An ancient form of meditation and exercise could help women who suffer from urinary incontinence, according to a new study from UC San Francisco.

In a study scheduled to be published on April 25, 2014 in Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery, the official journal of the American Urogynecologic Society, UCSF researchers discovered that a yoga training program, designed to improve pelvic health, can help women gain more control over their urination and avoid accidental urine leakage.

"Yoga is often directed at mindful awareness, increasing relaxation, and relieving anxiety and stress," said first author Alison Huang, MD, assistant professor in the UCSF School of Medicine. "For these reasons, yoga has been directed at a variety of other conditions -- metabolic syndrome or pain syndromes -- but there's also a reason to think that it could help for incontinence as well."

Huang and her colleagues recruited 20 women from the Bay Area who were 40 years and older and who suffered from urinary incontinence on a daily basis. Half were randomly assigned to take part in a six-week yoga therapy program and the other half were not. The women who took part in the yoga program experienced an overall 70 percent improvement -- or reduction -- in the frequency of their urine leakage compared to the baseline. The control group -- or the group that did not start yoga therapy -- only had 13 percent improvement. Most of the observed improvement in incontinence was in stress incontinence, or urine leakage brought on by activities that increase abdominal pressure such as coughing, sneezing, and bending over.

Huang and her colleagues believe that yoga can improve urinary incontinence through more than one mechanism. Because incontinence is associated with anxiety and depression, women suffering from incontinence may benefit from yoga's emphasis on mindful meditation and relaxation. But regular practice of yoga may also help women strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor that support the bladder and protect against incontinence.

"We thought this would be a good opportunity for women to use yoga to become more aware of and have more control over their pelvic floor muscles," Huang said.

Approximately 25 million adults in America suffer from some form of urinary incontinence, according to the National Association for Continence. Up to 80 percent of them are women. Urinary incontinence becomes more common as women age, although many younger women also suffer from it.

"We specifically developed a yoga therapy program that would be safe for older women, including women with minor mobility limitations," Huang said. "So we were partially assessing safety of this program for older women who are at highest risk for having incontinence in the first place."

Not all types of yoga may help with urinary incontinence. The yoga program used in the study was specially designed with input from yoga consultants Leslie Howard and Judith Hanson Lasater, who have experience teaching women to practice yoga in ways that will improve their pelvic health. Still Huang and her colleagues believe that many women in the community can be taught to preserve pelvic muscle strength and prevent incontinence.

"It would be a way for women to gain more control over their pelvic floor muscles without having to go through traditional costly and time-intensive rehabilitation therapy," Huang said.

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Specialized yoga program could help women with urinary incontinence

Fort Lauderdale, California (PRWEB) April 26, 2014

The Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm has recently announced its international Yoga Teacher training courses for May, 2014. For more information, visit http://www.sivanandayogafarm.org.

Benefits of this program include: Live and study in a contemporary ashram for a month Be part of a vibrant international yoga community Experience a rich tapestry of evening events Take sunrise satsang walks on the beach Return home transformed for life.

In 1969, Swami Vishnudevananda, founder of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers, taught the first Yoga Teachers' Training Course (TTC) in the West. Today, this internationally renowned course is taught by his close disciples. Over 30,000 students have graduated from this comprehensive course. In addition to providing teacher trainees with an in-depth knowledge of classic Yoga practices, Swami Vishnu created the TTC as part of his global peace initiative, structuring it in a way that each trainee will undergo a personal transformation and find inner peace. Thus, the Yoga training course empowers graduates to become peaceful, self-controlled leaders and citizens of the world.

Learn how to teach a two-hour Sivananda Yoga class while gaining versatile teaching skills including working with beginners, intermediate and advanced classes; explore different techniques to teach children, the elderly, and prenatal Yoga.

Find greater flexibility and comfort in your personal practice of asanas (postures); discover how to energize the body and calm the mind through the practice of pranayama (breathing); maintain physical and mental purity through the practice of kriyas (cleansing); learn about Yogic diet and nutrition; human anatomy & physiology; Learn about different meditation techniques & theory and the practice of mantra repetition; Practice selfless service; Study of the timeless teachings of the Bhagavad Gita and other ancient Yogic texts, Yoga philosophy and Yoga psychology.

The Yoga Farm also hosts a Yoga Nidra course, courses on Yogic philosophy, Yoga for back pain and ayurvedic retreats, and an advanced teacher's training course (ATTC). The Advanced Yoga Teacher's Training Course helps graduates to deepen their spiritual practice and their study of Hatha yoga, Vedanta philosophy, Raja yoga, anatomy and Sanskrit. The advanced class gives students an additional chance to practice under guidance in a supportive atmosphere, which provides many with a boost of energy and clarity.

About Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm In 1971, Swami Vishnudevananda returned to California and founded the third ashram in the young Sivananda International organization: the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm on 40 acres of land located in the Gold Country of the beautiful Sierra Nevada Foothills in Northern California. The non-profit, non-sectarian ashram offers yoga classes, retreats and teacher training courses for students of all abilities. For more information, please visit http://sivanandayogafarm.org.

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Yoga Instructor Training Certification Offered by Yoga Retreat Farm in the United States

San Francisco, California (PRWEB) April 25, 2014

The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers have announced today the one month classical Yoga teachers Training course in California, to take place in December 2014. The course is an opportunity to experience the full intensive training of body-mind-spirit and the nature at a beautiful resort situated in Northern Caliofnria.

Swami Vishnudevananda has visited California many times and was instrumental to bring Yoga and the teaching of Master Sivananda of Rishikesh, Himalayas to Taiwan. Swamiji founded the international SYVC and taught the Synthesis of Yoga with the scientific approach of the West combined with the depth of eastern yogic philosophy in a unique way. Swami Vishnudevananda practical spirit and modern methods are being transmitted in its integrity by his senior disciple, Swami Sitaramananda. Swami Sitaramananda is the director of the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm in Grass Valley, California and has taught many TTCs around the world.

This 4-week California Yoga course offers a profound personal experience, will allow you to transmit the knowledge of yoga to others. The spiritual essence of yoga is learned through a combination of repeated practice and inspirational lessons. Among the many benefits that students report are greater spiritual awareness, a sense of connection with the divine, a new-found sense of self-discipline, enhanced self-esteem, improved power of concentration and increased strength and flexibility.

A teaching certificate from the International SYVC is awarded upon successful completion of this immersion course. The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center (SYVC) has trained over 30,000 yoga teachers to date since 1969. The curriculum includes asanas, pranayama, meditation, Vedanta philosophy, anatomy/physiology, Bhagavad Gita, mantra and kriyas.

The Yoga training course, designed by the renowned Swami Vishnu-devananda, is an intensive immersion in Yoga, balanced between theory and practice. Students come from different backgrounds and cultures and live harmoniously together in a spiritual community under the guidance of teachers. Since 1969, over 24,000 yoga teachers have been trained through the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers' TTC program. In keeping with this ancient Yoga tradition, spiritual practices such as daily adherence to discipline, meditation, Sanskrit mantra chanting, Hindu gods and goddesses, ceremonial worships such as puja, strict vegetarianism, selfless service and study of philosophy constitute a large part of the course.

All courses and retreats offered at the center provide a fantastic opportunity to awaken or deepen your yoga practice, meet old and new friends, and to be a part of the global yoga community which is growing each day. The experience provides a great way to find long lasting happiness, peace and the ability to share a yogic lifestyle with others.

The ashram also offers a Yoga Nidra course as well as vegetarian cooking classes.

Registration is currently open. For more details, please visit http://www.sivanandayogafarm.org or call (530) 272-9322/(800)469-9642.

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Yoga Teacher Training Programs and Retreat Offered in December 2014 by the Sivananda Yoga Farm