Yoga Postures - Developing Courage, Confidence, and Strength

When I was 21 I suffered a slipped disc in my lower back. I couldn't sit down during the acute phase, only lie or stand, though standing itself was uncomfortable at the time. Once the acute phase had passed (with rest, although acupuncture and shiatsu are great), I had the fortune to meet some yoga teachers and I started going to their classes. I started out with Oki yoga, which is a Japanese form...

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Improve Your Eyesight with Trataka

Kevin Pederson

Eyes are the windows of the soul and you can see what a person is up to by looking into his eyes. Hence it is important to have clean eyesight. In yoga, trataka is a technique devised by the ancient sages to improve the eyesight. It is a shuddhikriya or purification process to cleanse the eyesight and help in silencing of the mind in concentration. Sit with your back straight. Keep your eyes fixed on an object without winking till tears start streaming down your face. The small object can be the flame of an oil lamp, or an image or a picture or the letter 'AUM". This object should be placed in the line of sight at a distance of about four to six feet. You can also do this kriya without any object in front of you. Having an object is not necessary. Just stare in front of you at the wall without moving the eyeballs or eyelids. Ensure that you stare at a certain point on the wall.

Before starting this exercise, you can start off by movement of the eyes without moving the head, where you roll your eyeballs up and down, sideways and from corner to corner diagonally. Initially, you can make this movement with the open eyes and then repeat them with the closed eyes. This will give the requisite exercise to the eye muscles. This is then followed by trataka. Trataka makes the eyes clear, improves eyes and silences the mind. Over a period of time, you will experience the silence of the mind. If you want to meditate, start with trataka to silence the mind and then go to the meditation. This way, you will reap the benefits of meditation. Since you are exercising the eye muscles, they become stronger. You can perform this kriya daily without any harmful effects.

About the author:
Kevin Pederson is the webmaster for Yogawiz that provides loads of information on , Basics of Yoga,Office Yoga, Asanas and Poses.Trataka is an excellent eye exercise. It can also lead to silencing the turbulent mind.


How to Practice Yoga Exercises Correctly

If you have decided to improve your mental and physical health with yoga, you need to practice your yoga exercises correctly to get the most benefit and to prevent injury. Here are a few suggestions to keep in mind. * Before you begin, be sure that you are in good enough physical shape to be able to handle this new exercise routine. If you have any questions at all about that, consult your doctor and follow his directions as you get started. * Be sure that you learn the yoga techniques from a well-qualified, capable instructor. A good instructor will be very patient with you and will help...

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The latest information and news on Yoga Articles:

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Yoga Offered At Airport To Relax Holiday Travelers (WCPO Cincinnati)
Yoga instructors will travel with shuttle bus passengers at CVG airport on November 25 and November 26.
Yoga in a chair (Louisville Courier-Journal)
If the idea of getting down on the floor to strike a yoga pose makes you say, "Ouch!" instead of "Om!" you can bypass mats and go directly to chairs at Urban Active. The Louisville-area health club offers a 45-minute "Ch. Oga" class ? and it's literally yoga in a chair.
Yoga plus one (Courier-Post)
Inhale. Stretch. Exhale. Pose. Yawn. Sound familiar? Luckily, there's hope for the yoga-tired. Hybrid classes featuring yoga along with what may seem like its polar opposites are cropping up everywhere.
Yoga workshop set for this weekend (The Iowa City Press-Citizen)
A three-hour workshop on addressing back pain through yoga will be this weekend.
Study aims to determine yoga's benefits to breast cancer survivors (Courier-P...
The Ohio State University Medical Center is setting out to prove what many breast cancer survivors have long suspected: Yoga helps strengthen the immune system as well as the bodies of those recovering from the disease.
Yoga: Ancient Indian practice has been turned on its head (PhysOrg)
You can do it in the air. Or by sea. You can do it if you're young. Or old. Or in 100-plus-degree rooms (Bikram yoga).
Meditation and yoga prescribed for Wall Street brokers (EARTHtimes.org)
New York - The constant fluctuations on Wall Street can grate on even the toughest businessman's or businesswoman's nerves. In search of a remedy, more and more brokers are taking calming classes in yoga and meditation, the New York Times reported. W...
Therapeutic Yoga Workshop (Jackson Free Press)
Butterfly Yoga in Fondren is hosting yoga teacher, author and columnist Doug Keller , E-RYT 500, for a weekend Yoga Therapy Workshop , Dec. 5 through 7.
Yoga master travels to area to teach her trade (The Frederick News-Post)
The gymnasium at the William R Talley Recreation Center transformed Tuesday from basketball courts into a yoga studio
No connection with BJP, says yoga guru Ramdev (rediff.com)
Ruling out joining any political party, yoga guru Ramdev, who shared the dais with Sangh Parivar leaders in Panipat recently, insisted he had "nothing to do with the BJP".

Lose Weight with Yoga

Yoga might not be the first thing anyone thinks of when they think of an exercise to help them lose weight. Think again - though the results may not be as fast as with other types of exercise, the long term benefits of yoga (in terms of weight loss and overall health) are great. Yoga is a system of exercise that is thousands of years old. Conceived in India, it is now practiced world wide. The type of yoga that is most often practiced in the west is known as hatha yoga - however, this is by no means the only type of yoga. Others include kundalini, which involves breathe work and is quite a bit...

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