Yoga Position - What Does Each Type Do?

I often wondered what the value of each type of yoga position is, so I did some research to find out. All yoga positions help to develop strength and flexibility. Yet the type of yoga position that you do also offers some very specific benefits.

standing Poses
They are included in many poses and they help to align your feet and body. This type of yoga position is especially useful in improving your posture. standing poses strengthen your legs while simultaneously increasing flexibility in your legs and hips. They add to the mobility of your neck and shoulders and they increase the flexibility in your pelvis and lower back. One of the most basic standing poses is Mountain Pose.

Seated Poses
These poses help increase flexibility in your hips and lower back, while also strengthening your back. They add suppleness to your spine and elasticity to your hips, knees, ankle and groin. They also encourage deeper breathing, which contributes to you feeling calm and peaceful.

Forward Bends
This type of yoga position helps stretch your lower back and hamstrings. Forward bends also release tension in your back, neck, shoulders, and increase the flexibility in your spine. They often promote a sense of calmness. I find forward bends particularly challenging since I have a considerable amount of stiffness in my neck due to an old gymnastics injury. This is the type of yoga position where I often use a prop such as a strap or block.

Back Bends
They open your chest, rib cage, and hips. They strengthen your arms and shoulders, while simultaneously increasing flexibility in your shoulders. They help relieve tension from the front of your body and hips and they also increase spinal stability. You should always do back bends as a complement to forward bends in order to maintain balance in your body.

Balance
Although balance poses can be challenging, I find them to be some of the most fun poses to do. They help you develop muscle tone and coordination and also strength and agility. They help improve your posture because you really need to elongate your spine in order to keep yourself from falling over. This type of yoga position helps train your mind to focus your attention; if your attention if not focused, you will not be able to do the pose.

Twists
I love to do twists. Twists release tension in your spine and increase shoulder and hip mobility. They also help relieve backaches by stretching and opening up your back muscles. I often experience tightness in my upper back and twists help me loosen up this area. It is important to always do twists on both sides of your body in order to ensure alignment and balance.

Supine and Prone Poses
Supine poses are done on your back. They help stretch your abdominal muscles, they open your hips, and increase your spinal mobility. They release tension and strengthen your back, arms and legs.

Prone poses are done facing the floor. They strengthen your arms and back and open up your hips and groin. They relieve tension and increase flexibility in your spine. One of my favorite prone poses is Extended Seal because I find it very relaxing and it helps stretch out my shoulders and upper back.

Inversions
This type of yoga position develops strength and stamina, particularly in your upper body. It also increases circulation because since your legs are higher than your heart, it reverses the normal flow of blood. Inversions help pull fluid out of your feet and legs, so they are great to do after you have been standing up for a long time. Advanced inversion poses require a great deal of strength and alignment and should only be learned under the guidance of a certified teacher. People with glaucoma, pregnant women and those who are menstruating should avoid inversion poses.

Relaxation Poses
Relaxation poses are usually done at the end of a yoga practice. They calm your mind and body and encourage a deep feeling of relaxation. This type of yoga position is often one of the most challenging poses to do, particularly for Westerners who often have a difficult time letting go. One of the most well-known relaxation poses is Corpse Pose.

There are hundreds of poses in yoga and they all provide wonderful benefits for your mind and body. By understanding each type of yoga position, you can choose a well rounded practice with asanas from each type or do those that meet your bodys needs at any given time.

Della Menechella is a yoga and fitness enthusiast who has been involved in fitness for over thirty years. Here website http://www.beauty-fitness-yoga-source.com/ is filled with practical information about how you can make yoga and fitness a positive part of your life.

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How To Get Certified In Scuba Diving

The first two steps in getting certified in scuba diving is to make sure that you are a reasonably proficient swimmer and you get medical clearance from your doctor to take up the sport. As for the swimming, you dont have to master every type of stroke. Scuba certification only requires that you are able to swim about 200 yards using any stroke you want and to be able to float or tread on water for about 10 minutes. If you are in good general health and are comfortable in the water, then you should be able to scuba dive without any problems.

There are about 1,900 professional scuba dive centers in north America alone and your local ones should definitely be checked out. Most will run basic certification programs on a regular basis. These centers or shops should be listed in the yellow pages and you can also check with websites of some of the major scuba diving certification agencies such as PADI or NAUI as they will also have listings. Sometimes scuba diving courses are offered at universities too.

Make sure that the course you are interested in taking as well as its instructor are certified with one of the major scuba diving training agencies. This will ensure that you get proper, safe training for both the technical background knowledge and practical skills required for certification as a scuba diver. You also want to end up with an internationally recognized certification card if you want to go scuba diving at various locations around the world.

Some vacation resorts offer resort courses lasting a day or two which offer beginners some very basic training in order to try out scuba diving. These are not certification programs. full certification programs involve classroom work, exams, practical skills sessions at a pool and usually about four open water dives in the sea (lake or ocean). The duration of the classroom work and pool sessions vary from a very intensive weekend (with advance reading) to once a week over several weeks. The open water dives will usually take two more days. Dive centers located in the tropics also offer basic certification programs that last several days to a week. Although the intensive weekend programs are quite feasible, many feel that basic scuba diving courses spread out over a few weeks will help beginners learn the skills better. Scuba diving does involve new skills and to learn them all during one full weekend may be too much for some people.

As for which scuba diving certification training agency is the best, there isnt any one recognized organization that is better than another. PADI is the most popular in the world but not necessarily better than NAUI or SSI. NAUI course are often more technical in the classroom than those offered by PADI but both will adequately train you to be a scuba diver. The more important factor would be the individual instructor and your own effort during training/studying. In fact, many scuba diving instructors have certifications from several training agencies.

For people living in the more northern regions, there are a few possible routes to take in order to obtain certification. One can travel down south to the tropics and do the entire basic certification course down there in warm weather. However, this will take up a good portion of a vacation since reading, classroom, pool sessions and open water dives all must be done during that time period. A second option is to take the entire course including the open water dives back in home territory. This usually offers beginners the most time since courses can be spread out over a few weeks. However, the water up north is not as warm as in the tropics and the scuba diving could be seasonal. A third option is to take all the classroom and pool sessions back home and then go down south to do the open water dives in warm waters. Many people have taken this route. Your instructor back home will give you a referral letter to bring down to an instructor located down south who will oversee your open water dives. This is a good combination of taking ample time back home to practice the skills in the pool plus getting the classroom work out of the way followed by having nice warm water to dive in for the open water dives. One thing to be aware of if considering this option is to make sure that your travel to the tropics for your open water dives is not too delayed after finishing up with your pool sessions at home. If too much time has elapsed, one could easily forget the skills learned in the pool by the time a vacation comes along.

The underwater world has so much to offer and only a small percentage of the worlds population will ever have the privilege to see it in person rather than on television. Become one of these individuals who will have the honor of exploring the oceans by getting certified in scuba diving.

Clint Leung is a NAUI certified Master and Rescue Scuba Diver. He is also owner of Free Spirit Activewear http://www.FreeSpiritActivewear.com, an online retailer/designer specializing in premium quality scuba diving activewear. Also numerous articles on scuba diving.

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The Right Golf Training Aid is Out there

Most golfers want to improve their game. Of the many, many choices available, you can find the golf training aid that can help you improve virtually any and every aspect of your game. These include weighted clubs, impact balls, special mats, measuring devices and much, much more. many golfers would agree that although golf is an easy game to learn, it is difficult to master.

Each golf training aid is designed to help you focus on one thing, such as your stance or your swing. Practicing over and over trains your mind and your body until the correct positioning or motion becomes second nature on the golf course.

However, a golf training aid that works for one person wont necessarily provide someone else the same benefits. Those new to the game of golf have an advantage in using training aidstheir lack of experience means almost any aid will be helpful by providing experience just by using it. More experienced golfers have probably developed bad habits that are harder to change. Or, they have very specific faults they want to address and its harder to find a golf training aid specific enough to improve those faults.

Whether you are a beginner or a golfer who has logged hours on courses around the globe, you will only benefit from training aids that are suited to your needs and your preferred learning methods. Read reviews and keep yourself updated about the teaching aids available. Dont be shy: talk to other golfers and find out what training tools they have found helpful.

Aside from making sure you choose a golf training aid best suited to your needs, make sure your selection makes sense. Be wary of products that make promises as well as those that address a certain skill without also touching on the related skills. For example, a training aid designed to increase your swing speed should also focus on establishing a good swing. What good is a faster swing if you are just hitting the ball into the woods? If the product promises to improve your swing speed without also addressing swing control, quality and accuracy, move on to another aid.

bear in mind that a golf training aid can only improve your game to the degree that your body is able. If you dont have a good foundation of strength and flexibility, a training aid can only do so much. Work on improving your physical condition along with the specifics of your golf game.

Another important factor in successfully benefiting from a golf training aid is regularly using it. It will take several sessions with the device before you will see a difference in your game. Dont give up too quickly and move your training tool to the garage or basement never to be seen again.

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Dr. Richard Myers provides the avid golfer with the proper golf training aid improve his or her golf game. If the perfect game eludes you, see Richard at ThinkandReachPar.com.

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The Benefits of Meditation: Tips and Techniques

Meditation is healthy, safe and affordable. In fact its free. The only expense youll have is a meditation mat, which isnt especially necessary-at least from my experience. Meditation has been around for 5,000 years, and was originally a spiritual component of yoga. Through the years non-yogis adopted it, intuitively sensing and connecting the practice with greater peace of mind. Personally, I cant say enough good things about meditation. Its use has rewarded me with less worry and much more energy. But Ive never been one for anecdotal evidence. Lets get to the science

Transcendental Meditation

Recently, theres an incredible amount of science tied into the benefits of meditation. The studies are endless and cover a variety of meditative practices. On Transcendental Meditation alone (mantra repetition) there are over 500 studies. Some are more noteworthy that others. A study in the Japanese Journal of Public health found that through Transcendental Meditation, industrial workers sleep improved and their smoking decreased. Another study conducted at the MERU research institute, in Buckinghamshire, England found that the length of time practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program correlated with younger biological age and younger functional age.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation, which asks us to focus on our breath to facilitate awareness of the present moment, is another widely studied meditation technique. After studying the effects of 8-weeks of mindfulness meditation on participants, a 2003 report in the Journal of Psychosomatic medicine concluded: A short program in mindfulness meditation produces demonstrable effects on brain and immune function. Impressive, but fairly vague. To get a more committed response to the benefits of meditation we have to turn to Taiwan. In 2002 their journal Chang Gung medicine reported that training in MM may be a medically superior and cost-effective alternative to pain medication for the control of headaches with no underlying organic causes in highly motivated patients.

stress Reduction and Meditation

What causes these positive physical changes? To answer this, other research has looked at the specifics of what happens in the body during meditation. . Researchers at the Maharishi school of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, found that meditation has an enormous impact on stress reduction. When they examined a group who had meditated for four months they saw that they produced less of the stress hormone cortisol. They were therefore better able to adapt to stress in their lives, no matter what their circumstances were.

Having balanced cortisol levels is essential to mental and emotional health. Notice I say balanced rather than none. We dont want to completely eliminate cortisol. If we did wed be dead. Even low cortisol levels can be dangerous. Not enough cortisol is the identifying trait of Addisons disease. John F. Kennedy had this condition, which he denied passionately during his presidency. Yet during his term he regulated his levels through hydrocortisone (synthetic cortisol). The reverse of JFKs condition is called Cushings Syndrome.

The five most common and noticeable changes of this condition include; red face and puffy cheeks; excess fat surrounding the collar bones, muscle weakness, and hypertension. But we dont have to have Cushings Syndrome to be damaged by extra cortisol. The changes we experience may be subtle variations of these. Plus, the changes caused by excess cortisol are age dependent. Young people may stop growing and teenagers can develop acne. The mature among us arent safe either. Since excess cortisol damages bone-tissue those over age 60 may develop fractures related to osteoporosis. So its evident that if we can regulate cortisol, especially through a natural process, we owe it to ourselves to try.

Other benefits of Meditation

Regina Drueding, MD, is a meditation instructor at Life Circles in Utah, USA. She quotes the benefits of meditation as follows: more energy, improved quality of sleep, decreased anxiety, lessened chronological aging, improved concentration, improved visual acuity, increased alertness and heightened immunity. She writes: Besides the benefits mentioned earlier, meditation results in improvement of hypertension, sleep disorders, headaches, heartrhythm disturbances, chronic pain pain due to cancer, infertility and irritable bowel syndrome. Following meditation, mental and physical refreshment result and benefits are cumulative with regular practice.

How to Meditate

Meditation is both simple and complex. Its like defining the color orange: When you see it you know it. Similarly, the experience of meditation is best, wellexperienced. In an article in New View magazine, Shippensburg Universitys Dr. C. George Boeree describes the basics of Buddhist meditation. In summary, the beginners technique is as follows:

1. Sit or kneel comfortably.

2. The hands are loose and open with the palms up, one atop the other and thumbs lightly touching.

3. Head is upright. Eyes may be closed or open. If open they should focus on your hands or a spot nearby.

4. Beginning meditators should count upwards to ten on each exhale. Breathe in a relaxed and natural way. Then begin again at one and repeat. Continue to breathe naturally.

5. Continue for 15 minutes.

In my personal experience, I dont find that the specific length of time is as important as repetition and persistence. To paraphrase, 10 minutes daily beats 15 minutes once a week. This brings me to another point: We all have different personalities and as such, different meditation approaches suit some more than others. Thankfully there are many varieties of meditation. Some varieties have sub-varieties.

Mindfulness meditation is one of these versatile practices. Perhaps its because its essence-awareness of the present moment-is so versatile. Mindfulness in our daily life can be practiced by slowing down and attending to our surroundings. What are our 5 senses telling us? We can use mindfulness in the middle of a hectic day, such as paying attention to our breathing when stopped at a traffic light. We can also use other everyday events as triggers for mindfulness. Buckling your seatbelt? Make this a reminder to return to the present. Really think about what youre doing and the details of the experience.

The more traditional may benefit from a more formal mindfulness practice. You may sit in the identical form as in traditional Buddhist meditation- on a chair or kneeling. However, you may also sit with your legs crossed. Your eyes are closed and your posture is both straight and relaxed while your head remains upright. Focus on your breath and allow mental chatter to float by without regard. Thoughts, emotions and sensations will come, but dont be influenced by them. Keep focused on your breath. If you are getting involved with your thoughts dont worry-your efforts arent destroyed. The key thing is to bring your attention back to breathing and continue. This can go on for 5 minutes to 5 hours. Its up to you.

Transcendental Meditation is another popular form of meditation. Generally, this type is practiced twice daily for a period of 15-20 minutes. Again, this technique involves sitting comfortably. Yet in contrast to basic Buddhist the eyes stay closed. Each student is given a mantra and is instructed to induce relaxation through use of this mantra. Since many of either cant or wont go to a formal TM class, a no-fail mantra I recommend is the classic OM. In The Heart of yoga, T.K.V Desikachar writes that repetition of "OM" enables us to maintain mental and emotional calmness, overcome obstacles and enable understanding. It is the shortest of the mantras, and is said to be suggestive of God. If youre uncomfortable with the religious aspects of OM I suggest a word that has positive meaning for you, such as love, calm or peace. Calm is an ideal substitute, since vocally it resembles OM.

Final Word

You may never, ever choose to meditate. Yet if this is your choice it may be valuable to question why. For a long time I was reluctant because of images of the dropout hippie 60s. Yet when I tried it the experience overcame my reservations. If you try it the same may happen to you. If it doesnt you havent lost any money, and youve gained a new experience.

resources:

getting in the Gap: Making Conscious Contact with God Through Meditation (Hay House Inc., 2003)

The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh (Beacon Press, 1975)

Galina Pembroke

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