Fit and Youthful Life

Guest Author: Deborah Rummelhart


Yoga provides great stress relief and other health benefits. The Mayo Clinic recommends yoga for stress management and relaxation, and medical journal articles have proven yoga’s effectiveness in treating serious medical conditions such as arthritis, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, depression and multiple sclerosis.

How do you make sure that you get the great stress relief and other benefits of yoga? Easy! Ask any yoga teacher the questions listed below. If the teacher’s answers closely match the ideal answers, you have found a great teacher.

QUESTION 1: DO YOU PRACTICE YOGA NOW?

IDEAL ANSWER 1: YES, I PRACTICE YOGA EVERY DAY.

If you wanted to learn to ride a bicycle, would you take lessons from someone who wrote a book about bicycles but had never actually ridden a bike? Only if you wanted to find the quickest way to fall off the bicycle! No amount of reading or theoretical knowledge will enable you to understand how to ride a bicycle. Sooner or later you have to get on the bike. The same is true of yoga. Only someone who is currently practicing yoga can safely and effectively teach you how to do yoga.

QUESTION 2: ARE YOU CURRENTLY TAKING LESSONS WITH A YOGA TEACHER?

IDEAL ANSWER: YES, I STUDY WITH A QUALIFIED TEACHER IN A RECOGNIZED YOGA TEACHING STYLE.

Even your yoga teacher needs a yoga teacher. Why? Yoga is a process, and there is always more to learn. Everyone learns more about yoga by getting feedback from a great teacher. You want your yoga teacher to be aware of the latest discoveries on how to teach yoga. The best way for your teacher to do this is to take lessons with another yoga teacher.

QUESTION 3: WHAT TYPE OF YOGA DO YOU TEACH, AND HOW DID THAT STYLE OF TEACHING YOGA DEVELOP?

IDEAL ANSWER: I TEACH “Y” STYLE OF YOGA WHICH HAS EXISTED FOR AT LEAST 10 YEARS.

If a yoga teaching style has existed for at least 10 years, the teachers in that system know the best ways to teach and the pitfalls to be avoided. In addition, if a situation comes up that your teacher does not know how to handle, your teacher will be able to ask a more experienced teacher in that teaching style for advice.

QUESTION 4: WHAT TYPE OF YOGA TEACHER TRAINING HAVE YOU HAD?

IDEAL ANSWER: I HAVE COMPLETED (OR AM CURRENTLY ENROLLED IN) A 500 HOUR TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM WHICH INCLUDES CLASSES, EXAMS, AND APPRENTICE TEACHING.

Suppose a pipe burst in your house and sent a fountain of water gushing through your kitchen. Uh-oh, you need a plumber! There are two plumbers in your neighborhood: Plumber Smith and Plumber Jones. Plumber Smith used to be an electrician but took a one weekend plumber certification course and is now a plumber. Plumber Jones enrolled in a year long plumbing certification course at a special plumber training school, passed the plumbing certification exam, and apprenticed for one year under a master plumber. Which plumber would you choose?

Since yoga can have an enormous impact on your health, shouldn’t you take as much care in choosing a yoga teacher as you would in choosing a plumber? Your yoga teacher should be enrolled in or have completed a yoga teacher training course that lasts at least one year, and includes classes on how to do yoga, classes on how to teach yoga, apprentice teaching under a certified and experienced teacher, and certification exams.

One of the most comprehensive yoga teacher training programs in existence is the Iyengar Yoga Teacher Certification Program. If you are new to yoga, or suffer from a disease or injury, I strongly recommend that you seek out a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher.

QUESTION 5: DOES YOUR YOGA TEACHER HAVE A KIND AND EMPATHETIC HEART?

IDEAL ANSWER: YES.

Only you can determine if the answer to this question is yes.

A kind yoga teacher really cares about his or her students.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that a teacher is quiet or a pushover. A teacher may speak loudly because your attention has wandered off and he or she is trying to get your attention back. A kind yoga teacher will carefully watch what you are doing, and guide you into doing yoga more correctly. Find a great yoga teacher, follow his or her instructions, and the health and stress relief benefits of yoga will be yours!



Turn Back The Clock

Guest Author: Cindy Heller


History of Hatha Yoga: The history of hatha yoga goes back in the fifteenth century India when Yogi Swatmarama, a sage during those times, introduced it as a form of “a stairway to the heights” of Raja Yoga which is the preparatory stage of physical purification that makes the body fit for the practice of higher form of meditation. Hatha yoga is also known to be called as “hatha vidya” and the word “hatha” is a combination of the words, “ha” which means sun “tha” that means moon and they are said to refer to the prinicipal “nadis” or the energy channels of the body and must be fully operational to attain the state of “dhyana” or a certain aspect of meditation.

Some people may link that the origins of hatha yoga which dates back in the tenth or eleventh century with Goraknath, a yogin during those times. However, the oldest surviving text about hatha yoga is the Hatha Yoga Pradipika by yogin, Yogi Swatmarama. The text is said to be taken from old Sanskrit writings and personal yogin experiences of the yogin himself. The text relates about shatkarma, asana, pranayama, chakras, kundalini, bandhas, kriyas, shakti, nadis, and mudras among others.

Concept of Hatha yoga: The total concept of the traditional hatha yoga is a holistic yogic path comprising of moral disciplines, physical exercises, breath control, and meditation. The hatha yoga that is widely practiced and popular in the western countries mainly composed of the “asanas” or postures and other exercises.

Hatha yoga is only one of the two concepts of yoga that concentrates on the physical culture and the other yoga is the Raja yoga but both of these are referred to as Ashtanga yoga. The main difference is that the Raja yoga concentrates more on the “asanas” or postures to get the body ready for a prolonged meditation that concentrates mainly on the meditative “asana” poses. The hatha yoga on the other hand concentrates on balancing the mind and body through physical exercises, controlled breathing, and calming the mind through meditation and sheer relaxation.

Different positions or postures are recommended by practitioners to help lessen or avoid health problems ranging from constipation through cancer. It was said that it helps to reduce stress, pressure, and other mental worries that people today are frequently exposed to.

History of Karma Yoga

Karma yoga also known as Buddhi Yoga or the “discipline of action” is centered on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Sanskrit scripture of Hinduism. One of the four pillars of yoga, Karma yoga concentrates on the adherence to duty (dharma) while remaining detached from the reward. It states that one can attain Moksha (salvation) or love of God (bhakti) by performing their duties in a selfless manner for the pleasure of the Supreme. Karma Yoga is an inherent part of many derivative types of yoga, such as Natya Yoga.

Concept Of Karma Yoga

The word Karma is mentioned from the Sanskrit Kri, meaning ‘to do’, in its most basic sense karma simply means action, and yoga translates to union. Therefore, Karma yoga literally translates to the path of union through action. It is described as a way of acting, thinking and willing by which one acts in accordance with one’s duty (dharma) with no consideration of personal selfish desires, likes or dislikes, i.e. acting without being emotionally involved to the fruits of one’s deeds.

In the case of Arjuna in the Gita, this translated to his fighting in the oncoming war to uphold the righteous cause in accordance with his duty as a warrior; even if out of compassion, he did not want to battle with his relatives and teachers on the other side.

Krishna then goes on to tell how Arjuna should surrender the fruits of his actions (good or bad) to himself (as the Supreme Person or avatara) :

Krishna describes that allocated work done without expectations, motives, or anticipation of its outcome purifies one’s mind and slowly makes an individual fit to see the value of reason. He states that it is not necessary to remain in external solitude, or actionless, in order to practice a spiritual life, with the state of action or inaction is solely determined in the mind.

In order to attain the perfection of life, Krishna describes it is important to control all mental desires and tendencies to enjoy pleasures of the senses. The practice of Karma Yoga in everyday life makes an individual fit through action, meditation and devotion to sharpen his reasoning, develop intuitive power of acquiring knowledge and to transcend the mind itself.

History Of Raja Yoga

Raja Yoga also known as Classical Yoga or simply Yoga is one of the six orthodox (astika) schools of Hindu philosophy, being described Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. It is also occasionally referred to as A??anga (eight-limbed) yoga because there are eight aspects to the path to which one must attend. Raja yoga is concerned primarily with the cultivation of the mind using meditation (dhyana) to further one’s acquaintance with reality and finally achieve liberation.

The term Raja Yoga is a retronym, introduced in the 15th century Hatha Yoga Pradipika to differentiate the school based on the Yoga Sutras from the new current of Hatha Yoga.

Concept of Raja Yoga

Raja-Yoga is principally concerned with the mind. The mind is traditionally perceived as the ‘king’ of the psycho-physical structure which does its bidding (whether or not one has realized this). Because of the relationship between the mind and the body, the body must be ‘tamed’ first through self-discipline and purified by various means (see Hatha Yoga). A good level of overall health and psychological integration must be achieved before the deeper aspects of yoga can be pursued. Humans have all sorts of addictions and temptations and these preclude the attainment of tranquil abiding (meditation). Through restraint (yama) such as celibacy, abstaining from drugs and alcohol and careful attention to one’s actions of body, speech and mind, the human being becomes well to practise meditation. This yoke that one puts upon oneself is the alternate meaning of the word yoga.

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras start with the statement yogas citta-vtti-nirodha (1.2), “yoga limits the oscillations of the mind”. They proceed on to detailing the ways in which mind can create false ideations and advocate meditation on real objects, which process, it is said, will lead to a spontaneous state of quiet mind, the “Nirbija” or “seedless state”, in which there is no mental object of focus. Practices that serve to maintain for the individual the ability to check this state may be considered Raja Yoga practices. Thus Raja Yoga encompasses and differentiates itself from other forms of Yoga by encouraging the mind to avoid the sort of absorption in obsessional practice (including other traditional yogic practices) that can generate false mental objects. In this angle, Raja Yoga is “king of yogas”: all yogic practices are seen as potential tools for obtaining the seedless state, itself considered to be the first point in the quest to cleanse Karma and obtain Moksha or Nirvana. Traditionally, schools of yoga that label themselves “Raja” offer students a mix of yogic practices and (hopefully) this philosophical viewpoint.



The Real Youth Potion

Guest Author: Elizabeth Ruby


There is an anti aging skin care review that exists for any one of thousands of products. The cosmetics market is at an all time high, so are the number of products that are in existence. I can’t cover them all right here, but I would like to at least fill you in on what to look out for in an anti aging skin care system.

Many of the posts that you will read in an anti aging skin care review are from people who are reporting about an adverse reaction that they had to a particular product. These reactions are not uncommon given that the chemicals typically contained in creams and lotions lend themselves to harsh interactions with some sensitive skin types.

The major problem with most of the products on the market today is the use of cheap chemical additives. Many of these preservative, pH balancers, and chemical fragrance enhancers are known to cause harmful reaction in some people. Many of them are known to cause cancer. These ingredients do not belong in an anti aging skin care system.

Did you know that there is a chemical commonly included in cosmetics creams and lotions that is also widely used as an active ingredient in weed killers? There is evidence that this anti-fungal agent works to create strains of new bacteria that are resistant to antibiotic treatment. I’ll bet that you’ve never seen that in any anti aging skin care review that you’ve read.

That is because the majority of the time the person running the forum have no idea what these dangerous chemical strains are, how they work with each other, or how these compounds work with the individual chemistry of or skin to create a desired effect. If you can’t explain the internal workings of an anti aging skin care system then you have no business running a review.

In one anti aging skin care review I read the opinions of a woman who felt that she had somehow been duped by the home shopping network, because her very expensive collagen treatment kit didn’t work for her. She said that she demanded her money back because they had sold her a collagen kit that contained no collagen, and that they had refused.

I’m no fan of the home shopping network, but I don’t doubt for one minute that the anti aging skin care system that they sold her had collagen in it. What the woman in the review didn’t understand was that the collagen that is used in cosmetics typically is cow or pig collagen and not at all compatible with our body’s own store. The woman got duped, but she didn’t get lied to, they sold her exactly what they said that they would.

You should take everything that you read in an anti aging skin care review with a grain of salt. I’m sure that the people that write them have the best of intentions in mind, but they are simply not qualified to be able to lead you to an educated buying decision.

Guest Author: Seb Branson


several diverse forms of yoga available if you want to learn how to do yoga, but the most common form participated by most people is called hatha yoga.

Hatha Yoga

Firstly, this type of yoga concentrates on the practice of postures and the control of breathing to invigorate the subtle channels. Focusing on the third and fourth steps of the eight-fold path of Ashtanga Yoga, this type of yoga concentrates on the practice of postures and the control of breathing to invigorate the subtle channels.

If you believe that hatha yoga most suitable for you and want learn how to do yoga, it is probably a good idea to do a course or class offers hatha yoga. You can visit your local health club, search through your local phone book or local newspaper or use google to find how to do yoga classes nearby to where you live or work.

Additionally, not much in the way of equipment is needed when learning how to do yoga. More often than not yoga mats are provided for free in the classes that offer yoga or you can purchase a yoga map for very little cost.

Bikram Yoga

Bikram yoga is practised in a very hot room and is another form of yoga.

If you want to learn how to do yoga of this type then be warned that it is not for everyone. People who don’t like to perspire or find it too uncomfortable in hot humid environments generally are not keen to learn how to do yoga of this.

Bikram yoga involves a sequence of 26 standing and twisting yoga poses and includes a breathing technique called the Kapalabhati breath. The advantage of Bikram yoga being performed in a extremely hot heated room is that it helps the body to stretch more than it would under normal conditions.

Power Yoga

There also some forms of power yoga which increase the physical resilience of the participants. There is a good reason that it is called power yoga because you will be totally worn out by the end of the class. Power yoga should be undertaken with care as there is always the possibility that you could get an muscular injury don’t do it properly.

Learning how to do yoga is beneficial because it is a good form physical fitness for anyone, regardless of how old they are or what shape their body is in or whatever their fitness condition may be. In addition it is also very good in teaching relaxation techniques and soothing stress.

Look Young Again

Guest Author: nutramax


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Latin Name: Polygonum Cuspidatum

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Part of the Plant Used: Root & Rhizome

Extract Method: Grain Alcohol

CAS#: [501-36-0]

What is Resveratrol?

Resveratrol is naturally occurring phytoalexin produced by some higher plants in response to injury or fungal in fection. Phytoalexins are chemical substances produced by plants as a defense against in faction by pathogenic microorganisms, such as fungi. Alexin is from the Greek, meaning to ward off or to protect. Resveratrol may also have alexin-like activity for humans. Epidemiological, in vitro and animal studies suggest that a high resveretrol intake is associated with a reduced incidence of cardiovascular disease, and a reduced risk for cancer…

 

NUTRAMAX’s Resveratrol is extracted from Polygonium cuspidatum and grape skin, it’s rich with Both cis – resveratrol and trans-resveratrol.

 

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Guest Author: Bertil Hjert


With yoga attaining a lot of fame among millions of people all over the world, many have developed a fetish to learn this art.

There are several reasons for this:

First and foremost, people have understood the importance of this form of art in providing health benefits and keeping their mental health in good condition.

Second, one can easily say goodbye to stress via practicing yoga. Third, yoga helps a lot in making the body flexible. There are several other benefits of yoga one can enjoy when the individual starts practicing it.

Prior to actually start practicing yoga, you need to focus on purchasing good quality yoga supplies. These supplies are extremely important to enhance your performance and provide you the maximum benefits of yoga.

Some of these yoga supplies also provide good support to the body and prevent the individual from encountering with any accidents or injuries. Don’t worry. Yoga does not require expensive equipments as most of the modern exercises and sports do.

One of the most valuable supplies that you need to focus on purchasing is a Yoga mat. These mats are constructed of tacky rubber and also prevent slippage. It is very difficult to maintain a complex pose while performing yoga. With a yoga mat, you don’t require to worry about hazardous flood conditions.

Additionally, you will find a wide variety of designs and colors when purchasing a yoga mat. If you have a tendency to develop allergy from latex products should go for cotton mats. These also serve the same purpose. Make sure that you keep your yoga mat clean.

Another yoga supply you would require is yoga clothes. Keep your yoga apparel simple, durable and comfortable. You may find yoga clothes in hemp spandex and cotton. You may choose to wear pants, shirts or tank tops according to your own comfort.

Yoga music is another important investment you need to make when learning yoga. This helps you to relax your mind and also helps you to get into appropriate mind set for a yoga session.

Yoga is a low impact exercise and performed in a quiet atmosphere. The yoga music will help you to get in to the real mood of yoga. It also works towards enhancing one’s learning performance and experience.

Last but not the least, you should also think of investing in to some yoga DVDs. You can easily learn a lot via watching these DVDs.

Purchasing yoga supplies will do a lot of good to you. You would be able to learn yoga in a better way and without any distraction.

Try to visit some shops prior to actually purchasing the yoga supplies. This will help you a lot in purchasing the best and the most affordable.

You may take help of an experienced person or someone who practices yoga regularly in order to purchase the best. He or she will guide you on purchasing the best and giving you tips on what to buy, how to buy and where to buy these yoga supplies from.



Smooth Away Wrinkles Instantly

Guest Author: Kirk Pomerleau


Companies spend billions of dollars each year combating spam. Billions more is spent with the loss of productivity, having to purchase additional equipment, software, and man hours filtering through unwanted spam, and fixing problems directly related from spam. Direct effects of spam are the consumption of network and computer resources, data and intellectual property theft, identity theft, infection from virus and malware infection, and more.

When most people think of spam, they are thinking of the unsolicited emails sitting in their inbox that is time consuming to clean up. However, there are many more different types of spam; instant messaging spam, chat spam, newsgroup and forum spam, even cell phone spam, blogs and guestbook spam, video sharing spam, video gaming spam, mail bombing, and non-commercial spam. Email and Internet spam is frustrating and sometimes embarrassing when pornography pops up in front of grandma.

Why would someone want to send out so many annoying messages or pop-ups and what is the benefit for a spammer? A spammer expects total profit and if even only small percentages of people respond or make a purchase from the spam message, the spammer stands to make a bunch of money. Other non-commercial spammers are criminals seeking banking information, committing fraud, and have even lured people to their own kidnappings and murders. Competitors might use spam as a denial of service to your website to flood the viewer of your website with a ton of pop-ups and make it impossible to view the site. This is another malicious way spammers attack.

So what can you do to protect your email and be able to surf the Internet without the unwanted pop-ups and phishing sites stealing your information? There are two solutions; Mozilla Firefox for your web browser and Anti-Spam Software for your email. These two solutions will provide the protection you need without having to worry anymore.

Having a positive Internet and email experience is what everyone wants. Mozilla wants this for everyone too. Mozilla is a non-profit organization who is dedicated to making your online experience incredible. They offer their web browser Firefox free of charge. Firefox is available to all Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms, in over 35 different languages. This web browser has integrated protection from spam, pop-ups, and phishing protection that tells you when you have accessed a website that is looking for information.

Mozilla Firefox is the leading web browser because they care about what the user wants. This browser allows you to personalize it the way you want it. Firefox includes a spell checker and search engine suggestions. It also includes a session restore so when you lose your Internet connection and have to sign online again, Firefox will take you back to the exact webpage from where your session terminated. That way, you don’t have to spend hours finding where you were before. Firefox even has accessibility features that integrate with Microsoft’s accessibility features in Windows for people with physical impairments to easily surf the web without having too many keystrokes to get to the site they want.

The best quality of Mozilla’s Firefox is the protection. Unlike Internet Explorer, Firefox has a button to clear private data so the browser doesn’t keep personal information. It also automatically updates itself. This is much better than having to go to Microsoft’s website to install the latest security updates and patches.

Anti-Spam Software can be found at www.antispampage.com. This useful tool provides the email protection you need with a user-friendly interface, which makes it simple to setup. Anti-spam software is learning software. This means, you teach it what is spam and what is not. Eventually, you will not be receiving anymore spam in your inbox. This software will block incoming spam before it even reaches your inbox and automatically delete malicious viruses. Anti-spam is compatible with Windows platforms 98, ME, 2000, and XP. 24-hour technical support is provided and 100% satisfaction or you are entitled to a full refund. Millions of users worldwide are using Anti-spam software and they couldn’t be happier.

Don’t allow unwanted spam, pop-ups, and phishing sites ruin your computing experience. Using a smart web browser like Mozilla Firefox and Anti-spam Software are the best ingredient for total protection on your computer.

Putting the axe to spam, viruses, malware, and other unwanted annoyances are only a couple steps away if you have the right tools. But until then you join millions of others fighting a losing war.

Guest Author: greenherbal


Each yoga class will also include information about the Yoga of Wisdom (Jnana Yoga pronounced “gee-anna”), and the Yoga of Devotion (Bhakti Yoga). It is most effective if yoga students and practitioners take at least a few yoga classes per week or have a daily practice at home.

There are many more forms of yoga than mentioned here and there will always be a type suitable for each individuals needs. They say that all forms of yoga help with your natural spirit and combining different forms of yoga for your personal needs is the best way to practice.

Blood pressure will also be affected by practicing Yoga. Yoga will make your blood pressure more stable, it could decrease your blood pressure if it is high. Cleansing your internal organs: Yoga could help you cleaning various vermin that reside in your organs. For example, it will help your body to process the food you eat more effectively.

There are multiple branches of yoga. In Raja yoga the focus is on meditation. Karma yoga states that what we experience today is a result of past actions. Bhakti yoga is focused on channeling emotions in a positive manner. The various branches of yoga offer something for every taste and style.

The balance between mind, body and soul is established by yoga. Yoga was developed thousands of years ago by yogis. There are thousands of yoga asanas (exercises) and each has its own significance. Yoga can be done in the morning or in the evening. A trained instructor is required to teach the person. There are various breathing exercises, which help in relaxing the whole body. There are many standing exercises, deep breathing exercises and exercises, which are done sitting and lying flat.

The physiological benefits of yoga include the enhancement of all major functional systems of the body such as nervous system, cardiovascular system, endocrine system, respiratory system, musculoskeletal system and excretory system. It will help to improve the co-ordination and balance the body. The biochemical benefits of yoga such as decrease of LDL cholesterol, glucose and catecholamine will help to prevent all the major fatal diseases and triggers the resilience of the body. Moreover yoga balances the weight of the person without losing its strength through the different stretching asanas.

Regular practice of yoga makes your immune system strong. If your immune system is strong, you will have more resistance against diseases. Yoga increases flexibility and range of motion. It makes you more active than before. Yoga reduces pain in joints and muscles. There are many ‘asanas’ for this purpose. . Yoga causes stronger lung capacity and therefore promotes higher quality respiration. This improves your overall health.

Such benefits include but are not limited to the physical, mental and spiritual. Yoga helps tone and strengthen the body and build muscle over time. Cardio and circulatory benefits are noted too. The mental benefits include relaxation and ease of emotional stressed and strains. Spiritually yoga can help with positive thought and increase in sense of self-esteem. Depending on which path you use, it may also develop your spiritual ability to forgive and see more beauty in the world in which we live. Weight loss is only one great aspect to the overall benefit of yoga.



Mother Nature’s Magic Pill

Guest Author: Paul M. Jerard Jr.


If you are a Yoga teacher, or thinking about becoming a Yoga teacher, the concepts contained within this series will save you money and, potentially, earn you a lot more money. How much money you want to earn as a Yoga teacher, is up to you. If you are willing to put in your time, marketing your Yoga teaching skills, the sky is the limit. None of us has to teach Yoga; we choose to teach Yoga because we love it and know the many rewards of steady Yoga practice.

That is why I pass on Yoga Business and Marketing information to my Yoga teacher interns, friends, peers, Yoga coaching clients, and competitors. Many great Yoga teachers are guilty of unwise business decisions, and desperately scratch out a living, without the proper business skills.

Speaking of Yoga business competitors, you would be better off to network with other local Yoga teachers. Some of the neighboring Yoga studios, in Providence, RI, refer prospective Yoga students to me, and I do the same for them. You can’t fill every Yoga niche and do you want to really try? Even McDonald’s has a limit on the menu and we can all learn from this. Better to do one or a few things very well, than do nothing well at all.

“Yoga Business” – Is this an Oxymoron, a Conflict of Interest, or Blasphemy? Do you feel guilty taking a Yoga students’ money? Why should you? What do your Yoga students expect you to live on? Would you feel bad paying for scuba lessons, skiing instruction, golf instruction, or a day with a fishing guide?

Of course not – because these instructors put in the time, practicing a skill, and are worth the money you pay them. If you have Yoga students who do not appreciate your skills in the same way – refuse to teach Yoga to them. You put in 200 or 500 hours of Yoga teacher training, worked on refining each aspect of teaching Yoga, and invested years of training as a Yoga student before that.

Yoga instructors deserve to be paid well. Continuing education courses for Yoga teachers, Yoga retreats, workshops, Yoga teacher seminars, books, Yoga correspondence courses for instructors, and Yoga videos are rarely free. If you join a local Yoga teacher association, or decide to become a registered Yoga teacher, that’s not free either.

So, where does all this guilt about taking money for your Yoga teaching services come from? It comes from being a “giver.” Yoga teachers are some of the biggest givers I have ever met. Which is nice, and restores my faith in humanity, but Yoga teachers are also supposed to be a living example of quality life. You cannot support your family, pay your rent, eat properly, or receive medical care by teaching Yoga for free.

© Copyright 2006 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Guest Author: Michael Collins


Cardio exercise is one of the most effective and efficient ways to burn fat. Nothing burns off calories like intense cardio exercise. The challenge is most people think of cardio as boring or tedious.

That’s why we’ve designed ways to get the most out of your cardio workout, and get it done as fast as possible.

So how do we get the most out of out cardio?

1. Make it Fun- Instead of doing the spend an hour-on-a-treadmill workout, go play some sports instead. perhaps you have a basketball court near your house? Even if you’re not any good, just dribbling and running down the court can burn many calories, while practicing your shooting skills. Be a kid again!

2. Make it Intense- On whatever cardio piece of equipment you use, if you’re used to going at a moderate pace, take it up a few paces and put forth more effort. Go faster, use a tougher resistance, and just bust your butt until you can’t go anymore (within healthy limits of course). This will boost your calorie burn like nobody’s business.

3. Throw your body for a loop- If you’re a creature of habit and always use a machine for cardio, try using some body weight exercises. Body weight exercises are great- they can be done anywhere, build lean muscle, make you stronger, and get your heart going for a powerful cardio, fat burning workout.

These are some simple ways to get the most out of your cardio workout. There are many more you can find as well.