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Yoga for All Ages and All Levels of Fitness

The great thing about yoga is that it can benefit anyone and everyone. From older people who are looking to keep fit and healthy to younger people and athletes who are looking for more challenging exercises to strengthen their body and mind.

Many people start yoga in order to help improve their health, whether that is as simple as digestion or more serious illnesses such as osteoarthritis. And that’s the great thing; Yoga is an exercise technique which can easily be adapted for whatever your capabilities, and from which many people can benefit. Obviously the exercises need to be performed regularly in order for them to have an effect, but with more and more people taking up yoga every day, why not try it yourself?

Take a Yoga Holiday

When thinking about where you would like to go for your next holiday why not consider going on a yoga retreat. After all the whole reason for getting away is to enjoy some rest and relaxation time and what could be better than yoga.

As you would expect, these retreats are set in peaceful and tranquil locations with many retreats situated in mountains, forest areas and even on secluded beaches. The retreats run on a timetable basis where in a typical day meditation and yoga normally compromises the morning activities. The afternoons are usually where you get free time and then the evenings are taken up with chanting.

Most of these activities are optional so you can choose what to take part in, so ultimately your holiday is still your own.

If you want to come away from a holiday feeling fully relaxed instead of feeling like you need another holiday in which to recover, then a yoga retreat could be just what you need.

Laugh Your Way to Health

If you feel better doing regular yoga exercises then you might want to combine laughter with it and reap even further benefits. It is said that laughter makes your chances of experiencing happiness much greater and new yoga classes combined with laughter aim at helping with this.

Throughout these yoga classes you will experience laughter eruptions from members of the class. Some of them are scripted and others are just spontaneous and usually in response to the scripted outbursts.

It has been documented that laughter helps with giving you a sense of well being but it has also been used in the past to help with pain relief as some people have found that just ten minutes of genuine laughter can leave them with a few hours pain relief often helping them to sleep better.

Although there are still not many classes which employ this technique it may be worth reading up on the technique and trying it out yourself.

Pregnancy and Yoga

Being pregnant is no reason to stop doing your yoga exercises. Of course you will not be able to perform some of the more advanced extreme body contortions but as long as you take the correct precautions you can continue to benefit physically and emotionally from your yoga practise.

Some of the exercises to avoid when pregnant are those that involve stretching your body too strenuously, in particular your abdominal muscles. Also, be sensible; If any particular pose is causing you discomfort then do not continue to perform it. Throughout your pregnancy you will probably find that you need to adjust your exercises in line with your changing body.

Yoga exercises can benefit both you and your baby, as long as you remain aware of your limits.

Teaching Your Children Yoga

Yoga is something that most adults take up, but it is never too early to start, and can children can really benefit from the exercises. In today’s world even children suffer from stresses, whether it’s with exams or homework, and yoga is a great technique to help them cope better with these things.

Some people are even going as far to say that yoga should be included as part of the school curriculum. Yoga can not only help with getting children to exercise is this world of video games and watching TV, but can also help them to control their feelings of anger and frustration. Bullying can be a big problem in school playgrounds so teaching children to think and stay calm and controlled during times when they might otherwise get very angry can only be a good thing.

Chi Kung for Health: A Tradition of Fitness

The wisdom of Chi Kung (also spelled “Qigong” and pronounced the same way with either spelling: chee gung) is the source of the martial arts and of Chinese medicine. Both traditional and always evolving in its styles and methods, Chi Kung is spreading worldwide. In translation Chi means living energy; while Kung means skill or method. So, Chi Kung is the skill of cultivating vital energy. As an art of self-healing, it includes movement, meditation, sound and visualization. A modern interpretation is that Chi is the biologically generated electricity that flows throughout the body. Then Chi Kung is the way to recharge your own batteries.

This spring, build up your health and vitality with Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang’s Primordial Qigong. It is a powerful method from the Taoist healing tradition of China. This series of gentle movements blends the creative energies of Heaven and Earth with the personal energy within each individual human body. Primordial Qigong recharges you from the abundant life energy that flows all around us in Nature. It promotes physical endurance and peace of mind. It greatly helps people with many different ailments, including stress, fatigue, headaches, fibromyalgia, arthritis and rheumatism.

Metabolic Efficiency (classical signs: faster growth of hair & nails, better digestion)

Spiritual Effects: Bright Eyes, Intuition, Creativity, Meaningful Dreams, Synchronicity

China’s culture has included Chi Kung fitness skills for over two thousand years. Modern Chinese educational and medical institutions include this health training in their treatment programs. Individuals also learn Chi Kung for its many physical, emotional, mental and spiritual benefits. The temples and martial arts schools have preserved these skills in Asia. Now each of us in the West can enjoy them with regular practice to restore, refine and build our Chi.

In traditional terminology, Chi Kung enables the student to feel, circulate, and store the three living internal energies:

Shen – the Consciousness

Chi – the Physical Energy

Jing – the Physical Essence

Collectively these three are called the “Three Treasures of Life”. By building and circulating the Chi, we increase vitality, prevent or overcome illness, and promote healthy longevity.

Acupuncturist Eli Jacobe first learned Chi Kung meditation and Taiji movement from Master Mantak Chia in 1982. That inspiring vision of Chinese health philosophy and its personal benefits led him on to study Chinese medicine. He graduated from the New England School of Acupuncture in 1985. In Chi Kung his primary teachers include: Thomas Tam, Lic.Ac. (Oriental Culture Institute, Boston), Mantak Chia, Kenneth Cohen, & Dr. Wan Su-Jian (in Beijing, China). In 1987 after diligent daily practice and continuing instruction, he received a teaching certificate from Thomas Tam. In 2006 and 2009 he earned certificates in Taoist Medical Qigong from Dr. Wan Su-Jian, including authorization to teach Master Wan’s system, called BaGua XunDao Qigong. Before discovering the Chinese healing arts, Eli had taught restoring fertility yoga, meditation and stress management since 1974, having trained with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

The field of Chi Kung is diverse, including lineages of many styles and methods. With development extending over thousands of years and in many regions of China, there are innumerable moving exercises targeting all the systems and structures of the body. There are meditation methods using the breath, sound, or visualizations. Chi Kung meditations can be enjoyed seated, standing, lying down, or even walking.

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