Monday, April 14, 2008

Have You Saluted the Sun Today?

A wonderful way to start the day is with yoga and a "salute to the sun".

This pose is great for warming up your body, as well as being, as with most yoga poses, a great toning exercise, a pose that energizes your body and mind and is an excellent method of breathing control.

You can do the 'salute to the sun" a few times a day. First thing in the morning it get's your blood pumping, your muscles warmed up and your joints moving. Later on, even two or three more times. the pose can be done as an energizer and stress reliever

Try this -

* Stand with your feet together and palms together in front of the chest. Push your feet into the floor and stretch your necks upwards, lengthening your body as you exhale.

* Breathe in deeply as you raise your arms high, keeping your hands together and bend backwards from the waist.

* Exhale slowly as you bend forwards, placing your hands flat on the floor at the sides of your feet . (Bend your knees if you need to).

* While inhaling, stretch your left leg backwards so it rests on the knee and toes. While doing this bend the right knee and raise your head so you are looking up.

* Holding your breath, bring your right foot backwards besides your left foot. Your body should now make a straight line, just like a push up position, supported on your hands and toes.

* Begin lowering your knees, chest and your forehead to the floor, exhaling as you do this. Try to keep your stomach and pelvis off the ground.

* As you are breathing in raise your upper body by straitening your arms and leave your legs on the ground. Look up at the ceiling.

* Exhale and curl your toes under and then push your butt upwards and back. Press your heels and head down towards the floor.

The last four steps are the reverse of what you were doing in steps 3 - 6

* While inhaling, bring your left foot forward beneath your chest. Your right leg should be extended backwards with the knee resting on the floor.

* Breathe out as you bring your right leg alongside the left. Raise your right leg alongside the left. Raise your buttocks placing your face close to your legs.

* Breathe in as you straighten upward, extend your arms up, hands together then arch yourself backwards.

* Return to your standing position and exhale. Repeat the sequence leading with your right leg so the stretching action is balanced on both sides of the body.

The first few times it will likely be confusing, but after a while this pose will be second nature to you and you'll be able to included in you schedule.

Yoga is designed so that while you are exercising and practicing the different poses you are also focusing on your breathing and connecting with your body and your spirit. Learn more about yoga.

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Anti-Aging Through Livestyle Changes

There are several lifestyle changes that take ten years off your face.

1) Eat a diet rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B and E. Those nutrients improve the skin. Get a diet mostly of high fiber foods, lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grain foods, and low fat. Foods high in Vitamin A are carrots, cantaloupes, winter squash, sweet potatoes, sweet red peppers, apricots, and mangoes help replenish the skin cells, keeping the skin supple and prevents dryness. Vitamin C improves the blood supply to the skin and aids in forming the protein collagen, which gives the skin a smooth youthful appearance. Foods rich in Vitamin C are citrus fruits and juices, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, snow peas, watermelon, honeydew melon, broccoli, and tomatoes. Nutrients found in Vitamin B complex and Vitamin E help the aging process by preventing scaling and cracking of the skin and protecting skin cells from abnormal oxidation. Get these nutrients from Vitamin B complex rich foods such as peas, potatoes, fish, organ meats, fruits, nuts, whole-grain products, beef, oysters, mushrooms, poultry, cheese, and tuna. Food sources of Vitamin E include dried beans, vegetable oils, butter, and green leafy vegetables. One does not to go through the expense of cosmetic surgery but can achieve an inexpensive means of modifying your diet to make you look ten years more youthful in the face.

2) Maintain a healthy weight. Too thin or too fat causes health problems. Too heavy people are at risk for high blood pressure. Avoid crash dieting as it does not help your health. Try to lose weight moderately.

3) Exercise for total fitness. Light exercise protects your body against disease and tones muscles. You don't have to pant to be effective. 30 to 40 minutes of exercise per day, such as dancing, stretching, t'ai chi or jogging keep the body looking youthful.

4) Keep away from over exposure from the sun, which makes the skin took old before it's time, full of wrinkles.

5) Kick the habits! Smoking has lots of health risks to the body. Alcohol and drug abuse, age the body and risk the health as well.

6) RELAX!! Some people are always on the go, full of worry and tension. They respond to daily problems by tensing muscles. This causes muscle fatigue, but this may result in loss of muscle tone and general deterioration in outward appearance. Consider someone who has the weight of the world on their shoulders. They generally look 5 to 10 years older due to worry and stress. Learn how to relax in the face of today's anxiety, tension and stress. That is a big factor in slowing the aging process. There are numerous ways to facilitate relaxation: Getting a massage, listening to music, going in hot tubs, meditation, exercise, yoga or t'ai chi. One of the most popular and successful techniques is tensing and relaxing individual muscle groups. This can be done sitting in chairs or laying on the ground. Start with your feet, tensing and relaxing your toes for 10 seconds at a time. Then proceed upward to your calf muscles, thigh muscles, shoulder and neck muscles. Finish up with your facial muscles. After a few days of progressive muscle relaxation, you will begin to recognize any areas that were tense and begin to relax them. It is good to manage stress in your life, so it does not affect your emotional health. Relaxation CD is good to used to fill the sound waves with the type of music that deeply relaxes you. An aromatic neck pillow is especially good to relax you is it is warmed up, good at taking the stresses out of of the muscles.

The web-site http://www.rejuvenatingsolutions.com is loaded with Relaxation products yoga exercise videos, and tai chi exercise videos.

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