Health Benefits of Yoga
I've recently begun to practice Vinyasa Flow yoga, going a couple of times during the week for hour and a half classes and awakening my body to its old flexibility and strength. Given how great I've been feeling every time I leave class, I've been wondering of late what the actual health benefits are. Some quick research has revealed a host of them, and as you may have guessed, I'm going to share them here. Perhaps this post will alert those who have not taken a yoga class as to unexpected benefits, or simply confirm that what current practitioners already know, but either way, I hope you find it as fascinating an array as I do!
There are certain standard exercises that are classics. The push-up, the crunch, the chin-up. Each one has been performed and perfected for years, and is abandoned for the latest fad and then returned to when wisdom prevails. Each requires no piece of fancy equipment, and relies instead on gravity and your body weight. Today let’s take a closer look at the chin-up, and ask a few basic questions. Why do them? What are the benefits? What do you do if you can’t even do one? Is there a way to perfect your form, and what common mistakes should you be looking out for?
Tea time is not only a delightful and civilized ceremony (ask anybody from England, India, China, Japan or any other number of places) but a way to keep your teeth health, prevent dental caries, perhaps aid in weight loss, prevent cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. So set that Coke aside, brew yourself a pot, and kick back and enjoy yourself a cuppa!
A few days ago we tore up the backyard, stripped the earth of the weedy grass and lay down fertilizer soil in which to plant a number of vegetables. Peppers, arugula, corn, chard and more, we planted them in rows or set the young seedlings into the soil, watered them and then began to wait. And, coming in this morning, we're thrilled to see how much life had sprouted in the dark earth. From thousands of delicate, tendril like shoots of arugula to slender spikes of baby green corn, our veggies had been to grow and reach for the sun. I took the opportunity to snap off a series of shots, and we'll keep you posted here as to how our garden continues to grow, and what difficulties and challenges we run into. So far, however (I don't want to jinx us), so good!
Here at Extreme Fitness Results we're dedicated to living as healthy a life style as possible. That involves eating well, exercising, and getting our sleep (surprisingly tricky). Given how hard it can be to find healthy, nutritious food, we decided to turn the backyard behind our office into a vegetable garden, and after some discussion, got to work digging and planting. It's surprising how rewarding and satisfying it can be to dig your hands into the dirt and tear up roots and weeds, how good it can feel to just plop seeds into little holes you've shaped with your fingers. The brains behind the operation was Esteban Bressan, our CEO and a man with 8 years of experience as a professional agronomist out in California, where he worked with organic foods and oversaw industrial sized projects. So, after we'd washed the dirt from our hands and had a glass of water, I sat down with him to ask a couple of basic questions.
Maybe you're a fire jumper, riding helicopters into the heart of blazing infernos, where you run around putting your life on the line to put the blaze out. Or a professional marathon runner, exercising day in and day out, racking up the miles and the awards. Or a cop, working your beat, or a nurse, on your feet through the graveyard shift. But, most likely, you're not. You're an office worker, reading this on your office computer, in your chair where you spend eight hours a day. No judgment! I too work in an office all day long. However, you and I should look out-recent studies show that spending your day seated has a high correlation with a radically increased chance of heart disease. So, unless you actually are a fire jumper, read on and learn what you can do about it!
Are there natural means to breaking through plateaus and realizing your full potential? For now, hold off on the horse steroids, and read on. Maybe the next few words on the often overlooked athletic benefits to supplementing your diet with Vitamin D and latte's could change your life.