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An empty stomach - Yoga pays a lot of emphasis on core conditioning. Hence it is a good idea not to eat a heavy meal a couple of hours before your Yoga class. It will only leave you feeling stuffed and may even result in indigestion or stomach cramps. If you’ve decided to indulge in a heavy meal just before your class, consider skipping the class instead.

Reach a couple of minutes early
Yoga is not just another workout. It is a form of exercise that places a great deal of emphasis on centering yourself and breath-control. If you rush in at the last minute, gasping for breath, you are defeating the entire purpose behind practicing Yoga. Instead, try to reach a couple of minutes early, take a few deep breaths, calm the mind and empty your mind of all extraneous distractions.

Warm up
Like any other form of exercise, warming up plays an important role in Yoga too. Warming up ensures that you are able to perform the many stretching exercises that are a part of Yoga without straining your muscles.

Take your time
Do not allow your Yoga class to become a race to the finish line. It is more important to take the time to breathe properly while properly performing the various postures and remain centered at all times. You do not have to keep up with the rest of the class.

Quality is better than quantity
All the different Yoga postures have a specific purpose. Performing an exercise half-heartedly or not performing it properly completely negates the benefits of the exercise. Take the time to learn the various postures properly and ensure that you perform them in the correct manner.

Do not proceed on auto pilot
Yoga is not like running on the treadmill. You cannot watch television and perform Yoga at the same time. Yoga seeks to bring the mind and body in harmony with each other. This can only happen when you fully concentrate on each and every exercise.

Shut out the outside world
A Yoga class is your opportunity to shut out the outside world and recharge your mind and body. Leave all your worries outside the Yoga class and concentrate on performing the postures correctly. Live in the moment and for the duration of your class let your thoughts dwell only on your body and how the exercise is making you feel.

Breathe
It is easy to lose track of your breathing techniques while performing Yoga postures. Do not let this happen. Focus on your breathing and ensure that you are inhaling and exhaling as taught. Breath control is an important part of Yoga and skipping it will nullify all the beneficial effects of Yoga.

Do not overstrain
Yoga is not a competition. You do not have to compete with anyone else or yourself. If you get tired or feel pain, stop and rest until you feel better. If you feel continuous pain while holding a posture, inform your instructor. You may be doing something wrong.

Relax
Ultimately, Yoga is about relaxation and peace. Once the exercises are over, lie down with your eyes closed and feel your entire body relax itself. Let the mind also revel in this brief period of relaxation instead of making mental notes of the things you have to do after your Yoga class.

Kevin Pederson, webmaster for Yoga Wiz, your online guide for Benefits of Yoga, Power Yoga, Yoga Poses and Massage Therapy Yoga is an ancient form of exercise and everyday people are sharing their wonderful experiences and tips on health benefits of Yoga.

Within the training, practice, and scriptures of Yoga are many treasures for humankind. How many people completely understand the Yogic path toward a trained mind? How many students of Hatha Yoga call their practice a workout?

It is true that physical mastery will be realized through the practice of Hatha Yoga, but the mental benefits are usually not realized within an exercise class. If a student is not made aware of the true value of mental attention during practice, the mind-training benefits will still trickle through. Let’s look at daily steps you can take to train, balance, and get the most, out of your mind.

Within Hatha Yoga, there are many aspects, which will improve your mind, but meditation is thought of as a chore by some students. The reason: People are not at peace with themselves. To be alone with oneself is sometimes seen as a prison sentence.

Instead, look at solitary time as a chance to meet an old friend. Meditation does not have to be a chore. You can read, write, pray, visualize, walk, or practice mantra while you meditate. Consider this: Meditation is a matter of constructively focusing the mind.

Meditation should never be something to worry about. Many beginner students, of Hatha Yoga, begin to judge themselves for not being able to concentrate. This is why so many Yoga teachers place meditation at the end of the lesson plan.

The teacher’s strategy is to let negative energy, stress, and tension out of the body by practicing asana, pranayama, mudra, mantra, and other methods. In this way, the student will fully experience the benefits of a complete Yoga practice.

To begin to train your mind, start with planning the next day on the night before. Make a list of what you will do on the following day. Please do not make this into a stressful thing. This does not have to be complicated.

Just a simple “to do” list with five to ten tasks for tomorrow, will be fine. Then, leave it where you sit at the kitchen table. In this way, you will separate yourself from those tasks, sleep easier, and avoid needless worrying.

Upon rising on the first morning, take the time to read, write, pray, visualize, walk, or practice mantra. Just one task will do for five to twenty minutes. If you want to go longer, that’s fine, but do not make it a chore.

This is the first of many days of practice toward training your mind for stability, balance, maximum output, and longevity. As you greet people throughout your day, show them compassion, understanding, and listen to them.

Control your words. Do not participate in harmful, negative, or intolerant conversations. This practice alone is a challenge for most of humanity, but it is worth it. The fruits of your effort will be the cultivation of a focused and trained mind.

Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training 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/member-offer.html

Does Yoga have solutions for middle-aged spread? Are your knees, back, hips and shoulders begging for mercy? Restorative Yoga is a complete health maintenance system, and a low impact form of cross training, that will not cause premature wear in your joints.

Let’s be honest, have you noticed a spare tire around your mid-section? You could justify it by looking at teenagers. After all, it took you nearly 50 years to become overweight. Then, one day, you saw that spare tire in the mirror or a photograph.

Walking is a wonderful form of cross training, but if you carry a pedometer, you know that 10,000 steps per day is a “mission.” If your knees, ankles, plantar fascia, and Achilles tendons are fine, then an aggressive walking program will probably suit your body.

We have to do something, but this is not the time to abuse body parts. Walking is still a great form of exercise, but not to the point of pain. Luckily, Restorative Yoga is great for aches and pains. This is not a pass to abuse oneself with high impact exercise or over do it with excessive amounts of low impact exercise.

At middle age and beyond, everything is about moderation. In fact, moderation is a lifestyle for longevity. Restorative Yoga, walking, and a moderate diet are good additions for a complete health maintenance program.

“I don’t eat that much,” you say to yourself. The truth is - most people in middle age, often eat less than they ever did because we are much more aware of what we eat. An additional factor is that over eating is very uncomfortable.

Granted, there is always the exception to the rule. For instance: The “skinny guy,” who could always eat because of a quick burning metabolism, never seems to gain weight. The vast majority of us will notice our metabolism has slowed down.

According to Madelyn H. Fernstrom, Ph.D., the director of the Weight Management Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, “Your metabolism slows by 5 percent each decade. Compared to age 25, you’ll burn about 100 fewer calories a day at 35, and 200 fewer at 45. Do nothing and you could gain eight to 12 pounds a year.”

For most of us, this is a “warning bell.” We have to burn additional calories, but our joints must be treated like gold. Again, a gentle and restorative form of Yoga is a logical solution.

In general, everyone burns calories at a different rate from an identical activity. The most common reason cited for the difference in calories burned is body weight, but there are many factors to be considered, such as metabolism and body fat.

For the sake of comparison, let’s look at a gentle Restorative Yoga session and the calories burned over the course of one hour. You could do this, without breaking a sweat, on your living room floor - about an hour or two before bedtime. You could also walk to a local Yoga studio depending on its location.

A person who is 150 pounds would burn an average of 178 calories in one hour of Restorative Yoga practice. A larger person, who is 200 pounds, would burn an average of 238 calories in one hour. Generally speaking, the larger you are, the more calories burned. Lastly, keep in mind - this is a very gentle style of Yoga.

Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training 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/member-offer.html

Do you want to develop successful students? Of course you do. Every Yoga teacher is proud of their students. The student who overcomes a disability, and the student who changes his or her life for the best, are stories which make all of us feel satisfied that we became Yoga teachers.

How do we point students toward self-development? When a student takes responsibility for his or her own practice, this is the beginning of empowerment. It is wise to inspire your students to, at least, perform a short practice at home.

We have all had a phone call from a potential student who can only come to class once a week. This is fine, if the student takes the practice home. What about the student who tells you he or she cannot meditate alone? What about the student who has no time?

Your answer might make them laugh. Here it is: Do you have three minutes per day to spare for Yoga? If that is not possible, their problem is time management or procrastination. In reality, who cannot spare three minutes in the morning or evening?

Next, ask your students to try one minute of meditation, at home, per day, in the morning or evening. Ask them to observe only and not to judge. Breath awareness is fine for new students, because it is easy for home Yoga practice. Keeping their eyes open, or closed, does not matter, but they should try both methods.

The next student task for home is pranayama (Yogic breathing). Anyone can find one minute to spare for pranayama practice. Let’s be honest, our students breathe all day, but some self-discipline is required to breath with rhythm for only one minute.

Any method will do, but Bastrika, Brahmari, Ujjayi, Udgeeth, Nadi Shodana, Dirgha, or Kapalabhati pranayama, are good choices. Obviously, it would be best for students to choose one or two methods for a one minute session.

Now, you can guide your students toward a one minute asana home practice session. This would be two postures, which are counter-poses of each other.

However, I often suggest they try seated pelvic circles, which are practiced in many Hatha classes, but you see them, most commonly, in Kundalini Yoga practice. This practice massages the vital organs, eliminates toxins, is good for skeletal health, and stimulates internal energy.

Students can sit in Sukasana (Easy Pose) or on a chair. Then, they would slowly rotate the torso 360 degrees, in slow and gradual circles. The spine should be straight, as possible, the entire time. After 30 seconds, they should rotate in the opposite direction.

So, now you have it: A three minute Yoga session. You will discover that some students have a procrastination issue, but most of your students will tell you they continued to practice Yoga for many more minutes. Between us, three minutes for Yoga is better than none at all, but the true purpose is to create a “spark.”

It is up to our students to “keep the fire going.” Yoga at home will improve their lives, but they have to get a taste of it, in order to realize the deeper joy of the practice.

Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training 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/member-offer.html

Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years in India but it has taken the attention of the west only in the late 19th century. Before it became popular, people in the United States thought that yoga was a mere peculiar activity invented to distort the body to come up with different positions for some strange reasons. Even until now, some people are still skeptical about yoga and refuse to undertake it. Sad to say, these people do not know the benefits they are missing.

If there is anytime that is best to begin a yoga practice, it is now. There are so many reasons why it is important for you to relive your life this very instant and yoga can be that ultimate solution.

First things first, not all myths about yoga are true. To set things straight, yoga is not a completely religious practice so you could set aside the religious issue right at the start. Yoga is also not about mind over body; it is about their “unity”, which is in fact the literal translation of the word “yoga” itself. The practice is not about repetitively reaching your toes as many times as possible; it is about proper breathing and mental focus while maintaining a certain position. There is nothing superstitious about it. In fact, modern science has already long confirmed the benefits of practicing yoga and the list becomes longer as more researches are being conducted year after year on the benefits of yoga.

Yoga is not only an art and a science. It is a lifestyle, an exercise, a therapy, a preventive cure and a medical treatment all rolled into one. Yoga is a complete way of living that can improve your life and you as a person. It is the perfect physical and mental therapy to have the most blissful life you once thought you could never experience. That is why beginning yoga now will bring you that much closer to reaping the benefits of the practice as early as possible.

Yoga has a many physical benefits to offer. It increases the flexibility of the joints, tendons and ligaments of the body. It also tones your body absent the dreadful lifting of weights. The most apparent effect of yoga on the body is loss of weight that is why yoga is also a popular exercise. Yoga is in fact the most holistic form of exercise. It exercises those body parts that are not consciously worked out upon even by gym addicts.

Another revolutionary advantage of practicing yoga is its health benefits to the body. It massages and stimulates all organs of the body. It in effect becomes the perfect preventive measure to avoid diseases, including the life-threatening ones. By becoming more attuned to the body and what the body is telling you, some yoga practitioners have also attained a heightened awareness to impeding illnesses. Yoga also detoxifies the body because all the stretching makes the blood circulate to every part of the body, so every part of the body gets the right amount of oxygen supply. In fact, it has been known to relieve or improve different kinds of medical conditions like high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, arthritis, heart diseases, varicose veins, obesity, respiration problems, body pain and chronic fatigue. Of recent, researchers have found incredible effects of yoga on HIV-diagnosed persons and the benefits are truly promising.

Most of the prevalent diseases in urban areas originate from a common problem and that is stress. Yoga can help to alleviate stress that work or school may bring you. It also has other mental benefits such as reducing body tension and boosting self-esteem. It increases self-awareness, focuses attention and relaxes, calms and clears the mind. It is because it allows the mind to concentrate on the self and the body, which brings about positive effects including improvement of mood and attitude to a better you. As a whole, it brings your emotions into equilibrium, giving you a more positive disposition in life.

But the truth of the matter is that these are mere “side effects” of the real benefits of yoga. Yoga makes you learn more about yourself, your mind and your body. It will give you a sense of enlightenment, where every inch of you meet in a dimensional space where everything is ecstatically immaculate. Its goal is to fuse every part of you, the physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual levels. In fact, it is no secret that yogis are generally happy people with a zest and appreciation for life.

The world is a busy place. Busy people usually live a routinary life that sometimes, they forget to take care of themselves. In fact, modern day diseases are mostly caused by lifestyle and work. Most people who acquire these illnesses are too busy to exercise and give time to themselves. To become a better person, you must act on it and the best time to do that is right now.

Change your life by changing your lifestyle and the best beginning could be through the practice of yoga. So, before saying “no”, try giving yoga a shot and you may realize that it is the final answer you have been unknowingly searching for all along.

Me-Shell Mijangos (http://www.swellwomen.com/founder/html) a surfer who first began surfing at the age of 30. She is the founder of an all inclusive women’s surf camp called SwellWomen. Two years ago, she started SwellCo-ed, a Surf and Yoga Experience for women, men and couples. She hopes to surf with you in paradise soon! Visit her SwellBlog!

Let’s take a systematic approach toward happiness, by using Yoga principles, and applying them to life. Here are a few more methods to help anyone find happiness at any time.

Just by visiting a local Yoga class, you will find yourself surrounded by positive energy. Yet, this same principle applies to going anywhere like-minded people exist. Always surround yourself with optimists.

Look within, and you will find good qualities. Be aware of your strong points and stop worrying about your short comings. We are all human, so do not be the last one to forgive yourself for a mistake. One of the worst mistakes you can make is not forgiving yourself.

Stay away from sinking into a self-pity slump. The future is often what we anticipate. With that said, there is a real need to anticipate success. You have nothing to lose by maintaining a positive outlook on life.

Learn to laugh often, and learn to laugh at yourself - it is good for your health. This is why Laughter Yoga has become so popular. When you start to take life too seriously, observe it and smile.

Life is too short to worry all the time. In fact, worrying is a complete waste of time. Finding solutions is not worrying. If you focus on solutions, you may just solve those worries away.

Believe that you deserve success and happiness. To think otherwise, invites disaster. If we think we deserve failure, we begin to attract pessimists. The last thing any of us needs is to find ourselves in the company of critics.

Be thankful for your health, family, friends, home, and your good qualities. Focus on the good things in life, which you already have. Yoga practice starts when you roll up the mat and learn to put the methods into practice.

Students come to Yoga classes for a variety of reasons, but one of the reasons is because the steady practice makes them happy. Those that think Hatha Yoga is a physically demanding form of torture will not continue the practice.

For teachers, the objective is to show students the multiple benefits of Yoga over the course of a month. Why a month? These days, most people are only willing to give 30 days to try something new, and Yoga is no different. Let’s look at ways to make new students aware of the benefits of a continued Yoga practice.

What is the primary form of instant gratification? If you are thinking of chocolate, that’s close. The primary form of instant gratification is happiness. In fact, you do not have to pay to smile or laugh. Some people pay for entertainment, but this is not a requirement for laughing or smiling.

Yoga teachers want their students to appreciate life “in the now,” but an easy place to start is by teaching them to develop full awareness of their surroundings. For example: The smell of flowers, the feeling of sunshine, and the sound of a bird’s song, are small features on this journey we call “life,” and they can each bring about states of happiness.

Your classroom does not have to become a comedy club or circus, but you can create a joyful atmosphere. Just by getting students to appreciate the simple pleasures in life, they will begin to open their minds to new paths of happiness.

Look at how much you appreciate the benefits of Pranayama - it required your awareness to appreciate it, and developed happiness, before you continued the practice on your own.

Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training 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/member-offer.html