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Rules for Yoga Instructors Who Teach Corporate Classes

Monday, March 4th, 2013

500 hour yoga teacher training programBy Faye Martins

Should Yoga change to meet the needs of the corporate world? While not all Yoga schools are alike, people usually come to traditional classes with similar expectations. As the practice extends to health centers, schools, and businesses, however, the idea of Yoga as a physical exercise is becoming the norm for many people. Corporate classes provide a new arena for Yoga instructors, but they sometimes leave them struggling to figure out what is expected of them.

Yoga Instructors in the Workplace

Corporate Yoga instructors often develop their own niche, preferably one that capitalizes on their skills and passion. Students range from athletic types expecting physical exercise to beginners who have never tried Yoga. Others may also be dealing with chronic illnesses or recovering from recent injuries. Instructors need to show up with a plan to fit the company’s attitude and goals, as well as the students’ needs.

• The Classroom

Some companies have recreational areas, but many use empty meeting rooms or cafeterias for classes. Students may bring their own mats and props, but the instructor may also need to supply some or all of them. If furniture needs to be rearranged or moved, arrangements need to be made beforehand so the space is ready when students arrive. Students also need to dress in layers to accommodate building temperature. When possible, options to fluorescent lights are preferable.

• The Rules

Company policies and attitudes toward Yoga vary from one corporation to the next. Discussing issues like insurance, waivers, and etiquette prior to preparing for a new class clarifies everyone’s goals and attitudes. Establishing guidelines and giving written copies to students before or during the first class helps to avoid confusion and awkward situations down the road. When possible, welcoming students individually or contacting them by email is a good idea.

• What to Teach

Is the company open to meditation and breathing exercises, or do they only want an exercise class? Having props and teaching students how to adapt poses makes the class more comfortable for everybody, regardless of condition or experience. A detailed description of universal poses presented in a consistent sequence helps students to relax and stay in the present moment. Exercises should also be tailored to help students deal with work-related issues.

• Public Relations

Yoga training sessions create healthier, happier employees. Reducing stress and stretching tense muscles relieves anxiety, builds morale, and increases productivity. Yoga also helps employees deal with chronic illnesses, reduces absenteeism, and creates a feeling of goodwill within the corporation. When dealing with large corporations, having a website and professional brochure lends to an instructor’s credibility, and periodic feedback keeps everybody up-to-date.

Corporate Yoga offers instructors an opportunity to build their reputations within the community. For teachers who design workshops or provide hard-to-find services, it can also be a lucrative endeavor.

Communication and willingness to adapt are the tools to success in this area of Yoga.

© Copyright 2013 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

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Teaching Yoga Students About Relaxation

Tuesday, January 1st, 2013

yoga instructor certificationBy Kimaya Singh

What is the greatest gift a yoga teacher can present to her students? As you learned when you decided to become a yoga instructor: Each student is different, but all of them need to learn when, how, and why to relax. Some students don’t want to relax initially. They might be so wired up that it feels unnatural to chill out. Relaxation or meditation is an integral part of all yoga practices. Usually, deep relaxation is done at the beginning or end of the session. This allows us to journey to a place of focus, or reflect upon what we’ve accomplished and get back to ourselves and to our center of being. However, many find benefit in practicing stage-by-stage, body scanning, deep pranayama relaxation, or nidra on its own.

There are many positions you can take to execute yoga nidra. The most common position is Savasana (copse pose), which is simply lying on your back with your arms at your side, palms up. Others desire the use of a pillow under the head, rolled blankets for comfort, or even a sitting position. The bottom line is you want to be relaxed and comfortable in whatever position suits you best. At that point, you will take turns tightening and relaxing different parts of your body while deep breathing. Tighten in the inhale, and relax on the exhale. All focus should be on the particular body part whilst working it.

You may choose to work from the head down, which includes gently stretching the face, neck, shoulders, arms, and hands. Continue with opening the chest, flexing the abdomen, and moving down through the hips, legs, and toes all the while continuing your breathing. You may implement any other elements you wish including candlelight and soft music; whatever it takes to create a sense of peacefulness. Once in a completely calm state, you can send your mind messages. It can be whatever you like to strengthen your mental state of being in order to improve upon your psyche. For example, you could say “I am a strong person, who can accomplish whatever I like.” It is amazing what our minds and bodies are capable of achieving.

The benefits of yoga training are unlimited. Too often as busy individuals, we forget to take time out for ourselves. This takes us to a state of calm, relaxed focus on our own state of being. It can help with depression, stress, insomnia, headaches and addiction among other ailments. It is so important to cleanse or minds and bodies of the negative energies that we may have brought on ourselves, or received from an outside source. Many people will allow them to fester within, and grow. A few worthwhile minutes can erase them and keep us in a state of well-being.

© Copyright 2012 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

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Yoga Changed My Life

Sunday, October 14th, 2012

yoga teacher trainingBy Rachel Holmes

Throughout my years of experience after my first yoga teacher training intensive, I have participated in various trends, practiced in hundreds of classes, and interacted with thousands of practitioners. If there is one consistent refrain that I have heard over this time from students of all walks of life, it is this: “I practice yoga because it has changed my life.”

Mark

Mark was a fellow student with me when I was just beginning my practice as a student. He was tall, lanky and a college basketball player. I met him when he came home for the summer after his second year studying at university.

I was a little mystified by this huge athlete practicing yoga until he explained one day after our session, “College sports is a high-pressure environment, and I wasn’t successful because I was too wound up.” He went on to detail how practicing yogic techniques regularly helped him stay in the low-anxiety mindset that he needed to deal with pressure. “When my coach suggested yoga, I was a little skeptical, but it really has changed my life.”

Eleanor

Eleanor was a good friend of my mom’s. She had just been diagnosed with cancer when my mom talked her into taking one of the beginner classes I taught. Despite the physical and emotional implications of her illness, Eleanor managed to practice asana, pranayama and meditation three times a week as she underwent treatment. 

Over the six months of treatments, Eleanor’s physical appearance changed drastically. Although her body weakened, however, Eleanor gradually began to demonstrate an emotional and mental strength I hadn’t seen before. She began to talk of her cancer favorably, sharing her insights and thirst for life with me and my students. I will never forget the last thing she told me, the week before she died, “Even though I started practicing yoga during the worst time of my life, it has changed me for the better. I have only ever accessed this deep peace I feel with my life and illness through yoga. I never would have made it this far without it.”

Christy

Christy had been in a car wreck fifteen years before she began attending my class as an intermediate yoga student. Christy dealt with severe pain daily, a result of her accident, and had struggled with depression ever since. With her marriage and career in shambles, Christy began practicing yogic techniques five years before we met.

After Christy’s first week of classes with me, her husband came in to pick her up. She introduced us, and her husband turned to me when Christy went to pick up her things, “I’m glad she found another class that challenges her. Ever since Christy started practicing yogic exercises, she’s been a different person. It’s changed my life! I hope she never stops!”

These stories remind me why I love being a yoga teacher. Sometimes teachers and students forget to be intentional with our practice. It can be easy to just go through the motions, but when I feel lackluster or undisciplined about yoga training, I remind myself why I do it. After all, yoga has changed my life, too.

© Copyright 2012 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see our selection of Yoga teacher training and continuing education courses, please visit the following link.

http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/store/

Free report, newsletter, videos, podcasts, and e-Book: “Yoga in Practice.”

If you are a Yoga Teacher, studio owner, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste!

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When Yoga Students Need Private Lessons

Tuesday, October 9th, 2012

yoga teacher trainingBy Gopi Rao

When an intern is going through yoga teacher training, he or she might envision classes full of students. Long before yogic methodology became so popular; yoga training sessions were often private, semi-private or consisted of small groups.

Yoga is a broad term used to refer to anything from a spiritual practice in an isolated ashram to a therapeutic class for cancer survivors. This means the practice has something to offer everybody, but how does one find the right fit? In traditional Indian culture, students looked for teachers to teach them specific programs based on their individual needs.

Taking up Yogic practices as a lifestyle is far different from practicing asanas in a studio once or twice a week, and private classes can be geared to either. Not only do people have different goals, but they also have different degrees of health and motivation. Age is also a factor. Students often go to studios and leave thinking they don’t like Yoga because their experiences didn’t meet their expectations.

What many people fail to realize is that all styles of Yoga are based on someone’s attraction, interpretation and presentation of the ancient practice, and Yogic philosophy is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. No teacher is right for everybody, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a well-suited teacher for every person.

Because studios can be intimidating and competitive, many people are more comfortable choosing private instructors. While both options offer benefits, there are many reasons why one-to-one instruction may be a good idea, especially for beginners.

Six Reasons to Why Students Take Private Lessons

• To learn more about the different styles

• To practice in a relaxed, non-competitive environment

• To explore personal emotional, physical, or spiritual issues

• To delve more deeply into meditation or pranayama practices

• To get immediate feedback and encouragement

• To develop a personal routine for home practice

Although classes known as hot, power, gentle or restorative Yoga are becoming increasingly more popular, large groups limit the amount of attention instructors can provide to any one student. Even when they face the same challenges, such as breast cancer or arthritis, varying ages and physical conditions mean that not all of them can do the same exercises.

Private instruction allows instructors and students to figure out the best poses and the most effective ways of doing them. This not only maximizes benefits and reduces the risk of injuries, but it means students are more likely to reap the rewards of the mind, body and spirit connection for which Yoga science is intended.

© Copyright 2012 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see our selection of Yoga teacher training and continuing education courses for specialized Yoga certification, please visit the following link.

http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/store/

Free report, newsletter, videos, podcasts, and e-Book: “Yoga in Practice.”

If you are a Yoga Teacher, studio owner, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste!

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Teaching Private Yoga Sessions for Back Pain

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

yoga teacher trainingBy Kimaya Singh

Instructors need continuing education resources for every ailment. In this way, your are able to expand on what your learned in your foundational yoga teacher training. Luckily, this blog has many articles on a variety of subjects.  Therefore, if you need to learn more, please use the green search box in the upper right hand corner.  All you have to do is enter your keywords and submit.

If you’ve ever experienced any type of back pain, you know that it can dominate all aspects of your life. Constant pain becomes a daily issue that can’t be easily forgotten. It can cause negative feelings to seep into your being which eventually transfer to your interactions with others. You might have less patience with your kids, show less enthusiasm at work or treat friends and family with less kindness. Back pain sufferers typically turn to medical doctors to prescribe medication to ease the pain. Those not interested in medication might turn to a chiropractor or specific stretches to find relief.

Many asanas are successful at relieving and even preventing back pain. Those who have never tried yoga before might be a bit wary of a whole-class setting. A private yoga session gives people the privacy and direct instruction they desire. Even a student who is experienced can benefit from the specialized nature of private yoga sessions. The Yoga instructor should meet the needs of the client to the best of his or her ability by learning as much as possible about the client’s specific areas of pain, the cause of the pain and other medical history.

Focus on the Entire Body

We know that when pain is apparent in the back area the cause can often be due to tightness or strain in other areas of the body. Sometimes tight hamstrings, the neck or shoulders are to blame. Yoga teachers should explain this important concept to the client as they provide them a variety of stretches that focus not only on the back specifically but also on the limbs and core.

Strengthen the Core

Many back problems are also due to weak core muscles. When a person works on strengthening the core muscles, those muscles can then take some of the strain off of the overworked back muscles. Private yoga instructors should provide several core-building poses for the client to work on every day.

Give Easy Assignments

Yoga teachers will most likely meet with their clients once or twice a week. This is certainly not adequate for someone suffering from back discomfort every day. Instructors should leave their clients with a few easy poses to do every day, perhaps twice a day or when the pain strikes. This will give the client important tools to use to relieve the pain. Once they begin to see results, they will most likely become more excited and motivated during the rest of the yoga training sessions.

© Copyright 2012 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see our selection of Yoga teacher training and continuing education courses, please visit the following link.

http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/store/

Free report, newsletter, videos, podcasts, and e-Book: “Yoga in Practice.”

If you are a Yoga Teacher, studio owner, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste!

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Yoga Teacher Training: World Peace

Wednesday, September 12th, 2012

yoga certificationBy Faye Martins

One aspect that should be covered in every yoga teacher training is yogic philosophy. We all want world peace, but we argue about how to get it. Whether the issue is violence of war, social injustice or the frustration of daily life, we think things will be different if people simply do things our way. Debates rage over politics, religion, and even peace. Yet, we seldom take time to stop and listen to what people we disagree with are saying.

Yoga provides a way for us to find contentment in the midst of chaos and let go of the things we can’t control. More than just a physical exercise or mental relaxation, the practice has eight limbs that form a foundation for holistic living:

Yama or Universal Morality – compassion, truth, self-control, service

Niyama or Personal Observances – purity, discipline, self-study, contemplation

Asanas or Poses – physical exercises that ground the body and prepare it for meditation

Pranayama or Controlled Breathing – control of vital life energy, or prana, within the body

Pratyahara or Control of the Senses – withdrawal from external stimuli

Dharana or Concentration – focus on cultivating inner awareness

Dhyana or Devotion – contemplation of the Divine

Samadhi or Union with the Divine – pure awareness; bliss

The practice of Yoga leads to union of the mind, body and spirit. When we feel peaceful inside, we release the need for control that creates conflict in our personal lives, thus creating better relationships and greater satisfaction with what we have. The happier we are as individuals, the more tranquil the world around us becomes.

Yoga teaches us to be compassionate, to listen to others, to see their beauty – even when we disagree or fear their actions. By holding fast to our own values and honoring those who have different views, we learn to co-exist with others through peace and tolerance.

The Dalai Lama, one of this century’s most prominent advocates for peace, put it this way, “People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.” One of the many good things about Yoga training is that it provides a map. If we follow the signs, we travel the road to peace.

Tips for Yoga Instructors

As yoga teachers, we can offer the public a sanctuary from antagonism. We may not be political leaders, but we can promote peaceful thoughts. World peace requires a chain reaction. As Paul Jerard often says: “The only way to start peaceful resolution in others is to take the action of projecting true loving kindness from within.” It all starts from within and we have to make it contagious, for the good of everyone.

© Copyright 2012 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see our selection of Yoga teacher training courses, please visit the following link.

http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/store/

Free Report, Newsletter, Videos, Podcasts, and e-Book, “Yoga in Practice.”

If you are a Yoga Teacher, studio manager, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste!

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Yoga Teacher Training: Occupational Therapy

Saturday, September 1st, 2012

yoga teacherBy Bhavan Kumar

In general, people who have medical backgrounds often do well with yoga instructor training courses. Occupational therapists help people of all ages develop the skills they need to be successful in their daily lives and occupations. Whether it involves children with disabilities, people with traumatic injuries, or stroke victims, occupational therapy restores patients’ ability to perform tasks more efficiently and with less pain. Integrative therapy is becoming more popular, and many therapists are incorporating Yoga into their practices.

An ancient healing art connecting the mind, body, and spirit, Yoga has been practiced in the Eastern world for thousands of years. It first entered mainstream America in the 1960s and is now making headway into our ailing healthcare system. Teaching patients how to breathe, relax, and exercise safely is crucial to their recovery, and Yoga is the perfect complement to traditional care.

Why do occupational therapists need Yoga teacher training?

• To establish the relationship between Yogic techniques and anatomical knowledge

• To help patients find new ways of understanding and working with their limitations

• To learn how to use props and adapt postures to meet each clients’ individual needs

• To maximize recovery options by providing tools patients can use at home

How do clients benefit from Yoga?

• Learn to live healthier lifestyles

• Improve mental health; reduce depression and anxiety

• Age more gracefully

• Gain a sense of control over disabilities

• Participate more fully in rehabilitation

• Reduce the risk of health problems and complications

• Increase social skills and interaction with others

• Gain self-esteem and reduce feelings of helplessness

• Become more aware of the relationship between their bodies and their emotions

What techniques do therapists use?

• Poses that tone muscles, improve circulation, release blocked energy, calm the mind, increase flexibility, increase stamina and promote general well-being

• Breathing techniques to increase communication between the conscious and unconscious mind, decrease shallow breathing that restricts the intake of oxygen and stimulate the lymphatic system

• Meditation practices to calm the mind, raise the level of feel-good hormones and lessen the “fight or flight” response that results from stress

Teaching Yoga in a therapeutic setting requires a thorough knowledge of physiology and anatomy, and no one is more qualified than an occupational therapist. Clients also benefit from therapists’ comprehensive training and awareness of individual needs and limitations, making Yoga and occupational therapy a good match for professionals and clients.

© Copyright 2012 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see our selection of Yoga teacher training courses, please visit the following link.

http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/store/

Free Report, Newsletter, Videos, Podcasts, and e-Book, “Yoga in Practice.”

If you are a Yoga Teacher, studio manager, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste!

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Yoga Teacher Training: Neuroscience

Friday, August 24th, 2012

yoga instructorBy Faye Martins

When considering methodology in most Yoga certification courses, mental and emotional health takes a back seat to the physical body. In many ways, it is a shame that the value of sanity means nothing, unless it is lost.

Modern science is just beginning to prove what Yogis knew thousands of years ago: Yoga changes the brain. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, ongoing studies are researching the effects of meditation, deep breathing and Kriya Yoga on veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Phase I of the study was completed in 2010, and the second phase is now underway.

Symptoms of PTSD include hyper-vigilance, flashbacks, anger, depression and emotional numbness. Only half of the veterans who receive traditional treatments are cured, and many are unaware of the havoc of PTSD on their lives and relationships. Researchers estimate that at least 20 percent of the two million veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq suffer from PTSD, and suicide rate among these veterans have reached epidemic proportions.

Anecdotal evidence suggests the interventions are working, but scientific data is also being gathered from brain scans, allowing scientists to see how various areas of the brain react to negative memories and anxiety. The research is not limited to the United States, either. The Russian army has also researched the use of Yoga training.

The ability to monitor the effects of different thoughts and behaviors on the brain has only been available in the last decade. In the late 1990s, researchers in Pennsylvania reported that brain scans of experienced meditation practitioners showed increased action in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is responsible for attention. Meanwhile, the superior parietal lobe, the area involving orientation to time and space, went dark.

Criticized by mainstream scientists, the findings were controversial, but the tide seems to be turning as more evidence and more sophisticated equipment become available. In a show of support, the National Institutes of Health helped to set up science research centers at Emory University, Stanford University, and the University of Wisconsin, also home to the world’s first door-to-door meditation room and brain imaging lab.

Until the end of the 20th century, scientists thought neural pathways were determined early in life. Now we know the brain has the capacity to rewire itself throughout life, compensating for trauma or negative thought patterns. Researchers now say that neurons that “fire together wire together.”

Through the use of Yogic breathing techniques (pranayama), meditation and asanas, we can retrain the brain’s circuits. As new research emerges in the field of neuroscience, Yoga instructors need to stay current as more evidence is likely to document the medicinal relationship between Yoga and the brain.

© Copyright 2012 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see our complete selection of Yoga teacher training courses, please visit the following link.

http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/store/

Free Report, Newsletter, Videos, Podcasts, and e-Book, “Yoga in Practice.”

If you are a Yoga Teacher, studio manager, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste!

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Posted in Yoga for Emotional Health, Yoga for Mental Health, Yoga Teacher Issues, Yoga Teacher Training | 3 Comments »

Yoga Teacher Training: Panic Attacks

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

yoga trainingBy Faye Martins

Jen has successfully completed her Yoga instructor training and has decided to teach sessions in a loft attached to her home. She and her husband launch her web site and begin to receive inquiries from the local community. Most of her prospective students are seeking Yoga for relief from chronic stress.

In every society since the beginning of time, there has been anxiety. Whether concerns about health care and job security today outweigh worries about finding food supplies and fending off wild animals in the past remains uncertain. Yoga teachers often say it depends on our own attitudes and perspectives.  Among Yoga instructors there is a common belief, that we create our own realities. “Good” stress spurs us into action. “Bad” stress revs up our nervous system and leads to mental and physical illnesses.

While it is normal to feel anxiety before a test, or maybe even before an airline flight, the situation gets out of hand when it prevents us from accomplishing what we want to do. Once we experience one panic attack, we are more prone to future episodes. Some people find the fear of chronic stress is immobilizing, a condition that can lead to agoraphobia, or a fear of leaving the safety of home.

What characterizes a panic attack?

• Rapid onset of overwhelming anxiety

• Shortness of breath or feelings of choking

• Heart palpitations, rapid heart rate or chest pain

• Trembling or sweating

• Nausea or dizziness

• Fear, especially of dying or a feeling like one is having a heart attack

Can Yoga prevent chronic stress?

• People who have panic attacks walk on eggshells. Episodes escalate quickly and unexpectedly. Yoga training puts us in touch with early sensations that may otherwise go unnoticed.

• When we experience negative feelings, we tense our bodies. On the other hand, our breathing grows fast and shallow when our muscles are tight and rigid. Controlled breathing techniques (pranayama) prevent the spiral from escalating, regardless of the cause.

• To soothe our nervous systems, we need to sense warning signals in their early stages. Yogic awareness techniques teach us to interpret the communication between our bodies and our brains.

• Meditation quiets the mind and increases awareness of unconscious, negative emotions and memories. It also soothes the neural pathways, increases feelings of well-being and refreshes the body and mind.

• Asanas work in conjunction with breathing and mediation to release pent-up emotions and energetic blockages in our physical bodies and our consciousness. Postures also prepare the body for deep meditation, relax constricted muscles and restore vitality.

While best results come from a regular practice of Yoga, including emphasis on poses, breathing, meditation and life style, there are specific poses that work to calm the mind and body. There is also the option of adding vigorous asanas to a restorative practice to bring back a sense of balance, empowerment, and eliminate old traumas.

Here are some suggestions those who are inspired to become a Yoga teacher.  Although some of us have a vision of what our students should be, we don’t know what their needs will be.  Once you begin teaching Yoga to the public, you’ll get a feel for what your student’s needs are.  This is why a Yoga certification course should enable you to be able to teach the largest audience.

© Copyright 2012 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

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If you are a Yoga Teacher, studio manager, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste!

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Yoga Meditation for Heart Health

Monday, August 20th, 2012

become a yoga teacherBy Faye Martins

The meditation component of a Yoga certification course is often taken for granted.  If you ask most Yoga teacher interns what they consider the most valuable component of Yoga training to be, they will often answer: “asana.”  Restless interns often tend to crave vinyasa flows, while the trainer explains the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of Yogic meditation.  As many as 40 percent of all Americans suffer from sleep deprivation, and up to 80 percent of all doctors’ visits have stress-related components. Yogic sleep, also known as Yoga Nidra, is a powerful form of deep relaxation that provides the restorative qualities of natural sleep within a brief period of time. Although most effectively practiced with asanas and breathing techniques, it can also be beneficial on its own.

Over the past two decades, medical professionals and spiritual teachers have recommended meditation as a means of maintaining physical and mental health. Studies show the practice helps to lower blood pressure and reduce damage caused by the release of stress-related hormones. As a result, people who meditate may suffer from fewer strokes and heart attacks.

The Studies

In clinical studies, transcendental meditation reduced the risk of stroke and heart attack deaths by almost 50 percent in patients who suffered from coronary problems, suggesting that meditation might be as effective as some of the newest heart medications in managing heart disease. It also showed promise in preventing high blood pressure in stressed-out college students.

• Researchers from the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa collaborated with specialists from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee over a five-year period to test the benefits of transcendental meditation in the management of coronary disease. Among 201 participants who were at high risk for strokes and heart attacks, the group who added meditation to their standard treatment had 47 percent fewer heart attacks. Statins, or cholesterol-lowering drugs increase serious events by 30 to 40 percent, and blood pressure medications reduce negative outcomes by 25 to 30 percent.

• Additional research published in the “American Journal of Hypertension” examined healthy college students who were likely to be at risk for hypertension. Completed at American University in Washington, the study randomly assigned 298 students to a waiting list or a meditation group. Students who practiced transcendental meditation showed significant reductions in blood pressure.

While these studies used transcendental meditation, all kinds of meditation, including Yoga Nidra, Yogic meditation, mindfulness, qigong and prayer may have similar benefits. Imagine an inexpensive, noninvasive new way to prevent strokes and heart attacks, one that outperforms the most powerful medications – Yogic meditation.

© Copyright 2012 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see our selection of Yoga teacher training courses, please visit the following link.

http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/store/

Free Report, Newsletter, Videos, Podcasts, and e-Book, “Yoga in Practice.”

If you are a Yoga Teacher, studio manager, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste!

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