Health and Fitness Tips

Inner Peace – Balance – Anxiety Management – Confidence

What do all these things have in common? First, they are all things we need to work on improving in our busy American lifestyles. Getting better at these areas has long been advocated by health experts as a way to increase our quality of life, reduce the risk of injury or illness, and even to live longer!

Second, these are all benefits of working out with Yoga! Hatha yoga – the physical yoga postures or “asanas” that the majority of us associate with yoga exercise – is a way to build muscle, increase the range of motion in our joints, and create a chance for calm, balance and relaxation in our daily schedules. Now before you get nervous that I am going to go all “transcendental” on you, don’t worry! Though yoga historically does include a large amount of spiritual, meditative and holistic practices, you can get plenty of the benefits of a yoga life-style by just incorporating a little yoga fitness workout routine into your weekly schedule. Whether you can do 60-minutes 3x per week, or squeeze in some Sun Salutations for 15 minutes each morning – even a moderate increase in your activity level thru the incorporation of yoga practices can help.

One of the biggest objections many people have about working out with yoga is over the fear that they don’t have time for exercise. Working out at home with a yoga fitness DVD can be a great solution to the problem.

I know your schedule already feels loaded and you’re worried you won’t have time for yoga. As a full-time-mom ( all folks are full-time in my judgment – you never stop worrying about your children ) and a business-owner, I find that there are never enough hours in the day to do everything I want to. However, it’s necessary to prioritize your well being and make time for replenishing your body and spirit on a regular basis. Exercise is a way to do that. When you work out at home with a yoga fitness DVD, you can squeeze in your exercise if you have time. Before dawn when the house is quiet, when the children are napping or the family’s watching TV downstairs, or as a family activity that encourages everybody in the household to be active and share time together.

Another concern that many folks have about yoga exercise is that it might be more than we can afford. Yoga has actually enjoyed a period of “trendiness” lately and with yoga classes growing up all over the country at select gyms and residences, it’s easy to see how yoga has gotten the name for being expensive. However, remember that yoga was developed by ascetics in some of the most impoverished areas of the Earth. You’ve got more than they do re material possessions – if they can do it, you can do. Although you do not “need” anything to practice yoga, and you can even learn it for free with some workout videos from the library or picture books that show you step by step what to do, I advise that you begin with two necessities : A yoga mat to improve your comfort and safety while doing the poses, and a good instructional yoga video to guide you thru a workout or two that you can follow and enjoy again and again.

For the price of a class or two at the local yoga studio, you can get everything you need to workout at home.

I encourage you to look into yoga exercise as a total body workout, or a supplement to your existing health regimen.

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