Using Yoga To Make Children Happy

By Faye Martins

Everyone wants their children to be happy and healthy; it’s a parent’s top desire and researchers now show this can be done through yoga training. Yoga has been used for centuries to help people find their center and to calm themselves.

Yoga has actually been known to increase the overall quality of life. Professionals are now realizing that this type of deep relaxation is an untapped resource and it can be a powerful tool for children. Typically, yoga has been something that has been enjoyed by adults, but now the benefits of using it for those of school ages are becoming apparent. It is during the formative years that yoga has shown to have the best benefits. Its benefits build self-awareness and also allows children to strengthen their bodies and develop their minds. Although not thoroughly noted, children experience just as much stress and aggravation in their daily lives as adults do.

Children are mostly interested in having a good time and playing. Fun and games is what it is all about. While instructing adult classes in Hatha yoga is more serious in nature, children learn and relax best through fun mental and physical exercises. For a child their mental alertness is key and this form of recreation is something that they can utilize both in school and at home.

Parents that have put their children into yoga classes have found that their children’s self-discipline levels increase as well as their ability to calm themselves in stressful situations. The benefits seem from practicing yoga can also be observed through other sports, like martial arts. Parents with children who are easily stressed and require high maintenance are finding that by enrolling them in yoga classes reduces a parent's stress load.

Yoga training is a practice that must be observed on a constant basis to be of value. Some find that doing a short yoga session, with the children before school, will help to release tensions, anxieties, and mental fog from the night before. Children will learn to calmly inhale and exhale during hectic times, which allows them to lower their stress levels. Children learn valuable stress and anxiety reducing skills that can be utilized all through life. Yoga doesn’t have to demand a long period of time, just 15-20 minutes is all it takes to reduce stress and induce happiness.

One of the biggest hurdles for children during their formative years is trouble getting to sleep. This can be anything from worrying about bedwetting to anxiety at night due to the darkness. Yoga can release the anxieties and allow for a peaceful night’s sleep. A child that has less stress is happier and healthier.

© Copyright – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division



To see find out more about yoga or to see our selection of affordable courses, including our online hatha yoga teacher training intensive courses, please use the yoga resources on the right side of this page.

If you are a teacher, yoga studio manager, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is. Namaste!

Yoga Poses for Tennis Players: Dolphin Pose

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed

Practicing Yoga poses on a regular basis is a very effective way to keep your body strong, toned and limber. If you actively participate in a sport or athletic activity that utilizes a certain group of muscles on a repetitive basis, practicing Yoga asanas will keep those muscles strong, flexible and in correct alignment with the rest of your body. This will help to prevent sports-related injuries. For instance, if you are an avid tennis player, you may find that your shoulders, neck, legs, and even your elbows (hence the proverbial tennis elbow problem) begin to become tight and strained due to over use. 

Dolphin Pose is a very effective Yoga pose for releasing tension throughout the shoulders, neck and upper arms. This pose also gives the back of your legs a nice stretch, helping to alleviate muscular tension in the hamstrings and calf areas. The practice of Dolphin Pose is quite accessible, even to beginning Yoga practitioners.  Dolphin Pose is also an inversion, so it helps to circulate fresh oxygen and nutrients to many areas of your body, including your brain. Increasing the circulation of fresh oxygen and blood throughout your body and mind will energize you and clear away any mental cobwebs. 

* Dolphin Pose

To practice Dolphin Pose: warm-up first with a series of Sun Salutations. If you have the time, you may also wish to practice some standing and balancing Yoga postures prior to practicing Dolphin Pose. When you are adequately warmed up, come to Mountain Pose at the front of your Yoga mat. Take a few deep, full breaths, and then, with your next inhale, move through the beginning poses of Sun Salutation A and pause in Downward Facing Dog.

From Downward Facing Dog, move into Child’s Pose and rest for a moment before moving into Dolphin Pose. When you are ready, place your forearms in front of you on the Yoga mat approximately shoulders’ distance apart with your hands gently clasped together. You will form a triangle with your forearms and hands. Your hands should rest on the mat with the outside of your little fingers flush against the mat. With your next inhale; push up into a modified Downward Facing Dog Pose. Your weight will be resting on your forearms and on your feet.  

This modified Downward Facing Dog is Dolphin Pose. Equally distribute your weight on both forearms and remember not to ‘hunch’ your shoulders by keep your shoulder blades moving down your back. To release muscular tension in your neck and shoulders more fully, push against the Yoga mat with your forearms. Breathe deeply and exhale completely. Hold Dolphin Pose for three to five breaths, and then release the pose and rest in Extended Child’s Pose for several breaths. For optimal benefit, repeat Dolphin Pose two more times before continuing on with the rest of your Yoga practice. 

© Copyright – Virginia Iversen / Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see find out more about yoga or to see our selection of affordable courses, including our online hatha yoga teacher training intensive courses, please use the yoga resources on the right side of this page.

If you are a teacher, yoga studio manager, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is. Namaste!

Igniting the Creative Spark with Yoga: Pratyahara

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed

Yoga practices offer many different techniques for increasing our life force energy. An increase in the flow of energy or chi often generates creative ideas. The creative impetus springs from the movement of energy. Creativity can come in many forms, shapes, shades, and colors. A creative image can uplift us or sadden our hearts. Irregardless of the particular tone of the artistic work, it springs forth from the movement of energy and usually generates an emotional reaction in the person experiencing it.

If you feel stuck in the inertia of tamas and are unable to stoke the creative fire, practicing Yoga asanas and breathing exercises will help to dispel tamas, increase the flow of energy throughout your entire being and inspire you. Backbending Yoga asanas, Power Yoga flows and pranayama exercises, such as Skull Shining Breath, are great ways to release tension and increase the flow of creative ideas. The Yogic practice of the withdrawal of the senses, known in Sanskrit as pratyahara, is also another great way of igniting the creative spark.

The practice of pratyahara is the 5th stage of Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga as elucidated in his famous Yoga Sutras. During the practice of pratyahara, the senses are withdrawn from the external world and focused internally; traditionally on an image of a God or Goddess, mantra, mandala, or the divine light within the heart. In addition, the practice of pratyahara is also a wonderful tool for generating and clarifying creative ideas. 

If you are struggling to come up with your next artistic endeavor, or you are finding it difficult to complete a current artistic undertaking, taking some time to withdraw your senses and focus internally on the project at hand can be quite helpful. Practicing pratyahara at the end of your Yoga practice will afford you the opportunity to settle quietly into the field of stillness generated by the Yoga asanas and breathing exercises. 

Traditionally, pratyahara entails withdrawing the senses of touch, taste, hearing, and vision from all external stimuli. This enables a Yogi or Yogini to calm the vrittis or thought waves in the mind, sink into inner stillness and eventually know God. Withdrawing the senses from all external input will allow your unique ideas and inspirations to arise unimpeded. 

* Pratyahara

To practice pratyahara, come to an easy sitting position on your Yoga mat. If you prefer, you may also practice pratyahara with your legs up the wall or in Shavasana. If you do choose to practice pratyahara in a prone position, using an eye pillow to eliminate visual stimuli and cool the eyes will help facilitate the withdrawal of the senses. You may wish to set a time for ten minutes, and then simple rest your mind. 

While practicing pratyahara, let go of all preconceived ideas, usual ways of doing things and other people’s advise about your creative project. Contemplating a few seminal questions about the project at hand, and then quietly listening for the answer to arise in your mind’s eye or the in the depth of your heart, will allow you to sink into the fertile void from which all creativity arises. Jotting down your ideas in a journal, before moving back into the rest of your day, will help you to remember the creative ideas that were generated by your practice of pratyahara.   

© Copyright – Virginia Iversen / Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see find out more about yoga or to see our selection of affordable courses, including our distance learning yoga teacher training intensive courses, please use the yoga resources on the right side of this page.

If you are a teacher, yoga studio manager, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is. Namaste!

Yoga Therapy for Insomnia

By Faye Martins

In today's charged up, plugged in, needed-it-yesterday world, it's no wonder insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders, affecting, at least, half of all adults at some point in their lives. We need sleep for our bodies to repair themselves, and for our minds to sort out the details of the day in preparation for the next. 

Health Problems

The inability to sleep well, or sometimes even at all, can also lead to high blood pressure, weight gain, and heart disease among other conditions. Some people experience a variety of mental and emotional problems due to sleep deprivation. Needless to say, driving, working, and thinking are impaired by lack of sleep. Medications are often only a temporary solution for relieving symptoms, but not the underlying cause, and many can have some nasty repercussions. Treating insomnia with yoga, however, is not only effective, but has been shown to have pleasant and positive side effects.

Yoga Therapy's Approach

Yoga therapy focuses on a person's well-being at all levels: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. It alleviates stress by quieting the mind and relieves tension with gentle stretching and restorative poses, often increasing blood flow to the sleep center of the brain, helping to regulate the sleep cycle. 

Recent Studies About Yoga and Sleep Cycles

A 2004 study by Harvard Medical School in Boston found that daily asana practice actually improved the quality of sleep, including total sleep time, and onset latency (the time it takes to fall asleep. Another study, conducted between 2006 and 2009 by the University of Rochester Medical Center, linked yoga therapy to better sleep quality, lessened fatigue, and reduced use of sleep medications in cancer patients.

Solutions

The next time you sleep eludes you, try some calming breathing techniques, or pranayama, and follow with a few gentle poses to help your body relax and prepare for rest. Suggested poses include Balasana, which is pictured in the upper-left section of this page. This extended variation releases tension in the arms shoulders, chest, stomach, and back.

Other postures to practice are Uttanasana, a deep forward bend in which you simply "hang" from your hips for several deep breaths, Viparita Karani, an "inversion" style asana in which you lie on your back with your legs supported by the wall, and perhaps the most calming pose of all, Shavasana, or the Corpse pose. You can perform this simple pose in bed to unwind from the day and help yourself drift off to sleep. Lie on your back, noticing, tensing, and relaxing each part of your body in turn, emptying your mind of competing thoughts, and eventually entering a state of deep relaxation.

Yoga therapy is certainly highly beneficial and can lead to a state of quality sleep, deeper and more restorative. Your mind, body, and soul will thank you for making Yoga techniques a regular part of your life.

© Copyright – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see find out more about yoga or to see our selection of affordable courses, including our online 500 hour yoga teacher training intensive program, please use the yoga resources on the right side of this page.

If you are a teacher, yoga studio manager, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is. Namaste!

Teaching Yoga to Students Recovering from Surgery or Living with Chronic Illness: Supported Inversions

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed

If you are teaching Yoga to students who are struggling with a chronic illness, recovering from surgery or healing from an injury, you may feel intimidated as you try to figure out how to safely include and challenge these students. The very first step to teaching students who need special consideration is to make sure you are generally familiar with each student’s current level of health. 

For example, if one of your Yoga students is recovering from a head injury he or she sustained in a car accident a few months ago, this is a critically important piece of information for you to be aware of, especially when leading your class through the practice of inversions. Inversions increase pressure on delicate nerves and brain tissue that may just be healing, potentially further exacerbating a head injury. 

This is only one example of a vast array of physical challenges with which your students may be living with at any given time. By maintaining an awareness of the current status of your Yoga students’ health, your will be able to creatively sequence and modify traditional Yoga asanas, in order to better fit your students’ health needs. You will also be able to safely include them throughout the entirety of your Yoga class. 

* Supported Legs Up the Wall Pose

Inversions are wonderful poses for circulating fresh blood, oxygen and nutrients throughout the entire body. Practiced restoratively, inversions can also be profoundly relaxing and rejuvenating. The practice of supported inversions, such as Headstand, Handstand and Plow Pose, can be accomplished by practicing against a wall or with a number of blankets and possibly a Yoga chair.

Supported Legs Up the Wall Pose is a very simple but profoundly effective inversion that many of your students will be able to practice safely. Do remember to be very vigilant about recommending that any student recovering from a head injury may want to refrain from practicing this posture and rest instead in Shavasana with a Yoga bolster under their knees. 

           

To begin the practice of Supported Legs Up the Wall Pose, ask your Yoga students to place their mats perpendicular to the wall and sit with one hip flush up against the wall. When the class is ready, have them lie on their Yoga mats and gently swing their legs up the wall. The buttocks should be up against the wall and the feet gently flexed. 

Instruct your Yoga students to hold this pose for five to ten minutes. The relaxing and introspective aspect of the asana may be further enhanced by using an eye bag. When the students have completed their practice of Supported Legs Up the Wall Pose, ask them to roll to their right side and gently push themselves up and sit in Easy Seat.

© Copyright – Virginia Iversen / Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see find out more about yoga or see our selection of affordable online yoga teacher training courses, please use the yoga resources on the right side of this page.

If you are a teacher, yoga studio manager, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is. Namaste!

ABCs of Yoga

By Shahid Mishra

Hatha yoga has been globally accepted and adapted to become one of the most popular methods for achieving physical and mental well-being. Its long lasting existence and the positive effects that are touted by yogis has led to curiosity in the scientific and medical community. Many studies have taken place and have only further solidified the claims that this physical discipline, possibly the oldest in the world, can transform your body and mind.

Asana is Part of the Pie

Asana (posture) is not everything, but many beginners start by focusing on asana first. Asana is the term for the poses through which a practitioner flows during a practice. Whichever method one decides to take (holding or flowing through postures) depends on what they wish to achieve.

Hatha yoga is perhaps the most common style, offering a plethora of asanas to provide a complete fitness and mental boosting routine. Ashtanga and power yoga are more vigorous, for those ready to move on to more challenging practices. These are only a few of the options available; basically, there is something for everyone.

It doesn’t take much to develop an asana practice; a good mat to prevent slipping, snug but comfortable clothes, and perhaps some blocks and straps to aid certain poses. Just leave the shoes at the door and your mind wide open.

Breathing and Books

Yoga is for people who think, read, study, practice and do it all over again. The term yoga derives from Sanskrit and it means “to join”, “merge”, or “unite”, as in the merging of the movements of the body and the pranayama. Pranayama is also Sanskrit, meaning “extension of the breath or life force”. This breathing technique is a vital part of yogic methodology, keeping one’s body calm during the strenuous flow of the poses. To do this, one breathes deeply through the nose; extending and matching each inhale and exhale to each asana.

With all that said, a person who doesn’t enjoy the learning process, will leave yoga quickly, as he or she will be required to learn more than stretching. Yogic methodology and philosophy are vast subjects with many rewards, but these subjects may be boring to a person who just want to show off a few challenging poses.

Careful

Nearly anyone is capable of doing some form of yoga, but be careful not to push through pain. It can help alleviate pain, lower the heart rate and reduce blood pressure, improve flexibility, and lessen inflammation. It can also improve posture, coordination, and balance, as well as boost neurotransmitters in the brain that aid in mental clarity and that general sense of well-being.

Before one begins a practice, they should assure they are not healing from injuries nor have any other spine or muscle problems that might be worsened. Most postures can be modified, or skipped all together, to adjust to each individual. Don’t push yourself; this is not about ego. It is about harmony. Do what feels right. 

© Copyright – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see find out more about yoga or see our selection of affordable yoga teacher training intensives, please use the yoga resources on the right side of this page.

If you are a teacher, yoga studio manager, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is. Namaste!