yoga practice

Yoga nidra is extremely beneficial… Just make sure you stay awake long enough to experience it.

Oh Sharon – your yoga centres occasionally push hard, but your philosophy is fundamentally cool.

While doing some yoga related research on the weekend I came across an interesting article on Business Week, US. According to the article:

Even people who have never done yoga, for some reason seem to know about downward dog. It’s a great pose. If you’re feeling tight in your legs, have a bit of a sore back or want to release your neck and shoulders, it works wonders.

Are you wondering what to do on Valentine’s day? A yoga class might not seem to be the most romantic thing on Valentine’s Day, but couples yoga (also known as partner yoga) offers something a little different.

Continuing on the topic of postures I love, we move onto the forward bend. During my first week of living with a sprained ankle, seated forward bends – mainly paschimottanasana was a posture I threw myself into and embraced as it was pretty much one of the few asanas I could still do to my full ability. And now with my ankle on the mend, I’m back to enjoying standing forward bends too.

The headstand, sirsasana is one of my favourite positions and it’s probably one of the most popular and well-known asanas in yoga. There are plenty of people who come to yoga classes eager to learn this pose and although, sirsasana isn’t as tough as it looks, it’s best if you first build up your strength and have sufficient practice before attempting this asana.

Sanskrit is an ancient language originating from in India. In yoga, Sanskrit plays a significant role. All the ancient yogic texts are written in Sanskrit.

If yoga is anything, I guess it is showing up to the yoga centre and doing it. Or, perhaps not even that – just showing up to yourself, and doing your asanas at home.

On the weekend I did something that you’d assume would be relatively drama free. I went bush walking. I think the combination of my lankiness and tendency to trip over my own feet combined with a rouge stone or branch caused me to slip over. Now, I am resting, icing, compressing and elevating my foot due to a sprained ankle.

Surya namaskara is a sequence of yoga asanas, better known as the salute to the sun. In virtually any yoga class you attend you can be assured you will practise surya namaskara or at least some of its core postures.

Yoga is great for cultivating arm strength. Many women, myself included, feel their strength is somewhat lacking when it comes to the arms. Yoga offers a way to gradually build up that strength. Although many of the yoga positions that are arm intensive may seem physically challenging at first, it’s important to stick with them. Even if you can only hold the pose for a few seconds, it’s a start. Practise will help you progress and gradually cultivate strength and endurance.