In our Yoga Blog we will report on yoga news, trends and happenings throughout the world.
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Friday, July 29, 2011 by Tosca Braun
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Yoga Therapy and Research Symposiums
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Yoga therapy is a relatively recent innovation; while texts on the therapeutic applications of yoga exist, yoga was traditionally taught to promote optimal stages of spiritual attunement. The field has grown remarkably in the past decade, informed by recent advances in medicine and spurred on by increasing consumer demand for complementary and alternative treatment modalities. If you are an interested yoga practitioner, yoga therapist or instructor, or simply curious, two upcoming conferences will help you learn more about the exciting frontiers in yoga’s evolving role in the US healthcare system and the scientific community.
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Thursday, July 21, 2011 by Amber Baker
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Yoga Helps Philly Parkinson's Patients
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Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that creates impaired movement or trembling of the muscles for approximately 6 million people in the US. Traditional medical treatment is not very hopeful as the prescribed pharmaceuticals can loose their effectiveness in controlling PD’s symptoms and can also cause severe side effects. But at a small studio in the Philadelphia area, yoga instructor Theresa Conroy has been bringing hope to Parkinson’s Disease patients for the last five years.
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Sunday, July 17, 2011 by Tosca Braun
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Pranayma Reported Causing Deaths
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A recent article headline suggests that the widespread use of Kapalabhati pranayama (“skull-polishing breath”) in India—promoted by Swami Ramdev’s popular television campaigns and yoga camps—is dangerous and may lead to death, echoing lesser admonitions voiced by B.K.S. Iyengar and other yogis concerned about the impact of selling Kapalabhati as a quick fix.
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Friday, July 08, 2011 by Tosca Braun
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Is Yoga Manly Enough for Men?
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While yoga is more commonly practiced than ever before, women still eclipse men at the rate of 76% to 24%, according to a 2008 survey. Many reasons have been theorized for the paucity of men in the yoga world; fewer male yoga instructors, a feminization of the practice as a whole—reflected on yoga magazine covers and in popular ads, a cultural belief that men are supposed to do “manly” forms of exercise (i.e. sports or weight-lifting), less easily activated mirror neurons, and limited flexibility among males compared to females following adolescence.
None of these trends or associations do much to attract males to the practice. And yet, there is a wealth of benefits for men who practice yoga.
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Tuesday, July 05, 2011 by Tosca Braun
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Yoga Moves Outdoors for the Summer
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As we move into summertime, the warm days naturally draw yogis around the country to practice yoga outdoors. While practicing yoga in nature is indisputably becoming more common, sunnier climes—from Florida to Boulder—have offered outdoor yoga as a staple over the past decade. And of course, the concept of yogis practicing outdoors is perhaps as ancient as sadhana itself, age-old clichés of yogis in caves notwithstanding. As modern American yogis begin to increasingly embrace outdoor practice, a briefing on the benefits of time spent outdoors is in order.
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Saturday, June 25, 2011 by Amber Baker
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Yoga and Substance Abuse Prevention
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In recent years, yoga has been increasingly used as a supplement to traditional addiction treatment programs. As rates of prescription drug abuse rise, the practice is now also receiving attention as a useful preventative tool in a complementary approach to substance abuse.
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It is often said that yoga can help bring balance to your life. A new study shows promise that yoga can also quite literally improve your balance. At first glance this may not appear to be as valuable as some of the other beneficial side effects of yoga, yet for those at greater risk for injury from falling, it is a substantial one.
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Women who have a hard time becoming pregnant often turn to standard medical interventions. These include many cycles of medicine, tests, and doctors appointments, in addition to the emotional roller coaster of worry, fear, doubt, anticipation, hope, and disappointment that this process often invokes. This standard medical process can be so intense that “when psychologists look at the stress of being infertile, it's right up there with losing a first relative or a child or a husband and a wife. It's a major stress and it's a major loss for patients.” Woman who are searching for an alternative method of promoting fertility are now looking into yoga. While there is not yet much scientific evidence to support the efficacy of yoga as a fertility treatment, programs focused on yoga for fertility are gaining momentum and acceptance with practitioners, teachers, and medical professionals.
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Menstrual cramps are experienced by 50% of female adolescents, and common among women of reproductive age. A recent study from Iran found three yoga poses—Cobra, Cat, and Fish—to reduce menstrual cramps in adolescents with primary dysmennorrhea.
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Thursday, June 02, 2011 by Amber Baker
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Should Prisoners Practice Yoga?
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Most people who are sent to prison are eventually released back into society with very little “rehabilitation.” What if we were able to send them back into the world with tools for dealing with stress, and an improved sense of self? Programs offering yoga and meditation classes in prison facilities are attempting to do just that. Yet some oppose the idea, believing these are undeserved benefits and constitute a “warped priority”.
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Monday, May 30, 2011 by Tosca Braun
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Yoga Helps Kids in School
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Yoga programs for children continue to grow in popularity and number in yoga studios and in schools throughout the US. While most of the initial objections to teaching yoga in public schools have been resolved, there remain a number of parents who choose to pull their kids out of yoga programs. Those who do so may wish to reconsider based on recent reports which suggest promising benefits for yoga-practicing youth.
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Thursday, May 26, 2011 by Amber Baker
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Yoga Boosts Athletes' Performance
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Yoga has been integrated into the training routines of many athletes and sports teams at all levels of competition, from children’s teams to professional organizations. The benefits of yoga for athletes often discussed include increased strength, flexibility, balance, endurance, and focus, and fewer injuries. Recent news stories point out even more ways in which cross training with yoga can boost performance in other activities.
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Next time you head in for a check-up, don’t be surprised if your provider prescribes a course of mind-body therapy (MBT) to your adjunct care. A recent study found that nearly 1 in 30 (roughly 6.36 million) Americans are physician-referred to MBT, a category encompassing yoga, tai chi, qi gong, deep breathing, meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, and guided imagery. And if you’re already practicing some form of mind-body therapy, count yourself among the 34.8 million Americans who are self-referred. The survey suggests that roughly 18.4% of the US population practices some form of MBT.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011 by Amber Baker
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Yoga and Surfing
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The ability of yoga’s breathing, meditation, and asana practices to help calm the mind and increase focus, stamina, flexibility, and strength has helped make practicing yoga a popular cross-training exercise for many types of physical activities. Over the last couple of years, the surfing community has begun to buzz about the ways in which a consistent yoga practice can improve your surfing, and perhaps it’s time for the yoga community to buzz back.
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For an increasing number of yoga practitioners, yoga is becoming a second career and a way to augment existing income. The increasing number of yoga instructors—70,000 in 2005, the most recent year for which data is available—has raised some concerns about over-saturation of the market in certain regions.
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