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By Julia Rymut;

How to Get Out of a Studio and Enjoy Outdoor Yoga

Woman in Dog Pose OutdoorsDo you love being outdoors? Have you ever thought about outdoor yoga for a change of scenery from your usual practice area?

More and more yoga lovers are heading outdoors during the spring and summer months to make the most of the weather. But be warned, there is a very good chance you will not want to go back inside to practice once you have tasted outdoor yoga!

Under the sky

For a long time I put myself off the idea, because I told myself that I needed to be in my own ‘private space’ where I could control my environment. The idea of being on display whist practicing my asana’s was incredibly off putting because I knew I would have trouble concentrating if I felt that I was making a spectacle of myself and people were staring at me.

Eventually I plucked up the courage to give it a try and having experienced the freedom of meditating in various outside locations, there is no looking back for me. I now have a few favorite spots depending on weather and time constraints

I discovered that it is a shame to confine oneself to practicing indoors when you could be enjoying the experience and freedom of taking your yoga outside and connecting in a natural environment.

Here are some tips that will help you to get the most out of your al-fresco yoga!
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Stress Relief Tips Tagged With: exercise, happiness, stress relief, stress-free living, yoga

By Julia Rymut;

Yoga for Stress Relief

A woman doing yoga for relaxation--triangle pose

Yoga is excellent for stress.

Doing yoga for stress relief is one of the most effective ways to move back into a calm frame of mind, and it can do it almost instantly. Yoga stretches and relaxes the body and calms the mind. It can change a crazy day to a peaceful one. It grounds, centers and puts you back inside your body so that you can accomplish what you need to do.

Yoga can relieve your stress by:

  • increasing your oxygen flow
  • slowing or stopping the lists of things-to-do in your mind
  • giving you a chance to do something nice for yourself
  • keeping your body in good working order to better cope with stressful situations

Yoga stress relief is one of my favorite tools for stress. I have done many yoga classes and many yoga styles. After a good yoga class, I feel fresh and relaxed, much like the “glowy” feeling after a sauna.

Choosing Your Yoga Class

If you have never done yoga, the many teachers, studios and traditions can be daunting.

To pick your first class, you might make convenience your most important consideration. Can you get to the class easily? Is the location convenient? Can you afford it? Sometimes work places or your hospital/clinic provide classes which fulfill these qualifications.

Once you have done enough yoga to know the difference between triangle pose and warrior pose, you may want to pick a particular style and study it more deeply.

Some yoga traditions will emphasize that they are relaxing or restorative. Often these classes will have quiet, longer poses. The poses will often emphasize forward bends and they will be supported. The classes will slow you down by being, well, slow.

However, to reduce stress, consider this: sometimes one can relax by focusing deeply on vigorous poses as well–but the key is focus.

If you are competitive with yourself or your neighbor, or if you turn your mind on and “think” too much, active yoga classes will be one more thing in your energetic day. You’ll become cranked up and euphoric, and take that rush with you when you leave the studio.

So if you can go deeply into your yoga practice, don’t limit your stress relief to just restorative yoga.

Here is a list of some popular yoga styles:

Iyengar yoga

My favorite yoga style is Iyengar. My first yoga classes were Iyengar and perhaps I’ll never love another school as much as this one.

Iyengar yoga is best known for its use of props. Props are used to allow you to get the benefits of a pose, even if your body can not get in the position completely. Some people love the props, others hate them. Depending on the instructor, the props can make a pose more deep or they can be a nuisance that you fuss with.

For me, the props are the least important part of Iyengar yoga. Iyengar yoga is taught with very precise instructions about how to move and position the body. I often feel very deep movements which I have never experienced (translation: I often come home very sore!). My poses are better and my body becomes more limber.

Because of the precision, Iyengar yoga is good for focusing the mind. My undisciplined thoughts focus on my body, and then body and mind come together.

Anusara Yoga

Anuara yoga has its roots in Iyengar, and teaches precise poses, however it is slightly less technical and more heart centered. In the classes I have taken, it is definitely supportive, with people clapping when someone does a difficult pose.

Bikram Yoga

Bikram is called “hot yoga” because it is done in a hot room–a very hot room. The heat helps your muscles to relax and your body to detox. Be prepared with an extra set of clothes for after class, because you will not want to wear your soppy yoga attire home.

The same set of poses are done in each class. This sequence is designed to be an overall body workout, a tonic of sorts, which balances the whole body and detoxes the system.

Filed Under: Stress Relief Tips Tagged With: stress relief, yoga

By Julia Rymut;

Online Yoga and Stress Management

Yoga and stress management go hand in hand.

Yoga relaxes the body, stretching the muscles, oxygenating the blood and relieving sore, tense knots. Having a relaxed body will automatically lift your mood.

And in addition, yoga helps train your mind to be quiet by focusing on your pose. You concentrate on one thing, and all the little worries of the day melt away. You become grounded and peaceful with yoga. Stress Management becomes automatic.

How to Begin with Yoga

Classically, the best way to learn to do yoga is with a teacher.

Teachers help to focus you on your pose. They give you corrections in your posture, but more importantly, a teacher can give you insight about your practice. Are you pushing too hard or are you too lax?

Sometimes yoga poses create an inner battle. A teacher can help you with this. Years ago, every time I sat in Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose), I would go nutty. My stomach would clench; I would tense my jaw; I felt like crawling out of my skin. Having a teacher helped me through the pose. In class I stayed in the pose longer, and gradually I learned how to cope with it. Without my teacher, yoga and stress management would have been contradictory.

Once you know how to do yoga, the next ideal yoga and stress management plan is to have a personal practice.

Practicing on your own allows you to go deeply and listen to your body and inner voice.

As ideal as classes and personal practices are, they are not always practical. The cost is high; the time commitment often impractical. Sometimes, you can’t find local classes. And we don’t always have the discipline to practice yoga entirely on our own.

The bridge between having a teacher and an active personal practice is an online yoga class.

Online Yoga and Stress Management

Online yoga classes offer an excellent way to practice yoga, have instructions and do it at your own pace and convenience. You are both alone and supported. Yoga and stress management both become possible.

  • Online yoga reduces the stress of getting to class. No longer do you rush to class after work, fighting traffic and then try to sit calmly on your mat. If you are uncomfortable in a class setting, from body issues to shyness, online yoga avoids those problems.
  • Online yoga gives more detailed instruction than a book, and you can tailor it to a more personal program than a TV show. By choosing your class, starting and stopping the video, and repeating sections or entire classes, you can make sure you really understand an instruction before you go on.
  • Many online yoga programs offer a forum and other community interaction, so you have a ready source of help, support and information. You are not alone, wondering why your back hurts in Ustrasana (Camel Pose). You can ask a question and get feedback.

Online yoga gives you training wheels to start your own personal practice. By using videos or audio instructions, you practice practicing on your own. You have guidance and independence.

I have an online yoga program that I highly recommend.


My Yoga Online

My Yoga on Gaiam TVMy Yoga (affiliate link) is a robust online yoga program.

Here you have many different instructors with many different backgrounds. You can see videos of many yoga practices, and choose a practice that fits your time and health needs. You view the videos as you wish, in any order, at any time. It is a huge library of yoga videos.

Typically, the videos are a voice over while one or two people do the pose. Many of the videos are yoga sequences–one yoga pose flowing to the next and the next.

My Yoga has a wealth of information, from yoga philosophy to healthy living, from pilates to T’ai Chi. If you want to learn about yoga, you can help here. The site is like yoga and natural health course.

Read more of my review about My Yoga.

Combine Yoga and Stress Management

Yoga is a great gift to quiet your mind. Stopping the blah, blah is one of the first steps to stress management. Yoga and stress management are truly two great sisters for your health.

My Yoga Review

Filed Under: Stress Relief Tips Tagged With: stress management, yoga

By Julia Rymut;

Stress Management and Yoga–Sisters for Your Health

A woman doing yoga for relaxation--triangle poseExercise is a great tool for stress management and yoga offers great benefits to your exercise plan. Find out why every stress management plan should include yoga.

Stress Management and Yoga: What does Yoga do for Stress Relief?

Everyone says yoga is good for stress. But why? What does yoga actually do that can relieve stress?

Yoga provides many benefits to your body, mind and emotions. Some of the benefits mirror other forms of exercise, but yoga goes beyond just exercise.


Yoga is detoxing.

Want to sweat the toxins out? Want to move the muscles, work the lymph system, increase circulation? Yoga will move toxins. Poses with twists will stimulate digestion. All poses will open the energy channels in your body to move your prana, your life force.

Yoga is a master at detoxing the body. When we are under stress, we don’t eat right, we don’t care for ourselves, and we accumulate the harmful biochemicals of stress. We must work extra hard to keep cleaning our system to prevent disease.

Keeping your body detoxed is vital for stress management. And yoga is a great tool for detoxing.

One form of yoga which is renown for detoxing is Bikram Yoga. You do you entire yoga sequence in a room that is 95-100º You get a little sweaty by the end!


Yoga provides stretching.

Yoga is known for stretching. Just mention yoga and people picture sore groins and back bends. And when it comes to reversing the effects of stress, stretching is good.

When you are stressed, you protect yourselves by getting tight. You knot your muscles and tend to close your shoulders into a tight “C”. Often you may sit a lot, and your hips loose movement.

Stretching increases circulation. Moving feels good. It opens your mind to new possibilities. This is the best of yoga and stress relief follows naturally.


Yoga increases oxygen levels.

Every time you inhale and exhale with your pose, you are bringing oxygen to your body.

Try this: the next stressful day you have, notice how you are breathing. Are you breathing into your whole being or just part? Are you breathing deeply or shallowly?

Your body has a very brief lapse into the parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest) phase with every exhalation. Machines which can monitor even the briefest change in heart beats notice that the heart slows minutely with each breath.

Yoga gives you air.

Air helps you relax.


Yoga releases serotonin

Have you noticed that after a good yoga class you feel euphoric?

The is the effect of the hormone serotonin. It calms your body and brings your stress level down. Anything you can do to reduce the cortisol and increase serotonin will help heal your body from the wear and tear of stress.

Reducing your cortisol levels is important to stress management and yoga is great to do that.


Yoga quiets the mind.

Gaining mental clarity and mindfulness is the top reason to use yoga for stress management.

When you first begin yoga, you may feel agitated. “I can’t do this.” “This pose is hard.” “Where do I put my foot?” Corpse pose, which is just lying on your back with your eyes closed, can be tortuous as you fight to keep the grocery list out of your mind.

But as with all things, with practice it gets easier. You can master your mind. You become quieter.

Eventually you can begin to apply the same quietness to your life outside the yoga studio. It is as if you have trained a wild horse and now you can ride together with discipline and beauty.


Yoga provides aerobics

–sometimes.

Aerobic activity is good to reduce stress. Getting your heart beating has many benefits including lowering blood pressure, controlling blood sugar, boosting your mood, and increasing your immune system.

Yoga is generally not considered an aerobic activity with one notable exception: vinyasa yoga. Vinyasa is the word for a dynamic series of yoga poses, one after another in succession, usually accompanied by specific breath patterns. The most famous vinyasa series is the Surya Namaskar or Sun Salutations. Almost everyone has seen some version of this yoga series. When done one after another, with no break, the series can definitely get your heart beating.

Some yoga styles which use vinyasa series a lot: Power yoga, ashtanga yoga, Jivamukti, Kali Ray TriYoga, and White Lotus.


Woman doing a handstand for stress reliefYoga provides strength training

–sorta.

Strength building and weight lifting is great to move your muscles, reduce muscle tension, increase range of motion. Building your core can help protect your back from injury. Building your strength can also boost your confidence.

Again, yoga is generally not thought of as strength building (at least not in the context of lifting weights). Rarely do you see a ripped yogi.

However, when it comes to balance and internal strength, I would match a good yogi with a weight lifter any day.

For women, strength can be a challenge. This is particularly true with upper body strength. Because yoga is primarily about alignment, it is a perfect solution.

In yoga, proper alignment relies on stacking the bones correctly so that the weight of the body is supported. Strength is only needed to maintain alignment.

When a strong person does a hand stand, often they will hold their bodies up with the strength in the shoulders and upper back. If you stand sideways and look at their body, their back is not directly above their arms because their shoulders are not fully open.

A weaker person with good alignment can do a handstand by having open shoulders, and holding good alignment.

Yoga does build strength, and it does help protect your body from injury, but it operates very differently from the “3 sets of 15 reps @15 lbs” mentality.

If you want to work directly on strength, poses like plank, crane, warrior, and handstand do build strength. But even more important, all yoga poses improve alignment and build strength through good form.

Stress management and yoga are a natural fit. You will benefit physically and mentally by adopting a regular yoga practice.

Filed Under: Stress Relief Tips Tagged With: stress management, yoga

By Julia Rymut;

Get an Online Yoga Workout with “My Yoga” on Gaiam TV

If you want an online yoga workout, then My Yoga on Gaiam TV (affiliate link) is your yoga paradise. With hundreds of videos available on demand, with unlimited downloads, it’s the Mecca of online yoga classes.

The beauty of My Yoga is its variety. To reduce stress, you may need a restorative yoga workout one day, and an energizing one the next. Maybe you need instructions on stretching at work. Maybe you need prenatal yoga. One day you want a 60 minute workout, and the next day you only have 10 minutes.

My Yoga has hundreds of workouts, from dozens of teachers. There are many yoga styles, and many different themes in the yoga practices: short practices, long practices, beginner, advanced, pilates, meditation–My Yoga has so many choices that you’re bound to find something that suits you. It is truly a library of online yoga workouts.
My Yoga on Gaiam TV
If you want a truly flexible program, one that can accommodate your every mood, every interest, every physical concern, My Yoga is your online yoga program.

My Yoga on Gaiam TV Features:

  • Many different yoga styles including Hatha, Power, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Kundalini Yoga, and others.
  • Practices on many themes including prenatal yoga, standing poses, sleep and relaxation, core, weight loss, and more.
  • Extra practices including Pilates, Dance, T’ai Chi, and meditation.
  • Yoga at Work classes so you can stay healthy at work too.
  • Clearly marked levels so you know if its for you.
  • Searchable by category, length, level and teacher.
  • Over 100 different teachers.
  • Videos are 5-90 minutes long.
  • Yoga guides to help get you started.

My Yoga on Gaiam TV

Try My Yoga Now

Filed Under: Stress Relief Tips Tagged With: exercise, yoga

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