to illness. The following therapies are utilized for calming the mind, help with stress relief and focuses on our mental powers over any situation. The ability to balance you emotional, mental, physical and spiritual self is up to you.
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Pranayama (Praa-na-yum)

2010-04-06T20:27:00.000-07:00

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Pranayama is the controlling of the prana, the life force. 'We' are because of the energy (life force), which runs in us. It is this energy, which formulates our entire being- our health, moods, thinking, actions, and our physical, mental and emotional states. Perfect balance of this energy is what ensures our perfect physical and mental state. Any imbalance in the flow of this energy in any part of our body, results in disease and illness of that part.

Pranayama practices help us to manage the life force. They are the greatest purification techniques, removing impurities from the body, mind and senses. These practices are all about breath control. It is through the controlling of the gross aspect-the breath, that the subtle aspect- prana can be controlled. No spiritual progress can be made without practice of Pranayama.

Breath is the connection to our inner being. Breath is the physical aspect or the manifestation of the life force. The life currents can be manipulated by controlling of the breath.

Life force is like the electric current running on the wires of breath. By controlling the motion of respiratory organs, the life force can be controlled.

To begin with the practice of Pranayama, one must be prepared. According to Patanjali, Pranayama must ideally begin after the aspirant has gained steadiness in asana (yogic posture). It is said that if you can sit in an asana comfortably and continuously for three hours at a stretch, you have gained mastery over the asana. If you are able to sit from half to one hour, you can take up the practice of Pranayama.

Pranayama has three components - Exhalation, Inhalation and Retention of breath.

It is the duration of each of these components, and the number of cycles, which formulate the Pranayama practice. Yogic practices should not be done after meals.

Time taken for each breath-
The ratio for Inhalation (I): Retention (R): Exhalation (E) is 1:4:2.
If inhalation is to the count of 12, then the retention should be to the count of 48 and exhalation to the count of 24.

For a beginner - The I: R: E ratio should be 12:48:24.
As one progresses it can be increased to the ratio of 24:96:48 and move on to 32:128:64. The increase in count should be done gradually. It may take several months. Also it is important to keep you comfort levels in mind.

One set of I: R: E makes one cycle/round of Pranayama.

The important rider to the above is that under no circumstances should the lungs feel exerted or tired. If strain is felt, then relaxation of relative time durations takes precedence rather than straining the breathing system.

During any yogic practice, awareness of the self is crucial. Keep listening to your body. If you feel uncomfortable during any step, stop the practice. You will fall down even from a staircase, if you are not careful.

Remember, pushing yourself that little extra helps, pushing too much harms. Do not despair. Keep up the practice, even if for a small duration of time, you must be regular with it. Gradually you will find your balance and discover for your self what Pranayama suits you the best.

You may keep your eyes closed, for heightened physical awareness.

There are various practices of Pranayama. Some of them are -

Sukha Purvaka Pranayama
Sit crossed legged, comfortably on the floor. Close right nostril with thumb; inhale very slowly through left nostril. Then close left nostril too, with little and ring finger and retain breath as long as comfortable. Open the right nostril and exhale now, very slowly, completely emptying the air from your lungs. Resume inhalation from the right nostril. Fill yourself with air and close right nostril. With both nostrils closed, retain your breath. Exhale from left. This is one round. 20 such rounds can be done. The rounds may be increased, gradually. During inhalation, visualize the positive energies entering you and negative ones leaving you, during exhalation.

Benefits:
Removes all diseases. Purifies energy channels and steadies the mind. Prepares one for meditation.

Bhastrika Pranayama
Sit in any comfortable asana (pose), like crossed leg on the floor, with spine straight. Close the mouth. Inhale and exhale quickly, like bellows of a blacksmith. There will be dilating and contracting of the chest. You may begin with 10 rounds, taking it up to 20 or 25 rounds gradually. In the end, take a deep breath, retain for as long as you can and then exhale slowly. AUM

Benefits:
Bhastrika is good for the throat, nose and lungs. It destroys phlegm and gives warmth to the body. Also enhances digestive fire and removes problems arising from excess wind.

Bhramari Pranayama
Sit in a comfortable crossed leg pose (like, Padmasana) on the floor. Breathe in, and then while exhaling make the humming sound of a bee ('Bhramar' in Sanskrit). The sound of 'mmmm', coming from the back of the throat, with mouth closed. You can continue, till the body starts perspiring or as long as you are comfortable. In the end take a deep breath, retain for as long as you can comfortably and exhale slowly. AUM

Benefits:
Enhances blood circulation. Practitioner feels extremely relaxed.

Pranayama practice, if done with common sense can yield great benefits. Regular and steady practice will eliminate disease, and bring luster to the body. It is the perfect vehicle for those on a spiritual journey.
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Transcendental meditation prevents war, terrorism

2010-03-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

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A new research paper has pointed how militaries worldwide could use the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programme, founded by Indian spiritual guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, as a non-religious and scientifically verified way to prevent war and terrorism.

When used in a military context, these meditation practices are known as Invincible Defense Technology (IDT).

The research paper describes the concept of a “Prevention Wing of the Military,” a group of military personnel that practices the advanced TM-Sidhi programme twice daily as a group.

A group that reaches a critical threshold in size has been scientifically shown to reduce collective societal stress.

The paper hypothesizes that war, terrorism, and crime are caused by collective societal stress.

The absence of collective stress translates into the absence of tension between countries, between religious groups, or even within individual terrorists.

The paper proposes that, by applying this non-lethal and non-destructive technology, any military can reduce societal stress and prevent enemies from arising.

If IDT prevents the emergence of enemies, the military has no one to fight, so the nation becomes invincible.

Over 50 scientific studies have found that when 1percent of a given population practices Transcendental Meditation, or when sufficiently large groups practice the TM-Sidhi programme together twice daily, measurable positive changes take place throughout society as a whole.

The studies show decreased violence, crime, car accidents, and suicides, and improved quality of life in society.

The paper reviews IDT research, such as a study published in the Yale University-edited Journal of Conflict Resolution showing that an intervention by a civilian group in Israel resulted in a 76 per cent reduction in war deaths in neighbouring Lebanon.

Seven subsequent, consecutive experiments over a two-year period during the peak of the Lebanon war found that war-related fatalities decreased by 71 per cent, war-related injuries fell by 68 per cent, the level of conflict dropped by 48 per cent, and cooperation among antagonists increased by 66 per cent.

A follow-up study published in the Journal of Social Behavior and Personality found that the likelihood that these combined results were due to chance is less than one in a quintillion.

A global-scale study published in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation documented a 72 per cent drop in international terrorism when IDT groups were large enough to affect the global population.

According to David R. Leffler, the research paper's author, “This new approach, derived from the ancient Vedic tradition of India, is supported by over 50 scientific studies. IDT can create victory before war, and can assist in peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding.”

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Why be Spiritual?

2010-03-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

Before we delve into why one should be spiritual, we should understand what is meant by being spiritual.

Spirituality means different things to different people. For someone it means becoming more religious (religion implying worship of "God" and the teachings of their accepted faith).

It is to be understood that performing ceremonies and customs is the ritualistic aspect of the religion and not the spiritualistic part.

In its simplest form, spirituality means to go within. Even the act of worshipping or connecting with God is actually a form of going within - connecting with one's own interpretation of God and faith.

What is this going within?

Going within is basically establishing a sort of connection with something within on a sustained basis - Something that provides us with an unending source of energy, irrespective of happenings in the outside world.

So why be spiritual?

Spirituality offers us a way to avoid accumulating stress or emotion.

Being spiritual implies a total non-dependence on any external object or situation. This non-dependency on anything external prevents any energy dissipation.

Once we start being spiritual, we begin to realize the meaningless-ness of several things or issues that we usually give undue importance to. We start seeing the impermanence behind several material pursuits and outcomes, in such a way, that we begin enjoying the process without building upon ourselves the baggage of emotion.

The impermanence of and meaningless-ness behind material pursuits becomes a growing realization which, in turn, conserves our finer energies that we otherwise dissipate all the time. The quality of our wants and desires improve from the grosser to the finer level and this sets up a virtuous cycle with every passing day, the culmination of which is an ocean of supreme bliss, peace and unwavering stability.

Spirituality offers us a realization that this world and everything is in constant change. Change itself is inevitable. Yet, spirituality provides the invisible anchor to help us find our bearings at all times.

This, itself, is a sufficient reason to find merit in the spiritual path.

Can yoga slow down aging?

2010-03-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

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By Elise Cantrell • March 10, 2010

Many people think yoga is only for the young and flexible. Actually, people of all ages and fitness levels can benefit from yoga practice, and it's never too late to start.

Yoga keeps the body and mind young in a number of ways. First, it has been shown to keep the joints and spine lubricated and flexible, preventing and easing arthritis.
It also lengthens muscles, developing flexibility, which is the key to mobility. It is said that if you practice yoga, you will still be able to bend over and tie your shoes when you're 80.

Balance is another benefit of yoga practice. Older people tend to fall more easily as the natural sense of balance decreases. Yoga challenges that and redevelops a sense of balance.

Yoga also strengthens the muscles and bones by supporting your own weight in different positions and postures relative to gravity. Weight-bearing activities are proven to prevent osteoporosis.

Weight loss is another benefit of yoga. It is reported that people who practice yoga weigh an average of 15 pounds less than those who don't. By weighing less, your body feels, looks and acts younger.

Yoga also keeps the mind young. It has long been known to reduce the effects of stress and tension. This counteracts the stress hormones that are known to cause high blood pressure, heart disease and have been linked to Alzheimer's.
Learning new things is said to keep the brain youthful. There are approximately 2600 yoga poses to learn, perfect and keep the mind active.

A great example of yoga's anti-aging effects is that of my father, who took up yoga at my urging in his early 60s. One day, he was out in his driveway talking to a neighbor when he tripped over a brick. Instead of falling flat on his face, he instantly caught himself with his hands, hovering inches above the cement in "crocodile" pose.

His neighbor was astonished, and my dad stood without a bump or bruise or a broken hip.

If you are looking for the "fountain of youth," yoga comes pretty close.
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Can Meditation Reverse Memory Loss?

2010-03-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

Study Shows Improvement on Memory Tests After Practicing Meditation for 8 Weeks
By Kathleen Doheny

Mar 3, 2010 -- Meditation can increase blood flow in the brain and improve memory, according to researchers who tested a specific kind of meditation and found the improvement after just eight weeks.

The 15 participants, ages 52 to 77, all had memory problems at the start, says Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD, one of the researchers and the medical director of the Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation in Tucson, Ariz.

For eight weeks, the participants engaged in a meditation at home known as Kirtan Kriya, which originated from the Kundalini yoga tradition.

"It only takes 12 minutes [a day,] it's easy to learn, it doesn't cost anything, and it has no side effects," says Khalsa. The technique, he says, "reverses memory loss in people with memory problems."

The study findings are published online in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

The researchers first gave all 15 participants cognitive tests and took brain images to measure blood flow.

The participants learned the Kirtan Kriya technique. It involves the repetition of four sounds -- SA, TA, NA, MA. While saying the sounds, the person meditating also touches their thumb to their index finger, and middle, fourth, and fifth fingers. They perform it out loud for two minutes, in a whisper for two minutes, in silence for four minutes, a whisper for two more minutes, and out loud for two minutes.

The participants were asked to do the meditation each day for eight weeks and were sent home with a meditation CD.

A comparison group of five people with memory loss got the same imaging tests and were asked to listen to two Mozart violin concertos each day for eight weeks for the same 12 minutes a day.

Improvements in Memory

Participants were asked to keep daily logs and came back after eight weeks for repeat testing and scans.

At the study start, of the 15 in the meditation group, seven had mild age-associated memory impairment, five had mild cognitive impairment, a worse problem, and three had moderate impairment of memory with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. One who had Alzheimer's was not included in the final analysis because of inability to do the meditation at the follow-up.

Of the five in the music group, two had mild cognitive impairment and three had age-associated memory impairment.

Among the findings:

Cerebral blood flow was increased in the meditating group in the frontal lobe and parietal lobes, both areas involved in retrieving memories.
Cerebral blood flow increases occurred in different areas of the brain in the music group, but not significantly.
The meditation group improved performance on a test that measures cognition by asking people to name as many animals as they can in one minute.
The meditation group also improved on three other tests that gauge general memory, attention, and cognition.
The music group didn't have significant improvement in cognition.

Based on the results, Khalsa hopes the practice may help keep some people's mild memory problems from progressing to more severe problems, but acknowledges that once memory becomes too impaired, meditation may not be possible for the person to do.

Why does it seem to help? ''I use the analogy of going to the gym and lifting weights for eight weeks," Khalsa says. "You're definitely stronger. I think we see this in the brain. It's like training the brain. You are somehow improving the chemical milieu of the brain. Blood flow improves the anatomy of the brain and it functions better," he says.

A Memory Expert's View

A memory expert, Gary W. Small, MD, director of the Memory & Aging Research Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, had some caveats about the study.

''It's a small study," he says. And it needs replication, as do all medical studies.

Even so, Small says, the results are plausible. "Meditation might help them focus more," he says of those with memory problems. ''And a big reason people don't remember things is that they are not paying attention."

Relaxation may play a role, too, he says, as some studies show stress can lead to brain atrophy, he says.

The speed of the effect of the meditation is not surprising to Small. In researching his last book, iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind, which examines the effect of technology on the brain, Small found that exposing older people to technology by having them search the Internet an hour a day changed their brain activity in one week. He found an increase in frontal lobe activity, in areas that control short-term memory and decision making.

Baba Ramdev's Yoga and Pranayama Movement

2010-03-01T16:39:00.000-08:00

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When most people think of yoga, they think of people contorting their bodies in various poses. There is, however, another aspect of yoga that is generally ignored in the US, pranayama.

"Pranayama" is made of two words: Prana is a life force, the inner energy of a person, of which the breath is the external manifestation, and Yama means to control, to discipline. Being able to control o ... Read Full Story ne's breath is the key to good health and mental clarity. Sri Swami Sivananda, a turn of the century Indian guru, said of pranayama: "The Prana may be defined as the finest vital force in everything which becomes visible on the physical plane as motion and action and on the mental plane as thought. The word Pranayama, therefore, means the restraint of vital energies. It is the control of vital energy which tingles through the nerves of persons. It moves his muscles and causes him to sense the external world and think his internal thought."

For centuries, the focus of most yoga traditions had been on teaching asanas, or yoga postures. Pranayama was considered too advanced a technique to teach to the general public. This changed when Baba Ramdev Ji popularized a method of teaching pranayama that was both simple and effective. Since then millions have been able to experience the difference that pranayama makes in their lives. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of Art of Living, the world's largest volunteer-based NGO, has said: "Yoga can cure even fatal diseases and Swami Ramdev has definitely proved it time and again. Swami Ramdev has spread yoga to such an extent that sooner or later, one has to embrace it."

"Pranayam is a life force," says Shila Sanghani at the beginning of her yoga and pranayama classes at the Essence of Life in Shorewood. "Without prana one cannot survive, and being able to control one's breath is the key to good health."

In 1995, Swami Baba Ramdev founded the Divya Yog Mandir Trust, Haridwar to spread yoga and pranayama practices worldwide. As part of this mission, Patanjali Yogpeeth is holding its first Chicago Yoga and Pranayama Training Workshop. The workshop will cover yoga philosophy and anatomy, naturopathy, ayurveda, balanced living, asanas, with a focus on pranayama. It will be conducted by Mr. Shekhar Agrawal and Dr. Dilip Sarkar.

Mr. Shekhar Agrawal has been teaching Yoga and Pranayama for over a decade. He is the Trustee and President for Patanjali Yogpeeth USA. Dr. Dilip Sarkar was a Vascular Surgeon for 25 years, Chairman and Chief of Staff at Portsmouth General Hospital, when he suffered a heart attack and underwent by-pass surgery. This led to his study of Ayurvedic medicine and Yoga Therapy, and he is currently the Executive Director of the School of Integrative Medicine, Taksha University, in Virginia.

The Chicago Yoga & Pranayama Training Workshop will begin on Friday evening, March 26th, and last until Sunday evening, March 28th, at the Bharat Sevashram Sangha temple in Aurora, a southwest suburb of Chicago.
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Injury Free Yoga Leads to Stress Release

2010-02-23T15:15:00.000-08:00

Monday, 22 February 2010
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With over 16 million Americans spreading out their yoga mats, yoga injuries are on the rise. Yoga has recently gotten a misleadingly glamorous reputation. It's borrowed some of Hollywood's luster without losing its mystical allure.

While some yoga students contort their bodies into aching, injured human pretzels-because they assume advanced, unnatural poses are the most beneficial on ... Read Full Story es; others won't try yoga because they feel it's only for the super flexible. Most of us will benefit from some kind of yoga practice-but it's important to be cautious. By knowing how to avoid injury, yoga practicipants can lose weight, release stress, and increase flexibility.

Many yoga-related injuries can be prevented by keeping both mind and body flexible. By letting go of a competitive spirit--that unstoppable drive to do more, go faster, and stretch farther is invaluable, except during yoga class. Suzanne Andrews, licensed occupational therapy practitioner and certified yoga instructor who uses therapeutic yoga in her practice states, " It might seem like more is better, but overstretching and over straining your ligaments will actually slow you down. Ligaments are what help keep your joints in place, and overstretching them causes injuires. Muscles have to be both flexible and strong to properly support major joints like the knees. To practice yoga safely, one should keep their body in top shape by balancing gentle yoga stretches with strength-building exercise."

Yoga also involves the bearing of extra weight upon joints. It's easy to put too much pressure your wrists, ankles, hips, or shoulders. But there is no added benefit to straining any of these joints. If one experiences any pain, numbness, or a sensation of pins and needles, it is advisable to stop and seek the help of a licensed medical professional.

Yoga practice should not strain one's hips, lower back, or neck. When yoga is taught by a degreed therapy health practitioner, yoga students have the advantage of a instructor who understands how the human body works, both anatomically and physiologically. Since not everyone begins with strong core muscles, even basic poses can cause some students to have hip pain. One must be especially careful not to overextend their spinal muscles. Quick movements or strenuous practice can nudge one's vertebrae painfully out of alignment.

When it comes to safe yoga, muscles and bones don't get all the attention. Yoga exercise also affects circulation. Be very watchful with inverted poses- in which the head is below the heart such as a headstand. Head stands also cause unnecessary strain on your cervical (neck) spine. Blood pressure rises when one take this unnatural position. And advanced, inverted poses have been linked to a rare but serious kind of stroke.

In 2001, actress Sharon Stone put a memorable face on the condition, called "arterial inversion." Physicians reported that the strain and abrupt head movements of strenuous yoga practice were to blame.

The great news is, almost anyone can benefit from practicing a gentler kind of yoga. Yoga is perfect for seniors, out of shape, or those overweight and when practiced correctly helps people lose weight by instilling mindful good habits that offer an alternative to stress eating. Yoga breathing itself has many benefits including decreased appetitie, increased energy, lowering heart disease and stress levels which increases cortisol: a carbohydrate craving hormone.

Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia demonstrated how just one session of yoga can lower blood levels of the stress hormone - cortisol. "Participants cortisol level were measured before and after they practiced yoga, then again before and after they sat quietly while reading. After the Yoga sessions, cortisol levels dropped. There was no drop after the resting sessions. Consequently, Andrews further researched and found there is a direct correlation between weight gain and stress. 9 out of 10 of her patients stated they over eat as a direct response to stress. Yet many could not practice yoga because many of the DVD's are too advanced. Andrews incorporated gentle beginner's yoga into her patients treatment plan and kept meticulous records for 4 years. Her patients ability to overcome stress increased by 80%, their oxygen saturation increased to normal levels. Her study reported unexpected findings: her patients with insomnia were sleeping better and her overweight patients were losing weight, including herself - she lost 60 pounds by practicing gentle yoga. From her findings she produced, Beginners Dynamic Yoga For Stress Release and Weight Loss available at: http://www.healthwiseexercise.com/shop/cart.php?target=p ...

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Source: http://www.prlog.org

Yoga put me back in touch with someone important - myself

2010-02-20T12:06:00.000-08:00

By DANIELA VELÁZQUEZ | TBO.com
Published: February 20, 2010
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Before I found yoga, I'd pop four or five ibuprofen just to get through a 3-mile run.

I'd come home with an angry, swollen knee, and an angry brain. Why were my body and I in such disagreement?

It was the summer of 2006, about a year after I had ACL reconstruction surgery and a meniscus repair on my left knee. I thought it was always going to hurt. I had invested time and energy into physical therapy, and instead of a lousy T-shirt, all I had to show for it was a big scar and little peace of mind.

Frustrated, I decided to see what the yoga studio near my place in Tallahassee was all about.

"You're right where you need to be," teacher Suzanne Harrell told our beginners' class.

Huh?

Instead of telling us to be fitter, faster, thinner, better - like every other gym or magazine - she simply said, "Practice, and all is coming."

It was a revolutionary thought. Forget the negative cycle of beating myself up for not doing something as well as I thought I should and then ending up on the couch with a pint of Häagen-Dazs in one hand and a bag of chips in the other. It was a revolution like the Beatles sang about: "You better free your mind instead."

At the time, I was working 60 hours a week as a reporter on the law enforcement beat in Tallahassee. You know what saved me? Yoga.

I later found out the knee pain that kept me from running was a result of a big chunk of cartilage that needed to come out. You know what helped me bounce back fast? Yoga.

And when I moved to Tampa and filled my life with extra-curricular activities - kickball, flag football, martial arts, ultimate Frisbee, bar hopping - I realized there was one I truly enjoyed. Yoga.

I realized I should focus on the quality of my life and not the quantity of my activities. I needed to simplify my world.

How was I going to do that? Yoga.

Yoga makes me more aware of how my body feels - and how I feel. Some days my brain and body battle it out, with one dominating and then erupting into some kind of fit - like a tweaked muscle or burst of anger.

Enlightenment is about finding what makes that light shine from inside you, whether it's running along a trail or dancing the night away. It's about finding what makes your body and your brain happy.

Now my revolution has turned into an evolution - from yoga student to yoga teacher. I started a 200-hour yoga teacher training program this month.

No, I can't do splits or wrap my leg behind my head or do a handstand, but in the end that's not what it's about.

In a world of shows such as "The Biggest Loser," where changing your life calls for the help of super-powered trainers and a national audience, we tend to forget that real change starts one step at a time. Or, for me, one deep-breathed yoga pose at a time.
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Daniela Velzquez is a breaking news producer at TBO.com. Her yoga column will run every other Saturday in 4you. She can be reached at dvelazquez@tbo.com or on her blog, thedailyepiphany.com.

Yoga Exercise For a Healthy of Living

2010-02-16T09:23:00.000-08:00

PR Log (Press Release) – Feb 16, 2010

Yoga is an ancient Indian practice designed to promote relaxation, health and flexibility. By using a series of poses and breathing techniques, yoga also works on the practitioner’s balance, strength and overall health. It has been shown to reduce blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels, diminish back pain and improve cardiovascular health.

Depending on the type of yoga you do, yoga can be an aerobic, anaerobic or stretching exercise or all three. Essentially, yoga tones and stretches all your joints and muscles. Not only does this unique form of exercise deliver physical benefits, it also reduces stress while promoting relaxation. When it comes to aging well, yoga is one of the best activities you can do.

Yoga is one of the most famous and globally widespread of India’s traditions. It has existed as a system of exercise, breathing, and meditation for over 5,000 years.

The word “Yoga” means “to join or yoke together” – bringing the body and mind together into a harmonious experience. The exercises are designed to apply gentle pressure to the glandular system thereby toning the glands and improving total health. The breathing techniques are based on the principle that the “breath” is the source of life in the body. Meditation calms the mind and body and prepares one to handle stress.

Yoga has increased in popularity in recent years, with an estimated 6 million Americans currently engaging in regular yoga workouts. Part of yoga’s popularity is simply that it provides so many health benefits. Yoga assists a person in becoming more aware of their body: their posture, their alignment and the way they move. Yoga helps people become more relaxed and centered, less prone to stress, more energetic, happier, healthier, and more peaceful.

Most yoga classes consist of performing the asanas (yoga poses) either individually or linked in flows (known as vinyasana). At the end of each yoga class there is a short period of meditation or relaxation in shavasana (the corpse pose) where participants lie on their back in a rest and meditation.

There are several forms of yoga. Generally different forms of yoga produce different benefits. For example, Iyengar yoga is for correct bodily alignment, and often utilizes props (including blocks, straps, or cushions).

Bikram yoga is also known as hot yoga, as it’s performed in a heated room. It generally consists of a set of 26 poses done in a particular order. These are both forms of Hatha yoga and are commonly practiced in the US, as they focus on the use of strengthening and breathing exercises.

What can yoga do for you? Firstly, it is extremely beneficial in the promotion of excellent flexibility, and is also excellent for circulation and development of muscle strength. However, yoga’s benefits extend beyond the physical, by promoting relaxation and calm. One of the basic tenets of yoga is that it helps to balance all areas of a person’s life by improving physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

Partner yoga offers couples a chance to strengthen and deepen bonds

2010-02-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

By Sam McDonald

Yoga can act as a powerful magnet for couples yearning to reconnect physically or emotionally.

Partner or couples yoga classes in particular can potentially enhance and deepen relationships.

If all that sounds like mumbo jumbo, go talk to Bonny Griffin.

The Norfolk yoga teacher enjoys practicing the ancient art with her husband, Dink. She's eager to persuade you that partner yoga is good for both body and soul.

For Griffin, it's one of the ties that binds.

"It's been wonderful," she said. "It's brought us closer together as a couple. It's a really cool way for us to communicate without having to talk."

Yoga, in the general sense, is a discipline that emphasizes physical alignment, movement, breath and flexibility as a path toward self-knowledge and inner peace.

In partner yoga, participants pursue those same goals by working as a team. Exercises are not sexual or erotic in nature, so partners need not be couples. But pairs who are can benefit from deepened awareness.

"It's just a great way to communicate," Griffin said, who with her husband will teach a couples class today in Virginia Beach. "You learn to trust each other on a different level."

Partner yoga postures involve literally leaning on each other, developing balance, finding ways to offer physical support. While that can lead to mutual insights, it can also be great fun, local teachers said.

"My husband and I try to keep our relationship vibrant through playfulness," Griffin said. "For some of us, it's tough to know how to get started with that. Having someone guide you helps."

Yoga classes are plentiful across Hampton Roads, but partner or couples classes have been offered only sporadically. Often, they crop up around Valentine's Day, when lovers are looking for a special experience.

Janet Abel, who teaches yoga at the Newport News shipyard as well as the Charles Taylor Arts Center in Hampton, said she led a couples class after it was requested by a student. "One of the husbands requested it as a way to get closer to his wife," Abel said. "It's a bonding experience."

In partner yoga, participants try to synchronize their breathing and work together to achieve a posture.

"Like in life, you have to make adjustments," Abel said. "You have to be aware of what the other person needs."

Gabrielle Gerard-Jenks, a yoga teacher in Portsmouth, also said she has taught partner classes in the past and would jump at the chance to teach them more often. "It's a really wonderful way to utilize yoga," she said. "It expands it into the realm of being relational. You are using someone else's body to deepen the impact of a pose … You're also learning how to be careful, sensitive and how to honor someone else, how to take care so you don't hurt them. You're learning how to listen."

Gerard-Jenks considers partner classes a treat.

"Oh yeah, I like to teach it. I also like to do it," she said. "It's fun — a whole other way of moving through space."

Those who regularly practice partner yoga eventually can try dramatic poses such as The Falcon in which one partner, outstretched in a position like a swan dive, balances in the air on the feet of the other.

Some postures are much more simple. In one, a couple sits back to back, cross-legged on the floor.

Tara Lynda Guber, a national expert on partner yoga, has spent years spreading the gospel about its power and benefits. The practice has the potential to strengthen all kinds of relationships, said Guber, author of "Contact: The Yoga of Relationship." She's preparing a new edition of the book as well as a follow-up teaching guide for partner yoga.

"On the yoga room floor, I've seen people transformed," said Guber, a Brooklyn native now living in Los Angeles. "The joy and the fun and the laughter is more important than anything else."

Pulling off an acrobatic pose such as The Falcon can be exhilarating, teachers say. Just as important, though, is the trust that can develop between partners.

"The foundation of any relationship is trust," Guber said. "The gift that we get from trusting is that we begin to feel safe. If we don't trust, the foundation is built on shaky ground."

Other postures encourage calm and clear insights into one's self and one's partner, she said. "Yoga breaks down the shields and creates more intimacy … It's such a fun way to break through barriers and see the other person without having to do anything that brings what we know as fear."

Sex, by the way, is not the intimacy she's describing.

"Intimacy is sometimes a limited expression," she said. "It can come from a great laugh or sharing a great experience. Once you open up the energy of your own body and have someone else doing it with you, you're opening a new world."

Guber said that Valentine's Day is a big sales day for her book. But the point of "Contact: The Yoga of Relationship" isn't to spark romance. She's pushing for something more durable.

"It's great to be in love," she said. "But how do you make the love last? Valentine's Day might be one day out of the year, but wouldn't it be great if we had an open heart 365 days?"
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Copyright © 2010, Newport News, Va., Daily Press

A theatre which gives joy of yoga

2010-02-08T08:33:00.000-08:00

CHENNAI, February 7, 2010

Yogacharini Maitreyi with the children of Ayodhi Kuppam at the workshop on "Joy of Yoga" held in Chennai on Sunday. Photo: S.S. Kumar

Settling comfortably into a lotus posture, with eyes closed, Lavanya took deep breaths as her friends sitting cross-legged alongside religiously followed suit. The five-year-old then swivelled her neck, hands and body, as the colourfully clad instructor on stage taught the exercises.

‘Joy of Yoga,’ a street theatre and yoga workshop organised by Arkaya Yoga Centre on Sunday, defied all rules of a workshop. Through ‘Burra Katha,’ a street theatre form from Andhra Pradesh, the messages on yoga and self-discipline were conveyed to the audience in a refreshingly informal manner.

It was an evening for children all through. Some waved hands, a few giggled and the rest were busy befriending each other. But at the end of the workshop, they did not miss the message on what it takes to lead a healthy life.

The event, inaugurated by The Hindu Director Nalini Krishnan, got off to a start with a music performance by the children from Ayodhikuppam. The songs, interspersed with messages on cleanliness and environment protection, were composed by a group of volunteers of the centre.

The performers of ‘Burra Katha,’ with their impromptu remarks, evoked ripples of giggles from the kids. Peppered with magic tricks and a few jigs, the performance featured messages on a balanced diet, the importance of yoga and taught the audience ways to vent out stress through simple breathing techniques.

In her inaugural speech, Dr.Krishnan said people should recognise small moments of happiness. The key to lead a stress-free life lies not in external things, but finding inner happiness. “One feels so happy when involved in community work. Making even a small change in others’ lives can do wonders to our inner health,” she said.

Maitreyi, Director of the centre, said the workshop sought to spread the message on right ways of living. “The yogic system has laid out some workable ways to be stress-free. Qualities such as lateral thinking and good memory could be built up within us if we consciously inculcate certain habits. You become what you think,” she said.

For details on the centre, write to: arkayoga@gmail.com.

Can't sleep? Try yoga

2010-02-01T09:05:00.000-08:00

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Gentle poses performed in bed in your PJs may quiet your hyperactive, insomniac brain and free you from another night of tossing and turning – without resorting to pills.

Dakshana Bascaramurty
Globe and Mail Update
Published on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010 7:43PM EST

The irony wasn’t lost on Graydon Moffat: She was making her living helping others relax, but she was a stress case herself, unable to enjoy a good night’s sleep.

Ms. Moffat, a Toronto yoga instructor, was roused from her slumber almost every day between 2:30 and 4 a.m. She eventually threw a washcloth over her alarm clock – the bright green digits were a painful reminder of how little sleep she was getting.

“Sometimes I would be so desperate that I would go get something to drink – like alcohol,” she recalls. “I would try things like banana and warm milk. ... If I would get really desperate I would take a sleeping pill.”

It was years before she realized a remedy was staring her in the face.

Yoga.

In bed.

Insomniacs are passing over the Ambien and sheep-counting for an Eastern-inspired approach to getting some shut-eye, and there’s a growing body of research backing up this form of treatment.

“People spend a lot of time getting dysfunctional thoughts like, ‘Oh my God, I’m not going to sleep tonight,’ and that triggers a stress response,” explains Sat Bir Khalsa, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston who has studied yoga as a treatment for insomnia since 2001.

Research suggests insomniacs have higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their bodies, and a more active sympathetic drive (which arouses the body and sends blood flowing to the muscles). Regularly practising yoga can reduce that level of stress, he says.

“[Yoga] develops the ability to regulate attention. ... Your stress system isn’t being triggered as much. With time and practice, the stress system begins to quiet down,” Dr. Khalsa says.

Hyperactive brain activity had kept Ms. Moffat, a single mother with a 10-year-old son, from staying asleep. She says it began after her son was born.

“You wake up in the middle of the night for your kids who need a bottle or a change, and your nervous system is so distressed. You’re so tired you can’t sleep,” she says.

Now, instead of pulling out her yoga mat in the middle of the night and slipping into some spandex, Ms. Moffat has found ways to do yoga in her pyjamas with the soft cushion of her mattress underneath her.

A favourite pose is lying back on her bed with legs upright against the wall. She also curls forward to do the child’s pose and sits upright for the pigeon pose, with an eye pillow putting pressure on her optic nerve.

“It’s not a magic button,” she says, though she finds that a few minutes will often send her back into slumber. “But I know that I’m not just lying down there and tossing and turning – I’m restoring my body.”

Most associate yoga with dynamic, invigorating poses that “wake up” the body. But you can swap your sun salutation for a more relaxing moon salutation at the end of the day to get a restful night of sleep, says Dee Dussault, a yoga instructor who teaches the Slo-Yo class at Toronto’s Follow Your Bliss studio.

“It’s like foreplay before bed to set the mood before sleep,” she says.

The last part of her class focuses on yoga nidra, a type of practice that puts more emphasis on breathing and relaxation than on body-stimulating poses.

Ms. Dussault goes through a “full scan of the body” in that 20-minute portion of the class, and there’s often an audio cue when it’s working. “Usually by the time we get through the whole body ... I can hear people snoring as we do it.”

Dr. Khalsa isn’t surprised by these results. He’s focused his research on yoga nidra, which he sees as a much healthier, lasting treatment for sleeping disorders than medication.

“My major complaint with sleeping pills is that it doesn’t address the problem,” he says. “It’s just a hammer to knock your brain out.”

In one of his studies, published in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 20 participants suffering from chronic insomnia recorded their sleeping and waking habits in a diary for two weeks. Then, for eight weeks, they practised about 45 minutes of yoga before bed and continued recording these habits. Their total sleep time improved by about 12 per cent, and the time it took them to fall asleep dropped by about 30 per cent.

In 2006, the U.S. Department of Defense researched the iRest program (based on yoga nidra) as a treatment for soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder – a major symptom of which is insomnia. The success of the program led to its adoption at Veterans Affairs facilities across the country.

Veronique Michel, a 48-year-old Montreal resident who works in insurance, says yoga nidra has greatly improved her sleep patterns.

During the busy times of the year, her job would follow her home at night and on weekends – and then straight to bed.

“I would experience some kind of insomnia for weeks because I worry and then I’m unable to get back to sleep,” she says.

She started taking weekly yoga nidra classes after work. Lying on her back with legs and arms outstretched, palms facing upward, she would slowly relax each part of her body. The effects lasted long after she left the class, she says.

In the last quarter of the 2009 – usually the most stressful of the year for her – she noticed she wasn’t waking up as often in the middle of the night. She credits yoga for this.

“You’re relaxing your entire body, but you’re also breathing. ... You just co-ordinate all of that and your thoughts towards sleeping and relaxing and putting the day behind you.”
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Want to ward off cold and flu this season? Try yoga

2010-01-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

January 26, 2010

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For many, the cold months of winter mean it's time to stock up on tissues and cold medicine. While it may not be possible to avoid illness entirely, there are some ways yoga practice might be helpful.

Yoga postures are designed for more than building strength and flexibility. Classes are systematically designed to bring all of the body's systems to healthy, working order. This includes the body's natural defense, the immune system. A strong immune system not only leads to infrequent occurrences of illness but also can lessen the severity of colds and flu.

The strength of a person's immune system plays an important part in the prevention of colds and flu as its primary function is to protect the body from bacteria, viruses, fungi and other harmful organisms.

As with any type of physical activity, regular yoga practice will give the immune system a boost by providing a constant supply of oxygen and nutrients necessary for immune system organs and cells to function.

Also, yoga is beneficial for stress reduction. Stress hormones cause the thymus gland to shrink in size and therefore function poorly as a contributor in the development of immune cells. Yoga helps by lowering stress hormones that compromise the immune system.

In addition, yoga improves circulation, conditions the lungs and respiratory system, massages internal organs, stimulates the lymphatic system, improves the flow of the sinuses and brings fresh, oxygenated blood to various organs, ensuring optimal function.

How yoga postures help

Back bends:

Upper back bends are helpful in opening the chest and lungs and stimulating the thymus gland, which is in the center of the chest.

Inversions:

Postures such as headstand, shoulder stand or even those as simple as lying on the floor with your legs up a wall, help improve circulation and in turn allow immune cells to reach the entire body. Shifting blood and oxygen this way also stimulates the head and respiratory area and can help clear the sinuses.

Twists and hip openers:

These postures activate the kidneys, liver and spleen (organs of the immune system) and lymph nodes in groin and armpits.

Yoga practice can be quite effective as a preventive measure during cold and flu season. In addition, yoga postures can provide relief from symptoms of these illnesses. However, it should be noted that the immune system requires extra energy to ward off infections, and exercise and stress take valuable energy away from the immune system.

Practice with care when your body is not functioning at 100 percent. Avoid rigorous exercise and make extra efforts to reduce stress. If you do want to practice yoga postures during the early stages of cold or flu, a gentler or restorative practice is most appropriate.

This is the opinion of Lindsay Fields, who teaches yoga at Anytime Fitness and at South Asheville Yoga. Contact her at www.lindsayfields.com.

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Yoga You Can Do at Your Desk

2010-01-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK, Jan. 21, 2010
Celebrity Yoga Instructor Kristin McGee Shows How to Do Five Simple Stress-Relieving Poses in Your Office Chair

(CBS) Working at a desk all day can leave you achy and stressed, but yoga can help you deal with that -- and for some yoga exercises you don't even have to get out of your chair.

Celebrity yoga and pilates instructor Kristin McGee, Fila's yoga ambassador, shared some simple moves you can practice at your desk.

Eagle Arms (And legs)
When we sit at our desk all day long we hold tension in our shoulders. Sit erect and place your arms in front of you at a 90 degree angle. Cross your arms so that the right arm is above the left. Interlock your arms and press your palms together with the tips of your fingers pointed upwards. If you can't press your palms you can always just press the back of your hands together. Feel yourself contracting. Take three to five breaths if you can. Feel yourself contracting. This pose strengthens triceps, shoulders, and back muscles. It's a good preventative measure against carpal tunnel syndrome. For your legs, simply cross your legs and interlock them with one foot behind the other.

Lotus Preparation
Lotus is the traditional seat for mediation. You can just sit comfortably in your desk chair, with your neck and spine straight and erect, to begin to calm your brain. Place your hands palms up, with the thumbs and first fingers touching. If practical in the office setting, practice crossing your legs to build up the Lotus position. This will help free your spine from the stress of sitting at your desk all day. Traditional Sanskrit texts say that "Padmasana." Or Lotus destroys all disease. Note: Lotus is a two-sided pose, so be sure to practice both leg crosses.

Mountain Pose
Sit erect, clasp your hands, and extend your arms forward. Turn the palms away from you and raise your arms until the palms face the ceiling. Stretch and feel yourself growing taller as you reduce the stress in your head, neck and shoulders. This posture lengthens your sides. If you want, add to this posture by bending your arms to each side.

Twist
Place your palms on the arm of your chair and turn your chest and abdomen to the right, moving your left shoulder forward and your right shoulder back. Expand your chest fully and feel yourself detoxifying. Twists are great for the spine, your abdominals, and the obliques. Repeat on the other side.

There's a wrong way to do the twist, if you let your knees follow. You need to keep your knees straight. The goal is to try to keep the seat stable and to twist the spine and waist only. Your knees should face forward and your feet should be nice and grounded. Don't overuse your arms, keep it relaxed. The goal is to be very relaxed in the shoulder. Twists are great for the love handle area. They're known as detoxifiers -- you're detoxing stress, the internal organs, it's basically a massage for abdominal organs, like you're wringing out the stress. I think this is one of the most beneficial moves.

Lunge
Put your hands on your chair, take your left foot back, and sink into a low lunge. This is a great stretch for the hamstrings and it also strengthens the glutes and the psoas muscle group. Repeat on the other side.

Thread the Needle
Sit in your chair and cross your right leg over your left knee. Flex both feet and lift them off the floor. "Thread the needle" by clasping your hands around your left leg, just under your knee. This posture stretches hip rotators, outer thighs, and relieves tension in the lower back. Be sure to reverse sides.

This is a great one for the hips and outer buttocks, McGee said. When we sit at our desk all day long we get really tense in there. This can effect pain in your lower back.

Here's an easier option if that pose is too difficult: Instead of threading the needle and lifting the bottom foot off the floor. Keep the bottom foot on the floor and lean forward you can even put your hands on the desk in front of you. When you lean forward you get the stretch in your outer hip.

Scale Pose
Place your palms on the arms of your chair and cross your legs at your ankles. Exhale, contract your abdominal muscles, and lift your buttocks and legs away from the floor. Hold yourself suspended for five to eight full breaths. Lower yourself, change the cross of your legs, and repeat the motion. If you can't lift yourself, change the cross of your legs, and repeat the motion. It you can't lift yourself, start with your buttocks and add the feet as you build strength. This posture strengthens your arms and lower abs.

It's a great way to get in touch with your lower abs. It's also a nice way to relieve tension because you have to concentrate.

Restorative Poses
Before returning to work, give yourself a few minutes to relax. After all, in yoga, for every action, there is a reaction. This relaxing pose is so simple, but is very effective in reducing stress in your facial muscles and helping to prevent fatigue. Simply cross your arms and place them on the surface in front of you. Then rest your head on your crossed arms.

So now that you're finished with your mid day yoga session, now you are more than ready to go ahead and tackle the rest of your work day with ease -- conference calls and all!
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Are Yoga and Reiki compatible?

2010-01-20T08:09:00.000-08:00

Devi Asmarani , Jakarta Wed, 01/20/2010 11:35 AM
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I recently received an email from a reader in Semarang. This reader is a practitioner of Reiki, the healing technique of energy channeling originated in Japan, and says he has had some positive results from the practice.

He expresses his appreciation for my yoga column, but asks me to enlighten him on an issue that had been nagging him for some time. Apparently he finds there are contradictions between Yoga and Reiki. While Reiki is a practice of managing the mind, yoga deals more with the management of the physical body, he writes. He asks me how to synchronize the two so that they complement each other.

I am glad he brought up this issue, because, while I will not use this forum to compare yoga to other spiritual disciplines, I admit that his observation is a common misperception about yoga.

A Japanese word, reiki means “universal life energy”. The spiritual practice of Reiki is a healing technique that aims to channel this energy through a practitioner’s hands and transmit it to the client.

This activates the natural healing process of the body and restores physical and emotional well-being.

Reiki practitioners believe they are mere conduits of reiki energy and that their hands need only rest on or hover above a recipient’s body to get the job done. In fact, they claim Reiki can even be accomplished long distance by a practitioner’s focusing energy and intention on a person.

Life-force energy: Sirsasana or headstand is called the king of asana because of its numerous benefits, including calming the nervous system, nourishing the brain cells, stimulating the heart and circulation and balancing the hormonal and digestive system, not to mention strengthening one’s courage. Courtesy of Nurcahaya Uli

Reiki is taught through courses or a series of workshops, during which the participants go through attunement or unlocking of the person’s reiki energy. According to Reiki’s underlying principles, everyone has the innate ability to channel reiki energy, but that ability is very difficult to access unless it is unlocked by a Reiki teacher.

Yoga, as we have already discussed before is the ancient art and science of balancing the physical and subtle anatomy of the individual. Yoga, which means “yoking” or union in Sanskrit, is an integrated discipline. In its purest form, it is the state of bliss, a merge of heightened awareness, in which the “self” merge with its divine nature. In today’s popular speak, it is the merger of the mind, body and spirit.

Peace of mind: Janu sirsasana or head to knee pose tones the liver, spleen and kidneys and is one of the seated yoga poses that has a calming effect. Courtesy of Nurcahaya Uli

There are many types of yoga, but the most commonly practiced today is Hatha yoga, the attainment of the state of union — or awakening, some would say — through disciplines of kriyas or actions of the body and mind.

On the physical level, so many scientific studies have proved the effects of yoga on human body, from improving the nervous system through strengthening the endocrine glands and internal organs; to alleviating very specific physical or medical conditions such as arthritis, asthma, heart problems and mental problems.

But the yoga that we know now, as practiced and taught in fitness centers or even yoga studios, is often too focused on the physical body, even artificial body. Most people come to yoga either to lose weight, build muscle tones, detoxify their body, improve postures or lessen back or spinal muscles.

Yet many also come to yoga to seek peace of mind, to manage their turbulent mind or boost their low spirit; to practice how to focus or release pent-up emotion; or to learn to submit and accept. Many come to practice yoga intensively after a major loss, whether it is of loved ones, job or statuses.

But even those whose main original aim was more superficial or physical, after regular, intensive and committed practice often grow internally through this contemplative practice. Hatha yoga works from the outside in to bring the physical forces into alignment with the subtle anatomy of our higher divine nature.

The yogis believe the key to life is the prana or life-force energy, and that a committed practice of yoga can improve the presence and distribution of this prana inside our body. Now, does that not sound familiar to the meaning of the Japanese word reiki?

While I will not attempt to compare apples to oranges, there is nothing contradictory about practicing both yoga and Reiki or other healing modalities. In fact they may complement each other.

Many long-time yoga practitioners and teachers supplement their practice with Reiki work. Some swear Reiki training enables them to experience the flow of prana (or reiki or qi in traditional Chinese medical science) in their yoga practice and daily life.

I believe yoga can help a person understand Reiki in a much deeper way, just as Reiki helps a person understand the deeper energies of Yoga.

Both yoga and Reiki bring people to a place of stillness, clarity and greater awareness by uniting body and mind. While Reiki invites life force into the body, yoga creates pathways for life force to flow more freely. Namaste.

yogis: Greater awareness: Yogis believe the key to life is prana or life-force energy, and that a committed practice of yoga can improve the presence and distribution of this prana inside our body. JP/J. Adiguna

Yoga holds out a dose of hope for cancer-afflicted

2010-01-18T10:26:00.000-08:00

Bhargavi Kerur / DNAMonday, January 18, 2010 8:40 IST
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Bangalore: In the absence of effective counselling for those suffering from diseases like cancer, Aids and tuberculosis, researchers have now come out with a proven alternative way to tackle the shock from diagnosis and trauma of toxic treatment.

The researchers, from Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (SVYASA) and Bangalore Institute of Oncology (BIO), tested yoga relaxation techniques on those suffering from breast cancer in second and third stage and found that the exercises were not only successful in fighting the side effects of the ailment, but also helped maintain immunity levels to fight the disease.

“When a person is diagnosed with cancer, he or she goes into a denial mode and seeks diagnosis from other pathologists. Once it is confirmed, the patient slips into depression opening up a host of new problems besides aggravating the disease itself,” said Dr Raghavendra Rao, the main author of the study from BIO.

The researchers studied whether relaxation techniques that calm the mind helped the cancer patients suffering from psychological distress. Eighty-eight women diagnosed with stage II and III breast cancer were recruited over a two-and-a-half year period at two comprehensive cancer care centres in Bangalore and Mysore.
Interventions were conducted over a six-week period when both the groups were receiving radiotherapy. While one group received an integrated yoga programme and the other was provided brief supportive therapy that included counselling in individual sessions.

The yoga intervention in the BIO study consisted of a set of asanas,breathing exercises, pranayama, meditation, and yogic relaxation techniques. The results of the study suggested significant decreases in self-reported anxiety, depression, and perceived stress in the yoga group when compared with counselled group.The change was indicated by decreased secretion of cortisol hormone that causes stress in a human being. Though counselling decreased stress, the yoga techniques had more profound impact.

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Yoga Reduces Cytokine Levels Known to Promote Inflammation, Study Shows

2010-01-15T11:40:00.000-08:00

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ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2010)

Regularly practicing yoga exercises may lower a number of compounds in the blood and reduce the level of inflammation that normally rises because of both normal aging and stress, a new study has shown.

The study, done by Ohio State University researchers and just reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, showed that women who routinely practiced yoga had lower amounts of the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in their blood.

The women also showed smaller increases in IL-6 after stressful experiences than did women who were the same age and weight but who were not yoga practitioners.

IL-6 is an important part of the body's inflammatory response and has been implicated in heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, arthritis and a host of other age-related debilitating diseases. Reducing inflammation may provide substantial short- and long-term health benefits, the researchers suggest.

New research shows that regularly practicing yoga exercises may lower a number of compounds in the blood and reduce the level of inflammation that normally rises because of both normal aging and stress. (Credit: iStockphoto/Lee Pettet)

"In addition to having lower levels of inflammation before they were stressed, we also saw lower inflammatory responses to stress among the expert yoga practitioners in the study," explained Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychiatry and psychology and lead author of the study.

"Hopefully, this means that people can eventually learn to respond less strongly to stressors in their everyday lives by using yoga and other stress-reducing modalities."

For the study, the researchers assembled a group of 50 women, age 41 on average. They were divided into two groups -- "novices," who had either taken yoga classes or who practiced at home with yoga videos for no more than 6 to 12 sessions, and "experts," who had practiced yoga one of two times weekly for at least two years and at least twice weekly for the last year.

Each of the women was asked to attend three sessions in the university's Clinical Research Center at two-week intervals. Each session began with participants filling out questionnaires and completing several psychological tests to gauge mood and anxiety levels.

Each woman also was fitted with a catheter in one arm through which blood samples could be taken several times during the research tasks for later evaluation.

Participants then performed several tasks during each visit designed to increase their stress levels including immersing their foot into extremely cold water for a minute, after which they were asked to solve a series of successively more difficult mathematics problems without paper or pencil.

Following these "stressors," participants would either participate in a yoga session, walk on treadmill set at a slow pace (.5 miles per hour) designed to mirror the metabolic demands of the yoga session or watch neutral, rather boring videos. The treadmill and video tasks were designed as contrast conditions to the yoga session.

Once the blood samples were analyzed after the study, researchers saw that the women labeled as "novices" had levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 that were 41 percent higher than those in the study's "experts."

"In essence, the experts walked into the study with lower levels of inflammation than the novices, and the experts were also better able to limit their stress responses than were the novices," Kiecolt-Glaser explained.

The researchers did not find the differences they had expected between the novices and experts in their physiological responses to the yoga session.

Co-author Lisa Christian, an assistant professor of psychology, psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology, suggested one possible reason:

"The yoga poses we used were chosen from those thought to be restorative or relaxing. We had to limit the movements to those novices could perform as well as experts.

"Part of the problem with sorting out exactly what makes yoga effective in reducing stress is that if you try to break it down into its components, like the movements or the breathing, it's hard to say what particular thing is causing the effect," said Christian, herself a yoga instructor. "That research simply hasn't been done yet."

Ron Glaser, a co-author and a professor of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics, said that the study has some fairly clear implications for health.

"We know that inflammation plays a major role in many diseases. Yoga appears to be a simple and enjoyable way to add an intervention that might reduce risks for developing heart disease, diabetes and other age-related diseases" he said.

"This is an easy thing people can do to help reduce their risks of illness."

Bill Malarkey, an professor of internal medicine and co-author on the study, pointed to the inflexibility that routinely comes with aging.

"Muscles shorten and tighten over time, mainly because of inactivity," he said. "The stretching and exercise that comes with yoga actually increases a person's flexibility and that, in turn, allows relaxation which can lower stress."

Malarkey sees the people's adoption of yoga or other regular exercise as one of the key solutions to our current health care crisis. "People need to be educated about this. They need to be taking responsibility for their health and how they live. Doing yoga and similar activities can make a difference."

As a clinician, he says, "Much of my time is being spent simply trying to get people to slow down."

The researchers' next step is a clinical trial to see if yoga can improve the health and reduce inflammation that has been linked to debilitating fatigue among breast cancer survivors. They're seeking 200 women to volunteer for the study that's funded by the National Cancer Institute.

Researchers Heather Preston, Carrie Houts and Charles Emery were also part of the research team which was supported in part by a grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Original article written by Earle Holland.
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Do yoga to get your focus right

2010-01-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

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Bhargavi Kerur / DNAMonday, January 11, 2010 8:33 IST

Bangalore: Yoga might have its die-hard adherents as a therapy in India. But lack of experimental data to substantiate its healing edge has hindered it from gaining acceptance as an applied science.

However, a series of experiments being conducted at SVYASA University, Bangalore with funding from the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has now come up with incontrovertible proof that yoga indeed enhances the quality of daily life, besides acting as supplementary cure for various ailments.

Researchers Shirley Telles and Pailoor Subramanya of SVYASA University have studied the impact of two yoga techniques on psycho-motor abilities and found a positive result.

The researchers looked for before and after effects of two relaxation techniques of yoga — cyclic meditation (doing light exercise) and supine rest (shavasana) — on 57 people aged between 18 to 40 years.

One of the tests used in the study — the digit-letter substitution task (DLST) — consisted of a worksheet on which digits (1 to 9) were arranged randomly in 12 rows and eight columns. An instruction key for ‘letter-for-digit’ substitutions was provided at the top. The participants were required to make as many letter-for-digit substitutions as possible in 90 seconds. This test measured the information processing and attention span of the subject. The test was administered at the beginning and at the end of the interventions.

In another test — the letter-copying task — that measured the psychomotor and motor speed, the participants were asked to fill in boxes with any single letter of their choice, using their dominant hand, in 90 seconds. In yet another test — the circle dot test, the participants were asked to make a dot inside two circles alternately, using their dominant hand, as rapidly as possible in a time period of 90 seconds. This task is based on a standard ‘circle-dotting task’ for motor speed.

All the three tests were paper and pencil tasks.

The study found that the participants showed better performance in the digit-letter substitution task, as well as in tasks for motor speed following a session of cyclic meditation. Following a period of supine rest for an equal duration there was improved performance in the motor speed tasks.

The improved scores in the letter copying-task and the circle-dotting task following cyclic meditation sessions showed that the speed for repetitive motor activity was also better after the yoga technique.

Similarly, the study revealed that the letter-cancellation tasks, requiring sustained attention, as well as visual scanning and activation and inhibition of rapid responses, were also better performed after a round of yoga. The letter-cancellation task assessed the ability to sustain and shift attention, immediate memory, visual scanning, and motor speed for repetitive motor activity.

Results from all these tests taken together suggested that cyclic meditation induced a state of reduced physiological arousal with improved performance in tasks requiring attention, Pailoor said.

For the control group, where participants did not follow the exercises, the results after performing the tasks showed no improvement, the study said. The control group was asked to be seated, and given no specific instructions. Their thoughts wandered at random.
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Yoga 101: Take a new look at an old-world practice

2010-01-07T17:52:00.000-08:00

By Molly Logan Anderson
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jan 07, 2010 @ 03:05 PM

For seasoned practitioners, the benefits of yoga are fully understood. But for those just thinking about beginning a fitness regime or embarking on a yogic path, sorting through the various styles can be overwhelming. From intense workouts to meditation classes, this nearly 5,000-year-old practice has something to offer everyone.

Veteran yoga instructor Rachel Fiske of Chicago says instant gratification is the best reason to get started with yoga.

“At the end of a yoga session, when you lie down in the final relaxation, you feel joy,” she says. “Every time.” That rewarding feeling can equal powerful motivation for those looking to make an exercise commitment.

But there’s more to yoga than feeling good. According to Mara Carrico, author of “Yoga Basics,” “The benefits of yoga go beyond enhancing physical health and mental acuity to promoting emotional balance and spiritual awareness.”

Selecting the best style of yoga might require a bit of research, but rest assured that all types of yoga are just different ways of getting to the same destination.

“All yoga leads to a sense of mind-body-spirit unity,” says Fiske, who teaches a class that combines several types of yoga. Fiske advises trying different types until you find what works for you. “The best one for you is the one you like best.”

Here’s an overview of five popular yoga styles to get you on your way.

Iyengar

What’s it all about?
Iyengar yoga is likely the most widely recognized Hatha yoga technique in the Western world. According to authro Mora Carrico, “Hatha yoga addresses the human being on a psychological as well as physiological level.” The Iyengar form uses yoga props to aid in positioning and support.

What can I expect in class?
“Iyengar teachers pay particularly close attention to the placement of the feet, hands, and pelvis as well as to the alignment of the spine, arms and legs,” Carrico says. Focus on proper positioning results in a slower-paced class.

Bikram

What’s it all about?
According to Richard Mercer, director of Bikram Yoga in the Valley in Simsbury, Conn., Bikram Choudhury scientifically designed this 90-minute program in a heated room to deliver total health through the balancing and strengthening of every system in the body in order to prevent illness and injury, promote weight loss and limit the effects of aging.

What can I expect in class?
Mercer advises drinking lots of water the day before and arriving 20 minutes early for your first class to acclimate to the environment. Expect to be challenged, but don’t be intimidated. Mercer urges students to work to their ability, but not to push beyond. “And always feel comfortable sitting down when your body needs to,” says Mercer. “Everyone has been there at some point or other.”

Ashtanga

What’s it all about?
This rigorous yoga practice, which involves jumping through a sequence of poses, might be compared to the training of an elite athlete and is the most physically demanding of all Hatha yoga styles. “The purpose of this continual flow of action is to create heat,” says Carrico. “This heating produces the cleansing or detoxifying effect associated with this method.”

What can I expect in class?
In an Ashtanga class, which is sometimes referred to as “power yoga,” there is an equal emphasis placed on strength, flexibility and stamina. Students that thrive on intense workouts will enjoy this type of yoga.

Forrest

What’s it all about?
“There is a level of intensity and strong focus to Forrest yoga, which was developed by Ana Forrest as a method of healing from the inside-out,” says Fiske, who teaches Forrest yoga in her classes. Traditional poses of yoga are used in unique sequences and held longer than expected. This process allows the mind to take a back seat and relax into acceptance.

What can I expect in class?
Core muscles are the focus of classes because Forrest realized that although yoga requires core strength, not very many of the poses actually build it. Plan to sweat in a Forrest yoga class while paying close attention to your breath and releasing the struggles that your mind is trying to cook up. “After the intense concentration, your mind will be delightfully relaxed at the end of the class,” Fiske says.

Kripalu

What’s it all about?
Kripalu yoga is a gentle class, focused on finding the bliss in any given moment. Teachers work to provide the sense that the body is a temple for the spirit. According to Fiske, who also teaches Kripalu, students are encouraged right away to notice the flow of "prana," a Sanskrit word for the body's energy. Experienced students are encouraged to practice their own unique yoga "flows" by tuning into and following this flow intuitively.

What can I expect in class?
Classes begin with breathing techniques that are unique to Kripalu yoga. Carrico notes that there are three stages of Kripalu yoga. The first encourages getting in touch with the body, the second includes prolonged poses to increase concentration and detachment, and the last, for more experienced students, involves an interpretative “go with the flow” practice. “Often a class feels like a full-body prayer,” Fiske says.

Ways to bring yoga into your life

With so many ways to find yoga in the world, there’s no reason not to give it a try. Check out these suggestions from yoga instructor Rachel Fiske on finding good yoga near (or virtually near) you.

A great DVD

Go to the local library or use a movie rental program to check out several DVDs. Try as many as you can, not paying attention to which might be a best-seller. Invest in a copy of the one you like best.

A teacher

Try lots of classes at a local gym or a yoga studio. You’ll know when you find a teacher that works for you. If you like being there, that’s a sign that you’re on track.

A good read

There are many great books on yoga; once again, the secret is trying as many as you can. The library allows you to do this without breaking the bank.

YouTube

YouTube has demonstrations of every kind of yoga and serves as a perfect introductory method for informing beginners.

Understanding yoga and calming the 1st class jitters

2009-12-27T16:33:00.000-08:00

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By Body and Mind staff
December 27, 2009, 12:01AM

Types of yoga

There are more than 20 types of yoga, which might make finding the one that’s right for you a challenge. Yoga instructors recommend trying several different types — usually yoga studios offer a one-time class fee — before signing up for a regular regimen.

There aren’t any official licensing requirements for yoga teachers in the United States; however the Yoga Alliance is an organization that creates minimum educational standards for yoga teacher training programs.

Here are some of the more popular types:

Hatha is the yoga of physical well-being, designed to balance body, mind and spirit. Popular in America as a source of exercise and stress management, many yoga styles spring from Hatha.

Ashtanga (or Astanga) is a physically challenging yoga to build strength, flexibility and stamina using a set series of poses always performed in the same order. Ashtanga is an athletic yoga practice and not for beginners.

Power yoga is the American interpretation of ashtanga yoga, taken one step further. Many of the poses resemble basic calisthenics — push-ups and hand stands, toe touches and side bends — but each move flows into the next without pause, making it an intense aerobic workout.

Iyergar promotes strength, flexibility, endurance and balance by integrating poses that require precise body alignment and are held longer. Props such as cushions, straps, blankets and blocks are used.

Kripalu focuses on learning basic postures and holding them for an extended time while developing concentration and inner awareness.

Kundalini stresses movement and breath over postures, with the purpose of awakening the energy at the base of the spine and drawing it upward. A typical class includes chanting, meditation and breathing exercises.

Bikram is a set series of 26 yoga poses done in 95-degree heat for a comprehensive workout for muscular strength and endurance, cardiovascular flexibility and weight loss.

Hot yoga is similar to Bikram but without the same precise sequence of poses.

Calming 1st class jitters

Part of the yoga experience is feeling peaceful and relaxed, but that might be hard if you’re coming to yoga class for the first time and feeling a little intimidated. Here are some helpful things to know for your first class:

Your yoga mat: A yoga mat is an item you should own, not borrow. They are available in stores as well as online. Before you use a new mat, wash it in cold water — otherwise it will still be slippery.

Eating before class: It is best to come to class on an empty stomach. Wait at least two hours after a full meal before practicing. You can take a glass of juice or a piece of fruit up to an hour beforehand. After class, be sure to drink plenty of water or herbal tea.

What to wear: Wear loose, light and comfortable clothing. Before starting class you will need to remove your wristwatch, belt or any jewelry that might interfere with your movements. Yoga is practiced with bare feet.

Health considerations: Let your instructor know if you have any specific health conditions, such as high blood pressure, back problems, recent surgery, pregnancy, etc. If you feel strong discomfort during the class, stop what you’re doing and rest.

Yoga becoming popular among American athletes

2009-12-22T08:26:00.000-08:00

Nevada (US): Many American athletes are reportedly adopting yoga practice. Ray Lewis, famous American football linebacker from Baltimore Ravens, reportedly told the Chicago (USA) media: "I'm talking about an hour-and-a-half yoga classes at times. And the crazy part about it is, once you actually get into it a good two or three times, you really miss if you don't do it. It stretches you that much."

Lewis, first linebacker to win Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award on the winning Super Bowl team, has been reportedly doing yoga in the offseason for the past two to three years.

Yoga reportedly makes a great complement to athletic training and various types of athletes are incorporating the practice into their training for bettering sports performance by improving flexibility and functional strength, building muscle energy and stamina, preventing sports injuries, dealing with stress, overcoming back pain, improving breathing and focusing, increasing endurance, etc.

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, extended invitation to yoga practicing athletes to explore the spiritual dimension of yoga also because actually yoga is a mental and physical discipline by means of which the human-soul (jivatman) unites with universal-soul (parmatman).

Let Yoga Lift You Up Through Regenerating Sleep

2009-12-19T09:54:00.000-08:00

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December 18, 2009 by Helena Lucas
Sleep is no luxury. Regenerating night rest is necessary for mental and physical health and a joyful existence. Various factors can play a role in preventing you from getting enough sleep- fortunately you can take the lead role here and put the means at work to change this scene for the better starting from today. Yoga will open two fronts in your quest for a well-rested invigorated you: enhancing liver detox processes and cleansing throughout your organism, and helping you to wind down and reach deep relaxation. These fundamental achievements of yoga exercise produce a cascade effect towards your unprecedented output in life.

One major factor involved in sleep deprivation is high toxic load in your liver, also producing symptoms as irritability, clouded head and depression. To aid our liver to cleanse itself we can easily make some adjustments in our lifestyle- and these are successfully achieved by following a daily yoga exercise routine. It is crucial that you get restful sleep between the hours of ten at night and two in the morning, during which time our liver uses energy for detox processes. You will notice a huge difference as to how you feel following an early night and after longer sleep beginning late at night. Extra hours of sleep cannot make up for deficient cleansing.

You should begin your day with an intense yoga exercise session. Following your yoga exercise, it is important to include a meditation exercise to rebalance activity of both cerebral hemispheres. In the evening you just need perform some light yoga stretches to wind down before bedtime. Particularly useful if you are feeling any anxiety while trying to conciliate sleep are the Back Stretch, Cobra and Head Twist, to be followed by several rounds of Alternate Nostril Breathing.
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Your Road of Growth and Healing

2009-12-15T09:09:00.000-08:00

By Candace Pittenger and ADAMA
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The path of healing yourself is a spiritual journey. Just like a road trip, it has its ups and downs. Some days you will feel perfect, outstanding and free; other days you will feel drained, tired and want to give up.

Your patience and willingness to ALLOW is of utmost importance. Allow the bad along with the good; allow the difficulty along with the progress.

Growth periods can be intense and demanding. Sometimes they call us to sleep more, eat more, or spend time in solitude. Sometimes we get irritable, unfocused, even nauseated. It gets turbulent inside while we integrate a new reality.

You should know that this turbulence usually passes within 24-48 hours. Once it clears, you will experience far greater clarity, higher energy and a closer connection to yourself and God.
Your angels work with you each and every day. They relieve your physical and emotional pain, energize your body, mind and soul, and work in support of your highest good. They're just waiting to hear you ask for what you want. Simply ask, and you shall receive it. They are here to serve you.

Watch for their work in the magical moments of daily life... the voice in your head that remembers where the keys are, the child singing a poignant phrase at just the right moment, the force that made you run into that person you've been avoiding. Coincidence, or divine intervention?
Allow it all. This is your path, and it's futile to resist.

Fortunately, the path of self healing has its glorious moments too. There are endless new discoveries to be made! The sky's the limit!

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More on Candace Pittenger:

Candace Pittenger is a powerful healer working with a team of celestial masters known collectively as ADAMA. ADAMA is an orchestra of self healing light for humanity and the planet speaking through Candace as one voice. For over 17 years, Candace has used her God-given healing abilities to help thousands of people, young and old, frail and strong. Now working with Adama, she offers private sessions as a well as group events for you to experience your own God consciousness.

Candace is an author and professional speaker who has appeared on over 500 radio and television shows nationwide. As the Founder of The ADAMA Institute of Self Healing, she helps people heal themselves and create greater love, joy and laughter in their lives. Candace is the recipient of numerous awards for her nonprofit service to the elderly, and was nominated for the prestigious Service Award given by the President of the United States.

For more information about healing and self healing, to schedule your own personal one-on-one energy healing session with Candace and ADAMA, or to schedule Candace and ADAMA for your next upcoming keynote presentation or event, please contact Candace at 760-470-1065 or email at theadamainstitute@gmail.com
© Copyright Candace Pittenger. All rights reserved.

Pre- and postnatal yoga yields physical, mental benefits

2009-12-10T15:45:00.000-08:00

By Dorene Internicola, Reuters

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Practicing yoga during pregnancy — and after birth — is gaining in popularity, due in part to its demonstrated physical and mental effects.

Modern mothers-to-be are turning to the 4,000-year-old practice of yoga to put mind over pregnancy matters as they strengthen their bodies for the road ahead.

"There's a level of comport and presence women cultivate when they're practicing regularly through their pregnancies, so the changes that come are not going to shake them," Elena Brower, a New York City-based yoga instructor said in an interview.

The founder of the Virayoga studio in Manhattan, Brower has worked with celebrities Gwyneth Paltrow and Christie Turlington Burns during their pregnancies. She also has developed the DVD Element: Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga.

"It's about teaching women how to safely strengthen their abdominals," said Brower, herself the mother of a toddler. "And strengthening is complemented by learning how to stretch, so that you can be as limber as possible when that baby comes."

Yoga can also help women to get to know themselves a little better.

"You have a level of presence that allows you to ride the wave of the contraction/pain into another place. You don't think intellectually about it. You breathe."

A study of 335 pregnant women in Bangalore, India, found that those who practiced yoga experienced shorter labor, less pregnancy-induced hypertension, and higher birth-weight babies than the control group.

More than 11 million Americans are estimated to do some form of yoga. The name derives from the Sanskrit meaning yoke or union, and the practice strives to unite movement and breath.

Brower cautions that some of the pretzel-like contortions that characterize the practice are not suitable for expectant mothers, even if they are experienced yogis.

"Don't lie on your belly, don't twist. You want to keep the house as big as possible for the baby," she advises. "Do inversions if it feels right."

Dr. Jacques Moritz, Director of Gynecology at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, says yoga is a fine idea for pregnant women, as long as they inform their instructors of their condition.

"Yoga is a great relaxing exercise. It's good for flexibility, it limbers people up," he said. "Part of the process of having a baby is opening up your pelvis. Yoga is one of the good ways to do that. It strengthens your core muscles and pelvic diaphragm."

Moritz, who is featured in the 2008 documentary film The Business of Being Born, said it also helps the back pain that nearly all women get during pregnancy.

Post-natal yoga can help new mothers re-tone and strengthen the pelvic floor but Moritz warned they should wait six to eight weeks after the birth before resuming yoga.

"You can't do something if you're still fatigued," he explained. "Most women are still breast-feeding on demand every three hours. So the last thing on their mind is exercise."

Then there's the challenge of losing that postpartum weight. The average woman puts on about 30 pounds of it during pregnancy.

Moritz is familiar with those celebrity supermoms who seem to drop their baby weight in the time it takes the rest of us to complete a sun salutation.

"For celebrity clients it's all about getting back in shape immediately," he said. "Most of them are doing yoga and Pilates."

Prenatal yoga: pregnant poses, great expectations

2009-12-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

By Dorene Internicola
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NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Modern mothers-to-be are turning to the 4,000-year-old practice of yoga to put mind over pregnancy matters as they strengthen their bodies for the road ahead.

"There's a level of comport and presence women cultivate when they're practicing regularly through their pregnancies, so the changes that come are not going to shake them," Elena Brower, a New York City-based yoga instructor said in an interview.

The founder of the Virayoga studio in Manhattan, Brower has worked with celebrities Gwyneth Paltrow and Christie Turlington Burns during their pregnancies. She also has developed the DVD "Element: Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga."

"It's about teaching women how to safely strengthen their abdominals," said Brower, herself the mother of a toddler. "And strengthening is complemented by learning how to stretch, so that you can be as limber as possible when that baby comes."

Yoga can also help women to get to know themselves a little better.

"You have a level of presence that allows you to ride the wave of the contraction/pain into another place. You don't think intellectually about it. You breathe."

A study of 335 pregnant women in Bangalore, India, found that those who practiced yoga experienced shorter labor, less pregnancy-induced hypertension, and higher birth-weight babies than the control group.

More than 11 million Americans are estimated to do some form of yoga. The name derives from the Sanskrit meaning yoke or union, and the practice strives to unite movement and breath.

Brower cautions that some of the pretzel-like contortions that characterize the practice are not suitable for expectant mothers, even if they are experienced yogis.

"Don't lie on your belly, don't twist. You want to keep the house as big as possible for the baby," she advises. "Do inversions if it feels right."

Dr. Jacques Moritz, Director of Gynecology at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, says yoga is a fine idea for pregnant women, as long as they inform their instructors of their condition.

"Yoga is a great relaxing exercise. It's good for flexibility, it limbers people up," he said. "Part of the process of having a baby is opening up your pelvis. Yoga is one of the good ways to do that. It strengthens your core muscles and pelvic diaphragm."

Moritz, who is featured in the 2008 documentary film "The Business of Being Born," said it also helps the back pain that nearly all women get during pregnancy.

Post-natal yoga can help new mothers re-tone and strengthen the pelvic floor but Moritz warned they should wait six to eight weeks after the birth before resuming yoga.

"You can't do something if you're still fatigued," he explained. "Most women are still breast-feeding on demand every three hours. So the last thing on their mind is exercise."

Then there's the challenge of losing that postpartum weight. The average woman puts on about 30 pounds of it during pregnancy.

Moritz is familiar with those celebrity supermoms who seem to drop their baby weight in the time it takes the rest of us to complete a sun salutation.

"For celebrity clients it's all about getting back in shape immediately," he said. "Most of them are doing yoga and Pilates."
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Rabbi gives yoga a uniquely Jewish twist

2009-12-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

By: Sharon Chisvin

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YOGA, the ancient spiritual and physical discipline that originated in India and is now a worldwide phenomenon, is not an activity that is usually associated with the orthodox Jewish Chabad Lubavitch movement. Rabbi Dr. Laibl Wolf, however, has taken this ancient meditative practice and given it a uniquely Jewish twist. He has done so by merging much of the basic philosophy of yoga with the basic teachings of Jewish mysticism, or Kabbalah. The end result is something that he calls Mind Yoga, which is trademarked.

Dr. Laibl Wolf is a lawyer, educational psychologist, orthodox rabbi and expert on Jewish mysticism and meditation. Based in Melbourne, Australia, he is the son of Polish Holocaust survivors, the author of the book Practical Kabbalah and the founder of the Human Development Institute. This institute, according to its website, is "dedicated to the progress of humankind through insight and personal mastery."

The idea of personal mastery is one of the main concepts of Mind Yoga. Through this discipline, individuals learn how to tap into Kabbalah in order to master their mind and emotions, achieve spiritual enlightenment and empower their lives. Mind Yoga teaches adherents to eliminate negativity in their lives, find balance between their emotional and physical selves and better understand the motivations behind their often conflicting and controlling thoughts, emotions and behaviours. Many of these same lessons are inherent in standard yoga practice.

"Yoga is an eastern compilation of earlier Indian-based wisdoms," explains Rabbi Wolf. "Many of these early wisdoms arose from Abrahamic teachings that originated in the Middle East in the person of Abraham and travelled east.

"Not all eastern teaching is to be identified with Kabbalah," he adds, "but you will find many of the original truths of creation, as expounded in Kabbalah, in aspects of yoga, Hinduism, Buddhism and others."

Rabbi Wolf developed Mind Yoga, in part, because he saw so many young Jewish adults, ironically, drifting over to these eastern teachings.

"My inspiration was the estrangement of Jews from their spiritual roots," he explains.

This estrangement pushed many of them into the arms of eastern religions and practices. Mind Yoga, combined with other Kabbalah teachings, has helped Judaism welcome many of them back.

Rabbi Wolf extrapolated on the practices and origins of Mind Yoga, and also demonstrated many of its techniques, when he was in Winnipeg last month as a guest of the Jewish Learning Institute (JLI). The JLI is the adult education arm of Winnipeg's Chabad Lubavitch movement.

The positive response to Rabbi Wolf's visit, his second to Winnipeg, reflects the burgeoning interest among Jews, as well as people of other faiths, in spiritualism, mysticism and finding a deeper meaning in life. Similarly, unprecedented interest in a six-week Soul Quest course currently underway at the JLI reflects a widespread desire among both observant and non-observant Jews to expand their knowledge and connection to abstract ideas and interpretations of Jewish thought.

"There is a tremendous thirst and curiosity for Jewish mysticism and the teachings of Kabbalah," says Rabbi Shmuly Altein, director of the Jewish Learning Institute. "JLI's SoulQuest has close to 50 students enrolled and has thus far been an incredible success."

Rabbi Wolf echoes this observation. "There is a definite and profound rise in interest by people to deepen their lives," he says.

This interest may be a result of a number of factors, including the emergence of the global village, daily chasms, geopolitical schisms and a basic human quest for meaning.

"This quest can lead down many different spiritual pathways," he adds, "one of which is Kabbalah."

Kabbalah is a 4,000-year-old body of spiritual wisdom. Yoga is a 3,000-year-old body of physical and mental wisdom. By merging the two into Mind Yoga, Rabbi Wolf has created a new-age concept deeply rooted in ancient teachings and traditions and committed to helping people find harmony and wholeness in modern times.

schisvin@hotmail.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 5, 2009 H13

Author who suffers from Parkinson's teaches innovative yoga class

2009-12-04T10:56:00.000-08:00

By Katie Curley Katzman
Staff writer
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Renee Le Verrier leads a group of five women in stretching, balancing and relaxation poses on a recent afternoon at the Yoga Center of Newburyport.

The only difference between this class and others is that a chair and variety of other props makes the class more accessible.

Blocks, straps, blankets and cushions all help to make stretches lighter and bring the distance from hand to foot closer for the participants.

"This isn't chair yoga because we are not just in the chair," Le Verrier said. "The chair is just a prop to bring the floor closer to us."

Le Verrier teaches yoga for movement disorders, a weekly class aimed at making yoga possible for individuals who have any restrictions, including those stemming from osteoporosis or Parkinson's disease.

But it is also geared at those who just feel a little "creaky."

"If you can breath, you can do yoga," Le Verrier said. "Yoga can be intimidating to people especially when you go to a yoga studio, but yoga is most beneficial to those with limitations and movement disorders."

Le Verrier should know. As a child, she suffered a stroke. Five years ago, at age 42, she was diagnosed with Parkinson's, a brain disorder affecting both men and women. She has been practicing yoga for eight years and teaching for three at the Yoga Center of Newburyport as well as Whittier Rehabilitation Hospital in Bradford and Massachusetts General Hospital.

"I've learned through yoga to live in the moment," she said.

Le Verrier was recently chosen as one of 25 people nationwide to attend the Parkinson's Disease Foundation's Clinical Research Learning Institute. The training prepares participants to serve as advocates for bringing new treatment information to their communities as well as serving as a formal representative on clinical research and advisory boards.

According to the National Parkinson' Foundation, the condition usually develops after age 65, but 15 percent of people, like Le Verrier, are diagnosed before age 50. About 1 million Americans suffer from Parkinson's, with an estimated 60,000 new cases diagnosed each year.

Le Verrier said yoga is an effective tool for Parkinson's because the disease affects certain dopamine-producing nerve cells (neurons) in one part of the brain that die or become impaired. Dopamine allows for smooth, coordinated muscle movement, so when it becomes limited in the body, symptoms such as tremors, shaking and rigidity are said to result.

Le Verrier credits yoga with aiding her not only physically, but spiritually as well. While her once excruciating back pain is now gone, she said she continues to benefit by the lessons yoga has taught her about breathing through hard times and noticing life more.

"When I feel myself being affected by something, I can go back to my breathing," she said. "I'm not dismissing whatever is happening, but I can breath it out."

Le Verrier said yoga also helped her unblock energy flow and allowed her to become more creative through painting.

"Before, I had a phobia of art," she said. "But one snowy day, I started painting with my first grader and I just let the creative energy happen."

As a yoga teacher, Le Verrier has pushed to provide classes for other students like herself and has also worked to educate teachers on how to work with individuals who have Parkinson's. Recently, she taught a large workshop for yoga teachers from area gyms, hospitals, rehabilitation centers and studios.

"Exercise is beneficial in managing Parkinson's," she said. "It gives a sense of well being, makes breathing easier, affects posture. I hope I can bring a little of that in."

When students with movement disorders or Parkinson's attend a typical yoga class, Le Verrier said teachers often don't tailor the class to their limitations or become too gentle with them, and they're unable to fully garner the benefits.

"The teachers get nervous and tell the student to sit a pose out," said Le Verrier, who gives instructors specific things they can do to change their teaching approach.

In addition to her work teaching, Le Verrier has published a yoga book, with another on its way to the printer. "Yoga for Movement Disorders," published by Merit Press, is a workbook with poses and stretches those with limitations can do at home or in a studio setting. "A, B, C ... X, Yoga, Z," a playful introduction to yoga for kids using the ABCs, is due out soon.

Le Verrier said many people stop doing the activities they used to when they are diagnosed with Parkinson's or a movement disorder, including playing with children and grandchildren.

"The ABC book is a wonderful way to do something and move together," she said. "Grandparents can do this with their grandchildren even though they may not be able to play soccer with them anymore."

For more on Renee Le Verrier's yoga work, visit www.limyoga.com.
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To relieve stress, schools in tough neighborhoods turn to yoga

2009-12-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

By Sharon Noguchi
snoguchi@mercurynews.com

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Luis Gutierrez is sounding like a human kazoo, demonstrating what he calls the "evilbuster breath." As the speaker's hands tent his nose and he exhales in a loud hum, few of the two dozen freshmen at Overfelt High in San Jose are smirking or rolling their eyes.

After the students try this newest yoga technique and report vibrations in their noses, throats and brains, Gutierrez explains the breathing will help calm their nerves. Use this in many situations, he advises, including the times when teachers suddenly call on you in class.

What began as small pilot programs has suddenly spread as more South Bay schools in neighborhoods challenged by poverty, drugs and gang violence turn to the power of yoga as a stress reducer. Classes by Youth Empowerment Seminars, or YES!, teach not only breathing but nutrition, lifestyle and values discussion.

Overfelt Principal Vito Chiala is so impressed with the changes YES! has induced in some of the toughest freshmen that he hopes to offer the six-week program to the whole freshman class in January. Initially a skeptic, Chiala himself took a course and found that practice every morning helps him deal calmly with the demands of leading a 1,730-student school in East San Jose.

At nearby Yerba Buena High, all 540 freshmen are taking YES! after a pilot project last spring proved successful. Principal Juan Cruz reports that his school's football team now uses yoga as a way to focus before games and to decompress afterward.

When his friends found out, hefty linebacker Brian Zarate, 17, said, their reaction was —‰'Ha ha, you're doing yoga!' " he said. But he didn't care, because yoga has improved his sleep and his game.

Hard neighborhoods

At schools hard hit by neighborhood violence, gang pressure, parental job loss and homelessness, the centuries-old Indian discipline of yoga may turn out to be an effective tool in helping young people cope with both crises and day-to-day life.

"We can't change the big system, but we can definitely change the kids' way of dealing with all the stress," said teacher Jenna Granger of the International Association for Human Values, the parent group of YES!

"People who get to experience yoga usually come from a privileged background," said Gutierrez, who is training to be a YES! instructor. In contrast, the foundation brings its stress-reducing program to communities suffering from poverty, crime and disaster, from destitute Haiti to bereft post-Katrina New Orleans.

The six-week class teaches students to avoid conflict, "how to focus on school and how to study better," said Overfelt freshman Rosavelia Valencia, 14.

Classmate Priscilla Orabuena, 15, said the skills are useful. "When you are going to get into a fight" — like when people are talking about you, she said — "you want to do something to them. But you breathe and feel calm and just walk away."

Breathing away stress

The program uses games — last week at Overfelt, students were playing musical yoga mats — to reach students.

But the focus is on breathing techniques to deal with stress. According to surveys, East Side students report the program has improved their sleep, focus, calmness and mood, and general feeling, said Irene Yamane, a program manager.

At first, students are skeptical. "I don't really like doing things in front of people," like stretching, Overfelt freshman Gina De La Rosa said.

"I have school stress. I have drama on the street, I could get jammed," the 14-year-old said. At home, her bedridden mother is seriously ill. "I have a lot of pressure built up inside of me, and when it comes out, I erupt."

But while she downplays the effect of YES!, she's also used its techniques. Recently, in the midst of a classroom confrontation, she suddenly remembered: just breathe.

She did. She calmed down. And she realized, "I don't have to scare teachers."

Her mother, Lucy Ramirez, has noticed a difference, as if Gina has emerged from a dark shadow.

Chiala hopes YES! will give kids tools to help stay clam, better control impulses and take care of themselves.

How to explain the power of the breath over human emotions? "It sounds like Darth Vader," said An Ha, 14, a Yerba Buena freshman. She uses it when her little brother behaves annoyingly.

With yoga breathing, said Alejandro Adame, 14, an Overfelt freshman, "You just take a moment to not get angry."
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Regular yoga can help reduce H1N1 risk, says expert

2009-11-30T09:26:00.000-08:00

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TNN 29 November 2009, 02:58am IST

CHANDIGARH: Yoga has found many takers in the recent years due to its ability to keep the body resistant against a range of diseases including some critical ailments too.

Now, at a time when the H1N1 virus has spread its tentacles in the city, a yoga expert has claimed that practicing yoga on a regular basis can strengthen one’s immunity, which in turn can help in preventing swine flu.

Since a major number of cases that have been tested positive in the city come from the student category, the yoga professional is even willing to undertake special classes for schoolkids.

“Numerous factors have the potential to weaken our immune system and lungs. Among such factors are stress, presence of toxin in the body, lack of balanced diet, insufficient intake of water, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, improper personal hygiene and lack of nutrition,” said yoga professional Dhirendra Panda.

Claiming that yoga postures help in strengthening the immune system particularly the lungs, Panda said,
“Yoga is the best method to maintain a strong immune system, which can help in getting rid of various infectious diseases including swine flu. Some stretching postures, breathing exercises (pranayama) and meditation will keep your immune system in a better shape.”

Yoga empowers the lymphatic system that helps in flushing out of the toxins from our body, he said.
Yoga pranayamas (breathing exercises) are also helpful in preventing swine flu.

These breathing exercises will help in massaging the thymus gland and thus activate the lungs, Panda said. Meanwhile, doctors also believe that yoga can help in preventing the H1N1 influenza.

Dr Narinder Arora, medical superintendent, Government Multi Specialty Hospital-16, said, “Yoga proves helpful in preventing any kind of flu. It makes the body resistant against viruses and help reduce the risk.”
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2009-11-28T08:44:00.000-08:00

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Sherri Mills, left, a yoga instructor at Cleveland Yoga in Beachwood, teaches some basic exercises to Judy Cyler of Richmond Heights and Jared Wuliger of Strongsville before they fly out of Cleveland Hopkins Airport for the Thanksgiving holiday. Airport Fast Park, an off-site parking lot company, hired Mills to offer some holiday stress relief to patrons using their parking and airport shuttle service.

Cleveland Hopkins Airport shuttle passengers treated to yoga
By Shaheen Samavati, The Plain Dealer
November 25, 2009, 10:00PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Holiday travelers departing from Cleveland Hopkins Airport on Wednesday may not have found Zen, but at least they learned some fun breathing exercises on the shuttle ride from Snow Rd. to their terminal.

Airport Fast Park, a Cincinnati-based offsite airport parking company, hired professional yoga instructors to teach customers meditation and relaxation techniques while making the mile-long journey from their parking lots to the airport.

"I've got a treat for you today," instructor Sherri Mills told travelers once they got situated in the shuttle.

Some were excited, while others a bit skeptical. But almost everyone was a good sport as Mills called out cues in a soothing voice.

"Take your left hand to your opposite thigh and look over your shoulder," said Mills, who teaches at Cleveland Yoga in Beachwood. "Now inhale and come back to center."

Traveler Holly Henderson of Kent said she enjoyed the exercises.

"I've just been driving for an hour, so it was really nice," she said, noting that it was a good way to relax before heading to Orlando to visit family for the holiday.

Joseph Heinemann of Wickliffe, who was returning from a business trip, said it was his first yoga experience.

"It was interesting," he said with a smile.

Airport employee Madeline Cuadrado of Cleveland stretches her arms in the air under the direction of yoga instructor Sherri Mills on a shuttle going to Cleveland Hopkins Airport. Yoga is popular form of exercise that evolved from ancient Indian meditation and posturing traditions.

Fast Park owns parking lots at 13 different airports, including Airport Fast Park and Park Place at Cleveland Hopkins. The company came up with the yoga idea three years ago as way to help people feel more at ease during the busy holiday season, said Melanie Chavez, principal of Fast Park. This is the second year they've done it in Cleveland.

"This is the busiest travel time of the year," Chavez said. "We thought, 'Let's do something fun and unexpected. What could we do to take people's minds off the stress of travel?'"

Shuttle riders don't have much time to learn during the trip, which only takes about five minutes.

"It's just to get them started off on the right foot with a smile on their face, ready to go to the airport," Chavez said. All of the exercises taught can be done sitting down - on a shuttle, plane or airport terminal.

Mills said it was wasn't hard for her to adapt to the short time frame and limited space.

"I think it's a great idea because you can really do yoga almost anywhere," said Mills. "It's important to know you can move and be conscious of your body in any situation."

Several passengers continued to do the exercises as the driver took their luggage to the curb.

"I don't want to leave the bus," Vivian Sickels of Berea joked as the shuttle approached her terminal.

Besides being a hit with customers, the idea has also been a marketing success, attracting media attention at airports across the country.

Competitors FastTrack Airport Parking and Park-And-Fly have yet to hire their own Yogis, but each run holiday promotions, including special discounted rates.
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Live Intuitively

2009-11-25T08:12:00.000-08:00

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Happy Thanksgiving Everyone,

As I was perusing my emails the other day, I came upon the following story from a real estate web site making me realize again that living intuitively has been around for many years and comes in many forms. The following is an excerpt of the article.

Posted by Phil Pustejovsky | November 12, 2009, http://www.reiclub.com/realestateblog/?p=1689
Once of the richest men in the world at the time of his death in 1942 was George Andre of Nyon, Switzerland. He was a grain merchant that had started from humble beginnings as a small grocery store owner and became one of the world’s largest grain traders. He lived in an opulent chalet in the Swiss Alps and his daily routine included locking himself into a room, sitting in a chair with his cup of coffee and staring out the window at the mountains for exactly 1 hour. Everyday, just after breakfast, he did this, for 60 years. When asked what on earth he was doing, he simply said, “You wouldn’t understand.” Finally, a very inquisitive young man persisted and George revealed what he was doing. He said, “I talk to God.”
I read a book on creativity a number of years back and the main strategy for unleashing creativity was this, “Stare out the window in silence for at least 30 minutes a day.” So I guess that Mr. Andre was onto something, huh.
Live Intuitively,

Nanette Irwin
Psychic / Intuitive Coach
619.276.4842
nci25@att.net

How yoga helps cancer patients

2009-11-24T08:26:00.001-08:00

Submitted by Denise Reynolds RD on Nov 2nd, 2009

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Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, MC Anderson and other major cancer treatment centers offer yoga as complementary therapy for their cancer patients. Yoga uses breathing exercises, precise postures and meditation as non-aerobic exercise. Because it can lead to increased relaxation and physical fitness, yoga can enhance the quality of life for cancer patients and patients with other serious illnesses.

A 2007 study with breast cancer patients found that patients who did yoga improved their social and emotional wellbeing when compared to patients who didn’t do yoga. Most of the research involving yoga for cancer patients has focused on breast cancer, but more recent studies have begun involving patients with lung cancer and colorectal cancer. These studies have shown there to be a number of benefits associated with yoga.

Yoga can help cancer patients combat the side effects of treatment, such as fatigue and daytime sleepiness during a course of radiation therapy. Yoga can also help to relieve the anxiety brought on by a cancer diagnosis, as its deep breathing exercises can bring more oxygen into the body to help reduce anxiety.

In addition to anxiety relief, yoga can help reduce stress and cortisol levels. Yoga may also have beneficial effects on the immune system. Cancer patients can use yoga as a coping mechanism, part of their palliative care. Yoga can also decrease insomnia, improve symptoms of depression and relieve chronic pain. Additionally, yoga can provide gentle exercise for cancer patients at a time when they may not be able to participate in other forms of exercise. Two separate studies found that patients who exercised had reduced mortality and a reduced risk of cancer recurrence when compared to patients who didn’t exercise.

Doc stakes claim to Guinness record through yoga

2009-11-22T17:14:00.000-08:00

TNN 22 November 2009, 09:44pm IST

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DHARWAD: Psychiatrist Dr Vinod Kulkarni of Hubli performed Sheershasana for 35 minutes on Saturday in a bid to enter the `Guinness Book of World Records'.

Kulkarni performed the asana (posture) at Nuggikeri Hanuman Temple between 8.50 pm and 9.25 pm in the presence of juries and devotees who had thronged the temple.

Kulkarni said he had contacted the Guinness book authorities and found out from them that nobody had performed Sheershasana for 25 minutes. "I have been practising various asanas for the past one year. I was attracted to yogasana after attending Baba Ramdev's sessions at Hubli last year. Since I can perform Sheershasana for more than 25 minutes without any problem, I thought I should try entering the `Guinness Book of World Records'," Dr Kulkarni told TOI. He said he would send the CD of his performance along with attestation by the juries to the Guinness book authorities.

The doctor was listening to Vishnu Sahasranama hymns while he was performing his feat. Dr Vijay Desai, psychiatrist Dr Anand Pandurangi, Anupama Pandurangi, former jail superintendents Kambale and S F Patil and others witnessed the event.

Cool Canucks

2009-11-19T16:20:00.000-08:00

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CoolCanucks Canada
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URI Catholic Center offers yoga for stressed students

2009-11-18T09:09:00.001-08:00

Graeme Swank
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11/18/09 - In an extension of its spiritual commitment to the University of Rhode Island community, the Catholic Center has been offering yoga classes.

Father Matt Glover and yoga instructor David Faraone have been offering the classes since the beginning of the semester as a way to provide students and faculty with an affordable yoga option.

"It is the perfect thing for students to practice," Faraone said. "It is calming and relieves stress. It also leads to better overall wellbeing, better awareness and a sharper mind."

Yoga, an ancient art form from India, has been gaining more prominence recently in the United States. According to an independent research study commissioned by the magazine "Yoga Journal," about 15.8 million American adults practice some form of yoga.

Even athletes, like professional surfer Laird Hamilton, who describes his yoga routine in his book "Force of Nature," have attributed their success to practicing yoga.

While the classes offered at the Catholic Center can't promise to turn a practitioner into a professional athlete, it can promise other worthwhile gains to students.

David Faraone, an instructor for the past two years, is teaching the classes, which are offered three times a week.

The style of yoga taught by Faraone is called Vinyasa flow, a physical form of yoga that is based on constant controlled motion.

A typical class begins with deep breathing. Faraone describes this as both relaxing and as the fuel for yoga.

For the next hour the class works in standing positions, changing every few breaths and keeping their movements in control. These positions start out relatively easy, but then quickly gain in intensity, testing the practitioners' balance, flexibility and strength. The final half hour of the class is based on seated positions that cool down the body.

Faraone explained that all students at the end of any class feel great because of the endorphins released during the class.

Angela Graney, a faculty member who was attending her second class at the Catholic Center, described yoga as a great work out that leaves her sore every time.
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Unlock Your Energies Through Yoga

2009-11-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev18 November 2009, 12:00am IST

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When we say 'yoga', for many of you it might mean some impossible physical postures. Yoga means to be in perfect tune. When you are in yoga, your body, mind and spirit, and existence, are in absolute harmony.

When you fine-tune yourself to a point where everything functions beautifully within you, the best of your abilities will just flow out of you. When you are happy, your energies function better. Have you noticed that when you are happy you have endless energy?

Even if you don't eat or sleep, you can go on and on. So, just a little happiness liberates you from your normal limitations of energy and capability.

Yoga is the science of activating your inner energies in such a way that your body, mind and emotions function at their highest peak. When your body and mind function in a completely different state of relaxation and a certain level of blissfulness, you can be released from so much suffering.

Right now, you come and sit in your office, and you have a nagging headache. Your headache is not a major disease, but it takes away your capability for the day. With the practice of yoga, your body and mind will be at their highest possible peak.

There are other dimensions to yoga. When you activate your energies, you can function in a different way. As you are sitting here right now, you consider yourself to be a person. You are identified with many things, but what you call 'myself' is actually just a certain amount of energy.

Modern science says that the whole of existence is energy manifesting itself in different ways. If this is so, then you are also a little bit of energy functioning in a particular way.

As far as science is concerned, this same energy which you call 'myself' can be a rock, mud, tree, dog, or you. Everything is the same energy, functioning at different levels of capability.

Similarly, among human beings, though we are all made of the same energy, we still do not function at the same level of capability. What you call capability or talent, your creativity, is a certain way your energy functions. This energy, in one plant it functions to create roses, in another it functions to create jasmine, but it is the same energy manifesting itself. If you gain some mastery over your own energies, things that you never imagined possible you will do simply and naturally.

This is the experience of people who have started doing these yogic practices. It is the inner technology of creating situations the way you want them. With the same materials that we build huge buildings today, people used to build little huts. We thought we could only dig mud and make pots or bricks. Now we dig the same earth and make computers, cars, and even spacecrafts.

It is the same energy; we have just started using it for higher possibilities. Our inner energies are like that. There is a technology as to how to use this energy for higher possibilities.

Every human being must explore and know this. Otherwise, life becomes limited and accidental. Once you activate your inner energies, your capabilities happen in a different sphere altogether. Yoga is a tool to find ultimate expression to life.

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http://spirtuality.indiatimes.com

Yoga and Emotions

2009-11-16T09:18:00.000-08:00

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Friday, July 31, 2009 at 2:24pm
My first introduction to yoga was in 1977. I was pregnant and I found a prenatal yoga book by Jeannie Parvati. Everyday I practiced the asasas and nine months later I easily delivered a beautiful baby boy at home. My son is now a man. His path brought him to India, where he took up the yoke of Ashtanga Yoga. Sometimes he shares his stories of what happens to people while doing practice.

If one is practicing an intense form of Hatha Yoga one can expect that many emotional blockages will be released. Sometimes a new practitioner is not ready or does not know how to deal with the emotional baggage that is coming up though the fire of their practice.

Maybe they entered the Hatha Yoga path for other reasons and they are now faced with the release of suppressed feelings and memories and do not have the tools to get though their emotional experiences. I have found this also happens with Mantra Yoga. Yoga creates fire and that fire burns away the dormant seeds of karma that live in the cells of our body and our unconsciousness. And this is the goal of all yoga.

When we empty our body of the files of our emotional, and mental blockages we find ourselves experiencing more spaciousness and in that empty space we can find peace and even the ultimate experience of communion with the DIVINE. This is the original reason for all Paths of Yoga.

Intense yogic practices can shake your tree and what comes falling from the branches is not always what you might have expected. Though my own experience I have found a few ways to help one get though the process.

Learning to become a witness to your process can save you from reacting to the emotions that are washing though your body. The witness is the part of you that goes to the movies and sits in the audience and watches the performance, rather then being on stage and identifying with being the actor. When you get lost in the identification of being the actor in your drama you can get lost in the emotional wash cycle.

Learning to become a witness takes practice. This is easier said then done as the emotional files are being quickly emptied right after you just came out of Chakrasana, also known as the wheel.

When the emotional files are being emptied the mind starts racing. The wash is going though and old mental images are coming back and we start reacting to every image that is showing up on the screen of our mind. The emotions are stored in our bellies. This is why some asanas that strengthen our core also bring up our emotions. One of the first things the body wants to do is stop breathing deeply. When we do not breathe deeply we do not have to feel or remember what the body remembers. Breathing deeply will help to release the old pictures that are rising from our bellies.

The breath brings liberation and this is one reason Pranayama can be effective. But the mind needs to be strong in its awareness in that moment. You need to remember to breathe rather than to stop breathing so you cannot feel the pain of the suppressed feelings. Each time you breathe deeper and feel what is moving though your body, and not get identified with, but feel and take one more breath and let the feelings go - you come closer to the great release.

I have found that mantra yoga is very necessary to harness the wild horses of the mind. I compare the mind to a French Poodle without a leash (I live in Paris) The mind is jumping all over the place. The mantra puts a leash on the mind jumping from one thought or emotional reaction to the next. When one does enough mantra the mind will actually settle into a tranquil state. It is when we are in that tranquil state of mind we can view our life as a Witness. We can deeply penetrate our thoughts, our reactions and our behaviors. Mantra is a vibration of sound. There are mantras that are like fire and will put one through the purifacation process quickly. There are mantras that deepen our peace. And there are mantras that will bring you to the feet of the Divine within the very altar of your heart. Yoga is a tree with many branches, and it takes exploring different branches to deal with the purification process that Hatha Yoga can bring to the surface of one’s experience.

Raylene Abbott's book "Between the Visions" is available
as a 5 Star book on www.amazon.com

In France as: "L'Emergence de la Femme Divine."
In Japan as: "Spiritual Sex."
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Yoga boosts heart health new research shows

2009-11-14T08:01:00.000-08:00

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November 14, 7:44 AMTampa Health Care ExaminerCarolyn Chambers Clark

Yoga can boost heart health according to a new study.

Heart rate variability, a sign of a healthy heart, has been shown to be higher in yoga practitioners than in non-practitioners, according to research to be published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics.

The ongoing variation of heart rate is known as heart rate variability (HRV), which refers to the beat-to-beat changes in heart rate. In healthy individuals HRV is high whereas cardiac abnormalities lead to a low HRV.

Now, Ramesh Kumar Sunkaria, Vinod Kumar, and Suresh Chandra Saxena of the Electrical Engineering Department, at the Indian Institute of Technology in Roorkee, in Uttrakhand, India, have evaluated two small groups of men in order to see whether yoga practitioners can improve heart health. Anecdotal evidence would suggest that yoga practice may improve health through breathing exercises, stretching, postures, relaxation, and meditation.

The team analyzed the HRV "spectra" of the electrocardiograms (ECG) of forty two healthy male volunteers who are non-yogic practitioners, and forty two who are experienced practitioners, all volunteers were aged between 18 and 48 years.

The spectral analysis of HRV is, the team says, an important tool in exploring heart health and the mechanisms of heart rate regulation. The power represented by various spectral bands in short-term HRV are indicative of how well the heart responds to changes in the body controlled by the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems.

The team explains that very low frequency (VLF) variations in the spectra are linked to the body's internal temperature control. Low frequency peaks are associated with the sympathetic control and high frequency with parasympathetic control.

The team concludes that in their preliminary study of 84 volunteers, there is strengthening of parasympathetic (vagal) control in subjects who regularly practice yoga, which is indicative of better autonomic control over heart rate and so a healthier heart.

Besides improving heart health, yoga can help in other ways by improving flexibility and strength, and as an anti-aging tool.
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Sit back, relax...

2009-11-12T16:02:00.001-08:00

An introduction to Reiki...

2009-11-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

We'll See...

2009-11-11T14:32:00.001-08:00

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit.

"Such bad luck," they said sympathetically.

"We'll see," the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses.

"How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed.

"We'll see," replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.

"We'll see," answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

"We'll see" said the farmer.

Ayurveda

2009-11-11T14:14:00.001-08:00

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2009-11-11T10:13:00.000-08:00

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