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By Kathryn Boland Yoga Rx: What does it mean and where is it going? Have you noticed that yoga is coming more into our Western culture's medical "mainstream"? Do you wonder where you might factor in, as a yoga instructor, in this trend? My father practiced for several decades as an orthopedic surgeon specializing in hands and shoulders. While in my 200 hour CYT training, I forwarded him an article about keeping the wrists safe in weight-bearing yoga postures.

By Kathryn Boland There I was, in my typical Tuesday night yoga class. We were warmed up and moving into some vigorous Warrior flows. Having been on my feet all day long, my quads whimpered for mercy as I bent deeper into Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose). Ok, true, maybe my alignment got a little sloppy as I backed off my deep bend slightly. The instructor, whom I looked up to highly (both as a student and a new, quite green instructor myself), came over and gave me a physical cue to deepen me in the posture. "They're watching you!" she whispered in my ear.

By Faye Martins There is so much information available about teaching yoga classes, but there is not much information about making a living. Some certification courses teach you everything about running a safe class, but they teach you nothing about finding a teaching position, private lessons, or the many opportunities outside of the yoga studios. Outside of Aura Wellness Center and Bikram's Yoga College of India, I don't know of any instructors who have learned anything about marketing or business. Teaching full-time requires instructors to be creative in their business plan.

By Kathryn Boland Do you see students practicing backbends in similar potentially dangerous ways? Do you have strategies for working against this - proactively and/or retroactively? Backbending has incredible benefits- contributing to strength-building, stretching out various muscles, and offering energy boosts. We're dealing with the spine, however, so the potential for significant damage is very real.

By Faye Martins In spite of Yoga's many benefits, not every pose is good for every person. In the case of glaucoma, an eye condition that causes increased pressure in the eyeball and can lead to gradual loss of vision, there is no clear-cut way for instructors to know which postures are safe. Danger is greatest for untreated glaucoma; risk may be minimal when it is properly treated.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 Not all of the styles mentioned in this series will be popular with every teacher, but the objective is to provide you with a variety of options. Some of them will be extremely physical and some will be less taxing on the body. Power Yoga: Many things come to mind when we hear these, but the roots of this style are usually related to Ashtanga Yoga. This is not always the case, but more often, than not, Power Yoga is a physical offshoot of Ashtanga.

By Gopi Rao Sometimes we refer to our instinctive wisdom as "gut feelings." Maybe we don't know why we feel the way we do or how we know the answer to a question. We just do. Some of us chalk it up to instinct or a sixth sense while others discount the phenomenon altogether. Could there be a scientific explanation? The answer may be the vagus nerve, a physical link to the mind-body connection.

By Kathryn Boland A summer or two ago I was browsing a local newspaper and saw an advertisement for a $5 sunset yoga class on the beach. Everything in that description appealed to me, so I penciled it right into my calendar. When I arrived at the small local beach for the class, however, there was nary a yoga mat in site. I asked a few beach-goers if they knew anything about the class - if it was perhaps farther down the beach, or had changed to another day of the week or time of night. No better idea from anyone.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed Many students of Yoga come to the practice with a wide array of habits that they wish to change or modify. Habits that dim our internal light may range from not managing our time well to negative thinking patterns. Some practitioners may even struggle with drug or alcohol addiction. Addictions to any substance, person or experience outside of us are often employed to numb physical or emotional pain; learning to regularly use the many tools that Yoga offers can be a very effective way of changing harmful and dimming mental and physical habits.

By Faye Martins Yogic methodology is sometimes referred to as a solution to all problems, but with laws as they are, many yoga instructors are careful not to over promise. Yoga teacher training web sites constantly warn instructors about making unrealistic promises that we can't deliver. What we can morally promise is reduced pain and prevention.

By Faye Martins How much do you really know about the inner workings of your shoulders in yoga training? It's important that anatomy be covered within every teacher training course. If there is so much emphasis on asana in the physical styles, it would be natural for instructors to know exactly how the body works, its limitations and how to modify asanas for people with ailments.

By Gopi Rao Becoming a teacher of yoga is a type of conundrum. The yoga path tends to attract those of an introverted nature. Often the thoughtful seekers delve into yoga for a personal pursuit and then become enchanted with the process and want to share what they have learned.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed Creating healthy habits can be difficult for many of us. Establishing a regular time to practice Yoga is one of the primary keys to benefiting fully from this ancient system of physical postures, pranayama exercises and meditation techniques. For instance, engaging in a thirty-minute practice several times a week, or even daily, will benefit you much more fully than a longer Yoga practice of two hours or more, once in a blue moon. When I was first starting to practice Yoga on a consistent basis, I didn't believe that this was true! I would wonder to myself why a practice that is 2 to 3 hours in length, once a week, would not benefit me more fully than a 30-minute practice on a daily basis?

By Faye Martins What doctors should know about yoga is obvious? New research and studies take place everyday. Yoga is being studied more and more, following an explosion of interest in it over the last ten years. As a result, experienced practitioners feel gratified that their claims of derived benefits have been and will continue to be substantiated by science. However, not everyone in the medical community is on board, and there are a few things to keep in mind when talking to doctors about yoga.

By Kathryn Boland Many people set New Year's Resolutions with optimism and a good plan in place. Some of the most common are to lose weight, quit smoking or drinking alcohol, or even to improve one's relationships with loved ones and/or friends. Unfortunately, however, come February, several of these individuals find themselves struggling to keep with their resolutions - and their best intentions are left behind, to return to business as usual, not long after.

By: Virginia Iversen Warrior I is one of the fundamental standing poses of any Yoga practice. This pose is very grounding and invigorating. If Warrior I is taught and practiced correctly by your students, they will feel more focused, confident and stronger after practicing a vigorous sequence of Yoga asanas that includes a series of Warrior poses. With apt instruction, your students will be able to move into Warrior II and Warrior III from Warrior I Pose with little difficulty. As their practice progresses, they will also be able to move fluidly from a series of Warrior poses into Half Moon Pose and Eagle. Both of these poses are particularly nice to move into from Warrior III.

By Faye Martins The ancient practice of yoga, which dates back more than 5,000 years, improves skeletal health through skillful selection and consistent application of a variety of exercises. Yoga poses for skeletal health are chosen for their ability to improve posture, increase flexibility and relieve skeletal system tensions. Yoga assists in maintaining bone density. It also helps minerals that are stored in the bones, as well as the blood cells produced in bone marrow, to be released to the bloodstream for the body's use as needed.

By Sangeetha Saran Chances are you learned plenty about the use of props during your Yoga teacher training, but some of your students might have objections. You've tried to explain the value of good alignment, but many of those same students just don't seem to get it. Let's go over why props are essential and more than a mere marketing gimmick.

By Faye Martins According to Duke Integrative Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, the quickest-growing segment of the American population consists of seniors over the age of 65, and many of these are turning to Yoga to stay mentally and physically fit. Considering the fact that statisticians expect the number of these seniors to double to 80 million by 2050, there is obviously a need for Yoga instructors trained to work with older students.

Just to begin with yoga this is enough capsule :)