Teaching Hatha Yoga: Prana and Pranayama
One Yoga teacher training intern remarked that prana could not be in his mat, since it was an inanimate object. After all, his mat was not a living…
Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, YACEP
Yoga Poses for Runners
If you are an avid runner, you may experience classic running injuries over time. Some of the more common injuries that runners experience are torn Achilles’ tendons, sore knees and a tight lower back. Alternating the surface on which you run will help to ameliorate knee injuries.
Teaching a Detoxifying Yoga Class: Twists
Detoxifying Yoga postures also help to encourage the physical removal of waste products through the lymphatic system, which is one of the primary ways that the body has of cleansing itself. Of course, a balanced, regular practice of Yoga postures and cleansing pranayama exercises helps to detoxify both the body and the mind. By including specific twisting asanas into the sequence of postures that you are teaching in your Yoga class, you will further increase the beneficial detoxifying benefits of the practice.
Anxiety Attack – Can Yoga Training Help You?
By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, YACEP What is an anxiety attack and can Yoga help reduce the symptoms at all. Let’s take a close look at both of these subjects and the practical application of Yogic methodology for improving the quality of one’s life. For someone suffering from an anxiety attack right now, he …
Spirit Quest – YTT Ultimate Journey
All forms of yoga come from the same root and are, therefore, relatively interchangeable, so an hour-long class once or twice a week in any of the disciplines will quickly start to work wonders on both your physical and mental well being.
Meditation for Anxiety and Overthinking
In pre-Communist Russia, some credit a painter and aristocrat, named Nicolas Roerich, and his wife, with traveling to India to study Agni or Fire Yoga and bringing back the teachings around 1894. The man was nearly single-handedly responsible for Yoga in the Soviet Bloc; Vasily Brodov, was an intriguing figure. A Moscow native, born in 1912, he was a natural dissident who spent time in the gulags, and on the front lines, in World War II.
How to Protect the Knees in Yoga Classes
There are no knee-opening poses in yoga, so it is important to take a few precautions, which can not only prevent injury but also strengthen your knee-joint.
Chair Yoga: A Gentle Discipline
Chair Yoga is for everyone; for all ages, for those with varying degrees of mobility, and those in varying degrees of condition. The health benefit of a consistent Chair Yoga practice is powerful and available for everyone.
Teaching Yoga Classes that Build Courage
Additionally, a state of courage and the tenacity to follow through on one’s goals is spoken of quite highly in many different spiritual texts from a variety of religious traditions. A challenging Yoga class that is accessible to most of your students will provide a framework within which to cultivate a sense of courage, accomplishment and diligence. Challenging standing postures and arm balancing poses often come to mind immediately as poses that easily lend themselves to the development of courage and tenacity.
How to Teach Yoga by Example: Gracious Acceptance
In this example, you have the opportunity to model a state of gracious acceptance for your student, by asking the student to pause for a moment and notice how his or her body feels right now. As your Yoga student becomes aware of what his or her body truly needs in the moment, without negating, minimizing or justifying another course of action, you will have the opportunity to model a state of gracious acceptance of “what is” for your student. In this way, your student will feel more accepting of his or her own physical aptitude and level of fitness. This state of open, gracious acceptance will then allow both you and your student the ability to choose appropriate Yoga postures and breathing exercises that will truly nurture the student’s strength, flexibility and a deep, inner sense of respectful equanimity.