...ealthy heart to image conscious Hollywood stars and prominent athletes, are turning to yoga to develop balanced, injury-free muscles and spines.

However, yoga does not deal with just the physical. In fact, it is a lot more than just that. Initially, the sole purpose of practicing yoga was to experience spiritual enlightenment. In Sanskrit (the ancient language of India), yoga translates as "yoke" or "union," describing the integration of mind and body to create a greater connection with one's own pure, essential nature.

Hatha yoga is one of six branches; the others include raja, karma, bhakti, jnana, and tantra yoga. Each branch with its unique characteristics and function represents a particular approach to life.

raja means "royal," and meditation is the focal point of this branch of yoga. This approach involves strict adherence to the eight "limbs" of yoga as outlined by Patanajli in the Yoga Sutras. Also found in many other branches of yoga, these limbs, or stages, follow this order: ethical standards, yama; self-discipline, niyama; posture, asana; breath extension or control, pranayama; sensory withdrawl, pratyahara; concentration, dharana; meditation, dhyana; and ecstasy or final liberation, samadhi.

The next branch is that of karma yoga or the path of service, and none of us can escape this pathway. The principle of karma yoga is that what we experience today is created by our actions in the past. Being aware of this, all of our present efforts become a way to consciously create a future that frees us from being bound by negativity ...more

Benefits of Yoga

...ealize yoga benefits will dwell upon you, really reliving. Yoga with meditation harmonizes your organs and body parts. Yoga help you energize and keep pace with spirit of day-to-day pressure and fatigue. You can see automatic healing, it is self driving and changes can been seen from the first day of practicing yoga.

Physiological Benefits - Really you will enjoy the real benefits of yoga once you start practicing it, it is difficult to enlist them, I will discuss few of them. If you are perturbed with nervous disorder, practice yoga as you will experience stable automatic nervous system equilibrium. Is you pulse rate fluctuating?? Having blood pressure problem? Over-weight or under weight, suffering from insomnia??? One solution to all problems: musculoskeletal flexibility, endocrine normalization, increase in strength ...more

Discover How Yoga Will Help You Reach Your Goals - Part 1

...to carry a plan through.

Yoga and meditation teach you to supervise your mind. Your mind has been allowed to work against you. Much like a back seat driver, the mind is good at second guessing, fearing, doubting, and discouraging new ideas. The mind would prefer to stay in one place, and let the world go by. Leaving you in a deeper state of frustration, by worrying about making a mistake.

You have to cultivate a positive relationship with your mind, through practicing Yoga postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation. You can find all this, and much more, in your local Yoga class. All you have t...more

Finding the Right Yoga Teacher for You

...ht kind of teacher to whom you'll respond isn't always easy. In the first place, there is no real certification processed or approved training sequence. Without these standards almost anyone can hold themselves out as professional yoga instructors.

Find out what kind of training a proposed teacher has had. What school of yoga did he study? How many hours did he put in before becoming a teacher? A program that includes not only learning, but also practice teaching sessions, and is around 200 hours seems to be standard. You'll find some certification programs that take a year or more to complete, and those that are an intense weekend of correspondence-type study. Expect to pay more to and learn more from the former. Avoid the latter altogether.

Also check his experience. How long has he been teaching? Usually, the longer the experience, the better the teacher, but if he's new, don't rule him ou...more

Slow Music For Yoga