Does every part of our body and mind scream AAAAHHH!88|? Your nerves are shot and out muscles get shaky. You become irritable and overly emotional. Every situation becomes a battle zone and you begin to feel suspicious of everyone. You wake up 2am every morning and are up for the rest of the day.Your heart races at unexpected times. We all come to a point in our lives where we shut down. This tends to happen during times of stress.Many of us are under constant stress which eventually takes a toll on our vital glands that fights disease and illness. It makes us susceptible to major illnesses that becomes hard to fight off because there’s a lack of a defense system in the first place from extreme stress. Yoga is one of the best ways to offset stress. Kundalini Yoga in particular get to the root of stress by strengthening your nerves to give you tolerance to stress and balancing your bodies glands.The bodies glands go out of whack when stress arises and it will release too many or too little chemicals(hormones). For example, too much stress can lead to depression.Depression is a chemical imbalance in the body which causes you to feel low mentally,emotionally and spiritually. In yoga, by stimulating the pineal gland(located between your eyebrows) you will secrete the hormone that makes you feel calm and blissful. Another example is the damage that stress has on your nerves. An overload of stress will cause anxiety and in turn effect the nerves. By practicing yoga exercises that strengthen the nerves will give you more of a defense against anxiety. Here are some great yoga exercises for stress: 1.Bowing (to stimulate the pineal land and offset depression) *Sit back on your heels *Place your hands on the floor *Close your eyes. Inhale and lift your head *Exhale and bow down to the floor *Continue for 1 -3 minutes 2.Archer Pose(to strengthen nerves and make you fearless) *Stand up with one foot in front of the other *Your front foot is 90drees straight and your back foot is facing out 45 degrees *Lift the arm that is on the same side of your front leg(right leg in front,right arm in front). Make your hand a fist and stick up your thumb. Gaze at your thumb nail. *Make a fist with the other hand and act like you are pulling back a bow and arrow. Pull your fist back enough to open your chest *Now bend your front knee. Don’t let your knee go over your toes *Continue long deep breathing for 1 -3 minutes, then switch to the next side. 3.Stretch Pose(to strengthen nerves and your seat of power at your navel) *Lie on your back. *Place your hands under your buttocks palms facing down to support you back or lift your arms at the side of your body, palms facing toward your body. *Lift your heels 6 inches and point your toes. *Raise you head and look at your toes. *Breathe long deep breathing or Breath of Fire. 4.Sitali Pranayam(to cool down anger & aggression) *Sit cross-legged in gyan mudra(index fingers touching your thumbs.Hands rested on your knees,palms up.Close your eyes. *Stick your tongue out and curl up the sides of your tongue *Inhale through your tongue like it is a straw. Exhale out of your nose Continue for 3 minutes

The student and teacher relationship is honoured as very important in yoga. In India there are several stories about yogis who have experienced great lessons from their teachers. There are also great stories about westerners who have spiritually grown from masters.However,yoga is still needing to be clearly understood by many here in the west. While people are still discovering the essence of yoga,the role of the yoga teacher is becoming clearer as well. There are many magazines,articles,videos and books that explain why we should practice yoga but do many sources explain why we should have yoga teachers?,unfortunately not.This lack of information is why so many people will learn yoga solely by videos and books(using books and videos in combination with class is ideal).Using solely books and videos creates a flaw for a various reasons, some reasons are you can do the yoga incorrectly and it can only take you so far in progressing in your yoga practice. Here are 10 great reasons why we should have a yoga teacher: 1.To guide you through the postures and breathing techniques It doesn’t matter what level we are at, we can always benefit from having a teacher to guide us through the postures and techniques.In India, yogis will have a yoga teacher for as long as 40 years or more. So you can go a long way with an experienced teacher. Not to mention, even if you are advanced in yoga,there are always ways to improve in your practice,whether it be slower breathing,going deeper within,technical improvements,etc 2.To be an example As explained in the paragraph above, the role of student and teacher is highly revered in yoga. Many students will find great examples of how they may want to be a yogi once they advance.Not to mention, it should be the goal of the teacher to make the student 3 times better then him or her. This is what i keep in mind when i teach. I don’t teach to keep my students beneath me.So a good teacher will be able to set the example by showing you they have benefited and healed through the yoga,they practice the yoga everyday,they apply yogic lifestyle techniques,they keep abreast with their practice through continuously learning. 3.To be your knowledge base A good teacher will have a wealth of knowledge to provide their students. He/she should be able to answer your questions and if the answers not known right away they should look into it for you later.Many yoga teachers are great at explaining the science of the breath,how postures will benefit you and how yoga relates to life. 4.To provide you with resources Many yoga teachers are very resourceful. They can offer books,videos,websites and they tend to have connections and be friends with health practitioners and healers. 5.To be a part of a yoga community & environment You can meet mew yoga friends or look forward to having a group of your friends in your yoga class. It great to have a support system of friends in a healing yoga environment. 6.To support and monitor your progress Sometimes you yoga teacher will see progress(or sometimes regression)in your overall practice that you may not notice.A good yoga teachers is a professional and can spot things like if you have healed in some way,lost weight,made a life transformation,made a breakthrough etc.Yoga teachers are great to have when you need advice for a minor injury.*An extreme injury should be handled with a health practitioner/doctor. They are also good for help in stages of your life and can guide you with specific meditations,postures,and yoga diet advice that will benefit you at that time. 7.To set a dedicated routine Keeping up with this fast pace life is extremely hard. This is why it can be so helpful to dedicate yourself to a yoga class weekly. Not only does it help set a routine for you but it will be a day yoga can look forward to where you can rejuvenate and uplift yourself spiritually.There’s always time for yoga! 8.To help you build up your practice Continuous practice is key.It somewhat works like building blocks. The more yoga you do the more yoga you can eventually add on to your practice. Although the effort and dedication is up to you, a good yoga teacher will help you build up to a strong consistent practice. For example, when you return to class the teacher will provide you with yoga that will help you to enhance your practice even more.Don’t expect this to happen in your time and expectations though.You teacher should be professional enough to guide you adequately, so trust your teachers judgment.Yoga is not the same as having a race or competition. Many teachers will also provide you with enough yoga to practice at home the days you don’t go to class. 9.To raise the bar We all need a teacher who will have high expectations of us and will raise the bar. At home practice we may not challenge ourselves to our full potential or partake in a full yoga session. We may miss days of practice or allow ourselves to get caught up in the drifting of our mind.A yoga teacher will guide us to keeping our focus and to give us that reasonable push. 10.To keep your practice fresh&new Yoga practice can be repetitive if practiced at home for a while. Yoga teachers are trained to provide you with yoga and meditations that you may not have practiced before.This will keep your practice fresh and new and you’ll have something new to look forward to in your next class. ©2009,EYE AM YOGA All rights reserved

Join us on June 27th for Yoga Fun for the whole family and a great day of family activities! I will be teaching yoga at 12:30-1:00pm for Youth and 1:00-1:30om for Adults. Learn: Stress-Free Yoga Postures Children’s Yoga/Animal Poses Breathing Meditations & Chants Anyone who attends the yoga classes at the Family,Culture and Lifestyle Show will get a discount card to Saturday Yoga Classes! It will be great to see you there! For more details on the Family,Culture and Lifestyle Show Click Here

The Belly Dance and Yoga Event passed in June 6th. All of us sisters had a ball with shaking our hips with Chemagne and meditating and stretching with me! The Chai Tea and refreshments were Wonder-Full! We are looking forward to another BellyYoga Event in the Fall. CLICK HERE

What image comes to mind when you hear the word yoga? Do you think of an Indian person on a mountain? Do you see a woman or a man?Do you think of images of people of Afrikan descent doing yoga? The truth is that yoga has less exposure and images of black people doing yoga. Not only do we see a small amount of black faces in yoga, but we see even less images of men.Why is this:?: On one end, I was skeptical as to whether it was the media short handing exposure to people of Afrikan descent who practice yoga in the west. Then again, I thought about how many people do I know in the black community that practice yoga diligently and the amount is slim. Within this slim amount is an even smaller number of men who practice yoga. My observation is that many black people do not know the connection of yoga to black culture.Many do not know that the ancient Indians who preserved Yoga in India were descendants of Afrika. The other reason is that the media portrayal of yoga has left little room for black men to see how they fit in to the practice of yoga since they are not a woman or an Indian man on a mountain:roll:. This has created a stigma about yoga. It has blocked many black men from practicing Yoga even if they have heard so great things about it.They are more likely to encourage a black woman to practice it then themselves. The great thing is that there are black men though that have stepped out of the box and raised their spirit, mind,soul and body with Yoga.With some digging, I found black men who are celebrities and represent black faces for yoga.I’m soooo excited:!: So without further ado, here’s a great list of popular black yogis:D: Russel Simmons Ricky Williams Forest Whitaker Kareem Abdul Jabbar Evander Holyfield