Baby Yoga

Yoga is a great exercise for every type of person. Those who practice yoga can improve balance, strength, flexibility, and the mind/body connection. The practice of yoga is also welcoming for students at every level and every stage of life and holds benefits for expecting mothers as well. Mothers-to-be will find that yoga can maintain strength and functioning during pregnancy which can ease the difficulty of labor and postpartum recovery.

Conventional exercises during pregnancy, such as using the treadmill, abdominal strengthening exercises, or vigorous exercise classes can become uncomfortable or even dangerous as your belly grows and as your center of gravity shifts. However, when executed properly, yoga poses can conform to your growing belly and changing physiology perfectly.

Make Room For Baby
One of the most important tasks a pregnant woman faces is the need to create space within her for a baby to grow. Yoga can enhance flexibility which can allow a pregnant woman to gently stretch her body. This stretching of muscles and joints can increase available space within the pelvis and abdomen for the baby to grow, and may prevent tightness, maternal pain and fetal growth restriction. The "pigeon carrier" pose is a great yoga pose for pregnant women because it allows them to open up their hips and to stretch out their glutes and hamstrings. The pose counteracts tightness in the hips caused by the forward push on the pelvis in response to baby's increasing weight.

De-Stress
One hour of intense focus or meditative concentration can help any student of yoga to set aside the stresses and concerns of daily life. It's easy to imagine how these relaxation techniques can benefit a pregnancy. Yoga can help relax the mind and give you time to get away from the stress of being pregnant; many women find that pregnancy and the postpartum period is not the fairy tale it is portrayed to be in the movies. Effective yoga can help you shut off the uncomfortable emotional and physical stresses, at least temporarily, which can be very beneficial for maternal and fetal well-being.

The Power Of The Breath
Breathing and meditation training can be an ace up your sleeve during labor and delivery, especially if your goal is to have a drug-free or "natural" labor and delivery. During my own labor, I used breathing exercises and yoga movements along with tai chi as my main pain management tools during cervical dilation. The yoga movements helped open my hips and breathing served to alter my pain perception. I also used a labor ball, personal rituals, and a warm shower to help me through my labor. Though every woman is different, it is important to develop a "tool chest" of relaxation techniques ahead of your labor to help minimize pain at the time of delivery.

Getting Back Into Shape
A common concern of pregnant women is wondering if their abdominal muscles will ever be strong and look fit again. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible for your abdominal muscles not to be altered during pregnancy because the muscle wall actually starts to separate down the midline to accommodate the growing baby. The good news is that yoga techniques can train and strengthen the deepest abdominal wall, the transversus abdominus (TA), which maintains strength through pregnancy and the recovery period. The TA is like a mini corset that pulls in the abdomen, while the top layer of abdominal muscles, the rectus abdominus, sometimes forms the visible "six pack" of the abdomen. Yoga and pilates strengthen the deepest layers of muscles upon which top layers can then be strengthened. The least useful exercise to reduce the "pooch" after pregnancy is sit-ups or crunches. These exercises actually make your belly look bigger by strengthening the top layer of muscles only, and do little to train the TA. It makes the most physiologic sense to strengthen the abdominal wall from deep layers to more superficial layers to most effectively to get back into pre-pregnancy shape.

Sleep Well
One of the biggest complaints of pregnant women is that they can't seem to find a comfortable sleeping position. Yoga addresses this complaint in many ways. Yoga teaches proper and comfortable positioning using the bolster and blanket as aides to the growing body. The very positions you learn while practicing can be re-created in your bed which helps promote utmost relaxation and sound sleep. Further, yoga teaches you poses that can help relax the areas in your body which keep you up at night. Last, yoga relaxes your mind through meditative techniques, effectively stopping images of strollers, cribs, and other baby accessories and allowing you to drift comfortably to sleep.

Stand Tall
You may have good posture now, but when you start to grow larger, particularly in the chest and abdomen, the extra weight pulls your center of gravity away from a neutral position. This shift can cause lordosis, an often painful condition of vertebral tilt that misaligns the spine. Yoga helps strengthen the weakened posture muscles of the back, and it stretches the tightened chest muscles. It helps keep the muscles of the body in balance.

Bond
When a woman practices yoga, she is always on a journey of exploration and of discovering her true self. Practicing yoga while pregnant is an especially gratifying experience; yoga can give a mother time to discover her deep, emotional bond with her baby even before he enters into the world. The connection felt with my baby, accentuated by every palpable kick and flip, made my practice of yoga during my pregnancy rewarding and unforgettable. I also imagined that my baby too was also practicing yoga in his floating watery world. Both of us connecting through the wonders of yoga, creating a special uniting bond.

For photos of mothers practicing yoga with their babies visit the following page:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6838&id=100001016832315

Prenatal Yoga

Yoga is a great exercise for every type of person. Those who practice yoga can improve balance, strength, flexibility, and the mind/body connection. The practice of yoga is also welcoming for students at every level and every stage of life and holds benefits for expecting mothers as well. Mothers-to-be will find that yoga can maintain strength and functioning during pregnancy which can ease the difficulty of labor and postpartum recovery.

Conventional exercises during pregnancy, such as using the treadmill, abdominal strengthening exercises, or vigorous exercise classes can become uncomfortable or even dangerous as your belly grows and as your center of gravity shifts. However, when executed properly, yoga poses can conform to your growing belly and changing physiology perfectly.

Make Room For Baby
One of the most important tasks a pregnant woman faces is the need to create space within her for a baby to grow. Yoga can enhance flexibility which can allow a pregnant woman to gently stretch her body. This stretching of muscles and joints can increase available space within the pelvis and abdomen for the baby to grow, and may prevent tightness, maternal pain and fetal growth restriction. The "pigeon carrier" pose is a great yoga pose for pregnant women because it allows them to open up their hips and to stretch out their glutes and hamstrings. The pose counteracts tightness in the hips caused by the forward push on the pelvis in response to baby's increasing weight.

De-Stress
One hour of intense focus or meditative concentration can help any student of yoga to set aside the stresses and concerns of daily life. It's easy to imagine how these relaxation techniques can benefit a pregnancy. Yoga can help relax the mind and give you time to get away from the stress of being pregnant; many women find that pregnancy and the postpartum period is not the fairy tale it is portrayed to be in the movies. Effective yoga can help you shut off the uncomfortable emotional and physical stresses, at least temporarily, which can be very beneficial for maternal and fetal well-being.

The Power Of The Breath
Breathing and meditation training can be an ace up your sleeve during labor and delivery, especially if your goal is to have a drug-free or "natural" labor and delivery. During my own labor, I used breathing exercises and yoga movements along with tai chi as my main pain management tools during cervical dilation. The yoga movements helped open my hips and breathing served to alter my pain perception. I also used a labor ball, personal rituals, and a warm shower to help me through my labor. Though every woman is different, it is important to develop a "tool chest" of relaxation techniques ahead of your labor to help minimize pain at the time of delivery.

Getting Back Into Shape
A common concern of pregnant women is wondering if their abdominal muscles will ever be strong and look fit again. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible for your abdominal muscles not to be altered during pregnancy because the muscle wall actually starts to separate down the midline to accommodate the growing baby. The good news is that yoga techniques can train and strengthen the deepest abdominal wall, the transversus abdominus (TA), which maintains strength through pregnancy and the recovery period. The TA is like a mini corset that pulls in the abdomen, while the top layer of abdominal muscles, the rectus abdominus, sometimes forms the visible "six pack" of the abdomen. Yoga and pilates strengthen the deepest layers of muscles upon which top layers can then be strengthened. The least useful exercise to reduce the "pooch" after pregnancy is sit-ups or crunches. These exercises actually make your belly look bigger by strengthening the top layer of muscles only, and do little to train the TA. It makes the most physiologic sense to strengthen the abdominal wall from deep layers to more superficial layers to most effectively to get back into pre-pregnancy shape.

Sleep Well
One of the biggest complaints of pregnant women is that they can't seem to find a comfortable sleeping position. Yoga addresses this complaint in many ways. Yoga teaches proper and comfortable positioning using the bolster and blanket as aides to the growing body. The very positions you learn while practicing can be re-created in your bed which helps promote utmost relaxation and sound sleep. Further, yoga teaches you poses that can help relax the areas in your body which keep you up at night. Last, yoga relaxes your mind through meditative techniques, effectively stopping images of strollers, cribs, and other baby accessories and allowing you to drift comfortably to sleep.

Stand Tall
You may have good posture now, but when you start to grow larger, particularly in the chest and abdomen, the extra weight pulls your center of gravity away from a neutral position. This shift can cause lordosis, an often painful condition of vertebral tilt that misaligns the spine. Yoga helps strengthen the weakened posture muscles of the back, and it stretches the tightened chest muscles. It helps keep the muscles of the body in balance.

Bond
When a woman practices yoga, she is always on a journey of exploration and of discovering her true self. Practicing yoga while pregnant is an especially gratifying experience; yoga can give a mother time to discover her deep, emotional bond with her baby even before he enters into the world. The connection felt with my baby, accentuated by every palpable kick and flip, made my practice of yoga during my pregnancy rewarding and unforgettable. I also imagined that my baby too was also practicing yoga in his floating watery world. Both of us connecting through the wonders of yoga, creating a special uniting bond.

article taken from: http://www.expectantmothersguide.com/library/chicago/yoga.htm

For photos of pregnant women practicing yoga visit the following page: 
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6838&id=100001016832315

Yoga for kids

Children today are under a lot of stress. Homework, pressure to compete with other children, endless after-school activities, over-scheduling - it all adds up. And just like their parents, kids today are turning to Yoga to help them relax.

But relaxation is only one of its numerous benefits. It helps them develop better body awareness, self-control,balance, flexibility and coordination, skills which they can carry beyond class and into their daily routines.

Yoga has also been shown to help the hyperactive and attention-deficit child. These children crave movement and sensory/motor stimulus and Yoga can help channel these impulses in a positive way.

Working with each other on poses, the children develop team skills and become more creative and imaginative. Partner poses also develop trust and foster bonding.

For photos of kids practicing yoga visit the following page: 
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5979&id=100001016832315

Yoga IS for men!

Whether you're an athlete, an out of shape couch potato, a new dad or an old(er) dad, we could all use a little bit of yoga in our lives.

No matter what kind of guy you are, yoga is not just for skinny, flexible, granola eating people sitting with their legs tied over their head meditating
.
In fact, this is a basic misconception: yoga will improve your flexibility, but you don't need to be flexible to do it. Since yoga has been practiced by men for so long, many of the poses actually make more sense for a man's body and some require a lot of upper body strength, which women often lack at first.

For photos of men practicing yoga visit the following page: 
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5624&id=100001016832315

Yoga for dancers

Whether it be Break-dance, Ballet, Burlesque, Belly Dance, Tribal, or Hawaiian, every dancer relies on flexibility, confidence, and balancing or centering of the body.

Yoga is beneficial to all dancers for these reasons and many others such as strength, posture improvement, improved circulation, and purifying the body from toxins.

Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga or Power Yoga as it is referred to in the West is a form of Hatha Yoga. It focuses on linking the postures with the breathing exercises into a flowing Yoga practice. Because of these unique capabilities of Ashtanga Yoga, it warms up the body before deep stretching to stretch more safely. Also stamina is created which is beneficial to the dancer's body for overall performance endurance.

In Ashtanga Yoga, the first half of the practice is a warm up (Sun Salutations) and standing asanas. The second half of the practice is a seated asana series and finishing sequence. The Sun Salutations are dynamic, getting the blood flowing, the heart rate up and using breath work to bring fresh oxygen to the blood improving circulation.

The standing asanas are very beneficial for the dancer's body. They stress on balance, focus, strength, confidence, and equalizing/balancing both sides of the body. The seated asana sequence comprises many stretches for the hamstrings, hip openers, and core strengtheners. These postures are very therapeutic for the dancer working out any remaining stress, tension, and toxins from the body.

One of the most precious gifts Yoga offers is the mind/body experience. It brings clarity and peace to the mind. At many dance classes, Yoga and Dance come together complementing each other bringing Eastern spirituality and movement to the west.


Benefits of Yoga for Dancers:

* Balance
* Clarity of the Mind
* Confidence
* Flexibility
* Improved Circulation
* Improved Hip Mobility/Flexibility
* Improved Lung Capacity
* Posture Improvement
* Purification of the Body
* Stamina
* Strength/Muscle Toning
* Stress Relief

For photos of dancers visit the following page:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4893&id=100001016832315

DISCOVER YOGA

Give yoga a try and discover what it can do for body and mind.

A central premise in yoga is "everything is connected." That's clear when looking at the health and fitness benefits of yoga that have long been reported by practitioners and are now being confirmed by scientific research.

1. STRESS RELIEF. Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body. By encouraging relaxation, yoga helps to lower the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Related benefits include lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system as well as easing symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma and insomnia.

2. PAIN RELIEF. Yoga can ease pain. Studies have demonstrated that practicing yoga asanas (postures), meditation or a combination of the two, reduced pain for people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, auto-immune diseases and hypertension as well as arthritis, back and neck pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, eczema, irritable bowel syndrome and other chronic conditions. Some practitioners report that even emotional pain can be eased through the practice of yoga.

3. BETTER BREATHING. Yoga teaches people to take slower, deeper breaths. This helps to improve lung function, trigger the body's relaxation response and increase the amount of oxygen available to the body.

4. FLEXIBILITY. Yoga helps to improve flexibility and mobility, increasing range of movement and reducing aches and pains. Many people can't touch their toes during their first yoga class. Practitioners begin to use the correct muscles to make the movement and, over time, the ligaments, tendons and muscles gradually lengthen and elasticity is increased. These gradual changes can mean that more and more poses are possible.

5. INCREASED STRENGTH. Yoga asanas (postures) use every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength literally from head to toe. And, while the postures practiced in yoga strengthen the body, they also provide an additional benefit of helping to relieve muscular tension.

6. WEIGHT MANAGEMENT. Yoga (even less vigorous styles) can aid weight control efforts by reducing the cortisol levels as well as by burning excess calories and reducing stress. Yoga also encourages healthy eating habits and provides a heightened sense of well being and self esteem.

7. IMPROVED CIRCULATION. Yoga helps to improve circulation and, as a result of various poses, more efficiently moves oxygenated blood to the body's cells.

8. CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITIONING. Even gentle yoga practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.

9. BETTER BODY ALIGNMENT. Yoga helps to improve body alignment, resulting in better posture and helping to relieve back, neck, joint and muscle problems.

10. FOCUS ON THE PRESENT. Yoga helps us to focus on the present, to become more aware and to help create mind body health. It opens the way to improved coordination, reaction time and memory.

For photos of people practicing yoga visit the following page:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4664&id=100001016832315