Belly dancing embraces organic movement that develops body awareness, tones muscles, and enhances coordination. Enjoy an online video sample of Belly Dance Express.

This classic back-arching yoga posture offers tremendous benefits throughout the body. The positioning of the forward knee, however, requires special attention to avoid knee strain and injury. Learn special tips offered by Dr. Robin Armstrong in doing Pigeon pose safely and effectively.

Benefits of Pigeon pose / Eka Pada Rajakapotasana
*Opens hip flexor muscles (psoas, rectus femoris), groins
*Opens hip rotator muscles (gluteus medius & minimus)
*May relieves sciatic nerve tension and ease chronic low back pain
*Advanced version opens chest and shoulders
*Traditionally thought to control sexual desire, increase circulation to urinary, digestive, and reproductive systems

Click to read all the safety and alignment tips for Eka Pada Rajakapotasana / Pigeon pose.

When we begin practicing yoga the deepest part of our consciousness asks for clarity, awakening and truth. What is sometimes the first step in taking positive steps towards the peace that we all yearn for is a recognition of exactly how deeply we are entrenched within our harmful patterns of the past. Yoga can sometimes be riddled with fierce competition in an effort to help practitioners confront their competitive nature. You might find yourself competing with a new yoga practitioner in your daily class who is naturally very flexible. Or you might find yourself competing with yourself and comparing your body in a negative light with the way it was last year, last week or yesterday. Yet still you might be competing with your friends and peers. All of this is totally normal because it is totally and completely part of being human. The yoga process is not a denial of humanity, but instead presents you with a clear mirror through which to view your character. And in the safe space of yoga get the chance to move through the competition of the ego into the open, non-judgmental realm of peace.

Physical hatha yoga even sometimes creates a fertile ground for the competitor’s mind because the postures are taught sequentially based on proficiency. It is even tempting to judge a person’s spiritual development by the amount of postures they are doing. Yet the real yoga happens within and is a process where dedicated practitioners heal the body and train the mind. It really does not matter how good your lotus position is, how many handstands you can do or how deep your backbends are if you are unconscious about the way you treat other people, beings and yourself. Similarly it is often the insurmountable challenge of the most demanding postures that teaches the fiercest competitive practitioners a very deep and hard lesson-humility. There will always be someone stronger, more flexible, younger and more knowledgeable than you. There will always be someone doing more yoga postures than you. You will never get it done and you will never be the best forever if at all. And that is a good thing because it teaches you to learn
that although you bring great gifts to the yoga practice and to life, you are not entitled to set yourself on a pedestal high above, away and apart from your fellow human beings. Paradoxically we are all both absolutely unique and totally equal on some level.

The learning that happens within the field of yoga asks you to embrace both the part of yourself that has a vital contribution to the flow of life and the part of you that is connected to all sentient beings. If you think you are going to beat one of your fellow teammate at the game of life, think again because life is not an Olympic sport with gold, silver and bronze metals. There is no judge waiting at the finish line to rate your performance, except maybe yourself. The reason why there can be no competition in the deepest sense of life is because the parameters by which life is truly measured are infinite.

The questions most often asked by people who survive a near death experience at the moment of their passing is whether they had loved enough, whether they had been truly happy, whether they had been able to forgive, whether they shared their true beauty with others and whether they had known real peace. While career, politics, success, money, shopping, drama, fame and fortune are aspects of life that cannot be avoided and can even be fun and entertaining, they are not the parameter for measuring the deepest experience of life. Instead forgiveness, acceptance, peace, beauty, freedom, joy, happiness and love are the highest truths of life. Yoga teaches you to ask whether each and every one of your actions answers to highest truths of life. There can be no real competition because time has no real meaning in the field of learning in which yoga takes place. Yoga itself is eternal and universal.

About Kino MacGregor
Kino MacGregor is a small business owner (www.miamilifecenter.com), yoga teacher and freelance journalist who has produced two yoga DVDs and is currently working on her first book, Inner Peace, Irresistible Beauty to be released late April 2009. For complete details please see www.ashtanga-awareness.com.

How important are fats, what forms should you be consuming and in what quantities? It wasn’t long ago when then medical community was advocating the avoidance of all fat, even in the form of nuts or an avocado. Long gone are the days of neglect and dismissal when it comes to fat. We have made great progress drawing more clear lines between raw plant based sources that are good for you, even anti-aging, and those that are harmful such as cooked, animal based, and processed saturated and trans fats.

A deficiency of healthy fat runs prevalent throughout the modern day North American diet with the majority of people consuming too many of the detrimental bad fats including saturated fats in meat and dairy, and processed polyunsaturated fats or hydrogenated trans-fat from cooking oil and margarine used in processed foods. Consuming too many of these and not enough of the good fats contribute to stroke, heart attack, chronic inflammation, cognitive impairment, allergy, auto immune diseases and ultimately premature death.

Many of the oils we think are doing our bodies good are in fact causing further damage. The processing of oil can be the difference between good and bad. Some extraction methods for cheaper oils involve high heat, which can actually cause the oil to convert to trans fat. Other extraction methods use chemical solvents to separate the oil, usually done with low-grade oils.

Learn about selecting the GOOD fats from the BAD fats and proper ratios to incorporate into your diet. Read the full article: How Important are Fats in Your Healthy Diet?

Do you have a neti pot yet? Droves of Americans are beginning to rely on this small container, which is used to clean out the nasal passages with saline, as a natural remedy for all sorts of congestive ailments. Each year, about 18 million Americans suffer from sinusitis; an estimated 40 million cope with environmental allergies; and there are more than 1 billion reported cases of upper respiratory tract infections. Many people try to quell their symptoms with antibiotics, nasal steroids, decongestants, and antihistamines. But if you’d prefer to avoid the side effects of medication, why not use a neti pot to learn the nasal wash? The process only takes five minutes—an easy, safe, inexpensive way to obtain relief.

Read the full article Natural Health: The Neti Pot

Watch a video demonstration of How to Use a Neti Pot.

Jivamukti is a physically vigorous and intellectually stimulating style of yoga that has transformed the lives of thousands. Follow Sharon Gannon she guides you through an inspiring yoga flow that is demonstrated by David Life and Sharon. In 1984 Sharon Gannon and David Life created the Jivamukti Yoga Method, which is a path to enlightenment through compassion for all beings. The JY Method emphasizes vinyasa, scriptural study, devotion, prayer, music, chanting and meditation as well as animal rights, veganism, environmentalism and political activism.

The Jivamukti Yoga Method is taught worldwide in Jivamukti Yoga Schools in New York, Berlin, Munich, London, Toronto, and Detroit. The Jivamukti Yoga method is recognized by TIME magazine as one of the nine major methods of hatha yoga taught in the world today, and is featured in the acclaimed documentary, “What is Yoga?”.

About Sharon Gannon
In 1984 Sharon Gannon and David Life created the Jivamukti Yoga Method, which is a path to enlightenment through compassion for all beings. The JY Method emphasizes vinyasa, scriptural study, devotion, prayer, music, chanting and meditation as well as animal rights, veganism, environmentalism and political activism.

Preview a free sample or download: Transform Yourself with Jivamukti Yoga

Work can fulfill us or deplete us. And since we spend easily half our waking hours on the job, our occupation affects our longevity and health. If we learn how to explore the full potential of our ayurvedic constitution (prakriti), we can design our lifestyles accordingly, reaping maximum success from our labors and increasing our levels of energy, joy, and vitality.

Our prakriti is comprised of three doshas—vata, pitta, and kapha. Although some people have dual or tri-doshic constitutions, most of us have one dominant dosha. Here is how the doshas play out at work and some ayurvedic advice on how to regain balance if your job is dosha-aggravating.

Read more about your dosha and how to achieve a more fulfilling work lifestyle.

Watch a yoga video preview of In a Heartbeat Vinyasa

About Clara:
Clara originates her practice and teachings from New York at the Jivamukti Yoga Center. She received her certification at Sonic Yoga NYC with Lauren Hanna and Jonathan Fields in 2003. Her unique sense of sequencing is influenced by teachers Shiva Rea, Lauren Hanna, Stacey Brass (Laughing Lotus), David Life (Jivamukti) and from her background in dance.

A very interesting paper was published in European Spine Journal this month entitled Altered Breathing Patterns in Chronic Low Back Pain Patients. Rousell and his colleague’s research proved that patients with chronic low back pain often experience altered breathing patterns while performing movements involving the core muscles. This is relevant for anyone who moves and has low back pain! Let’s define each of the patterns that were considered impaired: click here to read full article

Many western teacher training schools, while they introduce this philosophy will braise over the philosophy of yoga and delve right into asana (postures), as this is what we are mainly teaching to students, though this too, is changing. Though an appropriate approach for most people wanting to learn how to be a yoga teacher, the yamas and niyamas are not first and second in the list of limbs randomly.

Yama, the first limb of yoga or ethical discipline, is similar to that of the great commandments, transcending creed, country, age and time. These rules of conduct, or yamas are: ahimsa (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacharya (continence), and aparigraha (non-coveting). It is the lack of attention paid to the yamas that lead to mental and emotional suffering, and it is this suffering that turns many onto a yogic path, first via asana, and then through the practice of meditation, or control of the mind.

The Niyamas, to outline the difference, are rules that govern individual conduct, while the yamas are universal. There are five niyamas called: saucha (purity), santosha (contentment), tapas (austerity), svadhyaya (study of self) and isvara (dedication to the lord).

For the sake of exemplification, let us use satya to make the connection from the mat to the yamas, and how we conduct ourselves in daily existence. Satya, or truth, is the highest rule of conduct or morality. If the mind thinks truth, if the tongue speaks truth and if one’s life is based on truth, the person becomes fit for the union with the infinite, which really, is yoga’s ultimate path (as opposed to increased flexibility!) Truth is not limited to speech alone. There are four sins of speech: abuse and obscenity, dealing in falsehoods, telling tales and ridiculing others. The ancient Chinese proverb, “he who controls his tongue has attained self control in a great measure” comes to mind when speaking of satya and how we live it.

When attempting to live a life without falsehoods satya seems to be almost non-existent due to the many masks we wear when doing business, in our personal affairs, or even when existing among our own family members. The truth can be only found within an individual. To live a life with truth is to live to its ultimate peak. It may be easy for a person to believe or justify that they are living with integrity by coming to yoga classes, but it goes much further than the physical practice. A life lived with truth, when no one is watching, creates ripples of positive actions, which in return leads to positive karma, which in turn reduces mental and emotional stress.

Many times, a lie, even one not meant with malice causes anxiety to us, as we wonder why we said we would do something when we really had no intention of doing it. Perhaps we have exaggerated a skill on a resume and then fear that the interviewer will check on this fact by asking us, causing us to extend the truth or the lie, or that a reference will be called and we worry about what that person will say about the exaggeration on the resume.

With even greater subtlety someone may withhold information or feelings on what they really want from their partner for fear of rejection, ridicule, or guilt due to societal conditioning. Think of a time where you wanted to be held, to make love, or have your partner know a secret you would not want to share. Withholding can also be considered an untruth. Once the body has become so open through yoga practice, the chakras in the body also open wider, allowing us to speak with more confidence, clarity and our true intentions. Speaking and acting with satya can then open a couple to true intimacy through communication, and we all know that communication is key for success in relating not only to our partners, but to all beings.

The truth is that we are here as a spirit, in human form, trying to release ourselves from the wheel of samsara or suffering. The ancient yogic scriptures speak of truth and give us practical methods to release the hold of human desires. All we have to do is to experiment with their methods and observe the results. Try a day of saying exactly what you mean, politeness aside, and asking also for what you want, exactly for what you want. Also practice the art of being who you really are, which is not someone who does things they do not really want to do. Observe the results. Repeat.

About the author:
Satyama Lasby is a hatha yoga instructor with over 10 years experience teaching in Canada, India and Guatemala. Certified in Integrative Yoga Therapy, her influences come from Sivanada and Agama Yoga studied in Kerala and Rishikesh respectively. Satyama worked and taught at the Osho International Meditation Resort in 2009 where active meditations and level of interpersonal relating changed her entire outlook and approach to work and life. She loves to serve, dance, teach and touch.

Currently residing in Whistler, Satyama’s dharma is to bring meditation to people’s lives. She works to manage a yoga wear company called FRUV Freedomwear. She intuitively paints kundalini energy spirals, rides her bike and makes students smile. “It starts on the mat, but it real bliss occurs when your yoga and meditation become connected to every spontaneous moment.”