How to Teach Yoga in the Corporate Marketplace, Part 1
By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500
Many instructors, and Yoga teacher training graduates, are seeking methods for reaching into the corporate sector. After all, the corporate sector is almost as alluring as a government contract. Yet, there is a mystery surrounding how Yoga teachers should enter the corporate world. Below are some of the most effective ways to establish a strong business as a corporate Yoga teacher.
Yogic methodology offers many health solutions to the masses, but for the corporate world, teachers offer viable solutions for accident prevention, injury prevention, employee job performance, and cutting down on “sick time.” Some “forward thinking” companies have corporate fitness centers, group fitness classes, and Yoga classes.
However, Yoga teachers still have to explain what exactly they teach. For any teacher, this is a great chance to redefine the purpose of Yogic practices. This is an opportunity for Yoga instructors to explain how learning Yogic exercises will fulfill the needs of responsible companies. By taking preventative action, for their own employee’s sake, these companies will save money in worker’s compensation claims and improve their overall production.
It is unfortunate that greed and fear are the prime motivators involved in buying most products and services. Another prime motivator is the actual need for your product or service. As Yoga teachers, we offer the service of education for the purpose of prevention and complete health maintenance.
Corporate Yoga teachers are addressing something more powerful than fear and need – combined. That is the reality, and experience, of paying more, every year, for worker’s compensation claims. Real experience is more powerful than perceived fear. Yoga training programs, for the corporate sector, offer very real solutions.
This is where the strength of a Corporate Yoga program shows. All companies, and especially the larger ones, know the harsh reality of paying for accidents or repetitive motion injuries. Most companies have also experienced a dip in production due to increased absenteeism. So, the “bottom line” is that Yoga training offers many solutions for companies, which want to take action.
What should teachers mention in their brochures, letters, post cards, faxes, Email, and flyers? If you are sending anything electronically, please make sure you have permission. With that said, Yoga training offers businesses solutions such as: Improved physical balance, flexibility, coordination, awareness, self-discipline, goal setting skills, and how to effectively use your body for leverage without causing injury. As a teacher, you could offer a short-term “Yoga workshop for injury prevention,” as an introductory program to “get your foot in the door.”
© Copyright 2006 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
Yoga for Neck Injuries
By Sangeetha Saran
I was a college athlete before I decided to become a yoga instructor, and I grew up playing a variety of sports. The end result was that by the time I finished my last season of college ball, I was struggling with a persistent neck pain that was pretty debilitating. First, I had trouble sleeping and eventually was averaging just four hours of sleep a night. Second, the neck pain created tension in my upper shoulders, and for the first time in my life I started getting tension headaches. Third, I had trouble driving and on especially painful days needed to be picked up and dropped off at work because my limited range-of-motion also limited awareness of vehicles on my periphery.
I started practicing yoga mainly as a way to relax and calm my stressed and anxious mind and body. I was seeing a chiropractor regularly whose concern for my tension headaches led him to recommend yoga, but I didn’t realize that I would fall in love with yoga and that the practice would diminish my neck pain over time.
X-rays of my cervical vertebrae suggested I had scoliosis and a severe case of whiplash, which my doctor thought would continue to get worse despite chiropractic treatment.
After I attended a few classes, I realized that certain yoga poses stretched my neck out and reduced muscle tightness and pain in the cervical area. I started doing those poses all over the house — in the shower, before bed, at my desk in front of the computer. The more I stretched, the looser I became, and the even the chiropractor noted how much easier it was to make adjustments. Eventually, a consistent yoga practice enabled me to eliminate neck pain almost completely.
Yoga for Neck Injuries
Yoga’s focus on good posture and alignment makes it an ideal form of physical therapy for practitioners suffering from neck pain or injuries. One of the primary reasons that neck pain becomes chronic is poor posture, which snowballs into tight neck and chest muscles and overburdened back muscles.
Asanas like downward facing dog stretch the back of the neck and improve blood flow to the brain. Other poses like child’s pose can also stretch the area, while cat pose allows you to lengthen the spine and cervical juncture.
Inverted asanas and twists can also be excellent for neck rehabilitation, but take care to do poses like this correctly. Incorrect techniques during poses like headstand, for example, can lead to pinched nerves or even blood clots that travel into the brain. One way to avoid making an injury worse is to take it slow and stick with poses and stretches you have mastered.
© Copyright 2006 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
Yoga For a Good Night’s Sleep
By Guru Suneel Singh
The amount of sleep the body needs depends on Age. Babies can sleep as much as 15 to 16 hours while children can sleep 10-12 hours. At the other extreme, elderly people rarely enjoy a sound, unbroken sleep of more then 5 to 6 hours.
Modern life bombards us with stimulation Television sets, cell phones, radios, and late night parties are constantly reminding us to stay alert, our early ancestors did not have these impediments to sleep.
They did not have houses with dark shades to avert morning sunlight, nor did they have light bulbs, T.V., Telephone, and E-mail to stimulate them in the evening. Their Biological clocks were constantly being tuned to the systematic dark and light cycle of the earth’s changing seasons.
Insomnia is a disease of the civilized society, during sleep only ten set up muscles and nerves get rest and renovation of the cells takes place.
Sleep Improving Tips
A) Ensure that the Bed is comfortable and environment relaxing.
B) Choose the right bed and pillows. Because you will spend approximately one-third of
C) Your life there.
D) All of your body’s chemicals and hormones gradually learn an established pattern and will trigger to prepare you for sleep if you follow a daily ritual.
E) Be certain to avoid coffee, tea, soda and chocolate in the evening.
F) Resist napping during the day.
G) Drink minimum at least 15 glasses of water each day.
H) Avoid bring light because it can trick our brains in thinking and heightened states of anxiety.
I) Try to avoid heavy eating before bed because your bed needs to your quiet refuge from the storms of daily life.
J) Take 1 tsp. of Ashwagandha powder in the morning with milk. This will regulate the digestive system and will help in combating stress.
K) Divide all the stresses in your life in to two categories, those you can do something about and those that are out of your control. Work on handling the first type and avoid the other whenever possible.
Regular yoga practice is the very beneficial for insomnia patients (1) Vajarsana (2) Halasana (3) Sarvang asana (4) Uthanpad asana (5) Matsaya asana (6) Shitalai pranayama (7) Nadi shodhan pranayama (8) Yonimudra. (9) Shambhavi mudra (10) Om meditation.
Vajrasana (Thunder Bold pose) a meditative pose.
Method: Kneel on the floor. Bring toes to join at back heals apart and big toes pointed towards each other. Lower the buttocks on to the inside surface of the feet with heal touching the side of the hips. Adjust hands on respective thighs, spine erect, hands and neck straight, close the eyes, relax the arms and whole body.
RHYTHM: Normal breathing.
DURATION: 5 to 10 minutes daily. This is the only Asana in yoga, which can be performed directly after meals.
BENEFITS: This Asana stimulates the Vajra Nada, activates, prana in such umna and redirects sexual energy to the brain for spiritual purposes. It increases the efficiency of the entire digestive system, stomach ailments and in is a preventative measure against piles and hernia.
Yoni Mudra
METHOD; Sit in any meditative pose padmasana or sukh asana, close ears, pressing the lobes of ears with the thumbs of both hands, Index finger on eyelashes after closing the eyes. Middle fingers on either side of nose and remaining two fingers on the upper and lower lips. Retain the pose for minimum 10 to 15 minutes breathing normal and keep yourself motionless as far as possible. Mind is to be calm, and hear breathing sound.
BENEFITS; provides complete rest and muscular relaxation. Helps in psychosomatic and disorders, induces better sleep, establishes muscular equilibrium, complete relaxation, enhance strength and re invigorates the whole body. This mudra makes the body and mind more stable in meditation and develops greater concentration, awareness and internal physical relaxation.
Guru Suneel Singh
E-mail: singh22002@yahoo.com
How Yoga Works for Weight Loss
By Janice Elizabeth Small
Yoga is probably not an obvious choice of activity when it comes to weight loss but despite the speed of the movements it is deceptively effective and here’s why.
1. Yoga strengthens and streamlines your muscles
During yoga practise you work your whole body, stretching and toning your muscles, streamlining and firming them. This gives you a lean firm body shape as opposed to the bulkier, short muscles you might get from weight training. With yogic exercise you build strong lean muscle tissue which burn calories even while you are at rest.
2. Yoga calms you and clears your mind
If you are someone who eats due to stress and tension, then yoga will help you reduce comfort eating. The slow stretching movements and deep breathing in every yoga movement calm and relax you. The balance postures in particular necessitate that you clear your mind of all your every day cares and worries and use all your powers of concentration and focus. With regular practise you will find that you become naturally more relaxed and able to cope with everyday problems.
3. Yoga normalises sluggish glands
The toning movements in yoga work not only on the muscles but also on the internal organs of the body stimulating them and normalising their function. Twisting poses, forward and backward bends and inversions are used to stimulate the endocrine system and postures like the shoulder stand and the fish help regulate the mechanism of the thyroid gland in the neck, all of which help boost your metabolism.
4. Yoga gives you energy and increases flexibility
By calming you and gently working on your muscles and increasing the levels of oxygen in your blood and to your brain, you finish a practise (once you are used to the movements) feeling more energetic than when you began. This means that you tend to put more energy and movement into your day rather than sitting around feeling exhausted. And you build flexibility in your muscles and joints so that you enjoy a full range of movement your whole life. Witness the difference between the movements of a young girl and a stiff 80 year old woman. The young girl is bound to move so much more because muscles and joints are less restricted.
5. Yoga uses calories
This is where people believe that yoga is not helpful when it comes to weight loss and it’s true that aerobic exercise may very well burn more calories. However you will still use about 240 calories in an average 1 hour classic hatha class and burn many more (about 400) with some highly physical forms such as astanga yoga. And you can practise yoga every day without over-exercising your muscles which is not the case for many forms of aerobic exercise.
6. Yoga offers psychological benefits
Through yogic exercise you tend to retune into your body and increase your self-acceptance and self-esteem. You build positive body confidence and help quiet any negative messages that may arise in your mind. Yoga teaches us to respect our bodies and this helps us when choosing our food and avoiding junk food and alcohol.
7. Yoga is for everyone
Most people can take up yogic exercise even if they have been inactive for a while although you should always get your doctor’s approval before beginning an exercise program if there is any doubt about your health. While jogging and working out at the gym might seem too much to contemplate you can start wherever you are with a yogic exercise class and make steady progress.
© Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small
Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of “The Diet Exit Plan,” an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss.