Yoga Exercises - Healthy Lifeline With The Yoga Experience

No debate can arise from Yoga Exercises or is questionable on just how powerful yoga can be. Yoga has proven to give beneficial rewards to millions of people in helping them to keep in shape while at the same time assisting them to lead a healthy lifestyle. Your health and yoga is a match made in heaven. Yoga Exercises and the people who practice regular routines are finding it easier to cope with stress on top of easing body aches and pains.

Times have changed dramatically from the days of yesterday - in the days gone by life was a struggle for families - but some how they coped with the illnesses that plagued and terrorised their well being. In those days you never seen a jogger a treadmill or come to think of it any form of exercise like yoga. The only thing that the modern world has in common from the days of the notorious Jack the ripper is the plague. Citizens today are plagued by stress brought on by pressure from work commitments to running the home and much more. Why do we put up with the torment of coping like the people of yesterday who were a lot less fortunate than ourselves - where their options to help reduce any health risks were zilch?

Yes changes have dramatically altered but in our best interest where health matters is a major concern.

Yoga Exercises do go back to ancient times but why did so many poor unfortunate urchins die from cholera etc while trying to pick a pocket or two. The answer to that is there was no awareness programme administered on how to stay healthy and fit. (Which may have helped save lives?) Could this be the reason why so many children have been introduced to Yoga Exercises by their parents in the 21st century?

Yoga exercises for children start with simple and easy moves - yoga moves and poses for kids are normally named after animals to make it more fun as well as interesting. For example the butterfly pose is very popular among the children - this exercise includes where the child will sit with their knees bent leaning down towards the floor and the soles of the feet slightly touching. Parents are becoming more involved with health maintenance procedures in keeping their children fit and healthy.

By enlisting your kiddies to join local yoga classes you have just thrown them a lifeline where they will learn more on body awareness. One of the main reasons for introducing a child to the world of yoga is - obesity. Some children take to yoga exercises like a duck to water and pick up quickly on the understanding as to why they are performing such exercises. But then you have those who struggle to come to terms with their exercise and have no idea to what rewards can be gained. What really matters is - as long as the kiddies are enjoying themselves then that is one rewarding result in itself.

Later in life when the child is fit and healthy - it is then that you will find the child`s perception of the whole yoga experience will answer their question as to why mummy and daddy did what they did and that was to send them to practice yoga exercises.

Yoga is helping people the natural way to ease stress/pain. Beneficial results from practising yoga is peace of mind.

100% fit in mind body and soul is what healthy living is all about. With yoga you claim what is rightfully yours control. http://www.want2yoga.com Take steps now to move on with your life http://www.allaboutonlineeducation.com

Yoga Classes or Yoga DVDs - Which Is Best To Start With

There are various DVDs and videos on yoga, usually with an instructor who takes you through many different exercises and breathing techniques. Although they can be great in the sense that you can practise in the comfort of your own home and fit yoga around your usual routine, a good teacher can make a huge difference in how well you succeed. DVDs and videos are great as supplementary materials later on when you are more confident and have learnt and received guidance from a teacher.

There are many different types of yoga and many styles of teaching. Shop around and find a yoga type and teaching style that best fits your needs. You should also consult your physician, and let your teacher know if you have any health problems.

How to find a good Yoga teacher?

Finding a good yoga teacher is like finding a good doctor or hairdresser-you have to ask around and then try out a few different people. Also, ask the instructor plenty of questions:

Is the yoga being taught vigorous or gentle?
What is a good class time for beginners?
Should I bring anything, like a yoga mat, or is that supplied?
How much is each class?
Where was the teacher trained? (Most teachers should have 200 to 500 hours of training.)
How long has the teacher been instructing?

A good teacher will try verbal instruction before using hands-on adjustments. Demonstration by a teacher should only be done when is necessary. A teacher performing poses can't possibly watch what you are doing. The class is for you the student. You need a teacher who can react to your individual needs and guide you in to the correct poses. Asking before class about prior yoga experience, injuries, etc is an indication that the teacher is attentive to your needs.

An important aspect of yoga is that it is non-competitive. Students work at their own ability level, being sure to respect the body and its limitations. You should never go beyond what is comfortable and reasonable and a good yoga teacher will help you determine what is appropriate for you in each pose.

Classes can also be a fantastic way of meeting new people in a friendly relaxed environment.

Rose Reynolds provides more information on starting yoga on her website.

Yoga Guide For Pregnant Women: Efficacy of Prenatal Yoga

Pregnancy is an all together different physiological as well as psychological experience for women and for particularly those who happen to be on the family way for the first time. If you are pregnant, you are very likely to suffer from occasional depression. You will be in a state of subtle excitement almost all the time. It is really difficult for you to keep yourself normal physically as well as mentally. That's when Prenatal Yoga comes handy to you.

It adds to your physical as well psychological strength for a rather comfortable delivery. In addition to that if you keep practicing yoga through out your pregnancy period, post delivery you are very likely to resume your normal activities at the earliest.

Prenatal Yoga is particularly helpful in later stage of pregnancy. I would suggest all pregnant women to do yoga exercises that would be of immense help in excess inflammation and pain in leg. This particular genre of yoga is aimed at strengthening legs, back muscles, limbs and pelvis. Once these body parts get strengthened the level of pain that you experience while giving birth would be far less than the pain you would have experienced without yoga.

But you must ensure that you learn prenatal yoga asanas from an experienced Yogi. If you have geared up to practice yoga for the first time, you shouldn't do exercises without acquainting yourself with all pros and cons of Yoga.

For pregnant women, basic yoga poses are suggested. Once they learn basic poses they are made to practice certain other asanas. Preferred yoga asanas for women on family way are as follows:

Shavasana This Yoga posture is also known as corpse pose. In this posture you are simply made to lie as if you are dead. You are suggested to lie in a very motionless state. But you should continue breathing normally.

Padmasana This posture requires you to sit while keeping your back completely erected in the sitting duration. You are also made to put your right leg on the left thigh and vice versa. Putting legs on opposite thighs help strengthen your hips.

Sukhasana The asana demands you to keep a crouching posture while sitting. This asana is of great assistance in preventing pregnancy related disorders.

Vajrasana This asana makes you fold your knees so that hips could be easily postured on your heels. This is also a sitting asana. You are also required to position your hands on knees. Your back should remain erect.

These are a few yoga postures that happen to be of great help for pregnant women. Breathing exercises of yoga may prove helpful in pregnancy. So, do yoga for a safer child birth.

To get more information on yoga, yoga pregnancy and yoga benefits visit www.therealyoga.com

Five Reasons for Yoga Instructors to Teach Chair Yoga

1) Your students truly benefit from it.

Your students will likely be either seniors or those with physical limitations. Especially in the case of someone that has not been exercising at all because of their condition, you will often see rapid improvements. Prospective students sometimes report feeling better after a single class.

Liz knew that she was on to something from that very first demonstration to the senior’s group at our church. After the demo, one of the women rushed up to Liz and put her hands in Liz’ hands. “Do you feel that?” she said, “my hands haven’t felt warm in years!”

While we don't promise miracles (and neither should you!) we've seen chair yoga lower students' blood pressure, cause them to stop needing anti-anxiety medicine, allow them to sleep better, regain height, relieve the symptoms of chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis, and much more. Students' health care professionals will sometimes notice the difference chair yoga is making and ask what they are doing differently. Of course, the patient is always told to keep it up!

2) Your work will be truly appreciated and you’ll hear about it, too.

You will often enjoy having people tell you about all the wonderful things that chair yoga has done to make them more comfortable, healthier, and happier.

Those of us that are younger and don't have a debilitating condition tend to take some things for granted. Chair yoga might help a person raise their arm above their heads to reach something, or turn their head back to check traffic, when they had lost the ability to do so. I think I'd be appreciative, too!

3) Millions of prospective students and growing daily.

I just saw a statistic that blew my mind – one baby boomer turns 50 every 8 seconds!

So much has been said about the value of marketing into the coming boom in baby boomer seniors that I shouldn't have to convince you. Besides, we can all see it happening right before our very eyes.

As a yoga instructor, adding chair yoga to your list of teaching skills is a good way to take advantage of this social phenomenon.

Baby boomers aren't much interested in retiring to sit back in a rocking chair and wait while their bodies deteriorate from disuse. So no matter what age or stage they are in, they will be seeking ways to keep themselves fit.

Baby boomers are more likely to consider alternate approaches to staying healthy than previous generations, so they will be much more likely to be receptive to the notion of practicing yoga. In fact, many will have some sort of prior experience with yoga, as we have seen.

The oldest of the boomers are just now turning 60, so it is a great time to get serious about teaching chair yoga!

4) There is an abundance of ready-made classes to find.

Most yoga classes come about in an organic fashion, adding one or two students at a time. But by teaching chair yoga, you can find yourself starting whole new classes with several customers all at once.

This is because you are often taking the yoga class to the people where they are already congregating. One of the biggest markets for chair yoga is seniors, and seniors are easy to find already in a group together.

Just where to go will vary depending on where you live, but here are a few ideas to get you started thinking about this:

• Retirement villages, retirement centers, assisted living centers, nursing homes

• Adult day care

• Seniors' groups at places of worship

• Community centers/Parks and recreation programs

• Fraternal organizations

• Libraries

• YMCA/YWCA

People suffering from particular ailments such as multiple sclerosis or arthritis tend to get together to help each other cope with the disease. All you have to do is find the organizations in your neighborhood that are addressing this need and approach them with the idea of helping the group practice chair yoga. Yoga has been shown to effectively ease the symptoms of many types of ailments, and yet few have anyplace to go where there is a yoga program appropriate for them.

With some brainstorming you can probably come up with a pretty good list appropriate for the circumstances in your community.

The beauty of approaching these groups is that you almost always are proposing to teach yoga to people that never imagined they'd be in a yoga class. That means you aren't competing with all the yoga teachers trying to capture classes out of the existing pool of practicing yogis and yoginis.

Just how you go about approaching these types of organizations is something that we go into detail about in our Yoga In Chairs teacher training intensives and the materials for the at-home training program.

5) Enjoy having loyal students.

There are many reasons why chair yoga students will be more loyal to you than students in your more traditional classes.

It is likely that they were introduced to yoga by you or by the leadership of the group they are in. Since they never had a notion to seek out yoga before, they will be much less inclined to look for alternative teachers in your area. Plus, as has already been noted, they probably don't have many other chair yoga programs to turn to, even if they wanted to have choices.

If you take the class to the students it is of course easy for them to participate every time you are there.

Most of your chair yoga customers will be mature people who know the value of being considered reliable. This means that when they make a commitment to participate in a program, they likely will follow through.

In fact, Liz' students typically call or email her if they are not able to come to class for some reason. She, in turn, contacts them if she notices they were absent from class, especially if it is longer than a few weeks. By simply staying in touch in an unobtrusive way she retains more students.

If you are a yoga instructor and you aren’t already teaching chair yoga, you are encouraged to do so. Not only will you have more classes to teach, but also you will be making a REAL difference in the world.

Mark Franklin enjoys telling people about Liz Franklin's Yoga In Chairs® because he knows it is helping people live healthier, happier, and longer lives. If you are a yoga teacher and you want to find out how you can build your practice while doing some REAL good in the world teaching chair yoga, visit http://www.yogainchairs.com/teacher.asp