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Yoga and Meditation

Yoga and Meditation — No Comments
9
Dec 11

Where is the strangest place you’ve ever done yoga and meditation exercises?

People who first try yoga and meditation for beginners may not realize just how adaptable the regimen is. Experts recommend doing yoga in all sorts of places, from your living room to your cubicle to the great outdoors. Recently, we asked some local practitioners about the strangest places where they've done yoga and meditation exercises.

Check out some of the answers we received!

"The bathroom at work. Whenever I need a break, I take five minutes to stretch, deep breathe and do some standing positions, usually in the larger stall. It does wonders!" -Becky, Columbia Heights, DC

"When I summited Mt. McKinley in 1997, I had to take a breather at the top. I have a photo of me doing yoga there. Couldn't have had a better view of the Denali National Park than from 20,000 feet in the lotus position." -Emmanuel, Georgetown, DC

"In an airplane bathroom. Alone, mind you." – Julie, Logan Circle, DC

"Once, I did a few yoga poses during a visualization exercise in class. Everyone had their eyes closed, so I silently got out of my chair did a few sun salutes!" Partrycja, Chevy Chase, DC

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Yoga and Meditation — No Comments
5
Dec 11

What yoga and meditation exercises do kids learn at school?

Across the U.S., millions of children and teens practice yoga and meditation for beginners. In fact, so many youths get into the ancient mind-body practice in school that a researcher from Temple University recently conducted a nationwide survey of kids' yoga curricula.

The results indicated that even though the teaching of yoga in schools isn't particularly standardized, the self-healing regimen seems to improve relaxation, self-awareness, cognition and physical health in kids of all ages.

The study author, PhD candidate Robin Lowry, reviewed the curricula of dozens of school-based yoga programs and surveyed hundreds of students and physical education (PE) teachers. She found that most yoga and meditation exercises were non-competitive, often resembling other PE games.

Lowry noted that most yoga programs were modified to fit local PE requirements, but that otherwise the yoga curricula had few standards in common.

Still, the author concluded that youth yoga classes usually entailed physical, mental and spiritual benefits for all involved, despite the variations between different standards.

In its own nationwide survey, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that approximately 4.5 million children and young adults practice yoga each year.

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Yoga and Meditation — No Comments
8
Nov 11

Celebrities love yoga and meditation for beginners (or experts)

Yoga and meditation exercises regularly appear in the national news, not least because plenty of celebrities love to do them. What is it about the holistic health regimen that attracts stars and starlets?

Some celebs aren't telling. For instance, the Daily Mail recently spotted actress Katie Holmes leaving a yoga session with mat firmly in hand. While she didn't open up about her love for yoga, her mussed hair and empty water bottle indicated that she probably got a real workout.

Other famous and fashionable folks have no trouble explaining why they can't do enough yoga and meditation for beginners (or in some cases, experts).

For instance, in an interview conducted by the Washington Post, model Christy Turlington Burns described her enthusiasm for yoga in no uncertain terms.

In order to train for an upcoming event promoting her maternal wellness charity Every Mother Counts, she has been doing extra sessions of yoga and talking about it online.

"I said I'd only tweet about my issue, but now with my run, I tweet about that, and yoga, too," she told the newspaper, adding that she has been an avid yoga practitioner for 25 years.

What event will Turlington Burns be participating in? A full marathon.

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Yoga and Meditation — No Comments
3
Nov 11

Yoga and meditation exercises may help your golf swing

Thinking of hitting the links at one of the nation's capital's many golf courses? If so, you might want to consider trying yoga and meditation exercises, which many experts say may help prevent muscular tightness or soreness and potentially improve your game.

According to Men's Health, Washington, DC, yoga classes may lengthen your drive because of the way that a golf swing works. Katherine Roberts, a fitness guru for the Golf Channel, explained.

"Swing power is generated from the lower body to the hips, the trunk, the shoulders, the arms and out to the club," she told the fitness magazine. "A lot of yoga postures are very good at getting deep into the connective tissue and musculature of the hips," which she said can increase the ground-up power of a gold drive.

And if you think yoga can only help male golfers hone their skills on the fairway, think again. Yahoo! Sports recently published an article describing the popularity of yoga among female golfers, both amateur and professional.

The news source noted that the holistic regimen can help ladies increase their flexibility and, perhaps even more important, build the strength and endurance to hit the 18th hole with ease.

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Yoga and Meditation — No Comments
24
Oct 11

Enthusiast uses yoga and meditation exercises to prep for DC marathon

How does one train for a marathon? Beyond the obvious need for a weekly jogging routine, many runners get ready to run 26.2 uninterrupted miles by doing regular yoga and meditation exercises.

For instance, Jennifer Plasse, a resident of the nation's capital, recently told Reuters that she signed up for Washington DC yoga classes as a way to ready her body for the 36th annual Marine Corps Marathon (MCM).

Though its name suggests that it is intended only for servicemen and servicewomen, the race is open to all who wish to take part. In fact, it is the largest annually held marathon to be open for all, though it does not offer prize money for first-place finishers.

Still, Plasse told the news source that she will not be running for the greenbacks, but for the glory.

A 29-year-old insurance program director, she explained that marathon-running is a purifying experience, one that tests a participant's will to finish.

"You've exhausted yourself physically and just praying your legs will take you cross the finish line," Plasse told the news agency. "I know from experience that you just have to push through it."

Yoga classes can improve flexibility and potentially prevent running-related injury, an effect more than a few MCM entrants will be counting on.

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Yoga and Meditation — 1 Comment
17
Oct 11

Yoga and meditation exercises appear to improve memory, intelligence

Yoga and meditation benefits extend not just to the young and healthy, but also to the elderly, infirm, overweight, stressed-out or just plain frazzled. One of the primary advantages of engaging in yoga and meditation exercises is that they appear to improve cognitive function in addition to physical health.

A whole host of studies suggests that meditating, stretching and posing can benefit the brain's ability to retain and process information.

For instance, a report appearing in the Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology determined that children who attended a yoga camp experienced a 43 percent average increase in their spatial memory. By contrast, those who went to a fine arts camp displayed no such improvements.

Another study, this one published in the Journal of Psychological Researches, found that college-age women who did yoga regularly tended to improve their intelligence, attention span and memory capacity.

These participants also displayed improvements in heart rate, blood pressure and breath control, the authors added.

Finally, research published in the Indian Journal of Medical Sciences announced that students who adopted a meditation routine were better able to solve mazes and answer mathematical questions, compared to those who did not use the holistic method.

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Yoga and Meditation — No Comments
11
Oct 11

Yoga and meditation exercises appear in a number of Washington, DC, news items

Whether a holistic health enthusiast lives in the heart of Washington, DC, or on its outskirts, yoga and meditation benefits their brain, body and spirit. And if you need proof that stretching and posing is important to residents of the nation's capital, just look at these recent Washington, DC, news items in which yoga and meditation exercises make an appearance.

- Besides marching, chanting and protesting the nation's wealth imbalance, members of an Occupy Wall Street-like movement have been doing yoga. The Los Angeles Times reports that participants in Stop the Machine, a 500-person protest that materialized outside the conservative think-tank U.S. Chamber of Commerce, took some time to do yoga together. After getting down and meditating in a large group, the demonstration moved on to the White House, the news source stated.

- Many yoga instructors have begun offering free classes in Washington, DC, as a way to bring holistic health to the underemployed, according to the New York Magazine. Teacher Alex Odell explained to the periodical that, for many people, yoga is the only form of stress relief they get right now.

- The Washington Post adds that several patient advocacy centers in the capital are offering yoga to cancer patients as a way to manage pain and the side effects of treatments.

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Yoga and Meditation — 1 Comment
5
Oct 11

Yoga and meditation benefits veterans in Washington, DC

Use yoga and meditation exercises, and you are likely to experience a sense of inner calm and tranquility that cannot be recreated with traditional workouts. Several Washington, DC, yoga classes rely on this phenomenon, including the Exalted Warriors Foundation (EWF).

A nonprofit dedicated to helping wounded veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, the EWF began in 2007 when yoga teacher Anne Okerlin was working at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the nation's capital.

She told ESPN-W that doctors asked her to work with a 25-year-old soldier who had lost both legs to a land mine while serving in Iraq. Okerlin told the news source that treating the man was a transformative experience.

The veteran suffered from nervous tremors and insomnia, but Okerlin was able to help subdue these conditions through a regular yoga breathing routine.

Less than a year later, she had founded the EWF, which today operates in medical centers in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC.

She can still recall treating her first patient at Walter Reed, though.

"We did five minutes of breath work, and he fell asleep. It was beautiful," she told the news source.

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Yoga and Meditation — No Comments
16
Sep 11

5 things you should know about yoga and meditation for beginners

Do you feel like you still have a lot to learn about yoga and meditation exercises, even after months or years spent engaging in the holistic health system? If so, you're not alone.

Not only can the etiquette of yoga class be subtle or elusive, but its techniques and their benefits may be difficult to fully comprehend. With that in mind, here is a short primer on what many experts think you should know about yoga and meditation for beginners.

1. Yoga is not a quick fix. The International Business Times (IBT) describes yoga as a "process" rather than an "instant solution." Like mindfulness meditation and tai chi, doing yoga is primarily about gradually cultivating a sense of physical peace and spiritual wonder at the unity of all things.

2. You should ask questions before, during and after class. Many of the mental concepts and physical postures that form yoga's foundation can be difficult to grasp. The health and fitness website FitSugar states that it is essential to have a good channel of communication between yourself and your teachers. Start a dialogue.

3. Accept incomplete knowledge. No one person can ever internalize all there is to know about yoga, the IBT states. Though you can (and should) study the discipline carefully, be happy with what you learn rather than anxious about what you don't yet know. Remember: yoga's goal is happiness!

4. Be vocal about how you feel. Are certain positions too easy for you? Too hard? Do particular poses hurt? If so, don't be afraid to speak up. Your yoga instructor wants to keep track of your well-being, and that means knowing how you're feeling.

5. Yoga is an alternative approach to health. While hundreds of studies point to the physical and mental benefits of yoga, the holistic regimen is not necessarily a cure for anything, the IBT adds. Instead, yoga acts as a complementary treatment, putting your body in a state from which better well-being may be within reach.

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Yoga and Meditation — No Comments
10
Aug 11

Astronauts may one day do yoga and meditation exercises in orbit

You thought you had it bad. In a specially converted hangar in Moscow, six volunteers are currently sitting in a 550-square-meter sealed container, living on space rations and getting no sun, fresh drinking water, alcohol or other terrestrial comforts, according to the Guardian. What are they doing in there, and what does this have to do with yoga and meditation exercises? More than you might think.

You see, these six intrepid ladies and gentlemen are acting as test subjects for a potential manned mission to Mars, which is not scheduled to leave for years, Fortunately, the half-dozen in Russia will be out of their "cell" by November 2011.

The U.S. and Russia have toyed with the idea of a manned Mars mission for years. Based on technological advances, it now looks as if it could be a reality someday soon. According to a recent Washington Post article, there may even be water on the red planet.

However, there are hurdles to overcome. Besides the toll that prolonged weightlessness takes on bones (it basically causes osteoporosis within a year), one of the biggest roadblocks to interplanetary travel is the ability to keep astronauts sane during a nonstop, 500-day trip.

This is where yoga might help. As on Earth, the holistic health regimen might certainly relax and rejuvenate individuals stuck together in close quarters. They could even consider the mission a three-year, zero-G yoga and meditation retreat!

Think this sounds improbable? Consider an article in the Times of India, which featured Indian-born cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma, the first human in history to have practiced yoga in space.

In 1984, he hitched a ride aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-11 rocket, which took him to the Salyut-7 space station, the source stated. Once there, he spent eight days doing experiments, collecting data and doing yoga.

"I had practiced yoga to endure space sickness… It would be good if the next Indian cosmonaut continues zero gravity yoga practice, so that we can obtain more data," he told the newspaper.

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