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A Compelling Look at Pain Relief
If your back aches when you’re loading groceries in the car or your hands cramp up with arthritis when you sit down at the computer, you’re not alone. Although the nature, cause, and complaints vary, over one-half of Americans experience chronic or...
Chronic Pain Relief: An Overview
Everyone will experience pain at some point in their lives. Pain is a necessary form of protection against injuries, diseases, or conditions that would otherwise impair or even kill us. Pain alerts us that something is wrong. Pain can be either...
Here’s What Yoga Can Do For You...
You want to have a full life. You want to feel well. You want lots of energy, vitality, power, and stamina. Am I right so far? Well, the great news is that all these can be yours. Yoga applies age-old secrets to everyday life in a modern,...
HOT, HOT, HOT ... Bikram Yoga
As people search for curative and restorative effects to combat
the impact of a chaotic world, Yoga has become very popular in
our culture. Yoga is for everyone and can be done by every body.
Yoga is the only exercise from which you gain energy...
Wireless Meditation: Top Five Tips for Wherever-Whenever Mindfulness
The problem with meditation is attachment. We get in the habit of needing our altar, favorite cushion, incense, CD, certain time of day, necessary length of time, or particular style of sitting. If we can’t do it the “right” way, we tend to skip...
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Why Has Yoga Become So Popular?
Did you know that over fifteen million people practiced yoga in 2003, according to a landmark study by Yoga Journal Magazine. And the numbers are expected to increase dramatically in subsequent years. Your own experiences probably confirm this study – maybe you practice yoga, know someone who does, or just take a walk along any busy main street - your bound to see someone carrying a yoga mat. In fact you can't even open a magazine or newspaper without finding an article about yoga. So, how does a 5000-year-old spiritual practice become today's hottest mind/body trend?
Perhaps the best way to understand yoga's popularity is to go right to the people who practice it. If you ask them why, some of the more common replies you might hear are "flexibility, increased energy, improved focus, reduction of the symptoms associated with stress, and an overall good feeling." The fact is that yoga can have a rejuvenating effect on all systems of the body including the circulatory, glandular system, digestive, nervous, skeletal/muscular, reproductive system and respiratory system.
On a physical level – according to the U.S. Dept. on Aging there four components to good physical health: Strength, flexibility, balance, aerobic capacity. It is interesting to note that yoga can accomplish all these things and no fancy piece of equipment is needed – other than your own body and a yoga mat.
Over the last 100 years our lives have become very fast paced: cell phones, computers, internet, television. This along with a strong work ethic often results in people out of balance – people experiencing a lot of stress. Consequently, there is a strong need to de-stress - to quiet our minds and rejuvenate our bodies. And yoga helps achieve this – helping us return to a state of balance and health.
Yoga brings us into the moment – it is very difficult to practice and be thinking about what happened at work today or the party tomorrow night. Becoming present
in itself is a great release from stress. At its best, yoga meets the student where they are – so it is adjusted to the student's level and capacity. That doesn't mean it is particularly easy or particularly challenging – it can be either or both on any given day.
Then there is the therapeutic component. Yoga can be used successfully with conditions such as insomnia, back problems, digestion
problems, asthma, improving circulation, anxiety, weight loss, just to name a few.
Basically yoga is non –competitive; it is not about winning or losing – you can go at your own rate. Of course people still compete with themselves though and compare their posture to others in class.
In addition many of us are yearning for something more. Many of us have shied away from organized religion yet seek a spiritual practice that connects us to ourselves as well as something larger – a spiritual practice that is non-dogmatic, without many rules. While most of the yoga practiced in health clubs is primarily the physical aspects of yoga – the philosophical side seeps in. And for those that want to learn more about the philosophy of yoga information and classes are readily available to them. At its simplest level yoga quiets the mind and opens the body – setting the stage for withdrawing deeper inside oneself – to a place of peace, a place of balance, a place of health. It is here where the divine within us can be more easily discovered.
There are many different styles of yoga and it never needs to be boring - it can be slow and gentle, it can challenge your strength, it can be aerobic or vigorous or it can be very introspective. There is as style to match most personalities. There is yoga for seniors, pre-natal yoga, postnatal yoga, power yoga, gentle yoga, etc. There are classes that focus on back care, yoga done in groups and one-on-one, privately with an instructor. The yogic scriptures say there are some 84,000 postures and variations. The field of yoga is huge and there is always, always something new to learn.
The media has also helped spread the message of yoga and the fact the celebrities like Madonna and Sting practice yoga doesn't hurt either!
About The Author:
Howard VanEs, M.A. has been studying and practicing yoga for over thirteen years and is a certified yoga teacher teaching in the East Bay area of San Francisco. He is author of "Beginning Yoga: A Practice Manual", co-creator of the audio CD "Shavasana / Deep Relaxation". He is also a former psychotherapist. http://www.letsdoyoga.com email: info@letsdoyoga.com 510-587-3399
Copyright Howard VanEs - http://www.letsdoyoga.com
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