Friday, January 23, 2015

How to Practice Yoga at Home




Starting a yoga practice can be scary. The person has to take into account their level of commitment when starting yoga at home practice. Some individuals prefer doing yoga a couple of times a week, while hardcore yoga enthusiasts do practice every day of the week. There are also social norms a person must consider when starting a yoga practice. A male might feel uncomfortable doing yoga because of the male-female ratio in yoga class sessions. Or a female could feel anxiety in a yoga class because of her perceived body image compared to everyone else. Regardless of these issues, the individual still has to consider the fact that they must pay an ongoing monthly fee to continue their yoga practices. With the internet on the rise, it makes this possible to start or continue a yoga practice at home without worrying about social norms and ongoing monthly costs.



There is so much information on the internet regarding yoga. The different forms of yoga, numerous stretches, and many teaching philosophies makes yoga a learning subject itself. Essentially, choosing the right kind of yoga can be a difficult task. Any yoga is better than none at all. In fact, simply focusing on your breath each day is far more beneficial in health than doing nothing. The person will have increased mood, better posture, and bring more happiness in their life when doing any form of yoga practice.

If a person wants to reap the full effects of yoga, then Ashtanga Yoga might be for you. The practice is one of the most physically demanding yoga forms out there. Ashtanga requires strength, flexibility, and maintaining a routine practice each day. A person can start an Ashtanga practice at home without having to pay monthly costs to become part of a local Ashtanga clinic. This provides the individual with lower monthly costs, but also lowering transportation costs as well. Doing Ashtanga at home gives you the freedom when you want to practice, but also manages time by not having to drive back and forth to your local yoga clinic.

Ashtanga Yoga will challenge a person's physical capacities, but also test one's mental capacities as well. The rewards of Ashtanga are numerous, which includes better health, increased flexibility and strength, and a mindset that will put you into a deep state of awareness. Whether you're doing Ashtanga at home, or any form of yoga at a local clinic, the benefits of a regular yoga practice are worth the cause. Keep practicing. 


Tuesday, January 20, 2015

How to Choose an Online Yoga Instructor Certification Program




With the growing popularity of online yoga, getting a yoga instructor certification and becoming a yoga teacher is fast becoming an excellent career choice. Not only can this profession be financially rewarding, with teachers earning upward of $150 per hour, but it can also be deeply satisfying as teaching others yoga can help radically transform their lives for the better. But, unfortunately, today yoga teacher's training programs have become frightfully expensive to enroll in, so how can you go about getting certified these days?

The answer is to find the best online yoga instructor certification program you can, as these programs are generally far less expensive that the in person training programs. But, as with all things online, there are plenty of offering, most of which are junk, with just a few diamonds amongst them. The challenge is how you choose which online program to select.



A good online yoga teacher's training course should have the following 5 components to be considered worthy of your time and money. After all, if it's just a certificate you want, you can simply print one on your home printer. If the online class you are contemplating does not have the following three aspects, it is not worth doing.

5 Online Yoga Instructor Certification Program Requirements:

1. Online Instructor Program Must Have Multi-Media Components:

A big advantage of in person yoga certification programs is that you have a visual demonstration of the poses and can see the movements of the various exercises and sequences. In addition, the teacher shares with you modifications of the poses, so you can see and learn those as well. So the online class must have videos or DVDs accompanying the training. A simple e-book, with illustrations is not sufficient to learn yoga.

2. Online Teacher's Training Must Teach You How to Make Money and Be Successful:

Yes yoga is very popular these days, but there are also out of work yoga teachers. That's because the market has become competitive and to succeed it is necessary to have an edge. This edge should be in the form of knowledge on how to run a yoga center and in today's internet age, the program should teach you how to advertise yourself via a high traffic website.
Don't underestimate the value of this knowledge. If you really want to be a financially successful a yoga teacher, you need these practical skills along with knowledge of yoga.

3. Online Program Should Teach Pranayama and Meditation:

Yoga is not just physical exercises and movements. Much of the benefits and power of yoga comes from the breathing exercises (pranayama) that is an integral part of the science of yoga, and meditation. So ensure that the online program you select teaches you these sister sciences as well.

4. Online Certification Course Should Offer Full Support:

In doing any serious yoga certification course, questions are sure to come up, and it's important that the yoga instructors are available to you to answer these questions. Without such support training could end up being incomplete and worse, you could end up being confused. A confused yoga teacher can then end up causing all sorts of issues for the students and will be one who lacks confidence and authority.

5. Online Course Creator Should Be a Successful Yogi:

One way to choose a yoga teacher is to look at the teacher and see if you would like to be like them. This criterion also applies to choosing a certification program. If the creator is not successful, it is unlikely he/she knows what is needed in order to be successful. So look at the source from where the program is originating. A source that is shinning bring, is going to be able to share that light of knowledge and wisdom with you.

Online Yoga Certification Program Requirements Summary:
It is great that you want to be a yoga teacher. Being a teacher is one of the noblest of paths you can take and choosing the right instructor training program is key in getting you started right. So ensure that the online course you select meets the 5 criteria described above and you will be well on your way to becoming a great and successful yoga teacher.