Mind & Body
When I first encountered yoga, I thought it was an interesting way to stretch. Today, I consider yoga to be one of my essentials for mental as well as physical well-being.
I realize how much my body, mind, and spirit craves relaxation, and the ability to self reflects. As busy as we all are, entire days, even weeks, can go by without any time for relaxation. I say to my own yoga students, “If you weren’t taking yoga, would you take any time for yourself, for reflection today?”
What keeps me doing yoga now is the personal therapy it gives me. Yoga teaches us to be patient in stressful situations. Yoga promotes balanced thinking. It’s often been said, “If you want to know how your yoga practice is going, take a look at your personal relationships.” I truly believe that yoga makes me a better parent, spouse, friend, and person!
The Belly Blues!
People often ask, “How do I get flat abs” but rarely do I hear, “Why do I need flat abs”. Low back pain is one of the top reason people go to the doctor today. There is a muscle in your body called the Transverse Abdominus (TVA). The TVA is the deepest of the abdominal muscles, acting like a belt, wrapping around your spine for protection and stability. They are located approx just below the navel – these are the muscles most of us complain about as we age, responsible for the “pooch problem”. The more tone your transverse Abdominus, the flatter your abs and the more protected your back is from injury during daily activities.
Be sure to target these muscles in your strength training workouts. Pilates is based on this principle of learning to stabilize our shoulders, ribs, hips, and initiate our exercises from the deep torso muscles – your “girdle of strength”. Many of us exercise without paying attention to the initiation or beginning of each movement. As a result, we move improperly and suffer strains, pulls, and injuries and worst of all - we dont' see results. Pilates will train you to recruit your TVA as you begin every movement – constant contraction.
While ab muscles can't be separated (they all work together in each exercise), there are many exercises targeted at toning the pooch!
Try my Abs Advantage DVD from Prevention Fitness Systems to learn more about how to use your TVA and get focused on achieving flat abs!
Exercise as A Stress Buster
Stress actually causes you to breathe shallowly, depriving you body of oxygen just when you need it the most. Exercise forces you to breathe and give your body what it needs! Plus, you don’t need a prescription for exercise and there are no side effects. Here are my top 10 stress busting benefits of exercise:
1) It alleviates anxiety. Studies show people feel less nervous and more relaxed after they exercise.
2) It can lighten depression. Chronic stress can wear you down and leave you feeling hopeless. Movement therapy is often used to treat depression patients.
3) It helps you sleep like a baby. If your worries are you keeping you awake, you’ll be even less prepared to deal with them in the morning. Numerous studies have shown that regular exercisers enjoy better sleep.
4) Although you may think this is contradictory, exercise also boosts your energy. Energy is like money: just like you have to spend money to make money, you have to expend energy to make energy.
5) It’s a mood booster. When you perform cardio exercise, endorphins are released into your bloodstream. Endorpins, chemicals produced in the brain, make you feel good, even euphoric. Just one workout will elevate your mood and leave you with a feeling of well-being for up to two hours after your workout.
6) Exercise makes you more alert. In response to your muscles contracting and relaxing, your brain releases certain neurotransmitters between your nerve cells and muscles. These promote both alertness and relaxation.
7) It enhances your self-esteem by giving you a positive feeling of accomplishment.
8) It helps you flush the by-products of stress out of your system. Stressful episodes cause hormones like adrenaline to be released into your bloodstream. Vigorous activity helps your body wipe the slate clean.
9) It inspires you to be a healthier eater. If you start feeling like an athlete you will start eating like one. You’ll start thinking of food as fuel for your body. The better nourished you are, the better able to cope with stress you are.
10) It reminds you to take care of yourself. Before you can give anything to anyone you have to be kind and generous to yourself first.
Yoga : The Latest 5,000 Year-old Fitness Fad
Yoga—as a practice for the body, mind, and spirit—dates back 5,000 years. Yet it’s perfect for the way we live today. In the 21st century, yoga has entered the fitness mainstream and all kinds of everyday people are giving it a try.
Yoga can be gentle or challenging, strictly physical or profoundly spiritual. It all depends on what you bring to your yoga practice and what you want to get from it. Here are just a few reasons why yoga is becoming so popular:
- Improves mood
- Promotes relaxation
- Increase range of motion
- Can reduce pain in joints
- Strengthens bones
- Improves blood circulation
- Promotes clearer thinking and deep concentration
- Enhances self awareness
- Increases confidence as you master new poses
- Rejuvenates the spine and central nervous system
- Improves balance
- Massages glands and organs
- Mind, Body, and Breath
Yoga’s combination of stretching and relaxing benefits makes it well worth your time. As we age, we need to lengthen, lubricate and stretch our muscles after cardio exercise to reduce the chance of injury.
Yoga allows both body and mind to rejuvenate, readying you for whatever challenges the day may bring. This is why I love to start my day with yoga. It prepares me to have a more balanced and even-tempered day. But yoga is just as beneficial in the evening, helping you to unwind, release tension, and sleep more peacefully.
At any time of day, yoga helps you relieve even the stresses you don’t know you have! Often, when we aren’t consciously aware of stress, our muscles will contract involuntarily. After you spend a long day sitting in traffic, sitting at your desk, and sitting in front of the television, the combination of slumped posture, tense shoulders, and the lack of activity can really take its toll on your body.
Symptoms of stress also show up in your breathing. Anxiety tends to cause shallow breathing, which reduces the brain’s oxygen supply and, unfortunately, exacerbates the anxiety. That’s why common sense tells us to take a deep breath when we’re tense. Deep, slow breathing can truly create a calming, cleansing, and nourishing effect for both body and mind.
Being mindful of the breath is a fundamental aspect of yoga. The practice known as Pranayama breathing consists of breathing in and out through your nose, creating a vacuum-like space in the back of the throat. Instead of sucking the air through the nostrils, you open up your airways and breathe. This technique is often called whisper breathing because of the noise it makes.
If you are trying to lose weight, breathing is an often-overlooked ally. After all, weight loss is a matter of increasing metabolism and making it more efficient. Metabolism requires oxygen. So proper breathing can help.
Like all forms of exercise, the benefits of yoga are cumulative. The more you practice, the better you feel.
Yoga poses are called asanas. The gentle, low-impact postures in the following workout will help you to stretch and tone your muscles, lubricate your joints, and keep your ligaments and tendons healthy.
Check out Yoga Weight Loss for Dummies
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Improve Your Mood
Try some of these “mood enhancers” to maintain your motivation and stay inspired in your daily life:
*Start a daily journal. Sometimes just writing (anything) can relieve some stress. Maybe you want to start an accomplishment journal that you can reread periodically and reflect on how far you have come. Or try writing down all the things about your life you are thankful for. It is amazing how your mood can change when your focus shifts from the negative to the positive!
*When your life seems out of control, start a program of three mini-workouts a day. A quick power walk in the morning can jump start your energy and a quick walk in the evening can relieve the day’s stress (and take your mind off the ice cream sitting in the freezer).
*Treat yourself to a massage. It is one of the best ways to release tension and toxins from your body.
*Laugh out loud! Listen to your kids jokes, watch a funny movie, or read a funny article. Laughter is contagious and is a great stress reliever.
*Make sure to eat breakfast. You’ll be surprised how good you feel mentally when you start your day with the proper fuel.
*Take a class. It can be a group exercise class where you can sweat it out with your friends or it could be anything else you are interested in. Take time out for yourself so you’ll have more energy and motivation to stay focused when the going gets tough.
*Dance and Sing. When people are asked “What do you do when no one is looking?” a large majority say they dance or sing. So turn on the tunes, get shaking and burn some extra calories.
*Take a bubble bath. At the end of a busy day, nothing beats a warm bath!
