Power Yoga - Perfect for Athletes

Some people who have tried yoga and are used to aerobic workouts find yoga to be too slow. This is why Power Yoga is getting to be so popular. Power yoga is based on Vinyasa Yoga, but is stripped down to fewer poses and performed more quickly. Power yoga is a style that appeals to many that are already fit and want to get a "workout" when going to the gym.

ower yoga originated in the United States in the 1990's and its birth is often credited to Beryl Bender Birch and Bryan Kest who were both studied yoga with Ashtanga master Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. They named this yoga "Power Yoga" to differ itself from the slow moving styles that most people think of when they think about yoga. Since then this style of yoga has taken off in North America and many people prefer it to more traditional styles of yoga.

Benefits of Power Yoga

Power yoga works out your entire body building strength and toning while also improving your flexibility. Many athletes have started to include it in their training because it is such a great way to improve your performance in sports. Some of the benefits include:

1. Increase in metabolism
2. Increase in the amount of calories burned compared to other yoga styles
3. Strengthens your entire body, improves flexibility and increases stamina
4. Relieves stress, tension and improves your ability to focus
5. Uses muscles you don't use often in other exercise routines
6. It is a great way to flush out toxins in your body
7. Excellent way to improve performance in sports

Cardio exercise is obviously an excellent way to burn calories and one hour of cardio burns a lot more than doing one hour of yoga. However, yoga is better at building lean muscles while also working out your core. Lean muscles increase your metabolism and in turn, burn calories quicker. This is why, if you are looking to lose weight, it is a great option. Even better, pair cardio and running together in your workout schedule and you will see some amazing results. If cardio is done too often, you can actually lose muscle mass. This is why including other types or workouts in your routine is very beneficial.

Power yoga also helps you get in touch with your whole body. Even though it is at a faster pace, you are still encouraged to connect with your body, mind and spirit while doing this style of yoga. I highly encourage you to give it a try if you are an athlete or love to do cardio exercise.

Yoga and Cancer

Cancer is a word riddled with fear and apprehension. Those whose lives have been affected by the debilitating disease have firsthand knowledge and experience of what it can do while the rest of us can only stand by and hope we might dodge the bullet. There are many types of cancer, some more vigorous than others. The various ways that people cope with cancer are as different as the types. Some let the cancer take over as innocent onlookers, giving up all control, while others face the disease with fierce determination to survive.

Typical cancer treatments involve chemotherapy, radiation and other medications. Many patients also turn to gentle yoga training as a way to cope with the emotional stresses of the disease. Therapeutic Yoga training has proven to be a viable treatment for cancer patients, not to cure the disease but to help one's mind and body cope with the disease. Meditation helps clear the mind and gain a new perspective on life while the breathing exercises will help cleanse the body of toxins and bring new energy into the body.

When the diagnosis of cancer is given, it is often seen as a death sentence. Anxiety and stress spike to high levels, putting the body on high alert. This environment is not conducive to healing and can actually encourage the disease to spread. What the body needs is a release of tension to encourage healing. Relaxation and meditation through yoga can allow patients to see the light at the end of the tunnel. They can find inner peace and strength that will allow them to fight the disease until remission.

Yoga can bring cancer patients more energy and vitality, even at the lowest points of their health and well-being. Whether someone is a beginner or experienced in yoga, the asanas can always be modified and adjusted to suit the needs of those undergoing harsh chemotherapy or radiation treatments. Even if a patient must lie on their mat without coming to an upright position, yoga can still help. It brings people strength, flexibility and stamina.

A mental attitude toward disease is a huge and important aspect of healing that should never be underestimated. Cancer patients must be able to find peace with the disease and be able to seek a higher truth. By coming to terms with the disease and focusing on wellness, patients will allow the body's cells to do the best they can at healing holistically.

Laughing Yoga Health Benefits

Looking for a healthy pick-me-up? "Laughter Yoga" is a relatively new concept that still emphasizes breathing like traditional yoga, but encourages laughter as exercise for the belly, diaphragm, lungs, and perhaps most importantly, the mind. Laughing Yoga proves true the old maxim - laughter really is the best medicine! As simple and profound as traditional yoga breathing, laughing yoga helps the practitioner feel happy and healthy. Laughing yoga encourages healthy breathing, but its benefits reach far beyond the lungs. Laughing yoga practitioners profess general health improvements such as lower frequencies of respiratory infections like colds and the flu, but they also claim to experience a genuine mood-lifting effect. It's truly incredible how just a bit of laughter can improve your whole day!

Originally launched by a physician in Mumbai, India in 1995, laughing yoga is based upon the scientific principle that the human body cannot differentiate between "fake" laughter and "real" laughter, so no matter how you slice it, the body will reap the same physiological and psychological benefits. Whether "real" or "fake," laughter lowers the levels of stress hormones in the blood stream. Laughing fosters hormone levels that literally "put us in a good mood." Many laughter yoga devotees claim to have used these exercises to overcome depression, or at least to laugh away troubles after a long, stressful day.

A session of laughing yoga requires you to leave your shyness at the door, but if you have trouble doing so, your "laughter leader" will help you shed your inhibitions. Exercise warm ups include lots of clapping, eye-contact with your fellow practitioners, rhythm and movement, and simple chants to promote heavy exhalations from the belly, invoking classic yoga diaphragmatic breathing. Most of all, warm-up exercises are designed to ease the class into a silly mood. Before you know it, you'll find yourself laughing. Sometimes your laughter leader will lead you through "gibberish" exercises, encouraging everyone to babble like babies. Sound silly? Of course it does! That's what makes it so effective at promoting laughter and feelings of child-like playfulness.

As a modern adaptation of an ancient practice, Laughing Yoga not only often incorporates traditional yoga postures, but also method-acting techniques to shift your mindset and stimulate the imagination. Your leader may intersperse bouts of laughter with light physical exercise. Whatever approach or method your laughter leader uses, laughing yoga is designed to invigorate, energize and entertain.

As the laughing subsides, your leader will take you through laughing meditation, then finally relaxation and grounding exercises. As opposed to warming up, laughing meditation takes place seated with eyes closed, and laughter starts deliberately and gradually. This can often be a cathartic experience and may bring up other emotions as well. Once the group has settled, as in most forms of traditional yoga, the leader will guide you through "yogic sleeping" in order to bring your energy levels back down to normal, leaving you feeling both relaxed and re-energized.

Kundalini Yoga Explained - What Is Kundalini Yoga?

ost Yoga practices have elements of Kundalini Yoga in them. There is some confusion about Kundalini and its connection to sexuality. Most beginners to this practice are drawn to it by this interest alone, assuming that the term, Kundalini Rising, refers to some kind of orgasm. All Yoga pursues the ideal of total Enlightenment. Yes, Kundalini Yoga is excellent for improving your sex life, (as is most Yoga), but let's examine it a little further.

The literal meaning of Kundalini (in Sanskrit) can be translated as a 'coiled, corporeal energy' or an 'unconscious, instinctive, libidinal force (Shakti)' which lies (curled up) at the base of the spine. It is a spiritual energy or life force which is generally conceptualized as a serpent. Hence the name - Kundalini (or Kundala) - 'that which is coiled, to coil or to spiral'. Kundalini Yoga arouses this sleeping Kundalini Shakti (from its coiled base), up the body, through the 6 chakras (travelling along the main channels of pranic energy in the body) to penetrate the 7th chakra (the Crown), developing strength, character, consciousness and awareness. It has been called 'serpent power' and is described by Nirmala Srivastava as a 'residual power of pure desire'. Describing the actual location is very difficult, with some saying it resides somewhere between the rectum and the navel, while others say it is in the sacrum bone. We all feel it to some extent especially during heightened times of danger or excitement - perhaps in conjunction with the 'fight or flight' adrenaline response.

Sexual energy is the most powerful energy in the human body - it has to be to create life. While some Yoga practices may renounce sexual energy, Kundalini Yoga embraces it and uses its techniques (asanas, meditations, active and passive kriya sequences, control and pranayama) to channel sexual energy up the spine to empower spiritual development. To clarify the first point made in this article - Kundalini Yoga is indeed excellent for shifting ALL energies in the human body and this naturally includes sexual energy. To note, the main goal of Kundalini Yoga is not great sex, but great sex is a pleasant side effect of it.

Yogi Bhajan (who taught and practiced Kundalini techniques for more than 35 years) was of the view that sex was holy, should be reserved for committed relationships and did not advocate casual sexual encounters at all. Yogi Bhajan believed sacred sex was blissful love in action with both partners treating each other like sacred temples of the divine and his overwhelming theme was always - 'See God in All'. He was the first to teach Kundalini Yoga openly, touching many hearts, opening many minds and mentoring many politicians, statesmen and famous personalities. He was equally at home whether teaching in a boardroom or sitting on the grass in a park.

Kundalini Awakening Stages

Below are the stages that present the energies of Ida and Pingala (both right and left) and the central channel which flows through the chakras (Sushumna nadi - also called the 'silver cord'). These represent Kundalini Awakening in six stages;

• Prana flowing in Ida or Pingala
• Prana flowing in Ida and Pingala
• Prana flowing in Sushumna
• Kundalini energy awakens
• Kundalini energy leads upwards
• Kundalini rises to Sahasrara (crown chakra)

Shakti and Shiva

The journey of Kundalini Yoga, leading to Kundalini Awakening leads to the realization of the Absolute where consciousness divides itself into two parts which seem to be apart but cannot exist without each other. They are called Shiva (a static, formless quality) and Shakti (a dynamic, creative aspect of consciousness). They can be conceptualized as deities or as principles / processes of the universe. Either way, the journey is an inner one travelling to the centre of one's own consciousness. Interestingly enough, some people have experienced spontaneous Kundalini Awakening without doing any intentional practices.

Once Kundalini Awakening has taken place, and becomes more established through meditation, Kundalini has been known to automatically purify the body and dispel all mental, physical and spiritual clutter. Preparation for Kundalini Awakening is very important because once it occurs, there is a certain amount of time and effort needed to blend the aspects into the body and personality. However, after genuine Enlightenment and Self-Realization, the body becomes more active and zestful, the face younger and the personality beautiful and magnetic.