Yoga Teacher Training Forum
Welcome to The Yoga Teacher Training Forum Archive - A Collection of Various Yoga Topics
The Forum is Now Closed and Will Remain as an Information Archive.
For New Updates and Conversations, We Now Have a Public Facebook Group Located Here
Please consider registering
Guest
Home
April 27, 2015
Offline
Yoga is an incredible and fulfilling experience. It is the one thing in life that deeply enriches you and offers so many benefits. After I do Yoga I feel on top of the world and able to withstand anything that comes my way. Also, it enhances my fitness efforts and makes it seem necessary to do less crunches, curls, etc.
April 27, 2015
Offline
" title="Laughing" />
Initially I though that Yoga could be a dull experience. After I have seen some people, middle and old age, practicing yoga it inspired me and joined them. It is an amazing different experience. All my thinking and attitude become positive. I have become very active and feel weightless and lethargy disappeard. You simply become more younger and act like a child. There is a saying "Yoga will take away years from your face and add years to your life". I feel exactly the same. After seeing the enormous changes, now I am in the process of becoming a certified teacher although, I do inspire people around me, it will help me in a broader outline.
April 27, 2015
Offline
Im always glad to find people who love yoga as much as I do.
I've been practicing yoga since I was very young. I noticed very early that the benefits yoga provided me were making me an inspiration to those around me. People seemed to look up at me, not for anything I did but for my sense of self and spirituality and confidence. That's how I started teaching - because I saw it as a way of helping people to improve themselves to become all that they could be.
April 27, 2015
Offline
My goodness, where do I start?
Since I started practicing yoga I've realized these benefits:
* At 46 yrs old I have a better physique and more stamina then I did in my 20s.
* I was flat-footed and now have arches.
* I haven't been to the chiropractor in years.
* I was developing a swayback and now my spine is perfectly aligned.
* My love life is still great even after 25 yrs together (maybe I should have put that at the top of the list).
* My height has increased over 1 inch.
* I sometimes felt faint when I stood up suddenly and now that never happens.
* I am calmer and more contemplative in my actions, and as a result my emotional maturity has improved.
* I can now sit on the ground or the floor indefinitely.
* Although I don't have a strict yogic diet, I do think about the consequences and benefits of everything I consume.
April 27, 2015
Offline
Hmmmmmmmm..........
Most Yoga teachers are like a fish in water, when it comes to Yoga. Yoga was a calling, but once you start teaching, your students make it so much more rewarding, because of the benefits they feel.
Here are some of the benefits Yoga students roar about:
Asthma relief
Cluster headaches go away
Less Migraines
Relief from Bronchitis and Emphysema
Sometimes Yoga lowers High Blood Pressure
Stress Management
Pain Management
Mental Health Improvement
Weight Control
Diabetes Improvement
Positive Mood Changes
Arthritis Pain Relief
April 27, 2015
Offline
Namaste Everyone,
I love Yoga because of the wonderful people you meet. The news is filled with terrible stories that can cause you to lose faith in your fellow man. But, whenever you visit a Yoga class, workshop, retreat, or Yoga teacher training course, you will meet people with a deep passion for life.
This does not make Yogis perfect. We are working on it, together, all the time. Just look at the threads on this forum. Most of the posts are from the heart and the people who write them have a deep respect for each other's feelings.
Practicing Yoga restores my faith in humanity. Whenever I start to doubt anything, all I have to do is attend a Yoga class or practice alone. A Yoga teacher's best gift is to touch the heart of another, just by teaching a class.
Merry Christmas and Happy Yoga for 2008!
April 27, 2015
Offline
Namaskar Eartheart,
You have summed it up very well. Yoga ds bring out the best in people and should be spread worldwide. We need to stop intolerance, prejudice, discrimination, and social injustice.
We need someone to inspire humanity as Gandhi-ji did. People will always be different, but we need to accept the right of each other to worship differently and the right to be culturally different. Killing each other is wrong and God asks us not not to do it.
If more people practiced Yoga, the world would be a more peaceful place to live. Despite all of the problems around the world, there is also much hope, as people learn to respect each other, and this beautiful planet we live on.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Happy Eid al-Adha, as well.
Om Shanti,
Hamed
April 27, 2015
Offline
Namaskar,
Students of any age or fitness level can practice yoga. The reason yoga is so rewarding is that it allows a person to let go of physical, emotional, and mental tension. The improvement in the lives of our students is always for the best. Yoga and Ayurveda are two of the most complete health systems. Yoga takes a holistic approach to health and to each student.
Yoga is a gift to people who have injuries, who may be pregnant, who are advancing in age. The concept of being present, relaxing, and breathing, involves a gradual evolution in our thought process. Many students believe they are too physically tight to begin practicing yoga. These students will benefit the most from yoga practice.
Yoga is good for skeletal health. Yoga addresses a student as an entire system with many individuual parts, which work together in complete harmony.
Passively practicing pranayama, to relax into an asana, is a valuable concept to teach. Yoga generates energy and helps improve the immune system. Teaching acceptance of self, and others, without judgment of physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental condition, is part of our yoga practice.
Peace
April 27, 2015
Offline
Some people love Yoga because it increases the space in your spine, which also increases height!
So you ask: "Can Yoga Increase Height?"
Yoga can do many incredible things for your body, mind and soul. More importantly, practicing yoga greatly improves posture, so much so, that it appears you have grown taller. Of course, no amount of any exercise can actually grow you a few inches because skeletal height is genetically pre-determined. However, the right lifestyle can encourage a more statuesque appearance, and that is where yoga plays a key role.
Yoga does a lot of good because it focuses on total body alignment, and when that's on cue, energy flows through the body in the proper manner. Breathing improves, internal organs sit correctly within the body's framework and muscles and joints work together in a harmonious connection.
Every yoga position or asana has been designed that way for a reason. Each physical pose, each movement, strengthens the core promoting stability and allowing the student to feel comfortable in his/her body. Certain poses can fortify the flexibility of the spine, back and discs, balance the shoulders to roll back and therefore allow you to stand taller and move that way.
* The Seated Spinal Twist Pose is excellent for stretching the muscles of the lower back.
* The Reverse Prayer Pose massages the shoulder joints, targeting flexibility in the upper back.
* The Upward Dog zeroes in on the shoulder, chest and arm muscles, firming and improving posture.
* The Inclined Plane Pose builds strength from the shoulders all the way down to the ankle joints, stretching key areas.
As long as the yoga patient is breathing properly while performing these asanas, full benefits can be achieved. A tense, slumping body affects posture in a bad way, diminishing a person's height. Breathing properly and breathing consciously are very important aspects of practicing yoga as the student assumes each asana.
Yoga cannot promise that you will gain a couple of inches in height, but it will guarantee a healthier and more flexible spine and physique. You will actually appear taller because the body has achieved a strong core and balance.
One need only to look at TV star Alec Baldwin's beautiful new bride Hilara Thomas. She is a great example of a posture-perfect woman. Although she has a petite frame, Hilaria, a yoga instructor, appears to be a lot taller than she really is because of the amazing and elegant way she carries herself. That goes to show that yoga brings out the best in every person.
April 27, 2015
Offline
To become a yoga teacher is the best thing that ever happened to me. Yoga is loved by the entire world and has increased in popularity because there is nothing like it and no other exercise can be compared to it for the benefits derived are immense and rewarding like nothing experienced harnessing mental energy, Peace of mind, harmony, tranquility, self realization, finding one's self this world is evolving at a fast pace and expectations are high. Yoga brings us back to the source that everything in the Universe evolves as one and when one has found Yoga, this practice is so ancient yet so new and refreshing one feels immensely satisfied after a session you can almost the touch the energy, looking inwards and finding the truth inside brings us to being positive healthy and radiant, the most radical thing that happens is what starts in the internal world manifests to the outer world. Yoga is a system welcomed and much appreciated and a wholesome and complete way of living naturally and loving, respecting, and reaching out for peace all around us and sending harmony to the planet, it is so different and addresses mind body and spirit that is why it is so popular like no other system it can be compared to.
The absolute goal of all yogic teaching and yoga training is how to concentrate the mind, to find its hidden facets awaken the inner spiritual faculties the spiritual awakening and self realization, man is considered highest in creation and highest in scale of evolution with free will perception and knowledge and to reach the end goal, super consciousness and matter or the seen and the seer searching the truth and finding truth, consciousness and oneness with the supreme being, by which the individual approaches the truth identifying the individual soul to the Source or God, and pure consciousness in man is whole without division, infinite in nature, inactive unchanging the same spirit is found in everything from mineral to man, wisdom attaining knowledge through experience, strength and peace, of finding the truth can be experienced only when one transcends the senses when the mind and intellect cease to function, every individual has to evolve to attain spiritual growth and advance towards the truth, when man realizes the truth his real nature he will discover that he is immortal eternally pure and perfect.
June 28, 2010
Offline
Yoga certification courses teach us that this is much more than a physical exercise stretching regime, it is a blissful journey that is carried with the student off the mat and into the world. On the mat, the student explores the deep connection to the Universe and the yoga practice doesn't stop once the session is over. Off the yoga mat the student naturally exudes more patience, a deeper connection to all living things, and greater acceptance for the things that don't go according to plan. It is this "be in the flow" attitude that increases joy and decreases suffering.
Being in the flow, or going with the flow doesn't mean that one is lazy or fails to take the appropriate actions to reach goals or take action. It simply means that one doesn't obsess or worry about things that are out of their control. This attitude generates immense peace in one's life and keeps an open heart. A yoga student can be sure that they are making leaps and bounds when the heart warming practice of yoga is taken off of the mat and into the world. It is the fusion of these two spaces that truly makes life a blissful yoga experience.
April 27, 2015
Offline
The Body, Mind and Spirit of Yoga
By Hermine Muellerleile
For many years, I have been a yogi from afar. I have studied it, subscribed to yoga magazines, went to classes sporadically and even prescribed it to patients. It has been the past year that has gotten me to really live yoga.
Most people think of yoga as a form of exercise. It is that but so much more. Yoga is a way of life. The exact origination is unclear but the earliest evidence points to the East, around 3000 BC, in India. At first, it appears that yoga was a more outwardly focused mental and spiritual practice which looked outside the self and at understanding the world. It later changed to more of a focus on the self and self enlightenment through the transcendence of the ego. Later, the postures and stances that we have come to identify as 'yoga' were added as a vital part of a practice. Today, it is most commonly found that a yoga practice encompasses three components:
-breathing
-meditation
-postures
I like to draw the analogy between these three components and the three distinct parts of us: body, mind and spirit.
- Body- of course, this would be the postures. Like the body, or vehicle through which we are experiencing life, the postures are the only way a lot of people experience yoga. Although life changing for most, this is a very limited experience. It would be like training for a marathon without doing much stretching. Having trained for a marathon like this in the past, I found the experience was wonderful but again, very limited. I see us as spiritual beings having a physical experience but to only experience the physical part of something like yoga so limits us and the experience.
- Mind- I would analogize this part to the breathing part of yoga. Most people I have spoken with experience an ongoing mental dialogue, most of the time. Although necessary at times, it can often be confusing and limiting. When focused on optimal breathing- expand belly on inhalation, press belly button toward back on exhalation while inhaling to a count of 4 and exhaling to a count of 4- it is difficult to do much of anything else (especially think) at the same time. Try it. You may not be able to do it at first but you will be able to - with practice. AND You can always return to it to quiet your mind, if you find yourself all stressed out.
- Spirit- this I would link with the mediation component of yoga. People have many excuses for not attempting to meditate - it is too hard, takes up too much time, it is too religious or we just don't know how to do it. Meditation, to me, is a focused awareness of nothing. This state can only be reached with a quiet mind- which the breathing helps us to attain. I like small, practical, attainable steps as measures of progress. Try focusing on nothing for 2 minutes a day, around the same time every day. If you can do it consistently for 5 days, add 1 minute. Keep adding 1 minute for every consistent 5 days and you will be meditating for 20 minutes before you know it!
Two wonderful things about yoga are that your yoga practice is perfect wherever it is today and the process is often more important than the final goal because that is where you are today. With the ultimate goal of a yoga practice to become aware of nothing we, in the 21st century, have quite a job ahead of us if we decide to seriously practice and live a yogic life.
April 27, 2015
Offline
The Origin Of Yoga
By Jack Wogan
Yoga is very popular nowadays, but its history dates back centuries ago. Its name in Sanskrit, Yuj means to unite or to join. It has its origins in India and it refers to a discipline that implies both the physical and psychical aspects. This means that yoga practices are used to create a comfortable state of mind but also a physical well being. However the etymology of the word is not a clear one, but some specialists consider it derives from yujir samadhau, construction that means absorption or contemplation.
Yoga has always been associated with Hinduism, Jainism or even Buddhism. The main thing they have in common is the meditative aspect. However in each of the three religions it has different significance. For example the Jainism meditative practice gives yoga a primordial place, as it is believed that it can reunite the physical, mental and verbal activities. Hinduism also gives this meditative practice an important role, but it is believed that yoga is just one of the six astika schools specific to Hindu beliefs.
In its original form yoga was different in some aspects than what it is now. If nowadays people see in yoga a way of relaxing or of staying fit, in the past it was much more than that. Yoga is more than a set of practices, positions and techniques. Centuries ago it involved a holistic approach. This means it was a way of life, of thinking, acting and expressing oneself. Adepts were even taught how to eat, what to eat, how to interact and other apparently minor things, like how to bathe.
Because yoga dates so many centuries ago, the literature mentioned its practices and techniques more than once. At the Indus Valley Civilization in Pakistan there is proof of the fact that meditation positions present in yoga practices were known hundreds of years BCE. Some seals showed pictures of people practicing what resembled a great deal yoga poses. However the first texts that described its specific techniques were the Buddhist ones.
Not only Buddhism has references to yoga, but many other religions that have proved their supremacy throughout the history. This is why there is a variety of meditation techniques. Some are more energetic, that can help the modern man stay fit and even lose weight, while others concentrate more on the mental issues than on the body relaxation. Yoga has always been appreciated by people for its holistic approach and still is nowadays. People practice this type of meditation when they feel they need a breakout from the quotidian stress. This is why they often take yoga holidays at least once a year.
The truth is that yoga holidays are the best ways of unwinding after a hard year of work.
April 27, 2015
Offline
Perhaps to many of us when hearing the word "yoga" it comes into our mind the childhood fantasies about supernatural powers. But Yoga is in fact an educational program of human evolution. The word "yoga" in Sanskrit means "union". We can deduce from this that the evolution of the body, mind and spirit forms overall what we call "human".
All the great masters believe that spiritual well-being must be preceded by physical and mental health. If you are wondering what mind and spirit mean, know that there is no defined idea. This presumes that each of us is as free as responsible to ask, guess, feel and think, thus forming their own opinion about what spiritual means.
The practice of yoga aims both physical and psychic, of which it is said to be two inseparable parts of a whole that intertwined in unexpected ways. Yoga training includes different postures (asana, mudra, bandha), breathing techniques (pranayama) and concentration to get better control over the physical and psychic. Of course, yoga can be used as complementary exercise in many sports like bodybuilding or fitness exercises. In martial arts training yoga techniques are used for mobility. It`s easy to add yoga to your exercise routine.
As many people are concerned with work and family, the amount of stress increases day by day. This is why people need to keep themselves healthy both physical and psychic. The best choice nowadays it seems to be yoga. The number of people, who choose yoga as a way to get in touch with their spirit and at the same time keep themselves active, has increased significantly.
All of us lead a busy and stressful life and the best way to reach an overall wellness of mind and body is healing and nourish our mind. These two aspects correlated with the desire of taking a break from our busy routine are found together in a vacation at a yoga retreat.
You can access the internet and find that yoga retreat is possible all over the globe. It
t matter if you haven`t had that much experience with yoga because yoga retreats offer beginners classes for everyone. Yoga surely changes our lives to better.
Most Users Ever Online: 340
Currently Online:
21 Guest(s)
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Top Posters:
Priyah: 156
laparadis: 146
Yoga Paul: 138
ashmin: 98
Parell: 82
Gator: 77
diedwardo7: 77
Traci: 73
Yogi: 70
Don Briskin: 69
Newest Members:
Larisabrownb
davidwisner91
counniesimonton
nancywile01
Micheleegarvey
suraj9393
miaphillip
brendasanntouchet
vaxovadrugs.sales12345
yogateachertraining
Forum Stats:
Groups: 1
Forums: 24
Topics: 2814
Posts: 4301
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 43
Members: 1997
Moderators: 1
Admins: 3
Administrators: Meredith, Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, Paul
Moderators: techsupport