Most part of women in my classes are seeking for their balance between physical and emotional body. I try to guide them as healthy as I can, by giving daily tips during classes, but articles, like this, are very important to be read and followed...
With the years, come the aging process that Yoga is expert in decrease... but there are some other investments to be done regarding diet, because in the end, you are what you ingest! Today the subject is collagen, the largest and most abundant protein in our body. As we age, the production of collagen drops way off, and almost all our structures can be affected, since this protein is a connective issue for important organs and parts of the body. The production decreases because of hormonal changes, nutritional deficits, the sun (yes Miamians!), overwork, alcohol... and many other things very common in the diet and routine of a normal person. If you'd like to decrease aging process, increase tone muscles, firm skin, rebuilt joints and resolve chronic problems as osteoporosis and high blood pressure (among others), start to add the "super" collagen, or hydrolyzed collagen (or simply gelatin), to your diet. The basic difference between the "super" and the regular, is that the first, the hydrolyzed one, suffers a process to reduce it's proteins into small peptides, becoming highly digestible, fastening the process into the body, and having less (or none) side effects. Attention vegans, collagen is natural and has almost no side effects, but it's found into animals bones, skin, and connective issues, as cow, pigs, horses and fish. There are vegan ones in the market, but as far as I know, they are made from genetically engineered tobacco plants... It's always good to search and research about it's efficiency and effects! Enjoy tons of gelatin and improve your body! This is where I found interesting facts to inspire me for this article: http://www.thedoctorwithin.com/collagen/Collagen/
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This class is very basic and simple. I recommend it to students that are busy to follow a schedule at a studio, or traveling a lot without the opportunity to follow a instructor…
Tadasana (Mountain Pose) – improves posture, improves bladder control. During 3 deep breaths, stay in this pose trying to empty your mind, adjusting you body to start the others poses (opening chest, extending the spine, keeping both base of feet on the floor). Inhale look up, arms up, stretch all your body, keep the breath for 5 sec and relax when exhale with the arms on the side. Before start the other asanas, warm up your body with three Sun Salutations. If you don't remember the sequence, click the link: www.yogasite.com/sunsalute.htm Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend) - calms the brain, relieve stress. Stand in Tadasana, hands on hips. Exhale and bend forward from the hip joints, not from the waist. Try to grab your toes with the fingers if you can, or just grab your legs. Each time you exhale try to extend a little bit more. Keep for 5 breaths. Vrksasana (Tree Pose) - improves balance Bend the left knee, bringing the sole of the left foot high onto the inner right thigh, press the foot into the thigh and the thigh back into the foot. Keep your hands on the hips, and focus at any stopped point. When you feel balanced, extend arms and keep it for 5 breaths. Repeat w/ the other side. Virabhadrasana I (Warrior Pose I) - improves balance, coordination and concentration From Tadasana step your feet around 4 feet apart. Raise your arms perpendicular to the floor (and parallel to each other), bend the right knee, keep the left leg extended and the left feet diagonal from your body (around 45 degrees). Keep it for 5 breaths. Repeat w/ the other side. Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II Pose) - Stimulates abdominal organs, increases stamina From Tadasana step your feet around 4 feet apart. Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach them actively out to the sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down. Bend the right knee; keep the left leg extended and the left feet diagonal from your body (around 45 degrees). Keep it for 5 breaths. Repeat w/ the other side. Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose or butterfly) - Stimulates the heart and abdominal organs, improves circulation, and helps relieve mild depression, anxiety, and fatigue. Sit and bend the knees bringing the soles of the feet together and letting the knees fall out to either side. Open your feet like a book, and grab your big toes w/ the fingers. Open chest, extend spine and come into a forward bend. Five breathings. Marichyasana III - benefits the abdominal organs and spine, stimulates the brain. Sit and bend your right knee bringing the heel close to your butt and wide, keep the left leg strong. Rotate your torso to the right and place your right hand behind you close to your sitting bones. Make a pressure with your left arm against the right leg and look up to your right shoulder. Keep it for 5 breaths. Repeat w/ the other side. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose) - stimulates the thyroid, rejuvenates tired legs, improves digestion Lie on the floor; bend the knees bringing the soles of the feet close to your butt. Lift the hips up towards the ceiling. Relax head, shoulders and arms. Pay attention on the breathing (inhale inflate, exhale empty chest stomach and belly). 5 deep breathings. Relax for 1 deep breath bringing knees up to chest, balance body massaging back and repeat again the pose for + 5 breaths. Repeat the relax again, but after balance and massage your back, let your knees fall to the side and prepare to the last one: Lie down in Savasana (Corpse Pose) - pacifies the body and quietness the mind by discharging muscular, nervous, mental and emotional tensions Relax the whole body, including the face. Let the body feel heavy. Stay in this pose for 5 min. It's very important that you do this pose! The body needs this time to understand the new information it has received through practicing yoga. Sit in lotus pose and recite the mantra OM 3 times when you exhale after a deep breath. Patanjali (who wrote the Yoga Sutras and is considered to be the father of classical yoga) taught that when we chant this sacred syllable and simultaneously contemplate the meaning of it, our consciousness becomes "one-pointed: and prepared for meditation. Good practice! Namaste! Eli Photos: www.yogajournal.com Due to potential impacts, falls or repeated activity as sustaining your body during push-ups or Vinyasas, or specific techniques as wristlocks, the wrist is a vulnerable joint to lots of injuries.
It is a small and maybe the most complex joint with delicate tissues around, as ligaments that knits it’s bones together, and tendons that connect the forearm muscles to the fingers. There is very little covering muscle or tissue on the top of the wrist. In the case of athletes that punch, remember that hand has around 27 bones that need to be protected, and always wear hand wraps to avoid mild tear, a strain, sprain or even a rupture. Always use a careful and gradual approach to increase wrist flexibility and strength!While studying to write this article, I read that lots of fighters hurt their wrists by punching anatomically incorrectly. They don’t pay attention on how to align the hand when striking, or don’t align the wrist properly when doing a straight punch. If it is bent or bends during contact, wrist injury might occur. In my classes I always teach a wrist therapy learned from Duncan Wong during a Yogic Arts® Teacher Training. This is the link for the video, so you can also learn and stretch yours: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbNdVmzwPq4 Another exercise I always recommend, since my wrist is a little weak and it works perfectly for me, is squeezing the tennis ball: Hold and squeeze the tennis ball as hard as possible (without pain) for 5 seconds and repeat 10 times. Increase as you practice to more holding and repetition. In case you injured your wrist, try icing the area to reduce fluid accumulation. Wearing rigid splints that keep the wrists from flexing can also help. And don’t exercise if you are in pain. Many experts advice that rest and 24-hour splinting for two or more weeks are needed to prevent permanent nerve damage. My first experience in Yoga was in Brazil and it was terrible!
I didn't connect with the teacher, and the style I tried by the time wasn't what I was looking for. Years passed by and when already in Miami, I had my second experience right before my firts teacher training. I tried an Ashtanga class and it was a hard challenge to my body. I loved it. During the teacher training, the two important things I learned were the spiritual side of Yoga and how to control myself and feelings, specially how to overcame fears. During almost fifteen years of Martial Arts, I was always surrounded by tough guys and learned how to have a tough attitude (without losing my feminine side, of course), but since they were all huge and used to treat me like the little sister, I was always in the comfort zone, and never tried to really overcome my inner fears. In fact I didn't even think about it. The body was in shape, the ego was surrounded by lots of testosterone, and everything seemed ok. One day in a Jiu-Jitsu class (the Brazilian martial art I used to practice), some guys were trying to do hand and headstand and I was amazed, but couldn't do it... To be sincere, I never tried, was always scared thinking I was protecting myself, because the truth is: I was frustrated and sad for not being able to do it. I built a protection inside me that nobody saw, but that little thing bothered me A LOT. During my first TT in Miami (under teacher Reed Taylor from It's Yoga), I was asked to do a headstand. I panicked! During seconds my body froze and I didn't know what to do. I was studying to be a teacher, there were at least ten people looking at me, and I felt the dumbest person in the world. To make a long story short, he helped me and taught me how to hold somebody... I was doing it by myself after a week, with that amazing feeling: overcoming a fear! Yoga really empower you and can even unblock negative feelings and fears from childhood. It requires practice and persistence, but if it happened to me and to LOTS of people I've met, it can happen to YOU! Besides overcome your physical, you also can improve other fears: the fear of poverty, the loss of a relationship, or of a job. It's all on your mind, and YOGA can work on your mind braking the negative cycle of energy. It's like an anti depressant or an anxiolytic, but without side effects. Namaste! After deeply thinking about writing this article, I decided to put my emotions on the side and do something very statistical. Been involved with abandoned animals for more than twenty years (since Brazil) and the huge amount of emails and situations I’ve witnessed lately, motivated me to do it. If you are considering having a pet, or know somebody willing to do it, you should read it before. According to the APPA (American Pet Products Association) America’s spending on pets has grown despite the recession, with a 5.4% increase in 2009. The APPA’s annual comprehensive review shows spending on animals, food, supplies, veterinary care, grooming, boarding and pet sitting jumped to $45.5 billion in American in 2009, up from $43.2 billion in 2008. And it projects another increase — of nearly 5%– in 2010. Looking at these numbers, I guess Americans are pet lovers and care about their companions, right? According to a National Pet Owners Survey (2009-2010) published by The Humane Society of the United States, there are approximately 77.5 million owned dogs and 93.6 million owned cats in the United States. Nineteen percent of owned dogs and twenty-two percent of owned cats were adopted from an animal shelter. Still nice and positive numbers? Unfortunately national statistics show that nearly 50% of all animals in shelters are euthanized due to the lack of homes. America has become a nation of disposable pet owners. Four million cats and dogs—about one every eight seconds—are put down in U.S. shelters each year. Often these animals are the offspring of cherished family pets. Spay/neuter is a proven way to reduce pet overpopulation, ensuring that every pet has a family to love them. Many cats and dogs who die as a result of pet overpopulation could have made wonderful pets. Between six and eight million dogs and cats enter U.S. shelters every year; far too many to all find homes. Are you and your family willing to make around 10 year commitment? Choose wisely, for when the bond breaks, everybody concerned suffers. These are some options if you decided to adopt a pet: www.adoptapet.com www.petfinder.com His background comes from San Francisco’s Chinatown, where he was born and had his Buddhist master. Above is a movie about the sad reality of millions of people around the world. Swim, Bike, Run, Eat, Sleep, and Repeat: That is the mantra of many, if not most, triathletes, right? But is there something missing from this formula? Yes, and by adding this "F" factor, you will be able to swim, bike, and run longer, faster, and without those nagging pains that years of this repetition has given you. Recently I felt completely out of my usual character. My typically energized personality was confronted with a sense of boredom in my daily routine. My mind and body literally felt numb as I let this negative mood sit in my mind. Aware of what I was feeling, I decided to take some time alone to find the true source causing these emotions. It's been a while that I was figuring something easy and nice to share. There are two "words" that we usually see on stickers, t-shirts, and even non-regular students repeat in yoga classes or salute in emails, but do people know what it means? |