Tips Guides

An empty stomach - Yoga pays a lot of emphasis on core conditioning. Hence it is a good idea not to eat a heavy meal a couple of hours before your Yoga class. It will only leave you feeling stuffed and may even result in indigestion or stomach cramps. If you’ve decided to indulge in a heavy meal just before your class, consider skipping the class instead.

Reach a couple of minutes early
Yoga is not just another workout. It is a form of exercise that places a great deal of emphasis on centering yourself and breath-control. If you rush in at the last minute, gasping for breath, you are defeating the entire purpose behind practicing Yoga. Instead, try to reach a couple of minutes early, take a few deep breaths, calm the mind and empty your mind of all extraneous distractions.

Warm up
Like any other form of exercise, warming up plays an important role in Yoga too. Warming up ensures that you are able to perform the many stretching exercises that are a part of Yoga without straining your muscles.

Take your time
Do not allow your Yoga class to become a race to the finish line. It is more important to take the time to breathe properly while properly performing the various postures and remain centered at all times. You do not have to keep up with the rest of the class.

Quality is better than quantity
All the different Yoga postures have a specific purpose. Performing an exercise half-heartedly or not performing it properly completely negates the benefits of the exercise. Take the time to learn the various postures properly and ensure that you perform them in the correct manner.

Do not proceed on auto pilot
Yoga is not like running on the treadmill. You cannot watch television and perform Yoga at the same time. Yoga seeks to bring the mind and body in harmony with each other. This can only happen when you fully concentrate on each and every exercise.

Shut out the outside world
A Yoga class is your opportunity to shut out the outside world and recharge your mind and body. Leave all your worries outside the Yoga class and concentrate on performing the postures correctly. Live in the moment and for the duration of your class let your thoughts dwell only on your body and how the exercise is making you feel.

Breathe
It is easy to lose track of your breathing techniques while performing Yoga postures. Do not let this happen. Focus on your breathing and ensure that you are inhaling and exhaling as taught. Breath control is an important part of Yoga and skipping it will nullify all the beneficial effects of Yoga.

Do not overstrain
Yoga is not a competition. You do not have to compete with anyone else or yourself. If you get tired or feel pain, stop and rest until you feel better. If you feel continuous pain while holding a posture, inform your instructor. You may be doing something wrong.

Relax
Ultimately, Yoga is about relaxation and peace. Once the exercises are over, lie down with your eyes closed and feel your entire body relax itself. Let the mind also revel in this brief period of relaxation instead of making mental notes of the things you have to do after your Yoga class.

Kevin Pederson, webmaster for Yoga Wiz, your online guide for Benefits of Yoga, Power Yoga, Yoga Poses and Massage Therapy Yoga is an ancient form of exercise and everyday people are sharing their wonderful experiences and tips on health benefits of Yoga.

Let’s face it: a lot of people have a severe misunderstanding of yoga. For every one person who knows how effective yoga can be in maintaining a positive outlook, improving posture and digestion, staying in good health, and maintaining a high level energy just to get you through the day, there are probably a dozen skeptics who think it is all just new age baloney.

Maybe we can’t convince everybody that yoga is much more than ineffective hippie stuff, but if we can summarize the concept of the traditional yoga culture real quick, it might just be a start.

A Brief History of Yoga

It’s not clear exactly when the practice of Yoga first began in India, but it may have been as early as 3300 BC.

There are five major branches in yoga: Raja, Hatha, Jnana, Bhakti and Karma, but Hatha yoga is probably the only one we really need to discuss in relation to health and fitness.

Yogi Swatmarama, a fifteenth century Indian sage, developed Hatha yoga as a way to prepare oneself for intense meditation, by first subjecting oneself to intensive physical training. Whether or not a person’s end goal is enlightenment, the physical benefits of the practice have proven to be effective.

Yoga for Weight Loss

Even if you believe in the potential yoga has to keep your body healthy, you may still be asking “Is yoga really all that effective in helping one to lose weight?”

Let’s start by saying that Hatha yoga is an intensive, low impact exercise, involving lots of stretching and conditioning that helps the blood flow more smoothly, and which aids in healthy digestion.

One of the main goals of yoga is to maintain the intestinal organs in order to improve digestion and minimize the amount of undigested food or waste in our bodies without having to resort to invasive cleansing routines.

A low-intensity yoga session will not burn as many calories as other workouts. An average woman may burn 150 calories in a one-hour Hatha yoga session and 300 calories from walking briskly for one hour. Ashtanga Yoga and Power Yoga, on the other hand, will burn about 300 calories per hour and Vinyasa Yoga (also known as flow yoga) can burn even more.

If you are just starting out with Yoga and plan to keep your routine slow and steady to start, the quickest way you are going to see weight loss results is to combine your yoga practice with a healthy diet plan and an aerobic exercise.

Still, it’s important to understand that weight loss is about a lot more than calories. Yoga can really give you a better relationship with your body, which can really help you on the weight loss journey. As you deepen your understanding of the way the mind and body relate to one another through a dedicated Yoga practice, don’t be surprised if your mindset and habits begin to change, which, in turn, can make it much easier for to make healthy changes in your body.

Why ARE Yogis so Thin?

One of the reasons yoga masters are so thin is generally because of their diet.

The traditional yogi diet is strictly vegetarian and free of caffeine, however, you can still learn how to eat well from yoga without becoming a monk. Here are some simple rules for those of us not willing to give up on hamburgers and coffee just yet:

The Yoga Diet for the Everyday Yogi

- Drink lots of water

- Eat lots of vegetables and fruit

- Eat spicy foods and red meat only in moderation

And that’s it. A healthier diet plus intensive Hatha workout sessions, and you are sure to see results, both in your body and your mind. If you want to ramp up your weight loss and calorie burning, try Power Yoga, which can give you an aerobic exercise, too.

Starting your Yoga Routine

What you’ll need to start yoga will be some comfortable clothes (nothing fancy, just some old sweats will do), and a mat. (Some yoga schools provide yoga mats.)

You can easily take a couple lessons and just practice yoga at home, but one of the greatest motivators for any exercise program is to be a part of a group, sharing knowledge with one another and pushing each other to really dedicate the time and energy it takes.

Jamie Jefferson writes for Momscape.com, where you can learn more about Yoga for Weight Loss and learn about diet recommendations.

Within the training, practice, and scriptures of Yoga are many treasures for humankind. How many people completely understand the Yogic path toward a trained mind? How many students of Hatha Yoga call their practice a workout?

It is true that physical mastery will be realized through the practice of Hatha Yoga, but the mental benefits are usually not realized within an exercise class. If a student is not made aware of the true value of mental attention during practice, the mind-training benefits will still trickle through. Let’s look at daily steps you can take to train, balance, and get the most, out of your mind.

Within Hatha Yoga, there are many aspects, which will improve your mind, but meditation is thought of as a chore by some students. The reason: People are not at peace with themselves. To be alone with oneself is sometimes seen as a prison sentence.

Instead, look at solitary time as a chance to meet an old friend. Meditation does not have to be a chore. You can read, write, pray, visualize, walk, or practice mantra while you meditate. Consider this: Meditation is a matter of constructively focusing the mind.

Meditation should never be something to worry about. Many beginner students, of Hatha Yoga, begin to judge themselves for not being able to concentrate. This is why so many Yoga teachers place meditation at the end of the lesson plan.

The teacher’s strategy is to let negative energy, stress, and tension out of the body by practicing asana, pranayama, mudra, mantra, and other methods. In this way, the student will fully experience the benefits of a complete Yoga practice.

To begin to train your mind, start with planning the next day on the night before. Make a list of what you will do on the following day. Please do not make this into a stressful thing. This does not have to be complicated.

Just a simple “to do” list with five to ten tasks for tomorrow, will be fine. Then, leave it where you sit at the kitchen table. In this way, you will separate yourself from those tasks, sleep easier, and avoid needless worrying.

Upon rising on the first morning, take the time to read, write, pray, visualize, walk, or practice mantra. Just one task will do for five to twenty minutes. If you want to go longer, that’s fine, but do not make it a chore.

This is the first of many days of practice toward training your mind for stability, balance, maximum output, and longevity. As you greet people throughout your day, show them compassion, understanding, and listen to them.

Control your words. Do not participate in harmful, negative, or intolerant conversations. This practice alone is a challenge for most of humanity, but it is worth it. The fruits of your effort will be the cultivation of a focused and trained mind.

Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center in, Attleboro, MA. To receive Free Yoga videos, Podcasts, e-Books, reports, and articles about Yoga, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/member-offer.html

Does Yoga have solutions for middle-aged spread? Are your knees, back, hips and shoulders begging for mercy? Restorative Yoga is a complete health maintenance system, and a low impact form of cross training, that will not cause premature wear in your joints.

Let’s be honest, have you noticed a spare tire around your mid-section? You could justify it by looking at teenagers. After all, it took you nearly 50 years to become overweight. Then, one day, you saw that spare tire in the mirror or a photograph.

Walking is a wonderful form of cross training, but if you carry a pedometer, you know that 10,000 steps per day is a “mission.” If your knees, ankles, plantar fascia, and Achilles tendons are fine, then an aggressive walking program will probably suit your body.

We have to do something, but this is not the time to abuse body parts. Walking is still a great form of exercise, but not to the point of pain. Luckily, Restorative Yoga is great for aches and pains. This is not a pass to abuse oneself with high impact exercise or over do it with excessive amounts of low impact exercise.

At middle age and beyond, everything is about moderation. In fact, moderation is a lifestyle for longevity. Restorative Yoga, walking, and a moderate diet are good additions for a complete health maintenance program.

“I don’t eat that much,” you say to yourself. The truth is - most people in middle age, often eat less than they ever did because we are much more aware of what we eat. An additional factor is that over eating is very uncomfortable.

Granted, there is always the exception to the rule. For instance: The “skinny guy,” who could always eat because of a quick burning metabolism, never seems to gain weight. The vast majority of us will notice our metabolism has slowed down.

According to Madelyn H. Fernstrom, Ph.D., the director of the Weight Management Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, “Your metabolism slows by 5 percent each decade. Compared to age 25, you’ll burn about 100 fewer calories a day at 35, and 200 fewer at 45. Do nothing and you could gain eight to 12 pounds a year.”

For most of us, this is a “warning bell.” We have to burn additional calories, but our joints must be treated like gold. Again, a gentle and restorative form of Yoga is a logical solution.

In general, everyone burns calories at a different rate from an identical activity. The most common reason cited for the difference in calories burned is body weight, but there are many factors to be considered, such as metabolism and body fat.

For the sake of comparison, let’s look at a gentle Restorative Yoga session and the calories burned over the course of one hour. You could do this, without breaking a sweat, on your living room floor - about an hour or two before bedtime. You could also walk to a local Yoga studio depending on its location.

A person who is 150 pounds would burn an average of 178 calories in one hour of Restorative Yoga practice. A larger person, who is 200 pounds, would burn an average of 238 calories in one hour. Generally speaking, the larger you are, the more calories burned. Lastly, keep in mind - this is a very gentle style of Yoga.

Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center in, Attleboro, MA. To receive Free Yoga videos, Podcasts, e-Books, reports, and articles about Yoga, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/member-offer.html

Would you like to learn the secret arts of Yoga? The real truth is - there is no secret to: “Study, practice, study more, and practice again.” Yoga is a lifelong journey, which for some Hatha Yoga students may start much like a gymnastic event. Then, over years of study, Yoga training evolves into self-realization and transformation. Below is a question and answer session, with a student, who is seeking to find the answers to the mysteries of Yoga and meditation.

Q: Is doing meditation by oneself safe?

A: Yes, meditation alone is fine, provided you receive some basic foundational instruction from a teacher or Guru. Books and DVD’s can also be very instructive. Please research the style of meditation before taking up the practice.

It should be noted that a student of meditation should preferably practice one style with one teacher long enough to understand the basics. Impatient beginners do too much hopping around from teacher to teacher.

Invest time in research and practice for ten to twenty minutes per day for a month. You could always practice longer, but beginners have a tendency to “burn themselves out.” Meditation is preventative medicine for a balanced mind.

Q: How can negative thinking be minimized?

A: The only way to keep negative thinking under control is to fill your mind with good thoughts. Mantra, japa, prayer, and positive affirmations will help. Instead of focusing your mind on what you should not be thinking, fill your mind with positive, happy, and compassionate thoughts. It is impossible to be a happy pessimist.

Q: Can I stay completely free from stress with Yoga?

A: No, stress is a part of life. Too much stress is not healthy and must be reduced. Every style of Yoga is capable of reducing stress levels. Please remember that moderate stress can be healthy, but overwhelming stress is potentially harmful.

Q: Are there any internal powers in our body?

A: Yes, there are internal powers within all of us. If you spend time with the right teacher, you can find it, and feel it, within the same lesson. For some students it may take longer, but your Yoga teacher is a helpful guide.

Q: How can we feel it and in how many days?

A: A feeling of empowerment without ego can easily be felt. There is no specific time frame for this process to take place. If time is a major concern, you should train under the guidance of a competent Yoga teacher or Guru. In this way, your teacher will guide you through the “learning curve.”

Q: Is there any spiritual link between meditation, Yoga, and God.

A: Yes, there is definitely a healthy spiritual link between meditation, Yoga, and God. Yoga is filled with information for spiritual health and growth. It is true that some people do not believe in the concept of God. In this case, spiritual growth will still be realized with regular practice.

Some Yoga teachers only address Asana for the physical body, but there is much more. All you have to do is continue your meditation practice, while putting the concepts of non-harming, compassion, patience, mindfulness, tolerance, and happiness into practice during your daily life.

Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center in, Attleboro, MA. To receive Free Yoga videos, Podcasts, e-Books, reports, and articles about Yoga, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/member-offer.html

I wanted to comment further about Yoga because I have been doing it for almost a week… twice a day and already feel a lot better about my progress. Although I still feel stiff and wake up stiff, I instantly get a loose feeling when I start a 15 minute workout.

I feel like I don’t have to worry about the majority of the women because they are probably already into yoga or would really like to be. The majority of the guys on the other hand probably think this is a waste of time and to feminine for them…

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The benefits of yoga are 3 fold -

1. Flexibility

This is obvious isn’t it. But this has to be talked about again… I know a little redudant. Flexibility will really benefit your body and weight training.

Let’s just put it this way. When I wake up in the morning and start my yoga routine, I bend over for the first time to touch my toes and the stiffness is incredible. I cannot wait for the morning when I bend down and with the ease of rubber band just flop right down.

That image and feeling that I dream of in my mind keeps me going big time. I am also really excited to see if this might be the missing step in my person weight training.

The greatest thing about flexibility and yoga is it is by far the greatest range of motion increaser out there. Whatever you may read, muscle down get longer… then just get back to moving the way they were meant to move.

We are all dysfuncitoned and yoga will cure this!

2. Breathing

I would easily consider this to be one of the most under appreciated techniques in fitness. Breathing can make the difference between getting that one extra rep or saving your head from blood pressure headaches.

Yoga is really cool in that sense because it teaches your to concentrate and control your breathing. It will actually a lot harder to do at first. Concentrating on breathing out and breathing in on direction is hard… especially when you are tired and start to break faster.

However in both yoga and weight training, breathing makes your body feel less restricted. It helps to relax your muscles and make them easier to move.

Learn to breathe and don’t underestimate the importance of it.

3. Mental Power

The ability to concentrate and keep your mind focused is huge. Focus will improve your performance not only in yoga but in weight training. Yoga is so great because if forces you to focus.

I can’t even imagine how I would let me mind wander during the routine. I am so present trying to make the different positions effective that I am always there. That is a good habit to form.

In the gym focusing on your exercise can make the difference between getting results and just going through the motions. Concentrating on the movements will actually help your muscle perform them better.

The power of the mind!

So don’t let the zen like image of yoga scare you away, or make you feel like you are going to be laughed at… once you practice it and improve you will become a preacher of yoga! The benefits are great for your weight training and just the range of motion increases are going to be out of this world.

Dan Boyle is a National Academy of Sports Medicine licensed personal trainer. He specializes in weight training, but understands the great benefit that Yoga presents to weight lifters. To learn more and get a free analysis, visit http://www.fitness-analyzer.com