7 Tips for Beginner Yogis

Be it for a fantastic physical appearance or for emotional well-being or even to get rid of a disease, yoga is attracting followers from across the globe! It is a wonder how this ancient science is finding takers - young and old - in this modern age. Maybe it is the result of hundreds of research studies claiming the numerous benefits of yoga or the evident feel-good feeling that comes with just an hour’s practice!

If you are one of those who’ve been recently smitten by this ancient practice, there are some tips that can help you before you start your yogic journey. These tips are as follows:

1.Take a yoga class: Some of instinctively start looking out on the internet when learning something new. But that propensity can backfire when it comes to yoga! You can injure yourself while beginning to do yoga on your own. So, it is best advised to take yoga instruction from a trained professional when just starting out.

2.Wear comfortable clothing: Yoga is a lot about stretches. So, it is best to avoid tight clothing like jeans. Rather, wear clothes in which your body can move in easily.

3.Do it on an empty stomach: It is best advisable to do yoga early in the morning on an empty stomach. If your schedule does not permit you to do it in the early hours, then do it in the evening before dinner and after 3 hours of the last meal.

4.Tell your yoga guide about your health condition: Certain postures are not advisable for people with certain health conditions and a history of any surgery. So, make sure you tell your yoga instructor about your health conditions, pain of any part of the body and about the surgeries you have undergone before you begin your yoga class. The instructor will be able to guide you and ensure you do not do postures which put you at risk.

5. Do not exert yourself : One of the most important rules of doing yoga is not to over-exert yourself. So, for instance if you are not able to touch your feet with your hands during a bend, then do not force yourself to do it. You should just exert yourself a little more from the last yoga practice session.

6.Start with some light exercises: When you start with some light exercises, your body becomes ready for the yoga poses ahead. Some light exercises that you can start with are neck rotation, arm rotation, wrist rotation, forward and backward bends.

7. Smile: No matter how hard a yoga posture is, smile through it. A smile relaxes the mind and enables you to enjoy the process of learning and doing. A smile also motivated your yoga guide to give their cent percent. So, resolve to smile through your yoga instruction.

Stop emotions with yoga

Emotions are the most present, pressing and sometimes painful force in our lives. We are driven day by day by our emotions. We take chances because we're excited for new prospects. We cry because we've been hurt and we make sacrifices because we love. Without a doubt, our emotions dictate our thoughts, intentions and actions with superior authority to our rational minds. But when we act on our emotions too quickly, or we act on the wrong kinds of emotions, we often make decisions that we later lament.

Our feelings can alter between dangerous extremes. Veer too far to the left and you're bordering on rage. Steer too much to the right and you're in a state of euphoria. As with many other aspects of life, emotions are best met with a sense of moderation and logical perspective. This is not to say that we should stop ourselves from falling in love or jumping for joy after great news. These truly are the finer things in life. It is negative emotions that must be handled with extreme care.

Everything can be taken from a man but the last of human freedoms – the ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances, to choose one's way.

We've all been in one of "those" situations before. You know... when your favorite project is cancelled after weeks of hard work; when a customer snaps at you unfairly; when your best friend (and co-worker) is laid off suddenly; or your boss assigns you more work when you're already overloaded.

In your personal life, your reaction to stressful situations like these might be to start shouting, or to go hide in a corner and feel sorry for yourself for a while. But at work, these types of behavior could seriously harm your professional reputation, as well as your productivity.

Stressful situations are all too common in a workplace that's facing budget cuts, staff layoffs, and department changes. It may become harder and harder to manage your emotions under these circumstances, but it's even more important for you to do so. After all, if management is forced into making more layoffs, they may choose to keep those who can handle their emotions, and work well under pressure. As the above quote shows, no matter what the situation is, you're always free to choose how you react to it.

How emotions can stop :

Many people assume that their temperament is something that they are born with, something that is as unalterable as the color of their eyes. Everyone knows people who have quick tempers, who fly off the handle at the smallest disturbances. We also know people who aren't bothered by major problems or large upheavals. Sometimes we attribute this to genes, some people claim that these individuals picked up their calm mannerisms during childhood from their parents. Most agree that it is almost impossible to change these tendencies in people. Most people mellow with age and appear to handle stress and tension better. Stability seems to be one of the benefits of the aging process. Many emotionally unstable people also mellow with age. But is age the only solution to dealing with uncontrolled emotions?

Yoga disciplines in its many forms offer many means to bring the emotions under control. Meditation, yoga breathing exercises (pranayama), yoga postures (asanas), the yogic vegetarian diet (which is different from a normal vegetarian diet), and karma yoga (serving humanity) are all very effective in steadying the mind and bringing the emotions under control and thus creating a more harmonious and peaceful life

After you  noticed the effect that your yoga practice has on your emotions? It’s like a welcome sense of spaciousness, as though we've cleaned a room in our inner selves so that healing, along with light, come shining through. Usually the positive emotions come to the surface: our sense of humor, patience, concentration. As we surrender and let go of frustrations, fear, and worry, we start to feel like our old selves again.

Mudras for healthy life

Mudra for increasing your concentration and improving your memory. You’ll often see people naturally (unconsciously) form this mudra for concentration.

Meaning/Benefit:
The hasta mudra is a very effective gesture to help one concentrate. It is the perfect tool to help you remember a name or thought. This mudra activates the 6th chakra at your forehead (third eye). It balances the right and left hemispheres of the brain and in particular, opens the right hemisphere where memory is stored.

How to form the mudra:
The fingertips and tips of the thumbs touch. The hands are open and fingers spread apart. This mudra can be practiced at any time and for any length of time. Often just forming this gesture for a few seconds will allow you to access the thought or the word that you are searching for. To make this mudra even more powerful, engage the mudra and then cast your eyes upward and place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth.

A hasta mudra is a gesture or positioning of the hands to channel and direct energy in the body. Mudras come from the over three thousand year old tradition of yoga originating in India. Hasta means “hand” in Sanskrit and “mudra” comes from the Sanskrit word “mud”, meaning to delight. A mudra is a seal as in sealing your connection with the Divine or sealing energy in the body. There are many forms of mudras, such as with the eyes and the tongue.

Yoga is a spiritual practice and offers practical healing applications that benefit even those who aren’t spiritually oriented. Hasta mudras work in a way that can be compared to acupuncture or reflexology. By activating parts of the hand, a hasta mudra opens up channels of energy and sends messages to the brain.

Try the chin mudra above during your daily meditation today. If you are sensitive energetically, you may receive immediate results. But if the benefit doesn’t come quickly, be patient and consistent in your practice. Keep in mind though that while hasta mudras for health can offer great healing, no mudra is a substitute for medication or medical attention.

Since hasta mudras work to change the energy in the body and spirit, it’s best if you incorporate conscious breathing with your practice. Breathe full and free on the inhale and exhale the breath out completely. Find a rhythm with the breath. Try to make the inhale and exhale the same length.

It also helps to set a positive intention as you form a hasta mudra and concentrate on this intention during the practice.

Mudras can be held for various lengths of time. You may find that today’s mudra may only need to be held for 30 seconds until you feel refreshed or try holding the mudra throughout your meditation. There are no set rules. Let your intuition guide you. Have fun and explore!

yoga changed My Life:

I started practicing yoga for the first time on my Wii Balance Board with Wii Fit Plus. I was getting over the brutal ending of my five-year relationship, and my Wii console offered me some desperately needed escape from endless thinking and analyzing. I soon figured out that the yoga practices on Wii Fit Plus helped quiet my mind even more than skateboarding or basketball, and soon I wanted more… urgently. My brother joked at the time and said I was like an addict – "chasing the white light." He was right in some ways – I was chasing the white light – the divine white light that yoga would bring into my life.

Fast forward a few years and yoga is now such an integral part of my life I don’t know how I ever survived without it. These are the lessons yoga continue to teach me every day:

Yoga changes my life 

1. New beginnings.

Every day is an opportunity for a new beginning. My yoga practice is different every day. Poses that are hard on one day are manageable or even easy on another. I just have to accept what is happening on the mat for me today. I appreciate what I have on each given day… and know I can start again tomorrow.

2. The value of the pause.

A friend once described me as a "quick thinking, fast talking" person. Having a million-miles-an-hour mind has its perks, but when that chatter becomes destructive, it’s hard to stop the snowball effect. Yoga taught me to pause and be still. I appreciate nothing more than those golden moments when I am moving, fluidly, in a dreamlike state, aware only of the flow of my own breath. Finally, my mind gives it a rest and I become free from its bondage.

3. Expression of my soul.

Savasana has become an amazing opportunity for an encounter with my true self. Seated meditation is still a challenge for me but in savasana I connect with my soul. I don’t think, but things come to me. Insights into myself and I am left in awe of what is in my heart.

4. No more paralyzing fear.

Challenging postures taught me that my fears and doubts paralyze me. When I doubt, I fall out and when I’m scared to fall, fail, or get hurt – I just don’t do anything. It’s my strategy in life too. So now I fall, I get hurt, and I get up… because it’s so important to DO something. When it doesn’t work out the way I planned, it’s never as significant as I thought it would be.

5. Releasing and letting go.

In a posture, when you hold on, you tighten up, constrict and contract, and there’s little room for moving forward. Sounds a bit like life – surprise, surprise! Letting go of what you don’t NEED is essential to move forward. The tension is self-inflicted; become aware of it, then release it.

6. Loving the bod.

Yoga has me seeing my body as a team. All my organs, cells, glands, and me – we have a little support group going on. I look after them, and they look after me. We chat and listen, and I learn so much from all of them because this body knows endlessly more than I could ever fathom. We heal each other every day.

7. Acceptance.

My practice teaches me to be at peace with what is, even if it’s not exactly how I had envisioned it. I will be on a mission to conquer one of my nemesis postures, without progress to get excited about, when suddenly, without warning, I will get into another posture for the first time. Just like that. For every pose that has eluded me, yoga has given me another just as lovely instead.

8. My endless potential.

I have expanded my body in yoga in ways that had me realize how much more there is to me. It’s a journey during which I am expanding my body, my potential and my understanding of the limitlessness of being human.

9. Physical body improvements.

I am no spring chicken, but I’m in better physical shape than I've ever been. I am strong and I am healthy. No diet, no starvation, no extremes – just me and my "support group" doing the work as a team!

10. Happiness.

Yoga has made me happy. I get a sense of intense joy when I roll out my purple mat and get into that first Downward-Facing Dog. I come home – centered, peaceful, and happy. I am being with what is. I am.

Back pain exercises

Some mild discomfort at the start of exercises should disappear as muscles become stronger. However, if pain is worse than mild and lasts longer than 15 minutes during the exercise, Then go for yoga poses which you can do slowly asanas are very helpfull to recover you.

Tad Asana:

This Asana helps to stretch the spinal cord and is good for the muscles of the arms, shoulders and the neck

Tadasana

The Corpse Pose or Savasana:

yoga for backpain

This Asana is helpful in releasing tension and relieving pain in the muscles of the back. In this pose, the body gets complete rest and the mind is at peace. 'Sava' means a dead body in Sanskrit and it is also called the relaxation posture.
->Starting at the top of the head and working your way down to   the feet, bring your attention to each part of your body,    consciously relaxing it before proceeding on to the next.

Marjarasan or the cat posture:
Stand on your knees. The distance between them should be equal to the distance between your shoulders. Now, bend forward and place your elbows on the ground, with the left elbow touching the left knee and the right one touching the right knee.
Your palms should be facing down. Straighten your arms and lift your body with the palms still facing down.

Bhujangasan or the snake posture

Sleep on your stomach with your hands on either side. Your forehead should be touching the ground. Place your hands, palms down, next to your chest on either side with the elbows pulled inwards.  Take a deep breath.
As you exhale, slowly lift the upper half of your body—the chin, the nose, the forehead, the neck and the chest—and arch your spine inwards. Hold this posture for three-five breaths.

1. Limit Bed Rest

Studies show that people with short-term low-back pain who rest feel more pain and have a harder time with daily tasks than those who stay active.
“Patients should avoid more than three days of bed rest,” says Mike Flippin, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in back and spine care at San Diego Medical Center. “I encourage my patients to get moving as quickly as possible.”

2. Keep Exercising

Activity is often the best medicine for back pain. “Simple exercises like walking can be very helpful,” “It gets people out of a sitting posture and puts the body in a neutral, upright position.”
But remember to move in moderation, Flippin says. “Stay away from strenuous activities like gardening and avoid whatever motion caused the pain in the first place.”

3. Maintain Good Posture

The pain may have started after a long workout at the gym, but the strain that caused it has probably been building for years. Wilmarth says most people have poor posture when going about their daily activities, putting unnecessary strain on their backs.
“Little things add up,” she says. “You can increase the pressure on your back by 50% simply by leaning over the sink incorrectly to brush your teeth. Keeping the right amount of curvature in the back takes pressure off the nerves and will reduce back pain.”

Yoga For Thyroid Disorder

The thyroid is akin to a computer’s motherboard producing hormones that regulate the body’s metabolism through back-and-forth chemical conversations with the brain and the pituitary gland. The thyroid can tip into over-production or hyperthyroidism with physical expressions of nervous energy, heat intolerance, menstrual problems, rapid heart rate, and a range of other issues. Low hormone production or hypothyroidism is often misdiagnosed because the symptoms look like aging-fatigue, weight gain, muscle pains, bowel movement changes, mental confusion or forgetfulness, and depression. Both conditions are more common in mature women, ages 30-60.
Hypothyroidism is a condition that can impact anything from your weight to your fertility. What’s unfortunate is that a large chunk of the population has been diagnosed with underactive thyroid(hypothyroidism) and yet there’s few options out there for treatment aside for taking medication. What many people don’t know is that yoga can have quite the impact on the way your thyroid performs. Here’s how yoga can help to improve thyroid imbalance.
Yoga is one of the ancient techniques for dealing with thyroid problems. Regular yoga practice can help to deal with thyroid problems efficiently. Yoga is far more than exercise. It helps to bring mind, body and spirit into perfect balance. It is an excellent alternative for treating people suffering from thyroid diseases. Yoga is recommended by many doctors these days as it stimulates the thyroid glands and helps in balancing metabolism.

Shoulder stand

1. Place a folded blanket so the upper back and shoulders can rest upon it for support. Lie on your back and ensure that your head and spine are aligned. Legs are straight and feet together.

2. Arms rest along the sides, palms down. Relax your entire Body Mind.

3. Press lower spine gently into the ground, contract the tummy muscles and raise the legs to the sky. Pressing down with arms and palms, smoothly lift the buttocks and roll the spine up and away from the mat.

4. Bend elbows and use your hands to support the backs of your rib cage. Use each and every finger and the palms of each hand to make that connection of warmth and stability. The higher up you place your hands, the straighter your pose will be.

5. Notice how each vertebra feels as each slowly ascends. As the torso raises upward, notice the subtle movement of the cervical spine (back of the neck) Be aware of all sensations your experience.

6. Gently tuck chin into chest. Keep your chest expansive.

7. In the final phase, your legs are vertical, together, and in a straight line with the trunk of your body. Your shoulders, nape of neck and back of the head supports your body. The arms provide support. Your feet are completely relaxed. Your breath is slow, deep and rhythmic.

8. To return, bring straightened legs forward until your feet are above your head. Slowly release your hands and press the arms and palms into the mat for support. Contract the abdomen and gracefully descend, vertebra by vertebra. Lower the buttocks. Press lower spine into the mat as you lower your legs. Keep those knees straight. Retain the breath until you land.

9. Rest. Let your heartbeat and breath quiet before proceeding. Notice all sensations running through your body.

Bow Pose

1. Begin lying prone with the arms extended to the sides of the body, the legs hip distance apart, and the forehead on the ground. 

2. Bend the knees towards the buttocks and place the hands around the outside of the ankles. Inhale to begin pressing the feet into the palms until both sides of the chest draw up off the floor. 

3. Reach through the top of the head. The body should look like an archers bow.

4. To release from this pose, lower the chest and quietly return the legs to the floor.

Fish Pose

1. Come to lie on your back.

2. Come up onto your elbows.

3. Slide your body towards the back of the mat while keeping your forearms in place and puffing up your chest.

4. Drop the crown of your head back to the floor, opening your throat.

5. To come out, press strongly into your forearms and raise your head off the floor.

6. 6. Release your upper body to the floor.

Was ist Yoga?

Yoga, die Disziplin bedeutet, wurde im Jahr 300 von einem indischen Hindu namens Patanjali entwickelt. Sein Zweck ist es, die Muskeln zu dehnen, den Körper zu stärken und zu erhöhen Konzentration. Es kann auch helfen, zu entspannen, wenn Sie Probleme tun haben.

Kein Wunder, dass diese alte Disziplin geworden unter den modernen Entertainer und Sportler beliebt. Je nachdem, wer sie praktiziert, kann Yoga einfach eine Reihe von Übungen oder insgesamt Weg des Lebens sein.

Einige, die Yoga praktizieren, genannt Yogis, versuchen Sie, die Disziplin zu verwenden, um ein hohes Maß an Bewusstsein zu erreichen. Sie respektieren bestimmte Enthaltungen (die Dinge nicht zu tun), wie nicht lügen, stehlen, gierig oder Schädigung anderer Menschen. Sie üben auch bestimmte Gedenktage (Dinge zu tun), wie sauber sind, Inhalte selbst kontrolliert, fleißig und widmete.

Physische Steuerung ist auch in Yoga wichtig. Yogis trainieren sich in voller, tiefe Atemzüge zu nehmen. Sie betrachten die Atmung eine Lebenskraft, Zählen einer Lebensdauer nicht in Jahren, sondern in der Anzahl der Atemzüge gemacht.

Im Yoga Sie in Abschnitte zu erleichtern, niemals zwingen, sich selbst. Der Spruch no pain no gain-einfach nicht gelten. Sie haben nur die besten können Sie im Moment, und zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt werden Sie noch mehr tun.

Alle Yoga-Posen und Nachfrage. Und da kann man nicht ausgleichen, wenn Sie über die letzte Nacht der TV-Show denken, Yoga erfordert auch Konzentration. Lernen Sie in Yoga zu konzentrieren, und werden Sie besser in der Lage, im Baseball, Tennis oder auch Schule konzentrieren.

Yoga exercises copy nature. Many yoga poses can be traced to the shapes of creatures, such as the cobra, cat, dog, tortoise, crab and eagle.

All yoga exercises promote strength and calmness. Each move’s effects on a muscle, a gland or a nerve centre are carefully thought out.

You can choose certain exercises to rid yourself of particular pains, such as back pain from back-packing or leg pain from jogging. Yoga can help condition you for skiing or help you control feelings of depression or fear.

Any good book on yoga will describe various asanas and tell how each works. You may even have done yoga exercises already. Ever done a handstand, or the wheel. Many exercise programs borrow from yoga.

A Simple Yoga Exercise Breathing

The a capella group Mosaic’s “Take Five” performance (see video below) is a talented demonstration of breath control. If we could only break into a riff every time we needed to truly take five during the day, life would be easy.

Easy because all that oxygen coursing through our blood would help us feel more connected to our creative and compassionate self. Pranayama, the extension of breath, is a Yogic discipline practiced to absorb and distribute the vital life energy, also known as Prana. As we slowly inhale, our body is filled with life-giving energy. Then, as we slowly exhale, our nervous system begins to relax and our reactions to internal tensions soften.

The yoga for exercise breathing below is very subtle. Yet, over time and with consistent practice, it becomes a very powerful tool for mental clarity, emotional balance, and physical health. Take Five and practice this yoga breathing technique throughout the day and before sleep. Make music through the cultivation of your own breath.

This simple breathing practice can be performed in five minutes—or up to five rounds.

• Sit upright in a comfortable position or lie on your back with knees bent, feet on the floor.

• Relax your abdomen and focus your attention there.

• As you inhale to a count of three, invite the belly region to fill up like a balloon in all directions with breath.

• As you exhale, slowly extend your breath to a count of three so that your abdomen naturally releases all the air out.

• Repeat

How to avoid backache ?

Back injuries and their resulting chronic pain are, unfortunately, common today. These injuries happen whether you’re doing lifting or sitting by a desk every day. The following tips can help save you from a painful back injury, and help you alleviate existing backache.

Avoid any repeated stress on your exact same muscles, regardless of which stance or position you’re in. Especially when cooking or cleaning or doing other repetitive tasks, at work or otherwise, you should try to avoid making the same exact motions for long periods of time. Changing your posture and simply moving around your whole body can help.

Make sure that you drink plenty of water every day. A good diet is a great way to help alleviate backache. Not only can you get a healthier body, but you can take some pressure off of your back and help it significantly.

One of the main things that can cause a sudden back injury is lifting something without knowing the true weight of it. The content of the box can be surprisingly heavy and can put unexpected strains on your back. Avoid relying on the box’s label to judge its contents.

It can be quite difficult to live a normal life if your back is in pain. Simple things like bending over, lifting items, or even just sitting in a chair, can be significantly challenging. Read on to find some tips to help relieve your pain, if this is all too familiar to you.

However you may avoid or reduce backache by following precautions
1)Obesity will increase stress on your back so you must have a balanced healthy diet in order to keep your weight within normal range and diets rich in minerals vitamins to maintain a healthy spine.A persons normal weight differs from person to person, a good body mass index({mass kg}/{height(m)}{height(m)} is a good criteria to determine someones normal weight.
2)Always try to have a good posture while sitting or standing.Improper posture while sitting or standing disrupts the normal spine curve alignment and this improper alignment will lead to increased stress on muscle and increased wear and tear problem.
3)Avoid lifting very heavy objects which you do not lift up in your daily routine as they might put sudden stress on your back and even lifting any sort of object try to align your back in correct position and lift the weight gently.
4)Always start your exercise after stretching and a proper warm up, as warm up before excercise makes your muscle warm and flexible which will help in sustaining the stress during excercise while stretching will help you in removing the back stiffness which develops due to immobility of various muscle.
5)Avoid sudden quick twisting or bending movements as they may tear those ligament which are holding your vertebrae or might injure or displace your vertebrae.

Exercises for back pain

First, you'll need to find a low-impact workout. Do not attempt jogging, running or other forms of exercise that jar the entire body. This is a quick way to exacerbate your back pain. You'll need to find a different option to attain the pain relief you seek. Thankfully, there are numerous options available that offer very real benefits. What's the lineup, you ask? The first step should actually be a visit to your doctor, who will diagnose your condition and recommend a series of exercises for back pain. If you have already been to the doctor and are still searching for the best exercise routine, you have several options.

Here are some of the exercise to help you get rid of you back pain :
Knee rolls:
Start position: Lie on your back. Place a small flat cushion or book under your head. Keep your knees bent and together. Keep your upper body relaxed and your chin gently tucked in.
Action: Roll your knees to one side, followed by your pelvis, keeping both shoulders on the floor. Hold the stretch for one deep breath and return to the starting position
Repeat eight to 10 times, alternating sides.
Tips:
• Only move as far as feels comfortable.
• Place a pillow between your knees for comfort.

Back extensions
Start position: Lie on your stomach, and prop yourself on your elbows, lengthening your spine. Keep your shoulders back and neck long.
Action: Keeping your neck long, arch your back up by pushing down on your hands. You should feel a gentle stretch in the stomach muscles as you arch backwards. Breathe and hold for five to 10 seconds. Return to the starting position.
Repeat eight to 10 times.
Tips:
• Don't bend your neck backwards.
• Keep your hips grounded.

Deep abdominal strengthening
Start position: Lie on your back. Place a small, flat cushion or book under your head. Bend your knees and keep your feet straight and hip-width apart. Keep your upper body relaxed and your chin gently tucked in.
Action: As you breathe out, draw up the muscles of your pelvis and lower abdominals, as though you were doing up an imaginary zip along your stomach. Hold this gentle contraction while breathing from your abdomen for five to 10 breaths and relax.
Repeat five times.
Tips:
• This is a slow, gentle tightening of the lower abdominal region. Don't pull these muscles in using more than 25% of your maximum strength.
• Make sure you don't tense up through the neck, shoulders or legs.

Pelvic tilts
Stretches and strengthens the lower back
Start position: Lie on your back. Place a small, flat cushion or book under your head. Bend your knees and keep your feet straight and hip-width apart. Keep your upper body relaxed and your chin gently tucked in.
Action: Gently flatten your low back into the floor and contract your stomach muscles. Now tilt your pelvis towards your heels until you feel a gentle arch in your lower back, feeling your back muscles contracting and return to the starting position.
Repeat 10 to 15 times, tilting your pelvis back and forth in a slow rocking motion.
Tips:
• Keep your deep abdominals working throughout.
• Don't press down through the neck, shoulders or feet.

Source : Health Boss

Weight Loss Secrets

Many people have been facing the problem of losing weight, at some point of their life. You always want get rid of the body fat quickly and easily. Getting rid of weight in short term sounds fabulous, but the results doesn’t last longer. But remember that you should never follow fad diets. There are many other healthier options to lost weight fast.

A healthy diet and daily physical activity will help you shed some pounds off your body. But you need to remember that you should not starve yourself to death.

Usually, losing a considerable amount of pounds in a healthy way is always a long process. Here are some tips which will help you jumpstart your weight loss regime.
How to Lose Weight Fast:
If you want to lose one or two pounds in a week then you have to burn about 500 or more calories every day for a week. The best and the fastest way to get rid of weight are to exercise a lot and eat less.

For example, if you intake about 1000 or 1200 calories per day then you have to do exercise for about an hour each day. Doing this will enable you to lose 3 to 5 pounds in just one week. You should remember that, cutting down more calories a day will be dangerous and may lead to various health issues.

Cut down salt and starches as they tend to lose on more weight as they are mostly fluids, and do not contain fat. Reducing fluids and fluid retention, results in weight loss.

Here are some weight loss secrets :

1. WATER,it plays a very important role in LOOSING WEIGHT. If you drink 10-12 glasses of WATER a day your METABOLIC RATE of body increases and helps in absorb NUTRIENTS better. It will also helps in  eliminates WASTE MATERIALS and TOXINS due to which you are unable to reduce your weight even after so much of tries and which interfrnce the METABOLISM.

2.Take PROTEINS as much you can because it not only helps in making good MUSCLES but it also less FATS and CARBOHYDRATES in our body. EAT natural protein like OATS, SOY etc. EGGS and MILK are two other foods which are rich in proteins but they are also rich in FAT. But you can take low fat milk and eggs without yolk.

3. We generally consumes 3 meals a day but if you want to loose your weight you have to take 5-6 meals a day by which your metabolism is keep on working and also reduces the pressure on DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. Thos helps you to shed ADDITIONAL WEIGHT.

4.Never miss your BREAKFAST,you think it willn't reduce weight but if you will helps you in reduce weight as if you take BREAKFAST you willn't feel hunger and due to which you willn't eat JUNK FOODS.

5. EAT a lots of EGGS, VEGETABLES, FRUITS AND NUTS instead of JUNK FOODS.

6. If you are fond of LATE NIGHT EATING or going for restaurants or hotels then you have to leave this because these habits effects you very much and gains weight very much early.

Benefits of Yoga for Stress

Is Yoga helping to overcome stress

Yoga for Stress

That's the question being posed by new research at the University of Adelaide, which is hoping to better understand if, and how, yoga can be used as a therapy for stress - and who can benefit most from it.


The study is being conducted by Psychology PhD student Kaitlin Harkess who has been a yoga instructor for the past seven years.

"Anecdotally there's a lot of evidence to suggest that yoga can have benefits for people experiencing stress; I've seen that from my yoga students over the years. But it's one thing just to accept this as fact, it's quite another to put it to the test scientifically, which is what we're doing with this new study," Ms Harkess says.

"Yoga is growing in popularity in Western countries, but so are stress levels in our everyday lives.

"Severe forms of stress can be extremely debilitating for people - they can suffer physical as well as psychological and emotional impacts from stress. Anxiety, burn-out, depression, these are all of interest from a clinical psychology point of view. But stress can also result in real problems with people's immune systems and cardiovascular health, for example.

"Yoga involves controlled movement of the body, breathing and relaxation techniques, and these might be broadly applicable to helping people overcome stress in their lives," she says.

South Australian women aged 35-65 are needed for the study. They must be new to yoga. By participating, women will learn a basic form of yoga and attend a free yoga class twice a week for two months.

Ms Harkess says women who participate in the study will fill out a standard psychology questionnaire to help determine their level of stress. Those taking part in the study can give blood so that biochemical markers for stress can be tracked.

"There have been small studies in the past suggesting that yoga is beneficial in overcoming stress, but we're looking for 90 women to participate, which will be the biggest study of its kind so far," Ms Harkess says.

Learn About Yoga Nidra

The practice of yoga relaxation  has been found to reduce tension and anxiety. The autonomic symptoms of high anxiety such as headache, giddiness, chest pain, palpitations, sweating, abdominal pain respond well. While most people treat yoga as a body workout, the truth is a yoga routine provides deep restoration to your body and mind. And to make your practice more effective, it’s ideal to end your yoga sequence with yoga nidra. In yoga nidra, you not only enjoy the complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation but also get to explore the tremendous powers hidden in the deeper layers of subconscious and unconscious mind.

In the deep relaxation state of yoga nidra, the mind is in a state between sleep and wakefulness and its receptivity is many times more than its receptivity in wakeful state. The secret is that the subconscious mind is at front in this state while the conscious mind takes the back seat. The subconscious mind is a very obedient disciple and immediately carries out the orders that you put to it. By practicing yoga nidra you can completely train your subconscious mind. Then the ordinary conscious mind and intellect will follow the suit. The subconscious and the unconscious mind are the most powerful forces in the human being. In yoga nidra you learn how to access these powerful forces to gain knowledge, cure diseases, increase creativity, and to realize your true self. Yoga is usually practiced after to yoga workout or meditation or sudarshan kriya taught at Art of Living classes.

Yoga Nidra vs. Meditation

Yoga nidra is not quite the same thing as meditation. In yoga nidra practice you are lying down and the exercises help you move into a semi-hypnotic state, somewhere between being awake and being asleep. During meditation you usually sit with your spine as vertical as possible and remain alert and aware.

You can think of yoga nidra as a way of preparing for meditation; in the yoga tradition it is understood as being a practice of sense withdrawal that prepares you for moving into a state of meditation. It turns your attention inwards and helps your mind and body reach the calm mental state required to meditate effectively.

Meditation does not come easily to busy people. Most people find sitting still and silent for any length of time a huge challenge. It's particularly hard if your mind is over active, or your body is tense.

Mastering the art of yoga nidra first will help you with this, and to eventually tackle the much greater challenge of relaxing the mind during a sitting meditation practice or while practicing sudarshan kriya technique.

Yoga Asanas : Hip Toning

Yoga asanas can be of great help in preventing the stiffness caused. By practicing a few simple yoga poses daily one can notice the improvement in the circulation of blood in the lower part of the body and how the body responds to it. These asanas are similar to compound exercise which targets more than one muscle group. Along with relaxation of the hips, these asanas can be extremely beneficial to release tight hamstrings.

Body Rotations

Sit comfortably in cross legged posture, preferably the padmasana. You can sit in sukhasana if sitting in padmasana is uncomfortable to you.

Keeping the spine erect and shoulders in a relaxed position take a deep breath in.

As you exhale bend forward and down from the waist keeping the spine erect as much as possible.

As you breathe in, start rotating the torso from the hip, keeping the spine in a straight line. Make an upward movement.

As you exhale bend back down making a complete rotation.

Repeat steps 1 - 4 a few times in one direction and then reverse the direction of the movement.

This helps to relieve tension in the lower back and strengthens the spine. Do as much as you can without exhausting yourself.


Paschimottasana

Keeping the spine erect stretch your legs out straight in front of you. Toes should be flexed towards you.

As you breathe in raise your hands above and stretch up. The fingers and thumbs should be facing towards the sky.

Breath out and bend forward from the hip joints, as you move forward trying to touch the toes with your fingers feel the stretch in the back, hamstrings and hip joints. Make sure not to fold the legs from the knees.

Hold your toes with the fingers and try to pull them towards you.

Breathe in and as you breathe in lift your head slightly and lengthen your spine.

Breathing out, gently move the navel towards the knees.

Repeat these steps two or three times.

Drop your head down and breathe deeply for 20-60 seconds.

Stretch the arms out in front of you.

Breathe in, with the strength of your arms, come back up to the sitting position.

Breathe out and lower the arms.

This posture stretches the lower back, hamstrings and hips.


Poorvottanasana

Stretch your legs straight in front of you. Make sure to have the spine erect and feet together.

Lift the body up from the pelvic region ensuring the whole body is in a straight line and tense.

Maintaining the above mentioned posture, relax the head by letting it go loose and fall back towards the floor and hold the posture.

As you breathe out, come back to sitting position and relax.

This posture stretches the shoulders, hamstrings and hips.

Source : Hip Toning Yoga Asanas

Why Yoga for Pregnancy ?

Pregnancy is one of the most beautiful experiences gifted to a woman. Yet this nine-month journey brings with it a variety of changes and emotions to juggle with. Yoga can help you cope with this journey, making it smooth and enjoyable!

As is evident in the case of Meghana Bragta, yoga enthusiast and first-time mother, as a would-be-mother she was better able to accept the changes during the nine months. She shares, "Sahaj Samadhi meditation helped me a lot, especially in the last trimester. It helped me accept my body and all the changes happening. Nadi Shodhan Pranayama (Alternate Nostril Breathing) helped me relax and handle anxiety. I would practice Butterfly Pose and in the latter half of the pregnancy, when my feet would swell due to water retention, I practiced some yoga postures lying on my back."

1) Yoga postures can help ensure easier delivery. In the first trimester, opt for standing yoga postures as they help strengthen the leg muscles, improve circulation, increase energy and can also help reduce leg cramps.

2) Note from Sri Sri Yoga experts: Do not practice yoga poses that put pressure on the abdomen and difficult yoga postures during the advanced stages of pregnancy. Do not overstretch the abdomen; the emphasis of your twisting poses should be on the shoulders and the upper back and not on the abdomen. Avoid doing inversions. It is also not advised to practice yoga postures from the tenth through the fourteenth week of pregnancy.

3) Relax with breathing techniques. The second and third trimester is the time to relax so draw energy from breathing techniques such as Ujjayi pranayama (Victory Breath), Nadi Shodhan, and Bhramri (Bee Breath). They will help you deal with emotional changes and relax the mind completely.

Yoga : From the Eye of an Investor

“Mutual Funds are sub­ject to mar­ket risk. Please read the offer doc­u­ment care­fully before invest­ing”.

Aren’t we familiar with the above lines? The disclaimer which finds its place on all mutual fund policies, investment bonds, shares. This is not to discourage you from investing; it’s to make you understand where the fundamental of investments lies. You start somewhere with the fundamentals of investments and make a small start which gradually reaps you fruits in future. Keep an eagle’s eye on the market and you start tapping the market. Investment is all about wealth building. The wise used to consider health as one of the investment which urged them to come up with a proverb “health is wealth”. Yoga is a tool which can help you to invest you in health.

Everyone is becoming aware about yoga postures and its offerings. People have started realizing the importance of yoga.In both the fields the best practice is to start young. Autobiographies of great investors suggest that they started young. Autobiographies of yogis suggest they started young too. Both the practices need to have strong fundamentals to grow as change is the only permanent thing in this world. One helps to achieve things which matter in our daily life whereas the other helps you to reduce the list of things that matter in our daily life. End result – Savings. The list of similarities would go on because they both are so very closely connected and part of our day to day life. Here I try to put down a few observations which are useful whether you are at a stock exchange or at your yoga studio.

 

“Yoga benefits are sub­ject to your own risk. Please start investing in yoga today”.

Experience of regular practice of yoga

Believe it or not, Yoga is much more than an ancient form of discipline that stems from India. Today, it has spread amongst various cultures and countries and has changed the lives of thousands of people, including mine. The ‘Happy Yogi’ is not just a phrase; it is an actual, existing entity and all of us have the ability to become one. It is believed that as a child, everyone was familiar with the asanas (poses) of Yoga, but as we grow up we forget about it and hence, need to be taught again.
Practicing Yoga on a daily basis does not only bring unbelievable changes to our body but it also cleanses our mind. I was always aware of the benefits of Yoga but the lazy devil in me always took over and I never really got to practicing it until Art of Living. Being a little on the heavier side, I always thought that my body is not flexible enough to do the various poses of Yoga and this is a myth that many of us have. Yoga depends on flexibility, yes but it is also based on the state of mind. Yoga is a confidence booster and allows us to control our body and mind instead of the other way round.
The Surya Namaskar (Sun salutations) is considered to be one of the best forms of Yoga because it consists of excellent postures that are very beneficial. Doing a particular number of rounds of Surya Namaskar daily brought about a change in my health; reduced weight, purified mind and a healthy soul. Yoga can be tiring at first, but after I gave myself that initial lift, it inculcated itself as a part of my routine.
Yoga has cured many ailments of the knee, spine, hands etc. In my case, it helped me get over my almost-insomnia type condition. Due to the body movements, I could fall asleep easily instead of my regular habit of staying up till 3-4 am. Mainly, it washed over my whole body and I felt calmer and happier than before. At a point, when my leg was injured due to a fall, it was due to Sudarshan Kriya, Yoga and Meditation that I could move it again.
Yoga brings with itself complete peace of mind and subtlety. A number of studies and research theories by excellent universities prove that Yoga compliments science, personal experience proves that Yoga can change our whole lifestyle and our Master is the proof that Yoga is not an art or performing asanas, but it is a way of life.

Yoga and the gym workout

       

Doing yoga or hitting the gym - too difficult a choice to make? Let's make things easier and look at both not as rivals but close allies. Yes, yoga can be a perfect complement to your body workout and actually add to the benefits you derive from it.

The best part is, you can continue with your daily workout routine just the way it is now and simply add a few minutes of yoga practice to it for better results.

Yoga and gym workouts both have their own set of benefits and you need to decide what you require for your body. Yoga asanas or postures are slow graceful controlled movements while gym workouts involve rapid movements with force. Your muscles are strengthened from deep within in a systematic manner that improves your muscular endurance. In gym workouts the tension on your muscles increases a lot due to the forceful movements. Since yoga asanas or workouts are done in a slow systematic and controlled manner they prevent any kind of injury. Whereas in the gym workouts there is a greater risk of injury and muscle strain due to the rapid and forceful movements. If your weight gain is due to stress and you are trying to lose weight then yoga is a preferable option as it reduces your stress to a great extent and that in turn reduces your appetite. So you consume lesser calories. Gym workouts also help to reduce stress but not as much as yoga so your appetite is not reduced as much and in some cases since you strain yourself so much in your gym you actually tend to eat more and consume more calories. Yoga does not tire you out but helps you to relax totally and gets rid of your stress fully so you feel more at peace with yourself and others and you feel more energetic and refreshed after a yoga session. Gym workouts drain a lot of your energy so you feel exhausted after your gym sessions and your body aches due to the excessive strain on your muscles. 

How To Do SuryaNamaskar (Sun Salutation)

- You don't need to be doing yoga regularly in order to practice the Surya Namaskar. If performed correctly, this exercise does not strain or cause injury. If performed in the morning, it relieves stiffness, revitalises your body and refreshes the mind. Do it during the day and it will instantly boost you up, practice it after sundown and it helps you unwind.

- Not only does the Surya Namaskar give you a great stretch and keep you fit physically (it is extremely beneficial for your joints, ligaments and improves flexibility and posture), but is also does wonders for your mental and emotional health.

- Surya Namaskar stimulates almost every system in your body - the cardiovascular system because it keeps the heart strong and, the digestive system as well as the nervous system.

- It also makes endocrinal glands like the thyroid, parathyroid and pituitary glands, function normally.

- Practising the Surya Namaskar regularly is also known to ease stress and give you peace of mind besides increasing your levels of concentration.

- If you have trouble sleeping at night, the Surya Namaskar will help you fall asleep without using any external stimulants.