How Power Yoga Can Help Athletes

Whether you already practice yoga or barely know anything about it, you can greatly improve your athletic abilities by doing power yoga. Like most yoga for exercise, power yoga focuses on the performance of asanas or poses. Power yoga usually uses a vinyasa style of practice, meaning the practitioners synchronize the poses with their breath. Generally, power yoga aims to improve your athletic ability in three main ways.

Firstly, you can use power yoga to improve your physical strength. Power yoga for strength especially makes use of poses that involve holding oneself up in various ways using the limbs. Think about it like this: Simply getting down in push up position and trying to hold that position would give you a tough workout. Power yoga uses many poses like that.

Power yoga also aims to improve your stamina and endurance. Obviously, stamina and endurance play a major role in athletics. In power yoga you especially work your stamina and endurance when you hold poses for extended periods of time. Additionally, by going through the poses quickly without stopping in between, you will keep up the work and thus build your endurance.

Finally, power yoga helps you improve your flexibility. Flexibility will help you avoid injury during any athletic endeavors. Also, being rigid and inflexible will hinder your ability to perform well in sports and other athletic activities.

Doing any type of yoga will also help you recover from fitness training. It will preserve your health and improve blood circulation, which in turn will improve your physical potential. Training a lot for a specific sport can make you physically unbalanced, but doing yoga will help balance you back out.

Many athletes use almost all of their free time practicing for their sport. That dedication is almost always required from top-level athletes in any field. That may leave you little time to take on other exercise routines. Luckily, yoga does not take that much time. A simple 20 minute practice once a day or a few days per week will do you great. And once you start, you will get better and better at it.

If you are an athlete, I recommend you try power yoga. Of course, before starting any new exercise program, you are supposed to consult a medical doctor.

Whatever you do, good luck and have fun!

Scott Hughes manages onlineyogaclub.com Online Yoga Club at OnlineYogaClub.com, which has lots of free information and resources about yoga. You can discuss yoga and get help at the onlineyogaclub.com/forums Yoga Forums The forums are completely free to use.

The Peaceful Mindset - Yoga and the Art of Making Money Online

If you are thinking about making money online, or if you're already making money online and want to make more, you should think about studying yoga. Now I know there's a certain number of you out there who would dismiss this thought out of hand.

"Business is combative and stressful," they say. "Yoga is just the opposite." My answer to that would be, "Of course. Very true."

"Business is highly competitive and requires aggressive action and relentless follow through," they continue. "Yoga is just the opposite." My answer to that would be, once again, "Of course. Very true."

That is because these opposing tendencies, these opposing philosophies, are precisely what makes Yoga the perfect complement to business success. In fact, properly and consistently practiced, yoga can catapult your earnings-whether online or in the brick and mortar world-into the stratosphere.

I believe that I am well qualified to comment on this, by the way. I am an Internet marketer, and making money online is my new profession. I used to be a mortgage broker, but that's a different story for a different time. I'm also a 60-years-young Renaissance man who has practiced and taught yoga for decades. I'm a vegetarian, I meditate, and I'm a fitness buff. And I'm also very successful at making money online.

Many people seem surprised at this. They feel that the peaceful mindset that accompanies a true yoga practitioner is contrary to the combative mindset that they believe is necessary to succeed in business. It's not.

T.K.V Desikachar, a renowned yoga master, says that one meaning of the word yoga is "to attain what was previously unattainable." He continues to say that the starting point for this thought is that there is something that we are today unable to do; when we find the means for bringing that desire into action, that step is yoga. So now consider, if you will, how I as a yoga teacher with no prior Internet experience was able to begin making money online. I was not a technical person and knew virtually nothing about making money online. Nothing.

How did I do it? The answer is both simple and straightforward-my happinesslifetime.com yoga training, my peaceful mindset, had everything to do with it. Now, I'm not suggesting that everyone interested in making money online should take up yoga. But I will also tell you that doing so will help you immensely in your quest.

You see, making money online is fun, but it can also be stressful. Yoga provides the balance you need to lead a happy and fulfilled life. Yoga helps you to condition both your mind and your body. And unlike some forms of physical activity, anyone can practice yoga just about anywhere they happen to be.

Almost by definition, making money online means that you need to sit in front of a computer all day long. I can tell you unequivocally that human beings were not designed for this practice, nor for the stress that accompanies it. That's where the yoga comes into play. By devoting a hour or so a day to clear your mind and invigorate your body, the process of making money online becomes far less arduous. And a lot more fun.

Making money online is the means to an end. It's not your goal-at least it shouldn't be. Making money online simply allows you to fulfill your other dreams and goals. Yoga can help you to do exactly the same thing.

You've probably never considered the study of yoga as a step in the process of making money online, or in business in general. Perhaps you should.

Didar Khalsa is an Internet marketing guru who is literally changing the way people are making money online. By blending the mental and physical discipline of his extensive yoga training with a demonstrated mastery of Internet marketing, Didar has become a sought-after mentor for a growing number of work-at-home entrepreneurs. Formerly a successful mortgage broker who built two companies from the ground up, Didar was among the top 2% of earners in the US. When the real estate meltdown devastated the mortgage industry in 2007, Didar lost most of what he had worked for and resolved to never put himself in that situation again. He combined his real-world business experience with his skills as yoga teacher and completely reinvented his life and career. A true Renaissance man, Didar balances his successful business life with a strong spiritual foundation, a vegetarian diet, and a total focus on physical fitness. His life mission is responding to the suffering of others by uplifting then through yoga and internet coaching.

Visit his homepage at makemoneywithdidar.com makemoneywithdidar.com, and check out his blog at didarkhalsablog.com didarkhalsablog.com or you can reach Didar at 954-551-8425.

Workout Schedule Without Weights For Fat Loss You Can Do at Home

Have you ever observed the physiques and athletic fitness of dancers, gymnasts, and yogis (people who practice yoga)? Dancers train at a high intensity level and need to move their bodies in a variety of directions. Gymnasts also perform a variety of high intensity movements with their body weight.

Yoga, just like gymnastics, is also about body control but is performed at a lower intensity level. But, the main thing combining these three activities is the fact that the athletes that perform them are able to sculpt such incredible bodies without ever stepping foot into a gym!

What you can do is actually observe the movement patterns of these athletes, and use them in your own bodyweight workouts. For example, try doing a regular squat thrust, and then jumping forward into a roll. This simple movement comes from gymnastics, but can be an incredible fat burning exercise.

If you want to take your health and fitness to the next level, you need to start thinking beyond regular pushups, pullups, and bodyweight squats. Start doing what I did and observe the way gymnasts, dancers, and yogis train their bodies and what aspects are contributing to their lean and strong physiques.

You can start off with the exercise I just described, and then expand on it further. The main thing you should be looking for is moving your body in as many directions as possible. Basic pushups, pullups, and squats only teach your body to move up and down.

In reality, your body needs to move up, down, front, back, and side to side. This is what dancers, gymnasts, and yogis have known for years, even before the first bodyweight training book came out. And yet, the average person still sticks to basic pushups, pullups, and bodyweight squats to try and achieve better health and fitness through bodyweight training.

You know what, speaking of workouts, there's a great 3-phase fat loss system that uses these same training concepts called the Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss. You can find out more information about this incredible bodyweight fat loss program on my site, workoutwithoutweights.net WorkoutWithoutWeights.Net

You have permission to publish this article in your web sites, ezines or electronic publication, as long as the piece is used in its entirety including the resource box, all hyperlinks (HTML clickable) and references and copyright info

Keeping Fit in Your 50's - What Exercise Should I Do?

Are you nearing or in your 50's and are you wondering about keeping fit in your 50's - what's good for you, what's bad for you and are you asking the burning question - "what exercise should I do?" Entering a new decade always brings about questions in one's own mind about what physical changes are going to take place and how quickly and then how we need to compensate for those changes.

If you are serious about keeping fit in your 50's and would like to know what exercise you should do, I have a little bit of advice to offer: Just because you are getting older, as we all are, does not mean that your exercise routine should change at all if you are already active, fit and strong.

You do not need to reduce your exercise routine if you are fit already and, in fact, you should maintain your healthy routine and possibly, in order to prevent osteoporosis, add some kind of resistance exercise to your routine, which is the best way to stave off the lowering of your bone density.

Swimming is an excellent, low impact sport that supports your joints, adds resistance to your exercise routine and is excellent for muscle toning. It is a sport recommended by physiotherapists, doctors and biokinesis experts the world over.

Other examples of resistance training:

weight training at the gym (please get advice from a qualified professional before embarking upon a weight training routine, no matter what your age is!)
cycling (this uses upper and lower body and is an excellent sport for all round fitness and well being
pilates
medicine ball routines
yoga

Research has proven that no matter your age, you can continue to exercise as long as you have regular physical checkups, eat correctly and listen to your body.

Lastly, you will not stick to any type of exercise or sport that you hate or that you feel is forced upon you for the sake of your health. If you are not a keen keep fit fanatic, the most important recommendation that I have is to find a type of exercise that you enjoy. So, here's to you keeping fit in your 50's and well beyond!

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Mind is All A Commentary on the Dhammapada

History of the Dhammapada

The Dhammapada is not a transcription of a single talk by Gautama the Buddha.

Rather, it is a collection of his words on the most important subjects for those

seeking Nirvana. It was compiled only three months after his passing away by his

enlightened disciples (arhats), who gave it the name Dhammapada, which means

"Portions of the Dharma" or "The Way of Dharma." The Dhammapada consists of

four hundred twenty-three Pali verses that were gleaned from about three hundred

discourses of the Buddha. It is a distillation of forty-five years of teaching.

What is the mind?

"Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made."

(Dhammapada 1)

What is the mind? The language of Buddha, as well as Pali, in which his complete

teachings are set down, was based on Sanskrit, so we can get some understanding

by looking at the Sanskrit terms from which the Pali was derived. (In fact, we may

get a better understanding than if we rely on the Pali commentaries and their

explanations, considering that they were begun exactly five hundred years after the

death of Buddha, who had stated that in five hundred years the dharma he was

preaching would begin to be lost.) Sanskrit and Pali have the same word for mind:

mana. Mana comes from the root verb man, which

means "to think." However, mind takes in more territory than the intellect; it

includes the senses and the emotions, because it is in response to feelings and

sensory impressions that thoughts arise in the attempt to label and understand

them. Evolved minds have the capacity to think abstractly and to determine what

shall be experienced by the senses or the feelings. That is, in lesser evolved minds

these impressions precede thought, but in higher evolved minds thought becomes

dominant and not only precedes those impressions but also determines them.

Undoubtedly this is progress, but like everything in relative existence it has a down

side, and that is the capacity of the mind to "create reality" rather than simply

respond to it or classify it. Perception is not a matter of exact and undistorted

experience. Perception itself is learned and is therefore extremely subjective. People

born blind who have gained their sight in later childhood or even in adulthood have

said that it took them weeks to tell the difference between circles, squares,

triangles, and other geometric shapes-as well as the difference between many other

kinds of visual impressions. This tells us that we do not just perceive spontaneously

through the senses. We learn perception-it is not just a faculty. In other words, the

senses do not perceive; it is the mind alone that perceives even though it uses the

impressions of the senses as its "raw material" for those perceptions. Objectivity in

human beings is virtually impossible. We might even hazard the speculation that

objectivity is impossible outside of enlightenment.

All of the foregoing might worry us greatly-indeed, the insight into this truth about

the nature of the mind may well be the seed of paranoia, for it is well-known that

the Eastern description of the enlightened mind and personality is closely akin to

what modern psychiatry calls paranoid schizophrenia. Some might say they are

identical, but they would be wrong, for the enlightened respond to their vision with

positive behavior, peacefulness of mind, and lovingkindness towards others. The

mentally ill, on the other hand, respond with anxiety, fear, hostility, and mistrust of

others. The sage has profound self-understanding, whereas the paranoid

schizophrenic has almost no self-realization at all. (More than one psychiatric nurse

has told me that they often took their problems to the paranoic schizophrenics in

their charge, who gave them remarkably insightful and wise advice. But regarding

themselves, those same patients were just plain crazy and without a clue. This is a

terrible and cruel dichotomy.)

The understanding to be gained from all this is that our life experiences are a

training film, an exercise in the development of consciousness with the mind as its

main instrument. We are to look and learn. The question of "Is it real?" is almost

irrelevant, "Is it comprehensible?" being more vital. There is a sense in which the

individual alone exists and all that he experiences is but the shifting patterns of the

movies of the mind-but for a purpose: insight that leads to freedom from the need

of any more movies. Then the liberated can rest in the truth of his own self.

The problem is that those who have only an intellectual idea about the relation of

experience to reality-ourselves-will come to erroneous conclusions that may result

in very self-destructive thought and behavior. And those observing them will rightly

consider them either fools or lunatics. Only right experience garnered from right

meditation and right thought (which is based on meditation) can clear away the

clouds of non-perception and misperception and free us.

The demarcation between "out there" and "in here" must become clear to us in a

practical sense. We must also come to understand that "real" and "unreal" have both

correct and mistaken definitions, that all our perceptions are

interpretations of the mind and never the objects themselves. Our

perceptions may be more or less correct as to the nature of the outside object, but

how can we know? The enlightened of all ages have told us that a stage of evolution

can be reached in which the mind is no longer necessary, a state in which we can go

beyond the mind and enter into direct contact and communication with "out there"

and then perceive objects as they truly are-or at least as they momentarily "are."

The knowledge of temporality or eternality is inseparable from that state, so

confusion cannot arise regarding them.

In our childish way we always think of perfection as consisting of all our good traits

greatly increased and our bad traits eradicated. (If we are "good" enough children to

admit we have bad traits, that is.) We think of God as being just like us, but with His

goodness expanded to boundless dimension, and badness impossible to Him. In the

same way we think of eternity as time without end rather than a state that

transcends time. Our ideas of eternal life are pathetic since we have no idea what

life is, much less eternity. It only follows, then, that our ideas of enlightenment and

liberation are equally puerile and valueless. This is why the wise center their

attention on spiritual practice rather than theology and philosophy. Experience-

Right Experience-will make all things clear or else enable us to see that they do not

exist.

At the moment we can say that we do not know just what the mind is, but we are

working on knowing it. So let us again set forth the opening words of the

Dhammapada.

Mind-the source

"Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made."

First there is the mind. Let us go deeper than we have so far. It is possible to view

"mind" as both the perception machinery we have been talking about and the

consciousness which perceives the perception, the consciousness that is

unconditioned and permanent-in other words, the spirit, the eternal self. ("The Self

is ear of the ear, mind of the mind, speech of speech. He is also breath of the

breath, and eye of the eye"-Kena Upanishad 2.) From this higher aspect of Mind all

things proceed-in both the macrocosmic and the microcosmic sense. From the Mind

of God all things are projected that are found in the cosmos; and from the mind of

the individual are projected all that are distinctive to his life. We are all co-creators

with God, even though we have long ago forgotten that and attributed everything

that goes on in our life as acts of God. From this delusion erroneous religion has

arisen-religion that thinks it necessary to pray to and propitiate God in order for the

"good" to come to us and the "bad" to be eliminated from our life. It is this religion

and its false God that Buddha adamantly rejected and from which we must be freed

if we are to gain any true understanding of what is really happening to us from life

to life. On the other hand, we need true religion-the conviction and aspiration for

the uniting of the finite consciousness with the Infinite Consciousness in eternal

Being. The call of the self to the Self is the essence of true religion, and in that

sense those who would turn from death to life must be thoroughly religious. Any

god that is separate from us is a false god; the true God is the very Self of our self.

Though distinct from us, He is not separate. We are eternally one with Him. But we

have to realize that-not intellectually only, but through direct experience. And that

experience is only possible in meditation.

All right: mind precedes its objects, which are themselves governed and made by

the mind. This has profound implications.

1) Karma is the creation of the mind-is simply the mind in extension. Karma need

not be worked out or fulfilled; the mind need only be changed, or better yet brought

into complete abeyance. Then karma is no more and its attendant compulsions-

including birth and death-no longer exist.

2) Our entire life experience is but a mirroring of the mind. If something is not

already within our mind it cannot be projected outward as a (seemingly) external

factor or experience of our life. So our life is our mind in motion! By observing it we

can come to know what is in our mind. If we do not like what is happening in our

life, the solution is to alter our mind. People who like to tell of how cruel, selfish,

dishonest, and disloyal others habitually are to them are merely telling us how cruel,

selfish, dishonest, and disloyal they are. "Victims" are only victimizers

in a down cycle. The moment the upswing comes in their life rhythms they will go

back to victimizing others. Action and reaction are purely psychological matters, the

film in the projector-the light and sound on the screen being only its projection.

Change the film and you change the experience. Since objects come from the mind

they can only be compatible with the mind and therefore express and reveal its

character.

3) All the factors of "life" are really only thought, attitude, and outlook in

manifestation.

4) Study your life and thereby know your mind.

5) You are always in control, even though that control may be on an unconscious

level.

6) Change your mind and you change your life. (Do not forget that "mind" includes

consciousness.)

7) Mary Baker Eddy was right: All is Mind and Mind is All.

Action and reaction

"To speak or act with a defiled mind is to draw pain after oneself, like a wheel

behind the feet of the animal drawing it." (Dhammapada 1) Suffering is inevitable

for the person with a defiled mind, for it is impossible not to act or think (speak

inwardly, even if not outwardly). "Good" or meritorious acts done by a person with a

defiled mind will bring suffering-perhaps not as much as evil acts, but still the

suffering will not be avoided. This is imperative for us to comprehend: Action

is not the determining factor in our life-Mind is! And mind alone. This why in

the Bhagavad Gita Krishna describes how bad people do good in a bad way and thus

accrue more misery to themselves.

It is so important to understand this fact, since we tend to mistakenly assume that

"good" acts produce "good" karma, etc., when in reality the actions mean nothing-it

is the condition of the mind that determines their character and therefore their

consequences. (Buddha was very insistent on this.) Selfish people do "unselfish"

deeds to either cover up their selfishness or to get merit for themselves so they can

enjoy this or a future life. Their intentions defile the actions and no good accrues to

them whatsoever. Instead their selfishness and pettiness is compounded! This is the

plain truth. False religion gets rich on such persons with false promises of merit and

remission of sins. And even after death the deception goes on as their relatives and

friends offer prayers and almsdeeds that supposedly will mitigate their negative

karmas and alleviate-or even eliminate-the after-death consequences of their

defiled thoughts and deeds. It is common to hear patently evil people excused on

the grounds of "all the good" they do along with their evil actions. The truth is plain:

evil minds can only produce evil actions that produce evil results.

How then can a negative person break the pattern of negativity and escape it? By

thinking and acting with the intention to change from negative to positive. The

admission of negativity and the resolution to turn from it can produce positive

thoughts and deeds when the intention is to change the consciousness, not just the

consequences. Without the desire for real change nothing worthwhile can take place

in the life.

Unavoidable good

Buddha then repeats his statement about the nature of objects and then continues:

"To speak or act with a pure mind, is to draw happiness after oneself, like an

inseparable shadow." (Dhammapada 2)

What is defiled and what is pure? Buddha is speaking of something much more than

good and bad thoughts and deeds in the ordinary sense. Instead, he is speaking of

defiled and pure minds. What is a defiled mind? One that is smudged and clogged

with egotism and its demon attendants: selfishness, greed, jealousy, spite, hatred,

and materiality. A pure mind is free from all these things, including the root of

egotism. Further, a defiled mind is outward-turned and a pure mind is inward-

turned. One roves through the jungle of illusion and delusion that is the world of

man's making, and the other rests in the truth and perfection of its immortal self. A

person who is spirit-oriented cannot but produce peace and happiness for himself.

It is as inevitable as the suffering of the matter-oriented person. It is a matter of

polarity of consciousness.

Again we see that suffering and happiness are matters of the mind alone.

Swami Nirmalananda Giri is the abbot of Atma Jyoti Ashram, a traditional Hindu monastery in the small desert town of Borrego Springs in southern California. He has written extensively on spiritual subjects, especially about atmajyoti.org/meditation.asp meditation and about the atmajyoti.org/spirwrit.asp inner, practical side of the world's religions. More of his writings may be found at the Ashram's website, atmajyoti.org atmajyoti.org

What is Self Mastery? - Part 1

Self Mastery, alone, sounds like a selfish term; but if you cannot help yourself, you will have limited ability to help others. Self mastery is the ability to make the most out of your physical, mental, and spiritual health. In other words, to be the best you can be.

As a result of your efforts, you will be able to help everyone around you. In order for you to change the world around you, for the better, you have to change yourself for the better, along the way.

You cannot sit on a mountain top waiting for perfection before you help your fellow man. The time to help is now, and we must look at ourselves as works in progress. Appreciate yourself for who you are, what you are, and what you have accomplished so far.

Appreciate your friends, family, and associates for who they are. Accept them, as they are, without expecting perfection. This is a common mistake for parents to make with their children, but it also happens in a variety of relationships. So, let go of demands on others - especially unrealistic demands.

Where do we start learning the secrets of self mastery? If you accept things around you, without demand, you already have taken the first step. There are two important factors here.

1. Once you accept people, and situations, for what they are, you won't waste time and energy with frustration. This causes inner frustration, emotional turmoil, worries, and depression.

2. Once you change yourself, through positive self mastery, the world around you will change for the better, without much effort on your part.

You will not be able to make all of the changes to mind, body, and spirit, at once, but they are connected.

The first large component is physical. Your body needs constant maintenance in a variety of methods: weight resistance, flexibility, and cardio-vascular strength, require you to cross train. So, if you have been on the couch too long, it is time to get off. This one physical change, of daily exercise, will help you in all aspects of life. You will feel better about yourself.

If you don't have enough time for three types of exercise - practice at least one that will give you maximum benefits. Hatha Yoga, swimming, and martial arts are good recommendations, as each of them cross trains the body with fair variety.

In many Yoga classes, Sun Salutations are a series of postures - and the ultimate cross training exercise. Once you are familiar with them, you can practice at home. They require very little space and no equipment, although many Yoga practitioners do use a Yoga mat, or sticky mat, at home.

Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He is a master instructor of martial arts, with multiple Black Belts, four martial arts teaching credentials, and was recently inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors in the greater Providence area. Recently he wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students, who may be considering a new career as a Yoga teacher. yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html

Practicing Yoga

Practicing yoga will assist one to prepare the body and mind for a successful pregnancy. On the run-up to labor, a woman can do yoga techniques to exercise and focus their attention on both them and the baby in a healthy manner.

Having a flexible and active body will ultimately help the mother to hold back some common pregnancy symptoms including constipating and morning sickness.

Delivery can be smoother than ever, simply by taking advantage of those learnt techniques of relieving cervix tension and through opening up of the pelvis.

Some breathing techniques that you will lean through doing yoga will help you during labor. These will help restore your body shape to what it was, including pelvic floor, uterus and the rest of the womb. You will definitely need something to ease that tension that comes to the back and breast during childbirth as long as you are not lying on the belly.

The first three months of a pregnancy are the most crucial to start learning and practicing the yoga. Learn the various stands, leg poses and other exercises that generate strength tot the lower body allowing blood circulation.

During hat period, it is advisable that you do as much stretching as possible. During the fourth month and beyond, begin to do the Asanas yoga. This will help you reduce the backaches, knowing that this is the most crucial period in the pregnancy.

Engage yourself in a lot of back bending and do some stretching. This works best if the body is in an inclined position. The reason you should be working towards twisting the back and doing some flexi-training is that it exercises the upper abdomen.

All said, you should always focus and avoid the putting too much weight on the body through poses that make pregnant women feel uncomfortable. A pregnant woman may feel comfortable as much as the body is not.

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Ever See a Yoga Train Wreck? Things That Help and Hinder a Yoga Practice

I never thought I would see a yoga train wreck like I saw the other day in class. I have been doing yoga daily for almost 50 years, and never has it made me laugh like this. So here's what happened.

I happened to join a beginner yoga class (the only one I could make that day because of my schedule) and we were packed in like sardines. We get to the tree pose, you know, the one where you stand on one leg and have the other one crossed in front. This being a room filled with beginner yoga students, there was a lot of wobbling involved in the tree pose.

All of sudden... bam! One lady tilts left and hits her neighbor. Her neighbor immediately collapses into the person to the left of her, and so on, until about six people had crumpled to the floor in a giant human pretzel! We all laughed like crazy and got a better workout for our abs by laughing than we did during the whole rest of the class.

So if you ever get a chance to join a packed beginner yoga class, watch out for that tree pose... or at least be prepared to laugh your butt off when the whole thing implodes in on itself! Of course, all of this is just a way to make you smile, and a segue way into the topic of how to make your yoga practice easier and more effective.

3 Ways to Make Your Yoga Practice Easier and More Effective

Yoga is definitely a healthy practice but if you are just getting into it, or if you tend to run hot and cold in your practice, yoga can be downright painful. Stretching muscles, tendons, and ligaments that haven't been stretched in a long time is painful... but it's also good for you. Plus, done right, yoga doesn't have to be painful, and it can help your body feel more at ease all the time. So here are 3 tips on how to make your yoga practice easier and more effective.

Yoga Tip #1: Do Yoga Often or Not At All

This may sound harsh, but it's true. If you only do yoga once a week, the practice may be more painful than beneficial. Yoga's true benefit to body, mind, and spirit occur, in my experience, when you practice yoga at least 3-4 times per week. Even if that means you have to scale down your practice to a very simple routine that you won't mind doing on a regular basis, that's OK.

One yoga master with whom I studied said not to bother with yoga unless you were going to practice it at least 3 times per week. At 3 times per week, he stated that your body would feel better. If you practice yoga 4 times per week, you begin to notice mental and meditation effects. At 5 or more times a week, yoga becomes a spiritual effort that also benefits body and mind, and the effects can be truly spectacular.

Find ways to keep yourself motivated to do yoga often. Some people follow a yoga DVD while others sign up for classes at the local recreation center. I know a couple of gals who live in different states but practice yoga at the same time each morning. They call each other before starting their routines to ensure that each one is up and ready to go. So do what you need to do to stay motivated... find a buddy, find a sado-masochistic teacher, whatever. Just get it done, or why bother with a yoga practice?

Yoga Tip #2: Feed and Treat Your Body Right

The practice of yoga is made much easier when you feed your body ingredients that allow your tendons, ligaments, and muscles to stretch more easily. Antioxidants and enzymes are excellent supplements to add to your daily regimen if you are serious about improving your flexibility. Good antioxidant sources include:

- wheat sprouts

- coenzyme Q10

- mangosteen juice

- adult stem cell enhancers

All of these support your body's ability to stretch without damage. It's so easy to tear muscles and ligaments if you get too enthusiastic about yoga but are not treating your body right.

If you have a particularly tight area in your body, consider doing castor oil packs on that area. For instance, I have always had problems with yoga poses that involve the knees because I damaged my knees during my ballet career. I do regular castor oil packs on my knees to keep them limber and flexible, which helps with poses like the Hero, Lotus, and Camel.

Yoga Tip #3: Practice as Early in the Day as Possible

This is a tip I picked up from a particularly good yoga instructor I studied with in Boulder, Colorado. She told us that our bodies were less flexible early in the day, and that by doing our yoga practice early, we got more benefit than if we practiced later in the day. Of course, being that we are less flexible in the morning, doing a yoga routine is more difficult so you have to be more careful not to push too hard. You don't want to tear anything by pushing too hard.

One way to work your way toward doing a yoga practice early in the day is to start with an evening yoga practice. During the evening, your body is looser because you have been moving around all day. Gradually, over a number of months, see if you can move the time of your yoga practice so that it becomes earlier and earlier. Alternatively, if you want to start with an early morning yoga practice, you can decrease the difficulty of your routine in the beginning. Slowly increase the difficulty as your body becomes more flexible.

I hope these yoga tips help you get the most out of your yoga practice. Yoga is a most beneficial practice, and I have found these three tips help me maximize the time I spend bending my body into a pretzel!

Alan Joel is a Doctor of Chinese Medicine and nutritional counselor. He is also an independent distributor of Simplexity Health, producer of all-natural blue-green algae products for people, pets, and plants. For free health tips (including how to do a castor oil pack) and to order blue-green algae online at wholesale prices at prosperity-abounds.com prosperity-abounds.com. Read more about natural health on the blog at prosperity-abounds.blogspot.com prosperity-abounds.blogspot.com.

Creating a Healthy Environment, Generating the Energy to Defeat Stress, in Three Easy Steps

The human body goes through so many changes in life. Our lives get more and more packed with stress and our body pays the butcher's bill. Headaches, injuries, knotted muscles and cramps--our bodies are telling us something. We need to adapt! The stress we encounter in our daily life forces these physical reactions of discomfort upon us. We try to cope with the pain, believing it's natural, our coping only takes us so far though: just enough to keep feeling the same way: miserable. But, if we adapt by creating a healthy environment for our bodies, we reduce all our millions of aches, pains, and stresses that sap all our energy to live life the way it was meant to. Adapting your environment to health will naturally generate the energy you need to defeat stress. You'll be back in control of your own life.

The Key is Flexibility

Stretching is just about the simplest of all physical activities and it is the essential exercise in the creation of a healthy environment. Flexibility training will: reduce muscle tension, improve circulation, reduce anxiety, stress, and fatigue, improve mental alertness, and decrease your risk of injury. But despite the benefits, you're probably asking yourself: where are you going to find the time to start stretching? And that's where step one comes in.

Step One: Use Time To your Advantage

Step one is all about the creation of new habits. What you want to concentrate on here is creating habits that increase your flexibility. It's simple. If you're waiting in line, showering, or even brushing your teeth, you can incorporate simple stretching routines and maximize your time. Start your flexibility program every morning and again make it the last thing you do before bed. Through-out the day just spend a couple of minutes of the time you use for all the mundane tasks of your life, and stretch out while you're working. When you're trying to start a new habit, remember: don't let yourself make excuses not to. It only takes thirty days for a new habit to form in the brain. So, stay the course.

Stretching Your Way To A Healthy Environment!

Once you've found ways to maximize your time by incorporating a flexibility routine, it's time to create a homeostatic environment of flexibility. Think about a cat. Cats spend at least eighty percent of their days stretching out. Maybe that's why cats always look so relaxed all the time, and we are these constant stress-balls. Step two is all about becoming a little more cat-like in how we respond to our environment.

Step Two: Adaptation

Since you've already found ways to use your time to your advantage, you've already started the development of a healthy environment. It's really all about mastering your responses, and adapting. So you're already on your way. Just remember to concentrate on consistency in your stretching, rather than intensity. Intense stretching will come in time, when your body is ready. In the beginning, it's all about consistency, just do it every day and the results will surprise you. Use your body And mind together There is definitely a mind-set to be developed here. You've made the decision to start adapting to your environment by forming self-sustaining habits. You are stretching out and clearing away all the tension your body has stockpiled. But the best way to take these routines to the next level is to use your body and mind together. And that is what step three is all about.

Step Three: Stretching As Meditation

When you're stretching out concentrate on nothing but the stretch. Focus all your mental attention on your body and its response to the stretch. Breathe deep. Concentrate on your breathing and try to breathe into the space by your belly-button. Let your muscles relax! Let your anxieties go, just concentrate on the stretch. Stretching is a balance between strength and flexibility. Remember only stretch as far as your body will let you. Don't push it too far! If you listen to your body it will tell you when too stop. For example, if your muscles start to shake while you are stretching, you're stretching too far. Give it time, focus, and a lot of breathing.

survivalseattle.com Personal Trainer Seattle

Cody has 12 years experience as a personal trainer. He started his career at the University of Washington as an instructor. He was in charge of running a beginning weightlifting class and was the creator of many new classes because of the demand for his knowledge and leadership skills. From there he trained at a corporate gym while gaining knowledge in the studies of human movement. He now has his own business with numerous pleased and fulfilled clients.
survivalseattle.com Personal Trainer Seattle

Enjoy Your Peace of Mind by Going to Yoga Holidays

The mesmerizing effect of yoga in the life of a person is perhaps evident in the best possible way when a person goes for yoga holidays where he can extract the best possible outcome from doing it in complete solitude, peace, and tranquility. They are being organized by several non-profit making organizations, which aim in arranging a trip to several spots of scenic beauty where a person can get to do yoga for getting off the pressure from the hustle and bustle of his daily life. He can get a relaxed mind and along with that a relaxed body as well from being a part of the package.

Not only does several NGOs organize them but also along with that, for the sake of the benefit of the employees even major corporate houses organize all expenses paid holidays to some spot, which has an excellent scenic beauty for the purpose of getting involved in sessions. The reason is very simple. From the ancient times, it is known that it is the best way to improve the quality of life and bringing a state of mental peace and calmness in a person. Since the whole concept of it is to exploit the various possibilities involved with the human body to achieve the ultimate, hence most companies often organize such trips for improving the quality of human resources available with the company. On holidays, a person who is working for a company gets an all expenses paid trip to a tourist destination spot, which has mesmerizing scenic beauty, and along with that, which has a complete state of calmness and tranquility associated with its surrounding. In a place like that, several employees of the company, gather around to do yoga for the purpose of freeing their mind of the pressure from work and also relaxing their body as well. The companies, which arrange for the yoga holidays are generally inclined in hiring some of the best teachers available in the world for giving the complete guidance for the training sessions. They are quite experienced in the field of training and hence they can guide a person do churn out the maximum benefit.. There are mainly four types of yoga therapy, which are Yogic exercises, Therapeutic massages, Food and nutrition and Meditation therapy.

The first kind of therapy is done which deal with various types of exercises, which are organized to achieve the mental peace and calmness, and along with that to get a relaxed mood and body.

The therapeutic massages are there to provide relaxation to the body. The medications, which are used, are the extracts from several natural and herbal ingredients, which have their own fascinating effect on the body. They can cure any burns, pains, wounds or even several diseases, which might occur to the person.

The Food and nutrition therapy deals with proper diet and taking healthy food in order to avoid diseases and several other physical complexities, which may arise due to a bad diet.

Finally, the meditation therapy, which is the chief constituent and can be called as the backbone of the yoga holidays. Here, a person meditates in total solitude and tranquility to get the perfect peace of mind and soul and relaxing his mind, thus freeing it of any negative thought or any negative energy as such.

For more information on asianyogaholidays.com yoga retreat, check out the info available online; these will help you learn to find the asianyogaholidays.com yoga holidays!

Yoga Exercise Preparation

If you are thinking about exploring yoga, you should know that it is a physical and psychological experience that is unlike any other type of activity you have undertaken in the past. You may find that you are exercising your body and mind in a completely new way and you may be surprised at how good it makes you feel. Done right, it feels like the most natural activity and for many, it is like coming home after being lost for a long time. Precisely because it is so different however, you should take precautions before you begin to avoid unnecessary strain and injury. A general rule of thumb is do not push yourself too hard and if it hurts, you are doing something wrong.

Many of you do some form of exercise regularly for strength training and losing weight and you have come to rely on it to feel healthy. With yoga practice, you will find that you are stretching your muscles for the very first time in the way they should be stretched, toning them at the same time to make them more elastic and less prone to tiring with long practice. Besides your muscles, yoga will also tone and stimulate the internal organs, helping the metabolic system and improving digestion and circulation which in turn helps the heart by reducing the demands on it. If you are overweight, you may find that yoga not only helps you shed weight faster and more safely than other methods but also makes your weight loss more permanent.

In the yoga poses, we will stretch, twist and tone the legs, arms, spine and torso that are designed to bring the body and nerves to their maximum level of health. We need to learn the basics carefully as they will determine the success of our practice for the rest of our lives besides minimizing the chances of injury. The end result is a high level of health and strength without spending hours in practice. It is really the ideal physical activity for busy modern times.

It is easy to be confused by the many different types of yoga being advertised nowadays, with many taking their names from the modern "inventors" of systems that cut corners and emphasize specific outcomes like high heart rates, caloric burn and physical strength. Well, if your lifestyle consists of running up and down mountains, ingesting large amounts of junk food or carrying heavy loads all day, you should go for these new yogas. Otherwise, its a very good idea to stick to the tried and true systems that have been practices and produced certifiable results for thousands of years. This will probably save you a lot of money too.

One thing bears repeated mention: you should begin practice by preparing your body and mind for the utterly new and marvelous experience of yoga by doing warm up exercises and these you can do on your own. However, a formal course of practice should ideally be learned with the guidance of a qualified instructor so you get the basics right. It should not be too difficult to find a suitable one no matter where you live. The local YMCA, YWCA or library may be a good place to start looking.

Jay has spent a couple of decades in the investment industry and is now an "early retiree" partly by choice and partly by circumstance. He is enjoying his retirement and spends his time doing his favorite thing--playing with computers and the Internet.

Please check out his latest efforts at keeping busy: unfinishedbookcases.org UnfinishedBookcases.org and unfinishedbookcases.org/unfinished-wood-bookcases.html Unfinished Wood Bookcases If you happen to also be in need of unfinished wood bookcases, chances are you'll find what you're looking for.

Yoga Teacher Training - Should You Go for Your 300-Hour Certification?

Taking a 200-hour level happinesslifetime.com yoga teacher training course should prepare you to successfully guide strangers through a yoga practice. You may begin by teaching friends, starting your own class, or landing a job teaching at a yoga studio or gym. Once you begin teaching on a regular basis, you may find yourself being asked questions you can't answer, or wanting to make adjustments you are unsure of. In addition, as your personal practice grows a longing for deeper understanding and knowledge often arises.

While workshops and DVDs can be helpful, a 300-hour level yoga instructor course might more aptly quench your thirst for knowledge. 300-hour level programs dive deeper into the subjects that are touched on only briefly in 200-hour level programs. Some of the topics may include: Advanced pranayama, meditation, sequencing, ayurveda, Yoga Nidra, asana and hands-on assisting.

With the increased amount of knowledge and practice usually comes an increase in teacher confidence. Some of your fellow students in a 200-hour level course may be there on a whim or to try something new. Everyone who participates in the 300-hour level course has already taken the 200-hour level, which helps to foster an environment that is more focused and conducive to learning.

A 300-hour happinesslifetime.com yoga teacher training provides you an opportunity to bond, network, and practice with like-minded individuals, most of whom are actively trying to become instructors. As a result, many yoga studios will take the application of a yogi with a 300-hour level certification more seriously than that of a 200-hour level graduate. That being said, it is perfectly possible to be a teacher without an advanced certification. However, having one will simply make it that much easier to teach students, be taken seriously in the yoga community, and possibly open up your own studio.

Roque L. Rodriguez III is a poet and yoga instructor in New York, NY. He is currently taking the 300-hour ishtayoga.com/teacher_training yoga teacher training course at ISHTA Yoga NYC.

Will Golf Fitness Training Improve Your Golf Game?

George is a good looking guy and is pretty well-built, for a forty year old. He has always worked out and considers himself fit. But, because George always wants to be the best, he thought he would ramp up his fitness regimen a little in order to beat a few of his golf buddies. How could a guy who was already "fit" increase his fitness level so that it improved his game? Can golf fitness training really help anyone improve their game enough so that it shows on the score card?

- There are many types of training that are used by golfers. There is no doubt that if you watch the golf tour on television, you will see that the best golfers are no longer the slow, lumbering, overweight guys, but the fit guys with muscles. These men put in a lot of work in the gym, and if you are like George and want to improve your drive, then this is one way that you can achieve that.

- Let's face it - golf is a sport and you have to be fit. The modern professional players are spending as much time in the gym as they are on the practice range, and sometimes even more. Golf fitness training is now a recognized science and if you want the most out of your game, then you need to get your entire body strong and healthy

- There is more to hitting a long drive than strength, and flexibility is one important part. Many golfers are taking up serious stretching routines and even taking part in Pilates and yoga classes. These can help you make the turn quicker and stronger, and have more flexibility throughout your swing.

- If you think that heart health has no part in golf, then you are sadly mistaken. Golf fitness training also includes a fair amount of cardio. Try running, cycling, or swimming, or even take a step class or two, and get your cardiovascular system in shape, too. You will find that golf is a lot easier when you are in good shape.

George was already fit, but he put the time in the weight room and on the treadmill and now he is one of the strongest and most aerobically fit guys at the club. He is also playing better than ever, hitting longer, and scoring lower than he has in years.

Jason Haas is a writer and researcher on products for households such as improvegolfswingover40.com/golf-tips/can-golf-fitness-training-add-yards-to-your-drive golf fitness training. Save time and money by getting a FREE in depth review of this product and many others including discounts and best prices at Jason's blog: improvegolfswingover40.com improvegolfswingover40.com

Insider Secrets to the Business of Teaching Yoga, Part 3

In my early years of teaching Yoga, all I accomplished was to run myself ragged and have nothing to show for it. I knew how to find work, as a Yoga teacher. That's the marketing part of the Yoga business, but I needed self-esteem, which I found in audio books from the self-improvement and business sections of bookstores.

These types of audio books serve as an inexpensive coach, and when you put some of the knowledge into practice, you will see results. The number of times you play them back is important too. This will burn the lessons deeply into your memory. Yoga teachers need to build their self-esteem too.

Since that time, I am never frustrated in traffic. I am not wasting all my time listening to a song for the 300th time, disc jockey antics that have lost any shock effect, or commercials. Seriously, I listen to the radio once in a great while, but the programming and songs don't change much.

Here is a list of audio books I recommend for the knowledge and the positive attitude adjustment. Some are no surprise, and most are classics.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

The Power of Positive Thinking by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

Can't Lose Sales Tips From The World's Greatest Salesman by Joe Girard

How To Close Every Sale by Joe Girard

Creating Your World the Way You Really Want It by Wayne Dyer & Deepak Chopra

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar

I can hear some of you now. "I want to teach Yoga, not learn how to sell cars." Personally, I never bought a car from a salesperson I didn't like. Think about that, the next time you show a prospective Yoga student around your studio.

When human contact is involved in the selling process, people virtually buy the salesperson or the "Yoga instructor." You as a Yoga teacher, sell something everyday; it's a ticket to better quality living. If a Yoga student stays long enough, he or she learns that Yoga works and you told them the truth.

My wife, Marie, and I bought five consecutive cars from the same salesperson because we liked her and she was honest. We would buy another from her, to this day, except that she retired.

© Copyright 2006 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He is a master instructor of martial arts, with multiple Black Belts, four martial arts teaching credentials, and was recently inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors in the greater Providence area. Recently he wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students, who may be considering a new career as a Yoga teacher. yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html

Turn a New Year's Resolution Into a New Year's Intention

New Year's is always the time we look toward the future and think about what we want to change in our lives. Do we want to lose weight, stop smoking, or spend more time with our families?

I always greet the New Year with excitement at the possibilities that lie ahead. Ironically, this attitude happened shortly after I swore off New Year's Resolutions. After a lifetime of making solemn oaths every January 1-usually it was to lose weight-I realized that not once did I ever make it to February without returning to my old habits. Despite my best efforts, my New Year's Resolutions just never seemed to work.

But I found something that did and that's why I'm excited every New Year. Awhile back, I came up with a practice that really works to evoke desired changes in my life. Instead of making New Year's Resolutions, at the start of every year, I create a set of New Year's Intentions.

Set Intentions.

So what is a New Year's Intention? It's a two part practice I developed from my years of spiritual studies that allows me to accept spiritual help in the areas I want to improve. First, I write down the change I want to see in my life and then I do a visualization.

Here's an example. Last year my New Year's Intention was to improve my health. Now that may seem odd coming from the author of The Positive Portions Food & Fitness Journal but it's true. Even though I was exercising regularly and eating my fair share of veggies, whole grains, and proteins, I wasn't performing at my best.

I was plagued by chronic tiredness, a feeling like I could go back to bed and sleep for hours after I just work up. My mind was fuzzy and I had constant pain underneath my right shoulder blade that wasn't responding to massage therapists or physical therapy. Whenever I tried to exercise, my shoulder blade would flare up and I'd have to take painkillers and/or muscle relaxers.

Visualize.

In January 2009, I wrote down the things I wanted to improve in my life: I wanted more energy, greater mental clarity, and freedom from pain. After I wrote these things down, I followed it up with a visualization where I imagined turning these things over to the Universe.

My "turn it over" visualization entails sitting with my eyes closed and imagining myself walking down a corridor with shut doors on either side, such as in a hotel. As I walk down the corridor, I see doors with signs on them that list the areas I want to see improvement in. In this case, I saw three doors with signs that read "Tiredness" on one, "Brain Fog" on the other, and "Shoulder" on the third.

I imagine myself opening the doors with the signs on them. As I open the doors, light pours in from the hallway, through the doorway and into the room. By me opening the doors and allowing light to enter, I am symbolically allowing the Universe to work its magic and find solutions to my issues.

Eat Well, Feel Great.

At first nothing happened. I still felt tired and fuzzy and my shoulder still hurt. Around June, however, I was talking to my friend Suzy whose lean physique and glowing skin I admired. We were discussing our food plans, and she mentioned the litany of foods that she didn't eat, such as dairy, artificial sweeteners, and most grains. She explained that she was following a plan prescribed by her nutritionist.

"Wow," I said, both impressed and intimidated. "Don't you miss those foods?"

"Not at all," she said. "Now I feel so good that it's worth it."

Okay, that did it. I demanded the nutritionist's number and called her right away.

Working intensely with the nutritionist over the next few months, I was able to get in touch with my body on a deeper level. I learned to pay attention to the feedback and signals it was giving me. I realized that whereas I might have liked certain foods-like caffeine, dairy and soy-my body didn't. I replaced the foods that didn't work with my body for ones that did.

The result? After a few months, my energy increased, my mental clarity soared, and I feel better than I have in years. I can make it through weekends without having to take a three-hour naps and I feel clear and alert.

Pump Iron, Lose Pain.

The next "happy accident" occurred around July. I walked into my gym after not having been there for months wondering what I could do that wouldn't flare up my shoulder. That day, the gym happened to be a offering free one-time session with a personal trainer. Since I'm a sucker for free stuff, I signed up. A week later I got a call.

"Hi," said what sounded like a young man with a slight Texas drawl, "Ah'm Jay. Ah see you signed up for a personal training session. Ah'll be your trainer."

Jay might have been young but he knew his stuff. "Ah already know what's wrong with you," he said within minutes of meeting me. "You need to add ten pounds of muscle. Your joints have no protection."

And adding muscle is exactly what we proceeded to do for the rest of the year. Jay turned out to be the perfect trainer for me. Under Jay's direction, I've pumped iron, increased my flexibility, and learned to stretch properly.

The result? Miraculously, I am no longer in pain. I can do all of the activities I love to do, such as yoga, spinning, and aerobics without having flare ups. I am no longer in physical therapy and I don't have to take painkillers or muscle relaxers to make it through the day.

Let the Universe Do the Heavy Lifting.

If you'll notice, when I set my New Year's Intention, never once did I resolve to hire a nutritionist or a personal trainer. I simply set the intention of wanting more energy, greater clarity, and less pain. Then I turned it over to the Universe to work out the details. It's a practice I've been doing for a few years now and it really works.

If there are areas you'd like to change, I encourage you to set a New Year's Intention rather than make a New Year's Resolution in 2010.

Shannon Hammer is a communications professional who lives in Redondo Beach, California, with her husband, Mark Christopher (MC) Hammer. The Positive Portions Food & Fitness Journal is her first book. For more information, go to positiveportions.com positiveportions.com. Article is copyright Shannon Hammer.

Using Yoga to Deal With Stress

Many studies have been done to show that yoga can make a difference in how your body handles stress. Many diseases have their origins in a stress reaction, and while doctors are not entirely sure how yoga works and makes a difference, practicing yoga can definitely help moderate the body's reaction to stress.

Yoga brings together the mind, body and spirit. Yoga involves stretching the body and creating various poses, all the while monitoring your breathing and moderating it through different breathing techniques. There are many styles of yoga and each style can be said to have a different purpose. Flow yoga can be almost an aerobic workout, having you move through a set of poses quickly. Other styles concentrate on slowly relaxing into a pose, stretching the muscles and joints deeply.

The physical benefits of yoga are fairly straightforward. Yoga develops flexibility and using body weight, can develop great strength. Yoga elongates muscles and exercises joints. Learning yoga breathing can help you in other aspects of your workouts. If can help you increase your endurance in your aerobic activity. Yoga offers you the ability to center yourself and to disconnect from the stresses of daily life. The spiritual aspect of yoga can be something you find restorative, connecting with a spirit of the universe.

Regular yoga practice can be a great addition to traditional strength training workouts. Finding room for yoga in your weekly workouts can help increase your flexibility and increase your endurance. Yoga will help you calm your body and its reaction to stress. After you practice yoga for awhile, you will find that you sleep more soundly. You will find that you might have an enhanced sense of well being and that your general level of anxiety is reduced. You might also find that your health improves. Perhaps allergies you might have had could lessen. A medical condition you might have been battling might improve. You will feel more energized, stronger, and more content.

The ability of yoga to reduce stress is just one benefit of incorporating it into your weekly workout routine. Learning new yoga poses can be an interesting and creative way to add some new dimension to your workout, challenging your mind as well as your body. Yoga will also help you become more flexible, more centered, and just might help fight the aging process!

Jake is a young man that loves fitness and exercise. He writes to inform people of the importance of the exercise to live a long and healthy life. Jake suggests trying the extremehomeworkout.com/10-minute-trainer-home-workout.html 10 minute trainer for an awesome workout. The extremehomeworkout.com/p90x-home-workout-dvds.html P90X workout includes a lot of yoga.

Yoga For Self-Confidence in the New Economy - One Easy Tip

Do you suddenly feel your self-esteem is shaken by economic conditions that you cannot control? Are you tired of watching world leaders and hoping for leadership? Have you noticed that your Yoga practice helps build self-confidence, but wondered why? The following tip will help you build or maintain self-confidence in any economy.

In most Yoga classes, students learn the value of positive affirmations. Let's be honest, most people practice affirmations every day, but are not consciously aware of it. Anyone who wakes up each morning, looking for a problem, unconsciously seeks negative affirmation.

You cannot control the world economy, stock markets, or the decision process of world leaders, but you can control the thoughts that run through your mind. It starts with the power of affirmations. If you are going to program your mind for self-confidence, you have to repeat a phrase to yourself over and over again.

Your positive affirmation does not have to be very complicated; nor does your affirmation have to be a Sanskrit mantra given to you by a genuine Swami, after a pilgrimage to a sacred place. Here is an example of a simple, but effective, positive affirmation: "I deserve love, respect, and admiration."

Why is this affirmation such a simple, yet powerful, affirmation? So many people believe that they should not have anything good happen to them. They sincerely believe they should be sad, pessimistic, and unsuccessful.

When you attend a Yoga class, make sure that you learn about the power of affirmation and mantra. Related to this, prayer is also a powerful form of affirmation. In Hatha Yoga classes, outside of India, it is unlikely that your teacher will ever discuss the power of prayer.

The reasons for this difference are simple. As Hatha Yoga left India, it evolved into a "mind / body" exercise. The separation of religion and government is so deeply rooted into western democratic societies, that the mention of prayer has become "politically incorrect." Hatha Yoga teachers, in western societies, often teach students of multiple religions within the same class.

Make no mistake about it, anyone, of any religion, can increase his or her spiritual growth through the practice of Yoga. Yoga, of every kind, will enhance your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

Self-realization and transformation are natural by-products of Yoga practice. Yoga practitioners, who continue to maintain a steady practice, will increase their self-confidence, and train their minds for balanced thinking.

? Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, has written many books on the subject of Yoga. He is a co-owner and the Director of Yoga Teacher Training at: Aura Wellness Center, in Attleboro, MA. aurawellnesscenter.com aurawellnesscenter.com.

He has been a certified Master Yoga Teacher since 1995. To receive Free Yoga videos, Podcasts, e-Books, reports, and articles about Yoga, please visit: yoga-teacher-training.org/member-offer.html yoga-teacher-training.org/member-offer.html

Ten Tips For Producing a Successful Yoga Or Fitness Video

I just finished my third yoga DVD and I feel completely re-energized. As a director and cameraman, I have always enjoyed shooting fitness videos since the process inspires my own athletic practice and yoga studies. With each shoot, I learn something new, so I thought it would be valuable to share my insights with fitness and yoga instructors who are considering producing their own videos. I've culled together some tips and considerations to help people avoid pitfalls and ways in which they can elevate their fitness video productions.

Spending the money to produce a yoga video is a gamble for sure, but you can hedge your bet by doing your homework to ensure that your yoga DVD has a good shot at recouping your investment and (hopefully) making a good profit. The cost to produce a professional fitness DVD can range from $25 to $30K so you want to be sure you've considered all the elements before firing up the cameras. Of course there are many variables that can alter the budget, and a lot of videos cost well over $30K, but that's a good starting point. There is another intangible reason to producing a professional yoga DVD - to promote yourself. Instructional videos allow you to market your name in such a way that word-of-mouth alone cannot accomplish. It will ultimately help strengthen your business and is an effective portfolio of your teaching practices.

1) Make sure your yoga DVD has a unique marketable approach - For those who don't have a household name, best-selling yoga book or star power, you need to play on your strengths. You don't need to be a Rodney Yee to sell a lot of yoga DVDs, but remember, there are dozens of yoga videos all competing for the same dollars. It's important that your video stands out and has a unique niche market, for example, some successful videos include: pre-nadal yoga, yoga for cyclists, cross training in winter or hula-hooping fitness for everyone. There is a fine line between making sure there is a broad enough appeal and finding a good niche audience.

2) Choose the right location - Shooting in a beautiful setting can make a world of difference and will elevate the production value of the overall video.

3) Move that camera! - A moving camera can boost production value in a big way. Using a jib arm can not only keep the shot interesting for 30 seconds at a time but can also be helpful to show different angles as the camera floats around the body.

4) Multiple cameras with matching time code - To do a professional yoga or fitness video you need to shoot with at least two cameras, if not more, and those cameras should be synced with time code. I like to have one camera on a jib arm that is getting the wide shots while the second camera is shooting close ups. Adding a third camera is valuable if you have more than five people on screen at once.

5) Deciding how many people to have in the shot - This is a key factor in deciding how to set up your shoot and it is important to consider your reasons for using more or fewer practitioners to demonstrate. It's always good to have at least one man and one woman unless your video is marketed for men or women only.

6) Voiceover? Or Direct to Camera? - You will need to consider if you want the host to address the audience or to use a VO before developing the script. The advantage of doing the exercise routine in Voice Over (also called VO), is that it allows you considerable flexibility once you're in the edit room and it is easier to alter the script if and when needed. Personally, I like to switch it up. Have the yoga instructor start out on camera for the opening. If you do the entire practice on camera make sure to have a wireless headset microphone that moves with the instructor so you can consistently record clean audio.

7) Create more than one routine on a disc - While you don't want to give away three DVDs worth of yoga on one disc, it's nice to be able to offer a menu with a few options to choose from. I suggest a basic hour-long workout, a condensed half hour, and an advanced workout or practice. I would err on the side of making the disc feel substantial. Two different lengths of a similar routine is good because sometimes the viewer only has a half hour to spend with your DVD.

8) Chapter your DVD - There are certain sections on the DVD that your viewer will want to watch many times over as they do their routine. There are other sections that the viewer will only want to see once. Make sure each routine has its own chapter for the viewer's convenience.

9) Know your market - This is key in establishing your audience and increases your possibilities of generating a profit. Do your research! Speak to your students and let them know you are considering creating an instructional video - chances are they'll be happy to share with you their thoughts and/or interest. Is this something they would want to buy?

10) Create a beautiful DVD Cover and DVD Menu - They say you can't judge a book by its cover, but the truth of the matter is we all do. DVD packaging is important especially when it comes to appealing to your audience. Something to consider is featuring your photo on the cover. You may be your DVD's biggest selling point, so be ready for your close up.

David Collier is film director and studiobfilms.com/content/crew-services-san-francisco-bay-area videographer. Straight out of college, Collier directed and produced the feature-length documentary For Better or For Worse, which earned him several awards, including an Academy Award nomination. In 1992 Collier founded Studio B Films studiobfilms.com studiobfilms.com and has since worked on various non-fiction programs for PBS, BBC, Discovery, MTV and Animal Planet. He has also been fortunate to work with a wide-spectrum of corporate clients such as Adobe, Adidas, Gap, Clif Bar, Apple, LeapFrog and Microsoft. Collier lives in Berkeley, California with his two sons and is a practicing yogi.

Using Yoga to Manage Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

Every now and then someone asks me: "What can I do for a quick-fix solution to my ADD challenges?" I wish I had the magic answer!

Unfortunately there is no quick fix for managing any challenge. Making positive, permanent changes takes time, energy and dedication.

However, there are a few things you can invest your time and energy in that will provide a greater rate of return, so to speak, when it comes to managing your Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) challenges. One such thing is yoga.

I've been encouraging clients to try yoga for a long, long time! When practiced regularly, yoga offers a number of health benefits. Yoga can:

* Increase your strength and flexibility

* Tone your muscles

* Decrease your blood pressure

* Help you sleep more soundly

And yoga can help you manage your ADD! Here's how:

Yoga provides an outlet for stress relief. Stress management equals ADD management.

Yoga increases your personal awareness and encourages you to form a solid mind-body connection. This helps tremendously when it comes to controlling impulsiveness. And it also makes it easier to break out of periods of negative hyperfocus.

Yoga promotes relaxation techniques that teach you how to become calm and centered. It's much easier and more effective to improve ADD management skills--like time management, organization, focus, and more--when you're operating in a calm and centered state. You have the presence of mind to make good decisions without getting stressed out and frustrated.

If you'd like to try using yoga to help manage your ADD, then here are a few helpful tips for getting started.

1. Remember that yoga is not meant to be stressful or taxing on the body. Good yoga instruction will push you a bit, but it shouldn't feel like boot camp!

2. Look for a yoga center near you and, if at all possible, avoid taking yoga classes at a gym. While there are exceptions, many gym yoga classes will be heavy on strength training and light on relaxation and breathing techniques. (Also worth noting: doing yoga on your Wii Fit is not the same thing as attending an actual yoga class!)

3. Don't be afraid to get started by taking "Gentle Yoga" classes until you feel comfortable. Talk to your doctor if you have concerns about whether or not yoga is right for you.

The bottom line is that yoga can help ADDers feel calm, centered, and in control. And it offers lots of physical benefits, too!

You'll feel the benefits of yoga right away. And after a few classes, you just might find that yoga becomes a powerful tool in your ADD management toolbox!

Jennifer Koretsky is the Founder of the ADD Management Group, LLC, author of Odd One Out: The Maverick's Guide to Adult ADD, and Co-Founder of the Virtual AD/HD Conference. Jennifer and her team work with ADD adults who are overwhelmed with everyday life in order to help them simplify, focus, and succeed. To learn more, visit ADDmanagement.com ADDmanagement.com.

Eight Tips to Help You Excel in Medical Assistant Training

Going for Medical Assistant (MA) training soon? Want to excel in your training? Check out the 8 Tips as below.

1) You should demonstrate the basic characteristics and qualities that a MA should possess. This will enhance your personality and give a good image to your supervisors.

2) When you communicate with patients and medical personnel, you must learn to listen tentatively, talk politely and professionally.

3) Cleanliness is a "must" in healthcare industry. Hence, you must ensure that your uniform is neat and tidy as well as your hair. Do remember that first impression counts.

4) Besides clinical tasks, MA also needs to perform administrative tasks. Learn to compromise and do not complain over too much work to do. You must take every chance to learn as an opportunity to groom yourself.

5) During training, you may overcome some medical terminologies which you don't understand. As you are surrounded by many experienced medical personnel, spend some time to ask them for guidance as hands-on experiences are very valuable.

6) Practice good time management. As you cannot afford to make any mistake in your work, you need to be 100% alert. Sleep early and wake up early will help you to avoid being caught sleeping or dreaming during training.

7) Information technology (IT) has become an essential area in all profession. If this is something you need to work on, do start sharpening your IT skills to stay competitive. Furthermore, continuous reading is equally important. Reading will help to widen your knowledge and keep you up-dated.

8) Last but not least, balance your work and personal life. Your body and brain need refreshment and you can enrol yourself in good workout such as yoga and meditations.

For more information about medicalassistantadvice.com/things-that-you-need-to-know-to-pass-medical-assistant-training-in-a-smart-way medical assistant training and medical assistant schools, visit medicalassistantadvice.com/best-medical-assistant-schools-in-us MedicalAssistantAssistant.com.

Yoga Lessons For Children in Focus

Children are not little adults. They have different needs, respond to different stimuli, and learn in different ways. Children can relax with relaxation techniques and calming visualization but it does need to be presented in a way that they will identify with. Children's yoga at its best is particularly designed to inculcate the importance of yoga and meditation in everyone's lives and the actual training is chosen to bring the maximum range of benefits to kids.

Children should receive certificates at the end of each course to show which yoga postures they know.

They are natural-born yogis. Their spontaneity, flexibility and energy are inspirational and sometimes challenging for parents. Children will incur increased flexibility, awareness of their bodies, knowledge of health and nutrition, and much more. In the short term however, Yoga can still be used to educate children socially and make them aware of what their bodies can do, and above all - have fun!

Children with special needs are included into mainstream classes wherever possible. All classes are offered at concession rates. In one course which is available the children are always the heroes of their Yoga-Bugs adventure and love using their imagination in the stories. We tend to find that children are such natural yogis that they surprise their teachers with their skills. Yoga means union of mind and body, and anyone who has seen a child run, play, laugh, bend and stretch has seen how beautifully unified they are.

Postures take on new life, becoming magical tools to keep the children's attention through shorter classes based on play and creativity. Postures are described and clearly illustrated in stages of progress into the final pose.

Often these stages have their own descriptive name, so there are lots more Sanskrit terms for us all to learn. Postures are normally held for 10 breaths with an emphasis placed on correct alignment. Detailed verbal instructions are given by the teacher along with very gentle hands on adjustments.

Classes bring together a combination of stretches, back arches, twists and balances which help to support and strengthen children mentally as well as physically by building confidence in themselves, improving their concentration and helping them to sleep better.

Classes are typically 45 to 60 minutes long, and are tailored to suit the needs of the children. Classes with small numbers work best and also we like it best when they are seen working slowly with the breath and gravity to undo tension and encourage effortless asanas from deep within the body.

Breathing is important in yoga and one course recognizes this in the name they give to the whole course which is named Breathing Yoga. This is one yoga school which runs regular hatha yoga classes for men women and children of all abilities. The aim of this trainer, as for so many others, is to offer small tailored yoga classes that allow students to develop their practice in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. Breathing should not be learned from your Yoga teacher and forgotten.

You and your children should practice proper breathing every moment you think of it. Breathing and relaxation techniques will allow you to enjoy deep rest to compensate for lack of sleep. The classes you attend will help bring a sense of well being, alleviate aches and pains, combat fatigue and re-tone the muscles.

Practice Yoga regularly and it will strip away the obstacles that separate you from your source. Yoga practice can be invaluable in this process, as it can alleviate tension from and clear energy blocks in the body and mind. Practical study features aid individuals in understanding and retaining relevant information. Practiced for thousands of years now in India, its birth home, yoga has become a refuge and a great cure in the western world.

If in the Far East, yoga is a spiritual path to be followed towards superior enlightenment, for the very practical mind of the modern westerner, the health benefits of yoga are the ones that matter the most.

Yoga is one of Steve Evan's favourite subjects. We encourage you to go to his Yoga for Children web site where he writes about the kid.yoga-for.com/html/benefits-of-yoga-for-children.php kids yoga mats.

The Purpose of Yoga - Blissful Aging

Hatha Yoga is often praised for its anti-aging effects. Seniors often remark how good their joints feel after a session of Hatha, Kundalini, or Chair Yoga. Yet, the phrase "anti-aging" is sometimes connected with scams and "quackery."

In contrast, Yoga was intended to find the bliss in life right now. You do not have to wait until a certain number of years to go by, before you join "the blissful living club." Never put off what you can do today, so make the most of each moment and practice Yoga along the way.

Over the years, Senior Yoga students have taught me many valuable lessons about living, even though I was teaching the class. One day, after I had finished teaching a Chair Yoga class, a student remarked, "I wish we had Yoga classes available, when we were children."

Many Senior Yoga students take their practice home and continue throughout the day. Some of them teach their children, and grand children, which results in closer family ties. They also educate themselves with Yoga books, magazines, DVD's, and CD's, which keeps their minds stimulated, expands their knowledge, and gives them a deeper sense of purpose.

To reflect a bit deeper on this point - Yoga has never been more available to the worldwide public than it is right now; but distractions, poor eating choices, and fundamentalism, stand in the way of humankind's progress. So, the Yogic gateway to holistic health is open, but you must be pro-active and educated enough to walk through it.

© Copyright 2007 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, has written many books on the subject of Yoga. He is a co-owner and the Director of Yoga Teacher Training at: Aura Wellness Center, in Attleboro, MA. riyoga.com riyoga.com He has been a certified Master Yoga Teacher since 1995. To receive a Free Yoga e-Book: "Yoga in Practice," and a Free Yoga Newsletter, please visit: yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html

Yoga Teacher Training - Is Your Program Yoga Alliance Certified?

"What is the Yoga Alliance?" you may ask. A team of serene, zen-like, super heroes united in a search for enlightenment? That's the first thing I thought of when I heard the name. As it turns out, it is a nonprofit organization that serves to promote the benefits of yoga to the public while simultaneously protecting its history and tradition.

The Yoga Alliance ensures that there is a standard for the quality of yoga instructors and studios in operation. They accomplish this goal by maintaining a national Teachers' Registry that keeps track of all the teachers that meet their standard. Teachers who meet the standard are allowed to use the "RYT" (Registered Yoga Teacher) symbol on their business.educationeasy.net business cards and logos.

In order to become registered, you have to complete a course at a Yoga Alliance RYS (Registered Yoga School). To qualify for this distinction a program must meet the standards set by the Yoga Alliance concerning technique, teaching methodology, anatomy & physiology, yoga philosophy, ethics for teachers, and practice teaching and assisting sessions. You can find out if your school of interest is registered by simply logging on to yogaalliance.org yogaalliance.org.

After you've completed your happinesslifetime.com yoga teacher training, it is a good idea to go to the same website and register yourself as soon as possible. The process can sometimes take a month or two, which could delay your entrepreneurial endeavors. Being Yoga Alliance certified is not a pre requisite for teaching yoga, but not being registered could inhibit your ability to successfully acquire a position at many studios.

Roque L. Rodriguez III is a poet and yoga instructor in New York, NY. He is currently taking the 300-hour ishtayoga.com/teacher_training yoga teacher training course at ISHTA Yoga NYC.

Yoga In A Health Club Or In A Yoga Studio - Compare

Thinking about taking classes locally? You might find a class given in a healthclub, gym, at the YMCA, at an adult school or in a Yoga studio. Search your yellow pages under 'Yoga' for studios. If you belong to a healthclub, gym or YMCA, check with them about yoga classes.

Local Health Club, Gym or YMCA:

They will more likely be Hatha Yoga based, rather than specialized in a particular style (that is a good thing!).

Minuses: It all depends on the situation, but sometimes the instructor may not be certified as a Registered Yoga Teacher or in any particular style of yoga. In addition, the space may be noisy and less optimally set up for yoga than in a studio. And the classes in the gym might be more of an 'open variety' with a mix of levels, rather than a class for your particular level. There might not be assistants. There might be less serious practitioners along side you.

Plusses: Yoga in this setting might be convenient, you can combine it with workouts in the gym, and for those reasons alone, could work very well for you. So your gym or YMCA membership costs you $40 - $75 a month and you get the gym plus the yoga thrown in. Compare that to a single yoga class in a studio that costs $12 - $17. Perhaps you could supplement your yoga in a gym, with instructional DVD's or books.

Yoga in a Studio: More likely to be specialized in particular styles of yoga.

Minuses: Might be more expensive than in a gym.

Plusses: Increased chance of finding classes at just your level, and maybe just the style that interests you. Or maybe they offer a mix of styles of interest. Most studios have introductory specials to entice newcomers. Once you know this is the studio for you, sign up for occasional specials or multiple class packs to reduce the per class price. More advantages to studio based yoga are that the instructors are more likely to be certified and experienced. You have a greater chance of getting to know your instructor and they you. In addition, you have a greater likelihood of finding a yoga 'community'.

There are many types of studios. Let's take my (large) town in NJ as an example. Some studios offer only one kind of Yoga such as Kundalini or Anusara. These studios offer beginner to advanced classes in just their style. Interestingly, some other studios promote multiple styles by employing several instructors, each trained and teaching in whatever various styles in which they are certified.

Expanded information is available about selecting a taketimeyoga.com/YogaInAStudio.htm local gym or health club or a Yoga Studio and what to expect in your first class.

Devidas Varga is a yoga enthusiast and publisher of TakeTimeYoga.com, which is all about how to begin yoga. He has maintained a practice of yoga and meditation for 30 years, living in Ashrams in India and the United States for a decade. He has immersed himself in many styles and promotes the life affirming effects yoga offers.

Yoga is For Stress Relief

Yoga is considered to be an extremely effective method for relieving stress. Many people avoid yoga with the idea that they either can't or don't wish to maneuver their body into a pretzel. However, these positions are for advanced practitioners. Yoga has many postures that are simple to perform. For example, the thirteen exercises, which are recommended for awakening the body, consist of gentle backward bends, forward bends, and an exercise resembling push-ups.

Yoga is a very old program that comes from India, dating back some 4000 years. It supposedly originated from watching the movements and stances of animals. The main goal of the yoga practitioner is to achieve harmony of body, mind, and spirit, which results in inner peace in all areas of one's life.

Yoga is divided into eight parts. The first two emphasize an attitude towards life, which should be to live in peace and harmony, observing cleanliness, following a simple diet and studying.

The next two parts are concerned with the movements and their proper execution. They combine various exercises with breathing techniques. Some are strength building and some develop balance and flexibility. Others are designed to help one focus the mind. The underlying premise is to calm and rejuvenate the body, mind, and spirit through performing simple exercises.

The last four are devoted to the training of one's mind together with the development of spiritual qualities. The final goal is enlightenment at which time the trainee acquires deep insight into the nature of the universe.

Yoga masters emphasize the importance of patience and persistence. One must practice the routines on a daily basis in order to realize any benefits.

Most people learn yoga by taking a class although there are various books and tapes available. Classes are commonly divided into beginning, intermediate and advanced sections.

It is recommended that a prospective student seek out classes that are welcoming and friendly. They should emphasize cooperation, not competition and should be encouraging. Before signing up, visit the class and sense the ambience. If you feel comfortable, join the group. If not, continue to look for the right class for you.

Also, there is a newly emerging yoga practice known as yoga therapy. In yoga therapy, you visit a therapist who, after careful discussion with you, will design a yoga program to fulfill your personal needs. This field of yoga is relatively new so there are not many skilled therapists available.

However, many yoga masters are accredited and yoga societies keep a list of accredited teachers. The society in your country can recommend a therapist if one is available. In addition, many physicians recommend yoga therapy to their patients and they maintain lists of available therapists in your area.

But yoga may not be for everyone. People with certain health conditions should not attempt yoga on their own. Women who are pregnant and patients with hernias, low back pain, back injuries, and high blood pressure should consult with their doctor before attempting yoga. And even with their doctor's approval, they should only attempt the exercises under the expert guidance of a highly qualified yoga master.

There are many devotees of yoga but the bottom line is that you should enjoy it and it should relieve your stress. If it causes you stress, than you need to pass it up and seek other alternatives.

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The Perseverance of Teaching Yoga, Part 1

Why do talented students fall short of becoming Yoga teachers? Ever notice that "quick flashes" of brilliance disappear in a short time. Take for example, the super flexible Yoga student who can do a split in every direction, and make a pretzel, or circle, out of his, or her, body on the first Yoga class. Usually, this student will leave after the first class saying, "Is that all there is to Yoga?"

As most of us know there is so much more to Yoga than mere flexibility, but how do you make a student aware of this in his or her first Yoga class? Do you really want to try? Some Yoga teachers jump through "flaming hoops" to appease a potential student who has natural flexibility. This happens much to the dismay of dedicated and established Yoga students who have been training for years.

So what is the problem and why do we worship exceptional flexibility and physical prowess? The problem stems from the Yoga teacher who has forgotten what the prime ingredient is within the exceptional Yoga student. That ingredient is "perseverance" and that is what separates the "flash in the pan" from the Yoga student who may well evolve into a Yoga teacher. The student who shows up to Yoga class and tries to do his, or her, best should never be taken for granted.

Perseverance is a true guarantee of success for Yoga students and Yoga teachers alike. When you think about your life, perseverance has always played a major role in your past achievements. How many people will tell you that teaching Yoga is not a good career move? Plenty will, but you must have the fortitude and perseverance to pursue your own desire, in the first place.

In order to make any achievement in Yoga, you need a formula for success. Here is a list of ingredients that you must have in order to succeed at teaching Yoga or anything else in life. Firstly, you need desire and passion to become a Yoga teacher. If you don't have it, that's no problem, just find something that you feel passionate about. Do not waste time pursuing any goal without passion.

Secondly you must have a dream that you can visualize. If you can picture yourself teaching Yoga, and feel the joy of your journey, you are fine. However, if you cannot see yourself becoming a Yoga teacher, it just might not be your "calling." Whatever the goals you choose to pursue in life, you will need both desire and the ability to visualize your dreams, in order to proceed to the next step.

© Copyright 2006 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He is a master instructor of martial arts, with multiple Black Belts, four martial arts teaching credentials, and was recently inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors in the greater Providence area. Recently he wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students, who may be considering a new career as a Yoga teacher. yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html