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By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 Vinyasa is a popular form of Yoga that, in the West, is characterized by movement - both while in an asana and when moving between two asanas. The breath initiates all movement in a Vinyasa Yoga class, resulting in a beautiful slow flow. Here are seven things that teachers of Vinyasa Yoga must know:

By Jenny Park As much as the world is growing technologically, alternative medicine is equally improving. Initially yoga was created to be more of a spiritual practice, but many studies have shown that the physical techniques help in healing the body and mind. Additionally, Yoga asanas are significant in promoting spinal health and improving skeletal alignment. In order to achieve maximum results, students must look for a well-trained instructor to take them through a typical class. Therapeutic techniques have made this practice very useful in the daily lives for millions of people around the world.

By Asha Saith The word yoga has been a part of my existence since I was a child. My mother employed the exercises for an injury to her spine and my grandmother, noting the benefits started Yoga in her forties and was able to achieve an unassisted headstand in her fifties! For me personally, I do Yoga classes because I leave each class feeling good - rejuvenated and relaxed and also recharged - and ready to face whatever life has in store for me. In my humble opinion this mental state is a strong contributor to good health.

By Kimaya Singh Yoga can be a wonderful tool for supporting you in your weight loss efforts. Many of the standing Yoga poses are very strengthening and vigorous. When you learn how to enter more deeply into the postures, in correct alignment, you will greatly increase the beneficial effects of the practice. Yogic standing postures increase balance, coordination, flexibility and strength. Each Yoga posture targets different areas of the body. Engaging in a regular practice of standing Yoga postures that are linked together by a series of Sun Salutations will enliven and invigorate you. It will also strengthen all of the major muscle groups in your body, keep your spine strong and flexible, and enhance the circulation of fresh blood and nutrients throughout your entire being.

By Sangeetha Saran Often times, our hamstrings are tight from many of the athletic activities we engage in. From the repetitive action of aerobics to skiing and running to cycling, our hamstrings tighten and shorten over time. There are a number of Yoga asanas that will keep your hamstrings strong and flexible. Maintaining flexibility in your hamstrings is important because you are much less likely to sustain an injury in your hamstring area or lower back area. Flexible and strong hamstring muscles will also help you to keep your spine in an easy, optimal alignment as you move through the course of your daily activities.

By Faye Martins Vinyasa Yoga takes the idea of flowing breath and synchronicity to a new level. Movement is literally synchronized to each breath, and it is oftentimes called Flow Yoga because of how well it corresponds to every inhale and exhale. This technique, or term, is oftentimes used in all types of Yoga, and teaching it effectively is key to seeing success in your students. Since Vinyasa Yoga can be taught in multiple forms, using it in your classes helps you develop them better and more effectively. Use these tips to start teaching Vinyasa Yoga more effectively.

By Dr. Rita Khanna To live in peace and harmony, without being thrown out of balance by the ups and downs of life is really not so hard and yet not so easy though it is the aim of every living being. From a Yogic perspective this means to live life fully, to flow with life and to accept whatever life brings, rather than fighting against life and the circumstances that we live in. Yoga, as an age-old system, has always been a practical science of living which teaches us the tools for a balanced, harmonious life. It is a system which explains the functioning of the human mind and the various levels of consciousness with the aim of unfolding the dormant potential in everyone.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed. In an ideal world, the idea of practicing Yoga solicits feelings of calm equipoise, energy and vibrant health. However, for many people the idea of practicing Yoga in the context of a structured class can bring up feelings of apprehension and fear. There may be any number of reasons for this apprehension. Some of these reasons include being physically or emotionally fragile. This sense of being physically fragile can come from being injured or in the process of healing from a surgical procedure.

A cancer registry is the cancer cases which are registered in a population or specific country. In whole world mortality rate due to cancer is 20%. In USA cancer is the second largest disease of causing death after heart disease. Recently in 2016 estimated that 595,690 people die from this disease according to cancer statistics of National Cancer Institute USA.

By Faye Martins Vinyasa Yoga takes the idea of flowing breath and synchronicity to a new level. Movement is literally synchronized to each breath, and it is oftentimes called Flow Yoga because of how well it corresponds to every inhale and exhale. This technique, or term, is oftentimes used in all types of Yoga, and teaching it effectively is key to seeing success in your students. Since Vinyasa Yoga can be taught in multiple forms, using it in your classes helps you develop them better and more effectively. Use these tips to start teaching Vinyasa Yoga more effectively.

By Kathryn Boland Do you teach in settings where higher-ups frown upon, perhaps even prohibit, physical cueing? Do you sometimes struggle to find alternate ways to help your students achieve safe and optimally beneficial postures? Such cases will be increasingly common in settings like hospitals, mental health care institutions, memory care units, jails, and substance abuse rehabilitation sites. In these settings, physical cueing may very well trigger students who have experienced trauma, or be misunderstood by those in compromised mental states.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed If you are coping with a cancer diagnosis, remember that you are not alone! Unfortunately, the incidence of cancer has risen dramatically over the last fifty years. By some estimates, one in two people will be affected by cancer at some point in their lives, as opposed to one in twenty people fifty years ago. This increase in the incidence of cancer is quite daunting. So, if you are a Yoga practitioner and you are facing a cancer diagnosis, you are clearly not the only one. However, even if you are not alone, dealing with cancer can be very overwhelming and incredibly upsetting.

By Amruta Kulkarni, CYT 500 More than twenty years ago, I was attending a yoga teacher training and the guru who organized it stated that there was too much emphasis on anatomy in typical instructor intensives. Yoga instructors see a wide range of students over the course of the week. Many of these students arrive either mildly or heavily out of shape, hoping their yoga practice will aid them in sloughing off extra weight while reshaping their lifestyle into something healthier. We also see a lot of students who are in amazing shape. These students lead generally active lives and practice yoga as part of their emotional or spiritual health. With some of these students, I suffer from body envy; their well-sculpted shoulders are strong and flexible. But I also find many of them struggle with shoulder pain, and they practice yoga in hopes of easing the effects of old injuries.

By Faye Martins How can yoga improve heart health. In recent years, yoga has become one of the most popular ways to stay fit in the modern world. Yoga originated, in India, as a form of physical and mental health maintenance, in hopes of attaining total peace. However, you do not have to be a guru to experience the many health benefits of a yoga routine.

By Faye Martins What can Yoga do for chronic back pain? From a point of pure speculation, it might be a fair guess to assume that 10% of the world's population is affected by back pain. However, let's look at the statistics in just one country. Back pain is something that impacts more than 31 million Americans in a year's time, according to the American Chiropractic Association, and a study conducted in 2010 called the Global Burden of Disease, which determined that lower back pain is a leading cause for missed days at work. The majority of cases noted in this study were not caused by infections or disorders, whether metabolic or degenerative, but rather by mechanical problems like severe physical trauma.

By Kimaya Singh It has long been discussed, in the medical and yogic communities, that yoga can help to reduce the levels of stress in the body, and the good news is that this can potentially lead to a reduction in body weight as well. Lower stress can lead to lower levels of cortisol, a hormone found in the body that is secreted from the adrenal glands. When our bodies are stressed, extra cortisol is released into the blood stream, and for a short period of time, this can be beneficial to the body. It can provide increased energy, increased immunity, as well as lower the body's sensitivity to pain. However, over time, if the body is experiencing chronic stress, too much cortisol is produced, and the balance of the body can be jeopardized.

By Kathryn Boland Do you notice how 99 percent of the time in yoga asana practices; we seek to make right angles (90 degrees) in one to many locations in the body? Do you find yourself often cueing your students towards this structure? Just like with buildings, square structure adds stability. A main reason for this is basic physics: when something is slanted, gravity can exert greater force on it. In the body, that means greater muscular force must counteract that force - or one falls to the ground.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 What is unbalanced praise in a Yoga class? If you teach classes, you may have learned about "unbalanced praise" in Yoga teacher training; but let's go over the basics. Essentially, unbalanced praise is favoritism when one student is praised, above all others, by the teacher. There is a flaw in this method in that the teacher does not see the big picture.

By Kathryn Boland Have you experienced trials with the business of modern Western yoga? Have you seen yoga instructors facing such trials? Did you support them? Were you supported? In most locations, more yoga instructors are being trained in, and interested in, teaching than there are available teaching opportunities. The result is a market oversaturated with teachers.

By Kimaya Singh Like any workplace, yoga studios must always have policies in place for dealing with harassment problems of a sexual, verbal, or physical nature. These policies should be made available to every yoga teacher and student that participates in classes at the studio. Having these policies already written out and readily available will ensure that appropriate action is taken swiftly if a harassment issue does occur between teachers or students at the yoga studio. If a problem does arise during yoga practice, the policies in place will ensure they can be handled efficiently, quickly, and legally. Every yoga studio should have some concrete policies in place to avoid confusion and disorder when dealing with harassment situations.