Body Rolling Techniques For Yoga and Pilates Safety

Body rolling techniques like Yamuna have grown in popularity and have worked their way into Yoga and Pilates classes. Body rolling incorporates gravity based body positions and movements along with various sized balls to massage blockages out of muscles, fascia and connective tissues.
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Yoga And Meditation Practice

As we explore our Yoga Meditation practice, we can learn various techniques and applications to bring us to places of greater connection. A useful tool to create this greater connection in our Meditation sessions is Jiva Bandha. Jiva means "soul or the consciousness of the living being" and Bandha means "internal lock". Jiva Bandha is the subtle locking of the tongue to the palate.


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Protecting Your Neck in Hatha Yoga

Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand Yoga Pose) and Halasana (Plow Yoga Pose) are the most common Yoga inversions that move the neck into a deep forward flexion. These inverted Yoga postures provide wonderful benefits in our Yoga classes:
* tones the legs, buttocks, back, and core muscles
* stretches the shoulders and improves flexibility of upper spine...

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Use Yoga For Neck and Shoulder Pain Relief

We have a new article "Hatha Yoga as Physical Therapy for Neck and Shoulder Pain" that offers great insight into the likely cause of chronic neck and shoulder pain in most people. This Yoga anatomy article explores alignment cues for your Yoga exercises and aids in bringing awareness to your overall posture in helping alleviate these chronic conditions.

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Hatha Yoga Balancing of Flexibility and Strength

Hatha Yoga explores various methods of expanding into the muscles and joints creating freedom and healing properties. As much as we enjoy creating flexibility from our Yoga poses, we need to understand the necessity of balancing this growing flexibility with strength and endurance.

There is a growing interest in restorative and passive-style Hatha Yoga classes like Yin Yoga. These Yoga practices incorporate a beautiful method of creating layers of physical, mental and emotional release. Yin Yoga is designed to move flexibility through the muscle tissues into the connective tissues.

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Twisting Yoga Poses and Positions

Twisting Yoga poses like Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Twist pose), Parivritta Trikonasana (Revolving Triangle pose), and Parivritta Parsvakonasana (Revolving Side Angle pose) create joyous benefits. The twisting motions increase mobility in the vertebral column, massage internal organs, massage nutrients in and through the spine, aid in moving material through the digestive system, tone back and core muscles, and balance energy flow throughout the main energy channel (Sushumna) that travels along the line of the spine.

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Yoga Pose For Stretching Hamstrings

One of the benefits of many forward bending Yoga poses is expanding and stretching of the hamstring muscles. We should take time in our Yoga classes to align the sit bones and leg bones so we can target the proper line of stretch of the hamstring muscles. With this alignment, we should understand the basic anatomy and mechanics of the various hamstring muscles.

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Sustainable Seafood

An estimated 90% of all large, predatory fish are already gone from the world's oceans.

It is so important that we conserve what remains in the oceans, and harvest and consume seafood in a sustainable manner.

To help consumers and restaurants make more informed choices when selecting the seafood they consume or serve, the Vancouver, British Columbia Aquarium has developed programs to help identify sustainable seafood choices.

What does sustainable seafood mean?

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Recipe For Tomato Salad

Enjoy our new article about the health benefits of tomatoes.

This night shade vegetable yields numerous nutritional benefits including the prevention of many cancers. We have also added a quick and simple Tomato Salad recipe.

Yoga Nidra - Yogic Sleep and Pratyahara

Yoga Nidra is a powerful practice of creating an altered state of consciousness by planting healing seeds of affirmations (or sankalpa). As a form of Pratyahara, Yoga Nidra moves one to a state where one can withdraw from the senses and the influences of the mind which do not serve us on the path of enlightenment.

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Yoga Poses for Back Pain Prevention

Hatha Yoga has an array of back bending or back arching Yoga exercises that deliver a wealth of health benefits when done correctly. Back bending Yoga poses can be intimidating to those who have low back pain or previous low back injuries. When performed with the right intention and alignment techniques, back bends can be safe, effective, and revitalizing.

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Green Living - Preventing Leaking Electricity

When electronic devices are left plugged in, electricity can continue to be drawn from the power supply. Anything with an adapter, clock, timer, memory, or remote control continues to use electricity even when the device is turned off. For example, a TV leaks about 6 watts all the time. Referred to as “leaking electricity” or “phantom load”, this wasteful consumption of electricity is rising worldwide as the number of gadgets increase in peoples’ homes. An average home leaks about 450 kilowatt-hours each year or approximately 5% of the annual hydro bill.

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Defining Yoga Postures - Asanas

Asana can be defined as a physical Yoga posture or position that is designed to help master the body and enhance the body’s functions. Yoga poses are, in essence, Yoga exercises creating strength and endurance, improving circulation and energy flow, cleansing organs and other systems, and expanding muscles and joints.

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Benefits of Yoga and Weight Loss

An important part of a balanced health and wellness program is managing your body composition and understanding what is a healthy body weight for your body type. A consistent Yoga practice, Yoga diet and observance of Yoga principles and lifestyle habits can help you find this balance in managing your body weight..

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Power Yoga Grace in Vinyasa Flows

Power Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga classes are beautiful explorations of more physically challenging Yoga flows. Within these more vigorous Yoga practices, we should continually guide ourselves back to the intention, grace, and definition of the asana (Yoga pose).

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