In addition to taking herbal supplements, eating organic foods, using alternative medicine and trying to develop healthy habits, learning meditation and relaxation techniques can help you improve your health, naturally. Stress contributes to headaches, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. It’s estimated that 75% to 90% of visits to the doctor’s office are for stress related complaints. Learning simple meditation and relaxation techniques and taking yoga and other types of natural healing classes can help you ease your stress.
Doug Melvin of Boise, Idaho discusses improving your mental and physical health with yoga classes. John Robinson of Chicago, Illinois tells YourHealthRemedies.com about other types of natural healing classes and where to find them.
Get in Shape Physically and Mentally with Yoga Classes by Doug Melvin of Boise Idaho
Over the years, our family has found that taking yoga classes keeps us in shape- physically and mentally. Depending upon the type of yoga you take, you can lose weight, become stronger and more flexible and learn helpful meditation and relaxation techniques. The best thing about yoga by far is the reduction in stress you start to feel in class and how it spills over into your everyday life. Yoga classes are probably the one place where you forget about everything else except the movements and rhythm of the poses and your breathing. Yoga helps you regain your focus and your purpose, too. Some of the most popular yoga classes include:
Hatha Yoga Classes Focus on Meditation and Relation Techniques
Hatha yoga teaches a number of meditation and relaxation techniques that often involve chanting and learning new breathing exercises. The chanting and breathing methods are easy to learn and immediately help you to unwind. Hatha yoga teaches you to mediate stress during class and throughout your busy day.
Kick Start Your Weight Loss with Ashtanga Yoga Classes
Ashtanga yoga classes focus on a series of poses and movements performed in sequence. The movements are beautiful to watch when performed in harmony with a group. You’ll learn each of the poses during class and after a while, can easily perform the exercises at home on your own. Ashtanga yoga classes have another benefit too: closely related to power yoga, Ashtanga is aerobic and you’ll definitely feel an uptick in your heart rate during class. Ashtanga yoga helps you become stronger and more flexible. And as with all yoga classes, you’ll learn meditation and relaxation methods that help you manage your stress, too.
Hot Yoga Classes Steam Away the Stress
Bikram, or hot yoga classes, involves a series of poses performed in a very hot environment, typically around 95 to 100 degrees. The intense heat helps cleanse the body through a lot of sweating. The heat also helps loosen tight muscles, a great stress reliever for students of Bikram yoga.
Kundalini Yoga Quickly Relieves Stress
Kundalini yoga classes were developed to help provide hippies of the 60’s and 70’s with a natural alternative to drugs. Kundalini yoga is very different from Hatha and Ashtanga yoga methods. Also designed to help relieve stress, the poses in Kundalini yoga classes move fast, and students quickly go from one movement to the next. Kundalini uses different types of breathing methods for meditation and relaxation than you’ll find in other types of traditional yoga. In addition, chanting is an integral part of the yoga classes, rather than a way to end the class, as is often the case with traditional yoga.
Find New Forms of Meditation and Relaxation with Natural Healing Classes by Kelly Robinson of Chicago, Illinois
In addition to taking yoga, there are a number of natural healing classes that can help to center you and relieve your stress. Work closely with instructors to find the right mix of wellness classes for you. Specific breathing techniques are a major part of any yoga or natural healing class, and you want to make sure that the breathing and movements you learn aren’t at cross-purposes; they should complement each other, so you can get the greatest benefits from your studies.
Nia Helps You Dance Your Way to Improved Health
Nia is more than “just” a dance class. Nia classes combine martial arts, yoga and dance for a hardcore cardiovascular workout. Nia classes help students improve their physical, mental and spiritual health. The classes offer a flexibility that you won’t find with yoga. Students are encouraged to express themselves and modify the movements they are taught in class to find the best workout for their individual needs. Nia devotees claim that classes help them stay in shape, while promoting inner peace and tranquility.
Lose Weight, Gain Grace When You Take Belly Dancing Lessons
Belly dancing is an ancient form of dance that originated in the Middle East. Belly dancing promotes strength and flexibility and teaches students how to control specific muscle groups while dancing. Belly dancing is a great workout, and many centers that teach the dance class actively participate in local competitions. There’s a fantasy element to learning this Old World dance, and while not required, costumes are available and make taking the class even more fun.
Learn Meditation and Relaxation Techniques at Chanting Seminars
Yoga centers often offer meditation and relaxation training during regular classes. You can also benefit from taking seminars with yogi instructors that focus on chanting. Chanting workshops help you to relax and reflect on your life in a peaceful way. Chanting may mean speaking or singing along with a class and often involves invoking a higher power, regardless of religion. Ohm meditation and relaxation involves a group invoking the word Ohm, or the sound from which all other sound originates. Ohm is a meditation staple in Buddhism and Hinduism. Chanting seminars and workshops offer intensive training on this ancient spiritual practice so you can easily integrate this meditation and relaxation technique into your everyday life.
Where to Go to Find Natural Healing Classes
You can find natural healing classes almost anywhere these days. Gyms that used to focus on weight lifting and aerobics classes now offer yoga, too. However, you’ll get the most benefit when you take classes at a wellness or yoga center that specializes in natural healing. While gym instructors are qualified to teach yoga, they may not embrace the all-natural lifestyle in the same way that yogis (certified yoga instructors) do. If you’re trying to change your mind-set, and really learn the principles of healthy living, you’ll get more benefit when you take classes from and with like-minded people.
We thank our contributors:
- Doug Melvin of Boise, Idaho
- Kelly Robinson of Chicago, Illinois
