health

by Timothy Recently in a post ( Pranayama for Everyone ), I wrote about the "buzzing bee breath," Bhramari. I taught a simplified version so that people could get used to it, and feel this practice's almost immediately palpable soothing effects. A reader wrote in with a question about the mudra (in this case meaning a hand position) often taught as part of the practice. So today, I'll teach two more advanced versions of Bhramari, in which the hands are used to deepen the effects. The fifth limb of the eight-limbed path of yoga as taught by Patanjali is pratyahara, which I like to translate as "turning of the senses inward." Most of us living in the modern world lead lives of nearly constant sensory overload. Phones ring and buzz, TVs blare in the background, and even gas pumps impose video commercials on us. It's hard to escape the visual and aural onslaught. A beautiful antidote is Bhramari, particularly when it's taught with Shanmuki mudra. Shanmuk...

by Timothy Mountain, Sky, Clouds by Melina Meza In my last post Pranayama for Everyone: Bhramari Breath I wrote about the importance of pranayama (yogic breathing practices) and introduced one of my favorites, Bhramari, the buzzing bee breath. Today, I'm going to tackle the pranayama I consider the most important: alternate nostril breathing (Nadi Shodhana or Anuloma Viloma). It turns out that almost all of us breathe primarily through one nostril for parts of the day, and then switch to breathing primarily through the other nostril at other times. The ancient yogis knew wrote about this and modern science has confirmed it (see p. 62 of my book Yoga as Medicine for details). Research has confirmed that breathing through the right nostril is linked to the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), whereas left nostril breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system. This is pretty much exactly what's described in ancient yogic texts, albeit using metaphoric language. The left cha...

by Timothy Bee and Flower by Melina Meza One of the dirty secrets of the yoga world is how few yoga practitioners�and how few teachers�do pranayama, yogic breathing exercises. It's better in some yoga traditions than others, but overall I've been shocked to see how few of my colleagues practice pranayama regularly. This is a shame! The breath is probably the single best way to affect the autonomic nervous system, which in turn controls the function of every internal organ, as well as systems like digestion and immunity. Pranayama can also be the gateway into meditation and higher yogic practices. Furthermore, there is a potential synergy: the regular practice of pranayama can make your asana practice subtler and more refined, and your meditation deeper and more concentrated. For therapeutic purposes, I believe there is synergistic benefit from doing some asana, along with pranayama, meditation, and other yogic practices. Some schools teach that only experienced practitioners sh...

by Nina Just a quick post today to let you know that Timothy McCall has updated his list of medical conditions that are benefited by yoga (as demonstrated by scientific studies). There are 75 conditions! 1.    Alcoholism and Other Drug Abuse 2.    Anxiety 3.    Asthma 4.    Atrial Fibrillation 5.    Attention Deficit/HyperactivityDisorder (ADD/ADHD) 6.    Autism 7.    Back Pain 8.    Balance Problems 9.    Breast Cancer 10.    Cancer (General) 11.    Carpal Tunnel Syndrome 12.    Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 13.    Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) e.g. Emphysema 14.    Congestive Heart Failure 15.    Depression 16.    Diabetes 17.    Drug Withdrawal 18.    Eating Disorders 19.    Epilepsy 20. ...

by Timothy Berries by Melina Meza In my last blog post ( Is Meditation an Essential Part of Practicing Yoga? ), I wrote about why meditation may be the most powerful tool in the yoga toolbox for improving health and well-being. Yet meditation is not part of most yoga classes, which tend to focus almost exclusively on asana. Indeed, many yoga practitioners who have become interested in meditation have looked to Buddhism or elsewhere to learn how to meditate because they weren�t finding it in the yoga world. But, as I mentioned previously, meditation was traditionally an integral part of yoga practice, and within the yoga tradition there are dozens of different techniques. Contrary to popular belief, in yogic meditation you are usually not trying to make your mind empty, but instead the process begins by learning how to concentrate your focus. To facilitate this, it helps to focus your attention on one thing, perhaps a word or phrase (a mantra), an object like a candle or a picture of a ...

by Timothy Patterns in the Sand by Brad Gibson Do you need to meditate? Can you achieve all or most of the same benefits from just practicing asana, restorative yoga, Savasana, and/or pranayama? Is it worth even trying if you feel like you're no good at it? We get questions like these at the blog from time to time, so I figured I'd tackle them today. I can't help but notice that people often talk about yoga and meditation as two separate practices. But according to Patanjali, the great codifier of yoga, meditation was an integral part of the practice. By yoga, of course, most people in the U.S. mean asana, which is why people say yoga and meditation. And since most asana classes don't include any meditation, many yoga practitioners have looked outside of yoga, often to Buddhism, if they're interested in learning more. There's nothing wrong with that, but I think people forget that the Buddha was a yogi before he became the Buddha! Meditation gets a lot of press ...