Yoga for Bedtime

Please enjoy this relaxing yoga sequence to help you prepare for a wonderful nights sleep.

Morning Yoga for Flexibility

Feeling a bit tense?  Enjoy Morning Yoga for Flexibility with Tara Stiles.

Upward Salute

Benefits: Upward Salute stretches the shoulders and abdomen, while improving digestion.  

Practice:  Begin this pose by standing with your hands by your sides and your feet together. Turn your hands outward so that your palms face away from your body.  As you inhale, sweep your arms out and up toward the ceiling.  

Press your hands together, beginning with the palms of your hands, then your fingers.  Extend your arms completely reaching through your fingertips, while slightly tipping your head back and gazing at your thumbs.

Inhale, then exhale, sweeping your arms out, returning them to your sides.  Inhale.  Exhale.  Relax.

Triangle Pose

Benefits: Stretches the entire lower body, including the shoulders, chest, and spine, while activating the abdominal muscles. Triangle pose also improves digestion, soothes backaches, and relieves stress.

Practice:  Begin by standing tall with your arms by your sides.  Inhale, then exhale.  As you exhale, step your feet apart in a wide stance.  Raise your arms parallel to the floor with your palms facing downward.  Turn your left foot to the left 90 degrees.  Inhale, then exhale.  As you exhale, bend your torso to the left and rest your left hand on your shin, ankle, or on the floor.  You may also use a block for additional support.  Stretch your right arm toward the ceiling, keeping your shoulders in line.  You may keep your head in a neutral position or turn your head to the right.  

Remain in this pose for about one minute, then inhale, and come up; bringing both feet together and placing your arms back at your sides.  Reverse the pose, repeating for the same length of time on the right.

Think Outside the Studio: Guide to Starting a Home Yoga Practice

How to do yoga at home and get results.

Fighting traffic to make it to class in time, remembering to bring your yoga gear, carving out a space for your mat amid the after-work studio crowds .... Yoga can sometimes be a less than Zen-like experience.

Starting a home practice can ultimately save time, energy and money — plus, no one will be checking out your rear view as you Downward Dog from the comfort of your own living room. Twenty minutes of yoga at home is often more beneficial than driving, parking and paying to practice for an hour at a studio.

While most yoga teachers will advise you to learn the fundamentals of asana (yoga poses) in a live class before getting on the mat at home, "Nothing replaces the home practice," says 25-year yoga veteran Rodney Yee. "Listening is the practice of yoga; it's so important to go into your own body and ask it to be your teacher. It is a time when you can find your own rhythm. It is where the genuine knowledge arises.

"Going to classes has many benefits, of course," he acknowledges, "but I have observed time and time again that it is when people start to practice at home that the real insights occur."

Beyond the reasons to start a home practice, today there are new ways to start one — ways that blur the lines between showing up in a live yoga class and rolling out a mat in your living room to do yoga at home.

Virtual yoga classes are more sophisticated than ever

Besides the many yoga DVDs and books on the market, online yoga classes and digital downloads are bringing home more of the benefits of a live class. While an instructor isn't physically there to observe your alignment and adjust your limbs hands-on, multimedia is the next best thing ... and for some it may be even better.

Yee's online yoga studio,  Gaiam Yoga Studio, gives you access to many hours of detailed how-to video demonstrating and explaining more than 75 yoga poses — plus a daily yoga practice guided via downloadable audio podcasts. Plunk those on your iPod and you've got the best of both worlds — an instructor's voice in your ear (let's face it, half the time you can't see her over all the other bodies anyway, or your face is covered by your hair or pressed onto your mat ...), plus the freedom to tailor your practice to your individual needs and pace, as Yee recommends below.

What you need to get started with yoga at home

The best reason to start a home yoga practice is that you don't need much to begin:

• Choose or create a quiet, uncluttered space in your home for your practice, and stock it with the essential basic yoga props — mat, strap, blocks, blanket, bolster, etc. The space doesn’t have to be large, but it should be quiet, clean, open and sacred.
• Set realistic goals, starting out with small pockets of time (10-15 minutes).
• Begin with basic beginner's yoga sequences and expand your practice as your skills improve.

That said, it’s your yoga practice — so build it to best meet your individual needs.

"When I teach classes, I can tell just by watching who is practicing at home and who is not," says Yee. "People who are not practicing at home simply try to fit their bodies into my instructions as if they were following orders .... They are concerned mainly with whether they are doing it 'right.' But people who are practicing at home are inquisitive about instructions and test them out in their own bodies, asking themselves, 'How does this feel?'"

Which yoga poses should you do?

Some styles of yoga follow a set sequence of specific poses, but many instructors including Yee recommend a more open-ended approach.

"At home," he says, "you learn to listen to what your body needs that day, move at your own pace, and develop intuition about what sequences or kinds of yoga poses you want and need to do most on any given day."

If you are fatigued, you may want to do a more restorative yoga sequence. If you're feeling energetic, a more flowing, fast-paced or rigorous set of yoga poses may feel more satisfying or help you channel that energy. Many like to do anenergizing yoga practice in the morning and a calming restorative practice in the evenings.

But listening to what you need is more than a physical thing.

"As you practice your first poses on your own, try to cultivate an attitude of playfulness and acceptance," says Yee. "Being present during your practice means allowing yourself to be aware of whatever physical sensations, emotions and thoughts are currently arising. Be creative and spontaneous. If you approach your practice with a sense of curiosity, rather than self-judgment or competitiveness, you will find it easier to motivate yourself to practice — and you'll be more present when you do practice."

Sun salutations are a time-efficient way of practicing yoga because they thread together poses that involve different parts of the body. Sun salutes are also commonly practiced as a warm-up, followed by standing poses such as Warrior I, II and II — and ending with forward bends, twists and restorative poses.

As you advance, you may want to move into more challenging intermediate and advanced yoga poses such as arm balances, inversions and backbends.

How to stay motivated to do keep doing yoga regularly

Setting up a home yoga practice is only half the battle — now you have to roll out your mat and do it.

"The best advice I can give you," says Yee, "is to make your yoga part of your morning ritual. This means getting to bed 15 minutes earlier so your yoga practice does not cut into your sleep time. The second piece of advice is to sit down with your weekly calendar and begin to cross out any activity that is not serving you anymore (this takes being brutally honest).

But in this interview clip from the intro to his A.M. Yoga for Your Week DVD, Yee says the real key to staying motivated to keep doing yoga gets back to listening to yourself and exploring what you need with a sense of curiosity and creativity.

"Another significant way to support your home practice," Yee adds, "is to practice with a member of your family or a friend. Being held accountable by others can get you to the mat on the dreariest of days. Once you get to the mat, the magic often takes over after a couple of minutes, and you find yourself vibrating with the music of yoga."

This post was written by Meagan McCrary and Mary Jo Cameron for blog.gaiam.com.

Corpse Pose

womenshealthmag.com

Benefits: This pose relaxes the body, calms the mind, helps relieve stress, fatigue, insomnia, while lowering blood pressure.

Practice: Begin by lying flat on your back with your legs extended and feet together and your arms at your sides. Inhale and exhale a few times as you begin to release the tension from your body.  Allow your mind to clear and empty.  

Inhale and release your legs, allowing your feet to turn outward. Relax your pelvis and your lower back.  As you release your arms, move them out away from your body, resting the back of your hands on the floor.  Then relax your shoulders, your neck, and your head.  Now, soften your tongue, nostrils, eyes and forehead.  Rest in a state of total relaxation and just be.

Remain in this pose for a minimum of 5 minutes or until you have reached a deep state of relaxation.

Garland Pose

peacewithinyoga.blogspot.com

Garland Pose: There is a modified pose for the later stages of pregnancy.

Benefits: Stretches the ankles, inner thighs and groin and helps ease childbirth when practiced consistently into late pregnancy.

Practice: With your feet as close together as possible, squat on your yoga mat. Exhale as you lean forward and fit your torso snugly between your thighs. Bring your palms together as you press your elbows against your thighs. Remain in this position for about 30 seconds. Inhale and slowly return to standing.

Modified Garland Pose: You will need a chair to practice the modified pose. With your feet as close together as possible, squat and sit on the edge on your chair. Exhale as you lean forward. Bring your palms together as you press your elbows against your thighs. Remain in this position for about 30 seconds. Inhale and slowly return to standing.

The Benefits of Yoga

The benefits of yoga provide both instant gratification and lasting transformation. In the fitness world, both are extremely important. Too much time with too few results can be incredibly discouraging, and monotonous routines week after week can lead to stagnation. Yoga can change your physical and mental capacity quickly, while preparing the mind and body for long-term health. 

Yoga is for everyone

Most yoga studios and local gyms offer yoga classes that are open to all generations and fitness levels. It’s exciting to enter a room full of young teens, athletes, middle-aged moms, older gentlemen and even fitness buffs and body builders. Everyone can feel accepted and included and, unlike other sports or classes that focus on niche clients, yoga tends to have open arms. Whether you like to say "Om" or you can’t stand the word “yogi;” whether you are 92, 53, or even 12, yoga can help you.

Yoga encourages overall health and wellness

Yoga is not just about working out, it’s about a healthy lifestyle. The practice of yoga allows students to be still in a world consumed with chaos. Peace and tranquility achieved through focused training appeals to everyone.

Yoga’s deep breathing and meditation practices help foster an inner shift from to-do lists, kids and spouse’s needs, financial concerns and relational struggles to something a little bit bigger than the issues you face. Yoga helps relieve stress and unclutter the mind, and helps you get more focused.

Yoga has many faces

You can choose a yoga style or practice that is tailored to your lifestyle, such as hot yoga, power yoga, relaxation yoga, prenatal yoga, etc. Whether you prefer you're at home, in a private session, watching a DVD or at a studio or gym, there are a huge variety of options available to suit your goals and needs.

If you are a yoga beginner, Hatha yoga, which focuses on basic postures at a comfortable pace, would be great for you. If you want to increase strength through using more of your own body’s resistance, power yoga may be right for you. 

If you are ready for a deeper practice, Advanced Yoga, or Bikram, also called “hot yoga,” may be just what you are looking for. In Bikram yoga, the room temperature is set to around 100 degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in greater elimination of toxins from the body through the increased production of sweat. No matter your fitness level, fat percentage, or health history, yoga has a place for you.

Strength training and flexibility

Yoga’s focus on strength training and flexibility is an incredible benefit to your body. The postures are meant to strengthen your body from the inside-out, so you don’t just look good, you feel good too. Each of the yoga poses is built to reinforce the muscles around the spine, the very center of your body, which is the core from which everything else operates. When the core is working properly, posture is improved, thus alleviating back, shoulder and neck pain.

The digestive system gets back on track when the stretching in yoga is coupled with a healthy, organic diet, which can relieve constipation, irritable bowl syndrome (IBS) and acid reflux. The stretching and holding of postures also causes muscles to lengthen, which gives the body a longer, leaner look.

How does power yoga build muscle?

A more advanced form of yoga can amplify these effects. Adapted from the basic Ashtanga yoga, power yoga requires increased amounts of energy, focus and strength. Although power yoga is an evolvement of the basics, it certainly is not a basic course.

But how does it help build muscle? Deeper, more focused participation is required, because most poses are held for five full breaths versus the usual one to three breaths. Muscles are challenged as the mind and body have to work together simultaneously to hold a position or continue a succession without giving up. Breathing, posing, moving and increasing flexibility happen all together at one time, which solicits a new level of discipline in your mind and body.

Power yoga and the core

Isometric exercises are one of the best ways to build core strength. Isometric, stemming from the words “same” and “length,” simply translates to holding one position without moving. Power yoga uses isometric exercises along with other postures that are designed to make the core and back stronger. Flexibility and balance stem from your core, so it is very important to train this area of the body. In turn, you can increase the strangth and health of your entire body. Generally a higher-temperature room is used in this practice to help keep the muscles warm and release additional toxins from the body.

Power yoga’s effect on the total body

Here's a list of some of the most beneficial aspects of power yoga:

• It increases endurance, strength and flexibility.

• Mental endurance and physical stamina are tested through holding postures for extended breaths.

• Arm and shoulder strength is multiplied as you use your own body weight for resistance.

• Lats and other back muscles begin to support the spine better than before.

• Abdominals and obliques are refined and sharpened through building core muscles.

• Poor and average posture begins to correct itself over time.

• Hip flexors are stretched and rebuilt.

• Gluts, quads, hamstrings, and calves are tightened and lengthened where they need to be.

No matter what ails your aching body, or if you would like to take your fitness to a higher level, power yoga's ability to build muscles has an undeniably commendable effect on the total body.

This post was written by Ashley Dodson for blog.gaiam.com.

Child's Pose

Half-Butterfly Pose

Benefits: This pose helps to ease childbirth when practiced consistently into late pregnancy, and stretches the knee, inner thigh and groin.  

Practice: Begin by sitting on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you. Bend your right knee as you exhale and draw your right heel in toward your pelvis. 

Drop your knee out to the side as you hold your right foot in your right hand. Bring your heel as close to your pelvis as you comfortably can.

Never force your knee down. As you become more flexible you will be able to release your leg

further toward the floor.

Remain in this position for 3-5 minutes. Inhale as you lift your knee away from the floor and

exhale as you return it back to its original position.

Repeat these steps on the left side.

Cat-Cow Pose

Benefits: Helps prevent back pain while strengthening abdominal muscles, increasing spinal flexibility, and stretching the neck and torso.

Practice: Begin in a neutral position on the floor with your wrists directly below your shoulders and your knees directly below your hips.  Keep your neck and back in a straight line.

Inhale as you begin cow pose.  Curl your toes under, drop your belly toward the floor and look up toward the ceiling.  Exhale as you return to neutral position.

Now move into cat pose.  Begin by inhaling.  As you exhale, drop your head, round your back and rest the top of your feet on the floor.  Only stretch as far as you’re comfortable.  Return to neutral position.

Repeat cat-cow pose about 5 times.  Return to neutral spine once the sequence is complete and carefully return to standing.  Increase the number of repetitions over time.  

  

Image taken from MindfulBody.com

Yoga

Yoga means union in Sanskrit.  Many yoga traditions believe that the practice of yoga leads to a union of a person with their true self or with God. Yoga has many benefits including increased strength and flexibility, better balance, coordination, and concentration, and overall stress reduction. 

There are several types of yoga, including Anusara, Ashtanga, Bikram, and Kundalini.  Some yoga poses are used throughout the various types of yoga, however; there are others that are unique to a particular style.  The various styles and practices all serve to calm the mind.

This Holistic Life will generally focus on asana, stretching and strengthening yoga poses, however; yoga practice is multidimensional and includes meditation, breathwork, visualization exercises, and its own philosophy.