Yoga Benefits

Downward-facing dog is unique in its ability to engage, in one fell swoop, acupuncture's largest and most all-encompassing channel. For the remaining few who haven't already, it's time to strike this pose.

The sensationalistic reports are excessively promoting isolated instances of yoga-related back injuries. Chronic back problems affect millions of Americans and is a top reason people seek out medical care. To balance the ongoing debate, here are four yoga back benefits.

In honor of American Heart Month, here are five ways that yoga promotes a healthier heart.

The whole point of yoga is to get us to release our egos. And yet, it appears that some of the young teachers have such inflated egos that I'm uncertain even yoga will remedy their afflictions in just one lifetime.

The opinion of injuries in the west is that they are the absolute worst thing in the world. But, the reality is they happen. To all of us. And, they can happen from any activity, even yoga asana.

Any type of physical activity aiming to increase fitness carries with it a certain degree of risk. Pegged next to the injury rate of common physical activities like weight training and golf, however, yoga comes across as far safer than even a relatively innocuous activity like golf.

Despite the doom and gloom scenario painted by the New York Times, the average Jane or Joe can practice yoga without having back surgery, popping a hamstring or making a trip to the emergency room (or even the drugstore) simply by following two simple guidelines.

As someone who practices yoga (when healthy) four times a week, I find the photos in the recent New York Times article on yoga insulting, and the article misguided. Yes, you can get injured doing yoga just like you can get injured in any form of exercise.

What happens next in a world where yoga is being used to sell everything from yogurt, air fresheners, pain killers and cars? Has commercialization diluted the practice to the point of triviality, becoming just another easily bought, packaged and sterilized commodity? Hardly.

Yoga offers a positive change in lifestyle, where permanent weight loss and maintenance is a natural result of enjoyable yoga exercise and diet. By balancing food intake and yoga exercise, you can naturally achieve your ideal weight.

Many of the yoga studies that are done are deeply flawed, primarily because yoga is a practice that, if not done with a certain amount of diligence and enthusiasm, doesn't provide the benefits it promises.

The yoga tradition teaches that desire has four levels of intensity. Each one is a progressively more compelling force that exerts an increasing influence on our destiny.

The spiritual element in yoga is difficult to capture in large groups, but with researchers like the group in Seattle thinking about these problems, going forward we are likely to find answers.

A new study adds more weight to what yogis have long believed: Yoga can help combat chronic low back pain. In the study, published Monday in the Ar...

Anyone who thinks that yoga is merely "a kinder version of alcohol" might want to do a reverse pose and get some more blood flowing to her brain. With proper supervision, of course.

By Su Reid-St. John and Rozalynn S. Frazier for Health magazine Fewer migraines Research shows that doing simple neck-, shoulder-, and back-st...

One of the leading proponents of yoga for depression has long been Amy Weintraub, founder of LifeForce Yoga and author of "Yoga for Depression." I recently caught up with Amy and talked to her about her work.

Rigorous practice of yoga can help reduce episodes of irregular heartbeat and improve the symptoms of anxiety and depression often associated with atr...

There is no formula for happiness, but what 43 years on this planet has taught me is that life is a circle. Good can turn to bad, and bad back to good -- sometimes instantaneously.

Yoga is not just about standing on our head or bending in all sorts of contorted positions. It is the uniting of body, mind, and spirit.

In yoga class, you'll often be told to "go deeper" while you're holding a pose. It's a yoga cliché, a lesson that's lost its power. It can be taken literally but that's not always the best idea. So what exactly does it mean?

I come out of my new yoga teacher's class feeling like I've taken a drug. In addition to the stretching, here are five things I've learned about yoga -- and life! -- from working with her.