Hastily responding to every cell phone beep, email alert ding and news feed notification bing are the familiar ways a lot of us spend our waking hours every day, whether we are at work, or worse, at home spending some down time with family.

“The speed at which information is coming at us can get overwhelming,” says Google’s Gopi Kallayil, a marketing manager for Google+. Kallayil, also a yoga teacher, says she sees more people in Silicon Valley, the heart of the high-tech industry, turning toward yoga and meditation as a way to find a centering reprieve from the stressful blitz of the fast-paced digital world.

With the physical and mental health of these computer-habituated people at risk, many high-tech industries have adopted wellness programs that go beyond a gym membership and a monthly massage. Recognizing the hyperactive tendencies of those caught in the whirlpool of tweets, status posts and microblogs, companies such as Google and Twitter have incorporated “urban-wellness” programs that include yoga and meditation specifically designed to allow people the time to unwind, unclutter, and most importantly, unplug.

“Twitter is really into this,” says Deborah Burkman, meditation teacher for Twitter. “There is a whole mindfulness program they’re trying to build there. Like a lot of companies, they’re concerned about the well-being of their employees and they’re big believers in trying to have people be consciously connected.”

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We should all have some kind of understanding by now that physical activity helps reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease in men and women. Leading a sedentary lifestyle is not healthy, and aside from putting you at risk for heart disease, sitting still all day can lead to other undesirable issues such as weight gain, stiff muscles, poor posture and low back pain. Many people heed this warning and hit the gym after work, but according to a new study, they are missing the point entirely.

In a study published in the European Heart Journal, physical activity was monitored in over 29,000 people in 52 countries both at work and during leisure time. Those who participated in light or moderate activity at work had up to 22% lower risk of heart disease compared with those whose jobs involve sitting at a desk in front of a computer.

Weekend fitness warriors and those who log a couple hours a week on the treadmill are chipping away at their risk of cardiovascular disease because all exercise lowers risk, but in order to get the maximum benefits, a lifestyle of frequent activity is recommended. Your good intentions at the gym are not going to cut it if your daily life involves sitting at your office desk all day.

If changing careers is not part of your 2012 agenda, at least make it a point to move your body more often while at work.

The following are some helpful tips to keep your heart healthy.
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Teachers are educators, leaders, pseudo parents, heroes, friends and mentors. Their jobs are often thankless, yet teachers are those amazing people that help shape the future of our world.

Being a teacher takes a tremendous amount of commitment, and commitment requires a tremendous amount of energy. Presenting concepts, math equations and scientific theories while continuing to be a positive influence in the classroom can be challenging for the tired and overworked educationalist.

Thankfully, the magic of yoga can come to the rescue to refresh, rejuvenate and inspire before burn out ensues.

Bank a second wind well before you might actually need it with these simple suggestions that can be practiced in the teacher’s lounge or in the classroom.

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If you are passionate about health and wellness, motivating others and of course, enjoy logging long hours inside your favorite gym or health club, you might be well suited for a career as a personal trainer. While getting into physical shape can be hard work, it’s even harder work to achieve and sustain a career as a personal trainer. Though it might be challenging, it’s more than just physical effort.

“The most challenging part about being a trainer is helping clients deal with their personal issues. Often, clients are working to lose weight and sometimes you need to cross the line into a person’s emotions to help them solve issues that might be affecting their weight problem,” said Tony Cress, NASM-CPT, of Tony Cress Personal Training. “It’s very hard and emotional, both as the trainer and the client.”

To become a personal trainer, there are a few things a person should accomplish before they begin looking for a job or planning to launch their own private consulting business.

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Becoming a yoga instructor is one of the most burgeoning careers in the health and wellness industries. Unlike becoming a personal trainer, which is very regulated, becoming a yoga instructor doesn’t require the tests, certification and training that is mandated by the accredited personal training profession. There is both good and not-so-good in that.

First, because teaching yoga is a relatively new, albeit popular, profession, in essence, anyone who wants to become a yoga instructor can call herself a yoga teacher. This can easily lend way to unqualified teachers who take a few weekend yoga workshops and call themselves a teacher.

On the other hand, because of the lack of regulation, experienced yoga instructors who have been teaching yoga for years, maybe even decades, don’t need to go back and take hours of certification classes with a bunch of novices and learn information they already know.

It is this lack of regulation that has led to the Yoga Alliance, a national education and support organization for yoga in the United States that provides yoga certification for teachers. In September 1999, Yoga Alliance established a national Yoga Teachers’ Registry to recognize and promote teachers with training that meets their minimum standards. Teachers who meet these standards are eligible to register as Registered Yoga Teachers (RYT^®s).
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