Category Archives: Yoga

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Mantra Experience

Mantra Experience
My journal with mantra repetition started many years ago and I had a wonderful experience even though I didn’t have any clue what mantra was. Back them I thought it was a type of brainwash, prayer or cult. I was curious about the practice so I gave a shot and soon enough I understood it…
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The Sunshine of your Heart

The Sunshine of your Heart
https://youtu.be/tceiKraaoYo Life is an unknown adventure. I have been dancing and teaching dance for 30 years, practicing Bhakti yoga for 20 years, and Hatha Yoga for 10. It has been an incredible path of self-discovering and healing for me all together. I was always very attracted to Mantra meditation and Kirtan, and it became one…
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The Sacred Syllable OM

The Sacred Syllable OM
By Brittany Martinez, LTY 200 Hour trainee/2017 The Scared Syllable OM goes way back past the early times of Sanskrit. It is said that reciting this vibrational sounds is the process of emergence from the unconscious realty to the diverse empirical world. Mantra-Yoga-Samhita explains this as, “Where an effect is experiences, there also is some…
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Meditation – Calmness and Awareness

Meditation – Calmness and Awareness
The So Hum meditation is a simple but powerful technique that uses the breath and the repetition of a mantra to calm the mind and relax the body. This meditation will help you move beyond your mind’s worries to the peace of present moment. So means I am and Hum means that.  So hum, I am that, that…
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Meditation

By Nulise Santana, LTY 300 Hour trainee/2016 We all have a little voice in our heads that is constantly commenting, agreeing, disagreeing from the moment we wake up to the moment we fall asleep. And, it's not always the most positive and friendly! Meditation helps to observe that little voice and all the thoughts flowing…
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The Growing Seed

The Growing Seed
The post effect of Lightrail Yoga Teacher Training By Yamilet Guntin, LTY trainee/2016 There was a monk who wanted to get enlightened so bad that he decided to go up a mountain thinking that hermitage was going to help in the process. While climbing the mountain he found a master Zen coming down with a pile…
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Asana…

By Michael Ortiz, LTY trainee 2016 When looking at the 8-limbed approach of Astanga Yoga, the 1st limb we reach after the moral and ethical code (yama/niyama) is Asana.  Although the Asana practice is but briefly mentioned in the Yoga Sutras and even at that it is referring more to the seated posture for meditation, for…
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Why is important a yogic diet?

Why is important a yogic diet?
By Karla Garcia, LTY trainee 2016 When we begin practicing yoga it infuses not only to one part of your life, but your whole life. It is a whole life commitment to awareness, compassion, and attaining the union between your atman (your pure soul) and purusha (pure universal consciousness). One of the keys of a…
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Yoga & Recovery

Yoga & Recovery
By Michael Ortiz, LTY trainee 2016 One of the primary reasons why I am completing the 200hr RYT training is to bring this amazing and inspiring practice to the recovery community and to share the gifts that I have received thru practicing Yoga. Having 12 years sober myself, I have lived through recovery with and without Yoga and I…
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The Business of Yoga

The Business of Yoga
By Ashley Jugo, LTY trainee/2016 After having a discussion today with a fellow yogi from the teacher training, I learned about the business side of yoga. I hadn’t given much that to it, as business itself sounds so official and not such a yogic concern as yoga is about asceticism, non attachment to material things…
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Gentle Chakra Meditation

Gentle Chakra Meditation
By  Christina A. Demetre, LTY trainee/2016 Make your way into a comfortably seated position. Gently close your eyes, and bring your awareness to your breath. Begin to soften into your body, and allowing your mind to ease. Connect with the ground below you. Allow yourself to feel the support.  With each inhale, feel it meet…
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My Yoga Experience with Lightrail Yoga Teacher Training

My Yoga Experience with Lightrail Yoga Teacher Training
By Ashley Jugo, LTY trainee/2016 I cannot believe the teacher training is about to end. I am continuing to observe, assist, and teach classes. It was has been such a privilege to be part of Lightrail Yoga Teacher Training, to go on this journey discovering myself, my strengths, my weaknesses, and everything in between. I learned…
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Meditation and Controlling the Restless Mind

Meditation and Controlling the Restless Mind
By Carolita Hernandez, LTY trainee/2016 A beginner's journey into finding stillness in a windstorm Developing a sound meditation practice has been at the top of my "to do" list for a while.  At different points of my life I have attempted to nudge myself into a regular habit of meditation, knowing good and well that I would…
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Being Pregnant While Certifying in Yoga

By Cristina Cernuda LTY trainee/2016 When I made the decision to certify in yoga the thought of getting pregnant couldn’t have been further from my mind—but it seems that’s when these little miracles happen; always when you least expect it. The news was received with incredible joy and relentless excitement, but a small part of me…
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Taking a Step Back

One of the biggest hurdles in yoga can be the Ego. When your body is telling you to take it easy in your physical practice, your Ego is sitting on your other shoulder whispering, "Don't be lazy." The Ego tells you to bind your arms in a pose when that means collapsing your torso. It…
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The Keys to the Peace Garden

I.33 from Patanjali Yoga Sutras says: maitri karuna muditopeksanam sukha duhkha punyapunya visayanam bhavanatas citta prasadanam “By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness.” This yoga sutra, teach us how to deal with people’s attitudes. In this sutra, Patanjali…
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Ahimsa is the root of yoga practice

Ahimsa is the root of yoga practice
Practicing ahimsa is the root of the spiritual practice of yoga. All of our actions create an impression in our psyche and the universe. Making the conscious choice for loving and positive action is the first step of practicing ahimsa. We love summer time, it is warm and welcoming, we eat a lot of vegetables,…
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Vegetarian Diet

Vegetarian Diet
  If you want to be a true Yogi, you have to do your best to live according to the Eight Limbs of Yoga; the first one being Yamas (Ethical Disciplines). These Ethical Disciplines include ”Ahimsa” (non-harming). Ahimsa means that we should all be kind to each other, feel compassion, not to harm anybody and…
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Five Yamas from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

As part of our Yoga Teacher Training we are studying The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. In book two, the eight limbs of Yoga are described and the first one is Yama (abstinence.) It goes on listing and describing the abstinence principals into the five yamas (non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence and non-greed) I don’t see it…
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Be the change you wish to see in the world

Namaste The first of the Yamas (Ethical Disciplines) is called Ahimsa, which means “non-harming”. It is the most fundamental of all the yamas, as it refers to the relationship with all beings in this world and ourselves, to be harmless and good to others is the best path towards unity and ultimate transcendence of the…
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Pranayama: Alternate Nostril Breathing

Pranayama is an essential part of yoga. We have been learning a variety of breathing exercises in our teacher training which I happen to enjoy very much. This week we are practicing Alternate Nostril Breathing which creates whole brain functioning by balancing the right and left hemispheres. To do this breathing exercise you start by…
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Urdhva Dhanurasana- Upward Facing Bow Pose

After doing so many different poses, this is by far my favorite one. I am blessed to be able to do this posture better than any other one, yet have so much more to accomplish before doing the complete pose, so it keeps it enticing. I also did this pose when I was a child…
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Virabhadrasana = Fierce Mythical warrior

Warrior I is among the first asanas you learn when you start Yoga! It looks pretty easy but once you really start getting into all the details, you realize there are many things going on at the same time. But that's why I love it, you can always improve! Like the title says, Virabhadra is…
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Split Pose – Hanumanasana

Hanumanasana—the pose dedicated to Lord Hanuman Doing the splits may seem like an impossible dream for you, or it may feel like one of the relaxed pose. Either way, there are many benefits to practicing this pose or working your way towards it. No matter where you are on your way to fully expressing this…
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“Spiritual Warrior”

  Warrior 1- Virabhadrasana1 In most yoga texts such as  the Bhagavad-Gita, is dialog between two famous and feared warriors, set in a battlefield between two great armies spoiling for a fight.. This pose merely represents the “spiritual warrior” who battles with the universal enemy, self- ignorance, which is the ultimate source of all out…
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Want to increase flexibility of your hips and pelvis?

  If so, Dandasana is a perfect asana for you!   Dandana, or Staff Pose, helps you to become more flexible and also improves your posture. For me it's very challenging to sit on the floor with my back straight as I'm used to sitting at work, at my office, for about 8-10 hrs/ day…
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Revolving Side Angle Pose- Parivritta Parsvokonasana

Revolving side angle pose is one of the poses that has truly grown on me. As a beginner yogi I really struggled with this pose. I always felt really clumsy and I couldn’t twist my upper torso too much. Of course, there was also the balancing act! I still like to place my knee on…
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Breathing Exercises

    I am beginning to learn to really breathe, a lot of us might not know that we don’t really breathe to our fullest potential. Pranayama ( breathing exercises) are great to practice as there are so many benefits, mentally, physically and health wise. The 3 part breathing specifically (starting with the tummy, to…
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