Archive for the ‘health benefits’ Category

Bikram Yoga: Know the Posture Benefits


One of the hottest yoga exercises that you can do to improve your overall well-being is Bikram Yoga. It is ‘hot’ not just because you only get to do 26 postures during the whole exercise routine but because it is indeed being done in a hot room with a 105°F temperature with a humidity of 40%, making it known as a hot yoga.

Even though it is not like the classic yoga, the 26 postures of Bikram Yoga still work systematically for every part of the body and gives all the internal organs, muscles, as well as veins and ligaments all the things that are needed to keep them functioning well and ensure that you’re at your best health. But before you enroll in a Bikram Yoga class, why not try to familiarize yourself with the first five postures done in this exercise and know the benefits that you can get from each.

Standing Deep Breathing
When you do this form of Bikram Yoga, it can help your body keep warm even after the whole set of yoga postures are done. This posture can furthermore help you prevent respiratory problems such as bronchitis, emphysema as well as shortness of breath.

Half Moon Pose
The second phase of the yoga exercise is the half moon pose that can make your abdominal muscles powerful and at the same time strengthens your spinal flexibility. Other benefits that you can get from this is that it helps keep your kidneys to properly function and also helps in curing liver enlargement.

Hands to Feet Pada
To do this yoga form, you have to fold both your arms in an upright position and then afterwards bringing them down closer to your knees. Doing this helps increase spinal flexibility and improves blood circulation, too.

Awkward Pose
This is a chair like position wherein your main focus is correcting the postures of your back, chest and pelvis. By doing this, you tone and shape your legs and could also give you relief from rheumatism and arthritis.

Eagle Pose
This pose can greatly benefit you as doing this gives you the chance to open the 14 largest joints in your skeletal system. Aside from that, the eagle pose also improves hips and ankle flexibility as well as proper blood circulation throughout the reproductive system.

These are just some of the benefits that you can get from doing Bikram Yoga. If you decide to do the full 26 postures of this exercise, you would surely be able to gain a lot more and be on your way to a wholistic health that you’ve always wanted to achieve.

Yogis Bare All

“For some yoga practitioners, the body is a sacred vessel that should not be tainted. For others, the skin represents a blank, movable canvas for tattoos displaying thoughts, texts and deities that inspire and inform their practice,” Emily S. Rueb writes in the forward of

Season of the Yoga Music Festival

tinywater-wanderlust-090_3.JPGWanderlust photo by Tinywater

It used to be there were yoga conferences and there were music festivals. But now, yoga music festivals are road-trip destinations for yogis, activists, and music lovers to converge and celebrate their shared passions. Here are a few hot-ticket events on our radar this summer:

Hanuman Festival: With teachers like Seane Corn and musicians such as Suzanne Sterling, the Hanuman festival adds yoga, music and seva to the mix in Boulder, Colorado. June 16-19

Wanderlust: The popular destination festival that started in Lake Tahoe, California, this year also rolls into Bondville, Vermont.

Doctor’s Orders: Do Yoga

doctormeditating.jpgA recent study reveals that more Americans than ever–more than one-third of the population–use mind-body practices like yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises, and that their doctors are often the cheerleaders for these approaches. According to researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, one in 30 people were referred to mind-body therapies by a medical provider.

“There’s good evidence to support using mind-body therapies clinically,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, said in a news release from Beth Israel. “Still, we didn’t expect to see provider referral rates that were quite so high.”

Has your doctor ever counseled you to try a mind-body practice?

Read the whole story on:http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/

LeBron James: Yoga Keeps Me Fit

Miami Heat hoops star LeBron James recently credited yoga for his peak physical performance. In an article in the Miami Herald by Joseph Goodman called “LeBron James’s big ‘secret’: yoga,” the superstar 250-pound athlete says that yoga contributes to his stamina on the court:

act_lebron_james.jpg
“Does it work for everybody? I don’t know,” James said Friday. “I’m not a
guru about how to be in the best condition — don’t let me sit here and
tell you that. But it works for me.”

We can’t say for sure, but we suspect that James’s yoga practice might also be cultivating a mental attitude of presence. When asked about his future in the NBA, he said: “I can’t live in the future, I’ve got to live right now.” Very yogic, indeed.

We want to know: How has yoga changed how you perform other athletic pursuits?