Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I know that not everyone of you may celebrate Christmas. But a new calendar year is starting throughout the world. Whether we like it or not, this is the system that is used and the start of a a new year is a good time to reassess our lives, our goals, our dreams and what we would like to make a priority during the New Year.

It is also a perfect time to celebrate the achievements of the past year. Everybody will have had some achievements, no matter how small they seem. Write them down, make some nice colourful drawings to go with them, look at your colourful page and pat yourself on the back. Share it with your family and loved ones.

Only make a New Year’s Resolution if you really think you can follow through on it. It has to be something you love doing. Don’t set yourself up for failure by setting unrealistic goals you can’t achieve and then feel bad about yourself. Be gentle with yourself, celebrate, relax and dream.

Connie

Your Yoga Partner

from

http://yogainahurry.com

During the course of our life most of us end up with an unhealthy breathing pattern, regardless of what sort of work we do. Breathing often already deteriorates during the first years of school – too much sitting, lots of stress and tension and lack of exercise in general all play a role.

The more hectic our life becomes, the faster the breath becomes. Also, an imbalance between inhalation and exhalation starts to happen. Most people are still ok with their inhalation but the exhalation becomes a problem. The exhalation becomes too short or people even tend to hold their breath without being aware of it.

Most of us have to re-learn to exhale properly. Breathing is a big part of any yoga class and you will learn different breathing techniques during class. Practice makes perfect!

In the meantime, here are some simple tips how you can get back into good breathing patterns:

As often as you can, wriggle and stretch your body softly and very slowly, yawn and sigh. Don’t stretch fully as this will create tension.

When walking or jogging inhale to a count of 2 and then exhale to a count of 4. You can also do this when sitting on your desk or driving but it will be more difficult to focus.

You will also find that by doing that, there will be no such rush for the next inhalation. You will come to a point where your breathing has 4 distinct parts:
Inhalation, pause, exhalation, pause.

The pauses are just as important as the breath. For now it is sufficient, just to be aware of them and let them happen naturally.

Till next time,

Connie

Your Yoga Partner

from

http://www.yogainahurry.com

We take about 20,000 breaths each day. We take in ½ l of oxygen with each breath. During the course of our life that means 300 million litres of air. This is a huge amount of air! This air is used for all sorts of things: speaking, singing, screaming, laughing….

We all have our individual breathing rhythm. In general human beings breath about 15 times per minute. Of course we breathe faster when we are out of breath of tense and slightly slower when we are really relaxed.

Yoga contains many different breathing techniques and all of them have different purposes (relaxing, heating, cooling, balancing…). One overriding idea is that by slowing down the breath we prolong our life. One philosophical construct is that we all are allocated a certain number of breaths and once they are used up, we die. By slowing down the breathing rate we can “cheat” and extend our lifespan.

Regardless whether you want to subscribe to the above idea or not, it is much better for our overall health to breathe slowly and deeply.

Some modern therapists go so far as to say that our breath is an indicator that shows our level of wellbeing and to a degree even our character. Even thoughts can change the way we breathe.

People who spend a lot of time in front of the computer and don’t consistently work on their posture end up with shortened muscles in their chest area. As a result they cannot take any deep breaths down into their abdomen any longer….

Don’t let this happen to you, in the next post I will talk about some helpful practical tips on how to improve your breathing.

Till next time

Connie

Your Yoga Partner

from

http://yogainahurry.com

Carol, a friend of mine, is making the most amazing cup cakes. One of her specialties is making vegan cupcakes. Vegan means no animal products whatsoever – no butter, no eggs, no milk. How do they taste you might ask? Surprisingly they still taste very yummy and customer often don’t believe that they are vegan cupcakes.

Tempted? You can order from Caroline but only if you live in the northwestern Sydney area. Contact Carol at designmycupcake(at)gmail.com

Otherwise, just enjoy looking at these beautiful works of art!

Connie,

Your Yoga Partner

from

I just wanted to let you know that I posted some lovely recipes on my other blog. Go to  
Blogtalk Radio Show of 2.12.08 – Christmas recipes

Enjoy!
Till next time,
Connie Your Yoga Partner
from

http://www.yogainahurry.com