Yoga Teacher Training Rishikesh

Lemons are both refining and nourishing, and they stimulate digestion. For reducing toxins, drink unsweetened lemonade as many times throughout the day as desired.

Ghee (clarified butter) is among the top rejuvenating and longevity-promoting foods. It aids digestion and relaxed the nerves. Ghee’s rate of absorption is high, making it an excellent medium for transporting the nutrients of other foods to the tissues.

Dates and Figs are prized as excellent sources of energy. They also assist build tissues. Eat one or two every day.

Almonds are nourishing and life-supporting. Ayurveda recommends whiten and peeling almonds

Mung Beans are among the top legumes for their supreme digestibility and health-giving qualities. They are advantageous when people are sick or else in need of very light food. Mung beans are particularly nourishing when assorted with rice or other grains.

Ginger is frequently referred to as “the universal medicine.” It promotes good digestion and helps remove ama. Dried ground ginger is extra concentrated in its flavor and its effects. To aid digestion, sprinkle a lean slice of fresh ginger with lemon juice and salt, and eat one-half hour before a meal.

Cumin Seeds serve as a digestive support and alma-reducer for all doshas. To help remove toxins, start the day by drinking warm water mixed with a tweak of powdered cumin and ginger.

Lassi is a beverage prepared by mixing one part yogurt into two parts water. It is an excellent nutritive digestive support, taken during or after a meal. You can flavor lassi either with raw sugar or honey and a tiny ground cardamom, or with toasted ground cumin seeds and salt.

Juicy, Seasonal Fruits are both extremely nutritive and purifying. Juicy fruits should be completely ripe for maximum healing value.

Green, Leafy Vegetables are both nutritive and purifying. Their sharp flavor stimulates the liver, helps balance blood sugar, and aids skin conditions. Prepare with a small amount ghee or oil.

Cow’s Milk is considered a vitalizer by Ayurveda and endorsed for those emaciated after injury. Ayurveda recommends bringing milk to a full boil to remove the qualities that can cause excess mucus. To further reduce milk’s clogging qualities, add a Tweak of ginger and/or black pepper. Also, milk should be imbibed separately from foods with any taste other than sweet.

Water is universally beneficial for everyone, and assists virtually all healing. It promotes digestion and, when imbibed while hot, is particularly effective for removing ama.

Author: Yogi Chetan Mahesh

Ayurveda, the medical structure that has been around for about 5000 years includes some water drinking recommendations. They may seem evident but if you follow them all, it will help you get rid of some problems with digestion and overall health. You will see.

1) Drink water while seated. Drinking water on the go, or when driving a car means you are multitasking and your body can not totally concentrate on absorbing water. So sit comfortably, take a few deep breaths and start drinking your water enjoying every sip.

2) Warm water is the excellent option. According to Ayurveda, cold water douses the digestive fire which is responsible for the metabolism.

3) Do not drink a lot while eating, otherwise, it will complicate the digestion. Ideally, the 50 percent

4) Do not drink water right before or right after the meal. Drink a little water during the meal or allow an hour and a half slot between eating and drinking.

5) Drink when you are thirsty. There is no ideal amount of daily water consumption that suits everybody. People into active sports and those living in dry climates, for example, require more water than others. According to Ayurveda, you are supposed to drink water only when feeling thirsty. Also, if your lips are dry and chapped you should increase your daily water intake.

6) Sip your water in small amounts during the day. Do not drink several glasses of water at a time. It will not absorb and will simply burden your body with extra work.

These recommendations are not that difficult to follow. And yet they can considerably improve how you feel. Start today.

Author: Yogi Chetan Mahesh

People mostly take vacation to get away from hard work and no play, filled with stress in day to day life, but students are increasingly using their hard-earned holidays to deepen their yoga practices by combining travel to exotic places with intensive yoga programs.

If you are considering going on a yoga retreat, these tips will help you know what to expect and ensure that you will have a great, relaxing trip.

How to Pick a Yoga Retreat

Go With What You Know:

The best ways to go on a yoga retreat is to sign up for one, led by a local studio or regular certified teacher. Running these retreats in tropical locales, has become big business for studios and independent teachers. They go out of their way to make sure that everything goes smoothly and one gets a good yoga instructor.

Reach for the Best:

Signing up with the best for a retreat with one of yoga’s leading teachers or well-known studios means, you will definitely be treated well. Again, these teachers have their vested interest (their reputations) in ensuring that you have a good time and get the value for money. In addition, many yoga studios run their retreats as yoga teacher training programs. If you have reached a level where you have mastered 1 or more styles of yoga, then it can be a great way to earn as a registered yoga teacher (RYT) certification while on vacation.

Got money, get fancied:

If you have got big bucks, many luxury spas have yoga on the menu.

This is a great way to relax, get pampered, and do some yoga on the side. Going for a luxury spa with yoga may result in a sacrifice in the quality of yoga lessons, so this option is only for those who just want a little yoga with their mud baths, seaweed wraps, and hot stone massages.

Stay Stateside:

There are many excellent retreat options in India, the majority of which are in Rishikesh in North India and Kerala in South India.

What to Expect at Yoga Retreats

You Get What You Pay For:

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So, if you go the bargain route, expect rustic accommodations. If you are OK with living conditions that are closer to camping facilities than a hotel, this can be a good way to save some money. Some retreats will offer shared or dormitory-style rooms at a discount. Food is almost always included in the price of the retreat, and usually features healthy, fresh, local cuisine. Airfare and transportation costs are NOT included, so make sure to consider them while budgeting.

Daily routine:

Yoga classes will usually be offered in the wee hours of morning and in the evening. Other activities may differ according to the focus of the retreat, but often include meditation. Some retreats organize a lot of extra activities, depending on their locations and may include things like hiking, camping, native dancing, musical evenings or even cooking classes for ayurvedic food. It will be a good idea to consider and clarify whether these activities will be part of the yoga retreat package or will they come at an added price. 

Author: Yogi Chetan Mahesh

There is an old Sufi story about philosopher-fool Jalaludin, who was looking for his house keys under a street light. Some of friends happened by and joined in the search. Finally, in exasperation, one of the friends asked Jalaludin where he thought he had lost the keys. Jalaludin pointed to a spot some distance away where it was extremely dark. But why are we searching here then? He was asked. He replied: Because it is so much easier to see under the light.

This story reveals a basic human tendency: to look where we want to instead of digging deeper to reveal the root of a problem. This is true of few yoga students who are trying to move deeper into their forward bends.

You attend lessons regularly, sometimes for years, practice at home, and make progress in most poses—except for forward bending. You seem to have cripple of steel! No matter how often or how long you practice, there doesn’t seem to be any change. One day when teaching, I realized that I was like Jalaludin. I was looking in the wrong place to find an answer for some students who, no matter how often or how long they practiced, did not experience any change in forward bending asans. I realized that, like the hamstrings, a group of muscles in the hip area—the external rotors—can interfere with the ability to bend forward.

Called the obturator externus and, gemellus, internus superior and inferior, piriformis, and quadratus femoris, these muscles are short, Very strong and broad.

While each of these muscles is an isolated structure, they function as one, working to externally rotate the femur (thigh), stabilize the pelvis during walking, and assist stabilize the pelvis and the femur together when you are standing on one leg. When you bend ahead, all of the muscles on the back side of your body must lengthen, including the rotators.

An extremely important rotator is the piriformis, which attaches to the sacrum and to the femur; the sciatic nerve passes right under this muscle. A tight piriformis can do more than just limit your forward bends.

Tight Rotator Troubles

When a tight piriformis presses down on the sciatic nerve, it can lead to “piriformis syndrome,” which creates a radiating pain in the buttocks, down the back of the thigh, into the foot and leg.

And if this rotator is specially tight, it can pull on the sacrum, affecting the functioning of the sacroiliac joint (the joint in the middle the sacrum and the pelvis). When the sacroiliac joint is dysfunctional, the lumbar (lower) spine can also be adversely affected.

So if your forward bends are restricted, or if you’re experiencing “piriformis syndrome,” it’s a good idea to continue to work on your hamstrings, but also comprise a few rotator stretches in your regular asana routine.

Walk the Walk

Walking has a stage called the swing stage in which you are, in effect, standing on one leg: One leg is the support leg and another is swinging forward but has not yet touched down. Because gravity tends to pull down on the pelvis, we need the activity of the rotators on the standing leg side to hold the head of the femur and the pelvis together in a steady position. Rotators tend to get tight when this action is exaggerated, like when you run or dance.

In order to understand this conception, try an experiment. Place your fingertips on the front of your pelvis, slightly to the side of the bony eminence called the ASIS (anterior superior iliac spine). Walk across the room and notice how these bony indicators are held virtually level in relationship to the floor—this is because the rotators are holding the pelvis stable while you’re walking.

Now, retain the hands as they are, raise the right leg in front of you as if you are about to take a step. Allow the left hip to shake to the left. The pelvis is now tipped downward on the right as the right rotators are relaxed. Place the right foot on the floor and try this examination on the other side.

Dancers and Prancers

Dancers and runners normally have tight rotators because they demand increased stability from these muscles. Dancers, for instance, need stable rotators when standing on one leg and lifting the other leg up in an arabesque. They might be quite flexible in other ways, but often have tight rotators.
For runners, the increased momentum linked with the forward movement of the legs places greater demands on the rotators to hold the pelvis level.

Try this: Stand up and put the feet a foot or so apart with the feet turned out as in second position in ballet. Orderly to turn the feet out when standing, you contract your external rotators to rotate the femur. If you hold them in this externally rotated situation as if they are tight, you will see how that interferes with forward bending. Hold the buttocks firm by pressing them together; try to bend forward. Even if you are supple, this will be difficult. If, on the other hand, you turn the thighs internal, stretching as opposed to contracting the rotators, this will facilitate forward bending.

Now turn the toes and thighs internal as much as possible. Imagine that you are pressing outward with the heels but actually keep the feet still as you bend. It will be much easier to bend forward with the legs and feet in this position. This is because the external rotators are being stretched and thus are interfering less with the forward movement of the pelvis over the thigh bones.