Apart from the more common dynamic yoga options for better balance, theres Yin Yoga, a calming and relaxing practice that targets deep connective tissues.

The term was coined by Sarah Powers, who will be visiting the country next year.

The Yin Yoga style provides yogis and other practitioners with more flexibility and freedom of movement.

Were talking about the ligaments, the tendons, areas of the body we dont target as much and as effectively when we extend the muscle, said Dona Tumacder-Esteban, a certified Yin Yoga instructor.

Yang targets the muscle tissues so we can strengthen it, Yin targets the connective tissues that targets the flexibility, she added.

In Yin Yoga, practitioners yield to each pose with relaxed muscles, allowing time and gravity to take us to the fullness of the pose.

Take a breath in, exhale and release the muscles, Tumacder-Esteban explained. On your next exhale, fold from the hip creases and round the back In Yin, we hold the pose for three minutes, then slowly roll up.

Come on all fours, step your right foot in between your hands, she added. Sort of drag your foot back and relax, and just drape your body over your right.

Tumacder-Esteban also showed the Dragon, one of the most active of yoga poses, which is said to be helpful to athletes.

The key here is to fully relax the hips, she said. You can get out of the pose slowly and come into childs pose to decompress and slowly roll up.

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Yin Yoga: A calming and relaxing practice

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Using yoga in the fight for freedom

Yoga has become a fad. Ten years ago, it was impossible to find yoga mats, clothes and accessories in stores like Wal-Mart. At best, one could find a yoga workout DVD from the public library and give it their best shot in their living room.

Now, opening a yoga studio is automatically viewed as a smart investment, as long as the classes are ones that the community can afford. The physical benefits of yoga are almost too good to be true, and the mental stillness it brings to any busy person is tempting.

I do yoga, and have consistently taken classes for the past two years. Like most people, I started because I wanted a good workout. When I first did hot vinyasa, or fast-paced yoga in a room of at least 90 degrees, I realized Id found the most physically and mentally challenging activity Id ever done. Always pushing myself, I made myself go back and do yoga until it was no longer the hardest thing I had ever done. What I found was much more than overcoming a physical challenge.

The practice of physical yoga is called Hatha yoga and is just one aspect of the yogic path, which is a life path. The yogis of the east have adopted contortionist movements, as well as an entirely yogic way of viewing the world.

The Self Realization Fellowship, founded by the Yogi and teacher Paramahansa Yogananda, publishes the most comprehensive definitions and types of yoga.

The fellowship outlines the types of yoga: Hatha, which is the yoga we all know, the movement between poses for the purpose of physical purity, preparing us for meditation; Karma Yoga, which is service to others without expectation of something in return; Mantra Yoga, which is using words or phrases and repeating them to center ourselves; Bhakti Yoga, or striving to see the love/god/divinity in everything; Jnana Yoga, or using wisdom and your smarts to distinguish between what is healthy and not; and finally, Raja Yoga, which is the synthesis of all these yogic practices.

Yoga literally means unity. If you also do yoga, perhaps ask yourself what sort of practice it is. What is your intention in doing yoga? A workout? A meditation? Both? A new perspective on the world? Whatever your reasons may be, know that yoga can be a powerful tool for personal transformation and the transformation of the world. Id rather not say that I do yoga, as it makes it a separate activity apart from my day-to-day life.

Instead, Ill say that Ive chosen to live yoga and to adopt not only the physical practice, but the other aspects as well, which ultimately challenges and influences the way I see the world.

By choosing to live yoga, you are choosing unity between your body and mind, your spirit and the exterior world, and yourself and others.

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Weekly Zen: Integrate yoga into your life

Starting its eighth year, Yoga Springs is expanding into Springfield, with a new studio in the Bushnell building downtown. Shown above in the studio is business owner Monica Hasek. Yoga Springs is offering free yoga classes on the hour at its Springfield studio this Saturday, April 14, as a grand opening event. (Photo by Lauren Heaton)

Yoga Springs is now 8 years old and stretching out into a new old space at the heart of downtown Springfield. While the local studio has opened the village to a lot of strengthening, balance and deep breathing, owner Monica Hasek felt ready to offer those same tools to the wider community. And when Springfields newly renovated, historic Bushnell building came calling, she could hardly refuse.

Springfield came to us, and there was no saying no, she said.

The new studio will open its doors for a grand opening this Saturday, April 14, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The studio will offer free classes on the hour, with a schedule available at http://www.yogasprings.com. The building is located at 14 East Main Street, and has its own parking garage, which Bushnell building patrons can use free of charge with a pass from the business.

The invitation to Springfield came organically. Feeling that the studio had sufficiently saturated the local community with yoga pracititioners, Hasek had begun looking for a second studio space in the region. Because Yoga Springs is one of just three dedicated yoga studios in the Miami Valley, it draws patrons from Xenia, Fairborn, Beavercreek and Springfield. Dottie Clark, one of the Springfield yogis, recently leased some of the office space in the Bushnell building for her Ayurvedic medicine practice and thought a yoga studio next door would complement her practice.

Bushnell property owner Jim Lagos agreed. In 2010 Lagos, who is related to Brown apartment owner Tina Lagos, used a $5 million Jobs Ready Site Grant to complete a $10 million renovation of the 175,000-square-foot building, according to the Springfield News-Sun. Named after two-term Ohio governor Asa Bushnell, who built the structure in 1893, the building was designed by the firm Shipley, Rutan and Coolidge, who designed the Chicago Art Institute and library, and was considered worth not just saving but rebuilding as a LEEDS Platinum certified structure.

As it happens, before coming to yoga, Hasek worked as a commercial designer and had the expertise to design her own studio. Hasek gave six months of professional advice, and got a clean, modern, energy efficient new studio overlooking city fountains on an even trade.

This has been really a gift, Hasek said. We have been asked to be here, and they have made it possible for us.

For now, the new studio will be open Tuesday through Saturday, with a few classes each day. The Yellow Springs location will continue to host the majority of the weeks schedule. The two locations will help the studio utilize all of its 18 teachers, the majority of whom Hasek has trained in the studios teacher training program and certified through the National Yoga Alliance.

At close to 3,000 square feet, the Springfield space is about a third larger than the one in the village, and it can accommodate larger events, such as the teacher training classes or the master teacher workshops, like the one Yoga Springs hosted last weekend for Lynne Minton. The expansion has inspired the studio to plan an advanced 500-hour teacher training program with Minton, who is tentatively scheduled to come for eight five-day residencies over the next two years to teach high level yoga.

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Yoga Springs stretches to Springfield

Yoga has become a popular option for alternative health management.

Research has shown the practice can significantly reduce mental and physical stress, improve mood, and slow the aging process.

But some yogis believe many of the estimated 20 million U.S. students are missing the best part of the discipline: the inner happiness attainable through a healthy mind-body connection. They also worry about injuries that result when beginners tackle poses and exercises without proper guidance. There are so many disciplines of yoga, and with its rich history, the beginner can easily get lost, or worse, injured, said Mary Jo

Ricketson, an experienced yoga practitioner and healthcare specialist

and author of Moving Meditation. A registered nurse, she also holds a Master's degree in education from Northwestern University, and her approach is one that emphasizes the interaction of mind and body. This reciprocal relationship maximizes health benefits, and has exponentially positive consequences beyond the individual.

People have been practicing yoga for thousands of years. In the West, the practice has integrated with our culture leading to variations including extreme yoga. Ricketson warns this sort of exercise can alienate beginners, who may not be ready to jump in the deep end first. Without the proper training and guidance, she adds, beginners risk injuring their neck, lower back, knees and shoulders.

Here are seven things beginners -- and anyone practicing yoga -- should know to maximize their benefits:

1. Cardiovascular (aerobic) training: As with meditation, focused breathing is a cornerstone of mind-body training. Aerobic means with oxygen and aerobic movement increases the flow of oxygen-rich blood throughout the body, including the brain. Cardiovascular training is the single most important aspect of physical training because it keeps the heart open and strong.

2. Core and strength training: This includes the abdomen and buttocks, and the lower back. Many may not know this extends to the base of the skull, where strength, stability and balance originate.

3. Flexibility training (yoga postures): Stretching simply feels good, and it reminds students to not only be more flexible in one's body, but also one's mind. This allows us to move, and live, with greater ease.

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Yoga: Avoid beginner's mistakes while attaining a well of happiness

Celebrity yoga instructor Tara Stiles has been teaching people for years how to heal through the power of yoga. In her new book, Yoga Cures, Stiles gives simple routines that can help alleviate more than 50 common ailments, ranging from hangovers to broken hearts.

"A little bit of meditation and simple movements have a way of getting everything out of your body and your mindIt brings out the organs, and gets your nervous system going and gets the brain activated," Stiles, who also is the founder of Strala Yoga in New York, N.Y., told FoxNews.com.

For something like a hangover, Stiles recommends a basic twist to help lessen the sluggish feelings. A headstand can also help though beginners should only apply a little pressure to the head.

"As you inhale, you make a little more room in your body, and as you exhale, twisting sort of gives pressure to the organs and wrings out toxins and things like that, Stiles said.

Yoga can even ease some of the pain of getting dumped. Studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association have shown that broken heart syndrome, known clinically as stress cardiomyopathy, actually mimics some of the symptoms of a heart attack. Stiles said a simple tree pose can help bring balance to a persons life and move on.

Stiles also includes beauty tips in her book, such as a quick, easy way to fix bags under the eyes.

"You can rub your hands together pretty quickly, she said, Create some heat there, and then close your eyes and press the heels of your hands into your eyeballs. Stay there for a few breaths, and it really brings some energy and circulation and life into the eyes and gives you that refreshed feeling."

For more tips including fixes for cellulite, allergies and ADD check out Stiles book Yoga Cures and her website, tarastiles.com.

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Yoga routines to fix common ailments

The Heart Fit Clinic has released its new Cardiac Yoga DVD program to reverse heart disease. Stress management after a heart attack can be a challenge but it is of paramount importance to know stress management techniques for your heart attack treatment and to start a cardiac rehabilitation program as soon as possible. Now everyone can take advantage of the Heart Fit Clinic cardiac yoga program to reverse this deadly disease process.

Calgary, AB (PRWEB) March 30, 2012

Heart disease is frightening and can be reversed but it takes a lot of dedication and correct information from cardiac rehabilitation heart health experts like those with the Heart Fit Clinic. Understanding essential cardiac yoga techniques after a heart attack is essential to the road to recovery.

The Heart Fit Clinic has released its new Cardiac Yoga DVD - to prevent and reverse heart disease. The success of their patients in a clinical setting has been in large part thanks to this program. Hundreds of patients with the clinic have been guided with this program and it is now available to everyone off their website. "Heart disease is frightening but there is something you can do about it and we have your solution to be a success with heart disease". says Diamond Fernandes, clinic director.

Lifestyle modification strategies are important for heart attack treatment to reverse and prevent heart disease. The Cardiac Yoga DVD program comes with a free heart health manual ($47 value). Individuals who have an acute or chronic medical condition (heart disease), are elderly, have limited mobility, or would like to practice a gentle and modified form of yoga will find the cardiac yoga DVD safe, empowering and helpful in optimizing health and healing.

Cardiac yoga to prevent and reverse heart disease lets patients know how to cope after a heart problem. Heart disease is an inflammatory disease. In this program, the Heart Fit Clinic will take you through some guided cardiac yoga sessions to get you on the right track for heart health.

Millions of people suffer from heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol and in this program the Heart Fit Clinic covers stress management technique to keep your blood pressure controlled. Seeing a heart health yoga expert can cost hundreds of dollars. The Heart Fit Clinic is able to deliver the best cardiac rehabilitation and heart attack and stroke prevention cardiac yoga DVD program for the fraction of the cost for $37 (limited time offer) . Now this program is also a part of their complete cardiac rehabilitation and heart attack prevention program. Contact their clinic via email or phone to live happier, healthier and longer.

The Heart Fit Clinic is the leader in cardiac rehabilitation and heart attack and stroke prevention program. Whether patients have had a recent heart attack or heart problem, past or trying to prevent heart disease this program will help people reverse heart disease.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/3/prweb9353371.htm

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Cardiac Yoga DVD Released by Heart Fit Clinic

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Calcutta News.Net Sunday 1st April, 2012 (IANS)

Yoga therapy can cure every disease and disorder, even cancer, says a Delhi-based yoga therapist but warns against the mass teaching of yoga - including popular pranayams like kapalbhati and anulom vilom - saying they "can cause complications".

"Yoga cannot be universalised...like prescribing a paracetamol tablet," says Subhash Sharma, a yoga therapist who spent 19 years in a gurukul in Rajasthan and is also a post-graduate from the Kasturba Medical College, Manipal.

Sharma told IANS: "People have different physiologies and each person's response to yoga is individualistic. Therefore, there can't be standardisation of yoga for any particular disorder."

Sharma, who describes himself as a pioneering yoga therapist and runs a busy practice in south Delhi, says even a step-by-step book on yoga can be "fatal".

Recounting a particular case, he says one gentleman had come to him with a problem - he had lost the sensation of the nerves to the anus that tell us when to pass faeces.

"He had learnt the steps from a book and started practising 'nauli kriya', or rotating of the intestines. This paralysed the nerves to the anus. He did not know when he was passing stools, he would only make out from the bad smell."

Bhastrika, a popular yogic pranayam that many people do while following an expert on television, can cause asthma, warns Sharma.

"In bhastrika pranayam you pump the lungs. It can hyperventilate the lungs and people can develop asthma."

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'Yoga can cure every disease, but don't universalise'

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU0wJ0OTopU

29-03-2012 13:53 Engage your abdominals and create an even bend along the whole spine for an invigorating and safe Bhujangasana. This practice from Yoga Journal Home Practice is great for beginners or more advanced practitioners. Strengthen your core and spine. For more free yoga videos from Yoga Journal, visit

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Cobra Pose: Home Practice from Yoga Journal - Video

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdSFI2uOCTk

29-03-2012 11:29 Energizing Sequence Please subscribe to my channel here: Go to my channel: Follow me on facebook : Follow me on twitter: Look me up on Google+ :

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Energizing Sequence, All levels Yoga - Video