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3 SEO Secrets Holistic Physicians & Yoga Teachers Need to Know Part 3

Jan 21st, 2010 by Dr. Tara Devi Yogeshwari

Yoga and Holistic Blog Writing for SEO

Yoga and Holistic Blog Writing for SEO

Continuing with the previous post in this series, and doing my best to make this so SIMPLE that you can DO some of these things, let’s talk about BLOGS…

SEO Success Secret #2: Search Engines Will Visit Your Site & Market FOR You in 24-48 Hours – When You Share Your Unique & Creative Solutions to Your Students’ and Patients’ Challenges.

A blog, or a web log, is basically a writing space for a group or an individual. It is free and easy, even for yogis who aren’t tech and web geeks.   Here’s how you do it, step by step.  (I, myself am a converted “yoga geek” who accidentally fell in love with internet marketing and practice management.)

There are a number of websites that allow setting up a free blog. You can set up a free blog at these sites:

Simple Steps to Creating SEO-Friendly Blog Posts –

  1. Using the keywords patients and students will use to find your blog, write your first few posts using those words in a few key places mentioned below.
  2. Mention Yoga Keywords in the Title of Blog
  3. Mention Keywords in the Subject and Paragraph Headings of the Blog
  4. Mention Keywords in the Topic and Summary Sentences in Paragraphs of the Blog
  5. Use the Keyword (s) Rather Than Pronouns a Few Times in Your Paragraphs of Your Blog
  6. “Tag” Your Blog Keywords in the Blog Creation Page So Search Engines Find You.
  7. Be sure to upload a few photos, links, videos and MP3s to help your readers solve the issue your blog is concerned with.  It’s very easy-add from the menu where you adjust the fonts and style of the letters at the top of the blog creation page.

Posting Your Content on a Blog Requires ZERO Programming Skills.  Therefore you can do it yourself, or easily have it done for you by an experienced blog writer.   After posting your writing and supportive media, such as images, helpful web links and videos on your blog, you click on the PUBLISH button and voila-you have web page and a blog.

Easy Blog Publishing on the Web:

  • Publish to the domain of your website: In this method, your blog’s URL would be of the form: www.yourwebsite.com/blog. (This is offered by Wordpress)
  • Publish to the host’s domain: In this method, your blog’s URL would be of the form: blog.blogspot.com. (This is offered by Blogger)

The first method is somewhat better than the second one I mentioned, in terms of SEO. With the first option, the SEO advantages of regularly updating your blog pertain to your website as well. This is because your blog is published to your own domain.

While writing a blog post, make sure it offers creative and effective solutions to your students’ and patients’ unique concerns and issues.  Here are some more tips that you can follow to make your blog “keyword rich” as they say in the SEO world:

  • Decide on your keywords. Find out a main keyword, and other related keywords.   Check out the link above that takes you to Google’s keyword search tool page.  It will also tell you how many people search for yoga and acupuncture as well as give you keyword ideas if you are new at this.
  • Now write something that HELPS your readers, with relevant information about your yoga practices, and disburse the keywords throughout the post, wherever you find them appropriate. This will make a “keyword-rich” post.
  • Make sure you update your blog at least once a week. (This step will make your SEO efforts more successful.)

When your blog has healthy content, and is viewed by many people, it will improve your blog’s popularity. The readers of your blog will post links to your blog on other blogs and websites, and this will further help you get higher ranks in search engine results. If you want a sample of an SEO optimized blog post, you are viewing one right now.

Finally – head over to www.blogcatalogue.com and create a profile that automatically notifies the search engines and readers about your blog every time you add a new post for free.

If you have questions, please post them on the comments. They are always welcome.

Posted in SEO for Yoga and Acupuncture | 2 Comments »

3 SEO Success Secrets for Holistic Physicians & Yoga Teachers Part 2

Jan 19th, 2010 by Dr. Tara Devi Yogeshwari

"The Height of Anything Runs to Its Simplicity"- Bruce Lee

"The Height of Anything Runs to Its Simplicity"- Bruce Lee

How can you use SEO to your advantage?  I am going to share my SEO “secrets” with you, since I ardently believe that when we make an important discovery that will help people we SHOULD SHARE IT!  I’ll going to let you in on how I got my website ranked at number 2-3 on Google’s 1st page results without any paid marketing or advertising-in less than 2 months of designing the new site.

SEO Success Secret #1: Online Press Releases Get Your Yoga Studio and Holistic Practice Listed on Google FAST

What is a press release?  A press release is basically news reporting of an event at your studio or clinic.

Press release “optimization”  is a vital part of  SEO.  A press release with the best selection of keywords, along with a catchy headline will get you listed in Google’s search results within 1-2 days, instead of the usual 2-6 weeks wait time. Then Google comes and views your site from the links provided in the press release, and this will boost your rankings on Google FAST-provided you’ve written your website content in a “Google Friendly” way.

A “Search Engine Optimized” press release is simply one that includes a newsworthy title, as well as an interesting story about you and your company, links to your website and professional association, and other relevant information that will point readers on the web in your direction-all with the keyword search terms that people would use to find you on the web.

Understanding what “keywords” or search terms people will use to find you is the beginning-and the CORNERSTONE of all SEO and Internet Marketing. These crucial words, as well as where they are inserted into your writing, AND how these words are coded by the programmer into the writing portion of your website or blog tell search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN who you are and what you are about. This helps people who are searching for something or someone find what they are looking for quickly and easily, with a high degree of accuracy.

A press release or more specifically, a press release that includes your main keywords in the catchy title would come in the eyes of industry experts, bloggers and news reporters-and Google. You can even send the press releases to specific reporters and journalists who have written about acupuncture and yoga before, as well as Yoga Journal and Acupuncture Today magazines’ editors.

Free and Almost Free Online Press Releases

Here are a few of the useful sites that are free or nearly free – we suggest you use 2-3 at once when submitting your press release, as well as posting similar content to what is in the press release in your blog post at the same time.

www.webpr.com

www.prlog.org

www.free-press-release.com/

www.i-newswire.com/

www.pr.com/press-releases

www.prleap.com/

See a sample press release here. “Enterprise Nation”  is an extremely helpful blog for small companies and individuals who are starting up new businesses with little or no funding or while maintaining another job-as is often the case for yoga teachers.  If you want some advice on how to craft your first press release and who to send it to, Yoga Geek Squad can help.


This really works!  We know, because it worked for us.  We hope that you USE this tip for your practice and yoga studio!  See you again in a few days…

Posted in SEO for Yoga and Acupuncture | 3 Comments »

3 SEO Secrets for Holistic Physicians & Yoga Teachers Part 1

Jan 18th, 2010 by Dr. Tara Devi Yogeshwari

Google, SEO , New Patients and Students

Take a look at these interesting facts about how your patients are using the internet to find “Acupuncture” and “Acupuncture Doctors”:

  • More than 1.5 million people searched for “Acupuncture” on Google in December 2009 on Google.
  • More than 142,700 people searched for “Acupuncture Doctors” in December 2009 on Google.
  • More than 422,800 searches on “yoga teacher”-related keywords took place in December 2009 on Google.
  • Google alone claimed 66% of the USA market for Internet Search Engines, with Yahoo at 18% and MSN at 10%.  AOL and Ask combined comprise the remaining 6%.
  • 62% of search engine users only view the 1st page on Google, and 92% never look past the second cites Google.
  • 80% of patients and yoga students located their practitioners and yoga teachers via an internet search in 2008.

What is SEO?

  • Search Engine Optimization- SEO Is What the Insiders, Such As Website Designers and Internet Marketers Do to Make a Website or Business Show Up in the 1st Page of Google’s Search Results.

Coming up on the 1st page when there are MILLIONS of results rarely happens WITHOUT SEO.

These are the definitions of SEO given by 4 out of 33 subjects in a recent research study. Physicians are still ignorant of SEO and its importance:

“It is a process to improve the significance and performance of results on Google. It is definitely not a service.”

“I haven’t heard of it, but I think it helps Google work better.”

“You pay Google to get better ranks.”

“It is how many results you get when you search something.”

How many times have you searched for information on the Internet and read just the first-maybe second page of the search results?  According to Google’s statistics-the chances are that 92% of the time you read 1-2 pages of search results before you find what you are looking for and stop searching.

Just about every time you look up something on Google, or any other search engine for that matter, SEO is playing the decisive role of determining what you results you see, and therefore, which practitioner or studio you are likely to give your valuable business to.  Having an attractive website isn’t enough if the patients and students you need to reach never see it.

If you are looking for a holistic physician or a yoga studio near you, chances are that you might use internet to search for good physicians and yoga studios. The geriatric population, as one of my colleagues in the acupuncture field points out is an exception-but often times their kids look one up on Google. Here is where the SEO comes into play:  SEO determines which practitioner or yoga studio’s website will be the first you see when you search on Google, Yahoo or MSN.

According to the president of National Institutes of Health and the World Organization, “It (alternative medicine) is pretty well documented through scientific studies that acupuncture, for example, can be very helpful in relieving certain things like migraines and other ailments — or at least as effective as more intrusive interventions.”

Millions of people are realizing the benefits of alternative treatments and thousands of people who need yoga and acupuncture are searching for them on the internet every day according to Google’s latest statistics.

If you own a yoga studio, or are a holistic physician, it is important for you to be visible to patients and students. Conventional methods like printing pamphlets are limited to only local people, and are not focused towards the intended audience. The best way to offer your services to a wider community is to have a website WITH SEO designed and regularly maintained by someone who stays on top of the latest SEO and market trends while you do what you do best-heal and teach.

I’m sure all of you will agree that Internet has affected the life of about everyone, and just about everyone is using the internet. Personally, if I need anything, my first action is to search for it on the Internet. Similarly, Thousands of people daily are looking for good holistic physicians on the Internet, in which case, your website’s Google search results ranking plays a critical role in which clinic or studio new patients and studios attend patronize.

I hope after reading this blog post that you are a little wiser about SEO, and that you will not be in the 4 people out of the 33 questioned who did not understand how vital SEO is to the modern yoga teacher and acupuncture physician.. In my next post, I will tell you what SEO you to do to attract more patients and students from the internet. It’s coming up a lot sooner than the last post.  I have been busy doing SEO writing and creating online training programs for others that I haven’t updated my own blog.  Since I was number 3 in Google’s search results it wasn’t a priority…
Since it’s license renewal time for many Acupuncture Physicians, check out a great book and 10 CEU course at:

Help Patients and Students Find You with SEO

Help Patients and Students Find You with SEO

http://www.acupuncturebusinessschool.com/buildingyourpracticethroughyourwebsite.html

Posted in SEO for Yoga and Acupuncture | 3 Comments »

Chakras-8 Ways to Develop Creative Power Through Yoga

Nov 1st, 2009 by Dr. Tara Devi Yogeshwari

The Yoga Geeks-Prosperity Through Service

The Yoga Geeks-Prosperity Through Service

by Dr. Tara Devi Yogeshwari, O.M.D., A.P., Dipl. C.H., C.Y.T.

NAMASTE Everyone!  Have you ever wished for something and it came true?  When that happened, your creative powers, that aspect of you that imagines something before it happens, and then manifests it, was working fantastically.  All things physical first exist within the mind.

Have you also had the experience of wishing for something, and it DID NOT happen? This, too, has its origins in the creative faculty of your mind.  Our creativity functions through our chakras, wheels of energy that correspond to the endocrine, sympathetic, parasympathetic, and central nervous systems in the body.  Today we are going to talk about 8 Ways You Can Develop Creative Power Through Yoga.

Chakra (Chuh-Kruh)- Meaning “wheel” in Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, in which the holy texts are written, including the “Yoga Sutras” and the “Yoga Vashishta”, two important texts outlining the specific mental, physical, and emotional practices of Yoga that will lead human beings to ultimate Self-Mastery.

A Note Regarding Pronunciation: The letter “a” in Sanskrit is pronounced “uh”, while the letters “aa” are pronounced as in “ah”.

Essential Points to Know:

Chakra-

  • A Chakra is the meeting place of the physically invisible realm, or the Divine, with the physically perceivable realm we experience through our 5 senses.
  • A Chakra is not physical in nature, but is physically expressed via the endocrine organs, which secrete hormones.
  • A Chakra remains dormant until activated.
  • A Chakra is activated by transformations in conscious awareness, gaining control of the subconscious faculties of the mind (brainstem) by the conscious mind (mid-brain), and the super conscious mind (the cerebral cortex).
  • This is usually accomplished through moral purity, yoga, and meditation practiced daily throughout one’s life. The more intense the effort in these areas of endeavor, the more one’s chakras will develop.
  • When activated, instruments that measure electrical resistance,  electro-magnetic fields, and detect heat can inform us of a chakra’s functioning in the body.  In this case, the electro-magnetic field appears to spin clockwise around the vertebrae and endocrine organ that is associated with the chakra.
  • While all human beings have the capacity to consciously activate their chakras through regulation of their nervous system via the 8 Limbs of Yoga, seldom do most human beings avail of this glorious, God-given system to unite Divine and physical.
  • The path of Yoga is time-tested, scientifically-proven system to regulate and bring the nervous system under one’s conscious control.
  • When the Chakras become active, we grow in our capacity to create, meaning that we can imagine something that does not yet physically exist and manifest it, that is CREATE it, first within the mind, which operates through our beautifully designed nervous system.

The 8 Limbs of Yoga – in Sanskrit, the word for “limb” may also mean the partition to a room, or a wall; therefore, a student of yoga may consider Yoga to be as a house, divided into 8 rooms.  These rooms are entered sequentially, and as we master the subject matter at hand in one room, we may enter another room.

1)  Yama – The 5  social values, or how we relate with others, such as:

  • Non-violence (The basis for a Yoga person’s following of vegetarianism)
  • Truthfulness
  • Non-Stealing
  • Non-Covetousness
  • Monogamy in marriage/abstinence while single

2)  Niyama – 5 personal values; or how you relate with yourself and the Infinite, such as:

  • Purity (In thought and body, such as diet and cleanliness)
  • Contentment (Acceptance/Non-resistance to what happens to us)
  • Intensity of Practice
  • Self-Study (Practicing silent contemplation, reading of self-development books, etc.)
  • Surrender to the Divine (Following the path of no resistance, the highest good, and listening to our inner voice)

3)  Yoga Aasana – Also known as a Yoga Posture.

  • The Yoga Postures are illuminated by the famous Yogi and mystic, , Patanjali, in the Yoga Sutras, which states how to successfully practice Yoga.
  • “To successfully practice Yoga, first one must stabilize the posture and quiet the movement of thoughts and emotions” (my translation) states Patanjali in the second verse of the first chapter of the aforementioned text.

4)   Praanaayaama – The control of the life force through specific breathing techniques, blended with perfected asanas, to subdue the sensual desires and thus, control the mind, in order to concentrate on whatever one chooses.

5)   Dhaarana – Concentration the mind on one objective, such as performing an asana correctly, or deeply contemplating all of the aspects of a subject of study, such as Yoga, so as to increase one’s speed and depth of grasping power.

6)   Dhyaana – Meditation, entered into after deep concentration  on an object; absorption so complete that one loses track of the

time.  Therefore, it is said, that one has “become one” with the objective of meditation, free from separate awareness.

7)   Pratyaahaara – Absorption in Yoga so complete such that one’s awareness of the 5 senses are withdrawn from the objective of meditation.

8)   Samaadhi – The objective and the awareness in one’s nervous system which perceives it have fused.

I will leave you today with a practical example of how to experience this in your yoga practice:

  1. Eliminate mental and physical distractions from your daily Yoga Aasana practice by giving intense right effort (Purushaartha) with regards to Yama and Niyama.
  2. Even while you are in the process of perfecting Yama and Niyama, let your intense right effort and commitment give you the required confidence in your sincerity, which will quiet the mind during your daily Aasana practice.
  3. Close the door to your room, eliminate television, talking, and lay down your mat. Then begin your Yoga Aasana practice.
  4. As you practice daily, your Aasanas will be perfected, and your concentration power will increase, and progressively turn more inwards during your practices.
  5. As  your concentration or Dhaarana increases in each practice, your Yoga Aasanas will become meditative, and you will lose track of the time in perfecting them.
  6. When this occurs, your mind is silenced, because your senses have turned completely inward, absorbed in the Aasana itself, and into contemplation of all of these aspects in action, including the physical Aasana, the Praanaayaama, or breathing, concentration, meditation, and sensory withdrawal into the Yoga Aasana itself.
  7. In this way, one enters that indescribably blissful state of Samaadhi, that may be known through applying the right effort, sustained by commitment over time, until one masters these various aspects of Yoga.  Samaadhi may be ephemeral, or fleeting at first, but gradually one will experience Samaadhi with consistency in the daily Yoga Aasana practice, and perhaps, this awareness will grow off the Yoga mat as well.

With the daily practice of Yoga, we all may become more conscious, creative choice makers, and not only the creators of our personal destinies, but co-creators of making the world a better, more harmonious, and beautiful place to live.

Dr. Tara Devi in The Chakra Pose

Dr. Tara Devi in The Chakra Pose

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Posted in Yoga Postures | 1 Comment »

How I Cured Asthma With Yoga In 6 Weeks Part II

Oct 9th, 2009 by Dr. Tara Devi Yogeshwari

From Inhaler Use to Deep Inhalations In High Altitude With Yoga

From Inhaler Use to Deep Inhalations In High Altitude With Yoga

Namaste Everyone From The Foothills of the Himalayas!

If you are following along from last weekend, when I shared some very exciting news for yoga enthusiasts with asthma, are you wondering how I cured asthma with yoga in just 6 weeks? Well, the suspense is over!  I just want to impart more knowledge about the all-important subject oxygen and it’s role in the quality of your life experience and asthma.  So, without further ado…


The Fountain of Youth

Anthony Robbins, best-selling author of “Awaken the Giant Within” and numerous other personal development and transformation programmes says, in describing the imperative of creating our physical destinies “An undeniably totem in our culture is youth and physical vitality.”  Think of the old men and women who get a new lease on life in the movie Cocoon (watch clips here).  So many people chase the fountain of youth while the real fountain of youth already exists within them.  It is known as Human Growth Hormone (HGH).

  • HGH stimulates tissue growth
  • Increases muscle tone and lean mass
  • Enhances flexibility
  • Thickens muscles
  • Stimulates the growth of bones and organs
  • Helps to maintain healthy tissues of the body

Until age 30, HGH is naturally released into the bloodstream 1 1/2 hours after we sleep, and once we wake up in the morning.  (Since I am near 30, I do not buy that time frame!) High levels of HGH drop over time.  By the age of 60,  about 30 % of men produce little or no Human Growth Hormone.  It is conjectured that women secrete HGH into their older age and this may be one of the reasons that they live 6-7 years longer than men

We also receive Human Growth Hormone bursts after heavy exercise and serious injury because HGH is a healing substance.  But how can you enhance your own natural abilities to release HGH into your system?


Power-Based Endurance Exercise Such as Yoga Triggers Your Natural Ability to Release HGH


This includes doing repetitions of Surya Namaskar-Sun Salutation with “Wall Yoga” founder Colette Barry , and other Yoga Asans (Postures) that you can hold for a maximum of 30-45 seconds.   Laboratory tests in Miami, Florida have produced exciting results.  People in their sixties who’ve gone 10-15 years without any muscle tone are learning to lift weights and create muscle mass seen in 21 year olds, with energy levels to match.

What does all of this mean?  It means that you can be as strong in your 70’s and 80’s as you were in your 20’s and 30’s! Not only can you continue to build your endurance factor with aerobic exercise, as we’ve already discussed in How I Cured Asthma With Yoga Part I, but you can continue to boost your power with short bursts of anaerobic exercise.  Yoga provides you with the perfect exercise for the body, mind and spirit-power-based, aerobic exercise!


Nutrition-the Fuel of Excellence in Yoga and Life

Just remember the other factor in the equation: give your body the nutrients it needs.  Make sure you aren’t poisoning your body with excess sugar, fats, salts, or meat.

Many practitioners of yoga are undernourished, or are following an un-balanced versus a balanced vegetarian diet.  We will  unveil the healthy vegetarian diet in light of the latest scientific and nutritional research, in conjunction with the wisdom of the ancient sages of India who have thrived on the healthy vegetarian diet for thousands of years.  Stay tuned!


My Exact Yoga, Breathing and Nutritional Program to Cure Asthma

1. Yoga Asans (Total Time 60-75 Minutes, 5-6 Days a Week)

    • Surya Namaskar A & B (5 Repetitions Each)
    • Tadasan (Mountain Pose)
    • Shirsasan and Variations (Headstand) (10-60 Breaths Each)
    • Sarvangasan and Variations (Shoulderstand) (10-60 Breaths Each)
    • Uttanasan and Variations (10-20 Breaths Each)
    • Paschimottanasan and Variations (Seated Forward Bend) (10-20 Breaths Each)
    • Marichyasan and Variations (Spinal Twist) (10 Breaths Each)
    • Utitta and Parivritta Trikonasan and Variations (Extended and Revolved Triangle) (10-20 Breaths Each)
    • Utitta Parsvokonasan and Variations (Extended Lateral Angle) (10-20 Breaths Each)
    • Ustrasan and Variations (Camel Pose) (5-10 Breaths Each)
    • Shavasan (Corpse) (5-10 Minutes)


    2.  Pranayam     (Yogic Breathing)  25-30 Minutes Daily

    • Neck Rolls (12 Times)
    • Pelvic Floor Contractions with Mandible Stretch (100 Contractions)
    • Eye Exercises (5 Sets of 3)
    • 1/4/2/1 Ratio of Inhalation/Hold/Exhalation/Hold (10-20 Breaths)
    • Cobra Breath (2 Sets of 12/Inhale-Exhale 6 Counts)
    • Alternate Nostril Breathing with Rentention and Mantra (25 Breaths)
    • Bastrika (6 sets of 50-Alternating Slow and Fast)
    • Visualization and Gratitude


    3.  Diet

    • Breakfast: Oat Bran/Low-Fat Granola 1/2 Cup, Berries or Pomegranate Seeds 3/4 Cup, rBGH Free-Whey Protein Powder 1  Scoop, 1/3 Cup Grated Coconut, 1 TBSP Lecithin
    • Snack:  1 Cup Fresh Berries with Coconut
    • Lunch:  Coconut-Curried Vegetables (as much as I would like), 1 Whole Wheat Spiced Methi Paratha (Whole Wheat Flat Bread With Fenugreek Leaves), Curried Beans, Coriander Leaves 2/3 Cup
    • Snack: Clif Builder Bar or Organic Flax or Greens Food Bar
    • Dinner:  Rice Noodle Soup with Fresh Vegetables, Coconut and Coriander Leaves, 1/2 Paratha


    4.  Supplements

    • Mega Mind, 3 Tablets 3 Times daily (by Source Naturals)
    • Weil’s Vegetarian Energy Support, 1,000 mg 3 Times daily
    • 4-5 Cups Yerba Mate and Green Tea, Uncooked
    • Taurine, 1,000 mg 3 Times Daily
    • Tyrosine, 500 mg 3 Times Daily
    • St. John’s Wort, 900 mg 2 Times Daily
    • Tribulus 100 mg, 2 Times daily
    • 7-Keto 25 mg, Twice Daily
    • Co-Q 10 30 mg, 3 Times daily


    A great discount online retailer I recommend is www.vitacost.com.  They have prices below wholesale, since a lot of people have tight spending plans right now.

    Now, I am asthma-free!     I continue to maintain the above-mentioned regimen at present, and I am feeling at my healthiest ever.  Even in the altitude of the Himalyas I am breathing fantastically and feeling energetic.  See you in the Himalayas-and remember your hiking boots!


     Do you have any suggestions regarding asthma?  Please comment!

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    Posted in Yoga Heals Asthma | No Comments »

    How I Cured Asthma With Yoga in 6 Weeks! Part I

    Oct 3rd, 2009 by Dr. Tara Devi Yogeshwari

    By Dr. Tara Devi,  O.M.D., Acupunture Physician and Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher since 1999

    Namaste Fellow Yoga Enthusiasts and Friends!

    How I Cured Asthma With Yoga in 6 Weeks

    How I Cured Asthma With Yoga in 6 Weeks

    Do you, or anyone you know have asthma or other breathing difficulties?

    Have you felt dissatisfied with the treatments and therapies available, with their side effects?  Do you feel insecure, even scared, of what will happen if you lose your inhaler, and moreover, of who you will become if you continue to to be dependent on it or your breath and life?  Have you ever wished you were exuberant and healthy, feeling the inner sense of well being that comes from a highly oxygenated and aerobic (more about this later) metabolism? Are you ready to discover new found energy,  a well-spring of gratitude, and dazzling confidence AND health?

    What Is Asthma Exactly?

    Asthma (AZ-ma) is a chronic (long-term) lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways. Asthma causes recurring periods of wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), chest tightness, shortness of breath, and coughing. The coughing often occurs at night or early in the morning.

    Asthma affects people of all ages, but it most often starts in childhood. In the United States, more than 22 million people are known to have asthma. Nearly 6 million of these people are children.

    Overview

    The airways are tubes that carry air into and out of your lungs. People who have asthma have inflamed airways. This makes the airways swollen and very sensitive. They tend to react strongly to certain substances that are breathed in.

    When the airways react, the muscles around them tighten. This causes the airways to narrow, and less air flows to your lungs. The swelling also can worsen, making the airways even narrower. Cells in the airways may make more mucus than normal. Mucus is a sticky, thick liquid that can further narrow your airways.

    This chain reaction can result in asthma symptoms. Symptoms can happen each time the airways are irritated.

    Sometimes symptoms are mild and go away on their own or after minimal treatment with an asthma medicine. At other times, symptoms continue to get worse. When symptoms get more intense and/or additional symptoms appear, this is an asthma attack. Asthma attacks also are called flareups or exacerbations.

    It’s important to treat symptoms when you first notice them. This will help prevent the symptoms from worsening and causing a severe asthma attack. Severe asthma attacks may require emergency care, and they can cause death.

    Why Health and Fitness Are Not the Same, Especially With Asthma!

    What exactly do I mean between the difference between health and fitness?  Fitness is the “physical ability to perform athletic activity.” Health, however, is defined as  “the state where all of the systems of the body-nervous, muscular, skeletal, circulatory, digestive, lymphatic, hormonal, etc-are working in an optimum way….” says Dr. Phillip Maffetone, author of  “Everyone is an Athlete”.

    Most people think that fitness implies health, but the truth is that they don’t necessarily go hand in hand.  It’s ideal to have both health and fitness, but by putting health first, you will always enjoy tremendous benefits in your life.  If you achieve fitness at the expense of health, you may not live long enough to enjoy your spectacular physique.  This optimum state of health and balance is achieved by training your metabolism to be aerobic, which literally means “with oxygen”.

    Asthma and Fat Metabolism

    What does retraining your metabolism have to do with asthma or it’s frequently associated conditions of fatigue, low blood sugar patterns, nervousness, allergies and fat metabolism problems? The biggest difference between health and fitness, asthmatics who go to the gym or who exercise is understanding the distinction between aerobic and anaerobic exercise, between endurance and power. Aerobic literally means “with oxygen”, and refers to moderate exercise sustained over a period of time. Your aerobic system is your system for endurance, and encompasses the heart, lungs, blood vessels, and aerobic muscles.  If you activate your aerobic system with proper diet and exercise, you burn fat as your primary fuel.

    On the other hand, anaerobic literally means “without oxygen”, and refers to exercises which produce short bursts of power.  Anaerobic exercise burns glycogen as its primary fuel, while causing the body to store fat.

    Dr. Maffetone says “Most types of exercise can be either aerobic or anaerobic.  The level of intensity determines whether you are using your aerobic or anaerobic system.  Walking, jogging, running, swimming, biking, dancing, etc. can provide either benefit.  Lower heart rates make these exercises aerobic, while higher heart rates make them anaerobic….usually tennis, racquetball, basketball, and similar sports are anaerobic.”

    Asthma sufferers, ever oxygen deficient, have trained their metabolisms to use glycogen, or sugar, as fuel, and to store fat instead of burn fat for fuel. As a result, most crave sugar, store a lot of mid-section fat, constantly feel hungry for the wrong foods, and feel fatigued as well as sleepless.

    Most Americans & Asthmatics Live in an Anaerobic, Fat-Storing State…

    being inundated with stress and demands and compounding it with the way they exercise.  As a result, they train their metabolism to be continuously anaerobic, i.e. burn glycogen as a primary source of energy.  When these levels of glycogen become excessively low, the anaerobically-trained metabolism turns to blood sugar as a secondary source of fuel. This immediately disrupts the level of health and vitality since the nervous system demands the use of two-thirds of your blood sugar. The blood-sugar deficit created by anaerobic exercise can cause neuro-muscular problems like headaches or disorientation. 

    Here are some tell tale symptoms directly related to excessive anaerobic training of your metabolism:

    • Fatigue
    • Recurrent Exercise Injuries
    • Low Blood Sugar Patterns
    • Depressiona & Anxiety
    • Fat Metabolism Problems
    • PMS
    • Circulation Problems 
    • Stiff Joints

    The solution, however, is simple.  Stu Mittleman, who ran 1,000 miles in 11 days without a single injury, and myself, cured of asthma in 6 weeks, understand that health and fitness must go together.  To accomplish this, stay tuned for the next post coming in a few days….



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    Posted in Yoga Heals Asthma | 1 Comment »

    How to launch an IT-Yoga start-up from a tent

    Sep 10th, 2009 by Dr. Tara Devi Yogeshwari

    The Yoga Geeks – a (mostly) exuberant team of yoga teachers and IT professionals officially launches from a tent! Yes, using a great combination of technology and a serene, scenic camp site, we are now designing yoga websites alongside our Kerala, India team from a tent in Denver, Colorado!  Our inspiration for starting this company was to make simple: to make what was challenging for us-finding a web design company that knew how to grow our yoga practice from start to finish-simple for other yoga teachers.

    Now, how did we do this?? How did we launch an entire business, looking to fill the Grand Canyon-sized gap in the professional web design market for yoga teachers and studios, from a half-dome tent without cutting down on any of the pleasures of camping, yoga, hiking, or biking?

    More than how, what is important is our purpose and what we are all about.

    Who are the Yoga Geeks?

    The Yoga Geeks are the the yoga community’s answer to the great question-I love yoga, and I have received awesome training from admirable teachers-now how do I get a a professional website, market my classes, and help as many people as possible while doing what I feel most passionate about-teaching and living the dream of yoga?  We like to say that we are your dedicated experts in yoga web design and internet marketing-but we’ll pass the mic to you.  Give us an Om and let us know how YOU feel. We are the only yoga-dedicated company exclusively serving up eye-catching and healthy cup of web design for the yoga-minded on the web-and we’re on tour, too.  That’s why we’re camping (since the views are astounding in the Colorado Rockies)-we’re traveling to meet YOU.  You see, when we first started meeting web designers years ago-it was via e-mail, mobile phones, and we really missed that warm, understanding feel of doing business face to face.  Do you prefer getting together over chai to sending e-mails or chatting on the phone?


    A Vision with a Purpose

    The Yoga Geeks  have embarked on a radical (and yet totally sane to us), uplifting vision to help yoga teachers and studios with their yoga website design, online marketing, and all other studio & student management stuff by trying, testing, and finding the information technology that really makes life and teaching yoga a lot more simple, and then sharing it with yoga teachers and studios.

    Our purpose is to facilitate your yoga teaching and studio’s ideas to come alive visually on the web, and sharing them with the global, conscious community in a business style that is graceful, down-to-earth, warm, and friendly.

    We had too many learning experiences when started, operated, taught in, and then sold our yoga and integrative medicine center.  Our inspiration for starting this company was to make simple: to make what was challenging for us-finding a web design company that knew how to grow our yoga practice from start to finish-simple for other yoga teachers.

    We listen to you

    Sirshana

    Similar to a Sirshasana (Headstand Pose), we turned the information technology (IT) and yoga world upside down, by creating a novel concept of traveling to yoga studios , meeting with the teachers,  listening to their needs, and helping them realize their dream of teaching and studying yoga by having a an attractive web site and a solids website-which means that students are finding them every day.

    We empathize with you, and endeavor to understand your unique needs as a heart and spiritually-centered business, since we are also yoga teachers and conscious information technology professionals.

    Is your yoga teaching and studio’s purpose to promote peace, well-being, and wellness, and that the fulfillment of this purpose is just as critical as your prosperity?  If so, we feel the same way!  If you are feeling a tad bit lost, we are also here to help you clarify your purpose and broadcast it to the world on the web!


    Move towards light and away from darkness

    From Darkness to Light

    We believe in having fun (which means learning languages, seeing exotic, new lands, being with family and friends and intensely leaning something), doing yoga, sharing our knowledge of technology, and helping our yoga family grow and prosper. We had fun using technology – laptops, internet, social networks, etc. to help us launch successfully from a tent. And that is at the heart of our intention, helping as much of the yoga community use technology without having to become yoga geeks like us! It’s fun helping you, and the peaks are pretty amazing too. Since the fall is coming, we’ll go back inside for a while-let us know if there is a lovely flat near you, and you and your studio may be next on our list!

    Many yoga teachers, especially those sincerely pursuing and undergoing their rigorous training through teacher training programs, really want to step out into the world with their deeply held principles of yoga, and earn a living sustainably and organically.   They, and we too,  wish to help and educate the global community through yogic principles.

    With the sheer volume of administration and work involved in creating & finalizing the studio, attracting and maintaining students, creating & maintaining a website, keeping up with the fast-paced , and ever-changing environ of internet marketing, professionally networking, and be in touch with students- at times,  we feel unfulfilled no matter how much we loved teaching yoga in the beginning.

    How does a yoga teacher build and sustain the beauty of the teacher-student relationship, so innate to all of the yoga traditions, while operating profitably in the modern schema of business?  It becomes an arduous task, and takes all the time away from what you really want to do – teach yoga and inspire others to follow the complete path of Yoga.  We certainly felt this way, and understand if you do too, even if you love your work, and yet feel unfulfilled at this time.

    How did we turn this business upside down, so to speak, and start over again in a tent?!

    When you make many of the mundane tasks redundant by adding technology, a website that really works for you, and highly-targeted, effective internet marketing, you can finally focus on teaching AND learning too.  Most yoga teachers LOVE learning!


    Your Benefits

    1. More growth – Having liberated the time to practice your own yoga, focus on spiritual growth and unfolding, and maybe even have a social life too!

    2. Connect socially – We love to spend quality time connecting with our family daily and weekly, even if it is over the phone to India!  We feel great when we consult with a new client, because we know how awesome they will feel when they are learning yoga and connecting heart to heart often with their loved ones and students.  Our clients’ smiles and the dramatic, positive shift in their energy is the best!


    Enjoy a FREE Yoga Web Design Consultation

    We do a heart-to-heart session with the yoga teachers as a FREE Yoga Web Design Consultation , a space for you express your key concerns while we sympathetically listen to you.


    Where are we?

    We are right now in Denver, Colorado!! This is our second stop. We are returning to Boulder soon.  You can count on seeing us in the coming months in Boulder, Santa Fe, and Seattle.  Would you like to see your city on the list? We will be posting the list of cities we are visiting in the near future very soon, so please check our blog regularly.  We believe in flowing with our intuition, so the list of cities is not in any way final. Just leave us a comment.

    In this sincere endeavor to serve yoga teachers and students alike by bringing you together, we hope that we can help you share the knowledge and experience of yoga, not only about yoga asanas, but especially yoga values, since teaching and learning yoga are blessings such that we have one phrase left to describe it:

    Shanthi Om (With Peace)

    Posted in Launch | 2 Comments »