There's no doubting that those who practice yoga and pilates often have very impressive abilities to bend themselves into positions which are enough to make the rest of us wince at the thought.

Is this really a good thing though How much do these abilities transfer to daily life and exercise

Is there a more effective way to achieve the benefits which yogi's believe can only be gained from their chosen methods

These are questions I will try to answer in this article based on personal experience and scientific fact. I'll start with the positives of taking part in regular yoga and / or pilates sessions.

Firstly it can only be a good thing when people realise the importance of performing specific work to improve their flexibility and core strength. It's a key part of enjoyable living.

The typical Brit is now characterised by poor posture due to sitting at a desk all day and lack of exercise. Consequently they're in desperate need of corrective work to address this.

Second, many of the methods can be seen in strength and conditioning settings all across the world. There must be some benefit to the underlying principals!

However, they are limited to effective mobility and flexibility practices in warm and cool-down routines and as supplemental work as part of a much more complex routine. They should not be seen as an end in themselves.

The following discussion illustrates how spending your life performing yoga as an end product is doing your body a disservice. You're also wasting a lot of time which could be used more productively.

Many yoga or pilates students argue that it helps build strength. Whilst this may be true for a complete beginner who is unable to control their body weight, there soon becomes a point where no more gains can be made because the student is able to control their bodyweight with little effort.

This relates back to the key principal of progressive overload. This is a scientifically proven concept that to make continued strength gains you must continually lift heavier weights.

Like aerobics, the only way to apply this to yoga and pilates is to put on weight. That way your muscles have a greater resistance to work against, but clearly this isn't desirable!

Whilst on the subject of strength, the whole point of increasing strength is to be stronger and more powerful in dynamic situations. This includes lifting things in daily life.

Why on earth would you look to become stronger standing in one position with very little dynamic movement If you are training to be one of those guys who paints himself silver and stands perfectly still in the town centre for money, pilates may be a good option.

The strength benefits gained from these practices can be gained much faster using other methods. Methods used by strength and conditioning coaches and personal trainers the world over.

There is also virtually no limit to the progress which can be made using resistance training for strength compared to the limits imposed by using bodyweight only. Sure bodyweight training should be the first method used by beginners but progress in the medium to long term is severely limited.

Other strength training methods will transfer much more effectively to daily life and sports performance whether on an amateur or professional level. Surely this is more desirable

Strength and conditioning. Two qualities everyone should be looking to improve. We've just covered strength but what about conditioning I have heard certain, more intense forms of yoga touted as great for conditioning.

In my opinion, conditioning is the process by which you become better able to perform movement based activities of an intense nature. How can this possibly be improved if there is very little movement involved

My final point is on the people themselves who follow yoga almost as a religion. I appreciate this does not apply to all and I am not suggesting it does, but many students of such practices seem to promote yoga and pilates as the be-all and end-all of health and fitness and life itself.

I have methods which I favour because they have been proven to be the most effective. Hpwever, I believe it is wrong to shut out all other methods in the blind belief you already have all the answers.

Every day I spend in this job I realise there is so much more I don't know. This can only be a good thing in the interests of progression of me as a person, a student and a teacher or trainer of others.

In conclusion, whilst yoga and pilates undoubtedly can provide benefits to complete beginners to exercise, they are limited in their application to those looking to live a life of intense exercise and movement performance.

About the Author

Jon Le Tocq created the online Storm Force Fitness concept which continues to produce amazing fat loss and conditioning results without gym membership! You can join the fun at http://www.stormforcefitness.com

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Yoga is a perfect practical system of self-culture. Yoga is an exact science. It aims at the harmonious development of the body, the mind and the soul. Yoga is the turning away of the senses from the objective universe and the concentration of the mind within. Yoga is eternal life in the soul or spirit. Yoga aims at controlling the mind and its modifications. The path of Yoga is an inner path whose gateway is your heart.
It helps in the co-ordination and control of the subtle forces within the body. Yoga brings in perfection, peace and everlasting happiness. Yoga can help you in your business and in your daily life. You can have calmness of mind at all times by the practice of Yoga. You can have restful sleep. You can have increased energy, vigour, vitality, longevity and a high standard of health. Yoga transmutes animal nature into divine nature and raises you to the pinnacle of divine glory and splendor.
The regular practice of Yoga will help you to control the emotions and passions and will give you power to resist temptations and to remove the disturbing elements form mind. It will enable you to keep a balanced mind always and remove fatigue. It will confer on you serenity, calmness and wonderful concentration. It will enable you to hold communion with the Lord.
However, to attain success in Yoga, it is very necessary to abandon all worldly enjoyments and practice Tapas and Brahmacharya. You will have to control the mind skillfully and tactfully. You will have to use judicious and intelligent methods to curb it. If you use force, it will become more turbulent and mischievous. It cannot be controlled by force. It will jump and drift away more and more. Those who attempt to control the mind by force are like those who endeavour to bind a furious elephant with a thin silken thread.
Yoga, therefore, presents a system of liberating the spiritual essence from this involvement, this entanglement in mental and physical processes. It achieves the effect of restoring the spiritual consciousness to its pristine state, pure original state. The thesis of Yoga is based upon the direct experience of those who became its expounders, is that your true nature, your real and essential nature, is pure bliss. It is pure peace. It is Ananda and Santi. Not sorrow. Not misery. Not grief. Not restlessness. Not agitation. Not tears. But peace and joy. It is necessary, at the outset, to clear certain misconceptions in regard to Yoga, prevalent especially among some sections in the West. Yoga is not magic or a feat of any kind, physical or mental. Yoga is based on a sound philosophy and deep psychology. It is an educational process by which the human mind is trained to become more and more natural and weaned from the unnatural conditions of life. Yoga has particular concern with psychology, and, as a study of the 's elf', it transcends both general and abnormal psychology, and leads one to the supernormal level of life. In Yoga we study ourselves, while in our colleges we are told to study objects.
The purpose of Yoga is to try to restore to man his pristine state of perfect bliss; and this it
does by liberating the human individual from his involvement in body, senses and mind. This involvement itself is the prime cause for keeping him away from itself, is the greatest obstacle to his attainment of that experience which the Yoga science says lies right here, present at this moment. To become liberated from the bondage of pain, thus bringing to an end the union of man 's nature with pain, is Yoga.

About the Author

Shankarmystica is Graduate in Philosophy from Delhi university. Have great fun in hypnosis with the view of merits and demerits on society for further articles
http://www.gurumaa.com/spiritual-mystic-master-gurumaa.php
http://www.yogawonders.com/

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It is not surprising to those of us who are long time yoga practitioners that the popularity of this profound spiritual science is now exploding on a world wide scale. Unfortunately though some of the authenticity and truths about yoga are being lost and some myths are creeping in with regard to what yoga is and how it is to be practiced. In this article I will look to clear up what I find to be the top 5 myths about yoga.

Top 5 Myths About Yoga:

1. Yoga is a Form of Physical Exercise:

This is perhaps the most common view of yoga. That it is a form of physical exercise. This certainly needs to be clarified and I am going to provide some details about true yoga practice in order to do this.

Yoga is actually has 8 parts to it, with the physical aspect being just 1. These 8 parts, include yoga dos, yoga don'ts, physical exercises (asana), breathing exercises, sense control, concentration, meditation and divine union.

So you can see from above that although the physical aspect of yoga, which is called asana, is an important part of yoga, yoga as a whole is certainly more that just a series of postures and movements. Yoga is essentially a spiritual science whose objective is to still the mind of thoughts, so that the truth of Oneness hidden behind the waves of the mind can be clearly seen and embraced.

2. Yoga is a Religion:

The other extreme and incorrect view on yoga is that is it a religion. Commonly yoga is considered part of Hindu religion, but yoga is not a religion. It is a time tested spiritual science with the goal of revealing the true nature of reality. As indicated above, yoga practice is a step by step process with the end goal of calming down the thought waves in our mind and thus prevent them from distorting the truth.

3. To Practice Yoga You Must be Vegetarian:

There is a notion floating around that in order to practice yoga you must not eat meat and be a vegetarian. This is not true. Although there are tremendous benefits to being vegetarian and this is being more and more validated by the mainstream medical community, there is no requirement of vegetarianism in order to practice yoga.

One point I would like to add here is that, vegetarianism is consistent with the non-violence which yoga advocates and it certainly would be to your benefit to reduce meat intake, nevertheless, you don't have to be vegetarian in order to be a great yogi.

4. You Need to be Initiated by a Guru:

I have also come across this notion that many believe you need to be initiated and have a guru in order to learn and practice yoga. This is not true. According to yoga, the true guru is within and although it would be to your benefit to learn yoga from an accomplished teacher, this is not a requirement.

5. You Have to be Flexible to do Yoga:

Not so. No doubt yoga will improve your flexibility, along with your strength, balance and overall health, but in order to practice yoga you do not have to be flexible. Yoga is designed to be practiced by all.

Different bodies have different degrees of flexibility and in this case one size does not fit all. For most of the complex yoga posture which require great flexibility to do, there are plenty of modifications which allow you to get the same benefits for those who are less flexible. In fact one of the original reasons I took up yoga because I was not flexible and wanted to improve this aspect of my physical dimension.

Summary:

So there you have the top 5 myths about yoga. Essentially, what these myths do is prevent people from taking up this wonderful science. So if you feel you will have to change faiths, find gurus, stop eating meat or are too inflexible to take up yoga practice, you are wrong. Don't pass up the wonderful opportunity to learn and practice this amazing science, which helps you discover your true divine and eternal nature.

About the Author

Anmol Mehta is modern Yoga Meditation master. His massive Guided Zen Meditation blog offers the ultimate Meditation Techniques Guide and free Yoga to Detox Cleanse Your Body.

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It never ceases to amaze me how many time I have seen seasoned yogis injure themselves when practicing yoga. This is independent of the type of yoga they practice and independent of how fit they are as well. So, it scares me to think that if this is the state of expert yogis what might be the state of those who are just beginning this wonderful science.

Well, don't worry in this article I will provide 2 simple guidelines for yoga practice which will go a long way in helping you avoid unnecessary injuries when doing your practice. After all, you decided to do yoga to get healthy and happy, it is totally unacceptable that such a gentle, healing science should become the source of your injury and pain.

2 Simple Rules to Avoid Yoga Injuries:

1. Warm-up:

Although this is common sense, I have noticed the following special occasions when warm-up is unfortunately skipped and the yogi ends up risking injury. Here are these three occasions when you need to be especially vigilant and avoid getting injured due to insufficient warm-up.

A. You are Late to Class:

Many times I see students who come in late to class jump right in and start doing the exercises and postures that the class is doing at full stream. This is a recipe for disaster. If you are late coming into a class which has already picked up steam, you need to start out very slowly and gently till you feel ready to catch up with the rest of the students.

B. You are Giving a Spot Demonstration:

Often if you are a yoga teacher or even just a regular yoga student, occasions arise where you are asked to, or want to, give a quick demo of a pose or exercise. If you encounter this situation, immediately your injury antenna should go up. This type of spot demonstration is perhaps the most common reason for injury. Don't try to show off at this time, but instead do the posture or exercise as gently and safely as you can. Trying to all of a sudden demonstrate Plough Pose, is the best way to injure your back, or worse, break your neck.

C. You Don't Have Enough Time:

Here is another dangerous situation which often leads to skipping a proper warm-up and jumping ahead to a challenging set or routine, when you don't have enough time to fit in your full practice. In this situation it is very important to make an adjustment to any difficult routine and posture and be conservative with regard to how hard you go at it. Tone it down in such situations and live to practice another day.

2. Don't Compete:

Yoga is not an Olympic sport. It is not a tournament. It is not a competition. It is amazing how when you put a bunch of people together for the same activity, comparisons and judgments immediately come into the picture. As a yogi, you have to remember the golden rule that yoga is just about you and you. It does not matter how anyone else is doing, it only matters how you are doing. Forget about competing and comparing with others and just do your practice, intelligently, mindfully and most import of all, safely. Comparing often leads to pushing yourself further than you should have, which is perhaps the number one reason for incurring injury.

Summary:

If you follow these 2 simple rules, of doing your warm-up no matter what and not overdoing it ever, I think you will enjoy a healthy and long-term yoga practice, the benefits of which are immeasurable.

About the Author

Anmol Mehta is a Yoga Meditation expert. His massive Free Guided Meditation website offers Basic Yoga Poses and free Kundalini Yoga Poses Exercises videos, e-books and blog.

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The two big things that everyone knows about losing weight is diet and exercise. Many people don't realize that the level of stress in their lives plays a huge role in weight loss and gain.

If you are trying to lose belly fat you must decrease your stress. When you experience stress your body releases hormones and cortisol. Cortisol increases the fat that stays around your belly.

You may see products you can buy to decrease your cortisol and supposedly your belly fat, but don't fall for it.

There are natural ways you can easily reduce your stress, and feel better in your life, without any nasty side effects.

Get some sleep

In today's busy world everyone is trying to pack more and more in every day. People are going to bed later and getting up earlier.

Sleep is a huge part of being able to manage stress. If you don't get enough sleep your body is less able to manage stressful situations.

A good night's rest is at least 7 hours of sleep. If you are not getting that much sleep you should try to get to bed a little earlier. This one thing can do world's to decrease your level of stress.

Take small breaks

Life and work can be very stressful. All the little things that get under our skin can build up to massive stress.

If you take small breaks throughout the day you will find you are much better able to manage stressful situations when they do come up.

A quick break may be something as simple as taking 3 cleansing breaths every hour. Just breath in deeply through your nose. Breath deep from your diaphram, and then blow it out your mouth.

You could also get up and take a walk around the area you work or live in. A quick walk, and some fresh air will give your brain more oxygen and allow you to think clearer. It will also get the blood running through your body and help to circulate oxygen to your whole body.

Yoga

It was once a very airy fairy thing to do. Now Yoga is a mainstream form of exercise and stress relief.

You can easily start your own yoga practice by going to your local gym or yoga studio. You can also start doing Yoga from home. There are a wide range of DVDs available and you can often find Yoga programming on public television.

Meditation

Meditation may seem scary to some folks who aren't familiar with the process. Don't worry. You can do meditation in many ways. You can simply sit quietly with your eyes closed. Breath deeply and count your inhales and exhales. This is a very good way to begin meditating.

If you lose count or find your mind is wandering, that's ok, just start counting at one again. Try to get to 30, or set an alloted time for your meditation.

Being able to sit silent and calm during calm times will allow you to begin to sit calm and silent during more chaotic times.

Meditation is not about perfection, it's about the process, so just start, and don't worry about doing it "right".

There you have it 4 great ways to decrease your level of stress. They will at least allow you to learn to better manage the stress you experience. There's not much you can do about the stress that shows up, but you have complete control over how you handle it.

About the Author

Stop by to learn more about eating right to lose belly fat and other things you can do to lose belly fat forever.

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