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Relaxation meditation provides a great deal of stress reduction and can be used as a quick 2 minute relax and refresh break almost anywhere.

Yoga students may be able to reach these states naturally. Others will need a great deal of patience and guidance from you as their teacher. By focusing on asanas that promote relaxation, practicing meditation and incorporating Yoga Nidra into the routine, stressed out students will find it much easier to obtain the deep state of relaxation they are longing for.

By Ntathu Allen Are you interested in yoga? Has your partner recently started yoga lessons? Maybe your doctor has suggested you take up yoga as a form of stress management. Yoga, is a holistic health care system. It consists of a series of yoga stretches, known as asanas or poses, meditation techniques, breathing exercises and relaxation. Together, these techniques give your body a complete overhaul and calms and clears your mind. At the end of a yoga lesson you are blissed out, chilled and relaxed.

By Kimaya Singh Can yoga improve your eyesight? It may be surprising, but with persistence and patience, eyesight can be drastically improved through the therapeutic use of yoga. Steadily, more and more yoga practitioners are using yoga to improve eyesight. Around the world, myopia, or nearsightedness, and hyperopia, farsightedness, have become epidemics in the past years, as well as other eye problems. Over 70 million Americans suffer from myopia alone, or about 25% of adult Americans. One of the main keys to improving eyesight with yoga is to have a relaxed state of mind. Relaxation, eye cleansing, simple eye exercises and meditation can all improve vision and treat eyesight defects drastically. One thing that is also necessary is to abandon all the preconceived notions about how eyesight works. Much of how of this process works is not only in the eyes, but in the brain. Many people also tend to abuse their eyes by straining, squinting and overuse of the television and computers. Focusing on anything for too long is dangerous to the eyesight.

Below are three Yoga relaxation variations. If you want to become a Yoga teacher, it is wise to be familiar with them because they serve...

Yoga instructors should teach relaxation techniques and relaxing pranayama techniques that will induce sleep. We teach this in Yoga...

First yoga helps teens de-stress. Between academic pressure and the social jungle that is Junior and Senior High School, teen lives are extremely stressful. There is a significant amount of peer pressure. They have to make decisions which impact the rest of their lives. Their schedules are filled to overfull with school, sports, part-time jobs and a social life. Their hormones are completely out of balance most of the time. Yoga helps teens deal with all of these challenges. It teaches them to look inward for inspiration, to connect with themselves. Furthermore, it provides training in relaxation techniques and breathing exercises which promote calm and stimulate the relaxation response.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed. During the frenetic pace of the holiday season, you will probably find that many of your Yoga students are desperately in need of a dedicated period of time at some point during their week when they can simply just relax. Although many traditional cultures value periods during which they have leisure time to dedicate to socializing with others, creating art or beautifying their environment, our current culture tends to more highly value being busy, constantly multi-tasking and getting financially and professionally ahead of the proverbial eight ball.

By Faye Martins Yoga has been shown to alleviate stress and help relieve tension for centuries. However, it has become apparent in more recent years how beneficial yogic methods can be for eliminating problems associated with insomnia. There are a variety of reasons that yogic practices can help you sleep better. One of the most prominent reasons is related to the relaxation techniques that are a major part of yoga training sessions. These techniques help people who practice yoga to relax and let go of tension, which helps them get to sleep easier and sleep soundly for longer periods of time.

The connective tissues in the body often hold surgical trauma and emotional bracing. Yin Yoga postures are very effective for releasing some of this deeply held fear and tension, by undoing the physical constriction in the body and washing away some of the anxious thoughts in the mind, in a safe and effective manner. The deep sense of relaxation and release that comes from a practice of Yin Yoga will help to further support you during your cancer recovery process, which is understandably a very challenging and difficult time for most Yoga practitioners.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed. We often her that Yoga benefits cancer patients, but how does this happen? For those of us who are regular Yoga practitioners, and who are facing a cancer diagnosis, maintaining a daily or weekly Yoga practice can help to engender a sense of normalcy and promote self-care during a very difficult time period in your life. This is particularly true if you are accustomed to practicing several times a week, in order to generate energy, balance and well-being. However, if you are undergoing treatment for cancer, you may find it difficult to do the same kind of Yoga practice that you are used to doing for months, or even years to come.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 Everybody knows that Yoga relaxes the body and increases flexibility, but is it enough to keep the body fit? According to some Yogis, the answer is: "yes." Strength can be developed by holding postures for 20 seconds or longer. Yoga styles that hold postures for minutes, will develop strength levels in their students, without an increase in body weight. In contrast, flowing styles, such as Vinyasa Yoga, develop flexibility and strength through repetitive movement.

By Natalie Clee Vinyasa refers to a series of yoga movements synchronized with the breath. The poses flow with rhythmic variations through each inhalation and exhalation. The breathing style used is called Ujjayi, which is a relaxed diaphragmatic breath with the sound coming from the back of the throat like the sound of the ocean. Vinyasa and Ujjayi together create internal heat, which purifies the body through increased oxygen, circulation and sweat. This breath helps take in fresh oxygen, build energy, and clear toxins from the body. Ujjayi is also said to aide in self - awareness and staying grounded and present during your practice, which is also helpful during meditation. Improved circulation can help ward off illness and aide in recovery of sickness and repair of injury.

By Faye Martins When we teach yoga classes, what are our students taking home with them? Do some students see it only as an exercise? Yoga has exploded into a popular fitness trend, around the world, for the past two decades. Well known for its relaxation and breathing techniques, yoga as a way of life has spread like fire through studios across the world and into gyms, fitness clubs, senior centers and even public schools. There are many different styles and techniques, with each style focusing on a specific emphasis that tends to characterize it. Ashtanga vinyasa yoga, for example, is a practice that highlights the physical challenges of yoga whereas Iyengar is a slower version of Hatha that allows practitioners to concentrate on pose mastery and yogic philosophy.

By Faye Martins Over the past decade, yoga has exploded in popularity. Some people use yoga as a way to stay in shape. Others use it as a method for relaxing and relieving stress. No matter where you live, there is a good chance there is a yoga class going on nearby. If you are a yoga instructor, there are many ways to go about passing on your knowledge to the people in your class. Let's take a look at some tips that deal with how to teach yoga students:

Through yoga, children learn to be aware of their own body and natural breathing. By way of the yoga postures, called asanas, presented trough imitating animals, objects and forms, they practice concentration and physical discipline in a fun way. They also learn mudras, mantras and pranayama, which are great tools for mental concentration and relaxation.

By Faye Martins Over the past decade, yoga has exploded in popularity. Some people use yoga as a way to stay in shape. Others use it as a method for relaxing and relieving stress. No matter where you live, there is a good chance there is a yoga class going on nearby. If you are a yoga instructor, there are many ways to go about passing on your knowledge to the people in your class. Let's take a look at some tips that deal with how to teach yoga students:

By Gopi Rao What is the true purpose of restorative yoga? If you are someone who suffers from constant fatigue and illness, then restorative Yoga might be for you. Restorative Yoga will help you relax completely which will boost your immune system. It is a great stress reliever for those times in your life when you are pushed to your limits.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 Yogic music can be exhilarating, uplifting, inspiring, or gentle and soothing. There are advantages and disadvantages to listening to music during your own practice or while teaching a Yoga class. Some types of music, such as rock and roll or rhythm and blues, may invigorate your practice or class or may become a distraction to the dharana or one-pointed focus of the practice. On the other hand, music that is gentle, ambient, and soothing may add a mystical and relaxing element to a Yoga training session, but it may also dampen or calm the energy of the practitioners down too much if this type of music is played at an inappropriate time during a class.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 How important are class sequencing skills for teachers? There are many ways to sequence Yoga classes. The placement of particular pranayama, asana, meditation, and relaxation techniques changes the experience for your students. Instructors, who attend a Yoga teacher training, which did not allow for creativity, are the most challenged, when students commonly leave due to boredom.