...ul. Knowing how to ride the wave of anticipation and fear; adventure and the unknown take their place in your heart center and fill you up. What a sense of accomplishment when you finally reach land! There is just no feeling that can measure up to that first leap from the boat to the dock!

And once I hit the dock, I began to teach yoga on the beaches of the British Virgin islands. With the crew members of over 50 yachts on the initial ocean passage, there were plenty of sailors ready to stretch out there bodies and feel the power of yoga under the intense sun and cloudless blue sky of the Caribbean. What a journey! And yoga has been a full passport to the adventure in my life.

While the loss of a loved one, and in my case my marriage partner, can and will leave one in a state of confusion, Yoga has opened the window to a new beginning. It works. In addition to the personal loss; I experienced a rearrangement of my life through tremendous damage to my home from three major hurricanes in the past two years. When I lost my office addition because of flooding from a broken water line as the result of a fallen tree, I turned the space outside into a meditation and butterfly garden and the space inside became a yoga studio. I use my studio as a place of meditation and personal practice. I have collected all my favorite yoga books and memorabilia from my retreats in that space. I know that when one door closes, another opens. I have survived great loss and received great rewardthe yin and yang of life.

When I complete a practice with my students I always leave them with an affirmation. My favorite is

No matter how dark the tunnel, it always leads to light.

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Teaching Yoga for Stress Management - Why Does Yoga Work?

...s should understand that some forms of daily low level stress are unavoidable, and make them stronger because of the experience, but extreme stress can cause panic attacks, heart attacks, or premature death. The rewards of their practice can be felt during, and after, their first lesson. The first part of the solution is a matter of making them aware of it.

Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publicationsmore

A Look at Yoga and Its Different Branches

...Yoga has been around for nearly two millenniums and has evolved gradually into various forms. It is considered one of the best forms of physical and mental exercise. People practice different kinds of yoga according to their needs. The main aim of yoga is to bring about a balance between the mind and body of an individual. Meditation is a part of all forms of yoga.

The basic form of yoga is the Hatha Yoga that enhances the physical aspect of an individual and is also recommended by the doctors as physical therapy. It consists of postures which are also known as asanas accompanied with breathing techniques known as pranayamas. The combination of asanas and pranayamas has been found very effective in treating and controlling a number of diseases.

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Yoga books - Literature of Health and Wellness, Popular Yoga books

...e mentioned in Sanskrit. Therefore, it is highly expected from yoga book author that he or she elaborates each such concept in lucid detail for the benefit of the reader.

The success of a yoga book depends on the communicability of the content written therein. The practicability of the theory put in the book is also very fundamental.

Some of the most popular Yoga books are:

Pranayama - Its philosophy & Practice by Swami Ramdev
Yog: Its Philosophy & Practice by Swami Ramdev
Anatomy of Hatha Yoga by H. david Coulter
Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy by Gregor Maehle
Light on Life by BKS Iyengarmore

Yoga Ball Ab Workout