...According to a recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, yoga may be more effective for the treatment of low back pain than traditional exercise. The study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, followed participants who suffered from chronic but not serious back pain. Participants either took yoga classes, attended therapeutic exercise classes, or practiced therapeutic back exercises from a book. At the end of 26 weeks, those who tried the yoga classes experienced the most improvement in back function and were most likely to have reduced their pain medication, and these benefits persisted for at least several months.

Why is Yoga an Effective Way to Treat Back Pain?

There are a number of reasons that yoga is an effective way to relieve back pain and improve the overall health of your back.

1) Yoga helps increase strength in very specific muscle groups and works to strengthen all major muscle groups that support the spine.

2) The stretching postures in yoga increase blood flow to the tissues that support the spine, improving the health of the intervertebral discs and muscles along the spine.

3) Yoga increases flexibility in your shoulders and hips, which decre...more

What Is Yoga?

...ective and contemplative individuals. In this branch are eight 'limbs' or practices, formulated thousands of years ago in the work "Yoga Sutras" by the sage patanjali, which must be strictly observed. They are yama-ethical standards, niyama-self-discipline, pranayama- control of breath, pratyahara-withdrawal of the senses, dharana-concentration, dhyana-meditation and Samadhi-ecstasy or total liberation.

Karma Yoga

Karma Yoga is the yoga of selfless service. Yogis (as persons who practice yoga are called) believe in reincarnation. They believe that what kind of life one is reincarnated into (including whether one becomes another human or an animal), is dependent on the spiritual results of the actions in one's past life, called Karma. The aim of Karma Yoga is to free ourselves of carrying bad karma into future incarnations, throug...more

Yoga in Practice: Projecting Happiness

...life is a daily Yoga practice, even if you do not attend a Yoga class. When you help others, you are practicing Yoga. It could be argued that you are practicing other forms of Yoga, but that is not the purpose of this article. It is more important to understand that you can help others in many ways, and it does not have to cost you a fortune.

Projecting happiness is free and does not require a lot of money. Here are some ideas that will help you to be happier, and hopefully, more worry free. Whether you are a beginner, Yoga practitioner, Yoga teacher, or Master teacher of Yoga, you should spread happiness to everyone you meet.

Listen to everyone, regardless of his, or her, social status. Let go of judgment; it makes fools of all of us. Pre-judgment is prejudice, and this is the one thing that prevents world peace. To some degree, we all have felt it, but you must discard it, su...more

How is Yoga and Pilates?

... Don't go beyond your personal limitations, but extend your boundaries gently. Doing the asanas correctly means doing them to the best of your ability without straining.

Throughout the workout, focus on your breath, inhaling and exhaling fully and completely through your nose. Breathing with awareness not only feels good, but also balances and regulates energy flow within the body, strengthening your internal organs and boosting your resistance to disease.

Yoga is completely different than pilates. Yoga is about strength, flexibility and inner awareness whereas pilates is just about fitness. Pilates was developed as a way to keep people looking fit, and it is also essentially a marketing strategy to sell exercise videos. Yoga has a long history. It is almost like a religion. If you have a good instructor, yoga can be very rewarding, and I believe that it is more effective than pilates. I thought pilates was kind of boring and not very difficult since it only uses short outbursts of energy and you don't hold moves long enough to gain any real strength. There are also many different types of yoga whereas pilates is rather limi...more

Yoga With A Ball