Asanas
Various yoga postures or poses. The practice of these physical poses is a fundamental stage in many branches of the yoga system.
Ashtanga
A vigorous and flowing style of yoga developed in the 20th century. It involves synchronizing breath with progressive and continuous postures, which produces internal heat while detoxifying the body.
Crystal Bowls (also crystal singing bowls)
Crystal bowls, are made from a quartz crystal that was crushed and heated at very high temperatures. The crystal undergoes this process to become a singing bowl and express the potent powers of crystal and sound united in one tool. It is a form of sound healing and meditation.
Shinrin in Japanese means "forest," and yoku means "bath." So shinrin-yoku means bathing in the forest atmosphere, or taking in the forest through our senses. This is not exercise, or hiking, or jogging. It is simply being in nature, connecting with it through our senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch.
Hatha Yoga
Branch of yoga that is devoted to the physical processes (as opposed to others that focus on wisdom, meditation, service, etc.) and involves breathing and physical exercises. There are many types of physical yoga.
Iyengar
Iyengar Yoga is a form of yoga as exercise with a focus on the structural alignment of the physical body through the practice of asanas. It differs from other styles of yoga in three ways: precision, sequence and use of props.
Kundalini Yoga
Kundalini yoga derives from kundalini, defined in Vadantic culture as energy that lies dormant at the base of the spine until it is activated and channeled upward through the chakras in the process of spiritual perfection. Kundalini is believed to be power associated with the divine feminine.
Following a man-made, spiral pattern path (traced on the ground, as in many cathedrals, or constructed in a garden) to meditate, focus, and calm the mind. Not a maze, the path follows a number of circuits to the center of a circle and back out.
Meditation
Practice of using mental skills to perform such feats as focusing attention on a single object for a long period of time; cultivating compassion, which involves the transforming of negative events; and creating a state of pure awareness of thoughts, emotions, and sensations without reacting. Meditation is said to increase emotional well-being and is being studied for alleged benefits to physical health.
Mindfulness
Non-judgmental, undistracted state that is a goal of meditation and involves being aware of oneself and one’s surroundings.
Power Yoga
Energetic workout involving a sequence of postures (asanas) that flow into one another and that emphasize building body heat and breaching mindfully. Stretches and strengthens muscle while creating a calm and clear mind.
Pranayama
The regulation of the breath through certain techniques and exercises.
Primordial Sound Meditation
Ancient Vedic meditation technique revived by Deepak Chopra and David Simon, MD. Practiced in silence, it uses a personal sound mantra to achieve deep peace, balance, and harmony.
Qi Gong (also Chi Gung or Chi Kung)
From qi (energy) and gong (the achievement that comes from practice), a group of Chinese self-healing exercises. They combine simple movement, breathing, and mental imagery to relax and strengthen the body and the mind.
Relaxation Response
A simple form of meditation that encourages a restful physical state in order to manage the physical and emotional responses to stress.
Restorative Yoga
Passive yoga poses lasting up to 20 minutes, supported by pillows, towels, etc., and meant to encourage relaxation via the release of tension in the muscles and spine. Also quiets the mind, rejuvenates the body-mind connection, and doesn’t require flexibility or athletic ability of other forms of yoga.
Tai Chi (also Tai Chi Chuan)
tye CHI Chinese martial art in which practitioners move slowly and gracefully through a series of postures coordinated by their breath. Used to reduce stress and improve flexibility, strength, energy, agility, and well-being. Often described as "meditation in motion."
Transcendental Meditation
Simple means of meditation that allows you to quiet the mind through repetition of a personal mantra (word or phrase given you by an instructor) for 20 minutes once or twice a day.
Vinyasa
A style of yoga characterized by stringing postures together so that you move from one to another, seamlessly, using breath.
Yoga
Ancient art and philosophy that involves both mind and body and is aimed at self-development and self-realization. The physical practice of yoga involves performing postures (asanas) and using controlled breathing and meditation to stretch and tone the body and improve circulation.