Benefits of Yoga

There was a time when people would think of yoga as some sort of wacky practice that only the most eccentric people took part in. Anytime someone was pictured doing yoga they seemed to be perched on a mountaintop in some kind of strange and dangerous looking pose. But as the yoga trend has become more and more popular, people are starting to realize that yoga is not just something reserved for the most eccentric of people, yoga is for everyone. In fact, everyone from kids to cancer patients have reported finding mental and physical relief after adding a short yoga practice into their day.


When it is used regularly, yoga can help you to lose stress, ease anxiety, and adjust your endocrine system. But more than that, yoga helps you to learn to be 'non-reactive' to stressful situations. You will learn to breathe through stressful situations and trust your body to help you come out on the other side of whatever is bothering you. Think about all of the stressful situations that you have in your life. You wake up for work, drive in traffic, have an exhausting day at work, get back in your car, pick up the kids, get to dinner, and get ready to do it all over again the next day.

For most of us, this is an exhausting routine and that's why we pray for the weekends.

But now just for fun why don't we try to imagine it a different way? Let's say that you get up in the morning and you do some light yoga for 15-20 minutes in the morning, not much but just enough to get your energy flowing and to help to clear your head for the day. While you are doing your yoga practice, you aren't just doing postures that help you stretch, you are learning to breathe into your poses and let your breath actually guide your movements.

At the end of your short yoga session, your muscles are relaxed, you are more alert, and you have that amazing feeling of 'everything is gonna be alright'.

Just like that you will find that you get more accomplished during the day, you feel more relaxed, and most importantly you are able to keep your energy going strong. This is why people find yoga to be such a great addiction. Yoga doesn't just reach the stress of the body, it also reaches the emotional stress that we deal with every day.

Many people don't know this, but emotional stress can cause a dramatic physical effect on your body. Stress can cause chronic headaches, nausea, back pain, neck pain, jaw pain, skin irritation, and even more serious illnesses.

When you use yoga for just a few minutes a day, you are not just giving your body and mind the best possible start for the day, you are also protecting yourself in the long term as well. Yoga has been linked to lowered blood pressure, relief of migraines, TMJ relief, and relief from a variety of other common ailments.

You deserve to feel the health and well being that can come from a good yoga practice, are you ready to change your life?

All About Hot Yoga

Yoga is something that is truly for everyone. It doesn't matter if you are young, old, sick, well, fat or thin, there is always a place on a yoga mat for you. A gentle yoga practice can help you to feel relaxed if you are stressed, a core yoga practice can help you to walk taller and have a better sense of self esteem, and a Dahn yoga practice can help you to feel more soulfully connected with yourself. Whether you are looking to feel relaxed, energized, or just plain sexy there is literally a yoga style for all of us.

And then there is Hot Yoga…

Have you ever done a rigorous cardio workout? Have you come out of that workout dripping with sweat but feeling energized because you know you have literally just flushed a ton of nasty toxins out of your body? Hot yoga is like a hard cardio routine on a yoga mat. You will be able to feel the same heart pounding energy and you will still get the amazing sense of health you get when you sweat out those nasty toxins from your body.

So how does Hot Yoga Work?

When you do a hot yoga practice, you will be doing a yoga routine in a heated room. Typically, the temperature of the room will be preheated to 95-100 degrees, this makes sure that no matter how vigorous your yoga routine is you will be nice and sweaty. As you are sweating you will be releasing toxins through your skin and you will feel instantly better about yourself. But hot yoga doesn't just make you feel good about yourself, it also makes you more flexible. When your body is warm it naturally causes your cells to relax and when your cells are relaxed you are able to go deeper into your yoga poses more easily. The result is a yoga routine that will leave you feeling downright sexy about yourself when you are done.

If you are just starting a hot yoga practice, you may want to consider going to a few different classes with a few different instructors so that you can see which class is right for you. You will find that some instructors pay more attention to your form during yoga poses while other instructors are more about helping you to push your yoga to the next level, and of course many hot yoga instructors set up their own sequence of yoga poses so you want to find the  sequence that works best for you.

What do you need to start a hot yoga practice?

There are a few standard yoga supplies that you will need when you start your hot yoga practice. As usual you will want to bring a mat with you and a comfortable outfit, one that you can move freely in. But because hot yoga is designed to make you sweat, you will also want to bring a towel and a bottle of water (although you will likely have to leave the water off to the side during your practice).

It might also be a good idea to get a towel that goes over your yoga mat. Not only will this help to keep you from slipping but it will also protect your yoga mat from getting dirty and sweaty. Between yoga practices, you can simply wash and air dry your towels so that they will be ready for your next hot yoga practice.

Just like everything else in life, yoga is about finding a practice that works for you. When you do a hot yoga routine you will not only begin to lose weight and get that sleek and sexy body that you have dreamed of but you will also be get the chance to sweat out toxins, leaving you feeling energized, healthy, and relaxed.