Saturday, May 17, 2008

Teaching Yoga for Teen Stress Management - Family Bonds

... in human life, as teens look over the horizon, toward adulthood. Suddenly, the "happy go lucky" attitude changes to a serious drone.

Many parents feel as if their teen has become a stranger. What can parents do to help their teens? One solution is to find joint activities, for parents and children, long before they become teens. This reinforces bonds during critical points in the lives of both parent and child.

Yoga is one such activity, but there are many more. Some families go hiking, skiing, biking, or participate in a variety of ...more

Yoga Therapy for Increasing Self-Worth With Mantra, Japa, Affirmation, or Prayer

...your mind, your self-worth is restored, because they instill hope. There is always hope, if we are willing to look for it. Look at a depressed person, and you will see an inner lack of hope, which reflects outward. If we say to ourselves: "I cannot do it," how can we build our self-worth? Why should the outside world believe in us?

Here is an example of an affirmation for self-worth: I will change today with my first step. I will take chances. I will not fear criticism.

An inherent fear within all humans is the fear of being criticized. This one fear prevents brilliant ideas from becoming reality. Even some of the most brilliant minds had to overcome self-doubt. Yet, they believed in themselves, despite criticism from others.

The...more

There's Help for Asthma in Yoga

...wami Devananda and IBS Iyengar (two of the most authoritative figures in modern day yoga) as being specifically useful for removing spasms from the bronchial tubes and thus relieving Asthma.

Other Helpful Poses:

There are other poses such as the forward bends which you can practice specifically if it is more difficult to inhale. These include the Head-knee Pose (Passchimothanasa) and it basically involves grabbing your toes, ankles or feet with the head lowered as far as possible to touch the knees.

Now, friends, remember I mentioned counter-poses right? Well, for this particular pose, its counter-poses basically are backward bending poses that include the Incline Pose and Bow Pose.

Both of these (especially the latter) open up the chest and should be practiced to aid with exhaling during asthma attacks.

Last, but not least is the simple, yet extremely effective Relaxation Pose.

Yes, you guessed it right, just simply lie flat on your back and breathe in a controlled and rhythmic pattern. By practicing rhythmic, controlled breathing techniques daily, the respiratory muscles and lungs develop the ability to breathe more slowly all the time, meaning less stress on the airways in gene...more

What is Yoga?

...ion" is one of the four pillars of yoga, karma yoga focuses on the adherence to duty (dharma) while remaining detached from the reward. It states that one can attain Moksha (salvation) by doing his duties in an unselfish manner.

raja Yoga is different and involves psychophysical meditation techniques to attain experiences of the truth and finally achieve liberation.

Bhakti yoga is the Hindu term for the spiritual practice of fostering of loving devotion to God, called bhakti. Bhakti yoga is generally considered the easiest of the four general paths to liberation, or moksha.

Jnana in Sanskrit means "knowledge", and is often interpreted to mean "knowledge of the true self". To say, "I am Brahman, the pure, all-pervading Consciousness, the non-enjoyer, non-doer and silent witness," is jnana. To behold the one Self everywhere is jnana.

Okay, so those are the definitions of some of the forms of Yoga, but how does it help me? How do I decide which form of Yoga is the one for me?

A lot depends on what you are trying to achieve. There are more forms of Yoga than just those I mentioned and it is a good idea for you to search for the definitions of all forms of Yoga before deciding which one is right for you.

I am using these four types of Yoga as examples to give you an idea of the things ...more

Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training