Ashtanga Yoga is a Demanding Style of Yoga

If you have performed different types of yoga, you may think that you should make an easy transition to Ashtanga yoga, but this is not necessarily true. The fact is that Ashtanga is a much more difficult and physically demanding type of yoga than you might be used to.

Because this is such a physically demanding type of yoga, it is recommended that you do not try to do this type of yoga on your own. Those who achieve best results usually are able to find a teacher, class or workshop so that they can learn the proper forms and postures that they need to know in order to do this type of yoga properly.

The reason why Ashtanga is designed to be such an intense form of yoga is because its developers felt that if there is intense heat created inside a person's body, then this heat would work to help eliminate toxins and other impure things inside a human body. The desired result from doing this kind of yoga is a clear mind as well as a clear body.

In order to properly learn how to do this kind of yoga, the following steps should be followed:

o Learn the poses - This sounds simple enough, but it can be much more difficult than it sounds. Ashtanga yoga is made up of a series of different poses. The poses are designed to promote the body's flexibility and strength. It is also hoped that this type of yoga is able to improve the circulation of blood and the function of some internal organs.

o Breathe - Yes, we know this sounds self explanatory, but there are certain ways that you need to breath in order to properly complete this kind of yoga. In yoga, the breathing techniques are referred to as "pranayama." This process is what is said to purify the energy that flows through the body. Each pose that a person makes must be coordinated to go along with a certain kind of breathing in order to do this yoga properly.

o Meditate - Meditation is a big part of any kind of yoga. This is true for Ashtanga as well. Meditation is used to help the person doing yoga relax their mind and get in tune with what it is that they are doing. Even when you are not performing yoga, meditation can help change the way you react to different situations. It can result in a more stable self that is calmer and more inspired to make proper choices.

o Practice - You probably will not completely grasp hold of Ashtanga yoga the first time you do it. It can be difficult because it is an intense workout that still requires you to be able to control your breathing in a certain way. For some people, it takes a fair amount of practice to get this technique down. There is no reason why you should get discouraged if you at first feel like a fish out of water. Simply practicing this type of yoga and the breathing that accompanies it can help you understand what you need to do in no time.

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Radiant Flow with Janet Stone Review

I bought the 2 Janet Stone DVD's from her website , I am a Shiva Rea fan and I heard she was one of Janet's inspirations. If you own Shiva Rea's Fluid Power and Creative Core Abs you will notice a lot of the moves and variations of poses. I liked this practice better than Mellow Flow which I didn't find so mellow. Radiant Flow is challenging and fast paced though I wish it was slower so I can concentrate in the poses better but it is still a fun and sweaty flowing practice. Here is a description of the practice but I probably forgot some poses and it isn't necessarily in order - It starts sitting and chanting om once , then it moves to some poses in kneeling position like kneeling bow and kneeling side bow stretch. there were some up dog / down dog fluid vinysas , deep lunge with a tricep stretch , lunge with twist , chair with twist with no hold , just moving in and out of the pose 3 times each side. warrior 1 with eagle arms to warrior 3 with eagle arms (tough) bound warrior 2 to triangle ,yogic squat to wide legged standing forward bend with several variations and tripod headstand , a full split , a strange lunge position that goes straight into side crow with legs straight (which you can see on youtube) , crow and the scorpion plank / down dog to side plank/bridge from Shiva's Dancing Warrior 1008 is repeated a few times throughout the practice. I have to say that I felt a burn in my legs after the standing sequence.
It also has a core sequence (similar to Shiva's) with backbends - dolphin to forearm plank with pulses and then sphinx to plank with pulses (tough), leaning back while kneeling and then camel pose. several core exercises on the back and bridge with several varaitions (with one leg for instance) plow to seated forward bend , supine poses and then plow again with shoulderstand ,then shavasana. I wish there were more backbends since it's a good preparation practice for backbends. the music is good (shaman's dream).

Radiant Flow with Janet Stone Feature

• Music by Craig Kohland and SHAMAN's DREAM
• 70 Minute Vinyasa Yoga Sequence
• For Intermediate to Advanced Practitioners

Radiant Flow with Janet Stone Overview

Radiant Flow is a challenging, athletic, rhythmic series of Intermediate to Advanced postures designed to strengthen and tone the body, as well as soothe the mind and nourish the spirit. Radiant Flow invites you to that place where your body can enjoy deep release and physical rejuvenation, and you can melt into the center of your heart.Learn more at janetstoneyoga

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Customer Reviews

The toughest Vinyasa Yoga I've done...loved it - James E. White - Oak Park, IL
Janet Stone's Radiant Flow is geared towards yogis/yoginis with some experience under there belts or at least very gifted beginner (e.g. flexible person coming from dance background). The poses flow quickly and challenging. For instance, Janet has a series that leads into a side crow pose (balancing your body on both arms one leg to the side the other straight back). This in and of itself is not easy, but the sequence leading up to the pose is what really sets this apart from many yoga DVDs I've owned. I have read some criticism of her DVDs that they are too expensive for what you get. That you should get 2-3 sessions for the money. Honestly, this one flow is better than anything else I've done to date and that includes accomplished Yoga instructors like Shiva Rea and Debbie Dobbins (both of whom make awesome Yoga DVDs, and I consider them the gold standard in this area. So if you are an experienced practitioner looking for the next level in your yoga practice, this is a must buy.






Janet Stone's Radiance Ripples into my Being and out into my World - Maddy Avena - N. CA
I've just done this DVD for the first time. I've been wanting both these DVDs (Radiant Flow and Mellow Flow) for a long time after trying her CD, so when my mother sent me some money for my birthday, I treated myself to both.
The flows were creative and interesting, balanced, heart opening, challenging, always in movement, in breath, in love. I am sitting here feeling like a flower that was just watered deeply and is now being embraced by the sun and the sweet air. I didn't want it to end. I wish I lived closer to San Francisco. I'd go to Janet's Saturday morning class every week that I could.
I'll let other reviewers be quantitative in their reviews. All I can really say is that I felt my own beautiful strength in everything I did in such a joyful and gentle way. I am convinced that if everyone did Janet Stone yoga, there would be Peace on Earth.
(Just a caution: This is not a beginner's practice, but definitely one to aspire to.)



My sanity DVD - David A. Barnard - Paradise, CA
Janet and Shaman's Dream (the music) are the best part of my day. She makes me work hard while honoring and loving myself and my limitations. More advanced moves are so fun and challenging! I prefer this over Ashtanga now.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: May 28, 2010 10:25:10

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Quit Smoking - Can Yoga Help You Kick the Habit?

Yoga is said to offer a whole host of benefits to practitioners including the development of long, lean muscles, increased strength and vitality, better circulation and lowered stress levels. But yoga can also have some curative benefits as well including the potential to help you to quit smoking.

A smoking habit is a powerful addiction. Most smokers are very much aware of the dangers of smoking, and have tried to quit many times before. People who want to quit but are afraid to because they don't want to gain weight will be glad to know that using yoga as a way to let go of cigarettes will ensure that you avoid this troublesome side effect of quitting. The weight gain associated with quitting smoking is caused by replacing the habit of smoking with the habit of putting too much food in your mouth. With yoga, we will be replacing the habit of breathing in cigarette smoke with deep cleansing breaths of healing oxygen that will fill your lungs with clean air, clear your mind and rejuvenate your body.

Yoga works in several ways to help you to quit smoking:

o Helps you to cultivate enough willpower and discipline to quit smoking

o Gives you the tools to manage your body's cravings for nicotine

o Puts you deeply in touch with your body and breath; you will no longer want to pollute your newly healthy body with the deadly toxins from smoking.

Specific Yogic Techniques to quit smoking:

o Pranayma (deep, controlled breathing)
The deep breathing pranayma techniques actually heal your body as the nicotine is leaving the body and lungs. Deep breathing exercises also help at those when strong nicotine cravings occur. Practicing these exercises in addition to regular yoga asana practice eventually replaces the smoking habit and the craving begins to diminish until they have vanished completely.

o Jala Neti
Jalaneti is the practice of using a small vessel called a neti pot filled with warm salted water to gently flush the nasal passages. Jala neti works to clean the nasal passages, but it also serves to stimulate the pituitary gland in the brain, which awakens the Ajna Chakra located behind the forehead. Jalaneti, when performed before meditation helps to create a space for clear and unobstructed breathing.

o Meditation and visualization
The practice of meditation brings you to a place of relaxed awareness where you can access your inner strength and wisdom. While in meditation you can visualize all of the stress, worry, tension and negative emotions are flowing away from your body. You can also visualize yourself as you intend to be, a healthy, happy, non-smoker.

Yoga helps you to cultivate a new healthier lifestyle. It increases lung capacity and through practicing the asana, meditation, visualization, jala neti and deep, pranayma breathing the urge to smoke and pollute the body eventually simply fades away.

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Krisnamacharya Yoga Film 1938 (silent)

This is a film made by McPetruk in 1938 showing the Great yoga teacher demonstrating asana and pranyama. He was the teacher of BKS Iyengar and Sri K. Pattahbi Jois, founder the Astanga style of yoga.

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Prasara Yoga 1/2 Spinal Twisting Pose by Scott Sonnon

Prasara Yoga 1/2 Spinal Twisting Pose: Ardha-Matsyendra-Asana by Ultimate Fighting Championship Coach Scott Sonnon www.KnotIntoYoga.com

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5 Free Games to Entertain the Kids When Traveling by Car

When you are planning a big trip by car, you need to consider how you will entertain the kids.

Sure a portion of the trip may be ruled out with sleeping (if you are lucky), your kids will no doubt be wanting some snack time also.

However when they are awake you want to be able to keep them distracted, and focused on something other than 'how long till we get there'.

Sure there are plenty of games on the market to keep your kids amused. Nintendo DS, Leapfrog Leapster, MP3 Players, Portable DVD players and if you can afford them, then why not. They will all offer a great level of distraction for your children.

But in today's financial market, we can not all afford these toys. Some of us are lucky enough to afford the vacation in the first place.

So we need to look at frugal ways to entertain the family in the car.

Below we have listed five games for your family to play whilst traveling to your destination by car. First and foremost they are free, which is what will definitely appeal to the parents and they are fun, which will appeal to the kids.

1/ The Game of Cricket: One person bats and scores a run for every car you pass. However if you pass a truck consider that out and move onto the next person. You decide how many rounds you will have and the person with the most runs wins

2/ Paper, Rock, Scissors: Players count to three then make their hands either, the shape of a rock (clenched fist), the shape of paper (flat hand) or the shape of scissors (hands clenched with index and middle finger stretched out into the shape of scissors). Rock smothers scissors but is smothered by paper. Paper smothers rock but is cut by scissors. Scissors cut paper but are smothered by rock. Winner is the best of three

3/ The Rainbow Game: Each person in the car chooses a colour. You decide what the target is, depending on how attentive the people in the car are. In this scenario lets choose 10. Each time you see a car in your choose colour, say the colour for confirmation and add it to your tally. The person to reach the target first is the winner.

4/ The Letter Change Game: Someone start by saying a word and then work your way around the car, with each person saying a different word, yet only changing one letter. E.g. Game, Same, Tame, Fame, etc. This is a great one for those older kids in the family.

5/ Guess the Animal Game: This is a bit like, 'Who am I' except is based on animals. This is a game aimed at the younger kids in the car. Take it in turns of being the animal and try and get everyone else to guess what you are. E.g. I am gray, I have big ears, I have a trunk etc. Or to put another spin on it, you can get the people guessing to ask the questions and the person playing the animal just answers 'yes' or 'no'. When someone thinks they know what it is they can guess.

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Build Muscle Strength Through Yoga Exercises

Yoga. Just the sound of the word can turn people off. I can picture my mom with her floor mat sitting cross legged and stretching her facial muscles and believe me the memory is not one I really care to have, so believe me when I say yoga and strength training are not two things I thought really belonged in the same sentence. But I can admit when I am wrong, and I am wrong on this one. Yoga isn't what I remember and to be honest, I think twenty or thirty years ago, it didn't get a good introduction to America.

As I said, times have changed. Now most gyms offer yoga classes and they aren't just about stretching, although 'just' the act of stretching can increase your strength and fitness all by itself. Yoga is a total mind-body connection experience that can really take you by surprise as you exit the class for the first time. You will be challenged and you will use muscles that you didn't even know existed. And you will be challenged no matter what type of yoga class you take.

So with that let me also say that all yoga is not created equal. There are classes that challenge you more and are more 'athletic' as opposed to stretching and breathing. If you take bikram, vinyasa, 'power yoga', or ashtanga yoga you are in for an endurance building challenge. Those are among the yogas that will give you more of a strenuous workout and can improve your core strength and give you cardio-vascular conditioning. That is accomplished by constant motion between the asanas (poses).

Because yoga techniques generally only work with body weight the entire practice is more 'gentle' with its demands upon you. For this reason it is often used as a therapeutic method to help with healing injuries and pains. The stretching combined with strengthening can help with all sorts of injuries from repetitive strains to back pains. As with any sort of training you don't want to just jump in without checking first with your doctor or therapist, but generally speaking, because of the nature of yoga, it is complimentary to most recommended courses of action for physical therapy.

Yoga classes can be found at most gyms, but you can also find a lot of instruction and videos that can take you through routines at home. I would recommend taking a class with an instructor for anyone who is interested in getting into it, because a certified instructor can help you understand the routines better and help prevent bad habits before they can start. Form is very important in all training and yoga is no exception.

So if you are looking for something to break up your regular routine (and I highly recommend changing up fitness habits to challenge your body) think about checking out a few yoga classes. I think you will be pleasantly surprised and glad you did.

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