Yoga For Beginners Guide

By Azahar Aguilar The thirst for knowledge - As a yoga instructor this need should hit you every so often; if you feel comfortable in your teaching practice, then it's time to learn something new. There is always something more to learn as a yoga instructor, in order to give your students the best and safest experience possible.

By Faye Martins When looking at intensive courses for continuing education, most workshops and advanced yoga certification courses will generally be organized to address a number of common ailments. For example: A yoga for back pain course is not entirely about sciatica, but the will be addressed during the course. Let's look at some issues concerning the sciatic nerve, which will help us get the most out of a specialized yoga teacher training for back problems.

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 Gopi Rao It is said that the art of yoga may be practiced anytime as long as those involved remove their shoes first! All joking aside, yoga has, for thousands of years, been one of the best ways to maintain a prolifically positive quality of life and well being. The most unique aspect about yoga is that it requires involvement from not only one's mind and body, but the spirit as well. The ostensible meaning of the word "yoga" is not easily nailed down in an etymological sense.

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed If you are teaching Yoga to students who are struggling with a chronic illness, recovering from surgery or healing from an injury, you may feel intimidated as you try to figure out how to safely include and challenge these students. The very first step to teaching students who need special consideration is to make sure you are generally familiar with each student's current level of health.

By Amruta Kulkarni, CYT 500 As a yoga teacher, you want to welcome new people with open arms. People new to a yogic way of life are taking a big step, just by visiting a studio or ashram. We may view it as a small hurdle, but new students want to shed the label "beginner" as soon as possible. The best way a yoga instructor can help is to provide handouts, information and explain that some information on the Internet is erroneous or intended for teachers.

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 I am often asked by employers about how to evaluate a Yoga Teacher? Whether you are a health club owner, program coordinator, or a potential student, it is important to accurately evaluate a teacher. It is very important for students to find the best possible teacher. The following is the "CALM check list." These factors are basic criteria that your Yoga instructor should meet before you continue on to a second class. CALM gets it name from four main factors: Communication, Assist, Listen, and Modification. For the right Yoga instructor, you should be answering with a "yes" to all questions. Communication: Does your teacher talk to you, and other students, in a manner of mutual respect? Can you ask a question during class time?

By Eleanor Bartel Although there are many teachers who specialize in prenatal yoga and offer specific classes for pregnant women, nearly every teacher will come across a pregnant student during their career, no matter what style of the practice they teach. Whether you want to offer specific classes for prenatalyoga or just want to be able to help any pregnant students in your regular class, learning more about yoga during pregnancy can be useful knowledge that helps you ensure every student can have a positive experience with the practice in your class, no matter what trimester they are in.

By Eleanor Bartel Yoga is a beneficial practice that can be enjoyed by anyone, from children to seniors. Older adults in particular can physically and mentally benefit by keeping their muscles from deteriorating, improving their cognitive awareness, increasing their balance, and improving overall flexibility. However, when considering a yoga class for seniors, it is important to take into account any physical limitations that you may encounter while teaching. Older students may come into class with existing issues, such as previous injuries, medical conditions like arthritis, or limited mobility or flexibility. Being prepared for encountering these issues in a yoga class for seniors will ensure all your students can practice yoga safely and effectively.

Is back pain troubling you and preventing you from doing your work? Don't get so worried for there is a solution that can eradicate your suffering - Yoga!. According to the Indian scientists that suggested that yoga is beneficial to cure the back pain.

By Faye Martins Yoga is being studied more and more, following an explosion of interest in it over the last ten years. As a result, experienced practitioners feel gratified that their claims of derived benefits have been and will continue to be substantiated by science. However, not everyone in the medical community is on board, and there are a few things to keep in mind when talking to doctors about yoga.

By Faye Martins Do you get any requests for asanas or Yogic techniques to heal the feet? Most of our students ask us about techniques for reducing stress, back pain, and body weight. As essential as our feet are to Yoga, we give them little thought. Maybe we would treat them differently if we realized how great an impact they have on the rest of our body and the clues they hold to its general condition.

By Faye Martins In the modern world, more and more people are turning to yoga for chronic stress reduction. Stress is no stranger to the average worker, and it is becoming crucial that we find alternative methods for keeping our minds in order. Sure, there are many technological luxuries available to us in the 2010s, but these are often the very source of our added stress. Since everyone is constantly connected, via internet and smartphone, there is no end to the work day. Many people are finding it impossible to make time for the small moments that can help to relax your mind and enhance your well being.

By Faye Martins Many people find yoga to be a great way to relax and get exercise. Yoga is a great way to mentally unwind and it promotes sports recovery. You may have thought about how great it would be to learn how to teach yoga students. If you are interested in teaching yoga, you probably have already taken classes before. If you are new, you may wish to try different types of yoga to see which types you would most enjoy teaching. You may wish to sample a few different classes if you have been with one instructor for most of the time you have been learning. By sampling different instructors you can also get ideas based on what other teachers do for your own classes. When you are planning to teach your first class, you may want to focus on a beginner class to keep the moves simple.

By Faye Martins Many women strive for that beautiful, slim waist seen on models, television actresses, and even important historical figures and actresses. The desire to have or maintain a narrow waist has been a part of lives for many years. Women will go to great lengths to get it, like sit-ups, weightlifting, jogging, aerobics and more. You might not automatically think of yoga when you think of a slim waistline, but many of the poses tighten the core while slimming the waistline, too. Even some men can benefit from a slimmer waistline. Try a few yoga poses to stretch, strengthen and lengthen the muscles around the waistline.

By Faye Martins Recently, I attended a Yoga boot camp class that was physically invigorating, but it was an enlightening experience as well. The class objective was clear and there were no misconceptions about the class being physical. The room was hot, the asanas were challenging, and the students were barked at like raw military recruits. An abusive dog owner had nothing on this instructor, who took on the role of pseudo dominatrix. The audience (students) loved it as she verbally abused them like a wolf in a hen coop.

It is well-known that how yoga retreats are popular around the globe. They are helpful in providing relaxation to mind and body. If you are also looking forward to relax your mind, body and soul, then step on to yoga retreats in Italy.

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 Sangeetha Saran Hot yoga has become a popular option in gyms and fitness centers around the world. It's based on the idea of creating a warm, moist environment to imitate the climate of India. Since its introduction to the United States around 1970, Bikram's heated style has morphed into other various forms of hot yoga. Class structures can vary, but a heated yoga class basically involves a room that's heated to around 105 degrees and 40 percent humidity.

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.