Archives for February 2010

I worked at Sea World when I was in my twenties as a performer on Cast Away Island. My character's name was China Dawn - a fitness infomercial star who was stranded on an island, desperate for a way back home to her fans. Every hour I worked a twenty-minute segment delivering my monologue of distress to Sea World attendees. I was off for the remaining forty-minute segment of each hour. During those times in which I wasn't working, I liked to sit with "Shamu" and the dolphins. I often spoke with the trainers, always expressing concern for the mammals being kept in such small quarters. They reassured me that Sea World takes great care of them, and that they are better off in captivity than in the wild. I wanted to believe them, but watching the whales and dolphins repeatedly hitting their nozzles against their underwater doors, I couldn't help but disagree.

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BIKRAM Choudhury, founder of Bikram Yoga - a popular form of Hatha yoga that sees practitioners doing postures for 90 minutes in a room heated to about 40 deg C - has one big ambition: to turn yoga into an Olympic sport.

He and his wife, Rajashree, both recognised yoga champions from India, set up the International Yoga Asana Championships - a United States-based worldwide competition that got its start in 2003. The competition has now seen seven instalments, and is the first step towards Olympic recognition.

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Yoga is union. Mindful eating is also yoga -- in the sense that eating unites your body and mind's intention through a moment of eating presence. Create an eating mindfulness placemat that you could carry with you like a yoga mat, from table to table, from setting to setting, whether you are eating in or eating out, as a kind of portable eating mindfulness space of your own.

Sketch out a placemat that includes a visual diagram of mindful eating. For example, draw a picture of the eyes to denote the mindfulness of the appearance of food, with an arrow pointing to a nose for the mindfulness of smell, with an arrow pointing to a picture of the tongue for the mindfulness of taste, with an arrow pointing back to your mind (to remember to "open your mind before you open your mouth").

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Yoga will relax you for the hour or two that you’re practicing it. And as you get into it more, yoga will change your life. “What I learn in the time that I spend on my mat is I take what I get there and use it throughout my day. It’s been a real profound thing for me,” said Carrie Shuler, the yoga instructor at the Waynesboro Family YMCA.

Shuler teaches intermediate-level yoga classes at the Y on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10-11:30 a.m. and another class on Wednesdays from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. that is aimed at beginners.

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Location: Southern France
There is something separate and heavenly about Southern France. It could be the beaches, or the fact that its laissez-faire attitude is a different version than that of metropolitan Paris, but the cluster of shoreline communities in Montpelier, Nimes, and Avignon have something different going for them – and entirely new brand of relaxation. Although classical buildings erected by Romans millennia ago, stand proudly in Nimes’ center, you can’t escape the whispering modernism that seeps into the atmosphere. Students make up a lot of the population down here, giving southern French cities an unmatched vitality, rich also in history and vineyard culture. Quissac, a small village along the Vidourle is set between rocky beaches and rolling hills – a visual juxtaposition of scenery that compliments its culinary decadence.

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If there is a common reason that drives many people to practice yoga, it would have to be back pain. Tension and pain in the back are major ailments for adults – about eight out of 10 people will experience them at some point in their life. It is the most common cause of job-related disability. Americans spend US$34 billion treating lower-back pain each year – the largest category of medical reimbursement in the country.

But despite the billions of dollars spent each year on these problems, they persist. Lately, more doctors have suggested practicing yoga as therapy for back pain, based on studies suggesting yoga is a safe and effective treatment for chronic back pain. It even uplifts the mood in a better way than regular painkillers.

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Winslow Passey, lead guide for Utah Mountain Adventures, is bringing a three-day yoga and skiing retreat to Alta. But unlike other yoga outings, this one takes you into the backcountry for your ski experience. Passey has worldwide guiding experience that includes Antarctica, Nepal, Mongolia, South America, and Alaska and has been sharing her yoga with others in the mountains on guided trips to Denali in Alaska and in the Himalayas traveling to Everest Base Camp.

Participants at Alta will learn about and use the principles of body alignment and self awareness taught in yoga and then integrate them into skiing. "I strive to increase self awareness among participants to help them establish a connection to their surroundings so they can maximize their fun and enjoyment," said Passey.

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For some Bonita Springs and Naples residents, downward facing dog trumps the treadmill. The practice of yoga, a system of Hindu healing exercises that combine posturing and breathing techniques, has become somewhat of a fad nationwide in recent years, and local yoga studios are feeling the effects of its surging popularity. "It's booming, baby," Tess Chiodo, co-owner of Joyful Yoga in Bonita Springs, said of business.

Every day, Chiodo sees two or three new people in her yoga classes, many of whom say their doctors recommended it. Joyful Yoga offers 35 classes during the week, during which participants stretch out virtually every limb while inhaling and exhaling slowly, deeply, rhythmically. Whether someone's suffering from physical pain, depression or even internal disease such as cancer, yoga simply offers a way to feel better physically and emotionally - something most modern medicine can't do, Chiodo said.

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Point, flex, plie and releve . . . looking for something to add some grace to your fitness routine? You may want to experience a Sole Synthesis class.

What Is It?

Sole Synthesis is a workout that combines fitness exercises with ballet and yoga postures. This hour-long workout flows from a basic fitness exercise -- such as a squat -- to a dance-inspired combination of movements that will increase your heart rate, to yoga-like postures such as warrior. Then the sequence of fitness, dance and yoga moves is repeated, beginning with new foundation exercises such as lunges, progressing into a dance cardio and strength sequence of movement. The class runs through three to four exercise series. This is a barefoot workout . . . so you will get the added benefit of training in bare feet, strengthening your feet and lower legs.

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Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev  announced to field candidates in the next general elections. Baba said here on Tuesday that the process of good politicians has already started . He has not political aspirations but he will field candidates in the next general elections to fulfil his demands . The peoples of India are in America and England  in Top ranks and doing development in that countries. Baba demanded that givernment should effort for their return to our country . If  this demand will not be fulfilled by the government, Baba will filed candidates in the next Parliament elections and try through them.

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