Excuses to Skip Exercise

Its high time to fool yourself by giving lame excuses, to skip exercises. Just Remember, There Are No Good Excuses To Skip Exercising


Time Excuses:
"I will be late for work if I exercise in the morning" or "I have a ton of errands and housework to do tonight"

These excuses essentially stem from a lack of planning. If you prefer to exercise in the morning, but are always running late, set your alarm for a half hour earlier. An early morning workout can really get you energized for the rest of the day! If miscellaneous errands and housework are overtaking your day, try to limit the amount of time that they take by scheduling all of them in one day. Condensing all of these tasks into a single day leaves the rest of the week wide open for exercise and other activities!


Family Excuses :
"I don’t spend enough time with my family" or "My family won't support me with my diet and exercise program"

Many families lead very hectic lifestyles, therefore, it is important that you spend quality time together whenever possible. So why not spend some time exercising with them? Go on a hike, go swimming, or take a walk together in the park after dinner. If your family hasn’t yet jumped on the fitness and nutrition bandwagon, be a good role model for them. Once they see you reaping the benefits of living a healthier lifestyle, they will likely decide to join you.

Work Excuses :
"I work long hours and don’t feel like exercising when I get home" or "I am physically active at my job"
Even if you have worked all day long, it is still important to exercise. Not only will the exercise boost your energy level for the rest of the day, but it will also help you unwind from the stress of the day. Jobs that are physically demanding are often tedious and stressful. It is important to do some exercise that is not work-related in order to work off the tension that builds up during the day. Doing a different type of physical activity may also help prevent your muscles from being so sore from doing a repetitive task all day long.

Emotional Excuses:
"I'm too depressed to exercise" or "I'm bored with my current routine"
Whether you are just feeling down-in-the-dumps, or have actually been diagnosed with depression, exercise may be just what the doctor ordered! Exercising naturally raises the level of the chemical serotonin, which has a direct effect on our emotional state,. If you are bored with your current exercise routine, simply try a new one, or experiment with a variety of routines. If you exercise alone, invite a friend to join you. You could also join a fitness club, which would also give you many exercise options.

Meditation Techniques

Techniques of Meditation

As we discussed yesterday, meditation helps us to relieve our stress & tension.

Meditation is widely recommended as a healthy way to manage stress, and for good reason. It helps to reduce stress and anxiety, relieves complaints like headaches and enhances your immunity.

Meditation helps to make you lighter & face the entire day with a new vigour & challenge. Today, we shall discuss on various techniques of meditation.

You may try any or all types of meditation & finally use / practice the technique that suits you best.

Majorly herein below are some of the Types or Techniques of Meditation:

• Breathing Meditation / Watching your Breath: Relax in a straight seated position or whatever position works best for you, close your eyes and start to pay attention to your breathing. Breathing through your nose gets your diaphragm involved and gets oxygen all the way to the bottom of your lungs. Just focus your attention on the air going in and out of your nose, even if your mind wanders here & there, just bring it back to your breath. Doing this for 5-10 minutes initially & gradually increase the time limit as and how you get used to it.
• Empty Mind Meditation: Meditating can create a kind of "awareness without object," an emptying of all thoughts from your mind. The techniques for doing this involve sitting still, often in a "full lotus" (padmasana) or cross-legged position (simple sitting position), and letting the mind go silent on its own. Try it, it may seem to be simple, however as you start doing it, you may find it difficult to empty your mind from thoughts & wandering.. but slowly you would get used to doing it.
• Walking Meditation: In this type of meditation, your entire body is working out. You may want to practice this meditation with your daily morning walk, or if not, you may simply want to practice this in-house, by walking back & forth in your room. Just pay attention to the movement of your legs, concentrate on your breathing and body as you walk, and to the feeling of your feet contacting the ground. When your mind wanders, just keep bringing it back to the process of walking and breathing.
• Mindfulness Meditation: Mindfulness is a form of meditation that, like activity-oriented meditation, doesn’t really look like meditation. It simply involves staying in the present moment rather than thinking about the future or the past. This is more difficult than it seems! Focusing on sensations you feel in your body is one way to stay, focusing on emotions and where you feel them in your body. This type of meditation is also known as vipassana. You can start by watching your breath, and then move your attention to the thoughts going through your mind, the feelings in your body, and even the sounds and sights around you. The key is to watch without judging or analyzing.
• Mantra Meditation: This is a very common type of meditation practiced by many. People find it easier to keep their mind from wandering if they concentrate on something specific. A mantra can help in thi. This is a word or phrase you repeat as you sit in meditation. For eg. the recitation of "Om" repetitively and aloud, can help you concentrate. You can also use any word or phrase that works for you, and can choose to either repeat it aloud or in your head as you meditate.
• Meditating on a Concept: Some meditation techniques involve contemplation of an idea or scenario. An example is the "meditation on impermanence" in which you focus on the impermanent nature of all things, starting with your thoughts and feelings as they come and go. In the Buddhist "meditation on the corpse," you think about a body in the ground, as it slowly rots away and is fed on by worms. The technique is used to guide you to an understanding that your rationalizing mind might not bring you to.
• Spiritual Meditation: Meditation can also be a spiritual practice. (It does not have to be, and certainly isn't specific to any one religion, but can be used as a spiritual experience.) Many people experience meditation as a form of prayer -- the form where God 'speaks,' rather than just listening. Many people experience ‘guidance’ or inner wisdom once the mind is quiet, and meditate for this purpose. You can meditate on a singular question until an answer comes.

Whichever meditative techniques you use, the potential benefits are clear and numerous, making it one of the more commonly recommended stress management practices.

Meditation

Meditation is a mental discipline by which one attempts to get beyond the reflexive, "thinking" mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness. Meditation involves turning attention to a single point of reference. Different meditative disciplines encompass a wide range of spiritual or psychophysical practices that may emphasize different goals—from achievement of a higher state of consciousness, to greater focus, creativity or self-awareness, or simply a more relaxed and peaceful frame of mind.


Spirituality, Religion & Meditation
Meditation can be said to be self regulation of attention. The various techniques of meditation can be classified according to their focus. Some focus on the field or background perception and experience, often referred to as mindfulness.

Meditation helps improve concentration & will power. It relieves tension, trauma & rejuvenates the body to face a hectic day ahead.

According to Osho, meditation does not mean a conscious implementation; it means an effortless jump into oneself into the unconscious of the infinite possibilities. Meditation helps to raise the level of one's energy. Meditation brings in a rhythm to the day. Right from the morning you will become attuned, and you will see that the whole day has a different quality. You are more loving, more caring, more compassionate, caring and more friendly, less violent, less angry, ambitious, egoistic.

When to Meditate: Though their is no fixed timing for meditation, it is best done early morning before sunrise, for atleast 15-30 minutes.

Method of Meditation: Hum, moan, groan, sing and sway at the same time. Start feeling that the sound is arising upwards from your throat existential, not meaningful. Enjoy this, that's all. Let it be praise for the rising sun, and stop only when the sun has come up. Dont worry about the external world, who is listening to you & who is not. Just relax & enjoy yourself.

Yoga & Menopause

Yoga For Menopause Relief

Yoga has many benefits for menopause. Learn about some of the types of poses that can be beneficial, and some important points to keep in mind when incorporating them into a practice.

Yoga is not a 'remedy' for menopause - not least because menopause represents a stage of life, rather than an illness. A woman's experience during menopause is completely individual, and yoga is not specific like the drugs of modern medicine. There is no one set series of postures that can make up a remedy for the symptoms of perimenopause.

Yoga is an adaptive discipline that can support the body through the myriad of biological changes it is making. Importantly, it supports our minds and emotions, and allow us to come to a perspective on the inner processes that are happening. Many perimenopausal women have found both the physical and less tangible benefits of yoga helpful at this time.

Backbending postures & exercising is great for lifting energy levels. Forward bends are good for anxiety and stress.

Given that quite active physical exercise had been found to help with menopause, this observation is no real surprise. Ultimately, it depends on what is going on for each woman, and this can vary over time anyway. If you're feeling really tired all the time, restorative poses may be best for that period. However, if you've got more energy, there are a number of yoga asanas that can really help.

Some of the Asanas / yoga poses that can be beneficial include:

• Sarvanga Asana
• Tada Asana
• Ardha Chandra Asana
• Matsya Asana
• Bala Asana
• Gomukha Asana
• Ugra Asana

Whatever poses you incorporate into your daily life during menopause, remember to be flexible. The needs of our bodies change, areas of stiffness change, symptoms change. Learning to respond to this, like the challenges that life can send our way, is the best way to practice yoga to suit your individual needs and physical condition.

Beginner Asanas

The 6 Beginner Asanas

Hatha yoga consists of many asanas with varying difficulty levels. Some of these are designed for more seasoned practitioners, while some are beginner asanas.

When you are new to yoga, it is very wise to become fully competent with the beginner asanas before moving onto more difficult ones.

Today, I would brief you about a few of the beginner asanas / poses, some of which we have already discussed earlier.

1. Yogasana / Padmasana (Lotus pose)


2. Bhujangasana (the cobra / snake pose)


3. Ardakurmakasana (Half tortoise Pose)


4. Shavasana (corpse pose)


5. Tadaasana (mountain pose)


6. Balaasana (child pose)


These beginner asanas are a good starting point for learning Hatha yoga; before long you'll be able to add other beginner asanas, as well as more complicated ones.

Yoga for All

Yoga For Everyone!

Yoga is so popular these days, it's easy to find yoga classes for all kinds of issues and special requirements as well. There are yoga classes for pregnancy, for beginners and even for kids! Numerous books & websites are available for yoga (information, tips, benefits, how to's). Even books on yoga for couples are available .. if you so wish to be with your partner, at times of exercise.

Yoga can be practiced to cure specific physical problems, disorders or deseases such as arthritis, depression, diabetes, blood pressure, spinal problems and many more. Not only this, yoga helps the re-occurance of these problems, if practiced on a continual basis.

Yoga is good for mental well being, and can definitely be practiced by people who are not sick and also those who want to improve their health, strength & body resistance against any desease.

If you're an athlete or fitness enthusiast, you may prefer a more active and strengthening style of yoga so that your body is still physically better off than your competitors.

Balaasana

Bala-Asana - The Child Pose

The sanskrit word Bala - Means Child. The posture signifies a small child, thus the name Bala-Asana.

The balaasana is one of the most relaxing Yoga postures and can easily be done by beginners. As part of your Yoga routine it is best to use this as a counter-pose to any posture that stretch the spine backward (such as the dhanuraasana, the chakraasana, the ushtraasana)

How to Do Balasana?

• Sit on your knees with your feet together and buttocks resting on your heels.
• Separate your knees about the width of your hips.
• Place your hands on your thighs, palms down. (This is the same as vajraasana).
• Inhale deeply, then exhale as you bring your chest between your knees while swinging your arms forward.
• Now rest your forehead on the floor, as far as possible
• Bring your arms around to your sides until the hands are resting on either side of your feet, palms up.
• Breath gently as you hold the posture.
• Hold for as long as possible, 60-80 seconds
• Return to upright kneeling position with your back straight and your hands on your thighs.

Benefits of Balasana:

• Balaasana gently stretches and relaxes the shoulders, neck, back muscles and thighs.
• It is good for stomach & digestive organs
• It used to normalize the circulation (after holding certain difficult poses) and to give a counter-stretch to the spine after any backward bend poses.
• It can be done before - or after - any pose, or even on its own.
• It stretches the hips, thighs and ankles gently.
• It helps relieve stress and fatigue, and calms the brain.

Ushtraasana

Ushtraasana - The Camel Pose

The Sanskrit word ushtra means camel. Thus Ushtraasana means the Camel Posture.
Ushtraasana aims at opening up the chest cavity, promoting lymph drainage, sliming the thighs, waist line, hip and activating the Vishuddha chakra or thyroid plexus.

The ushtra-asana is a powerful posture for streatching the spine, back muscles, shoulders and arms. It is best to practice it later in your asana routine after most of the muscles are limber and and you have worked the back and shoulders.

How to Do Ushtraasana?

• Sit up on the knees with the heels of the feet pressed against the buttocks and the calves of the legs flat on the floor.
• Reaching backward, grasp the left ankle with the left hand and right ankle with the right hand.
• Inhale & lift the buttocks off the legs arching the back and thrusting the abdomen forward and tilt the head as far back as possible.
• Hold the posture for the duration of the inhale breath or breath gently through the nostrils while holding the posture.
• Exhale and return to the kneeling position.

Benefits of Ushtraasana

• Ushtraasana increases the lung capacity by expanding the rib cage.
• Work to mobilize the fat tissue of abdomen, thighs and hips.
• Increases the muscular flexibility, mobility of joints and elasticity of ligaments of the spine.
• With gravity pull, blood circulation is boosted in head and hence, sensory organs are activated and helps in curing hair problems.
• Strengthens the arms, shoulders, knees and thighs.
• Massages the kidneys & bladder and gives simultaneous stretch and contraction to posterior and anterior sides of the body.
• Increases blood supply to brain and increases memory, concentration and reduces stress and anxiety levels.
• Helps in cases of insomnia, disturbed sleep, depression, tension headaches.
• Regulates the functioning of the pituitary gland, pineal thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal glands.