...Do you have any previous experience in martial arts? Perhaps you once tried a little karate in high school, or checked out a tae kwon do class at your local YMCA. Anyway, you may have dabbled in martial arts a little. Thats a good thing, since most people have never had any experience in a self-defense discipline and have little understanding of what the training is like. But even if you have minor experience, you may not be prepared for the training required for a similar type of fitness discipline. That is something you must consider if you are thinking of trying out power yoga. It is a discipline that requires commitment if you are going to achieve results, and the training involved can actually be quite intense.

Yoga is not ...more

What Should a Hatha Yoga Teacher Know? - Part 2

...o avoid harming someone, but do not lie.

Asteya: This is to avoid stealing in any way. This is a simple principle, but throughout history, laws were sometimes modified to justify stealing. The problem is the desire of something - to the point of jealousy, and finally outright theft. The elimination of the Cathars, Africans, and Native Americans are just three examples of people who suffered from modified laws that took away their land.

Brahmacharya: To be free from sensual imprisonment and to live in moderation. At first we might think of lust, and correct this by seeing another person as more than a sexual object. However, most obesity c...more

Weight Loss and Yoga

... of yoga.

Students overeager to "achieve" poses their bodies aren't ready for. As a culture we are obsessed by being more successful, rich, and beautiful. Unfortunately this spills over into yoga when students try to force their bodies into the poses they see models "performing" on magazine covers.

The problem is compounded by weight. A person struggling with obesity or even just a few pounds over optimal weight has more stress on the joints already. Force the body into a pose it's not accustomed to -- or enter or exit the pose unsafely -- and you will soon have an injury on your hands.

One of the first precepts of yoga is the Sanskrit word ahimsa, which most often is translated as "non-violence." It's ironic that yoga is used sometimes as a tool of violence against the self, when someone strives to be someone else with a different body, rather than accept, love, and nurture themselves into health.

It doesn't have to be this way.

first, fin...more

The Purpose of Yoga - Holistic health

...and and asked, What is the most important physical exercise in Yoga? My answer was that if you are only looking at the physical aspect of Yoga, pranayama is the most important exercise, but there is much more to Yoga than physical exercise.

Even though my answer went into great length about the aspects and benefits of Yoga, a gentleman later told me than he would have imagined the Headstand (Salamba Sirsasana) was the most important aspect of Yoga. My reply was, Did you ever take a Yoga class? He admitted that it was the fear of doing a headstand, which kept him away from trying a Yoga class.

Now, unless Yoga teachers explain the holistic health benefits of a steady Yoga practice to the public, decades will pass by and these myths will flourish.more

Yoga Classes North Houston Texas