What is Yoga?
What is Yoga? Yoga literally means union. In Hyp-Yoga we are dealing with the union of our body and our mind. Once we are able to truly tap into this power we can use this power to help ourselves and to help others. Our yoga practice consists of poses that have been passed down through the centuries and have been proven to aid in both strengthening the body and strengthening the mind. Throughout this book we will have yoga poses along with positive suggestions in each segment targeted at keeping ALL of you young and vibrant.
In our Hyp-Yoga Class, we do our yoga for preparation for hypnosis at the end. Yoga helps us to open up our bodies and our hearts, making us more willing to accept new ideas about ourselves and preparing us for a successful hypnosis experience. In Hyp-Yoga, your mind will learn how to bring itself to a relaxed, calm state where your body will have the chance to make the positive changes it desperately needs to keep you healthy and energized.
Latest Yoga Tools and Articles
Here are two free online yoga sessions for you! They are “weight loss” yoga classes, but really, they are for anyone who wants to live a healthier, more flexible life. Both mind and body! They have our signature guided meditation at the end.
Yoga Class One
Yoga Class Two
More Yoga Tools
The Benefits of Yoga
Here are ten benefits of starting and maintaining a physical yoga practice.
1. Weight Loss – Yoga allows you to lose weight by giving you a low impact exercise that starts burning fat, as you relax and move.
2. Strength – Did you know you have triceps? You will after you try yoga! Yoga’s poses (called asanas) come together to give you a well rounded strength class, giving you definition and tone.
3. Flexibility – Many people are scared to try yoga because they “are not flexible.” This is no reason – we do yoga to become flexible, not because we already are. Yoga is for everyone, and yoga will encourage everyone to move a little deeper and stretch a little farther, one step at a time. Stretching is a necessary component of an exercise plan to balance out strength gain.
4. Better Posture – You can grow an inch with yoga! It’s really not magic, just learn how to stand up straight (tadasana or mountain pose) and then build the muscles necessary to keep you upright all day. Better posture can lead to lessening of joint and muscle pain and will lead to more confidence!
5. Stress Prevention – Approach life with a calm and joyful spirit! Yoga allows you to slow down, breathe and foster awareness which leads to stress prevention on the mat you can take with you off the mat. Even when life is crazy, you are not because of the tools you have learned in class to keep you peaceful in the middle of a storm.
6. Pain Reduction – Learning to move your body correctly and heal yourself through the power of your mind, is one of the major benefits of yoga. Many of the physical poses of yoga will allow you to alleviate pain in certain areas with preventing pain in others. Meditation and breathing in yoga also can heal the body and even sometimes heal emotional pain.
7. Slower Aging – Anytime you slow down and take care of yourself you are stopping the damage of free-radicals in the body which lead to faster aging. Yoga also stops the production of Cortisol and other stress related hormones that age our bodies more rapidly.
8. Deeper Breathing – Become better at other physical activities with the deeper lung capacity you gain through yoga. Also, breathing better will lead to more concentration in your life and better health as your body is supplied with cleansing breaths from your entire respiratory system.
9. Uplifted Spirit – Physically, yoga can give you more energy, but even more importantly, emotionally and spiritually yoga can lift you up and give you the extra motivation to live life to the fullest.
10. Better Body Function – We already know that your respiratory system loves yoga (see #8), but every other system of your body seems to also be positively affected by yoga. Your digestive system loves all the physical twists, your lymphatic system loves the stress prevention, and your circulatory the proper body alignment and oxygenated cells.
Yoga. In The Spirit It Was Intended.
We practice this ancient, beautiful practice in the spirit it was intended – so it isn’t complicated, intimidating or only for the fit and flexible. It is welcoming and non-competitive, yet profound in its ability to touch the practical aspects of daily living. Our classes are intentionally limited to 8 or fewer students in keeping with the time-honored tradition of small, intimate groups. There is no need for any prior experience. You can begin right now, just as you are. It’s as simple as that.
We still continue to preserving the Classical (Raja) Yoga tradition as outlined by Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras, which dates between 300B.C. and 300A.D., but now also includes the evolutionary addition of Hyp-Yoga classes.
The wisdom of the classical practice is that it recognizes we are not only physical beings. We are social. We are individuals. We have bodies that must be cared for, but we also have minds and a spirit that must be given as much attention as we give our bodies. The beauty of the practice is that every aspect of a person is addressed and gently guided toward a peaceful inward Silence.
Philosophy. Meditation. Poses. Peace.
More than simply twisting and stretching, yoga is a combination of philosophy, meditation, and poses. Practiced in this way, yoga calms the mind, enlivens the body, and is ultimately a path to self-knowledge. It is the opposite of hectic, pressure-driven days.
New to Yoga?
We are all beginners at some point in every experience or activity. It is no different in yoga. Yoga allows us to enjoy every step of our journey knowing that there is no expectations for an end result.
Unlike most exercise activities, the end result is never a goal with yoga. Results will come, but we are more concerned with the ability to let go of our worries and just enjoy the moment we are currently in – whether we are in a challenging pose or just learning to breathe deeply.
Starting a new yoga practice can seem intimidating, but it shouldn’t be and we would like to help. If you have never done yoga before, or even if you have and would just like some extra guidance, Hyp-Yoga and the Omaha Yoga School has a place for you. The following option was designed to make you feel comfortable here, and we would love to meet you at one of these consults.