Category Archives: personal yoga practice

Om, Giga OM at SXSW: Morning Yoga Sessions Return

Posted on February 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

Compass Yoga is thrilled to be participating at SXSW Interactive for the second year! Check out this press release from the SXSW crew:

yoga_conference_room.jpgNeed to find a path to higher ground at the 2012 SXSW Interactive Festival? Then unplug your laptop, turn off your smart phone, relax and let it all go. Attendees to this year’s event will again have the chance to start their days mindfully as morning yoga returns to SXSW. Yoga was developed thousands of years ago as a way to prepare the body and mind to be more receptive to enlightenment. What better way to prepare for all the new people and ideas you will encounter every day at SXSW Interactive? These morning yoga sessions occur from 9:30-10:30 am on March 10, March 11, March 12 and March 13 in Room 8a at the Austin Convention Center. And, if you aren’t an early riser, there is also an afternoon session on Friday, March 9 from 2:00-3:00 pm in Room 8a). These SXSW yoga sessions won’t be overly strenuous, so feel free to wear everyday street clothes if you plan to attend.

Contributed by Hugh Forrest, photo courtesy Creative Commons

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Posted in personal yoga practice

4 Ways to Practice Safe Yoga

Posted on January 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

From ABC News:

gty woman exercise jef 111227 wblog 4 Ways to Practice Safe Yoga

Many of yoga’s practitioners tout its benefits for strength, flexibility and general health.

But the practice can also cause a range of injuries among beginners and experienced yogis alike, according to a report in the New York Times .

William Broad, author of the Times story and an upcoming book, “The Science of Yoga: Risks and Rewards,” describes gruesome injuries that have happened as a result of the practice – popped ribs, ruptured spinal discs, torn Achilles tendons, even partial paralysis and strokes.

Yoga and sports injury experts say yoga is right for some people, wrong for others and, like any physical activity, carries an inherent risk of injury. But if people approach the practice in the right way, they can do a lot to minimize their risk of injury.

”Yoga is a powerful tool and if you misuse it, you’re going to end up in the emergency room,” said Leslie Kaminoff, a New York-based yoga educator and author of the book, “Yoga Anatomy.”

Here are some ways to keep your yoga practice safe:

No. 1 – Know Your Limits

Experts say the chief culprit in yoga injuries is often overzealousness. Most people don’t think of yoga as a competitive sport but, at times, the need to out-perform others in class can seem irresistible.

“Sometimes, we find ourselves being very competitive with fellow students, especially in physically based classes,” said Judi Bar, a yoga therapist at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. “Then, we end up getting ourselves in trouble and hurting ourselves by not realizing our limitations.”

Another path to potential pain comes from taking on classes meant for more experienced yogis. Certain types of practices, such as high-heat bikram yoga, can encourage stretching that’s too aggressive. Beginners should steer clear of classes that are too advanced or strenuous.

Karen Sherman, who studies yoga and other complementary medicine techniques at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, said it’s important to listen to your body and respect its limits.

“One of the basic tenets of yoga is non-injury and self-honesty,” Sherman said. “When you practice with the idea that non-violence to your body is part of the practice, you’re more likely to avoid those injuries.”

No. 2 – Poses Can Aggravate Injuries

Certain poses, too, can be too much for the casual yoga-phile and create problems if done incorrectly or by people with little experience.

Bar said certain seated, stretching poses can aggravate sciatica or injure spinal discs. Headstands can be risky for the nerves, blood vessels and joints in the neck and spine, not to mention the risk of injury from toppling out of the pose. Even certain breathing practices can exacerbate asthma.

For people who are already injured, yoga can be either a useful therapy or can lead to further injury if students overdo it.

“Lots of patients go to yoga because they have herniations of the neck and back, and they go to yoga and those injuries improve. But at the same, time, I see patients who get these injuries from yoga,” said Dr. Jeffrey Goldstein, director of the spine service at New York University’s Langone Medical Center.

Any sore joints, such as the hips, knees, wrists, shoulders, neck and back, can become more painful if tweaked or twisted in even the simplest of poses. For example, downward dog could put too much stress on an injured shoulder; forward- or back-bending might be too much for a strained back. Also, patients with other health concerns, such as high blood pressure, should steer clear of certain poses or yoga practices.

No. 3 - Let Teachers Help

Injuries don’t necessarily put yoga off-limits. Students should let their instructors know if they are injured or have a medical condition so instructors can tailor a yoga routine to their specific physical needs.

Kaminoff said experienced teachers will get to know their students and ask to hear about any physical problems. Then, it’s up to the student to be honest with the teacher.

“The teacher-student relationship is important,” Kaminoff said. “If the student’s not willing to confront a teacher with a difficulty they’re having, the teacher won’t be able to help them avoid further injury.”

No. 4 – Choose the Right Teacher

More people than ever before are toting yoga mats and regularly practicing their asanas. The number of Americans who do yoga has grown from nearly 4 million in 2001 to 20 million in 2011, according to the New York Times.

As interest in yoga has exploded in the last decade, the number of yoga studios and instructors has grown along with it. But not all teachers have the same level of qualifications and experience to safely teach yoga.

To help choose the right teachers, experts offer this advice:

  • Observe a teacher’s class before you participate to see if it’s right for you.
  • Be sure a teacher is qualified; the Yoga Alliance certifies instructors as registered yoga teachers at basic, intermediate and advanced levels.
  • Avoid teachers that aggressively adjust your poses – they may push your body over its limits.

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Posted in personal yoga practice

Taking Yoga May Make You More Employable

Posted on January 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

Karnataka, India is the home of a women’s-only engineering college, GSSS Institute of Engineering and Technology for Women. In order to prepare students to face this very competitive industry it is encouraging them to take up yoga. The institute believes soft skills like these will help these women be more employable. Being able to deal with stress calmly is certainly a very employable trait.

in 2007, the college constructed a meditation hall, it was conceptualized as an add-on facility to help the students ease out academic stress. The facility is now being used to accustom the girls to handle stressful situations, thus increasing their employability. “Today’s students are tomorrow’s engineers. If students accommodate meditation in their routine, they can handle stress better. Even I do meditation here whenever I feel like,” said P Prakash, principal.

Twenty minutes per day of guided workplace meditation and yoga combined with six weekly group sessions can lower feelings of stress by more than 10% and improve sleep quality in sedentary office employees, a pilot study suggests. “It doesn’t matter what the stress is, but how you change the way you perceive the stress,” said Maryanna Klatt, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of clinical allied medicine at Ohio State.. “I like to describe mindfulness as changing the way you see what’s already there. It’s a tool that teaches people to become aware of their options. If they can’t change the external events in their life, they can instead change the way they view the stress, which can make a difference in how they experience their day-to-day life.”

This institute isn’t the first one to realize yoga can help both relieve stress and increase productivity. There are actually two whole yoga movements, Corporate Yoga and Workplace Yoga, which particularly focuses on helping people reduce work stress. Catherine Halcomb has been working with corporations and small businesses since 1989. Before she became interested in yoga Catherine was helping to bring unity and teamwork to the workplace. Having seen the benefits yoga has had on her students, Catherine began teaching Yoga in the workplace. She has a mobile yoga center that includes yoga mats, belts, blocks and blankets. All of the equipment needed to conduct a yoga class in a board room, office or recreation area. Some of the companies she has worked with include AT&T, DuPont, PG&E, IBM, Bank of America, MSN, Minnesota Vikings and numerous small businesses.

Some companies do offer yoga in the workplace but it seems that it hasn’t become as big a part of corporate culture as one would hope. More companies should consider this though as studies show that companies who offer yoga and wellness programs to their employees reduce their annual health insurance premiums, and therefore improve their bottom line. According to a recent study on worksite health programs, corporations realized $3 – $6 in savings for every $1 invested in wellness programs. The same study showed more than a 25% average reduction in health-care costs for well-designed programs  according to the American Journal of Health Promotion. A report from the United States Department of Health and Human Services revealed that worksites with physical activity programs, such as yoga, have reduced healthcare costs by 20 to 55%, reduced short-term sick leave by 6 to 32% and increased productivity by 2 to 52%. Throw in a Lulu Lemon discount and I’ll sign up tomorrow.

Photo:  Diego Cervo/Shutterstock.com

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Homeless men take to yoga

Posted on January 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

From The Gazette (Montreal) Skeptical at first, residents of Nazareth House now wait eagerly for instructor Anne Marie Delaney.

When yoga instructor Anne Marie Delaney entered the basement of an old greystone in Shaughnessy Village a few weeks ago, her eager students were waiting patiently beside their mats.

But the small group of students are not your traditional yoga disciples. They are mostly elderly men who live at Nazareth House, a shelter and residence for men who have struggled with homelessness, addictions or mental illness.

Most Wednesdays, Delaney takes time out of her busy schedule to take the men through a 30-minute yoga class that she hopes will empower them physically and emotionally. With soothing music playing in the background, she uses breathing techniques, stretching and relaxation exercises to help them strengthen their mind, body and spirit.

“It (yoga) can be life changing if you can take it off your mat and into your life with you,” said Delaney, who teaches the class on a volunteer basis to men aged 52 to 77.

“It is an honour to guide them through a yoga class. They just drink it up. You see it when they are sitting there meditating.” Delaney said she doesn’t expect the yoga class to radically change their lives, but she hopes it gives them tools to help manage their stress and “find their inner strength.”

John, who has been at Nazareth House for about a year, said he didn’t realize how much of a workout yoga is. “It stretches out my muscles and relaxes you.” he said. “I thought yoga was just for women, but it is good for men too.”

Robert Cuttle had attended yoga classes at his church before he fell on hard times and said it has been great to get back at it.

“I feel very relaxed after the class and my body is very content.” He also said he and the other men are grateful that Delaney makes time for them each week. “She is a special person,” he said.

Doris Mercier, the house manager at Nazareth House, said she knew she would have to pull a few tricks out of her hat to persuade the men to participate in a yoga class.

“I told them we were starting a yoga class; that a lady was coming who was a volunteer and that we gotta be there,” Mercier recalled.

Some of the men balked at the idea, saying yoga was for “women or something religious.”

Mercier ignored their protests and gently ushered the men into a room in the basement where the class was being held. For the first few classes, Mercier participated until the men felt comfortable taking the class without her.

“They were nervous at first; it is hard to get them to change or do something new,” she said.

Within a few months, some of the men began turning up for the class on their own. During a class just before Christmas, Mercier watched on proudly as Delaney took the men through a series of breathing exercises and stretches. “They really like her and they trust her,” Mercier said. Sheila Woodhouse, the director of Nazareth House, took up yoga last January and became a huge advocate. After noticing that yoga increased her flexibility, improved her sleep and helped reduce stress, she wondered whether it would help the men of Nazareth House.

After doing some research on the Internet, Woodhouse discovered that organizations around North America have been offering yoga to homeless populations and other people with mental illness for several years. “It helps them with their focus, concentration, breathing and relaxing,” she said.

Woodhouse said she hoped the yoga class would give the men “a little more identification with their bodies.”

“It is working out well,” she said of the small class. “The fact that they are there every week speaks volumes. That they would sit together in a quiet room with music and learn to control their breathing. It is a major step.”

Woodhouse has been was so impressed with Delaney’s rapport with the men that she has hired her to give the men a chair message following the yoga class.

“Men like this, who have lived on the street and don’t have family, haven’t been touched for years,” she said.

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Posted in Compassion, homeless, Nonprofit, personal yoga practice

Yoga helps breast cancer survivors curb fatigue

Posted on January 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

(Reuters Health) – About one third of breast cancer survivors experience fatigue that can affect their quality of life, but a small new study finds that doing yoga might help restore some lost vitality.

After three months of twice-weekly yoga classes, a group of breast cancer survivors in California reported significantly diminished fatigue and increased “vigor.” A control group of women who took classes in post-cancer health issues, but didn’t do yoga, had no changes in their fatigue or depression levels.

Dr. Maira Campos, a research scholar at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine who was not involved in the study, said the findings echo similar results from past studies that looked at yoga and cancer patients.

Persistent fatigue lasting years after cancer treatment is a common problem whose origin is unknown, and for which there are no validated treatments.

Some studies have shown that stress-reduction techniques or exercise classes can help reduce fatigue among cancer patients and survivors in general. But none of them has specifically targeted cancer survivors experiencing fatigue to see if a potential therapy reverses the problem, according to Julienne Bower, an associate professor in the psychology department of the University of California, Los Angeles, and her colleagues.

They recruited 31 breast cancer survivors to undergo “treatment” for their fatigue over 12 weeks at the UCLA Medical Center. Each woman was randomly assigned to participate in either two 90-minute yoga classes every week or a two-hour health class once a week.

At the start of the study, each group of women had similar scores on a questionnaire that gauges fatigue levels.

The group taking the educational classes experienced about the same amount of fatigue and energy throughout the initial study period. However, the group taking the yoga class reported about a 26 percent drop in fatigue and a 55 percent increase in energy after the 12-week yoga regimen.

The women in the yoga group also continued to report significant improvements in fatigue levels three months after the classes stopped.

The findings, published in the journal Cancer, do not prove that yoga caused the improvements in fatigue levels. The researchers note, however, that both groups of women had similar expectations that their assigned “treatment” would help them, so a placebo effect is not a likely explanation for the benefits seen in the yoga group.

Jacquelyn Banasik, an associate professor in the College of Nursing at Washington State University, also noted improvements in cancer fatigue after yoga classes in a study she published in the Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners in 2010.

“I can’t say that yoga is the only way to achieve the results seen in ours and other studies,” Banasik told Reuters Health in an email. “A beginning ballet class — with (its) emphasis on form and positioning — might have similar effects. Gaining a sense of control over one’s physical body, when one has a disease like breast cancer, might be an important part of the benefit.”

Both of the studies by Bower and Banasik used Inyengar yoga, which, according to Banasik, emphasizes taking poses slowly and paying close attention to maintaining correct form.

Campos told Reuters Health that acupuncture, exercise and physical therapy are sometimes used to treat cancer survivors suffering from fatigue, without a prescription if their symptoms are mild.

She added that she would not prescribe yoga based just on the new study, however.

She said it would be better to compare yoga to another exercise instead of a health- class setting.

Campos also emphasized that it’s important for patients to talk to their doctors about fatigue during and after cancer treatments.

“The patient should not be suffering or impaired just because they had cancer,” Campos said.

SOURCE: bit.ly/sSZeZZ Cancer, online December 16, 2011.

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Posted in cancer, Health, personal yoga practice, Research

Yoga a Growing Trend Among Youth

Posted on December 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

From Daily Herald

Count kids among the people joining the yoga craze in the United States.

Yoga-loving parents are signing up their kids at yoga studios, Ys and park districts to learn the practice.

Whether it is an “Itsy-Bitsy Yoga” program for toddlers and their parents, practicing Kundalini or reciting Indigo affirmations, youngsters are developing muscular strength and learning good posture and breathing that can help them to find peace in their over-scheduled lives.

“Yoga should be about showing them the proper way to move and balance, about learning how to have proper body mechanics and alignment,” said Pam O’Brien of Greenleaf Yoga Studio in Geneva. She has taught yoga to children in the past, and intends to start classes again in January. She may also start teaching yoga to the children enrolled in an after-school care program at the Geneva Park District.

She adopts a different tone with children.

“To me, it is like you have to be playful,” she said. For example, to illustrate a point about breathing, she may place a stuffed animal on a child’s stomach. Back-to-back poses and buddy breathing are other favorite exercises, she said.

Besides yoga studios, many park districts offer yoga to young practitioners, including the Naperville, Lisle and Fox Valley districts. A Naperville studio, Universal Spirit Yoga, offers an extensive list of classes for children from infancy on up.

Juanita Monaghan teaches a family yoga class on Saturdays at her Fusion Mind Body Studio in downtown Elgin.

She emphasizes fun, taking advantage of children’s natural tendency toward pretend play. “Let’s be like snakes!” Monaghan tells the class, hissing during a snake pose, and she barks, “Arf! arf!” during a downward-facing dog. Children crawl under their parents during bridges.

“I hope what they do together they can do at home,” she said.

Monaghan sees yoga as an alternative to the competition-oriented sports — and something that can help children who aren’t interested in those sports.

Monaghan also wants kids to get a break — “a break from the rigidity at home, a break from the expectations,” she said. And because children are naturally more flexible (because their egos haven’t grown so much they get in the way, she said), they “feel good knowing they can do what their parents can’t,” Monagahan said.

She worries about the increasing rate of obesity among youth, and believes yoga’s practices can help with that, by teaching children to be mindful of what they put in their bodies and why, as well as the physical exertion. They learn “to make choices based on what is better for your body,” she said.

Fun is the key to getting children to focus in class, Monaghan said. If you give them something fun to do, they will become absorbed, according to Monaghan.

And she also believes children model what they see their parent doing, so if the parent is practicing yoga, the child will be interested.

Except for her own teenage daughter.

“My daughter won’t touch it,” Monaghan said, laughing.

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Posted in Children, personal yoga practice, yoga class

Veterans learn to use yoga and meditation exercises to reconnect with their emotions

Posted on November 25, 2011 | Leave a comment

From Sharpbrains.com

Vet­er­ans learn to use yoga and med­i­ta­tion exer­cises to recon­nect with their emo­tions(Wis­con­sin State Journal):

“Rich Low of Madi­son served as an infantry offi­cer in the Army in Iraq in 2005 and 2006, lead­ing some 280 com­bat mis­sions. When he came back from the ser­vice, he didn’t think his expe­ri­ence affected him in any major way. He had night­mares, and he star­tled eas­ily, but he chalked that up to just some­thing vet­er­ans live with.

Then he enrolled in a study he ini­tially wrote off as “just some hip­pie thing,” where he learned about yoga breath­ing and med­i­ta­tion. A year later, Low, 30, sums up his expe­ri­ence with two words: “It works.”

That’s the idea behind the study com­ing from The Cen­ter for Inves­ti­gat­ing Healthy Minds, at the Wais­man Cen­ter on the UW-Madison cam­pus. Researchers there, includ­ing asso­ciate sci­en­tist Emma Sep­pala, believe some­thing as sim­ple as breath­ing can change the lives of vet­er­ans return­ing from Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Link to Study: The effect of mindfulness-based ther­apy on anx­i­ety and depres­sion: A meta-analytic review (J Con­sult Clin Psychol).

Abstract:

  • OBJECTIVE: Although mindfulness-based ther­apy has become a pop­u­lar treat­ment, lit­tle is known about its effi­cacy. There­fore, our objec­tive was to con­duct an effect size analy­sis of this pop­u­lar inter­ven­tion for anx­i­ety and mood symp­toms in clin­i­cal samples.
  • METHOD:  We con­ducted a lit­er­a­ture search using PubMed, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library, and man­ual searches. Our meta-analysis was based on 39 stud­ies total­ing 1,140 par­tic­i­pants receiv­ing mindfulness-based ther­apy for a range of con­di­tions, includ­ing can­cer, gen­er­al­ized anx­i­ety dis­or­der, depres­sion, and other psy­chi­atric or med­ical conditions.
  • RESULTS:  Effect size esti­mates sug­gest that mindfulness-based ther­apy was mod­er­ately effec­tive for improv­ing anx­i­ety (Hedges’s g = 0.63) and mood symp­toms (Hedges’s g = 0.59) from pre– to post treat­ment in the over­all sam­ple. In patients with anx­i­ety and mood dis­or­ders, this inter­ven­tion was asso­ci­ated with effect sizes (Hedges’s g) of 0.97 and 0.95 for improv­ing anx­i­ety and mood symp­toms, respec­tively. These effect sizes were robust, were unre­lated to pub­li­ca­tion year or num­ber of treat­ment ses­sions, and were main­tained over follow-up.
  • CONCLUSIONS:  These results sug­gest that mindfulness-based ther­apy is a promis­ing inter­ven­tion for treat­ing anx­i­ety and mood prob­lems in clin­i­cal populations.

To learn more, enjoy these related arti­cles on Stress and Med­i­ta­tion.

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Posted in Health, Meditation, personal yoga practice, Research

Can Yoga Save Corporate Executives From A Heart Attack?

Posted on November 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

From PR Newswire

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Nov. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — According to NAMASTA, the North American Studio Alliance providing support to professionals wanting to pursue careers in yoga, there are an estimated 70,000 yoga teachers in North America, a number that has grown drastically in the past several years due partly to the weak economy and job market. In fact, according to a 2008 study by Yoga Journal, Americans spend a staggering $5.7 billion annually on yoga classes and products, and this number appears to be growing, making yoga franchises one of the most viable industries for corporate executives and entrepreneurs looking for a new career path.

“We’ve seen a growing number of executives that are tired of the daily grind and are seeking a new career that provides financial stability and mental quiescence while allowing more quality time with friends and family,” says Joseph Alexander, Vice-President of Communications for Dahn Yoga & Health Centers, Inc. one of the nation’s leading yoga franchises. “Opening a yoga franchise allows more day-to-day flexibility while providing positive reinforcement to the franchisee’s physical and mental health.”

Dionne Henderson, Chief Operating Officer and Owner of 1st Capital Finance, Inc., a financial consulting firm helping businesses acquire financial capital, implement cost savings, and leverage goodwill, provides a few questions to think about for those who are considering a franchise.

Six Questions to Ask Yourself When Considering A Yoga Franchise

1. Are you financially qualified? Entrepreneurs must meet capital needs of the business including liquid cash and/or collateral requirements that will allow them to invest in the franchise.

2. Do you know your net worth? Most franchises have a corresponding net worth requirement. Potential owners must have concrete documentation to validate their current financial status.

3. Do you know your personal and professional motivation? Opening a franchise requires passion and direction. Defining the motivation to run your business is necessary because temporary drivers will not sustain owners or be sufficient to overcome long-term cycles.

4. Are you committed to developing long-term strategy to insure the lowest operating cost and greatest profitability for the business? Implementing a cost savings strategy to reduce indirect operating expenses will facilitate a faster return on your initial franchise investment and enable you to accelerate the repayment of initial capital expenditures. Whether you’re taking over an existing franchise or starting anew, consulting firms like Alliance Cost Containment ( www.alliancecost.com ) can use their significant purchasing power coupled with unique expense category expertise to negotiate deep savings while freeing up cash flow that franchisees can use to reinvest in the growth of their business.

5. Do you have a support system, both personally and professionally, to help offset the risks inherent to being a new franchise owner? Temporary conditions and unexpected circumstances are inherent when opening a new company. Successful entrepreneurs have flexibility and clearly defined resources to manage the dynamic nature of start-up.

6. Do you need a transition plan to maintain your current lifestyle as you make necessary adjustments for your new opportunity? Corporations provide workers a surefire income stream and the people, processes and technology involved in the end product are relatively stationary. Potential franchise owners should look for what mix of stability and flexibility they require and receive when partnering with a franchise operation.

About Dahn Yoga

Offered at more than 1000 locations throughout the world, Dahn Yoga is an integrated mind-body training method that combines deep stretching exercises, meditative breathing techniques and energy awareness training. Its objective is to help practitioners achieve their highest level of personal potential. Created by Ilchi Lee in 1980, Dahn Yoga has something for everyone. Through diligent practice, Dahn Yoga practitioners can create a healthy body, clear mind, dignified character and bright spiritual nature that is not learned but realized. Most importantly, Dahn Yoga teaches that peace can be found internally through the body and brain, and then will be naturally expressed externally for the benefit of all. For more information, please visit www.dahnyoga.com .

About 1st Capital Finance, Inc.

1st Capital Finance, Inc. is a financial consulting firm founded on a philosophy which asks business owners to view their organizations in a holistic manner, based on what constitutes the MIND l BODY l SPIRIT of a COMPANY, the positive benefits of which are reaped by the corresponding systems within the owners themselves. The Corporate Body receives cash flow injections by funding business loans from 5K-500M (USD). They oblige the Organizational Mind to institute a cost savings strategy to reduce operating expenses so as to maximize the profits of the Organization and find opportunities to accelerate payment of this loan. The Entrepreneurial Spirit is captured by goodwill donations in honor of each client for each closed loan. For more information, please visit www.1stcapitalfinance.com .

SOURCE Alliance Cost Containment

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Posted in business, personal yoga practice, teacher training

Three Internal Health Benefits of Yoga Exercises for Athletes

Posted on November 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

From Yahoo.com

Yoga exercises are great for an athlete to add into his or her exercise routine, and there are a lot of benefits to yoga. An athlete might decide to start performing yoga exercises because he or she thinks of the external benefits, such as toning muscles or reducing a stomach bulge, but these are not the only benefits.

Here are three of the best internal health benefits of an athlete performing yoga exercises, which he or she might not know exist.

Decreased Respiratory Rate

One of the best internal health benefits of an athlete practicing yoga is that it will decrease the respiratory rate, which means that the lungs are not working as hard. As an athlete begins to practice yoga, his or her breathing will become stable and more relaxed, and the lungs will become more efficient. Yoga can decrease the respiratory rate of an athlete due to the fact that yoga uses a lot of controlled breathing techniques, which can allow for the lungs to perform better under pressure or stress. If an athlete uses yoga exercises as part of his or her routine, then she will definitely notice a difference in breathing during an intense sport such as soccer. A decreased respiratory rate is also beneficial because it means the heart is not working as hard, and it also can help temperature regulation within the body.

Increased Circulation

An athlete that practices yoga regularly will also have better circulation within the body, which will allow blood and oxygen to flow more effectively. When an athlete has increased circulation throughout his or her body, he or she will notice that the skin looks healthier, joints feel stronger, and the brain will work better. Increased blood flow will also help an athlete prevent serious health issues such as a blood clot; it can also increase athletic ability, and can help him or her concentrate. Having an increase in blood and oxygen throughout the body also helps all of the internal organs, since these are essential nutrients the organs need to survive, and it can also improve overall health. If an athlete is suffering from an injury or has pain issues, the increase in circulation also will decrease the inflammation and pain associated with the condition.

Promotes Healthier Organs

Yoga also helps promote healthier organs, which is important in the prevention of diseases. If an athlete practices yoga regularly, then he or she will have a decreased chance of getting certain diseases, such as kidney failure or heart failure. When yoga is performed, the exercises basically massage the internal organs, which can help the body fight off or prevent disease and illness. An athlete will also become more aware of his or her body during yoga exercises, which will allow him or her to notice slight internal changes quicker, and allow him or her to get diagnosed before a disease progresses. Yoga also promotes healthier organs due to the increased circulation going on within the body, and an athlete is likely to notice better cholesterol or blood pressure because of this.

Jeanne Rose worked in the dietary department of a hospital for three years, obtained certification in nurse assisting, and also went to vocational school for Allied Health.

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Posted in personal yoga practice

How Garbo Learned to Stand on Her Head

Posted on October 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

From the New York Times

By MAUREEN DOWD

WASHINGTON

SOMETIMES it feels as though I spend half my time working and the other half trying to ameliorate the strain of working.

Ever since one particularly clenched day of columnizing years ago, when I found myself curled up on the floor of my house davening, I’ve tried various remedies for the ravages of stress: better nutrition, caramels, gym, green tea Popsicles, kavakava, kale, kombucha, cupcakes, chocolate, chardonnay — sometimes in concurrent combinations.

The one that works best is yoga.

So I was intrigued to open my mail on Friday and find the galley of an upcoming book by the Times science writer William Broad, who made his name reporting about space weapons and biological warfare, on “The Science of Yoga: The Myths and the Rewards.”

I stopped reading about the Rick Perry supporter who denounced Mormonism as a cult, and started reading about my own cult. I was eager to know the science behind the blissful state of mind produced by savasana — corpse pose. It can’t just be the buckwheat-scented eye pillow.

Broad suggests that only an ancient tradition of centering — “an anti-civilization pill” — may be able to neutralize the “dissipating influence” of the Internet and the frantic information flow.

Once esoteric and exotic, yoga is now so prevalent that in 2010, the city of Cambridge, Mass., began printing soothing yoga poses on parking tickets.

But as I read on, I began to feel a little stressed out.

Does yoga make you fat?

“For decades, teachers of yoga have hailed the discipline as a great way to shed pounds,” Broad writes. “But it turns out that yoga works so well at reducing the body’s metabolic rate that — all things being equal — people who take up the practice will burn fewer calories, prompting them to gain weight and deposit new layers of fat. And for better or worse, scientists have found that the individuals most skilled at lowering their metabolisms are women.”

Broad follows that up with another of yoga’s “dirty little secrets,” writing: “Yoga has produced waves of injuries. Take strokes, which arise when clogged vessels divert blood from the brain. Doctors have found that certain poses can result in brain damage that turns practitioners into cripples with drooping eyelids and flailing limbs.”

Now I was very tense. The next paragraph made me coil tighter.

“Darker still, some authorities warn of madness,” Broad advises. “As Carl Jung put it, advanced yoga can ‘let loose a flood of sufferings of which no sane person ever dreamed.’ ”

Maybe caramels work better than chaturanga.

But finally Broad, who has practiced yoga since he was a freshman in college in 1970, began enumerating benefits.

The discipline that started out centuries ago as “a sex cult,” with rapacious vagabond yogis focused on “the path to the ecstatic union” and enlightenment known as Tantra, maintains its ability to calm and arouse at the same time.

“A small trove of illuminating reports and investigations,” Broad writes, show that yoga “can in fact result in surges of sex hormones and brainwaves, among other signs of sexual arousal.”

New medical scans, he reports, “indicate that advanced yogis can shut their eyes and light up their brains in states of ecstasy indistinguishable from those of sexual climax.” One yogini described it as the best sex she never had.

Fast breathing, the author wryly observes, fans the flames.

Being a vegetarian reduces the level of testosterone in the body, but yoga appears to raise it, as well as lowering fight-or-flight hormones and improving circulation and inner flexibility.

After giving “Sex and the City” a shout-out for coining the word “yogasm,” Broad primly concludes, “The findings may also help introduce into the consumer society a number of practical methods for the treatment of sexual disorders and the revitalization of sex lives — hopefully reducing our dependence on costly pills and potions.”

I started to relax again, especially when I got to the final chapter, where Broad explores the intersection between yoga and creativity.

Artists who got rid of aches and gained inspiration from yoga include the violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin, the rock star Sting, and Leopold Stokowski, the conductor best known for leading the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Disney film “Fantasia.”

Stokowski taught yoga to Greta Garbo during a fling in Italy, and Garbo began teaching headstands in Hollywood.

Yoga is a kinder version of alcohol, Broad suggests: “Both do at least part of their mental rejiggering by means of GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid. The neurotransmitter slows the firing of neurons, making them less excitable and thus calming the mind.”

He ends by suggesting that political leaders would do well to take up yoga. Herman Cain in corpse pose?

Nah. That would ruin all the fun.

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