Consider Yoga As Part of Your Core Exercise Routine For Sculpted Abs and a Flatter Stomach

There are several, traditional core exercises that have proven results, when it comes to sculpted abs and a flatter stomach. These include ab crunches, leg lifts, squats and lunges. There are other ways to strengthen your core muscles, and Vinyasa or Ashtanga yoga is a great alternative for those that are tired of crunches or Pilates. Even though Pilates focuses on the core muscle group from the pelvic muscles to the abdominals and the diaphragm, this kind of yoga is a great alternative for strengthening the core muscle group without a boring and strenuous exercise routine.

There are many different types of yoga, but Vinyasa is a general term that relates to breath-synchronized movement through a series of yoga poses. Sun Salutations are a part of warm up and stretches muscles prior to a more intense workout. Ashtanga and Power Yoga include a series of poses that are more physically demanding and faster paced. It includes a flow of poses that are usually done in a particular order, with constant movement from one pose to the next pose, exercising and stretching a different set of core muscles.

When it comes to sculpting the abs and getting a flatter belly, a good overall body workout is helpful, including cardio routines or strength training. Any exercises that build muscles can cause you to burn more calories and have additional muscle strength. When it comes to the best core exercises, it is a matter of focused stretching and contracting of the muscles, along with deep breathing exercises, that yields some of the easiest and best results and this is what makes Vinyasa or Ashtanga such great choices.

Consider some of the Vinyasa yoga poses that require balance, focus, concentration and proper form. They push muscles to a working position without straining. These yoga poses are even more effective when you add deep breathing to the count of 10, for each pose that you assume during your yoga workout.

When you consider some of the best yoga poses for core muscle conditioning, there are a few to master. There are so many yoga poses that learning the sequence can be a fun and interesting way to do add variety to your core workout routine.

Sun Salutation warm-up, stretching yoga poses are done in the following sequence:

Tadasana, Urdhva Hastasana, Uttanasana, reposition for the Uttansana again and then move into the Downward facing dog, Plank position, drop to your Knees, Chest and Chin, Cobra, Downward facing dog, Uttanasana, Urdhva Hastasana, and finally Tadasana. The sequence is repeated on the other side. These beginner yoga poses are easily found in a number of places on the Internet and many people may already know them from yoga classes.

Following the Sun Salutations, the following effective core poses are part of a fun and effective core training workout:

Cat-Cow Stretch, then Hands and Knee Balance, followed by Downward Facing Dog, Plank Pose, Side Plank Pose, High Lunge, Half Moon Pose, Awkward Chair Pose, Eagle Pose, and finally, the Boat Pose. Try taking deep a breath and holding it for 10 counts between poses.

Who says that core exercises can't be fun and interesting? Consider mastering these yoga poses for core strengthening and more sculpted abs and a flatter stomach.

Dominique Rogers is a fitness enthusiast and author. For more information on superbabs.com/exercise-tips-for-the-best-core-workout core exercises, visit her at SuperbAbs.com SuperbAbs.com

Sleeping Positions With Yoga Movements For a Snore-Less Sleep

When you next go on a long bus or train or plane trip, take a look around your fellow passengers and you'd be amazed at all the positions they sleep in. From which you could predict that they'll wake up groaning at their aching bodies from the contortions they went the night through!

Are you aware that you can still revise the way you sleep so you could really get a good night's rest? Snoring and breathing through the mouth are usually the outcomes of a congested nose. Yoga has postures that concentrate on putting the body systems aligned and in synch, thus enabling you to find a new sleeping position from which you could get that restful slumber the whole night.

Take note of these three positions to avoid, before considering those that Yoga can help you with:

Flat Back Sleep: A stiff corpse-like position where the limbs are kept straight usually has you waking up in the mornings with pain in the lower back. This is because, for several hours you "locked" your knees and hips, thus the leg weights pulled the bones and muscles of the lower back out of their proper placement. The vertebra and lower back discs are thus burdened unnecessarily, resulting in that wake-up pain.

Belly Sleep: Sleeping face down on the mattress with your face turned to one side for breathing twists the neck. This will also put a lot of weight on the fragile nerves from the skull to the upper spine. Those who sleep in this position awake amid a puddle of spit and convulsive neck muscles.

Side Sleep: Among these three, this position is the "safest", as far as back muscles and bones are concerned. Still, it's not safe from pain. The weight of your body converges on the shoulders to the neck and result in extreme pain and muscle spasms in the upper back, shoulders and neck.

Here are alternative ways of sleeping that, in union with yoga practice before bedtime, would send you to soundless slumber. In the meantime, the following positions, in conjunction with pre-bedtime Yoga, can grant you deep sleep with no more snoring:

You can revise the Side Sleep position with simple items and thus, guarantee ideal total body symmetry and avoid compression on the neck. Put a rolled-up beach towel or cylindrical pillow a foot long and 8-9 inches round facing your pillow. You will get additional support for the cervical bones not to bend over the side and control your neck all night long. Another sample is sleeping between two pillows acting as a "hug pillow." This position gives your shoulder joints room and keeps the arm bone weight from gripping the brachial nerves under the collar bones.

A lightweight blanket or towel firmly in place between your knees the whole night, despite tossing and turning all night would maintain the space between the hips. So you get to prevent the lower back or hip bones from mis-aligning. You also get to avoid bruising between your knees. Don't be fazed by additional articles crowding you in bed and adjust to the hug pillow or knee blanket. The sound sleep you'll be experiencing from then on will be all worth it.

Lindaa Adams really loves all things that have to do with health.

One of the very best yoga and fitness blogs Lindaa has found is yogawithkatrina.com/yoga-kamloops Kamloops Yoga Teachers, which is a special combination of yoga and health.

You can watch a Free Video of the hubpages.com/hub/Balancing-Fitness-and-Yoga-with-my-New-Kamloops-Boot-Camp Kamloops Yoga Boot Camp for a incredible work out whenever.

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - A Brief Introduction

For most people the word "yoga" brings to mind the image of a model that appears on the cover of a yoga magazine in a pose that is almost impossible to get into for an average practitioner. Yoga is commonly practiced as a routine which helps in improving physical fitness and sometimes as a means to stress management. There is growing awareness that it can be effectively used as therapy in treating a variety of ailments, including hypertension, diabetes, heart conditions etc. Those who have been practicing yoga for a while can attest to the physical and physiological benefits that the practice brings.

While all the above mentioned benefits are certainly desirable, most people are ignorant about the true meaning and purpose of yoga which is "the ability to control the fluctuations of the mind". This brief and succinct definition was provided to us by Sage Patanjali, more than three thousand years ago, in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. In the Sutras, Patanjali has provided a very scientific and practical exposition of the philosophy and practice of yoga. One very important section of the book describes what is commonly called "ashtanga yoga" or the Eight Limbs of Yoga which provides practical guidelines for achieving the goal of controlling the mind.

Today, most people practice what is called Hatha Yoga which includes physical postures (asanas) and some breathing techniques (pranayama). As you can notice from the eight limbs which are listed below, asana and pranayama are only two of these eight limbs and help establish a strong foundation toward achieving the objectives of yoga. However, to develop a fully integrated practice and achieve the final objectives of control over the mind, one needs to include in their routine all the eight limbs in some form.

Overview of Yoga Sutras

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (YSP) are one of the six philosophical streams of Hindu schools of philosophy and a very important milestone in the history of Yoga. The book is a set of 195 aphorisms (sutras), which are short, terse phrases designed to be easy to memorize. Though brief, it is an enormously influential work that is just as relevant for yoga philosophy and practice today as it was when it was written. The sutras are divided into four chapters (pada) as follows:

Samadhi Pada: The first chapter provides a definition and the purpose of yoga. Various approaches that can be used to achieve its objectives are provided.

Sadhana Pada: The second chapter contains the practical approach to achieving the goals of yoga. In this chapter the author gives a description of the eight limbs called Ashtanga Yoga, which is how the yoga sutras are sometimes referred to.

Vibhuti Pada: The third chapter focuses on some of the supernatural powers that an adept yogi may be able to attain.

Kaivalya Pada: In the fourth chapter the nature of the mind and mental perceptions, desire, bondage and liberation and what follows it are discussed.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are also sometimes referred to as "Raja Yoga" or the "Royal Yoga".

Definition of Yoga

In sutra 2 of the first chapter, Patanjali has defined yoga as

"Yoga is the restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff"

- translation by Swami Vivekananda

In subsequent sutras, Patanjali explains that once the mind is properly restrained, then the "seer" or the "soul, the true self" can rest in its own true nature. Further, as long as the mind is not under control, it continues to assume the form of the "vrittis" or the perturbations in the mind and these become the cause of human suffering. In simpler terms, what this definition tells us is that we can be peaceful and happy when we can control the mind; else, the mind continues to control us and we stay in a state of suffering.

Ashtanga Yoga (Eight limbs of Yoga)

The eight limbs of yoga as defined in the second chapter are as follows:

Yamas (self restraints): The yamas are guidelines for how to interact with the outside world at a social level. The five yamas are: Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (non-stealing), Brahmacharya (abstinence), Aparigraha (non-hoarding).

Niyamas (observances): The niyamas represent guidelines for self-discipline. The five niyamas are: shoucha (cleanliness), santosha (contentment), tapas (austerity), swadhyaya (study of the scriptures and self-study), and Ishwara pranidhana (surrender to God). Together, yamas and niyamas provide an ethical and moral code to be followed so the aspiring yogi can establish an adequate moral foundation for his/her spiritual journey.

Asana (posture): Asana refers to the seated posture which should be steady and comfortable so the yogi can sit and meditate for long periods of time.

Pranayama (breath control): Pranayama, which literally means stretching or expansion of prana, the vital life force, involves breath control and helps train and prepare the mind for dharana (concentration).

Pratyahara (sense withdrawal): Through pratyahara one gains the ability to withdraw the senses from their objects thus achieving perfect control over the senses.

Dharana (concentration/focus): Dharana involves focusing the mind on a single object of concentration for long periods of time.

Dhyana (meditation): When there is an uninterrupted flow of the mind toward the object of focus, the yogi enters the state of meditation.

Samadhi (total absorption): Finally when even the self-awareness of the mind disappears and only the object of meditation shines through, it is called the state of samadhi. It is only in the highest stage of "Samadhi", called the "nirbeeja Samadhi" (seedless Samadhi) when the mind is fully under control and brings the yogi to a state of perpetual peace and tranquility.
The main focus of Patanjali is controlling the mind and subduing the fluctuations of the mind, called 'chitta vrittis'. Once the mind is calm and peaceful, one gets established in his own true nature.

For an English translation of all the 195 sutras by eight different authors, please visit the Yoga Sutra Study blog (link below). In addition, the original text in the Devanagari script (the script of the Sanskrit language), English transliteration as well as an audio rendition of each sutra is also available.

Subhash Mittal
919-926-9717
After working in the telecom industry for over 40 years (including both India and the US), I decided to call it quits and retired in 2005 in favor of pursuing my deep interest in Yoga. I had completed my yoga teacher training in 1996 from the Satchidananda Institute in Yogaville,VA. As time went by, I realized that I was deeply committed to learning more about yoga as well as teaching others so they could derive the benefits from their yoga practice. Currently I devote my time studying yoga and also teaching several classes during the week.

yogawithsubhash.com Yoga with Subhash
integralyogastudio.com Integral Yoga Studio

Yoga For Beginners - Improve Your Mind, Body and Spirit

Yoga for beginners is for everyone all ages, shapes and sizes. You first start out in Yoga as a novice and progress upwards until you are a master in the art.

In my opinion I call it an art as Yoga for beginners is about a combination of exercise combined with meditation and therefore it is much more than just running on a treadmill or lifting some weights. In fact the exercises associated with Yoga are not in the modern sense traditional, you don't need to go down the gym but I would advise those of you newbies to go to a qualified instructor to start with. Exercises involve postures and balance plus controlled breathing as opposed to strength and speed or aerobic type training in other disciplines.

It is important for me to point out the fact that there are many different types of Yoga out there. They all have the same aim in mind and that is to improve mind, body and spirit. Some emphasize more or less on different on the main areas such as meditation, nutrition or exercise. The most common form in the Western world is Hatha Yoga. This has come about due to the fact it is the most applicable to our western culture and westerners associate more readily with the methods involved.

I would suggest before beginning Yoga you briefly investigate the different varieties and pick the one that most matches in with your lifestyle.

If you don't have a local class you can go to then Yoga for beginners can be learned through instructional DVDs, books and multimedia as well as online. So it is easy to start. You don't really need any equipment. Although a good yoga mat or yoga blanket is recommended. When you are ready to begin find a quiet spot in your house and follow the exercise plan you have decided upon. Can't be easier than that!

Some people prefer relaxing music when practicing their yoga meditation and exercises. Normally yoga is done without shoes or socks on but there are special socks you can buy that don't slip if you prefer. All forms of Yoga give benefits to health. They combine the elements of exercise through postures, controlled breathing exercises and meditation as previously mentioned but you need to be clear what Yoga is ultimately about. Regular practice is great for strengthening mind and body.

Beginners of Yoga, will find almost immediate benefit when starting and this can very often be seen within the first two weeks or even less. Most people are surprised by the quick results they achieve within such a short time.

Yoga for beginners is like everything else that involves movement of the body. You should always start with a gentle warm up. Stretching gently is also important. Find a place where you won't be disturbed. The length of time required varies and can depend greatly upon the level you are on. I personally use on average around 1/2 hour a day. When you do it is up to you. For me the best time is first thing in the morning but this is not always possible in the week so after work is my usual time.

To get the most out of Yoga it should become part of your lifestyle. Many beginners in Yoga find it helps them to unwind and relax. They find it invigorating and calming. It also improves their body's suppleness and muscular tonality.

There is yoga for kids, yoga for pregnant women so it really is practically for everyone. If your aims are to lower your stress and have more energy, improve your body strength and much more then I would urge you to contemplate Yoga for beginners is where you should kick off.

If you would like more free information on beginners Yoga go to yogaforbeginnersonline.com Yoga for Beginners and subscribe to my newsletter.

How Yoga With Toning Will Influence Your Body Weight and Shape

Just as Positive Reinforcement is a proven method of child discipline that works far better than nagging and punishment, so yoga is a method of building on the strengths from within yourself, that are actually already there. Who was ever able to successfully achieve a goal without believing in it and dreaming it first? A borrowed vision is no recipe for success, although a friend or mentor to encourage and guide you along the road that you already are embarking upon can be very beneficial. Some might argue that we have a willpower muscle that needs toning. By working from the inside out through harnessing your inner strengths and building up your core muscles, you can be sure that your whole being will remain warm to the whole vision of shaping up, until you reach your goal body weight and shape.

Yoga helps you to lose weight through your mind. It's more about how you think than losing weight, because if you are counting calories, you will be carrying guilt and stress. It's this stress and guilt that you need to lose. People also lose weight by improving their posture, digestive system and eliminating toxins.

Doing yoga will give you a healthy body awareness and through gentle movements and stretching, you will be able to discover a new level of comfort in your own body without all the huffing and puffing that so many training methods demand. You will be able to find a place of calm and peace, so that you will have the power to believe in yourself enough to give your body the attention it needs. It will even give you a high, replacing the need to comfort eat and quietly focusing the mind.

Yoga toning will gently guide you through different levels, depending on your health, age and capability, making it a safe training method. As your strength, flexibility and muscle tone improve you will find a greater self-confidence and improved posture that will give you a better body shape that's guaranteed to look good!

Yoga is a wonderful way to get into shape and to look good with all the many emotional and physical benefits. The postures tone organs and develop long, lean muscles. The practice of forward bends, back bends, lateral poses, twists, and inversions balances and works every muscle, bone, joint, and organ in the body. Weight-bearing yoga poses, crucial for healthy bones, provide one of the best exercise systems known to man. Flexibility and strength of the muscles and range of motion in the joints greatly increase. Stamina and endurance also improve. Enjoy seeing excess fat give way to toned muscles, but more importantly, enjoy the new confident you who believes in yourself. By finding like-minded people at a yoga class and carrying on in your own home with the use of a good yoga dvd, you won't look back!

Christine Hulme is passionate about living well. With her husband, she has produced the Yoga Tone DVD as a means of helping people of all ages to get back into shape so that they can enjoy life to the full. They have been successfully producing DVDs for many years of a highly professional quality. For more information and special offers click on the link. yoga-tone.com/ez101 yoga-tone.com/ez101

You, Yoga and Meditation

If one unites these three exceptional forces together, it becomes more powerful than any known power to mankind, to achieve a state of purity of the soul and a stillness of the mind is the holy grail of all mystics. It is nirvana to the initiated. The major question is, can ordinary people attain this state?

The answer is yes but, it is not necessary for one to achieve this state of mind, every yoga practitioner sets out their own personal goals.

Whether it is to become healthier, fitter, or more self confident, or maybe just to keep an interest in exercising after reaching a certain age where it is not possible to continue with previous more robust training.

Because yoga is so versatile in all it's movements, not even the elderly or infirm are precluded from taking part in some form or other of yoga practice. It is advisable though to seek professional medical knowledge about certain sickness or infirmity one might have before taking up the practice of yoga.

Yoga and meditation go hand in hand. It is all part of the one rope with many strings, and only when all the strings are joined together, does the rope become stronger and unbreakable, only then does one become whole and the mind and body are united as one.

For meditation to be really effective, one must practice the method diligently and daily. It is only through training the mind to accept closure on all things that are depressive and negative, to how one should be in the quest to reach a better level of health, fitness and more understanding in the motivation of ones life.

In today's modern world it is so easy to lose touch with ourselves.

We become consumed with other peoples targets and goals, that our own life becomes owned by outsiders, who only want to use us and then discard us when we no longer fill their needs.

Each and every one of us are put on this world for a particular purpose, and that purpose is to be the very best WE can be.

That does not include being slaves to other people, we should never be slaves to anyone, not even ourselves.

The most effective way to avoid all these pitfalls of negativity and depression is to start focusing on the person who really matters and that is ourselves.

We can begin our new focusing right now by starting a yoga and meditation program with only one aim in mind, finding our inner peace, where our whole attitude changes to one not of negativity, but to one of self confidence, and motivation to becoming a whole self fulfilled person.

Once we begin to feel this change so also will one feel the power of life and the force of achievement. Remember we are the rope that has many strands and though, right now they are disjointed, we and only we have the power to unite them all, this is and always will be our challenge, our destiny.

As a black belt third degree master of Kenpo Karate, I would like to say that Yoga has been my inspiration and guide through all my active sports life. novouniversal.com/index.php?c=5&n=1000&i=1591790905&x=The_Essential_Qigong_Training_Course_100_Days_to_Increase_Energy_Physical_Health_and_Spiritual_Well_Being Yoga Spirit Health I am now getting on in years, but I would not go one day without practicing my yoga combined with my karate katas. It is never too late to change your way of life. Do it now. Find your real self.

Mind-Body Training

One of the biggest hurdles to effective training is our own mind. Too often we get so caught up in the hectic thoughts in our head that we get distracted from what is really important. Understanding the connection between the body and the mind is a big step in overcoming this and allows us to fully focus on better training habits.

The more we train, the stronger our bodies get. But training the mind is a concept that we usually don't often consider. The benefits of a trained mind, however, can be very helpful in our physical training practice.

The business of daily life can be extremely distracting and often make it quite difficult to realistically remain centered. Ideally we hope that the benefits from the training we do can see us through times when we are unable to train.

Unfortunately, the motivation to train can be severely drained by the problems of the world and the stress they bring. This stress can do a lot of damage to us before we even notice it, such as creating hurdles that hinder the motivation to train. The effect of stress on the mind is something that we may not be fully aware of.

Most of the time we don't even realize the effect stress has on the mind because we are so distracted by the stress to begin with. It scatters our attention and gets us worrying about irrelevant things. We end up with so much to deal with it seems as if there is no time to train.

At the same time stress creates tension in the body. This can another host of difficulties since the proper flow of circulation and energy becomes restricted. Internal blockages manifest as aches and pains in the body. As we lose the precision control over our muscle systems during workouts we can become prone to accidents or injury. When this happens our training suffers, leading to further problems.

The difficulties in the world today are very distracting. It almost seems as if the rules have changed and we are struggling to determine if there are, in fact, any rules at all. One thing we need to be able to count on is our own body and mind. We need to be able to focus on our training.

In order to focus on what we are doing we need to become one with the action we are performing. In Japan there is a word shoshin which means "beginner's mind." This concept is one of imagining you are starting your training over from the beginning.

As a beginner, the first time you do something you have to concentrate on it in order to do it correctly. You must pay full attention to the practice or it can quickly become ineffective or even dangerous. The action of paying attention to what you are doing brings your mind into alignment with your body. Once you become comfortable and adept at that practice it is much easier for your mind to disengage from the action and become distracted by other thoughts.

The idea of shoshin is to retain the mindfulness of the beginner even as the practice becomes routine. In this manner you are able to keep your mind focused.

In addition to the beginner mind, we also want to cultivate something the Japanese call mushin which means "no mind." This concept is one of being fully conscious yet not attached to the any specific thought. It leaves the distractions behind and allows us to see things as they truly are.

From mushin we are able to deal with everything in its proper time and place. If we are able to cultivate mushin then whatever we are doing becomes the most important thing and we are fully and completely engaged in it. From a training point of view this is the method for gaining the maximum benefit from the time we spend working out.

The most helpful practice to cultivate both shoshin and mushin is meditation. Many people hesitate at this suggestion, because meditation can conjure up all sorts of strange behavior. Fortunately the meditation practice I am talking about is simply taking a few minutes a day to sit in silence and allow the mind to settle down. This practice is not about stopping thoughts. Instead, it is simply putting some space between the thoughts and allowing them to calm. It is not always easy, but this type of training is vital because when the mind is distracted, there is no connection to the body.

When there is no connection, the mind tends to become overly attached to the body causing reactions to become hesitant and unbalanced.

In just the same fashion as our physical workouts, the more we train our mind the sharper it becomes. Like sharpening the blade of a sword, the more we practice, the clearer our mind becomes, allowing us to focus more completely on our physical training.

Training the mind in this way can be quite a challenge. There are many distractions and until meditation becomes an integral part of what we do it is easy to let it slide. While we may understand the concept of meditation intellectually, putting aside time to practice is often difficult. Nevertheless, the clarity of thought that meditation provides is something vital to our training that we should not be without. It brings us fully into the present moment.

The practice of meditation needs to be something we realize is an important aspect to our training as a whole even when we feel that it is not doing anything for us.

If sitting meditation is simply not possible there are certain physical arts that can assist in reaching the meditative state through a form of moving meditation. Tai Chi, Qigong and Zen Yoga all incorporate meditation into their practice and can be of great benefit.

When we exist fully in the present moment we are embodying our trained selves. Like moving in stereo, the body and mind become a single flowing entity. By following the same rhythm, each compliments the other. We are able to react without thought or hesitation. Our reactions are perfectly appropriate depending on the situation, neither too strong nor too weak. This is the true meaning of body and mind connection.

The study of shoshin and mushin will enable you to spend less time on your thinking so that you will be able to train more. This is invaluable to anyone who truly wants that subtle edge to excel at their physical workouts.

Aaron Hoopes is the founder of Zen Yoga - Website: artofzenyoga.com artofzenyoga.com

Aaron writes the Wandering Sage Wisdom Blog
wanderingsagewisdom.blogspot.com wanderingsagewisdom.blogspot.com

Books by Aaron Hoopes
-Perfecting Ourselves: Coordinating Body, Mind and Spirit
-Breathe Smart: The Secret to Happiness, Health and Long Life
-Zen Yoga: A Path to Enlightenment through Breathing, Movement and Meditation
-Catch the Cat - ebook for children
-Update:Japan - travel guide

DVD by Aaron Hoopes
-The Zen Yoga Daily Warm-Up DVD

CD by Aaron Hoopes
-Inner Sunrise Guided Meditation CD