Yoga For Beginners - Five Useful Habits to Adopt to Live a Healthy Lifestyle

During a recent yoga lesson with one of my new students, she said she wanted to know what other changes she could make in her daily life to improve her health.

She realised that her yoga practice is just one aspect of living a healthy and happy lifestyle.

To live a holistic and balanced lifestyle, you need to include relaxation, wholesome foods, breathing and positive thinking into your daily routine.

Five Useful Habits To Adopt To Live a Healthy Lifestyle

1. Proper Exercise

Proper Exercise is one of the five basic points of yoga, as taught by Swami Vishnu-devananda, founder and Guru of the International Sivananda Yoga Centre.

Yoga exercises are designed to promote flexibility, strength and balance in the body. In yoga, the physical body is regarded as the vehicle in which the soul lives in on its journey in this lifetime. Yoga exercises are therefore designed to also enhance your spiritual and mental life.

Yoga physical exercises are called Asanas, which means steady pose. As you become more attuned to yoga, you are more able to 'hold' i.e. be in a pose for a longer period of time.

Through the practice of yoga your body becomes more flexible, stronger and supple. The postures bring balance to the body, especially to the muscular-skeletal which supports the body.

Internal organs are gently massaged; muscles gradually release tension to allow new energy to flow through your body.

Yoga exercises focus on developing a strong and supple spine. You may be aware of the saying "you are as young as your spine." The spinal column houses the nervous system. As you stretch and exercise, circulation is increased, which helps to supply and nourish the nerves with a rich supply of nutrients and oxygen.

2. Proper Breathing

In yoga, proper breathing, known as pranayama, means breathing fully, deeply and rhythmically using the whole of your breathing apparatus. Most people use only a fraction of their lung capacity for breathing.

When you practice yoga you learn how to breathe properly. This is a precious gift you give to yourself. When you feel stressed, frustrated and tired a few round of deep yogic breathing helps to recharge your body and clear and calm your mind.

3. Proper Relaxation

We lead stressful, busy and full lives. Many of my yoga students come to yoga as a way to learn how to relax and release stress and tension from their body. During yogic relaxation, you are encouraged to relax in savasan, the corpse pose. This promotes deep physical, emotional and spiritual relaxation.

After a busy day at work, I encourage my students to rest and relax for 10 - 20 minutes when they get home. This helps the body to let go of the stress and tension of the journey home and frantic pace of work.

4. Proper Diet

Yoga encourages you to eat a nutritious diet which is based on eating wholesome, natural and simple foods, e.g. whole grains, fruits, pulses, seeds, sprouted seeds, nuts and vegetables. These foods are easier for the body to digest and have a calming effect on the mind.

5. Positive Thoughts and Meditation

A positive attitude plus the ability to calm and clear your mind is an essential habit to cultivate to help you lead a healthy, balanced life. Meditation is the key to help you achieve this state.

Regular practice of these five habits will help you to live a happy, healthy and relaxed life. It takes time to change, but with regular practice you will live the healthy lifestyle you desire. Let me know how you get on. I would love to hear from you and support you achieve your health goals.

Ntathu Allen, Hatha Yoga Teacher designs personal yoga exercise programmes for beginners. She helps you learn easy yoga postures which improve your flexibility, breathing practices to release stress and meditation techniques to soothe and calm your mind. To find out more go to:> http://www.yogainspires.co.uk and sign up for your free monthly yoga and health newsletter, "Healing for the Soul," full of wellbeing and holistic healing tips and; yoga exercises to energise and nurture your soul.

Email: ntathu@yogainspires.co.uk

http://www.yogainspires.co.uk

Health and Lifestyle

The fact has been overtly discussed until today, however, as human nature implies, we don't seem to show half as much ease at "doing" things that are pro-health and lifestyle, as we show it while talking about them. Anyway, if talking is at least capable of making people aware about things, it is not completely useless.

Health, which refers to both - physical as well as mental; and lifestyle, which is both - the means and the outcome of your vigor, are quite closely knitted concepts. In order to attain both one needs to undertake few practices and techniques that eventually lead him to the "healthy lifestyle".

Dancing can be pretty healthy apart from entertaining. Every dance type has some pro-fitness moves, but it's Zumba that is developed as an altogether dance fitness program. Developed by Colombian dancer and choreographer Alberto "Beto" Perez in 90s, Zumba dance combines Latin and international music with dance in an effort to make exercise fun. Music is the key ingredient of Zumba Pilates, which transitions the workout from one toning / strengthening / cardio moves to another with specific beats and tempo variations.

Zumba is of five kinds:

• Zumba - It includes basic rhythms like salsa, belly dance, waltz, flamenco, tango, samba, etc.

• Zumba Gold - This kind addresses the adult-age specific anatomical, physiological, and psychological needs.

• Zumba Toning - As the name suggests, it is developed to tone the body, as well as for calorie burning and strength training.

• Aqua Zumba - This is similar to water aerobics, and is designed to be safe for all age-groups.

• Zumbatomic - This is the Zumba program for kids between the age group of 4 and 12, and uses urban dance styles like hip-hop and pop. The motive behind this program is to encourage coordination, discipline, confidence, and teamwork.

If such dance techniques are one thing, another is Pilates. This is also a physical fitness system developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates from Germany. In short time Mat Pilates has seen such a popularity that as of now there are way over 11 million people practicing it on a regular basis. Based on principles of breathing, alignment, centering, concentration, control, precision, flow of efficiency or movement, and flexibility; this program is focused at core postural muscles that help us keep our body balanced and support our spine.

If fat-burning and body-sculpting dance is a western technique, the east has given the world a hardcore scientific and incredibly effective practice that takes care of your body and mind, called "Yoga". There are different sorts of Yoga available thru the Yoga courses, which are aimed at benefitting different people, from different age-groups, with different lifestyles, and with different needs.

Beginner's Yoga is a practice that anyone with, no experience of Yoga, can start with. It involves different stretching and muscle relaxing Aasana's (poses) that eventually give you a better posture and eradicate numerous problems, causing improved blood circulation, better functioning of organs, warming up of the muscles, flexibility of the bones, and many more things.

Many Yoga courses are specifically designed to benefit a particular group of people. One of such kind is Prenatal Yoga, which is designed exclusively for pregnant women. The main motive of the Prenatal Yoga Workshops is to keep the health of the mother and the inborn baby intact, and also help the mother keep herself in shape. It is also driven to make the delivery process less painful and trouble-free.

One more concept that has emerged lately is Mommy and Me Yoga, which contemplates upon mother practicing yoga with her kids to instill good ways of lifestyle and health in them. These Yoga Workshops' objective is to keep both - the mother and the child - in each others' comfort during the stretches.

Kids' Yoga is another model that is made for kids ranging from toddlers to teens. Kids' Yoga also offers private Yoga therapy to kids with special needs. It includes dynamic movements, postures, breathing exercises, and meditation.

Such Yoga techniques are generally considered Gentle Yoga, since they are driven to benefit people, who are in a delicate stage of their health, for instance pregnant women or small kids. Nonetheless, there are few Yoga practices that are helpful to relieve strain in your muscles and bones. Such Yoga for stiff bodies includes Yoga Fit, massages, and Senior Yoga. It aims at curing body tension for people, who work out, do body-straining work, travel a lot, or simply old aged people, whose bones and muscles are not as healthy as they used to be some years back.

For more information please visit our website [http://www.bothellyoga.com/]

Yoga For Health and an Active Lifestyle

Yoga for health has received extensive coverage in the past few years. Experts Yogis have cropped up almost everywhere with their own unique form of yoga. Apparently there are 6 styles with several sub styles and interpretations of yoga. There is yoga for health, yoga for spirituality, yoga for wisdom, even a yoga that helps you have better sex! In this maze of yoga, how does a yoga beginner find what he is looking for without getting duped? This article talks about the basics of yoga and what a person needs to know to achieve an active lifestyle and better health by applying the principles of yoga.

Yoga for health is different from simple exercise in the fact that it focuses equally on the mind and spirit along with one's physical self. So Yoga for health is not just about weight loss or fitness but a feeling of 'wellnesses. Yoga attempts to achieve a balance between the body, mind and spirit by 'uniting' them through exercise, pranayam and meditation. Exercise is the first part with a range of simple to almost impossible to perform 'asanas' that increase the body's flexibility. Incidentally, many of these asanas or poses combine the best of aerobic exercise with the rigors of strength training making it better than any gym workout. It is best not to attempt all these postures at once and proceed slowly. What might seem difficult at first will become easier with practice. Do not give up any asana however difficult it may seem. Each asana has a unique role to play and skipping it will deprive the body of those benefits. Conversely trying everything at once will only lead to disappointment.

The second part is pranayam or correct breathing techniques. These include various ways of inhaling, holding and exhaling air from one's mouth and nostrils. Pranayam requires focusing on one's breath and helps discipline the mind for the meditation. Pranayam also helps promote the flow of energy which contributes to better overall health and vitality. The third and the hardest is meditation which works to bring the mind and spirit in union with the body. It requires maximum practice and dedication. Though beneficial for the body as well, it is not mandatory to be able to meditate to get the benefits of yoga.

Yoga is practiced all over the world today. It is easy to get basic posture information from books or the internet. Try by doing some simple asanas in the comfort of your home. All you need are some comfortable clothes and a mat. It is important to concentrate while doing yoga to achieve the best benefits unlike aerobic exercises which go well with music. If you can, try and learn yoga in a group. Learning in the environs of an ashram is actually the best way since there are fewer distractions as well as access to greater energies. If you are serious about yoga for your health then find an ashram where you live for a few days and learn yoga under the guidance of a guru.

Healthy Weight Loss

[http://www.simpledietguide.com]