Yoga Instructor Training: 2021

Monday, May 3, 2021

Yoga Techniques for Depression

200 hour yoga instructor training intensive course

By Sangeetha Saran

Anyone dealing with depression should seek professional counseling immediately. Depression can be a highly debilitating disorder. It is also a very personal one, making it a challenge to treat successfully. In recent years, researchers have been devoting a great deal of time to the potentials that yoga holds as a means of treating depression as an adjunct therapy, particularly as more people are seeking alternatives to pharmaceutical medications. Aside from issues relating to undesirable side effects, finding a way to manage depression without having to rely on externals, like pills, places the power to feel good in each person's own hands.

The results of an extensive study comparing the effectiveness of a broad range of yoga styles and postures were published in the December 2007 edition of Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. One of the most important elements affecting mood was found to be postures and pranayama exercises with a strong focus on controlled breathing, as is found within the Sudarshan Kriya technique.

Iyengar techniques were also shown to be particularly effective because of the balance between the physical and the mental. Science has already established the relationship between physical activity and mood, and clinical studies are demonstrating that the mental disciplines of yoga also have a lot to offer to those dealing with the challenge of managing depression.

Hatha Yoga, as performed and taught in the west, tends to be more physically focused, more active and exercise oriented. This was found to be useful for people who are dealing with both anxiety and depression. The physical activity and the brain chemicals that such activity releases resulted in decreased levels of stress and physical tension, which led to lower anxiety levels. That, in turn, helped to decrease depression symptoms and improve overall mood and sense of well being.

Aside from the direct effects that targeted yoga training techniques can have on depression, there are a number of indirect benefits as well that can help to alleviate symptoms associated with depressive disorders. Yoga can help a person with positive thinking and achieving physical fitness, both of which can boost self-esteem and help people feel more accomplished and happy. Attending a yoga school offers the opportunity to get out and meet new people, forming new friendships, which are an important part of mental health and well being.

The YOGA MIND:

52 Essential Principles of Yoga Philosophy to Deepen your Practice

by Rina Jakubowicz.

RESTORATIVE YOGA FOR LIFE:

A Relaxing Way to De-stress, Re-energize, and Find Balance

by: Gail Boorstein Grossman.

YOGA: THE PATH TO HOLISTIC HEALTH

by B.K.S. Iyengar

TEACHING YOGA: Essential Foundations and Techniques

By Mark Stephens

To see find out more about yoga or see our selection of inexpensive yoga teacher training courses, please use the yoga resources on the right side of this page.

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Spring Ayurvedic Detox Diet for the Pitta Dosha

500-hour yoga instructor training intensive course

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed

Ayurvedic health care practitioners believe that a state of disease is able to develop when the particular dosha or mind/body matrix of an individual is out of balance. Participating in a springtime detox diet will help a Yogi or Yogini to reestablish their internal balance through a purifying diet of healthy food, spices and teas. In fact, the elite Council of Maharishi Ayurveda Physicians recommends that all dosha types complete a spring detox diet in order to cleanse the body of toxic producing substances that may have accumulated in a Yoga practitioner’s digestive tract during the dark winter months.

The Pitta dosha is the most fiery of all of the doshas. Classically speaking, the Pitta dosha is governed by thinking, learning and the fire of digestion. Yogis or Yoginis who are predominantly pitta in nature are usually highly intelligent, very quick in their thought processes, ethical and often excel in leadership positions. A Pitta individual also tends to be quite dharmic in his or her behavior and very disciplined, sometimes to such an extent that his or her outlook on life becomes quite rigid and set.

When a Pitta is out of balance, he or she will often exhibit a high level of irritability and a short fuse, becoming easily angered at the proverbial drop of a hat or glass of spilt milk. An out-of-balance Pitta may also exhibit skin rashes, prematurely grey hair, excess stomach acid and an overly critical attitude. Ayurvedic physicians recommend that Pittas eat cooling, sweet and cleansing foods, such as fruit juices and cleansing greens. An optimal Pitta diet will emphasize fresh plant foods and minimize processed foods, meat and seafood. Eating at regular mealtimes and exercising daily out in nature will also help to keep a Pitta dosha individual in balance.

Participating in an Ayurvedic springtime detox diet will help to refresh and balance all of the doshas. An optimal Pitta spring detox diet includes lots of bitter, green leafy vegetables, including kale, arugula and parsley for their cleansing properties.

Celery and cucumbers are also great vegetables to include in a Pitta cleansing diet. Additionally, blue, red and purple fruits are highly recommended for Pittas by Ayurvedic practitioners. A great way to include many greens, vegetables and fruits into your diet is by making a yogurt-based, green smoothie everyday while detoxifying. In this way, you will be able to include many of the recommended cleansing and bitter greens in a nourishing, cooling and sweet base of organic yogurt and succulent fruit.

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