Yoga Arts and Crafts

Simple techniques for meditation include: i. meditation on the breath ii. meditation on a visualized or actual object such as an area of the body for healing, the chakras within the body, a deity, mandala, candle, yantra, or a quality such as compassion, and/or iii. the repetition of a mantra , (a sacred sound), which can be with the use of a mala , or prayer beads. Don't Worry About "Achieving" the Meditative State - This Occurs Naturally After Some Time Once you are well on your way in your yoga practice and healthy in body and approach you may be able to sit still and focus your awareness on a single point. This, according to the Yoga sutras of Patanjali, will lead you spontaneously into meditation. So it is actually concentration that we sit down to practice, i.e. the continuous focus on a specific point, not meditation. Meditation is the stage that follows it. Some Benefits of Meditation Meditation offers a chance to bring our attention to our rich inner and ...

Article By J Lamb Yoga doesn't present a sufficient challenge for blokes. Well, that’s what I used to think. Then just over a year ago, needing something to chill me out, I went to my first yoga class. An hour and a half later, I came away feeling beautifully relaxed, as if I’d drunk half a bottle of wine. But I’d also stretched parts of my body that hadn’t been stretched since… well, never . This was real exercise after all. And I kept going to weekly classes. Within three or four months people were commenting that I looked taller. All that stretching had improved my posture. I now stood up straight instead of slouching. I also felt more relaxed. On packed tube trains in the middle of July I didn’t get that tight-chested, breathless feeling because yoga helped me breathe correctly. But most of all I felt stronger, fitter. Men feel that yoga doesn’t present a sufficiently macho challenge – it’s for girls. But if you stick with it, the positions become more challenging. The repeti...

Injuries to the body from accidents can take a long time to heal and require a holistic approach to compensate for the shock received to the body. Yoga is a very practical but nurturing solution. Gentle yoga mobility exercises plus relaxation and healing meditation and visualisation can combine to aid the road to recovery. Elkie who was told she would never be able to raise her arm up after an accident that dislocated her shoulder says, "After having had a bad accident...dislocated and fractured my shoulder.....I feel very privileged to have met Sejel who with her expert knowledge and wonderful calm being has helped me mentally and physically. There is no doubt in my mind that Yoga has been very powerful in my complete recovery and I look forward to seeing Yoga Harmony every week!"  Elkie, London

YOGA PRACTICE - Light on Yoga by BKS Iyengar - Yoga Mala by Patthabhi Jois - Anatomy of Hatha Yoga by H David Coulter - Prana, Pranayama, Prana Vidya by Swami Saraswati - Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates & Katrina Kenison PHILOSOPHY - Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Translation & Commentary by Swami Vishnu Devananda - Bringing Yoga to Life by Donna Farhi - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Alistair Shearer