Rest and revive with yoga - SILive.com

Staten Island Advance/Hilton FloresSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The change of seasons is a vulnerable time for our immune systems. There is less sunlight (vitamin D) as the days get shorter, the temperatures become more erratic and there is plenty of pollen in the air to trigger allergies.

For families with children, “back to school” means that life becomes more hectic. These various stresses on our health can be eased by taking appropriate rest which, by the way, does not mean “vegging out” in front of the TV for hours.

Allowing yourself to take five or 10 minutes a day in a restorative yoga pose, coupled with some deep breathing, will do wonders for your state of mind and for your immune system.

This month we are devoting our column to poses, such as this week’s Elevated Legs Posture, that will deliver healthful rest in a New York minute. The pose is a simple inversion that will give your hard-working heart a well-earned rest and facilitate greater blood flow to the brain while giving your legs a mini-vacation.

HOW TO DO IT
Find a clear wall space and get into the posture by placing your right hip against the wall. Then, lie down on your back and as you do so, swing your legs up the wall.

If you don’t feel comfortable, inch your hips away from the wall until you are comfortable. Now, set a timer for five minutes and forget about everything as you bring your attention to your breathing.

Allow your attention to focus on the inside your lungs. Feel how the lungs expand fully as they receive breath in, and notice as you exhale how the lungs feel when they release the breath out.

You can squeeze the lower belly at the bottom of the exhalation to purge even more breath out of the lungs and facilitate a deeper inhalation. The squeezing of the lower belly as you exhale will also rejuvenate the inner organs.

When your timer goes off, slowly hug both knees into your chest and roll to one side. Then, transition back into whatever activity awaits you — with the added benefit of an enhanced immune system and a calmer, more relaxed demeanor.

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Get creative with Kundalini Yoga - Celebrities With Diseases

Published: October 06, 2010

Kundalini is thought to be a form of spiritual energy which resides in the lower back, often visualized as a coiled snake. In Sanskrit Kundalini translates as “that which is coiled” taken from the word Kunda which means “to coil”.

In traditional yoga circles it is described as having three manifestations, firstly as an all encompassing cosmic energy known as “Para-Kundalini”, secondly it is potential energy within the body and mind called “Prana-Kundalini” and lastly it is consciousness or “Shakti-Kundalini”.

The style of Kundalini is similar to others such as Hatha and Ashtanga in that the practise works around breathing to assist body movement but the emphasis is placed heavily on spiritual unfoldment to increase ones’ self-consciousness, intuition and self-awareness. It is also believed to unlock our creative potential.

In practise Kundalini focuses attention on thought, mantra and breathing, allowing for inner reflection and opening the mind to enlightenment, while the postures and movements open the lower body to release the Kunda energy. Kundalini is a highly specialised practise which should always be done with the help of a certified teacher.

In its purest form Kundalini is at the very heart of the philosophy behind yoga, which is to become as one with the universe. Many believe that the body has latent energy stored locked away and by a combination of physical and mental development this can be unlocked to bring joy and well being into our lives through the union of inner and universal consciousness.

Medical research has found that Kundalini has helped people to combat ailments like Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, diabetes as well as breaking addictions and alleviating stress.

Kundalini is probably the most disciplined of all Yoga practises and is one of the less known styles in western society. Due to its intense nature teachers will usually only work with one student (or disciple) at a time.

Read our coverage about other yoga styles: Bikram Yoga and Hatha Yoga , Iyengar Yoga.

Images: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tanum%C3%A2nas%C3%AE_kapalabhati.JPG, http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Chakras.jpg&filetimestamp=20050606155252

Published October 06, 2010 by Lee in Health Conditions
Tags: Alzheimer's Disease, Ashtange, asthma, Hatha, Kundalini, yoga

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Yoga guru to speak at Jackson church - Jackson Clarion Ledger

How can love help us achieve stability, peace and prosperity in a rapidly evolving global community?

That?s the topic speaker Sandra Faye will address at Wells United Methodist Church at 2019 Bailey Ave. in Jackson Saturday.

The event begins at 3 p.m. A reception will follow.

The public is invited.

Faye lived in Jackson in the late 1970s and taught meditation, metaphysics, yoga and nutrition at the Alexandrian Center.

Church leaders say she was a guiding force in the birth of Rainbow Whole Foods Cooperative.

Faye also taught yoga at the local YMCA and on morning television.

She will lead several workshops while in Jackson and will be available for private appointments.

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Shriya shows the Yoga way - Express Buzz

CHENNAI: It’s no secret that actress Shriya is a regular to a popular yoga centre in Coimbatore. In fact, we hear the actress is currently in Coimbatore and loving every minute of her stay there. What’s more, she’s even been recommending the place to her good friend Trisha. Trisha, who just completed shooting for an ad film with Vikram, had tweeted saying that the yoga centre’s branch in Chennai is just as awesome. She wrote, “Healthy food, great spa, good ambience. Must visit.” And Shriya responded to her tweet, saying, “You must go to the ashram in Coimbatore. Beautiful.” Now, now, that’s a good suggestion, Shriya!

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Bhramari Pranayama The best Tool to Overcome Anxiety Posted By : Patresia_Adams

In this immortal world, it is almost difficult to attain health and happiness completely. Most often we come across different people whose faces are sullen and depressed. There is something wrong with them. The answer is obvious. Problems in someone?s life. Everybody has zeal or passion to live his or her life happily that got diminished when he or she comes across different problems. Anxiety kills every little joint of pleasure one can cherish and leaves the body, mind and spirit in a confused state. In such case, Bhramari Pranayama has been proved as a natural remedy for keeping anxiety away.

Pranayama is a Sanskrit word which means ingoing and outgoing flow of Prana. Since ancient times, it has been proved as an effective natural remedy to help people suffering from anxiety. Prana denotes to the lively force that helps people live their life happily. Brahamari Pranayama balances the flow of Prana in the body and restores complete balance and harmony and rejuvenates every tissue and cell in the body. It is defined as a group of different breathing techniques that helps achieve health and wellness.

There are various types of pranayamas that can be performed by an individual. Moreover, there are several methods like jalandhar Bandh, Mool Bandh, Uddiyan Bandh to retain Prana in specific portions of the body to bring harmony within the body and radiate it all the way to the mind and soul.

One can easily perform Bhramari Pranayama everyday sitting in a relaxed posture, with the back straight. Doing it properly helps relieving from anxiety and stress. However it is recommended that one must learn the correct ratio of in-breaths and out-breaths in the presence of a well-trained yoga teacher to avoid damaging the tissues in the lungs owing to incorrect style of doing the Pranayama.

Doing Bhramari Pranayama regularly helps people staying fit and healthy. Divine Wellness is a leading online health portal that imparts quality education on various yoga techniques including Bhramari Pranayama.

By: Patresia_Adams

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Visit our website for more information on Health yoga, Yoga exercise and Bhramari Pranayama.

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Yoga Exercises for Health and Fitness - In just 30 Minutes a Day Posted By : Peter Clifford

Yog mudra is a well known yoga asana or yoga pose that is beneficial for abdominal problems and is known as the Attitude of Psychic Union.

This is the sort of thing you will learn from a yoga teacher or at a yoga school and from time to time you may have already considered taking yoga courses or getting some yoga DVDs. However, the fact is that these days most of us live very busy lifestyles - this is the reality of modern living and we are already overloaded with too much information.

If we are going to keep fit we need something that is convenient, quickly beneficial, can be done anywhere and won't take long!

As it is we probably already have a full or part - time job, children to look after, shopping to do at the supermarket, meals to prepare, a home and garden to care for and that's all before we get around to doing anything for ourselves.

However, with almost 30 years in the field of counselling and psychotherapy I know that if we don't look after our own needs and just concentrate on the job, the chores and the needs of others then emotional, and physical problems inevitably lie ahead.

And despite the fact that we may be "on the go" running around all day from one thing to another none of that prevents our bodies gradually tightening up and becoming less and less flexible. The truth is that this process has been going on for most of us since our early teens with our muscles starting to stiffen and shorten as we grow older.

One of the best ways to counteract this and to better look after yourself on a regular basis is yoga training. The problem is fitting it in around all those other things. Sometimes we start off with great intentions reading some yoga books and then finding ourselves a yoga teacher.

But after just a few weeks of determined effort and making a regular yoga class we find that suddenly the class time clashes with our children's needs to go to dance class or football, mum needs her shopping done or we have to work overtime and after a few missed classes we give up.

A much better way to pursue yoga training is to use a proven, high impact audio course that you can put on to your phone, MP3 player or CD player and use anywhere - at home, on holiday, on the beach, in the office (when it's quiet!) or in a hotel room if you are away on business.

You may be thinking, "Well why not a yoga DVD?" Frankly, they are distracting. You end up spending so much time, energy and effort concentrating on what the person in the video is doing and trying to get it right like them that the whole process starts eating into you valuable free time and becomes a chore.

You are also in danger of becoming dependent on the video images and probably feel that you can't do the exercises without them.

What are the benefits of yoga training? For a start regular yoga training can improve your blood circulation, balance and posture, cardiovascular performance and strengthen and tone muscles. Yoga for back problems is particularly effective and will also cut down dramatically on visits to the Chiropractor or Physiotherapist.

For existing athletes such as marathon runners, baseball and football players, tennis and golf players and all those in competitive sports yoga stretching can have a major impact on your performance allowing muscles to work to their full capacity.

Last but not least consistent yoga training will burn fat and, combined with some yoga breathing, improve your mental focus and concentration, making you in the long term calmer, stronger and more confident and remaining much more flexible and supple well into your later years.

Finally, you need a routine that is not time consuming and requires the minimum of effort. Research has shown that people that lose weight effectively and keep it off have stuck to a regular routine of a 30 minute exercise session every day. I exercise for around 30 minutes a day, five days a week and give myself the weekend off to do other things. Give it a try, it certainly works for me.

By: Peter Clifford

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Go to: www.yogmudra.com to bring regular Yoga Training into your life (for beginners too and not just for runners!). Article Author: Peter Clifford www.yogmudra.com I specialise in writing about health, wellbeing, modern lifestyles, business opportunities, relationship and emotional problems and environmental issues, having had a total of more than 40 years with experience in these areas.

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Office Yoga DVD

This CD-ROM contains 15 different video routines and is designed to fit into any busy day at work. Relieve pain, reduce stress, maintain your center and increase energy all at your desk! The perfect break from a busy work day.

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