Yoga For Beginners Guide

By Faye Martins How much time did you spend on perfecting pranayama techniques during your yoga teacher certification course? Let's face it; most trainers emphasize asana during a yoga instructor training. We could blame the trainer for the rest of our lives, but it is our responsibility to participate in continuing education and independent research. There are too many therapeutic benefits to be gained to ignore pranayama.

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 Jenny Park Most yoga teacher training courses don't go into running partner sessions. Many of us learn more about it after yoga certification. If you've never taught partner yoga it is a wonderful way to not only connect and bring people together, but a great way for one who is very much into yoga to share the benefits with a loved one who may be a little timid about starting a routine.

By Kimaya Singh Once in a while, you meet a person who refuses to see the value of pranayama. When you finish yoga teacher training, you have an arsenal of stress reducing techniques, but the public has a right to choose to do them, or not. Doctors, nurses and therapists are also amazed at the mindset of their patients. The point I'm diving at is nothing works, if a person refuses to put the effort into it.

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 Sangeetha Saran Does Yoga therapy have viable solutions for Osteoporosis? We hear conflicting information about preventative actions that we can take for our health, but women don't want to take a wrong turn in regard to prevention or treatment. Many women worry about the possibility of Osteoporosis occurring after menopause. Osteoporosis is a disease that breaks down bone density in post-menopausal women. This disease causes the bones to weaken, which can lead to broken bones with the slightest bump or fall.

By Kathryn Boland Do you see students practicing backbends in similar potentially dangerous ways? Do you have strategies for working against this - proactively and/or retroactively? Backbending has incredible benefits- contributing to strength-building, stretching out various muscles, and offering energy boosts. We're dealing with the spine, however, so the potential for significant damage is very real.

By Faye Martins Most graduates of yoga teacher training courses don't get any tips about where to find a teaching position. Why? The organizers have no intention of sharing that knowledge because they see a finite pie of yoga teaching opportunities. They don't want to train you well enough to teach yoga across the street. Luckily, some us were trained to see the infinite opportunities for yoga instructors. Networking with your local golf center or country club is such a huge opportunity that I have to share it with you.

By Virginia Iversen, M.Ed Although it is snowing today, the spring season is one week away and with the advent of a new season; many Yoga practitioners and teachers will be starting new projects, courses and various training programs. As the pace of life begins to shift from season to season, many of us can easily become overwhelmed with the increased number of items on our to-do list. As anxiety levels begin to escalate with the increased pace of life and number of daily obligations, irritation and even angry feelings may begin to arise.

By Faye Martins In the event that you have experienced any wrist injury or wrist discomfort, you know how tough it is to carry out a yoga pose that requires your hands to make contact with the floor. Wrist ailments, conditions, and accidents can consist of focusing on a personal computer all day long, previous injuries, performing yoga poses improperly, or pushing too hard while not getting enough flexibility or strength to perform the poses correctly.

By Faye Martins When we take a yoga certification course, each style has a different answer for dealing with anxiety. As a Yoga teacher, you may wonder about how to dial up a specific routine for each student's anxiety level. One idea is to have a gentle and a vigorous class (two separate classes) for specific personality types to help yoga students release mental, emotional, and physical tension.

By Faye Martins Adult students of all ages participate in yoga training sessions for pain relief, but students often ask why it works. As a teacher, you should have learned this during your foundational 200-hour yoga certification course, but most students know very little about spinal or skeletal health, unless they have experienced chronic joint pain. Let's go over the basics, just in case you want to have a short workshop for your students to give them a deeper understanding of how and why they are feeling better after a class at your yoga school.

By Faye Martins After successfully completing yoga teacher training, many people ask about remedies for every type of pain and ache. There are many pains that humans feel, but headaches might be one of the most common. Among the various types of headaches is migraine. In 2007, a study published in the scholarly journal Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain concluded that migraine sufferers who practiced yoga for three months were significantly more likely to report a reduction in headache severity, frequency and related symptoms like anxiety or depression. The authors of the study noted, too, that more research was warranted on the subject, and since then, several more studies have published results supporting the conclusion that yoga training can bring headache and migraine relief.

By Faye Martins One of the greatest things about yoga is that anyone can do it. Whether you are young or old, healthy or sick or agile or stiff, yoga will provide benefits to your body. The same does not hold true for teaching yoga. Just because you know the poses does not mean you are ready to teach a yoga class. Yoga instructors must think carefully about the students in the class, the type of environment they wish to create and how to best explain the postures and philosophies of yoga to their students. It might seem like a beginner's class would be easy to teach, but in reality beginners can be one of the hardest groups of students to manage because they haven't become comfortable with the poses yet. Teaching beginners requires planning as well as a healthy amount of sensitivity toward the students.

By Faye Martins It has been known for thousands of years that a regular practice of yoga and meditation techniques will have numerous benefits for the body and mind. It is no surprise that some researchers are starting to discover that incorporating yoga and meditation into a student's daily schedule can improve cognitive function and reduce stress. This can result in improved concentration, focus, and subsequently, improve one's school grades.

By Faye Martins The meditation component of a Yoga certification course is often taken for granted. If you ask most Yoga teacher interns what they consider the most valuable component of Yoga training to be, they will often answer: "asana." Restless interns often tend to crave vinyasa flows, while the trainer explains the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of Yogic meditation. As many as 40 percent of all Americans suffer from sleep deprivation, and up to 80 percent of all doctors' visits have stress-related components. Yogic sleep, also known as Yoga Nidra, is a powerful form of deep relaxation that provides the restorative qualities of natural sleep within a brief period of time. Although most effectively practiced with asanas and breathing techniques, it can also be beneficial on its own.

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 Faye Martins During yoga teacher training intensives, we learn how to use weight bearing asanas and gravity to increase one's bone density. Like aging, osteoporosis is a condition we don't think much about when we are young. By the time we reach menopause, though, many of us which we had. Young people who eat good diets and have healthy lifestyles continue to build strong bones until they are in their twenties. After that, bone loss begins unless we do something to stop it.

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.

By Michael Gleason Life is getting faster and faster - both physically and virtually. And while getting a lot accomplished in the course of a work day is good, as is completing many overdue chores on the weekend that does not mean we as human beings experience anxiety and burnout.