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By Faye Martins In a perfect world, productivity would be at its maximum all hours of the workday, employees would feel clear-headed and motivated to wipe out their to-do lists during an eight-hour stretch, and people would save any emotional stress or physical weariness for when they stepped out of the office. The reality is that people get tired, productivity rises and falls throughout the day, and everyone hits a little afternoon slump where they would rather be napping than sitting at work.

By Rachel Holmes As anyone with experience practicing yoga can attest, the discipline does a lot to calm stress and anxiety, boost mood levels, reduce the symptoms of mild or seasonal depression, and possibly even aid the treatment of PTSD. But you don't have to take our word for it: a Harvard mental health study, published in 2009, supports all of these positive effects and more, highlighting the benefits of yoga for those suffering from anxiety and depression, the latter of which can be a major source of mood swings.

By Rachel Holmes Yoga is broadly recognized all over the world as a complementary system of health care and healing. Although yoga is an ancient discipline, having its origin in the Eastern countries and mainly in India, the benefits of yoga for all societies have been well recognized by now. Yoga is also a vast system of tools that helps its practitioners develop self-empowering abilities and abilities to cope with different situations in their daily lives in a creative and productive manner.

By Shalise Nichols At 28, I did my first yoga poses with the yoga deck. Within a month or so the asana/ affirmation combo caused shifts in my mindset and I realized I had work to do with yoga. While practicing I opened my mind to moments of quiet and reasoning, they were new and valuable. As I factored these into my daily life, I knew I had discovered gems, I wanted to teach children. Done, that was it, it was not a call. It was as certain as the sun.

By Bhavan Kumar The romance between yoga and your hinge joints is a bittersweet one. In addition to being very conscious of your knees, it is also imperative to be mindful of your elbows. Either of these complex hinge joints can easily be hyperextended, which can lead to injury and pain. Generally speaking, hyperextensions require rest to heal, which means that holding postures will be better for you than flowing through them. For teachers, this means recommending a student to the restorative class and advising him or her to avoid the vinyasa class. Additionally, postures that stress the elbows will not help the healing process.

By Kathryn Boland Do your students ask you questions, give you feedback, and share any physical or other concerns they may have in regards to practice? Do you wish they did that more often and/or in more depth, and wonder how you can encourage them to do so? Students know themselves - body, mind, and spirit - better than we instructors ever could. Yet they don't always know what to do with that knowledge.

By Amruta Kulkarni, CYT 500 How a yoga teacher chooses to guide and adjust a student depends greatly upon individual style, instruction, previous knowledge, and abilities. There are no particular rules about assisting, and it tends to be a gray area when discussing yoga instruction. Knowing when to physically assist a student is crucial to their experience and it should be done with care.

By Gopi Rao Sometimes mixing yoga and money can feel about as unlikely as mixing oil and water. Many begin their practice from a personal and spiritual level, which evolves into the desire to pursue yoga as a career. Making the transition from an inward pursuit to a moneymaking opportunity is tricky.

By Azahar Aguilar Responsibility rests on yoga instructors to look out for the student's safety before, during and after class. A safe teaching track record leaves you and your students confident and better able to focus on the practice. Established studio tracking methods as well as constant communication between teachers and students will create this type of caring environment.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed. Throughout the ages, there have been innumerable stories of individuals who faced their fears and surmounted unbelievable odds, in order to achieve their ultimate goals. These goals are far ranging. Some examples of courageous individuals who achieved their goals with courage and persistence are the first blind man to climb Mt. Everest and a veteran who is a certified Bikram Yoga instructor, even though he is a double amputee. In fact, Iyengar, who is credited with being one of the very first teachers to bring the practice to the west, healed himself of a disabling physical condition, through the rigorous and dedicated practice of Yoga postures.

By Bhavan Kumar Those who survive a traumatic experience are subjected to a long and difficult journey through life and the process of recovery. Whether this trauma is related to an accident, a war-related injury, emotional or physical abuse, or multiple important losses in life, it can be difficult to overcome. Additionally, it requires time and effort to put one's past in its place. Patients who have suffered from some form of physical or psychological trauma can benefit greatly from practicing yoga on a regular basis during their recovery process. Yoga has enormous healing benefits for both physical and psychological injuries, and many people find that they can effectively utilize the art of yoga to reclaim not only their body, but also their mind.

By Faye Martins How do we start to train the mind and body? Many people practice yoga for its fitness benefits. However, this ancient system of complete health maintenance should be comprehensive when we train the mind and body. If you take specified yoga teacher courses that focus on training the mind and body, then you can help your students obtain the complete art from their practice.

By Ishrattasleem Tasleem Research and clinical studies about Yogic therapy seem to indicate that the mind and body are connected with each other in a holistic way. In turn, yoga works to reduce suffering from mental distress, depression and anxiety, with daily practice. Everyone experiences feelings of stress and anxiety at times in his or her life. When the level of stress reaches the highest degree of tolerance, it pushes us into a state we call: "panic attacks."

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 Jenny Park One part of the anatomy section in a yoga teacher training program to watch closely is why the skeletal system is so important during asana practice. In short, our bodies are uniquely different and our skeletons are almost as unique as our finger prints. As we age, our bones naturally become stiff and brittle. This makes getting around more difficult and much more painful. It is a little known fact that yogic exercise benefits the skeletal system. Yoga practice, which includes many standing, balancing, and inverted poses, has been proven to increase the density of our bones.

By Dr. Rita Khanna 'Breath is life; hence the better we breathe the better we live.' Of course we all know this, but we don't bother much about it and don't care as often as necessary.' To breathe slowly is to prolong one's youth and one's life.' So say the Yogic texts which caution us to breathe as if, at birth, only a fixed and immutable number of breaths had been allotted to us. If this is so, then each slow breath we take preserves our precious respiratory credit balance and prolongs our existence.

By Faye Martins How much impact does yoga have on the recovery of cancer patients? Yoga is an art form that is greatly appreciated for its positive effects on the body. Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health are each enhanced through the practice of yoga and other holistic methods. Yoga is a calm and relaxing method of strengthening the body and ridding it of toxins, making it an ideal exercise for patients who have long-term or terminal illnesses. Cancer is a disease that is growing rapidly in today's world, but few know the benefits of yoga to cancer patients.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, YACEP How does Yoga decompress the spine? Our backbone is made up of vertebrae and intervertebral disks, which work as cushions between vertebrae. As time passes, and the aging process begins, these disks start to shrink and lose water content or fluid present in them. This is also the reason why people lose their height as they age.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed Downhill skiing can definitely be a challenging aerobic workout! The same is true for snowboarding, cross-country skiing and ice-skating. During the winter and early spring months, you may find that a number of your Yoga students are avidly participating in these sports. In order to help support your students enjoy and excel at these favorite winter activities, you may want to tailor your Yoga classes in such a way that the pace and poses that you choose are not only are physically strengthening, but also improve their cardiovascular fitness.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed It is the early part of the New Year, and many Yoga students may still ardently be in pursuit of losing the extra weight they have been carrying around for some time. Some students may even have begun a regular practice of Yoga in order to enhance and support their weight loss efforts. Many of the vigorously flowing forms of Yoga practices, such as Ashtanga and Power Yoga, help to dramatically increase strength by increasing muscle mass and in turn, boost one's metabolism.