Developing Yoga Expression

      With increased time spent saying indoors it is worthwhile to notice a wellness hobby or skill and also turn it into an educational opportunity to broaden one's horizons and awareness. Self growth usually happens as a result along with increased health benefits.

     Yoga is wonderful for wellness.  It helps focus and circulation along with strength and flexibility.  Yoga can be practiced on DVD,online, from books, at a class in person at a studio, or even from memory, as the practice becomes more a part of daily life.

     There is yoga for all levels including beginners, intermediate, and advanced.  As well, there are many types of practice such as hatha, Iyengar, Vinyasa, Hot Yoga, etc. 

     Many props also aid in the yoga practice such as mats, blocks, straps, wedges, balance balls, chairs, walls, and comfortable clothing.  The scenery and music also aid in the yoga practice.  There are special forms of meditation in yoga, music, and sound, that lend to relaxation and focusing techniques along with the beautiful tropical scenery.

     Once the art of yoga becomes more a part of daily life and begins to be mastered, one can set sites on many of the different forms of yoga and health benefits that it has to offer.

     Yoga can springboard people to improve their health and become more aware of eating and sleeping habits, among others.

     Pretty soon you can develop your own favorite poses that become natural to your individual and unique practice.  Poses are also called asanas and soon translating English to Sanskrit will become more second nature.

     Many of my favorite poses are very restorative and rejuvinating such as seated meditation, tree pose, and triangle pose.  I love certain flows or routines from my favorite teachers like Rodney Yee from Giam's Beginning AM Yoga, Susanne Deason from Giam Yoga for Stress Relief, Patricia Walden from Giam's PM Yoga for Beginners, and Wai Lana Yoga, etc.

     Even more knowledge of other types of practices and forms of health and wellness result from the awareness of learning the art of yoga. 

     Diet is important.  Special yogic beverages are recommended such as hot water with lemon and honey for digestion.  In addition to coffee drinkers, various teas are also recommended like green, black, and mint with fennel.  Because yogic history is associated with Indian culture where the practice originated thousands of years ago, a natural study of yoga would bring a person to notice types of cuisine along with Ayurvedic medicine.  Study of the chakras (energy centers of the body in Eastern medicine or nerve centers of the body in Western medicine) can bring one to appreciate yoga, forms of healthcare like massage therapy, chiropractic care, acupuncture, and ayurvedic medicine.

     It is important to practice yoga at one's own level so as to notice fitness level, avoid injury, and to be comfortable. It is also important to find a teacher who is right for you.  In a class students can be helped directly by adjustments from the teacher and have other peers to practice with, notice progress, and have increased sociability.  It is also an opportunity to get some fresh air and go out for a walk or a bicycle ride if you have a yoga studio near you.

    Yoga studios have a culture and a following so you may learn other forms of yoga and have other experiences like travel to other locations for yoga with the studio, class and teacher. You may even find offers for yoga teacher training. 

A lot of research can be done online about yoga to find a studio in your area, different forms of yoga that can be done at home, and ways to do online shopping for DVD's, books, and props.  Teacher training is becoming very popular both online and at studios.

     I personally like the Giam practices of Yoga for Beginners: AM Yoga, Yoga for Stress Relief, and PM Yoga.  Giam also has other exercise and wellness modalities that I enjoy like various Pilates series which were founded on some yogic techniques by Joseph Pilates, and something called Budukon which is martial arts mixed with yoga. I also enjoy Wai Lana Yoga.  These yoga companies have many DVD's and yoga products for sale.  You can even find some of their practices online on YouTube.

     Shaw Academy and Yoga Alliance are some examples of online teacher training opportunities. Typically, online yoga teacher training can be less expensive. Online including books it can be around a couple of hundred dollars or more rather than in person at a yoga studio, which could be thousands of dollars. At a yoga studio you could be a yoga apprentice to classes.

     Ayurvedic medicine can also be combined with yogic pracice.  The type of medicine also brings an ancient tradition from India which is thousands of years old.  There are three body types called vata, pitta, and dosha.  People can have one of these or a combination of them.  An auyervedic doctor will give a person a spice combination to cook food with and give the person special combinations of foods and drinks to prepare.  Sometimes people are told to eat and drink at certain times of day.  I was given the suggestion to soak prunes and figs in water to snack on throughout the day and to drink one-third plain yogurt with two-thirds water at one o'clock pm, and twenty percent pomegranate juice with 80 percent water at three o'clock pm.  My breakfast was supposed to be stewed apples, oatmeal, and homemade cheese.  My other meals were either stewed chicken or fish with stewed vegetables.  Adding water to cooking , stewing, and soaking food in water, were all very important aspect to an Ayurvedic diet because they help to provide more life source as our bodies are composed mostly of water.  Adding water and cooking food in water also aid in the process of healthy digestion. 

     Yoga helps to build awareness of one's increased health, strength, and flexibility, and bring appreciation to natural surroundings.  Many postures are named after nature, animals, and ways of being such as tree pose, crow pose, and the warrior poses.

     Walking around in nature helps to bring more awareness to yogic centered breath which brings more circulation and cardiovascular health.  Walking is a good companion to the yoga practice. 

     Massage therapy is a good companion to yoga because it focuses on many of the same benefits to yogic practice such as increased circulation, strength, flexibility, clearing toxins from the body, and relaxing the mind.  The chakras, energy centers, or nerve centers of the body are also treated by other body work modalities.

     Chiropractic care works to ease body tension and healing by treating sublexations of the spine to free up the chakras or nerve centers, while massage therapy treats the muscles and soft tissues of the body and around the spine for a similar overall health and wellness to the person's body and mind.

     Many people are interested in explaining yoga and wellness in terms of more Western anatomy and physiological processes related to exercise, health, and wellness. Some are interested in Eastern philosophy and medicine. Yoga can combine language of both the East and the West to better understand the self and develop health, wellness, and yogic expression.