Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

Getting up and on the yoga mat regularly is great for your health and mind, but if you work at a busy desk job, your regular practice still might not be enough to combat the stress and pressure you are putting on your body - and your posture! However, there are many ways to alleviate this pressure, but the easiest ones don’t even involve getting up from your chair - perfect for those days when you’ve just got too much work to do. There are many yoga poses you can practice at your desk, and we’ve put together some of the best to help the areas that get the most strain sitting down, to reduce back pain, posture issues and stress. Seated Crescent Moon

After a indulgent Christmas, you might be thinking about rolling out your yoga mat and getting back into your fitness routine for 2021. Some of us, however, might be finding it daunting after taking time off. A detoxing yoga routine can be just what you need to feel refreshed and ready to take on a new year. Here’s our top poses to detox after indulging. Twisted Chair This pose is great for detoxing the digestive system, ‘twisting’ the body to wring out toxins and negative energy. It also helps to increase flexibility and tones your internal organs - perfect for if you’ve overdone it over the festive season.

What sets yoga apart from other forms of fitness, is the uniquely holistic approach it takes to strengthen your body, mind, and soul. For many, yoga serves as an essential retreat from a chaotic or busy life, a time to regroup, unwind, and build mindfulness. In the process, it will help you improve muscle tone and flexibility, everything you want from a standard workout at the gym. Yoga provides a myriad of both physical and mental health benefits. In addition to engaging muscle-groups in poses — or Asanas — that promote strength, flexibility, and balance, yoga also incorporates deep breathing, meditation, and body awareness. This helps decrease stress, relieve anxiety, and promote deep relaxation. Yoga is accessible for beginners and a great way to build a more healthy lifestyle. You don’t need much in the way of specialized equipment to start practicing in your own home yoga room today.

Many of us are familiar with at least one of the seven chakra. The third eye, our intuition center, tends to be the most spoken about chakra; however, all of the other chakras need our time, attention, and TLC, too! If you have attended yoga or meditation classes, you have perhaps heard the teacher speaking about the chakras. Below, you will briefly discover what the chakras are, where they are located, and each of their main characteristics. If you're curious about learning more about the chakra system, there are 3 must-read recommended books about the chakrasfor you to continue on your path of chakra discovery. There are also yoga classes for each of the seven chakras, if you'd like to learn more about them through movement, and experience.

If you deal with back pain, yoga might be exactly what you need. Yoga is a mind-body remedy that helps efficiently treat back pain and stress that accompanies it. Here, we’ll discuss yoga poses that can reduce pain, relax, and strengthen your body. There can be tens of different causes of back pain; poor posture, a weak core, and sedentary work are among them. It’s always essential to find out contributing factors and reasons for pain so that you can treat it the right way and prevent it from happening again. However, in most situations, practicing even basic yoga poses will relieve the strain and pain in your back. In 2017 a study was conducted and it proved that yoga is really beneficial for back pain. A group of 320 adults was assessed to see whether yoga was efficient as physical therapy for reducing chronic back pain. Participants in both physical therapy and yoga classes showed analogous improvements in pain levels.

This month I have the pleasure of taking part in a writing experiment. Susanna Harwood Rubin, a yoga teacher and writer on the East Coast, is prompting students every day with a new Sanskrit word to explore with a few of their own words. I’m less than a week into this experience, and am already surprised how it has enabled me to look inward and apply the words and concepts to my life personally. Following are a few of my word explorations, with more to come. OM

This guest post was originally published on yogi Whitney Reynolds' blog, MoonWanderings. I am just finishing up my two week trial with YogaDownload. Here are my thoughts on my experience, what I enjoyed, and who I think would make a good fit for this platform. Week 1: Decision Paralysis The first week at YogaDownload can be overwhelming. There are so many choices of classes and programs to choose from. It is really difficult to decide where to begin.

Millions of people across the world practice yoga everyday, and it’s becoming a constantly evolving and changing practice that has integrated into the modern world. But what is the history of yoga, and how has it shaped our modern day practice? Yoga’s extensive 5,000 year old history is rich, intertwining with religion, philosophy and exercise, and as such, there are a few theories about the origin of the practice. Some people suggest that the origins of yoga stem from a Bronze age civilization called the Indus Valley Civilization, from northwest South Asia, while others believe yoga was around when the ideas of Hinduism and Buddhism were taking shape. There were many different periods of yoga, and they have all shaped our modern practice today. The first of these is the Vedic Period. This was the wra when the Vedas, which are four ancient scriptures, were created. These holy writings were created by Brahmans, ancient indian priests, and are a collection of hymns that actually contain the oldest known teachings about yoga that are still available today. The Sanskrit word ‘Yuj’, which is the root of the word ‘yoga’, first appeared in one of the Vedas.

This week, we are thrilled to celebrate the 14th year of YogaDownload.com. This site and community would not be continuing to grow if it wasn't for all of you showing up regularly on your mat, from all over the world for the past 14 years! Thank for you showing up for yourself, and also supporting this global community and resource of online yoga in the process. As part of our celebration, here is the list of the 20 top-rated classes of all time! We've produced over 1700+ classes since our inception 14 years ago. Your honest ratings and reviews over the years have helped us to continue creating classes you want, based on your valuable feedback.

Ok. So you’ve finally decided to do a yoga teacher training. Now comes the big decision - which one to choose? There are thousands of teacher trainings out there today, and in a world of increasing choice, the decision is more difficult. How do you choose a Yoga Teacher Training? Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Adults undoubtedly have busy lives these days, but our kids also do. School all day, after-school activities and homework, friend and family time and weekend plans! Practicing yoga is good for adults with stressful lives, and it can also benefit kids for all the same reasons. We all know that yoga can help to relieve stress and anxiety, improve your sleep, and mood, as well as keep you fit. Yoga can also teach your kids to be mindful, which is important to teach at a young age. It’s important to teach our kids ways to handle stress in their lives - which will help them as they grow into adulthood.

Have doubts about the effectiveness of yoga on your overall health? Here are 10 amazing benefits of yoga that are supported by scientific studies. The practice of yoga has existed on this planet for a long time. It was developed by the Indus-Saraswati civilization in India nearly 5,000 years ago. Yoga was acknowledged by the UN, and the world celebrates International Yoga Day on June 21 every year. It is now practiced nearly all over the world for its positive effects on the individual’s well-being. But does science support the effectiveness of this millennia-old practice? Well, for years, a lot of people have questioned the effectiveness of yoga practices, and their suspicion was justifiable. If someone tells you that certain lifestyle changes can fix a chronic illness that medication cannot, you are supposed to be surprised! However, researchers have found significant pieces of evidence that support several powerful benefits that yoga has to offer. Here are 10 evidence-based benefits of yoga, proven by science.

In order to build a strong core, you need to work a variety of muscles, all the way from your hips to shoulders. The core does not just refer to your abs. It refers to the different muscles that run the length of your torso. There are great yoga techniques that can be done in order to build your core muscles. Not only do they help to make you more fit. They also increase your will power, stamina, and overall quality of life. Here are 7 Essential Yoga Postures for a Strong Core:

We, humans, live in an age of physical and mental stress. Body inactivity, past ailment, and genetic traits make our bodies lose flexibility and strength. Mild to chronic health problems are the consequence. Yoga is one of the top ways to de-stress and rejuvenate the body to wellness and immunity. This physical practice is world-famous since times immemorial. With yoga cities getting back to the new normal, fitness rainbow is brightening up for health and strength seekers. Let us look at the world's most popular places to take your yoga practice to new heights.

In more ways than one, the COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed our sense of normal. These days, more people find themselves working remotely as the virus continues sweeping across the globe, forcing many establishments to shut down their offices. Most children are staying at home as well and logging on for their classes rather than catching the school bus. There are also fewer opportunities to get out and socialize with friends and family. This means that many of us are stuck at home all day long. Unfortunately, all this time spent inside can lead to increased issues with your health.

Iyengar yoga is a type of yoga that was developed by B.K.S Iyengar - and also named after him. He was one of the people who was partly responsible for bringing the modern practice of yoga to the Western world. B.K.S. Iyengar was born in 1918 in Bellur, India. B.K.S. Iyengar practiced yoga for over 85 years, but began his study under his guru, T. Krishnamacharya - also sometimes known as the Father of modern yoga. B.K.S Iyengar brought the practice of yoga to the western world in the 197’0’s and wrote the book Light on Yoga, which has been a book many yoga students across the world have studied for generations. Iyengar yoga is identified by being similar to the classic Hatha yoga traditions, but with lots of attention on the technical alignment and proper posing. This helps keep the mind drawn inward, but also connected to reality.

The first chakra is the chakra that most reflects the physical body; also known as the root chakra, or Muladhara. Energetically speaking, the root chakra contains the information that codes how we take care of our physical bodies, what set of experiences have created assistance and resistance to being in our bodies, survival information, safety information, fight, or flight information, and our connection to our mother. Whenever we feel that things are no longer in alignment with us, or could use some mending or transformation, the first chakra tends to be the best place to go within and get curious.

​If you’ve been feeling a bit down recently and are in need of a mood boost, it can be easy to veer towards those vices which might not necessarily be the best for you. That’s not to say there’s not a time and a place for a bit of junk food, or a glass of wine, but one thing you can do everyday to help boost your mood is practicing yoga. Building a healthy habit of practicing a little bit of yoga each day can help to improve your mental and physical health, as well as make you feel happier. Here’s a few more reasons why doing yoga everyday can help you.

Want to fire up your yoga practice? Here’s how to do yoga with resistance bands. Build your strength with this complete list of yoga poses with bands. Resistance bands can be added to any work-out. They’re an easy way to incorporate a challenge into your exercises, and you can use them in many different ways. Resistance bands make your muscles work just that little bit harder, so you get more work-out for your time spent. And resistance bands are portable – pop them in your yoga bag, and you’re good to go.

Stepping into any yoga class, it’s common to include some music into your yoga practice. Music combined with yoga practices can help the mind to find stillness, and help you get into the mood to get on the mat. It can be hard to take your mind away from your busy life for an hour, and music can help with that transition into a more mindful state. Music can affect the whole brain, and help it relax, in a similar way that meditation does. It can help the mind slip into a state where happiness and stillness is created. Music can help you to get into the groove of your yoga practice, and link your mind, breath and body to a beat.

Restorative and Yin Yoga are often confused and assumed to be the same style of yoga. Some yoga studios even use the class names interchangeably. They are, in fact, different styles of yoga that employ distinct techniques and philosophical approaches. While some of the benefits of these practices are the same, the aim and methods not only differ, they are complete opposites. Why do they get confused? At first glance, they appear to be similar practices because they explore mostly poses that rest close to the ground and often use props to support the body. Like most yoga practices, both Yin and Restorative Yoga can promote relaxation and stress relief.

There are many benefits to practicing yoga regularly. Some are more obvious than others, like more flexibility, strength, and balance. However, yoga’s benefits can also extend off of the mat, and into other areas of our lives as well. For example, yoga can make you more productive and better at your job. Yoga can also increase your energy levels throughout the day. And yoga can also make you better in bed, whether you’re gay, straight, or anywhere in-between. Really? Yes really, and here’s why:

If you’re thinking of starting yoga practice, you might be feeling a little overwhelmed with trying to decide which class is right for you. There are lots of different traditional yoga practices, as well as a huge variety of hybrid yoga classes, which can make trying to pick a style confusing. Here’s a quick guide to a few different types of yoga, and how to choose the right type of yoga for you. Hatha Yoga A hatha yoga class is great for beginners, who want to learn the basics of yoga. This is because the movements are slower than other types of yoga. There is more focus on alignment and deep breathing, with longer posture holds and no flow in between asanas. It’s a great place to start before trying out more advanced and fast yoga styles.

It’s important that seniors do all that they can to stay in shape and optimal health. In order to get the best quality out of life, it's ideal seniors make it a point to preserve their overall health and wellness; and in order to do that, they should work out at least 3-4 times a week for about 30 minutes a day. Though some seniors want to workout, they don’t know how or have not found the right workouts they enjoy, for their body. If this sounds like you, or you simply are a senior that is looking for something new, try some of the following workouts. These four easy workouts that every senior should incorporate into his or her life to improving the quality and longevity of it. What are the Best Workouts for Seniors?

If you have a friend or family member that loves yoga then buying them a yoga-related gift the next time their birthday comes around is a really nice idea. You getting them something they’ll enjoy and find useful, it’s also a gift that will encourage them to keep up their practice. Because practicing yoga is proven to be extremely good for you physically as it can improve your flexibility, strength, posture, muscle tone, and range of motion. And the controlled breathing, mindful movements, and spiritual aspects of yoga mean it’s great for your mental and emotional health too. Yoga can calm your busy mind, relieve stress, improve your mood, help you to sleep better afterwards, and give you a sense of overall well-being. So, giving a gift that helps someone with their yoga practice can also contribute to keeping them healthy in all areas of their life. However, it can be hard to know what to get if you don’t have experience of practicing yoga yourself!