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By Bhavan Kumar Many athletes turn to yoga to provide a balance to their usual vigorous and demanding workout routines. Yoga training gives athletes' muscles and ligaments the necessary stretching that they need after intense work. Postures help prevent soreness, strain or injury. Power yoga combines the best of both worlds by giving athletes a more intense, cardio-based workout combined with the stretching and lengthening of muscles. In addition to the physical aspects, physically challenging classes help athletes work on focus and concentration through breathing and meditative practice. Power yoga teachers can pinpoint some key areas of the body to work on to give students a satisfying workout.

The unique needs of athletes, at the pro level, are diversified. Yoga for professional athletes is an alternative path to incorporate...

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed With the advent of the warmer weather, many Yogis and Yoginis incorporate a diversity of outdoor athletic activities into their fitness regime. Some of these activities may include rock climbing, mountain biking and hiking. Other popular summertime activities are swimming, jogging and tennis. According to sports physiologists, it is important for an athlete to cross-train because by engaging in a variety of different sporting activities, he or she will strengthens different muscles groups in the body. Additionally, by becoming involved in a competitive sport, an individual will experience a clear sense of purpose and will easily formulate a set of concrete fitness goals to strive towards.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed Summer is often the time of year when many of us pursue a variety of outdoor athletic activities. The balmy weather entices many Yogis and Yoginis to engage in a diversity of outdoor recreational sports including bicycling, rock climbing, swimming, and running. The abundance of available outdoor athletic activities is almost endless during the warmer months of the year. However, so is the potential for sports-related injuries, such as torn Achilles tendons, shoulder sprains and lower back injuries.

By Faye Martins On any given day, Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat might be standing on his hands with his knees tucked behind his armpits and his big toes touching. He's practicing Crow Pose, a yoga posture, as part of his rigorous training program that enables him to be a top player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Why do he and other athletes, such as Eli Manning of the New York Giants, practice yoga?

Ever since you decided to become a yoga instructor, you've dreamed of teaching a full class of athletic students. Now that you have them, you're concerned about safety and you want your students to have the best possible experience in your classes.

By Faye Martins How can yoga help young athletes? The American Heart Association recommends that all kids ages two and over participate in at least 30 minutes of medium-intensity physical activity every day. Children enjoy physical activity, and many get involved in competitive sports, but more and more, parents and whole families are coming to see the value of cooperative activities. Yoga helps children increase balance and body awareness, and relieves social pressure from trying to "win."

By Faye Martins If you teach or work in a yoga school, it may be hard to believe that some people only want physical benefits from one's practice. Yet, the public seems to only know that Hatha yoga training is often mentioned as a system to bring one's physical body into balance. Obviously yoga is much more than a physical exercise, but systems, such as Pilates have sprouted to address the needs of athletes who didn't have a desire for the mental, spiritual, or emotional benefits of yoga. Competitive athletes are certainly the more likely candidates to injure muscles and joints, but anyone can receive an injury.

By Faye Martins How can yoga help young athletes? The American Heart Association recommends that all kids ages two and over participate in at least 30 minutes of medium-intensity physical activity every day. Children enjoy physical activity, and many get involved in competitive sports, but more and more, parents and whole families are coming to see the value of cooperative activities. Yoga helps children increase balance and body awareness, and relieves social pressure from trying to "win."

By Jenny Park Ever since you decided to become a yoga instructor, you've dreamed of teaching a full class of athletic students. Now that you have them, you're concerned about safety and you want your students to have the best possible experience in your classes. Below are five tips that you may want to pass on to your students.

Power yoga combines the traditional yoga practices of Ashtanga, Vinyasa, and Tristhana. Ashtanga refers to performing a specific series...

By Kimaya Singh Our children live in challenging times, and teaching them how to build a peaceful world is at least as important as passing tests and being good athletes. We must teach them how to work together, resolve problems, accept differences, and take care of their bodies and their environment. We also need to teach them social skills like compassion, anger-management, and empathy. Yoga teacher training graduates, who work with children, are likely to see many changes in education in the near future.

By Rachel Holmes Teaching yoga is a great way to maintain your healthy body, and it also would be a great way to relieve stress by relaxing in certain body positions. Your dream may be to teach yogic methods, but you have to know how to choose a yoga teacher training course that matches your needs, and there are several to choose from. You may want to work with children, athletes, seniors, or you might want to be involved in teaching people who have ailments as a form of therapy.

By Faye Martins When you attend a 200-hour yoga certification course, you are often trained to work with athletic types. After a yoga instructor begins teaching, he or she addresses the most common health problems. Sooner, or later, an instructor will have a student who is a diabetic. If you didn't cover special populations and ailments in your foundational teacher training, it's no problem, but now is the time to work on your continuing education. Just so we're clear, continuing education is part of keeping your mind active for life and there is no one course with all the answers to the puzzles of life.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed Practicing Yoga poses on a regular basis is a very effective way to keep your body strong, toned and limber. If you actively participate in a sport or athletic activity that utilizes a certain group of muscles on a repetitive basis, practicing Yoga asanas will keep those muscles strong, flexible and in correct alignment with the rest of your body. This will help to prevent sports-related injuries. For instance, if you are an avid tennis player, you may find that your shoulders, neck, legs, and even your elbows (hence the proverbial tennis elbow problem) begin to become tight and strained due to over use.

By Faye Martins Hot yoga studios have recently begun springing up all over the United States. This new trend in yoga might seem puzzling to some who suffer through humid summers and working outdoors, but practitioners swear by it. The idea behind yoga in a heated room is that the body is more flexible when it is already warm, an idea substantiated by the millions of athletes who begin their practices or games by warming up. Bikram style is a form of hot yogic exercise, which gets a jump on warm-ups by heating the room to 105 degrees Fahrenheit and infusing it with 40 percent humidity. Some practitioners liken the experience to practicing asana in a sauna.

By Gopi Rao During Yoga teacher training, many interns daydream about working with athletes, but what about muscular imbalances caused by a sport? The fact is: A Yoga teacher will spend just as much time nurturing students with a musculoskeletal imbalance as he or she will with a couch potato.

By Seema Deshpande Practicing yoga, either in the form of yoga postures, pranayama or meditation, has innumerable benefits. Consistent practice of yoga can help one stay fit both physically and emotionally. In addition, yoga has the potential to improve one's spiritual quotient as well. In comparison to other forms of exercises, such as strenuous gym exercises, practicing safe yoga has relatively lower risks, and can be tailored to suit the needs of various people - young or old, healthy or physically weak, normal or athletes. Yoga can be performed by anybody and everybody.

By Seema Deshpande Practising yoga consistently can be extremely rewarding. Yoga can be practised in various forms such as pranayama or breathing exercises, meditation, and yogasanas or yoga postures. Furthermore, yoga can be practised by anyone - young or elderly, athlete or a normal person-yoga can be suitably modified to match everyone's need. While yoga can improve your physical and mental fitness significantly, research studies are being conducted to study the effectiveness of yoga in preventing and/or treating various physical and psychological disorders. In this research article, we will see whether yoga can lower blood sugar level in diabetic people.

By Gopi Rao How can we protect the knees of our students during class time? Knees are one of the most vulnerable parts of the human anatomy. No matter what type of fitness regimen you choose, the knees will often take a beating. Very few sports spare the vulnerable knee, and it is common to see all kinds of athletes, including runners, tennis players, and dancers wearing knee stabilizers.