Friday, September 14, 2007

Bikram Hot Yoga

What Is Bikram Hot Yoga?

As yoga grows in popularity through the world and becomes more recognizable, yoga classes themselves are starting to specialize into different kinds of yoga. Of the different ways of performing yoga, Bikram Yoga is one that was invented in the United States, rather than in India, where yoga originated. Let’s look at what makes Bikram Yoga different from traditional yoga.

A Hot Environment

One of the key features of Bikram Yoga is the environment that it’s practiced in: a room that is heated to about 105 degrees Fahrenheit and with air that’s about at 50% humidity. This is key to the philosophy of this form of yoga, which not only will improve the body’s breathing and flexibility, but the body’s circulation as well, according to Bikram Choudhury, the creator of Bikram Hot Yoga. The higher temperature helps to get the blood flowing in our body.

The Poses

Though there are many different poses in yoga, Bikram Yoga is concerned with a series of 26 poses as well as two specific breathing exercises. These poses are so key to this particular form of yoga that the creator has copyrighted the specific order of these poses. This has become an important issue, as Bikram has had his copyright for these poses challenged in court, due to claims that you can’t copyright a series of poses that comes from traditional yoga poses.

Finding An Instructor

As the creator of Bikram Yoga recommends, your best bet is to find someone that has been certified as a Bikram Yoga instructor. In order to control the quality of Bikram Yoga instruction, Bikram Choudhury does not allow this form of yoga to be taught without a license from his company, he attempts to enforce this standard through his copyrights.

Beyond legal reasoning, it makes sense to find someone certified in Bikram Yoga to teach you since they have been through the training for teaching this form of yoga. This means that they can adequately explain safety concerns when practicing Bikram Yoga and are well-versed in the 26 poses and the correct way to perform them. The health benefits you’ll get from this form of yoga are greater flexibility, a strong circulatory system, and more controlled breathing. Given that, if you’re willing to brave the heat, then trying Bikram Hot Yoga might be a good idea for you.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Advanced Yoga

What You Need To Know About Advanced Yoga

The purpose of advanced yoga is not to be better or strike cooler poses than anyone else. One of the traits of an advanced yoga student is humility, and so they should not seek to be better doing advanced yoga poses than anyone else. Yoga seeks to the practitioner to find the balance between mind, body and soul. Advanced yoga poses are not party tricks.

Do not try advanced yoga poses unless you’ve been training in yoga for months or years. Even continually doing Pilates will help let your body know what it’s in for. (Pilates and yoga are very similar, although Pilates concentrates entirely on the body and ignores the mind and soul).

You need to gradually build up to the advanced yoga poses by learning easy yoga poses. In yoga, there should be no pressure to be the best in class – you just do what you are comfortable with. If at any time, the yoga poses starts to hurt – STOP.



There’s more to advanced yoga than just striking a series of poses that make onlookers twinge. There are many spectacular things advanced yoga followers can do. They can lie on a bed of broken glass and not get cut, walk through fire and not get burned, not eat, not even breathe for hours, read minds, communicate to friends and disciples in dreams or even levitate. But doing cool stuff is not the point of advanced yoga. The point is to become one with the universe, which can be your point in life and in advanced yoga, if you so choose.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Yoga Training Certification

How to get your Yoga Teacher Training Certification

Once you have your yoga teacher certification you are able to teach others how to practice the wonderful and beneficial exercise of yoga. If this is your passion, it is definitely something worth working for. There are only a few steps involved in getting your yoga teacher training certification, but you do need to have a strong motivation in order to make it through.

Getting Your Yoga Certification

The first step to getting your yoga teacher certification is to take your yoga certification courses, and for this you can either go directly into a fitness or health center that offers this option, or you can get it all done online, if you have access to a computer and the Internet.

You just want to make sure, whatever method that you choose, the course and the instructors who teach the course are legit, so that you know it’s worth your money and that you will be getting the proper education.



Getting the Most out of Your Training

Yoga training for interns and teachers can differ greatly, but so can the overall mindset of the participants who are involved. In other words, there are some people who simply get more out of the certification courses than others, some who take it more seriously. If you are really interested in the yoga exercise and want to know how you can make the most of your training, then there are a few things you will want to know.

For one, you want to be sure that you set realistic goals and deadlines for yourself. Remember that you do have other things to take care of on a daily basis and so you will not want to overload yourself when you don’t have to.

Figure out how much time you really have to spare, considering everything that you need to such as family obligations, your job, housework, so that you will not be rundown by adding on even more to your schedule.

You also want to make sure that you constantly keep yourself up to date on the exercise of yoga, because it is constantly evolving and you want to make sure that your education is up to date as well.

Once you have received your certification, you are able to find students to teach, and the best way to start off is to work in someone else’s studio rather than start your own right off the bat, as this way you will be able to get to know people who are already customers there and show them what a great yogi you are, so that they will always follow you if and when you do start your own yoga studio.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Yoga Meditation : Find Your Life Purpose

Many people would argue that you should not spend your yoga meditation time focusing upon words such as abundance, success and achievement. However, you most definitely do not want to focus on the opposites of these words. After all, any sequence of thoughts, regardless as to whether they are positive or negative, can become your reality whenever you focus upon them. For this reason you really should spend your yoga meditation time on things that will bring you success or otherwise have a positive impact upon your life.

Yoga Meditation As Taught By The Professionals


Whenever you are being taught how to do yoga meditation you will be taught a variety of methods. One of these yoga meditation methods is visualization. This is because visualization can help you to create inner stability, which in turn will lead to positive personality development. As such, your end result will be increased self-confidence, improved self-image, better self-esteem and a successful life.

Of course, “success” can mean different things to different people. For instance, some people believe that they are successful if they have a good marriage, strong family ties and good friends. While this is not material riches, it does give this person a deep purpose in their lives.

If you are wondering what your purpose in life is, there is a good reason for you to visualize success that is most important to you during your yoga meditation session. Do it in a noble way and hopefully you may be able to find your life's purpose during the process. This is important because if you do not know what your life's purpose is, you can wind up wasting a lot of your time and energy.



Opposing Views To This Form Of Yoga Meditation

Some yoga teachers will not agree with this use of yoga meditation. Their reasoning behind this is that the mind is very powerful, so whenever it gets out of control it can be a very destructive weapon. For this reason, your mind should be positive and your heart should be true, kind and noble. All of this must occur before you consider visualizing success during yoga meditation.

Learn some great Yoga for relaxation routine with Tara Stiles:


Sunday, September 2, 2007

Yoga Poses For Kids

It is normal to assume that kids have no stress in life. However, many kids nowadays are very much consumed by school works and exams. You might begin to wonder whether they are really as stress-free as you might have imagined.

Yoga for kids is something that parents can consider doing to help ease their kids from the pressures of school, and will also teach them to learn methods that can equip them well to face life’s challenges in the future. The advantage of yoga for kids is that they will be able to learn techniques how best to relax, concentrate better and gain inner peace as well as stay healthy in their early life. It will also make them realize the benefits of being more compassionate and less aggressive.

Yoga for kids means having to learn different yoga poses, some of which owe their inspiration to animals and plants, and when children mimic such movements and sounds of nature, they will not only gain a lot of enjoyment, but will also experience things such as the strength of a lion and the grace of a swan, amongst other things. The true essence of yoga is the union, expression as well as learning how to honor the self and also others.



When yoga for kids is taught, instructors realize the importance of an interactive as well as multi-disciplinary approach. Many of the yoga asanas may require expansion such as playing and also imitating various plants and animals. All in all, such yoga classes for kids are an excellent opportunity to teach the young children to explore their innate abilities and encourage creativities.

The main challenge facing teachers of yoga for kids is to be able to hold their attention. But since yoga promotes motion, which most children will like, it will not be too difficult to get their attention. Children will love playing just like some animals and also imitate the motion of trees and flowers, and letting them roar like lions, bark when in a dog pose or hiss like cobras will certainly get their attention.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Partner Yoga Poses

Partner Yoga is fun. This video will demonstrate some partner yoga poses. So grab your partner and a mat and follow along with the video.

Yoga has many benefits. Some people use yoga for meditation and therapy. Some use it to stay limber and in shape. In this video, you will learn some partner yoga poses, positions, techniques and postures adapted for you and your partner. Start improving your overall health and fitness together with your partner. You now have the techniques, go and get your partner and encourage each other to get fit. Enjoy it.