Yoga Review – Meditation for Beginners CD: 10th Anniversary Edition
As meditation continues to become ever more popular in the west and across the world, more and more people are beginning to come to terms with the spiritual, physical and health benefits of learning to meditate. As busy people there are also a great many beginners to meditation who want to learn but don’t have time to go out and do classes or find a good teacher who can give them pointers on meditating on their own at home. However, the Meditation for Beginners CD by Jack Kornfield has proven to be one way of filling that gap and has become immensely popular amongst Meditation novices looking to learn meditation at home.
Jack Kornfield has managed to establish himself as a trusted, respectable and easy to understand meditation teacher who is extremely successful at getting meditation pupils going. Perhaps that is why Meditation for Beginners has sold somewhere in excess of 70,000 copies, a figure that is huge for meditation and self-help CD’s.
Meditation for Beginners has been put together with the sole aim of introducing new people to Meditating. It is the complete audio journey into meditation and it gives its listeners 4 excellent mindfulness lessons. These lessons are built on vipassana or insights that are thought to have come from the true Buddha himself and they are taught in such a way that it is irrelevant whether you are listening from a religious, spiritual or secular point of view. Jack Kornfield simply presents them in a very pure an open way.
The CD is the perfect introduction to meditation and thoroughly recommended.
Alex is a travel writer and blogger. He dreams of writing about faraway places and exotic destinations but for the moment is stuck writing about cheap travel and where to find the latest hotels.com discount code .
Yoga Book Review – Light on Yoga / Light on Life by BKS Iyengar
BKS Iyengar is something of a legend in the world of yoga and has been credited with making yoga as popular as it is in the west thanks to his numerous books and teachings. Light on Yoga, which was first published back in 1966 remains to this day a brilliant source of techniques and advice, describing and illustrating hundreds of different yoga poses and numerous excellent breathing techniques. Indeed it is fair to say that the instructions and photos in Light on Yoga are now the standard against which all others are judged, especially when it comes to the issue of alignment.
More recently, Iyengar also released Light on Life (2005) which explored the mental and spiritual aspects of yoga with the same in-depth and rigorous approach as he applied to the physical side in Light on Yoga. Also going by its subtitle of The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Light on Life is another must-read and truly helps you to explore Iyengar’s spiritual wisdom that comes from a lifetime of having both practiced and taught yoga across the world.
Light on Yoga and Light on Life are essential reading both for those new to yoga and for people who have been practicing for years. The conversational tone and excellent illustrations mean it does not come across as quite so heavy as some other yoga books. Do your self a favour and get hold of a copy of these fantastic books today.
Alex is a journalist and blogger. He writes on everything from health to green living and writes a consumer blog for Coupon Croc .
Yoga Practice May Help Ward off Cold and Flu
A recent story on NPR sheds some light on evidence that may help keep you from one thing that everyone dreads- catching a cold or flu this season. The British Journal of Sports Medicine study cited found that people who exercised 5 days a week got sick for 40% fewer days than those who did so one day or less. While the exact reason why this is the case is still only speculation in the scientific community, there seems to be a clear correlation here. A similar study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found results that mirror these findings as well.
Dr. David Neiman of Appalachian State University adds another layer to this, saying that after 90 minutes of high exertion- like long distance running- our defenses instead go down, opening us up to sickness for up to 24 hours following exercising. So the key here is not to wear yourself out and inhibit your body’s defenses.
Yoga is a great option for reaping these benefits, since each person practices to his or her own ability so as not to be hard on the body. The meditative aspect of practice serves as a one-two punch by helping to manage stress, which we know only impedes the immune system further. In addition to lowering stress levels, yoga has been lauded for centuries for improving strength, posture, flexibility, concentration, heart and lung health, and so much more.
The implications of the study are that one is exercising for at least 20 minutes on each of those 5 days, so whether you can attend an hour class or practice at home for only a half hour, most of us can certainly find the time. Even 15 minutes at the beginning and end of a busy day is great. Alternating days of yoga and cardio is also a great option to vary your routine, and in return, your fitness benefits.
Where else besides yoga class can you go to stay in shape, flu-free, and sane this holiday season? There’s nowhere better.
In peace and health,
Sasha Britton
Written on behalf of Gym Source, America’s #1 exercise equipment provider. Find home gyms and all of your other workout needs here.
Plant New Grass Seeds for Ultimate Yoga Experience
Have you ever had the pleasure of doing yoga outdoors? It is one of the most relaxing and soothing ways to practice the ancient art. All you need is a yoga mat, soft green grass, and a sunny open place. You can start now by planting new grass seeds so that you can discover yoga in your own backyard.
But growing grass is not as easy as it sounds. It requires considerable amount of research and planning before it is actually done. Firstly, you need to decide the kind of grass you want to grow- an exotic one or a native one? Once that is decided, you need to know about the grass that you wish to grow. For example, you have to know about the ideal climate/ season, and the terrain conditions required to plant the grass seeds. If everything matches up as desired, Bingo- half the battle is won!
Now, all you have to do is prepare the land at your backyard and for that, the fundamental steps are:
A) You need to remove weeds.
B) Clear debris.
C) Till the soil.
D) Mix appropriate fertilizers in adequate amount.
E) Hydrate the soil reasonably.
Once you have religiously followed these steps in the requisite way, you are all set to plant the grass seeds! Sprinkle the grass seeds evenly all over the plot and sow them to 1/8th inch under the soil. If you do not sow the grass seeds, they might get dispersed. This will lead to wastage of seeds. Once it is done, the most critical process of grass plantation begins. From then on, you need to hydrate the soil at least 2-3 times a day, for a period of 1-2 months. If you do so, within two months, you would find your neighbors envying you for your lush green lawn.
Live Where Yoga Lives!
If you are looking to buy a new home for yourself and your family, why not ensure that you choose a home that is in one of the cities where the best yoga classes can be found.
There are many great cities that are not only great places to live and take care of your family, but also have the very best yoga classes in the world. When you approach a property management company like Oceanside property management, make sure that they find the perfect home for you in one of these cities. Yoga is a great sport that is fast becoming the preferred activity for both young and older people alike, and that is why it pays to live in a city where you can get the very best yoga classes whenever you want to.
Yoga is really the best and the most popular method used today for staying in shape and keeping the body healthy, and too many new homeowners move to new cities only to later regret that there are no good yoga classes in town. If you want to avoid this kind of disappointment, then you should ensure that you ask your property management company to ensure that there are some great classes in whichever city they have identified as adequate for your family – if there aren’t any, they should look in a different city!
To some people, it seems rather trivial to decide on a city to live in based on whether or not it has the best yoga classes. These people don’t realize how important it is to live in such a city – the more people there are doing yoga, the better the overall quality of living in the city will be because the majority of residents will have not only healthy bodies, but healthy minds, as well. This means that there is a greater chance that the city will be filled with neighborhoods that are friendly, safe and great to live in.
So, when you next decide on where to put your home, make sure that you place it in a city where the best yoga classes can be found.
Top Yoga Studios in Canada
Yoga is quickly becoming the sport of choice in 2010. As Yogis unite around the world, studios are cropping up everywhere. List the top yoga studios in Canada for those that live north of the border.
Yoga is one of the most popular forms of exercise these days, and many yoga studios are popping up everywhere. For those who live in Canada, there are many classes that yoga enthusiasts can attend. So, this will be a short list of yoga studios in Canada that you may want to check out, and if you find that there aren’t any listed for your area, you can have a look at Canada 411 to find a class located somewhere near your home.
There are a few different types of yoga that you may want to try; each class will suit anyone who wants to be fit and limber, and each style is either slow and relaxing, focusing on breathing, while others are more fast paced and repetitive. The various types of yoga are: Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Power Yoga, Iyengar, Kundalini and Bikram Yoga.
Yoga is a wonderful form of exercise that is both relaxing and energizing; not only do you learn to breathe correctly but you also tone and strengthen your body. Some types of yoga are practiced in hot rooms so that you sweat as a form of cleansing while others make use of chanting. If you live in the Edmonton area, there are the following yoga studios you may attend: Akasha Holistic Lifestyle Center, Edmonton Yoga Studio, Lotus Soul Gym and Sahaja Yoga.
Studios in Montreal, Quebec include: Equilibrium Yoga Studio, Yoga Of Dance-Nritya Yoga, Combat Yoga Fitness tm and Ek Ong Kar Kundalini Yoga Center. If you live in Whitehorse, you can go to the following yoga studios: Shanti Yoga Yukon, Yoga In The Alpine and Yukon Hot Yoga.
If you happen to live in the most popular place in Canada at the moment- Vancouver, you will find a few great studios namely Semperviva Yoga Studios, which is located in Kitsilano. They offer every type of yoga at their studios, and they have well known yoga teachers from all over the world teaching classes.
Canada’s Yoga Studios Cater to Everyone
More and more health-conscious individuals today are turning to yoga to enhance their fitness. Not only does yoga tone your muscles and improves the proportion of your body, it also promotes peace of mind and spirit. And given the hectic and toxic lifestyles that most of us are leading today, all of us can benefit from a little harmony of the spirit.
If you are living in Canada, and you have recently taken an interest in yoga, try Canada 411 to find the best yoga studios in the country. Some good ones you’ll find are as follows:
Moksha Yoga North York, located in Ontario, believes that yoga is not just about developing the physical body but it is also about learning to live a life that is compassionate, moral and conscious of the environment. Moksha Yoga is practiced not just in Canada but in many countries around the world such as Singapore, Hong Kong and England. The studio also offers massage and is a great venue for bachelor or bachelorette parties.
If you enjoy a more a personalized yoga instruction, then Manna Yoga studio may be more appropriate for you. Also located in Toronto, the studio is headed by a certified and experienced yoga instructor who offers in-home training lessons.
In Montreal, Ananda-Nritya Yoga studio offers a more upbeat form of yoga. This is because the yoga practiced here is inspired by the traditions of India. Here, in this studio, yoga and dance go hand in hand. Needless to say, the positions in this type of yoga are accompanied by traditional Indian music to inspire dance movements.
Another yoga studio that can be found in Montreal is the Equilibrium Yoga Studio. Aside from yoga classes, Equilibrium also offers classes in Pilates, personal growth and meditation. The studio also has training sessions for aspiring yoga instructors.
Family Passages Mind Body Studio in Vancouver is more family-oriented. Whether you are planning to conceive or you have difficulty getting pregnant, the studio offers Fertility Yoga classes. Prenatal classes are also offered to couples who are expecting. If you do not have time to visit the studio regularly, you can also sign up for online classes and audio courses.
Who says yoga is only for adults? If you are looking to get your children interested in yoga, Yoga4Kidz—also located in Vancouver—seeks to promote physical, social and mental fitness in children. The studio also seeks to educate children about universal values and regularly holds outreach and charity events.
Walking on a Cloud
‘Cloud computing,’ has been getting a lot of press recently, for those who have been following it. To some, it’s confusing, to others, logical. Some might not have even heard of it, at all.
Cloud computing is a fairly loose term which is used to describe the current direction of IT infrastructure.
Very basically, Cloud computing refers to the sharing of resources by multiple (or ‘a cloud’ of) computers, rather than having to rely solely on one PC to handle certain applications. Or, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Cloud computing is “a computing capability that provides an abstraction between the computing resource and its underlying technical architecture (e.g., servers, storage, networks), enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”
A few major benefits of Cloud computing include:
- Cost – The platform aims to reduce expenditure on software, hardware, and service providers, whilst being billed on a utility (gradual, or by usage) basis.
- Flexibility - Device and location independence allows users to access all information from various locations and devices (such as from cell phones).
- Storage – More data can be stored when compared to personal systems.
- Agility – The user’s ability to quickly and inexpensively rearrange the technological infrastructure greatly improves.
Criticism has been somewhat limited, as more and more companies are considering outsourcing Exchange hosting. However, some of the problems cited by skeptics have been pertaining to security and privacy. Despite this, proponents argue that security in the Cloud should be as good as, if not better than outside it, as providers can devote resources to security solutions that others can’t afford. Furthermore, the greater the area and number of devices over which the data is dispersed…the greater the complexity of its security.
As usual; time, and market share, will tell.
Yoga Postures & Proper Alignment
There are many pose variations in yoga that incorporate the twist. Spiritually, twisting or crossing, represents the connection between heaven and earth—the mundane and the divine—the seen and the unseen. Yogis experience a wringing out of the organs, forcing toxins from the body; like squeezing out a sponge. This is especially helpful in the early morning as a cleansing, spiritually, mentally and physically.
Correct posture and proper alignment as we twist, especially if seated, is of paramount importance. A blanket under one hip can help keep the pelvic area level to avoid side bends while twisting. Tight hips can benefit from a folding chair, especially if there are knee or ankle problems. The chair also allows for deeper twists by utilizing the side and back of the chair for leverage.
The key to all twists is to evenly distribute the body’s weight on both sitting bones and keeping the knees in alignment.
Types of Yoga and the Benefits
Since ancient times, yoga is believed to be the best remedy for numerous chronic ailments. Arthritis and backaches, which are difficult to treat, using ordinary medications, can be helped by practicing yoga regularly. Yoga is also good for our mental health. Because yoga requires concentration and focus, it allows us to gain control of our mind and rids us from bad thoughts.
Yoga is good for everyone. There are many different types of yoga. The following is a brief list of the major types of yoga that help us to achieve a union between the body, spirit, and mind.
Bhakti Yoga
Bhakti Yoga is known as one of the most appealing practices of yoga because it also involves spiritual practice with an emphasis on love and devotion to the Almighty. People who perform this type of Yoga tend to have a more positive attitude toward life. They will also learn how to love others and achieve a peaceful mind.
Hatha Yoga
Hatha Yoga is known as the origin of the many styles of yoga, including Power Yoga, Bikram Yoga, Kundalini Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga. The goal of practicing Hatha Yoga is to achieve balance between the body, mind and spirit by practicing Asanas, Shatkriyas, Mudras, Pranayams and meditation. Hatha Yoga helps us feel more relaxed, even in stressful conditions, and prevent both physical and mental ailments.
Jnana Yoga
This type of yoga is usually known as the Yoga of True knowledge. People who are practitioners of Jnana Yoga aim for tranquility, perfect concentration, mental endurance, faith, and total control of their mind.
Karma Yoga
Karma Yoga is also known as Yoga of Action. Karma yoga focuses on the adherence to duty (dharma) while remaining detached from the reward. Those who practice Karma Yoga have to purify their heart and maintain a peaceful mind and body.
Kundalini Yoga
This type of yoga is also known as the yoga of awareness, which focuses on the psycho-spiritual growth together with the breathing and movement of the practitioners. Practicing Kundalini Yoga improves concentration, enhanced intuition and mental clarity.
Mantra Yoga
Mantra Yoga is actually a form of meditation. People who practice mantra yoga have to chant a certain mantra until they transcend their mind and discover their consciousness. Mantra yoga has been proven to have unique healing potentials. There are three ways of chanting the mantra: ‘baikhari’ (chanting the mantra loudly to remove unwanted thoughts),’upanshu’ (chanting the mantra in low voice which can only be heard by the chanter), and ‘manasik’ (this involves the repetition of the mantra in the chanter’s mind).
Purna Yoga
This type of yoga is a combination of art and the traditional Yoga system in India. The ultimate goal of practicing Purna Yoga is to complete self integration and the union between body, mind and soul.
Raja Yoga
Raja Yoga “royal yoga”, “royal union”, also known as Classical Yoga, is concerned principally with the cultivation of the mind using meditation (dhyana) to further one’s acquaintance with reality and finally achieve liberation. Raja Yoga is sometimes referred to as Astanga (eight-limbed) yoga because there are eight aspects to the path to which one must attend. Patanjali himself called his system of yoga ‘Kriya Yoga’.
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