Relief for Pediatric Conditions Through Yoga

Families who have sickly, depressed or injured children would do anything to make them feel better. They pay for therapy, take them to the doctor for checkups and treatments, and generally do anything to help them feel at ease. Studies today show that yoga-centered treatments can have a good effect on pediatric conditions like the ones mentioned above.
Classes that teach basic yoga poses for children can often pinpoint a significant improvement in their pediatric issues. It doesn't matter if the child is tired, in pain, or just hyperactive and easily distracted. The teachers and parents alike saw that after a few sessions of yoga, the children were generally calmer, focused, and reported feeling less pain and exhaustion.
The Emotional Benefits of Learning Yoga Basics
Yoga instructors often teach children by 'playing pretend,' trying to get them to see the connection between themselves, their peers, and the world at large. The children who took yoga at least 45 minutes every week reported feeling more relaxed, imaginative, and reflective of their actions. The results were the same regardless of the children's ages.
More than a thousand schoolteachers in the United States these days chose to train in yoga instruction. Hundreds of school districts now offer mind-body practices and yoga-inspired activities into their curricula. Schools report that yoga-inspired class activities were effective in teaching their students self-control, anger management, respect, and good hygiene, and health practices.
The Pediatric Conditions Addressed through Yoga
Yoga elevates your mood and makes you feel better, and has a literal effect on your physical condition. Children and teens who take yoga classes and practice regularly can notice a significant amount of relief from physical ailments and emotional conditions.
Below are some of the conditions that yoga can relieve. They include:
ADHD
Students diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, can be hard to control. This condition makes their attention span short, distracting them from activities and disrupting the flow of their classes. A paper from the Journal of Attention Disorders presented facts on how ADHD medication and yoga could go hand-in-hand. It provides the children with a way to focus and relax, which makes their medication more effective.
Chronic Pain
Accident-prone children have a high risk of developing chronic pain in adulthood. They are not as likely to suffer from long-term pain, but the risk is still high. The researchers from Children's Hospital in Boston studied the effects of yoga together with anesthesia programs. They suggested that yoga's relaxation and breathing techniques could be an invaluable part of many pain management programs.
Today, yoga is one of the most sought-after forms of alternative pain management. Almost 86 per cent of pain clinics offer yoga as one of their alternatives.
Depression
Teens and young adults often suffer from depression, but the symptoms and onset actually begins during childhood. Research indicates that practicing yoga at a young age can effectively reduce the symptoms of depression among adolescents, teenagers, and young adults.
According to the Alternative Therapies journal, a depressed youth can benefit from undergoing two or more yoga sessions each week. The youths who chose to try to yoga basics showed marked improvements in mood and anxiety levels. It also helped them relax and think.
Yoga can improve many more conditions aside from the ones listed above. Some journals suggest that yoga plays a big role in children who suffer from severe mental and physical problems. Yoga-centered treatments is also a big help for respiratory health conditions like asthma, anxiety, and irritable bowel syndrome.
There are many yoga studios offering classes for children, adults, and groups today.

Click here to learn more about the health benefits of yoga.
Stephanie is an avid yoga practitioner who goes to yoga classes every week.

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Tapping The Real Spiritual Awakening

Even the most enlightened of spiritual teachers would be hard-pressed to put down spiritual awakening in words. While most of us at some point or the other do come across out-of-the-ordinary experiences, not all of them necessarily point towards spiritual awakening.
If you go out asking, most people would confer having some sort of otherworldly experience, which can rightly or wrongly be taken as a manifestation of spiritual awakening. Many consider being inspired with inner peace as being so deeply meditative and mystical that it's interpreted to define spiritual realms.
Those who have been on the path to spiritual awakening would concede that it's a long journey and every small step in the way is an important one. As one progresses towards spiritual gyan, or spiritual knowledge, a wide range of euphoric experiences from surreal to divine can manifest themselves.
Experiencing such wide emotive dimensions is highly gratifying, and stays etched in the memory for a long time. It is the propensity of the mind to recapitulate and relive such transcendence that coaxes the mind into harboring outside notions about spiritual awakening and enlightenment.
However, spiritual awakening isn't an instant realization of truth. It takes breaking new grounds of spirituality with every small experience until it becomes a natural state of being. This brings out the fundamental idea behind the coming together of two of the great mystics in Dr. Rochaldas Sahib and Dr. R M Hari and creating a platform for guiding all true seekers of spirituality and spiritual awakening.
Gyan Marg is a repository of the greatest works in Indian philosophy brought together to help the true seeker tap into and channel the latent power within towards spiritual awakening. Of all the spiritual marvels ever complied, Sri, Yoga Vasishtha is of monumental significance to the spiritual seeker. The book holds revered conversations between a young Lord Rama and the much hallowed saint Sri Vasishtha, with the Lord seeking the way to enlightenment.
Sri Yoga Vasishtha, one of the most sacrosanct pieces of spiritual literature, and according to the famed Indian saint, Swami Rama Tirtha, it is 'one of the greatest books, the most wonderful according to Rama ever written under the Sun, which nobody on the earth can read without escaping God consciousness.'
The original Sanskrit text runs into thousands of pages, often leading to palpable barriers of comprehension and understanding. Gyan Marg reproduces its English translation with striking lucidity to guide you to a better realization of great medieval knowledge.

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Yoga, Patanjali Style - The Satya Yama

Yoga can be defined as 'an established set of guidelines and routines that one practices with the ultimate intention of reaching Divinity'. As the compiler of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali incorporates all forms of Yoga practice to assist students with achieving a balanced body-mind-soul unit and to uplift individual and collective consciousness.
Patanjali Yoga can be broken down into 2 subdivisions, the Limbs and Sutras, which can then be broken down further. The first Limb of Patanjali Yoga is the Yama limb, which consists of 5 Yamas that focus on 'doing no harm (good behavior) to others'. The Satya Yama is the second Yama and translates to the 'practice of truthfulness, honesty and integrity in our thoughts, words and actions.'
There are many sides to Truth and non-truth; there have been/are/and will be times when Truth can do more harm than good, therefore, the 'truth' is/will not always the most harmless or integral response. This is an important perspective to absorb, along with the entire focus of the Yama Limb, which is 'to do no harm to others'. These principles of Truth are all considered in the Satya Yama.
When the definition of the Satya Yama is 'the practice of truthfulness, honesty and integrity in our thoughts, words and actions', one can identify their Truths or non-truths as being personalized responses to external, or internal, stimuli. Therefore, the starting point for the practice of this Yama is inside of oneself, at the tier of the mind/heart, as words and actions towards others are manifestations of thoughts/feelings.
To 'know thyself' is one of the objectives when practicing the Satya Yama. When one applies Truth, Honesty and Integrity to internal questions such as who am I really? or, am I happy?, one may find it excruciatingly difficult to answer without Courage. This is due to the existence of the Ego Self, defined as "... the division of the psyche that is conscious, most immediately controls thought and behavior, and is most in touch with external reality."
Each and every single one of us would probably not fully, 100%, agree with an-others observation or opinion of us, good or not good, which points to the fact that each and every single one of us, to some degree, 'knows thyself'. That is all the suggestion required when discussing the existence of the Ego Self and the True Self in relation to the Satya Yama. When one can answer their own questions of themselves Truth-fully and with Courage (am I, in Truth, happy?) then they begin to operate out of the True Self internally, and can then eventually, if not immediately, provide truthful or integral responses externally. This is why it is important to 'know thyself' and to then 'be true to thyself' on, at least, a casual level.
From internal Truth-full responses come external Truth-full responses, and the opportunity to further cultivate Honesty, Integrity and the desire to do no harm to others. When observing and practicing the Satya Yama, one can begin to see how the practice of Truth dismantles the Ego Self while, at the exact same time, builds up the True Self. The development of the True Self then fosters Truth-fullness, Honesty and Integrity in ones external responses, while protecting the heart of the Yama Limb by 'doing no harm' towards others' in ones truths.
In terms of the Satya Yama, Honesty is recognizing when a Truth-full response would cause more harm than good, and Integrity is choosing to respond in spirit of the honest observation. This causes a Harm-less response to others and thus, meets another ambition of the Yama. That is not to say one should respond with non-truth, but rather, to find the best response that fits the practice of this Yama. For example, when paying attention to the relationship Truth has with Honesty and Integrity, one will notice how often life invites them to respond Truth-fully, but from the Ego Self. One will also notice how often their responses to these invitations are not Harm-less.
For example, it could be said about a response to an offensive driver: 'That driver cut me off!! They deserved my (negative) response (a.k.a truth)!' True there was an 'offense' committed, but the negative, rude or aggressive behavior of others does not control and, therefore, should not influence one's ability to Truth-fully, Honestly, Integrally and Harmlessly respond. When we respond to negativity with negativity, we respond from the Ego Self, the only one who cares about the 'offense' or 'the offender.' However, referencing the offensive driver, if it were a matter of SAFETY, how would a response full of aggressive, negative Truth provide a solution? What would be the most integral response to the event? Notifying officials to deal with the situation properly one might say? So, the Satya Yama can be visualized; how Truth, Honesty and Integrity can harm or not harm, and how these ingredients can provide a solution or not.
Another factor to observe in practicing this Yama is how swiftly we tend to respond to external stimuli with our truths or non-truths, which is an element to be explored in observing and practicing the Satya Yama. Typically our truths or non-truths are immediately manifested, through expression, in the face of negativity. This is due to the even quicker mental/emotional reaction to negative stimuli and one not giving themselves space between stimuli and their response. It is in this space that one can collect their thoughts from True Self and respond with Truth-fullness, Honesty and Integrity. That is, one can consciously choose to do no harm in their response.
It could be said that Truths are steps taken on a Divine Path that guide an individual through their lifetime. One could then conceptualize that each step taken, or Truth expressed, either keeps one on course with True Self or it does not. With this in mind, one can see how each of their steps, their Truths or non-truths, creates the momentum required to move forward on, or off, their Divine Path. This is the blessing and gift of the Satya Yama.

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