Tag Archives: breathing

3 Steps to Stay Focused and Feel Happier

A study conducted by two Harvard University researchers suggests that people’s wandering minds are to blame for their unhappiness. In addition, they found that happiness was not necessarily a consequence of what someone was doing, but how focused they were while doing it.

Using an Internet-based cell phone application to gather feedback, the researchers asked their subjects if they were focused while engaged in certain activities, or if their minds were drifting towards something totally different. The subjects were then asked to describe their level of contentment during each activity.

The results concluded that people’s minds wander at least 50% of the time and while the mind is wandering, most people feel unhappy. It is worth noting that in this experiment minds wandered less during sex, exercise or while engaged in conversation and more in those who were working, using a home computer or resting. However you want to interpret this, the important message is that we only spend half of our waking hours focused and experiencing happiness.

 

Do you want to be happy more than 50% of the time, whether you are working, exercising or spending time with others? The following tips will help you focus, and “be here now” as esteemed spiritual leader Ram Dass famously states.

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Posted on December 21, 2023 by Jill

5 Principles of Safe and Effective Forward Bending Yoga Poses

During this hectic time of year your yoga practice is especially helpful in reducing anxiety, but if you cannot fit in a full yoga class, practicing on your own is second best. Restorative poses like forward bends top the list to release stress and refresh the mind and body, but it is important that they are done correctly.

The following principles are categorized by body part and action to help you practice safe and effective restorative forward bending yoga poses.

Hips

Imagine your pelvis as a bowl of water and your spine as the stream of water that spills from the bowl. By placing both hands on your hips and tipping your hips forward first as if to pour the water onto your feet, you set the forward bend up from your hips rather than from your lower back. This prevents the action of lumbar lordosis (rounding out) from your lumbar spine, which can stress the discs of the lower back.

Knees

If your hamstrings are tight, simply bend your knees. This will allow your pelvis to tip forward with ease without rounding your lower back. Also, you can bend your knees if you feel tension behind them and if you feel a tugging sensation on your sitting bones. It is best to feel the stretch in the belly of the muscle, rather than at the attachment points (sit bones and backs of knees). This helps to protect your tendons and ligaments from excess strain.

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Posted on December 14, 2023 by Jill

Use Yoga to Help Ease a Holiday Party Hangover

With holiday parties scheduled nearly every weekend and the New Year right around the corner, many of us enjoy the occasional cocktail, or ten. If you are suffering from a hangover, keep reading. Even though there is no known cure that will positively eliminate or prevent the painful effects of a hard night of drinking, the following yoga inspired tips and poses can help relieve your suffering so you can get on with your day in a productive manner.

Yoga Tip #1

Take Five Deep Breaths, preferably outside

Your pounding head in the morning is often caused by a lack of oxygen to your brain because drinking alcohol slows down your respiratory rate. To get the oxygen flowing again, practice some yogic breathing.

Take a deep breath in and at the very top of your inhale, take in just a little bit more breath. Hold your breath for two to three seconds and exhale slowly. Repeat up to five times. This will help flood your brain with the oxygen you may be lacking and give your whole body a blast of fresh air, especially if you can practice this yogic breath in the great outdoors.

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Posted on November 23, 2023 by Jill

Simple Yoga to Energize Your Morning

Do you loathe mornings? Are you slow to wake up? Does it take you until the afternoon to finally feel chipper? Well, if you are not a morning person yet you have to get up early because of work, kids or some other call to duty, try the following brief, simple and effective yoga routine. Even if you don’t do yoga, or have yet to try it, you will find this easy sequence helpful in making you feel sprightly at sunrise.

Morning Breath (It’s not what you think!)

Upon awakening, before you get out of bed or even move a muscle, take ten full deep breaths through your nose. At the height of your inhale, take in just a little bit more breath and hold it for a second before you exhale. Notice the awakening sensation of fresh oxygen flooding your brain and feel a revitalizing boost before your breakfast. (more…)

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Jill

Yoga for the Relief of Afternoon Sluggishness

Whether you are a high-powered executive or a stay-at-home mom, some afternoons inevitably make you feel like crawling back into bed. Instead of reaching for a cup of coffee to remedy your post-lunch sleepiness, how about reaching for your yoga mat? Practicing yoga on a sluggish afternoon can revitalize you.

Mountain Pose to Energize

Remove your shoes and stand up as straight and as tall as you can. Reach both arms overhead and stretch vigorously from your feet to your fingertips. Hold for 20 seconds, and for the last five seconds lift your heels up to balance on your toes. Immediately feel light and vibrant.

Standing Twist to Invigorate

Cross your right foot over your left and place it to the outside of your left foot. Stand equally on both feet with your ankles crossed. Straighten both arms directly out to the side. Begin to reach your left arm forward and your right arm back, twisting from the hips. Turn your head and look out over your right arm. Hold for five deep breaths and then switch sides. Notice an energizing tingle through your spine.

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Posted on September 21, 2023 by Jill

Yoga for PMS

It is that awaited time of the month right before our period starts when many women may cry at the drop of a hat, scream at the slightest disturbance, crave the saltiest potato chips and want to sleep until noon. Our mood changes, our behaviors are tweaked and our emotions run wild; and we are not only the ones affected. Those around us tend to want to run for cover as well.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, premenstrual tension, a.k.a. PMS (premenstrual syndrome), affects 75% of women during childbearing years. While symptoms vary slightly from woman to woman and even month-to-month, they are not often what you would describe as pleasant.

The following is an easy to remember guide to Yoga for PMS, as it shares the same acronym (PMS) and can be beneficial in addition to your other favorite remedies. These simple yogic practices help lift your mood, reduce your cravings and balance your emotional states so you can lighten your monthly burden for yourself and for those around you.

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Posted on August 17, 2023 by Jill

Practice Self Care to Curb Emotional Eating

This guest post comes from  
Alesha Sevy,  Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge.

Creating healthy habits is a lifelong journey – you won’t always feel the same from day to day, and you may need to make a consistent effort to create healthy habits that leave you feeling good. At the Biggest Loser Resort, we educate our guests on emotional eating and how to identify when you are actually hungry vs. emotionally hungry. If you find that you are snacking from boredom, stress, happiness, sadness – anything that isn’t actually true hunger, try the simple strategy of doing something else. But not just anything else – take a moment to practice self care. It’s still a “treat” that you can give yourself, and you may actually burn calories in the process rather than consuming!

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Posted on March 16, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Practicing Yoga Breathing Helps Promote Balance

You’ve probably all heard of yoga – a physical and mental exercise that originated in India. While there are different types of yoga for people at all levels of physical fitness, breathing is the most important part of any yoga practice.

“Though some people have difficulty learning the physical poses and routines, others find it difficult to adapt to the yogic breathing patterns that can relax us and keep us balanced,” said expert yogi and professional yoga instructor Rodney Yee.

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Posted on November 17, 2023 by Maris

Improve Posture for Surprising Health Benefits

Do you have good posture? Are you hunched over at your desk while typing on the computer? Proper posture may not seem like that big of a deal, but realistically, it truly is. Proper posture is about more than holding your head up high; it is crucial for eliminating any unnecessary strains to certain muscles, joints, bones, or organs.

With correct posture, you can look taller, slimmer, and come across as being extremely confident- all of which are “A-OK” in my book. (more…)

Posted on October 15, 2023 by Matt

What is Active Meditation?

Relaxation is a calm mind and a calm body. Meditation is a technique that is often used to help achieve relaxation; however, meditation is primarily about creating a calm mind.

If you are chronically multi-tasking, if your mind jumps from topic to topic, or if your to-do list is never-ending, you would probably benefit from meditation. Ok, everyone can benefit from meditation. If you are chronically multi-tasking, if your mind jumps from topic to topic, or if your to do list is never-ending, you will probably find the stereotype of meditation pretty difficult. If you sit with your legs crossed and your eyes closed, you’re either going to fall asleep or make a shopping list, draft a blog, and practice a conversation with your child all in under ten minutes, right?

If that sounds familiar, active mediation might for you. Like all things, learning to focus your mind takes practice (practice, practice). Focusing on nothing is much more difficult than focusing on one thing. We have to start with getting our minds to focus on one thing for a short amount of time before we try to get it to focus on one thing for a longer period of time. (more…)

Posted on September 28, 2023 by Brooke Randolph

Yoga Eases Pain of Breast Cancer

Breast CancerFor the almost 200,000 American women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer every year, yoga may offer respite and rejuvenation during their arduous journey with this most common form of cancer (excluding skin cancer).

A recent study from Duke University Medical Center suggested that when women with breast cancer engaged in yoga postures, meditation and breathing exercises for two months, they experienced less pain and fatigue and were significantly more relaxed.

Although this study was small, just 13 women who have advanced breast cancer,  it does provide the first, tentative evidence for yoga’s potential benefits in this vulnerable population of women with limited life expectancy, says lead author of the study,  Dr. James W. Carson. (more…)

Posted on May 31, 2023 by heather