Posts Tagged ‘Asanas’

Power Yoga CD – the advantages

A power yoga CD is probably not the best choice to start with for beginners in the practice of yoga. A better choice for a beginner would be to buy a power yoga video or to go to a power yoga class where the instructor can make corrections to the way that the students are holding the poses. Power yoga CD’s can be beneficial for those that are familiar with the practice of yoga since they already know the poses and can understand just from listening to the instructions on the power yoga CD. However, for those that are not familiar with yoga, the power yoga CD will sound like another language, with the names of the asanas making no sense to them.

What to Expect

Many who practice yoga like it for the way they learn to breathe and relax the muscles in their bodies so that they are not as tense as a whole.There are other power yoga CDs that can be used by beginners or experienced practitioners alike. Power yoga CDs are now available that will lead the students through an entire power yoga workout from beginners to experienced.These CD’s take students through some meditations and meditation techniques that can help to relieve stress in their lives and give them a quick break from reality.

One can find a variety of power yoga CDs in the market today. Its important to know for yoga beginner, is the the inside information you need to feel comfortable when you are starting a yoga practice. Before purchasing your Power Yoga CD. Find out about the yoga style,your reason for yoga ie lose weight, observe proper yoga etiquette, and avoid injury. There are some power yoga CD’s that will lead the students through an entire power yoga workout. These power yoga CD’s are great workouts for those that are more experienced in the practice of yoga and can give a quick workout at home for those that do not have the time or ability to go to a class in a studio. The instructor will give the instructions about moving from one pose to the next as well as tips to holding the pose properly.

In power yoga, the students will hold all of the poses for at least five deep breaths so that they have to hold their body weight that entire time. Power yoga CDs that lead students through a workout will require that the students have a yoga mat to prevent slipping and to also give a certain amount of padding to help with some of the poses. The students will hold all of the poses for at least five deep breaths so that they have to hold their body weight that entire time. These workouts help to produce a lean, flexible body that is relaxed and feels good. A good Power Yoga CD should help with Circulation improves and back problems are often diminished as the core is strengthened and flexibility increases.

Yoga Teacher Training – Become a Yoga Teacher – Part II

One facet, sadly that one sees often are the “quick certification” courses offered to being an instructor, be wary of any such course. This is one of the problems with yoga teacher training today. The sad thing is these teachers end up paying all over again for a proper course as they realize later that they been taught only the basic few asanas .A good yoga teacher training course should cover not just the Yoga aspect of it but also special sections like teaching the physically challenged like the aged or children and natal groups, in addition to teaching you detailed Anatomy and meditation etc

Yoga Teacher Education

The fact is, Yoga is much more than an exercise program. With a linage of thousands of years, yoga is the most complete health maintenance system known to mankind. Unfortunately, a lot of yoga teacher training courses are often trained to teach Yoga as an exercise program by learning a dozen or two dozen asanas, and not much beyond this. IN a good yoga teacher training course , the whole health needs to be addressed of body and mind.

On-site training is not cheap and can vary from the low $2000.00 range to very expensive. When you consider travel, lodging, and all of the expenses involved a typical Yoga teacher training may well cost you $6000.00 or more at a credited asharam or institute.

Yoga Teacher Correspondence Courses

On the other hand, Yoga teacher correspondence courses are much more reasonable, but be vary of short courses. A 50 hour course is just not enough time for anyone to safely learn a good yoga teacher training course. Once again, you should research the syllabus and get a complete Yoga teacher training course like a grade I  or grade II

If you are considering a Yoga teacher training correspondence course, you should have sufficient knowledge of Yoga. While you are at it, make sure that you are calling a Yoga teacher training center and not a “diploma house.Do you really think they would specialize in yoga and its vast teachings if they certify everything from cake icing diplomas to plubming ?

Most importantly, once you have received the study material, there will undoubtedly be questions, concerns, or need for further assistance, via email, or telephone, from the intern who has purchased the Yoga teacher course. Make sure you get answers if you are “stuck” during your Yoga teacher internship.

Check the options available here and study the various types of certifications on offer.

Benefits of Basic Yoga

Basic Yoga is extremely simple to pick up. No exercise equipment is needed. You only spend 30 minutes at the most doing everything. All that is needed is yoga mat and some space then unless you have serious mobility issues, you can get started right away. The human body is a very resilient and surprising piece of machinery. It can do things that can surprise us.

Practicing the various yoga positions, also known as asanas increases your flexibility by working on your joints, your muscles, tendons and ligaments. You will notice a significant improvement in your flexibility as you continue the practice of yoga. You will be pleased with the benefits of yoga such as muscle toning and the reduction of body fat.

Chances are, you can do it too, but not immediately. Doing any one of the advanced asanas without prior conditioning can lead to severe injury on the part of the one doing the attempt. Proper and consistent practice of basic yoga techniques is necessary in order to make these advanced poses achievable.

One of the major benefits of yoga that occurs is the ability to put the mind and the body in a state of harmony, primarily with meditation.  Meditation allows you to clear your mind and gives you an inner peace. Yoga and its meditation aspect can help to remove unhealthy stress from your mind and body. Stress has negative affects on your emotional, endocrinal and physical systems.

Even if one does not desire to be able to perform the more advanced and complicated asana, there are benefits to practicing basic yoga exercises, no matter the school of thought you choose to follow. Improved balance, strength, and flexibility are the first most obvious benefits. 

Benefits of yoga that might be less obvious would be a greater awareness of oneself and of nature. Yoga has also been shown to offer health benefits such as improved internal organ function, a boosted immune system, reduction of the symptoms of many chronic diseases and many, many other benefits. Yoga of all kinds, including basic yoga, aids relaxation and reduces tension without fatigue and too much exertion.

Basic yoga involves seven types of body movement during exercise including circumduction, flexion, abduction, adduction, rotation, extension, and hyperextension. Combinations of these body movements are used to create the yoga stances and positions. These movements are combined with breathing exercises and concentration. Breathing is also the guide in basic yoga for coming into an asana, holding an asana, and coming out of it. All the movements are ideally done gracefully. To learn how to do basic yoga, look for a qualified certified instructor and failing that, look for educational videos that may help you.

Using A Learn Yoga CD-ROM Is Ideal For Beginners Yoga

By Ann Marier

In today’s modern world of computers it is quite easy to look for information about yoga exercise to enable you to decide exactly which yoga posture and yoga exercise you want to practice. You have no need to find a yoga class just pop in a cd-rom and follow the instructions. Two excellent yoga exercise cd-roms are Wellness Yoga and Shiatsu Relaxation. Lithe young women demonstrate these ancient Eastern techniques while mellow-voiced narrators speak over somnambulant music, the better to relax you and make you all well.

Most of us are familiar at least with the concepts of yoga, its slow stretching exercises and its often almost unattainable physical positions. Wellness Yoga is a nicely designed program that packages 74 asanas, or positions, into several packages such as the Quick and Easy Course, the Beauty Course and the Health Course.

The program consists largely of what it calls procedure screens, in which each position is demonstrated in one window while described textually in another. A narrator reads that same text aloud. In addition to the usual tape-recorder buttons to pause, stop and restart the action, there is a graph that displays the approximate duration of each segment of the routine.

The practical difficulties of using this CD-ROM are fairly obvious. The manual, dragged kicking and screaming into English from its Japanese roots, advises the user to First practice forming the pose while watching the screen and try memorizing the whole procedure.” This, unless you have a 24-inch monitor or keep your monitor on the floor, is likely to be difficult. Clearly the actual learning of the poses could be more readily done with a videotape.

On the other hand, you can hunt around in the CD-ROM, choose from the positions you want to learn, and collect them into personal groups. And maybe you’ve got a really big monitor, and a cordless, long-distance mouse.

This is a nice program, well-made and instructive. My only complaint is that it does not emphasize clearly enough that unless you are as slender as the model executing the poses, you are not going to be able to do many of them — the Crow, the Heron and the Frog, for instance — correctly. On the other hand, we can all do the Corpse.

Shiatsu Relaxation, which teaches a massage technique clearly related to acupuncture, is another kettle of fish.

The theory is that rubbing, kneading or poking specific points on the body, called acupressure points, will make other parts of the body feel better. I am not prepared to argue that premise, but the entire procedure seems shiatsu yourself is not clear, either; the program initially suggests you find some of your own more accessible pressure points, but they are not all available to your own hands and all the demonstrations show one person ministering to another.

Perhaps one of yoga’s major attractions is that it combines physical and mental exercise. It is excellent for posture and flexibility, both key physical elements for most sports-people, and in some respects, there are strength benefits to be gained. Yoga teachers say that the approach of yoga therapy is one of the most effective ways of achieving the mental edge that athletes seek.

About the Author: Ann Merier writes articles about the home and family health. Her many article topics include mothers day,diabetes,detox diet,yoga,pilates exercise
Beginners Yoga
Pilates Exercise