The Best Form of Exercise to Improve Your Mood?

The Best Form of Exercise to Improve Your Mood?
by www.SixWise.com

Exercise is a well-known natural mood booster. You’ve heard of a “runner’s high”? This refers to the euphoric feeling many people get after a challenging run … and research has confirmed that, indeed, endorphins -- your brain’s feel-good, pain-relieving chemicals -- are produced during running.

What’s more, those endorphins attach to areas of your brain associated with emotions, including the intense, positive emotions experienced during love affairs. So the runner’s high is not just a myth … it’s a very real mood boost that runners and other active exercisers get to experience.

But as intense as a runner’s high can be, it may pale in comparison to the mood boost offered by another type of exercise … yoga.

Yoga May Boost Your Mood Better Than Any Other Type of Exercise

A new study has revealed that yoga increases the levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in your brain. GABA helps to regulate nerve activity and lower levels are linked to mood and anxiety disorders. Drugs that increase GABA activity are used to treat anxiety and improve mood … and it appears yoga may help to increase GABA activity, offering potential antidepressant benefits, naturally.

In fact, yoga was found to boost mood better than walking and other forms of exercise,

"This is important work that establishes some objective bases for the effects that highly trained practitioners of yoga therapy throughout the world see on a daily basis …,” Kim A. Jobst, editor-in-chief of The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, told Science Daily.

Please read the full article:
http://www.sixwise.com/Newsletters/2010/December/01/The-Best-Form-of-Exercise-to-Improve-Your-Mood.htm

Yoga May Offer Benefits Beyond Relaxation

Yoga May Offer Benefits Beyond Relaxation
Practitioners Can Fight Flab With Technique
September 7, 2004
Link to full article below; abridged

DALLAS -- People seeking a leaner, trimmer body shape turn to various
forms of exercise to achieve their goals.

Yoga, traditionally thought of as a path to greater flexibility and a more
relaxed frame of mind, now is attracting those who want to shed excess
flab as well.

Randi Schwartz turned to yoga when she decided to pursue a leaner look.
...

"Strengthening, sculpting, toning, cardiovascular, endurance, stamina
...," Twining said. "When you put that with stretching and flexibility,
it's actually one of the most fat-burning benefits you can get in any
exercise program."

Please read the full article:
http://www.click2houston.com/health/3710047/detail.html


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Yoga Pose of the Day

Relax and Unload In unexpected ways, yoga can help you lose weight. Our expert tells you how.

Relax and Unload
In unexpected ways, yoga can help you lose weight. Our expert tells you how.
By Dr. Timothy McCall


Yoga is so much more than a weight-loss program, but it has helped many people shed extra pounds, even some who have spent years trying to slim down in other ways without success. Studies show that a complete yoga program—asana, breathing techniques, and meditation—can peel off the pounds.

How does yoga do it? Well, the most obvious explanation is all the calories burned practicing asana, especially in vigorous yoga classes. Still, many students lose weight even when their yoga practice is gentle and doesn't burn that many calories.

LESS STRESS A less obvious explanation is that yoga helps reduce stress. In response to stress, levels of the hormone cortisol rise; for people who continue to worry, those levels can stay high. Elevated cortisol levels not only stimulate eating, they ensure that any additional calories are efficiently converted to fat. Worse, under the influence of cortisol, that fat tends to get deposited in the abdomen, a particularly unhealthy place. Big bellies are linked to insulin resistance—a precursor to Type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes—and heart disease. By combating stress, yoga helps normalize cortisol levels.

MORE AWARENESS The regular practice of yoga also boosts your ability to feel what's going on inside your body. This awareness helps you detect not only whether, say, your hamstring is tight but also whether your stomach is already full. Many people with weight problems have little awareness of their hunger and continue indulging long after they're sated. Besides having greater bodily awareness, people who practice yoga learn to examine their emotions—whether it's fear keeping them from doing a handstand or loneliness prompting late-night trips to the fridge. Yoga teaches that you are not your emotions and that you don't always need to act on them.

BETTER CONCENTRATION

To read the full article:
http://www.yogajournal.com/health/1694?utm_source=MyYogaJournal&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=myj_364

Yoga Diet - Fasting the Yoga Way

Yoga Diet - Fasting the Yoga Way

http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/diet/fasting.asp

While there is a Yoga way of eating, there is also a Yoga way of not eating. This refers to Fasting. This is done by yogis as a form of physical cleansing or purification. Since we make our digestive system work several times a day, it's also a good idea to give it some rest. This will allow our digestive system to recover from the abuse: from eating too much, eating unhealthy foods or eating at the wrong time. It also allows us to get rid of toxins in our body.

Simply put, Fasting is abstinence from food. However, a careful approach must be taken. Here are some guidelines on how to start fasting:

Start with a single-day fast. This will give you an idea on how Fasting feels like. This one-day fast is supposed to make you feel that Fasting is not hard at all, that you can go on for a longer period of time.

If you are the type of person who eats 3 full meals a day and snacks in between, starting the fast may be a bit tougher. What you can do is eat just one full meal (composed of grain and vegetables) per day around lunch time, while taking in water or juice on other times of the day. Once you get the hang of eating less food in a day, you can proceed to the single-day fast.

Decide on what type of fast you are going to follow. It can either be a water fast, a fruit juice fast or a vegetable juice fast. Once you've decided, stick to it (most people would recommend juice fasts). For a water fast, drink around 7 glasses of clear water per day. For juice fasts, drink the same amount of fruit or vegetable juice. Drink slowly so as to absorb the Prana from them.

From the single-day fast, the goal is to move on to more days of Fasting. But if you find Fasting for more than 3 days difficult, you can eat light foods like vegetables and soups for one day and go back to Fasting the next day. Try to go for a series of 3-day fasts with 1 day of light food in between them. Eventually, you'll be able to go on to 5-day fasts or even longer.
Usually, the first 2 or 3 days of the longer fasts are the most difficult. You will experience headaches, vomiting, and even an increase in irritability. Breathing problems may also occur. Overcome these by practicing Pranayama.

Fasting should not be an excuse to do some mild exercise. Take a walk every day, but avoid strenuous activities like jogging. Practice Asanas and give time for Meditation. Fasting should not also prevent you from accomplishing your daily tasks. Don't just lie down doing nothing just because you are fasting.

Only after about 3 days of Fasting will you begin to see its benefits: increased mental energy, enhanced concentration and improvement in some senses. That is why longer fasts are required for the ultimate Fasting experience.

Breaking the Fast
This is perhaps the most difficult part of the fast. You cannot break it drastically because once your body tastes food, it will crave for more. It can also lead to sickness. A good idea to start the break is to do it in the evening, so as to allow the food to go through your system while you sleep at night. Also remember to chew your food thoroughly, since the digestive system has been at rest, to make the process of digestion easier.

For a two-day fast, follow these steps:
Day 1: Fresh fruit and a teaspoon of natural yogurt for digestion
Day 2: Salads
Day 3: Steamed vegetables with light grain
Day 4: Gradually return to your normal diet.
If you fasted for 4 days, just double the number of days for each step. Do the same adjustment for longer fasts. Avoid tea, coffee, alcohol, and seasoning while breaking the fast. Just remember not to overeat or mix too much food types on your first day of food. Do everything slowly but surely.

Most of us may think that Fasting is hard. But if we are well-prepared, then it should not be a big deal at all. Aside from the tips mentioned above, mental determination is also important. Otherwise, you will give up on it easily. As a health guideline, consult your physician before changing your diet or food patterns. You might have a health condition which can get worse when you change your diet.

Fasting is beneficial physically, mentally, and spiritually. And good physical, mental and spiritual health is what Yoga is all about.

Incorporating Yoga into Daily Routine Can Help Relieve Stress

Incorporating yoga into daily routine can help relieve stress
By CONNIE MIDEY
Gannett News Service
Monday, November 29, 2004

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2004/November/29/HElist2.htm

This is multitasking to relax instead of frazzle us: doing yoga while
showering, standing in a checkout line at the store or reaching for the
telephone.

"Yoga has so many benefits in terms of stress relief and flexibility,"
Michele Stanten, fitness director for Prevention magazine, says from
Emmaus, Pa. "It can energize us, get our circulation going, and decrease
levels of the stress hormone cortisol."

If finding time for a class or even a structured workout session at home
seems impossible, Stanten suggests incorporating these simple,
one-minute-or-less yoga poses in your daily activities.

• In the shower: belly breaths. In the warm, moist air of the shower,
close your eyes, put your hands on your belly and inhale. Your belly
should push your hands outward. Then exhale, contracting your bellybutton
toward your spine to force air out of your belly and lungs. Say "love,"
"amen" or "om" as you exhale.

• In line: modified tree pose. If you’re worried about getting funny
looks, you may want to do only the first part, which is assuming a
simplified mountain pose.

Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Lift the balls of your feet and
spread your toes, then gently set them back on the floor and balance your
weight evenly. Tip your tailbone toward the floor. Pull your shoulder
blades back and straight across and relax them slightly downward. Let your
arms hang. Hold your head so the underside of your chin is parallel to the
floor, keeping your mouth, throat and eyes relaxed.

If you’re feeling brave, hold onto the shopping cart or a sturdy shelf and
move into the modified tree pose. Rest the sole of your right foot against
the inner thigh of your left leg or, less conspicuously, against the
inside of your left ankle. Repeat, resting left sole against right thigh
or ankle.

• On the telephone: six-second tranquilizer. Let the phone ring two to
three times while you close your eyes and picture yourself in a relaxing
spot. Sit up tall, take a nice deep breath, relax and smile. Then reach
for the phone and say hello to the person waiting patiently on the other
end of the line. Yoga teachers call this "mouth yoga," Stanten says.

Do Yoga, Do Good - Karma Yoga - Serve Others

Do Yoga, Do Good
Karma yoga, the practice of serving others, isn't just the right thing to do;
it's also a path to self-realization.
By Alan Reder

http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/1492?print=1
http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/1492?utm_source=MyYogaJournal&utm_medium=newsl\
etter&utm_campaign=myj_345

In the West's never-ending quest for high-speed, user-friendly spiritual growth,
an ancient solution to the problem, karma yoga, is usually overlooked. The
Bhagavad Gita touts karma yoga—the Hindu path of service to others—as the
fast lane to spiritual fulfillment. So comprehensive are its benefits that one
of India's most widely respected gurus, Neem Karoli Baba, gave just one
instruction to his devotees: "Love everyone, serve everyone, remember God"—six
words that encompass the whole tradition. "Everything he said to us was focused
on loving and serving," says Mirabai Bush, one of his best-known American
followers. "He said if you want to meditate or do asanas, fine, but he never
really taught us those things."

These ideas are much on my mind as I sit in a small apartment in Phoenix,
Oregon, watching hospice volunteer—and novice karma yogi—Stephanie Harrison
with her patient, Dorothy Armstrong. Harrison has seated herself on the carpet
at Armstrong's feet, a calming hand embracing the 73-year-old woman's ankle.
Slumped in a brown recliner, Armstrong suffers from congestive heart failure and
advanced diabetes. At her request, her doctors have ended aggressive treatment
and are just trying to make her final months more comfortable. But even that is
becoming difficult: Liquid morphine no longer does the trick, the stout,
white-haired woman says, and the pain rarely quits.

Harrison has stepped into the breach, having been paired with Armstrong by a
local hospice agency. A pert 55-year-old brunette, Harrison visits at least
weekly. Often, the two women just chat, like girlfriends. But Harrison also
helps out by doing light housework, running errands, and tending to Armstrong's
Lhasa Apso, Pokita. In addition, Harrison has insisted that Armstrong phone her
at any hour if she feels the need. Recently, Armstrong was jarred awake in the
middle of the night by intense pain that overwhelmed and terrified her. Harrison
rushed over from nearby Ashland to stay with Armstrong and hold her hand.
"There's no feeling like knowing that someone cares about you like that,"
Armstrong says, her voice breaking. "She's a very special person."

Serve Somebody

All major religious traditions stress the importance of service to others: being
a companion to the sick and dying, cooking hot meals for the hungry, collecting
warm clothes for the poor, and so on. But that doesn't make karma yoga a
universal spiritual practice. In yoga, service is not just a spiritual
obligation or the righteous thing to do, as it's promoted in many churches and
synagogues. It is also a path to self-realization, making it a supercharged
version of the adage that when you give, you also receive.

So does that mean you're guaranteed enlightenment for doing some volunteer work?
Can anyone sign up for this amazing program? How else will your life change if
you do? You won't find pat answers to these questions—because, as described in
the Gita, karma yoga is a mysterious process that reveals its true nature only
to those who pursue it.

The first mystery comes wrapped in the definition of karma yoga, which doesn't,
strictly speaking, mean "service" (often referred to in yogic circles by its
Sanskrit name, seva). Instead, the desire to do service is part of what's
revealed on the karma yoga path. Karma yoga is usually translated as "the yoga
of action"—that is, using the ordinary actions of your life as a means of
"waking up." Essentially, everything you do—from household chores, like
washing the dishes, to "important" duties, like your job—becomes a way of
nourishing the universe that nourishes you.

At some point, however, the distinction between ordinary actions and service, or
actions to relieve the suffering of others, disappears. Yoga teaches that as we
develop spiritually, our awareness and compassion grow, making us more alert to
suffering around us and less able to turn away from it. In essence, the pain of
others becomes our own, and we feel driven to relieve it, much as we'd
instinctively act to end pain in our own body or heart.

But karma yoga doesn't always begin so deliberately—in fact, another of its
mysteries is that it's as likely to choose you as vice versa. Meredith Gould,
former director of marketing at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox,
Massachusetts, and author of Deliberate Acts of Kindness: Service as a Spiritual
Practice (Image, 2002), believes that for many, karma yoga starts as a sort of
inner tug. For Ram Dass, whom many consider America's preeminent karma yogi—he
has written and lectured widely on the subject and helped launch several key
dharma-related service nonprofits—the call came person-to-person. In 1967,
while searching the Himalayan foothills for holy men, the former Harvard
psychology professor, then called Richard Alpert, was introduced to a small
bearded man wrapped in a blanket, who turned out to be Neem Karoli Baba. Just
one day later, Maharajji, as his followers called Baba, "assigned" Ram Dass the
task that has dominated his life
ever since.

"[He] said to me, 'Do you know Gandhi?'" Ram Dass says haltingly. (His speech is
still affected by a stroke he suffered in 1997.) "I said, 'I don't know him, I
know of him.' He said, 'You—be like Gandhi.' I got the little glasses first.
That didn't do it. And then I found a quote that said, 'My life is my message.'
If I can be like Gandhi with that message, that makes my whole incarnation a
service." Which, of course, it has been, especially to the millions who first
took an interest in Eastern spirituality thanks to Ram Dass's books and lectures
in the '60s and '70s; the countless folks who've benefited from his work with
the Prison-Ashram Project, the Dying Project, the Seva Foundation, and other
such efforts; and the graying legions inspired by his work on conscious aging.

Serve the Soul

Not being a membership organization, karma yoga also taps the shoulders of those
outside the fold, like Stephanie Harrison. Having grown up watching her parents
assist needy families who patronized their grocery store in Houston, Harrison
began volunteering when her children were young. At first, she assisted at her
firstborn's day-care center. Later, she led tours for children and adults with
disabilities at a local museum. "Starting when I was young, I had a sense that
we needed one another, that we couldn't make it by ourselves," she recalls.

In her mid-40s, Harrison began exploring contemplative spirituality, and her
volunteering changed in kind. A Methodist by birth, she started practicing
Thomas Keating's "centering prayer," which resembles Eastern-style meditation,
after hearing the noted monk and author speak in Houston. She also simplified
her life, minimized her creature comforts, and began attending retreats at
convents and monasteries. Eventually, she adopted the church's Rule of Benedict,
a comprehensive approach to spiritual living in which service plays a key role.
After moving to Ashland, her involvement with the hospice exposed her to the
Buddhist perspective on living and dying. The teachings rang in her like a bell,
and she soon integrated them into her daily practice.

Harrison's volunteering now drives her spiritual development as much as formal
doctrines do. In the cozy front room of her home, Harrison talks about how
observing people die has altered her view of the living. Her voice is hushed
with wonder as she describes one patient's passing. A Hispanic man separated
from his wife, the patient was just "skin and bones," Harrison says. He never
had visitors and rarely spoke.

"One day, he opened his arms and began to pray in Spanish," she recalls. "His
whole face changed—there was a light in it that came from inside out. His body
heated up. And there was such joy and peace and glory that he radiated. It was
probably less than 24 hours later that he died. But there was some connection he
made that really pulled him out of this world into the next, gave him courage
and almost took him by the hand.

"I'm so clear after seeing people dying that we are all the same," she
continues. "There's a part that sheds and a part that's there after the
shedding. In my interactions with others now, I'm able to see beyond their
superficiality and respond to that deeper part of a person, which often
transforms the whole communication."

To Ram Dass, the same change that Harrison describes in herself captures the
difference between karma yoga and what might be called ordinary volunteering. He
notes that most of us are dominated by our egos, which is the shallowest level
of our being. That is, we base our identities and sense of worth on our physical
bodies, personalities, jobs, reputations, and possessions, and see others
through the same lens.

Ordinary volunteering is often performed, despite the volunteer's altruistic
cover story, to fulfill the ego's needs: to alleviate guilt, seek praise or
respect, prove our power to "save" people, and so on. Inherently, it centers on
unequal relationships—pulling someone up from the depths or fixing them in
some way. It also involves a negative judgment, because a helper's ego can only
conclude, based on the evidence that egos understand, that the ego is superior
to those who receive its help (they're dirty, I'm not; they're addicts, I have
self-control). If those being helped sense that they're being judged, it only
increases their pain.

Volunteering looks much different, Ram Dass says, when it's performed from a
higher level: soul to soul. In fact, it looks like Stephanie Harrison's
involvement with Dorothy Armstrong—one person sharing her wholeness with
another, with no other agenda. When he does his own hospice work, Ram Dass says,
"I wait until my soul takes over—my spiritual self, my witness to my
incarnation. And then I walk in. I don't find an AIDS patient; I find a soul. I
say something like, 'How's your incarnation?'"

When one soul serves another, there's no need to give advice or lift up or heal.
But along with that comes a certain acceptance of the status quo. "I think we
all want to fix, because it gives us a sense of control over something we have
no control over," says Gail Straub, author of The Rhythm of Compassion: Caring
for Self, Connecting with Society (Tuttle, 2000). "I think it's healthier and
more sustainable to serve with the idea that I can't eliminate that suffering.
It's a Hindu and Buddhist idea that there will always be immense suffering in
the world around me. What I can do is offer my kindness, knowing that I'm not
going to solve anything."

Serve Wisely

Although karma yoga is associated with selfless service, it can also be thought
of as "should-less" service. In the Gita, Krishna describes the karma yogi as
one who "feels pure contentment and finds perfect peace in the Self—for him,
there is no need to act." This, with classic yoga logic, creates the perfect
foundation for acting: "Surrendering all attachments, accomplish life's highest
good."

But that's the ideal. Along the way, most of us will butt up against what Straub
calls "the shadow side of service." This takes several forms besides the
above-mentioned need to "fix" people or situations. For instance, we may become
service workaholics, neglecting our families or our own needs. The suffering we
see may make us so cynical about the world's condition that our service grows
literally dispirited. Conversely, we may approach volunteering so arrogantly
that we think we can save the world. "The shadow is based on an illusion: that
we're either better than the people we're serving or not good enough," Straub
says. "Either way, our shadow is bound to make us feel impotent, and that will
dry up our compassion."

While the shadow can tear the heart out of ordinary volunteering, it plays a far
different role in karma yoga. It's engineered, brilliantly, into the process.
"The same stuff that comes up in meditation—monkey mind—comes up in karma
yoga," Meredith Gould says. "'I can't believe I'm doing this.' 'I hate this
job.' 'I'm looking at the clock—that means I'm not a good person.' That's all
grist for the mill." Of course, that also means that because we aren't perfect,
we're going to screw up sometimes and do harm instead of good. But again, in
karma yoga, that's by design. "The question is, when we mess things up, what do
we do with that? Because there's always growth in screwing up. How else does
anyone grow?" Gould adds, laughing.

Inevitable as the shadow is, though, we can still make things easier on
ourselves, and be better volunteers, by using common sense—for instance,
tailoring our commitments to the contours of our lives. Straub notes that our
capacity to serve changes at different stages of our lives. Someone with a
demanding job or raising small kids can't spare as much time as a retiree or a
college student on break, and the wise volunteer will honor that.

Most places overflow with opportunities to make a difference, especially if,
like a good karma yogi, you let go of the need to save humanity. For ideas, just
flip through the volunteering pages in your local newspaper or type volunteering
into yourWeb browser. Scale doesn't matter, Gould says; whether you work for
world peace or find homes for abandoned cats, "I don't think one gets more angel
points than the other." Nor does karma yoga have to be done through a formal
commitment, she notes. It can even be an extension of your normal job—as with
a dedicated science teacher who creates exciting projects for her students in
her garage at night.

Keep in mind that lovingkindness—acting with heartfelt concern toward
others—is part of karma yoga too. When your service undermines other parts of
your life, you're bound to feel resentment and anger, and to spill some of it on
those around you. "The spiritual aspect of service is doing what your heart
calls you toward," Straub says. "The pragmatic aspect is what you have time for
without jeopardizing your family, your work, and your own inner balance. If one
afternoon a month is all you can manage, that's just fine."

Following her guru's lead, Mirabai Bush, coauthor (with Ram Dass) of Compassion
in Action (Bell Tower, 1992), puts it even more simply. She offers this
boiled-down guideline for would-be karma yogis: Be brave, start small, use what
you've got, do something you enjoy, and don't overcommit.

Serve Yourself

While it's true that karma yoga is a mysterious process that you can't direct,
that doesn't mean you can't help it along. The Gita advises us to bring balance
and equanimity to every situation. Apply that to volunteering and you'll always
bring your best self to the job. You'll also make your service more personally
sustainable, Bush says. To her, this means combining karma yoga with
contemplative practices such as asana and meditation. When you do this, she
says, "you begin to see that not acting is a very important complement to
acting, and that being still shows us the right way to act when the time is
right to act."

Both Bush and Straub work with social activists who've never developed their
spiritual sides, leaving them vulnerable to what Straub calls "compassion
fatigue." One of the darkest parts of service's shadow, the term refers to those
who work so hard at caring that they empty their tank and the caring stops.
Straub is convinced that daily spiritual practice is crucial to anyone who
volunteers, not just karma yogis. "If there's no inner life," Straub says,
"there's a despair that says, 'Nothing ever makes a difference.' I think the
spiritual life helps us hold the paradox of hope and despair, joy and sorrow,
making a difference and feeling there's not enough time—all those
contradictory feelings that are part of deep service. It's really hard to
grapple with them with just the intellect."

But while spirituality helps prevent compassion fatigue, it's no panacea. "I
feel I have a pretty good balance most of the time," Straub says, "but I
definitely have my periods of feeling fried. It's almost inevitable for a really
engaged human being. Balance is a messy business. The key is to listen to the
rhythm inside us, which of course spirituality helps us do. I might need to be
enormously engaged at one point in life, and I might need to go inside and just
take care of myself in another cycle, and there might be cycles where I can
balance both."

Fortunately, in karma yoga, the volunteering furthers the inner work, as well as
vice versa. Stephanie Harrison discovered years ago, when she first began
hospice volunteering, that service was the key to her satisfaction and growth.
"Dealing with death and people in a ravaged state scares me sometimes," she says
thoughtfully. "But it hasn't stopped me. Something inside me says, 'This is part
of life and who we are.' I believe that in everything we rub up against in this
life, there's a teaching and a possibility. A lot of times it's uncomfortable,
but that's what being human is to me. I don't know if I'd want to be around if I
couldn't be in this world in this way."

Contributing Editor Alan Reder lives with his family in the Rogue Valley of
southern Oregon.

Inner yoga

© 2008 Kashi Ashram * kashi.org

Speaking to Kali Natha Yoga students and teachers, Ma explains that yoga creates more space in the body, especially the heart center. Into this space comes sound, in the form of mantra or chanting, bringing even greater opening. Ma also demonstrates the "Breath of Intention," a combination of chanting and breath which can bring us closer to our spiritual Beloved. This podcast offers insight for the practitioners of any yoga, or the devotees of any path. (9 Minutes)

7 Points of Kali Natha Alignment

© 2008 Kashi Ashram * kashi.org

Before going into meditation, it is important to check our posture. This podcast leads us through the steps of aligning the body for meditation and becoming more aware -- a process Ma calls "The Seven Points of Kali Natha Alignment. " (6 minutes)

Ma Jaya on Kali Natha Meditation

© 2008 Kashi Ashram * www.kashi.org

Ma Jaya developed Kali Natha Yoga from ancient roots. In this Darshan, given on Yoga Day USA, she shows the connection between yoga practice and the development of intuition and awareness. (5 Minutes)

Ma Jaya on Transcending Depression

© 2008 Kashi Ashram * www.kashi.org

In this darshan, Ma Jaya explains how to deal with the habitual thoughts that can box us in to depression. She also speaks of tantra and earthly samadhi, and recites lines from Ram Prasad, “This time I will devour thee utterly, Kali Ma….” (12 minutes)

Improve Your Sex Life With Yoga

Source: Natural News - Improve Your Sex Life with Yoga


(NaturalNews) Most of us know that yoga is beneficial to our overall health and wellbeing. It puts the body into balance and can improve everything from blood sugar levels to depression and anxiety. But one of the other incredible benefits of yoga is its power to transform your sex life! Yoga allows people to get in touch with their bodies and their sexuality on a deeper level.

Of course all forms of exercise result in a greater sex life than a couch potato routine. Exercise ensures there are no cardiovascular issues, which can result in impotence, low libido, and inability to have a good workout in bed.

But yoga gives the body even more of an edge. Here are some sex life enhancing benefits that you can enjoy from a regular yoga routine.

Less mind chatter and More Body Awareness - In addition to the physical exercise that yoga provides, letting go of the thinking mind by focusing on the breath and the body is also absolutely fundamental. Imagine how this can improve sexuality. Some people find it almost impossible to let go of the constant grind of the mind, even in bed. Yoga is letting go of the mind exercise.

Better sensitivity - Part of yoga is deep, smooth breathing, which is continually shown to relieve anxiety and lower blood pressure. Research has suggested that yoga relaxes the body and mind and can alter the body's response to stress. This stress busting, calm enhancing state makes getting in the mood easier.

More Potent Orgasms - One of the fundamentals of yoga is to contract the pelvic floor muscles during the practice. Strong pelvic floor muscles mean more potential for longer lasting, stronger orgasms. In addition, yoga helps relieves muscle tension and puts the body into a deep state of relaxation, which is key for more powerful orgasms.

More energy - When the body is in good physical shape, the muscles are relaxed, the mind is focused and calm, and the breath is flowing evenly, the body has more space and is therefore has more energy. Yoga rejuvenates and invigorates, preparing the body for as much sex as desired.

Body Acceptance – When people are unconfident with their bodies, they are less likely to truly enjoy their sexuality because they are focusing on what they perceive as short comings.
Yoga allows a person to observe the mind chatter without getting involved with it. Negative thoughts about physical appearance and the body can be calmly let go of through a regular yoga/meditation routine.

Better Physical Fitness – Yoga tones the muscles, improves strength, increases flexibility, and prepares the body for sexuality.

Discovery of Sexual Positions – With the increase in body awareness of what the body is capable of through exciting yoga positions, yogis are more likely to be adventurous and confident in discovering new and exciting sexual positions.

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About the author
Sheryl is a kinesiologist, nutritionist and holistic practitioner.
Her website www.younglivingguide.com provides the latest research on preventing disease, looking naturally gorgeous, and feeling emotionally and physically fabulous.
And her latest website www.raiselibido.com offers a vast quantity of information on how to increase sex drive and enjoy a vibrant sex life.

Bhakti, the Complete Yoga

Bhakti, the Complete Yoga
By David Bruce Hughes

What is yoga, and what is its purpose? Yoga is the practice of
spiritual life,
as opposed to faith, ceremonies, theories or beliefs about it. Yoga’s
purpose is
the relief of suffering in general, and eradication of the root cause
of
suffering in particular.

We are all suffering in this material world. Anyone who imagines that
he is not
suffering in this world is simply hallucinating. In reality, no one
wants to
grow old, suffer from disease or die. No one wants to struggle for
money, be
frustrated in love, or deal with the numerous conflicts, humiliations
and other
inconveniences of life. No one wants to settle for limited,
temporary,
conditional happiness. Everyone wants pure happiness—complete relief
from
material suffering—and yoga is the only known means to achieve it.

Yoga is practical, as opposed to theoretical or speculative. That is
the
advantage of yoga over religion, philosophy and theology. When
practiced
properly, yoga leads to tangible relief from the suffering of
material
existence. It does not require belief; it is a path of practice, of
action.

Of course, to practice yoga requires some faith in its methods, but
this kind of
faith leads very quickly to confirmation: yoga works. As a teenager,
I suffered
from an endocrine imbalance. My doctor’s treatments didn’t have any
effect, so
after reading some books on hatha-yoga I tried some asanas. After a
few weeks of
practicing just 15 to 20 minutes a day, my condition was cured and
the doctors
were amazed.

Now having studied many yoga methods from great realized teachers for
over 40
years, I can understand that there was nothing amazing about it. The
yoga system
is clearly the product of a vast superhuman intelligence. So if yoga
works, that
should not be surprising. The same intelligence that designed the
human body and
mind also knows how to repair them.

When we practice yoga we are tuning in to that intelligence. Yoga
means
‘linking’ in Sanskrit, and in yoga we are linking the individual soul
with the
Supersoul, or God. This works very well, whether we want to tune up
the physical
body, learn how to think properly, cleanse our heart of negativity,
or are
trying to uproot the cause of all suffering.

The purposes served by the various forms of yoga are similar, but
different. All
bona-fide yoga practices lead to balancing and healing. The asanas
and exercises
of hatha-yoga focus on balancing and healing the material body, while
the
exquisite spiritual logic of buddhi-yoga focuses on balancing and
healing the
intelligence. Each of the yogas focuses primarily on healing one or
more of the
Chakras, the subtle centers of our bodily functions.

Nevertheless, the yogas are not equivalent. We cannot get the same
result from
practicing hatha-yoga that we get from practicing nada-yoga, subtle
sound
vibration. This is common sense; we do not use a wrench to pick a
flower.
Neither should we expect that any of the yogas should provide the
results of any
other.

But each yoga system can be a lifetime study in itself. Over the
centuries, the
Sanskrit yoga source texts have been commented upon by numerous
teachers, often
with conflicting philosophical views. Sorting out the original
practices of any
of the yogas is a time-consuming study. And who has time to practice
so many
different yoga methods?

The solution to this quandary is Bhakti. Bhakti is both the root and
the
culmination of all the other yogas. Why? Bhakti provides complete
relief from
all suffering by removing the root cause of all suffering: the desire
for
material existence. Therefore Bhakti-yoga is the greatest of all
yogas.

If we want to compare things of roughly equivalent magnitude, we
generally
contrast their results, qualities and characteristics. If we analyze
the
different yoga methods, we find that they each address specific areas
of our
total being. Hatha-yoga is good for health; raja-yoga nourishes our
intellectual
growth, and so on.

All the yogas are beneficial, and each is wonderful in its own way.
Nevertheless, the qualities and characteristics of Bhakti are
incomparable, even
among the other forms of yoga. Other yogas may temporarily reduce or
eliminate
suffering in their respective areas of application, but Bhakti
completely and
permanently eradicates the cause of all suffering.

A realized bhakti-yogi has no desire for material happiness,
knowledge or even
liberation. A realized bhakti-yogi already has everything his heart
could
desire: pure Love of Godhead includes all that is desirable. So the
bhakti-yogi
has no need to go outside the safety of the Heart Center. If he uses
the other
Chakras at all, it is in the service of his practice of Bhakti. How
is this
possible?

First of all, proper practice of Bhakti brings immediate relief from
all
material distress. If we realize that we are not this material body,
but a pure
spirit soul, we also discover our eternal spiritual body. A spiritual
body has
no suffering, because it is made of pure consciousness. Eternal life
is already
ours—we just have to discover it by our bhakti-yoga practice.

Next, the complete Universal Mind is present within our hearts as the
Supersoul,
or localized presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is
no need to
go to any other source to obtain knowledge, when the Source of
everything
knowable is already within us. The linking process of bhakti-yoga
brings us into
direct contact with the Supersoul, hence all knowledge becomes
available.

Nor does the accomplished bhakti-yogi desire liberation from material
existence.
Our spiritual body already exists eternally in the spiritual world,
but because
of our focus on the material energy, is in a dormant state. As soon
as we
realize our spiritual identity in relation to the Supersoul, our
spiritual body
becomes active, and we see that we have been in the spiritual world
all along.

Finally, complete realization of bhakti bestows unprecedented
happiness upon the
yogi. Through Bhakti we experience rasa, or ecstatic transcendental
mellows in
relationship with the Supreme Lord. Rasa is ecstasy beyond
description. It is a
deep and complex experience of the boundless varieties of love and
relationship
in the spiritual world. The unlimited nuances and permutations of
rasa are
enough to keep us happily engaged for an eternity of loving pastimes
in the
spiritual world.

The realized bhakti-yogi has no desire for spiritual knowledge or
meditation
leading to oneness with God. He regards such so-called liberation as
hellish,
for in oneness there is no chance for relationship. Even the
enjoyments of
heaven hold no attraction for him, for already has something much
better.

Bhakti is an unlimited fountain of bliss for the realized yogi. There
is no
imperfection, no struggle, no shortages, no competition, no strife or
misunderstanding in the spiritual world. As God’s playground, the
spiritual
world is perfect, complete and full of the highest bliss unmixed with
any
suffering whatsoever.

The spiritual world is the home of God. The Heart Center is the door.
Bhakti is
the key.

David Bruce Hughes (Sri Gaurahari das Babaji) hosts bhakti-yoga
retreats at the
rural WindSpirit Community in eastern Arizona. For more information
please
contact the Author.

For more information on bhakti-yoga, please see the author’s website
http://goldenliontemple.org/

The Live to Love Family is a satsang (spiritual association) and
esoteric school
serving an eclectic group of spiritual practitioners centered around
David Bruce
Hughes (Sri Gaurahari das Babaji), a self-realized teacher of high
attainment in
Bhakti-yoga. For more information please see
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/livetolovefamily/