The research keeps pouring in about yoga and why it has such profound benefits on your health. Here are the cliff notes about yoga, your brain, and stress. You have two parts of your brain that deal with stress. There is the emotional part and the cognitive part. The emotional brain triggers stress and turns on the fight or flight response. But the cognitive brain has the capacity to turn off the stress switch. When you hold a yoga posture you are busy concentrating and trying to balance. This turns on the cognitive brain and switches off the stress response. Some postures naturally activate the cognitive brain and turn on relaxation. While other postures actually turn on the stress response, you know the one’s that are difficult and leave you feeling anxious. Because you are focused on practice the difficult postures simply provide a challenge for your cognitive brain to work extra hard to overcome the stress signal. Like a muscle the cognitive brain gets stronger over time and it […]
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Alkalize Your Body
Acidity is the cause of chronic inflammation and the root of most disease. Here is an easy way to reduce inflammation and acidity in your body and improve your overall health. When you wake up brush your teeth first thing. The organs release toxins while you sleep that end up in your mouth and are harmful to swallow. Some of you might already do a practice called “oil pulling” and/or use a tongue scraper first. After your mouth is clean, squeeze the juice of one lemon into a 16oz. glass of warm water and drink. Stay hydrated with warm or room temperature water throughout the day and add lemon when you feel like it! Here are some of the benefits of lemon water: Balances pH Lemons are one of the most alkalizing foods for the body. Lemons contain both citric and ascorbic acid, weak acids easily metabolized by the body […]
Continue ReadingFall Reboot + Recipes
In Ayurveda it is common to eat a simple diet of kitcharie and vegetables each fall and spring for about a week. This helps to remove toxins from the body and give it a chance to find balance again. Even though I have done this many times in the past, this year I missed my spring time cleanse and have been very reluctant to do it. I like to enjoy the pleasures of life, especially when it comes to food. Though I eat really healthy, I dislike limiting or restricting myself. Despite my resistance I began a reboot for my system a few weeks ago with the intention to do it for one week. I felt so good that I continued on a second week, and now I am on my third week of eating simply, though I am slowly adding variety back into my diet. I am so thrilled I did this for myself. I feel more vibrant than I have in […]
Continue Reading77 Surprising Health Benefits of Yoga
Health Benefits Inside 1. Blood pressure. A consistent yoga practice decreases blood pressure through better circulation and oxygenation of the body. These two exercises can help lower blood pressure. 2. Pulse rate. A slower pulse rate indicates that your heart is strong enough to pump more blood with fewer beats. Regularly practicing yoga provides a lower pulse rate. 3. Circulation. Yoga improves blood circulation. By transporting nutrients and oxygen throughout your body, yoga practice provides healthier organs, skin, and brain. 4. Respiratory. Like the circulatory system, a lower respiratory rate indicates that the lungs are working more efficiently. Yoga decreases the respiratory rate through a combination of controlled breathing exercises and better fitness. 5. Cardiovascular endurance. A combination of lower heart rate and improved oxygenation to the body (both benefits of yoga) results in higher cardiovascular endurance. 6. Organs. Yoga practice massages internal […]
Continue ReadingHappy Feet
Many of the discomforts in our body begin with our feet. As you walk, your foot, which could be thought of as a sense organ, finds the ground and sends messages to the rest of the body how to support your movement. This function is limited because we put our feet in shoes and walk along paved streets when our bodies were built to run barefoot on the earth. Whether or not you have foot pain, fallen arches, bunions, toes that don’t spread, or you wear high heel shoes, this one simple exercise will help you open and increase blood flow in your foot, loosen tight calves and hamstrings, and allow your foot to ground more completely. What To Do: 1. Get yourself a “pinky ball.” 2. Step down on it with your heel, slowly move the ball 1/4 inch at a time toward your toes. Stay 30 seconds in each spot. 3. You […]
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