...What do you think is one of the most common ailments that patients consult their doctors for? Did you guess it? Yes, the answer is back pain. The majority of adult Americans have at some point in their physical development suffered from a bad back. Seeing as we are discussing facts, another fact is that over 82% of the people visiting their doctors complaining of back pain actually have no physical disorder of their backs. The pain and unease that they are feeling in that region of their bodies is systematic with a lack of suitable exercise that results in the corresponding pain caused by a lack of muscle tone in the back. These muscles assist in the support of the back.

Tension in the surrounding muscles is also created in the surrounding area where pain i...more

Yoga Teachers Lead by Example (Part 1)

...r location.

Its too easy to let the business of Yoga become your new reality. The business of teaching Yoga is more time consuming than any of us can imagine as Yoga students. If you are spending so much time working on your Yoga business, that you have little time to practice, you must re-evaluate your reason for teaching Yoga.

Make time every day to expand your knowledge about Yogas many aspects. If you dont take the time to be a Yoga student and engage in learning, continuing education, and nurturing your passion for Yoga, you risk burn out. The best Yoga teachers are students for life, who love to practice this wonderful discipline we know as Yoga.

When your Yoga studio, Yoga teaching position, or ashram becomes a daily burden, and you cannot expand your knowledge; the end result is no different than any other job. As a Yoga teacher, you owe it to your students to keep your internal flames of passion for Yoga going.more

laughter Yoga - laughter Heals Body, Mind, and Soul

..."Most people think they have to feel good first in order to laugh. But you can start from nothing, you can even start feeling unhappy and just laugh as a form of exercise, and happy feelings follow." Jeffrey Briar, Certified laughter Yoga Teacher

In 1995 an Indian family physician, Doctor Madan Kataria, started the first laughter Club in a park in Bombay, India to put into practice what he aptly named hasya or laughter Yoga ("hasya" means laughter in Sanskrit). Dr. Kataria was conducting research on the effects of laughter on health and was amazed by the number of studies showing the profound physiological and psychological benefits of laughter.

Armed with determination and a wish to help others improve their health and feelings of wellbeing through laughter, he went to a public park near his home and convinced four other people to start a laughter club there. This action was at first considered a bit bizarre by his friends and colleagues. However, little by little, more and more people joined in. Today, his friends aren't laughing at him anymore, now they're laughing with him: laughter is contagious, and laughter Yoga has swept the globe.

Since the beginnings of laughter Yoga in that park in Bombay, Dr. Kataria has taken laughter Yoga to schools and orphanages, prisons, hospitals, senior homes, instit...more

laughter Yoga In A Nutshell

...a-Ha" in unison, followed by a mixture of stretching, breathing, and silliness. Some of the exercises typical of a laughter Yoga session are the following:

- People wandering around with their hands in the air, laughing hysterically.

- People of all ages squawking like chickens.

- Men and women rotating their hips while talking gibberish.

- Improv-style exercises such as playing on an imaginary swing set; flapping your arms and squealing like a seagull; and sitting in an imaginary rocket ship getting ready for take-off.

- At one point you walk around to different people with palms pressed together at the upper chest in the Namaste greeting-place the hands together at the heart chakra, close the eyes and bow the head--or shake hands and laugh, making sure to look into other people's eyes.

- A ...more

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