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By Kimaya Singh Have you experienced neck and back pain after a long day of sitting at home or at work? In the modern era, as we have increased the amount of time we spend sitting at our computers at work or our televisions at home, we have inadvertently placed increasing amounts of strain upon the skeletal components in our necks and backs.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed. One definition of fear is to be anxious about an unpleasant or painful event that you feel is likely to happen in the future. For instance, if you are pursuing your Yoga teacher certification, you may be afraid that you are going to fail your final anatomy exam because you have not spent an ample amount of time studying. This fear may be completely reasonable and understandable, or this fear may be largely exaggerated if you have spent an adequate amount of time preparing for the anatomy final, but you are prone to anxiety.

By Stacie Fogelberg Babies benefit from yoga in many ways. They experience better and longer sleep, improved digestion, ease of gas pains, and relief from fussiness and colic. Yoga encourages a healthy lifestyle, strengthens the bond between parent and child, improves the immune system and neuromuscular development, and promotes a positive body image. This essay will focus on how yoga creates healthy sleep patterns for babies, and in turn restores more regular sleep for parents.

By Faye Martins What can yoga teachers do about preventing joint injuries in class? As yoga made the move from a spiritual practice to a fitness craze, the incidents of injury naturally began to climb. Factors such as students with pre-existing injuries, "no pain, no gain" classes, overcrowded studios, overzealous students, and aggressive instructors have all contributed to an increase in injuries.

By Kimaya Singh Instructors need continuing education resources for every ailment. In this way, your are able to expand on what your learned in your foundational yoga teacher training. Luckily, this blog has many articles on a variety of subjects. Therefore, if you need to learn more, please use the green search box in the upper right hand corner. All you have to do is enter your keywords and submit.

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 Kimaya Singh How can we teach Yoga to golfers? Golf centers, courses and retail stores can be found almost everywhere. Golf is a popular game that seems to involve hitting a small ball into a small hole. True golfers know it is much more than that. It's a game of great skill and precision, great concentration and focus. Many golfers complain of lower back pain due to the twisting of the spine during each swing. Yoga training can be an effective way to strengthen the core, loosen the spine and improve any golfer's focus. Private yoga sessions for golfers might be the key to their success on and off the course.

By Sanjeev Patel Good digestion is something that many of us take for granted. For those who do not enjoy a stable and reliable digestive system, life is often very difficult. Frequent diarrhea makes you feel like a prisoner in your own bathroom, while frequent constipation is painful and distracting. We all want our digestion to work well so that we don't even have to think about it, and for many people yoga is an important key that gets the digestive engine running smoothly again.

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 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 Sangeetha Saran One of the most important and significant lessons that a Yoga instructor teaches his or her students is the healing potential of Yogic methods. By healing potential, I mean the ability to transform one's negative situation. That could be a feeling, mood, emotion, thought or physical pain. Yoga has proven itself to be an effective means of exercise, spiritual rehabilitation tool, stress reducer, and a great method of reducing one's negativity. However, in addition to transforming negative emotions or thoughts into positive ones, it also has the ability to help children at many levels.

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 Lisa Bradford As we age, our bodies go through numerous changes. Senior citizens often face health challenges such as arthritis, which affects the joints and decreases flexibility. Also, bone density decreases and energy levels may not be what they used to be. All of that can affect fitness levels and limit the types of exercises in which they can take part in. High impact activities, such as jogging, might be replaced with walking or swimming. Another great activity for seniors is Yoga training. The gentle postures (asanas) and slow, centered movements of Hatha Yoga are the perfect way to loosen tight joints and relieve pain. Low impact exercise (and the right type of exercises) is crucial for staying healthy - not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 Gentle forms of Hatha Yoga can help anyone who suffers from arthritis. Depending on the type, stage, and where arthritis is located in the body, a Yoga session will have to be modified to match the needs of the student. This can make the search for the right Yoga class, and a compassionate teacher difficult, at best.

By Kimaya Singh Have you experienced neck and back pain after a long day of sitting at home or at work? In the modern era, as we have increased the amount of time we spend sitting at our computers at work or our televisions at home, we have inadvertently placed increasing amounts of strain upon the skeletal components in our necks and backs.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 Neck and shoulder pain seem to be a universal problem in the world today - thanks to the time spent hunched in front of a computer and behind the wheel in lengthy commutes. Many people tighten their neck muscles when they experience stress or when they concentrate, exacerbating the problem. How can the neck and shoulders be relaxed? How can Yoga help maintain health in the upper body?

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed. One definition of fear is to be anxious about an unpleasant or painful event that you feel is likely to happen in the future. For instance, if you are pursuing your Yoga teacher certification, you may be afraid that you are going to fail your final anatomy exam because you have not spent an ample amount of time studying. This fear may be completely reasonable and understandable, or this fear may be largely exaggerated if you have spent an adequate amount of time preparing for the anatomy final, but you are prone to anxiety.

By Faye Martins The human back is a miraculous assembly of bones, ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves. Backs should be both incredibly strong and supremely flexible at the same time. The back supports the whole body from the neck, through the upper back into the lower and then to the bottom of the spine. We use it for every single movement we make. If your back is hurting nothing seems to go right. Your back is the entire support system for your body and keeping it strong and supple is important for your overall wellbeing.

By Kimaya Singh Is Yoga a healing method? If you practice yoga on a regular basis, you know the benefits it provides. You know the light, uplifted feeling of exhilaration that sets in directly after a good yoga class, or the long, lean feel of your muscles after a good stretch. Perhaps you do a pose as the afternoon slump sets in to get you through the rest of the workday, or maybe you take a few deep breaths before giving a big presentation to clear your mind and focus. The health benefits of yoga training go much deeper than that. Yoga training has been proven to have positive healing effects for a number of common ailments, chronic pain, and diseases.