To Wayne Dyer, the universe is about ideas. Good ideas are a choice to empower you; bad ideas or misperceptions about yourself harm others and keep you from realizing your full potential. Dyer has made a living out of selling his ideas to others.

Dyer’s books, numbering more than thirty, have sold millions and spawned many audio programs and videos. He has been interviewed on numerous radio and television shows (he’s a favorite on PBS) since his emergence in the national spotlight in the late 70s. Some of his books include There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, The Power of Intention, and Manifest Your Destiny.
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The man who would one day dominate the published Chicken Soup series, Jack Canfield, was born August 19, 1944 in Forth Worth, Texas. Not much is said about his parents or his childhood in the media, but we do know that Jack attended Linsly Military Institute, a boarding school in Wheeling, West Virginia. After high school, Jack left West Virginia for Harvard, from which he graduated in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in Chinese history.

In 1971, Jack married his first wife Judith, whom he met while studying for his master’s degree at the University of Massachusetts. The couple had two children before divorcing in 1976. Just two years later, Jack married Georgie Lee Noble and together they had a son.

The consummate student, Jack received an honorary Ph.D from the University of Santa Monica in 1981. And nearly a decade later, in 1990, Jack met Mark Victor Hansen, with little knowledge that the two would become successful business partners. Mark and Jack had the idea of collecting inspirational stories and compiling them into a single book that would appeal to everyone. Three years later, Chicken Soup for the Soul was published, and together Jack and Mark climbed to the top of bestsellers‘ ladder.
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Everyone who practices yoga goes to class for different reasons. While some may like the sweat-inducing heat of Bikram Yoga, others enjoy the relaxing effect of Yin Yoga. Beyond adoring a certain style of yoga, the energy your yoga teacher brings to class may be the real reason that keeps you going back for more.

Certain traits in a yoga teacher stand out. The following are my favorite qualities that inspire me as a teacher, and as a student of yoga.

Versatility

One quality that might attract your admiration is your instructor’s ability to change course in mid-stream. Certainly, some styles of yoga stick to the same series of poses, and that is fine. But, does your instructor at least shift the tone from serious to light-hearted when the need arises? In a varied class, perhaps he or she has the class plan already laid out with hip openers and inversions, yet the majority of class has requested core and shoulder work. Does your yoga instructor see this as an opportunity to serve, or a burden that fosters annoyance and frustration?
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Instant gratification is attractive when it comes to fitness and weight loss. It is no surprise the diet and exercise equipment companies that flaunt quick results are the most successful at grabbing the attention and dollars of millions of consumers. There are people who don’t want to work very hard at getting fit or losing weight, and as a result they buy in to the latest pill or product that is going to make it easy, only to be let down and dissatisfied later.

However, I am a firm believer that with some things, a little bit can go a long way. In yoga for example, some benefits are felt instantly, and with little effort. While yoga is not necessarily the most efficient way to burn calories or increase cardiovascular stamina, it does indirectly improve overall health and wellbeing, and it doesn’t take much to notice results.

For those of you who are in need of some immediate benefits, you might be interested in learning about the following side effects you will notice instantly from practicing a little yoga.
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Pamela Hernandez owns Thrive Personal Fitness in Springfield, MO where she focuses on weight training for weight loss. She writes a blog for her web site, www.thrivepersonalfitness.com, sharing vegetarian recipes from her kitchen, exercise strategies, lifestyle tips and stories from her own journey. You can also follow Pamela on Twitter @ThriveFit or pick up more tips on Facebook, www.facebook.com/thrivepersonalfitness.

I’ve probably heard every excuse there is for not exercising. Some of them are more valid than others, for example being sidelined with an injury. Others are not, like not having time to exercise. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, we just choose to allocate them differently.

Many reasons not to exercise are actually traced back to some other issue, like lack of time management skills or past negative experiences with exercise (bad boot camp, anyone?). The top 5 barriers to exercise I get from clients actually have some simple solutions that can be easily implemented if you know what’s really causing them.

I don’t have time for exercise: This is the number one and, frankly, the easiest one to deal with. I find it comes from the misguided notion that, when it comes to exercise, the more the better. So not true! The first step is being realistic about the time you do have. Can you spare 10 minutes in the morning, at lunch or after dinner? Then you get an effective workout. Break it down into bursts of activity that you can manage. Take 5 minutes and climb stairs on your lunch break or take 10 minutes in the evening for intervals of kettlebell swings. Also look for time wasters in your day like too much TV or Internet time. Eliminate them and give that time back to yourself.

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