11.29.08
Lifetime Habit
Mr. La Forge (Yoga Trainer) suspects that because the mind-body exercises typically are easier to pursue, executives have a better chance of making a lifetime habit of them. To see if his hunch is correct, he launched a five-year study of 110 middle- and upper-level executives in companies in the US. He tracks their exercise habits and see if those incorporating mind-body techniques stick with the program longer.
Devotees say the mind-body exercise regimen has a payoff in the workplace, as well.
Barry Moltz, 36, founder and CEO of CHTech International., a mail-order distributor of computer hardware and software, started doing Yoga a year ago at the to balance the pressures of growing a business with starting a family. He still works out in a gym and commutes to work on his bicycle, but he also meditates in the half-lotus position for 15 or 20 minutes at night after his two young children have gone to sleep.
He says most of his friends, also in their mid-30s, have jumped on similar mind-body fitness tracks.
”I think the toughest part about running a company is that there are so many demands on your time. When I meditate, it really allows me to relax and focus all my energies in one place,” he says. ”Now when I’m involved in a meeting, I can be immersed in that meeting instead of thinking about 15 other things. And people really respond when you’re totally focused on just them.”
The pressures of the job say you shouldn’t be satisfied where you are today. You can never feel like you’ve achieved anything because it’s very elusive. Yoga and meditation allows you to be happier and more effective in what you’re doing now.
11.22.08
Hatha Yoga – Most Popular in the US
There are actually several branches of yoga, including bhakti, the yoga of devotion, and jnana, the yoga of knowledge. The most widely practiced branch in the US, the one typically offered at gyms and exercise studios, is hatha yoga, which is physical yoga. But there also are different styles of hatha yoga, from the exercise-intense power yoga to the gentle chair poses used in svaroopa yoga.
Many of the instructors offer integral yoga, which involves stretching and bending into various positions called asanas, as well as breathing exercises and deep relaxation. By practicing and learning asanas, students can gain flexibility, strength, stamina and improved circulation.
Integral yoga is not religious, but it does offer an introspective, spiritual component that you won’t find in most exercise programs.
A typical adult class lasts 1 hour. First, the students center themselves through breathing, then come together as a group with a collective om. They do a quick series of cardiovascular movements, an hour of stretching and 20 minutes of relaxation while lying on their backs.
The relaxation period gives students a chance to turn inward. Some people are making lists in their head. Some people are asleep. Some people are just in a really great space, where they’re conscious of what’s going on in the room, and yet at the same time, completely and unequivocally out.
11.16.08
Enhance your Business Acumen
There are many of us who feel we are not as bright as we would like to be; or that we lack the will power a friend or a colleague seems to have. What is not known widely – or taken with skepticism even when known – is that mental power can be enhanced by Yoga and meditation.
Don’t worry if your allopathic doctors dismiss this claim, or worse, laugh at it in contempt. Allopathic doctors tend to downplay such claims because allopathy has been brainwashed into a sort of negativism.
While the neuro-surgeon himself swears by the mantra which he recites every morning, believing it is instrumental in making divine energy flow through him, he feels that the beneficial effects of yoga on all professionals, particularly businessmen, have hardly been talked about.
Yoga or meditation is very beneficial to business executives because it makes decision-making much easier and quicker. It takes away vacillation and helps the brain to grasp the pros and cons quickly.
A surgeon needs to take a decision quickly on the operating table. Similarly, a businessman may not have more than five minutes to decide. Supposing he has a dollar 1 million business deal where a decision has to be made in five minutes, he needs a brain which is stimulated and in a trim state. In this state, decision-making becomes easy and anxiety level goes down.
In such a state not only is the brain able to think clearly, but the other systems of the body which suffer due to stress or tensions, are also spared.
11.12.08
Posturing: Introduction
It increases muscular strength. It reduces tension and stress. It has a low potential for injury, and it doesn’t even look like exercise.
Why, then, don’t more people practice yoga?
People think of yoga as being passive and mystical – an otherworldly activity that doesn’t relate to their lives. People are experiencing a vacuum because of all the outward directed activity, and they are going to have to go back to the experience of self.
Although the Indian discipline of yoga has been practiced for more than 5,000 years, in this country there are few followers. Almost half the American adult population swims and close to a quarter runs or jogs, yet only 2 percent practices yoga.
The word yoga derives from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to yoke or connect. Through yoga’s various techniques, one is said to arrive at mental and physical equilibrium, better health and inner peace. It has been described as providing, in effect, a ”work-in” rather than a workout.
There are at least eight main types of yoga and several offshoots of each, but essentially there are only two concerned with exercise: hatha yoga and kundalini yoga.
Hatha is the most popular type of yoga in the Western world. It is a slow-paced discipline that emphasizes controlled breathing and assuming various physical poses. It is said to aid the nervous system, the glands and the vital organs.
Kundalini, which was introduced to this country in 1969 by Yogi Bhajan, is more active, combining various modes of breathing, movement and meditation. It is based on the idea that body energy that is coiled below the base of the spine can be tapped so that it travels upward through different energy centers or chakras until it reaches the head. At this point one arrives at one’s highest potential.
Classically, there are 84 basic yoga positions, or asanas, which are coordinated with special breathing techniques. The asanas range from simple bends and twists to pretzel-like contortions reserved for the most advanced practitioners. The various poses elongate the muscles and build flexibility. Along with the proper breathing, they help rid the body of tension. Static holds isolate and strengthen particular muscles.
Asanas have been evolved over the centuries so as to exercise every muscle, nerve and gland in the body. They secure a fine physique, which is strong and elastic without being muscle-bound, and they keep the body free from disease. They reduce fatigue and soothe the nerves. But their real importance lies in the way they train and discipline the mind.
11.03.08
Ancient Practice Fits Modern Life
When Trace Bonner launched Holy Cow in West Ashley’s South Windermere Shopping Center last summer, she didn’t know what to expect. Now she’s teaching 16 classes a week and adding another instructor. And while she credits the center’s success in part to its cute cow logo and convenient location, there’s no question that there’s a revived interest in yoga across America.
The ancient Indian practice of yoga first arrived in the US at the beginning of the 20th century, but didn’t really catch on until 1969 with chants at Woodstock. Now, after being overshadowed by the aerobics craze in the ’80s and early ’90s, yoga is once again attracting followers, with many looking for relief from ailments and injuries or from the stress of daily life.
Baby boomers, worn out from years of jogging and bouncy workouts, are back on board. But interest is growing with other age groups, too, from college students to senior citizens to celebrities.
The surge in interest is being fueled partly by doctors’ growing acceptance of yoga’s healing potential. Mainstream medicine has adopted yoga as a gentle therapeutic method for treating a number of illnesses, so more and more doctors are referring their patients to yoga. Initial trials have shown yoga can help people with arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, asthma and cardiac risk factors.
10.31.08
Yoga Helps Ease Modern Stress
For Gail Stuart, who is finishing a beginner’s series, yoga is an antidote to the stress of her job at the Medical University of South Carolina, where she works with psychiatric research. You just walk through the whole process, and you feel yourself slipping away. It’s a different workout, she says, a welcome alternative to aerobics or exercise machines, which remind her of a torture chamber.
Yoga is the most prominent form of the burgeoning mind-body health movement, which includes tai chi, qigong and other meditative forms of exercise.
The practice of yoga should integrate every aspect of human existence. While many of modern Western practitioners focus on the physical asanas, for others, yoga is an all-encompassing way of life and a path to bliss.
Considering yoga’s lofty goals, it’s delightfully simple and can be done anywhere, anytime. Taken to its extreme, yoga encompasses everything from a moral code and dietary practices to deep meditation. Most commonly, though, it’s a combination of asanas, pranayama (breathing exercises) and some meditation.
Yoga would be an effective and relatively cheap substitute for many anxious and stressed patients, although they would probably also need to be motivated to become physically fit.
10.25.08
Ancient Practice Fits Modern Life
When Trace Bonner launched Holy Cow in West Ashley’s South Windermere Shopping Center last summer, she didn’t know what to expect. Now she’s teaching 16 classes a week and adding another instructor. And while she credits the center’s success in part to its cute cow logo and convenient location, there’s no question that there’s a revived interest in yoga across America.
The ancient Indian practice of yoga first arrived in the US at the beginning of the 20th century, but didn’t really catch on until 1969 with chants at Woodstock. Now, after being overshadowed by the aerobics craze in the ’80s and early ’90s, yoga is once again attracting followers, with many looking for relief from ailments and injuries or from the stress of daily life.
Baby boomers, worn out from years of jogging and bouncy workouts, are back on board. But interest is growing with other age groups, too, from college students to senior citizens to celebrities.
The surge in interest is being fueled partly by doctors’ growing acceptance of yoga’s healing potential. Mainstream medicine has adopted yoga as a gentle therapeutic method for treating a number of illnesses, so more and more doctors are referring their patients to yoga. Initial trials have shown yoga can help people with arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, asthma and cardiac risk factors.
Most Urbanites Start with a Class
The best place to start is with a class, where a teacher can show you how to adapt poses using props and help you learn proper technique for the postures.
The good news is that yoga classes have never been more widely available. You’ll find them at small studios, health clubs and gyms. The hard part is finding a class that’s just right for you. Studios that are dedicated to yoga also foster a more dedicated practice. The same students return to class week after week, and instructors usually follow a particular discipline of yoga. Some classes are aimed at beginners.
Whether you consider a studio or health club classes, here are some tips to find qualified instructors and classes that suit your needs:
Define your goals. Do you have chronic back pain or other physical limitations. An Iyengar-based class, with its emphasis on proper form and use of props, would be ideal. Looking to improve concentration and reduce stress. Consider a class that incorporates meditation. Seeking a challenging workout. Try an ashtanga class.
Ask about the instructor’s background. There is no national certification program for yoga yet, although some disciplines have their own rigorous teaching certification programs. You want an instructor who has been practicing and teaching for a long time.
Check out the space. Look for rooms that are spacious and well ventilated. Plenty of props sticky mats, straps, foam bricks, blankets and bolsters are a good sign, too. Ideally, yoga rooms are quiet, but that may not be the case in a gym setting where students have to contend with loud music and clanking weight machines.
Yoga for Modern City Life: Yoga is now a Lifestyle
Is it any surprise models are wrapping their wrists in mala beads, fashion designers are heading off to India for yoga retreats and there’s a new line of active wear that takes its name from the Sanskrit mantra om.
To the uninitiated, yoga is pretzel-like poses and a dim memory of the Beatles visiting the Maharishi in the 1960s.
Gurmukh Kaur, the Center for Living’s white-turbaned founder, travels by limo — in a blaze of camera strobes — with one of her students, singer Courtney Love.
What she does is kundalini yoga, Ms. Love told a reporter covering the bash for fashion-bible Women’s Wear Daily. It’s better for me than Prozac — and the clothes are nice, too.
Ms. Love is hardly the only celebrity singing the praises of yoga — or helping to catapult the 5,000-year-old practice onto the cutting edge.
Yoga Zone, a hip New York yoga studio with a half-hour show weekdays on cable’s Health Network, has an entire catalog dedicated to the joy of yoga. In addition to the predictable range of videotapes, nonslip mats and meditation cushions, there are multiple pages of clothing and accessories.
Cotton-Lycra hipsters are the definitive Yoga Zone look for practice and beyond. Spaghetti-strap camisoles and halter tops with subtle embroidered logos come in black, slate, garnet, moss green and other quiet but current colors.
Even the jewelry has a fashion angle: Pendant necklaces with the Chinese symbol for clarity or the Sanskrit symbol for om are crafted by the hot fashion duo Me & Ro.
