... adjust your body, so that the lower legs are parallel to the floor, the upper legs are perpendicular to the floor, and the back is flat.

Now that you have settled in, take some time to observe your breath, without trying to change, force, or lengthen your breathing cycle. Most yoga students will try to control their breath, but the secret of Yogic breath awareness meditation is non-effort and observance.

Take the time to observe your breath, without effort or judgment; this will allow you to filter out conscious thoughts about your breath, noises, or your next task. Once you have put the distractions of life aside, you will notice that the cycle of your breath expands.

This is just the beginning of the many rewards you can reap from yoga meditation. The yoga meditation methods you learn from your local yoga studio will reduce stress, calm your mind, and possibly lower your blood pressure. A life with less anxiety, and worry, is well worth the time it takes to practice yoga meditation.

Copyright 2006 Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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yoga Teachers Lead by Example (Part 1)

...During the course of a lifetime, most of us have heard the saying, Do as I say, not as I do. We see this kind of leadership everywhere we go. All politicians, religious leaders, police, sports professionals, parents, academic teachers, and yoga teachers, lead by example, even if the example displayed is not a good one.

So, how does this concern you? You may not be a public figure, but your students, and the general public, know who you are. Some may even know more about you than you would like. As a yoga teacher, you want to keep your health, behavior, and your ethics at a high standard - if you are going to be in the public eye.

As far as health is concerned, you should maintain your yoga practice and meditate daily. This is an irony with many yoga teachers because your time is also consumed with the business of yoga, maintenance of the studio, advertising, and many more aspects that keep a business going.

My...more

Health Benefits of yoga

...yoga is an ancient way, practiced for thousands of years, steeped in tradition and, to most people, a mysterious enigma. When practitioners would speak of the many benefits they had experienced in both mental and physical health, yoga would seem to be both a perfect practice, or one whose claims were impossible to believe.

practitioners of yoga, or yogis/yogins (yogini for the ladies) would speak of the unification of mind, spirit, and body. The belief was that when these were brought into balance the persons mental and physical health would improve. The word "harmony" would be heard a lot, as would be "healing", again, applied both to the body and the mind.

Until recently, you could only go by what someone who had personal experience could tell you. There was a reasonable amount of skepticism that yoga could actually be as beneficial to your mental and physical health as its proponents claimed.

However, in the last few years, scientific study, observation, and measurement have proven that yoga can indeed have specific observable affects on your health. It has been shown that body, mind, and spirit do work together and ...more

The Purpose of Yoga - Creating the World From Within

...iness. Is happiness a million dollars?

No, happiness is more about what you could do with a million dollars and it does not depend on money. However, if you had a million dollars, you could teach the poor to feed themselves; you could help the illiterate learn to read; or you could help people in a multitude of ways.

Notice the keywords, you could help. Instant millionaires need to learn how they can help. There are some lottery winners who become instant millionaires and many of them end up broke, within a short span of time. Many times the saying, Easy come, easy go applies to life.

People who instantly obtain wea...more

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