Chair Yoga for Parkinson's Disease

By Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

Parkinson's disease commonly effects a person's movements, balance, and spatial reasoning, while causing muscle rigidity. The disease progresses, while making symptoms more pronounced over time. Medical professionals have not developed a cure, but there are ways to relieve the symptoms during the first decade of the disease. As the disease progresses, medications are often necessary to make daily life more bearable. Yoga has been proven as an effective adjunct therapy for Parkinson's patients. It helps patients regain motor coordination, control, flexibility, strength, and balance.

Adaptations

Traditional Yoga poses, especially some of the standing poses, which require balance, will not be the best choice for Parkinson's patients. Lack of balance can cause the patients to worry about falling over or injuring their selves. Putting a student at risk of injury is extremely unwise on the part of a Yoga instructor.  In order to provide a relaxing experience for Parkinson's patients, a Yoga teacher should adapt poses for sitting in a chair. Over time, patients might also be able to use a wall for support, or straps, blocks, or blankets to adapt the poses. Patients will still get the benefits each pose provides, but the modifications will ensure a safe, gentle practice.

Benefits

Yoga provides an overall body stretch, which can affect the entire body as well as the mind. The stretches encourage new blood to flow throughout the entire body, reaching all of its important organs. This results in more energy and a feeling of health and wellness. Joints and muscles become more flexible, allowing movements to come more easily and smoothly. Stress levels often decrease, as the patients become more physically active. The meditative portion of Yoga can also benefit Parkinson's patients by providing them a healthy outlet for stress and anxiety. Deep breathing methods teach patients to fill up the belly and lungs to release negative thoughts and emotions, clear the mind, and focus on health and wellness.

Revitalizing Poses

Mountain pose allows patients to focus on good posture and balance. In a chair, ask patients to sit with hips and shoulders aligned, and the spine and neck aligned. Gaze can focus softly forward, or the eyes may be closed. Feet can be planted firmly on the floor. Ask patients to breathe deeply while noticing how their weight is equally distributed throughout the body.

Trunk circles get the blood and energy flowing within the body, and loosen the hips and sides of the body. Sitting in a chair, patients can bend forward at the hips, and then sweep the torso up and to the right, forming a complete circle. Remind patients to keep the head, neck and spine aligned. Repeat circles in both directions.

© Copyright 2012 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see our selection of Online Yoga instructor training courses, please visit the following link.

http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/store/

If you are a Yoga Teacher, Yoga studio, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste!

Should Kids Take Power Yoga Classes?

By Faye Martins

Experienced instructors differ as to whether children should take a power yoga class. While they acknowledge the benefits of flowing yoga for older kids, they believe that parents should be aware of certain risks inherent in these physical forms of yoga. At the same time, yoga instructors who are willing to teach a kid's class also have responsibilities to their students to prevent injury and improve health.

The Cons

Because power yoga is a fast-flowing and physically challenging type of yoga, students must be not only familiar but comfortable with the basic yoga poses they will be practicing. If too much instruction is needed, then the class turns into a slower form of yoga and the flowing characteristic cannot be achieved. Thus, kids who have not practiced yoga before should avoid power classes.

Because it is a more physically challenging practice than other styles, power yoga also carries increased risks. Faster movements within poses require good technique and postural alignment, which can be difficult for a child to achieve. It must also be remembered that kids' joints are looser and their bodies still developing, so faster movements might result in improper balance or over-compensation. Falls or injuries can result.

The faster flow of poses can also make it difficult in some classes to adjust improper technique, especially in young children who may have difficulty paying attention to an instructor's dialogue.

The Pros

Many parents find that despite its increased risks, power yoga's emphasis on the physical is advantageous to their children's health.

First, physical forms of yoga build strength; its fast-flowing movements encourage muscular fatigue, which is necessary for strength building. The poses are designed to move into each other, so many of the postures are related and work the same parts of the body, enabling yogis to grow tired yet still continue challenging their muscles.

Second, flowing yoga enhances cardiovascular health, as the series of uninterrupted poses builds endurance. With this type of yoga, students will move quickly from one pose to the next without breaks while avoiding poses that are more restful. As the practitioner continues to practice without rest, his or her heart rate becomes elevated and overall health is improved.

Third, power yoga does not focus on meditative practices, which can be a real challenge to young people who have short attention spans. Its emphasis on the physical, allows kids to really expend their extra energy so that they leave their yoga classes tired yet rejuvenated.

© Copyright 2012 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see our selection of Online Yoga instructor training courses, please visit the following link.

http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/store/

FREE Yoga Report. FREE Yoga Newsletter. FREE Yoga Videos. Free Podcasts. Bonus: Free Yoga e-Book, “Yoga in Practice.”

FREE CONTENT: If you are a Yoga Teacher, Yoga studio, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste!

Becoming a Yoga Studio Owner

By Faye Martins

Here’s a subject that most yoga instructor training courses will never inform you about.  After all, why should your local studio help you build their future competition?  Most of us don’t want to think about competition in the marketplace, but it happens.  We love yoga, but we need to make money to live.

Becoming a yoga studio owner takes more than just a casual love for the art but a fiery passion and drive to share yoga with the world and the business smarts to make it happen. First of all, it's important to have a business plan: Make sure you can make your enterprise profitable. Are you planning on being the sole yoga teacher? Are you planning on hiring yoga instructors? When will you teach? What will be the scope of your business? Many resources for mapping a profitable business can be found online or at your local library.

In addition to the business plan, it's vital to assemble a series of practical steps to take that will each bring you one step closer to yoga studio ownership. Take a look at your business plan and access what it will take to bring each element to life. Do you need to get a loan for upfront investments? Do you need to be trained as a yoga teacher? Do you need to hire teachers? Make sure you account for things such as necessary building permits and codes as well as certifications if any are required. Look into your local laws and regulations. Account for where the funds to purchase real estate are going to come from. It may be prudent to rent the space for your business for a time while you acquire enough profits to reinvest in your own studio.

After the initial technical issues, the fun can begin. Make sure to design your studio in a way that is inviting and compelling to clients. Marketing is a large part of any successful business, and in the yoga studio business, the feelings of your clients as they walk in the door is half the battle. Use design to communicate to your clients the kind of space you want this to be and the kind of energy you want to encourage. This is likely to be relaxing, serene and meditative, but you can also experiment with hip, determined, athletic, intense, or any other feeling you want to create. It can be a huge advantage to separate your studio from the pack of bamboo, waterfalls, and chakra illustrations.

If you are looking for something with a plan included, consider opening a franchise location. Franchises provide brand recognition and answer all the questions about running the business, design and otherwise. Franchises offer many benefits to rookie owners or those who are a bit risk-averse and are okay with forfeiting some creative control. Whatever you do, make sure to thoroughly research the business side of your operation: It will make or break your studio.

© Copyright 2012 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see our selection of Online Yoga teacher training courses, please visit the following link.

http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/store/

FREE Yoga Report. FREE Yoga Newsletter. FREE Yoga Videos. Free Podcasts. Bonus: Free Yoga e-Book, “Yoga in Practice.”

FREE CONTENT: If you are a Yoga Teacher, Yoga studio, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste!