Choosing the Best Yoga Mat

Having the best yoga mat may be the most important thing to your practice no matter if you are just starting out or becoming more serious with yoga. With all the options available in the market, it is better to learn the basic functions that a mat should have before investing your money in it. One main consideration when buying a mat is its material. Most of the yoga mats that are available all over the world are made of organic cotton or polyester. There are high quality mats available online and at local retailers. There are also several synthetic and natural yoga mats available.

You should have the knowledge of some important things before choosing a yoga mat which will help you in choosing the best mat possible. You should always keep in mind that there are different kinds of yoga mats for different doing a different type of yoga exercises. Each type of mat intended to be used for a variety of yoga styles. If you are doing a yoga style in which you want to jump from one form to another like in Ashtanga yoga then you will need a really thick mat which will provides you cushion and stability. If you sweat a lot doing yoga then you may need a mat that can absorb. Other considerations in the selection of mat are more of your personal choices. There are many people who favor natural mat made of hemp to feel closer to nature. But as these types can cause allergic reactions to some people, you should be very careful consideration this. You should also consider the place where you do your yoga. You can get a sticky mat to prevent slipping, if you do your yoga on a slippery floor.

Most users will find an intermediate yoga mat as the best option but the problem comes with its thickness. Several manufacturers referred to their ¼-inch thick mats as a standard size mats. Eventually, never buy a mat based only on the marking of the manufacturer. Yoga mats can be found in almost every color and size and it completely depends to your choice to choose a color or size of a mat. It is obvious if you are not a very strong and big build person then you don't need a very large mat and for choosing a color for your mat it completely depends on your choice.

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The Yoga Sutras Relationship to Yoga Today

Yogic philosophy had its beginnings within early Vedic civilization. This was a very advanced civilization that inhabited the regions now known as India and Pakistan. Their Sanskrit scriptures, known as "The Vedas", were heavily linked to the Hindu religion and gave rise to the texts on which modern-day Yoga philosophy is based.

Although written records of Yogic philosophy exist, many of the traditions were passed down orally from teachers to students over thousands of years. Hatha Yoga - the style from which modern practices arise - is largely based on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, a text in which he explains the eight limbs of Yoga still recognized today. Vedic sages started with the first step and progressively practiced each one for years before reaching the culmination of all eight: Self-realization.

1. Yama - social conduct

2. Niyama - individual conduct

3. Asana - physical poses

4. Pranayama - breathing techniques

5. Pratyahara - withdrawal of the senses

6. Dharana - concentration

7. Dhyana - meditation

8. Samadhi - ultimate state of super consciousness, or enlightenment

Patanjali also described nine obstacles to the practice of Yoga that are just as relevant in the 21st century as they were thousands of years ago:

• Illness

• Self-doubt

• Lack of attention

• Lack of mental effort

• Lack of perseverance

• Over-indulgence

• Misunderstanding or false knowledge

• Laziness

Toward the end of the 1800s, Swami Vivekananda taught Patanjali's principles under the name of Raja Yoga. While Patanjali's Sutras were the major scriptures in the development of Yoga, other texts were also important:

• Upanishads - metaphysical concepts leading to ultimate truth about reincarnation and karma

• Bhagavad Gita - philosophy of Yoga in Hindu epic poem meaning "song of the blessed one"

• Gorraksha Paddhati - description of energy centers and explanation of chanting "OM"

• Hatha Yoga Pradipika - dissertation on the union of Hatha and Raja Yoga

Although the poses of Yoga date back before the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, they were not widely practiced by the public in India until the early 20th century. In 1946, Paramahansa Yogananda introduced the Kriya style of Yoga in his book, "Autobiography of a Yogi". In 1948, Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga was introduced and became the system from which many Hatha Yoga systems in the United States were patterned during the 1960s.

Final Summary

Although the philosophy of authentic Yoga is about a way of living, Yoga today is often used to describe the physical practice of poses for the sole purpose of exercising and improving health. To reap the true benefits of the practice, practitioners would need to find a class that embraces the original teachings of the ancient Vedic texts - along with asana, pranayama, and meditation.

Let's be honest with ourselves. Most practitioners are too busy for the traditional Yoga teacher training. Going through long apprenticeships and levels of dedication as a formal student within a specific lineage with one Guru is a thing of the past. Do you have 10 years to leave your family and live in a monastery or an ashram? Can you leave your job behind?

For these reasons, Yoga will continue to grow with online education and Internet networking. It is up to us as Yoga teachers and practitioners to look deep into the Yoga Sutra, Vedas, and writings of the past. In this way, we can pass the torch to the next generations of teachers, who will surely be more advanced in their ability to absorb the Yogic teachings of the past.

© Copyright 2011 - Aura Wellness Center - Publications Division

Faye Martins, is a Yoga teacher and a graduate of the Yoga teacher training program at: Aura Wellness Center in, Attleboro, MA. To receive Free Yoga videos, Podcasts, e-Books, reports, and articles about Yoga, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/

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Practice Yoga at Home

Life is getting tough and hectic day by day. Busy work schedules, travelling, hectic and unhealthy lifestyle, unhealthy eating habits, etc all lead to many health problems even at an early age. It has become difficult for people to find time to visit a yoga retreat or meditation retreat and practice yoga there.

People find it difficult to manage time for work out and therefore just give up the idea of workout. This has led to many health problems and increasing number of youngsters complaining about However you can now continue with your lifestyle and schedule and still workout at your home and lead towards a healthy life. You can now practice some yoga moves at home that will help to relax your body and mind and get rid of any health problems.

Here are some moves/yoga poses you can practice at your home. To practice some very simple asanas of yoga at home you just need a couple of things:

Yoga Mat, Yoga DVD and of course time. Working out for 20-30 minutes a day will prove very beneficial to you. You might spend this time in travelling if you join some class but if you decide to practice it at home you can utilize this time. If you do not much about this form of exercise then you can learn it by watching a yoga DVD. For your convenience we have jotted down following some exercises that you can practice at home.

Pranayam/ Breathing Exercise:

This is the basic exercise in yoga. It is a breathing exercise and a sort of meditation as well. Reading the next few steps will help you practice this move.

1. Dress up in your yoga attire. Sit in an upright posture on your yoga mat.

2. Sit upright with your legs folded and your spinal cord should be straight. Do not bend or lean.

3. In this exercise you need to observe your breath. Using your index finger and thumb, first close your right nostril with thumb and inhale from your left nostril. Now close your left nostril with your index finger and exhale breath from right nostril.

4. Repeat this a couple of times.

Cat Pose

1. Get on the floor in cat position that is with your palms and legs touching the floor.

2. Your hand should be exactly below your shoulder and your fingers stretched apart.

3. Now slowly bending your knees place the hands on the hips.

4. Now breathing in pull your chin towards your chest. Exhaling your breath look upwards to the ceiling and stretch your back.

Palm Tree Move:

1. Standing straight at your place, place your arms straight just besides you touching your body.

2. Now lock the fingers of your hand together, and face your palm upwards to the ceiling.

3. You also have to look up at your hand.

4. Looking upwards at your hands try to balance on your tiptoes. Hold for 10 seconds.

These are some simple yoga moves for meditation, back and complete body. These poses are not difficult, however, it needs a bit practice.

Now you don't have any reason to shy away from working out and blaming it on your schedule. These simple moves can be practiced at home and you can keep adding to it by learning new moves. Get started now and live a healthy life.

Eric Mayars is expert in providing information related to Yoga Retreats and other services like Seva and meditation retreats.

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Yoga Poses to Balance the Kapha Dosha

The term "dosha" arises from Ayurveda and is translated to mean a person's physical and emotional constitutional nature. There are three doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. An individual is comprised of a combination of these three constitutions. When any one of these doshas is out of balance, an individual can experience disease and a general sense of being unwell physically and/or mentally. Both the systems of Ayurveda and Yoga help to balance each dosha for optimal health. Ayurvedic doctors will recommend a combination of Yoga exercises, daily massage, dietary guidelines and herbal medicines to restore a healthy balance and rejuvenate a Yogi or Yogini's overall sense of well-being.

Physically, an individual whose primary dosha is Kapha in nature will have thick hair, glowing skin and large eyes. He or she will also generally sleep regularly and have steady digestion. Emotionally, Kaphas are reputed to be loving, loyal, thoughtful, supportive, steady and kind. Kapha individuals do well with routine. When a Kapha individual is out of balance, he or she may become lethargic and too weighted down with possessions, jobs and relationships that have long outlived their usefulness. Kaphas can be very stubborn and resistant to change, which may prevent the individual from really creating the life of his or her dreams. Kapha individuals are often prone to low energy levels and depression.

Yoga poses that help to balance and invigorate an individual whose constitution is primarily Kapha in nature are vigorous standing poses, backbends, arm balances and practices employing ashtanga-based Yoga sequences. When a Kapha dosha person is out of balance, his or her energy may become stagnant. Practicing Yoga asanas and breathing exercises that generate heat and increase circulation throughout the entire body will help to dissipate the lethargy that Kapha individuals often experience.

Before practicing vigorous standing Yoga poses, backbends or arm balances, it is imperative that a Yogi or Yogini warm-up with several rounds of Sun Salutations, preferably while practicing Ujjayi breathing. There are many online sources that offer detailed descriptions of a variety of Sun Salutations including both Surya Namaskar A and B. After warming up well, a Kapha individual may want to focus on flowing from one pose to the next through a challenging vinyasa practice. Linking the poses together through a vinyasa sequence while practicing Ujjayi breathing will invigorate the entire body, helping to enliven and balance both the body and mind of an individual whose primary dosha is Kapha.

© Copyright 2011 - Aura Wellness Center - Publications Division

Faye Martins, is a Yoga teacher and a graduate of the Yoga teacher training program at: Aura Wellness Center in, Attleboro, MA. To receive Free Yoga videos, Podcasts, e-Books, reports, and articles about Yoga, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/

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Teaching Yoga to Children's Sports Teams

Just 40 years ago, it was common to see children playing sports like baseball, soccer, and football in vacant lots. These unorganized games were competitive, but they had no adult intervention or supervision. This "adult free" atmosphere had positive and negative benefits. As children, we learned to sort matters out amongst ourselves without competitive adult coaching. On the other hand, there were times when we could have used a sage for guidance.

Children today are more involved than ever in organized sports: according to CNN, an estimated 41 million kids play competitive sports in the U.S. today. Speculation that competitive, organized sports have replaced unstructured play seems obvious, but is this negative?

Team sports offer a number of benefits, including physical activity in a time of increasing childhood obesity, learning teamwork, sharing and self esteem. However, early "extreme specialization," or focus on one activity to the exclusion of all others by parents hoping for scholarships or professional athletes, is a big problem. Such focus can lead to burn out and sports injuries, giving children a negative experience. Teaching Yoga to children's sports teams offers a great way to diversify play time and even help prevent injuries.

Teaching Yoga for a kids' sports team helps them improve concentration and agility, and done together as a group, is an excellent "team building" exercise. Yoga is non-competitive, so the team members practice cooperation and working together as they stretch. Asanas that reinforce the muscles used during team play can be incorporated into practice and building core strength is beneficial to all sports. Yoga includes everyone- there are no "benchwarmers" during practice.

Yoga for a team is typically done once a week. Some poses can be incorporated into a warm up or cool down before and after every game as well. Leading the children through Yogic breathing can help them relax and focus, giving a great opportunity for a coach or parents to talk about strategy or goals for the team. Learning these relaxation skills is excellent for times that children get angry or upset during a game; they can be reminded to "do their breathing" and move past their anger.

There are no special styles or poses that are recommended for sports teams, beyond typical adaptations for children's Yoga. Keeping the practice short and sweet will hold attention spans, and children will learn to work at their own pace. Some studios that offer children's Yoga have offered one free team Yoga practice, to demonstrate benefits to sometimes-skeptical coaches. Adopting Yoga for stress relief and exercise early in life will be a tremendous benefit to these children, as they become adults with healthy habits.

© Copyright 2011 - Aura Wellness Center - Publications Division

Faye Martins, is a Yoga teacher and a graduate of the Yoga teacher training program at: Aura Wellness Center in, Attleboro, MA. To receive Free Yoga videos, Podcasts, e-Books, reports, and articles about Yoga, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/

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What Has Hot Got To Do With Hot Yoga for Beginners

Ever since its birth, the great Indian art of yoga (rather, science of yoga) has gone through massive transformation. From restricted access to a selected few to percolating down to the masses, from one school of Gurus to thousands, from preaching in one country to a hundred, yoga has seen and undergone much more than what monkeys went through to evolve into so called "us" as we stand today. The evolution and transformation that yoga has suffered / rejoiced through the thousands of years could bewilder Patanjali if He is still studying the progress of yoga in human civilization from some parallel plane of existence. There may be a number of modern aspects the inclusion and perpetuation of which He may question (like yoga fashion), but will certainly smirk at the face of those who ask, what's 'hot' got to do with yoga!

Mankind has associated words like peace, tranquility, spirituality, transcendence, union with soul etc with the art of yoga. On the other hand the word 'hot' has been associated with the sun, the equator, volcanoes, soup, beach wear etc. When you try and merge the meaning of the two together to get some harmony, you can come to insane conclusions like 'yoga in the equator', spirituality in beach wear, or even, union with one's soul through volcanoes... mix and match, and more insanity follows. But if you are really enthusiastic about the true relationship of 'hot' with 'yoga', please visit the nearest Bikram yoga studio. As you enter a room-sized oven with semi-clad people baking in it in place of chicken, you will get a fair idea of what 'hot' has got to do with 'yoga'.

We owe the development and spread of Hot yoga to Bikram Choudhury who introduced the world to performing yoga asanas in a hot room, where the temperature is somewhere close to or, beyond 105ºF and humidity is maintained at 40%. The asanas can be performed in a fast pace or, slower depending upon the level of training and stamina of the learner. It is always suggested to start with a slower pace so that the heat does not bake your brains while you are too enthusiastic to enjoy the benefits to follow. A series of 26 asanas and two breathing exercises are practiced during the sessions. Intake of water some time before the session is a must to avoid fatigue.

Bikram Yoga For Beginners can be a challenge. While learning the asanas and correcting the postures can be hassle enough, piling on the added heat and sweat can make it worse. A lot of care and caution has to be practiced in the initial stages to keep the enthusiasm high and health intact. The advantages of Bikram Yoga or, Hot yoga are many. Besides the usual benefits that yoga has to offer, practicing in hot rooms can help people loose weight and get a better and enviable shape faster than any other tried and tested methods... another point to explain what's 'hot' got to do with yoga!

Sanki Linkon is a renowned yoga expert who offers yoga lessons online. In this article he discussed the various postures of Yoga For Children, especially the benefits of Yoga For Meditation.

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Can Yoga Help Seniors With Memory Loss?

Can Yoga help seniors maintain memory? Ancient Yogic texts indicate that "memory is holding on to that which has been known." The ability to retain, assimilate, and recall data about past and present events varies among different people, but the issue is of special concern to senior citizens. It is a life quality issue that we might find unimportant, until it happens to us.

Research has shown that stress and unhealthy lifestyles affect memory, and the Alzheimer's Association predicts that Alzheimer's alone will reach epidemic proportions as the baby boom generation ages. Although the loss of memory results from a variety of inter-related factors, there is some good news.

At one time, scientists thought the brain fully matured during childhood, but recent technology has shown that it can develop new neural pathways at any age. Neuroscientists say, "Neurons that fire together wire together." When the brain repeatedly involves the same thought or action, it can rewire itself.

It is little wonder, then, that Yoga is becoming popular among seniors. Sanskrit manuscripts expressed many of the ideas that run parallel to modern medicine and the western scientific community is just beginning is just beginning to recognize many Yogic concepts, which are listed below.

• Yogic practice revolves around the idea that purification burns away old ideas and habits, leading to new ways of behaving and thinking. In Hindu philosophy, the burning away of old habits and perceptions, known as samskaras, prepares the mind for new ways of thinking and behaving. This ancient teaching is very similar to the neuron theory in contemporary science.

• The disciplines of controlled breathing, meditation, and physical postures taught in old Yogic philosophy serve in today's studios as effective ways of increasing the flow of fresh blood and energy to the brain.

• Deep breathing increases energy (the flow of prana) and oxygen to the body's cells, promoting good memory.

• Inversions provide the brain with an increased supply of blood and oxygen.

• Meditation improves focus, clears the mind of negative thinking, and reduces rumination. A mind that is free of worry and anxiety leads to a better memory.

• Chanting, japa, mantra and kirtan, restores vital life energy (prana) to the body, refreshing the brain and enhancing memory. The OM vibration and mantras work in much the same way.

The theory of neuroplasticity, meaning the brain's ability to produce new cells, has one drawback. New brain cells need a stress-free environment in which to thrive. Amazingly, Yogis figured this out long ago. With systematic practice, Yoga has the potential to preserve the mind's ability in the 21st century - much the same as it did thousands of years ago. For seniors, this is good news.

© Copyright 2011 - Aura Wellness Center - Publications Division

Faye Martins, is a Yoga teacher and a graduate of the Yoga teacher training program at: Aura Wellness Center in, Attleboro, MA. To receive Free Yoga videos, Podcasts, e-Books, reports, and articles about Yoga, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/

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