When I started practising yoga many years ago, the first thing people would ask me was: “You do what? Yoga? I only know Yogi Bear?”…..
Now I finally found an answer to the question how Yogi Bear got his name and whether it has anything to do with yoga.
Have a look here:
Till next time,
Connie
Your Yoga Partner
from
On our blogtalk radio show today Charly and I had Kathi Janssens from http://www.discreetlyfit.com as our guest speaker. Her area of expertise is pelvic floor health. Pelvic floor weakness affects at least 50% of women in one way or another. The symptoms can be quite mild (an occasional bladder “accident” to very severe (uterine, bladder or bowel prolapse). The condition is not talked about much and doesn’t get the publicity it deserves. I suppose it is not sensational enough.
Although about this time last year the pelvic floor made it to the headlines thanks to a Dr. Maria Cerruto from Verona in Italy. She proclaimed that wearing high heels was good for your pelvic floor. (She admits to loving high heels herself despite the pain and discomfort they cause). The various press releases seemed to be contradictory – one stated that 15 women were involved in the study, the other one said 66. During the study the women had to wear different high heeled shoes and their pelvic floor muscles were wired up to test how active they were. When the ankle was at a 15 degree angle (which means wearing a heel about 2-4 cm high) the pelvic floor muscles were “more relaxed”. It was claimed that this strengthens the muscles and improves pelvic floor health. A relaxed muscle is soft, flabby and not strong, isn’t it? The reasoning is beyond me….or am I missing something? Of course the fashion shoe designers jumped on this research with glee.
Coming back to reality: It is really important to get proactive and do something about this weakness in those important muscles before it progresses too far. To date most surgical interventions are not perfect and often don’t bring the desired result. So it is much better to do whatever you can to strengthen your pelvic floor before it is too late. Also, always get things checked out medically to make sure that it is your pelvic floor that is causing the problem and not something else.
To get more valuable information, please listen to our interview with Kathi Janssens from http://www.discreetlyfit.com
Till next time,
Connie
Your Yoga Partner
from
As we become more and more “available” our stress levels increase. I might be giving away my age here – but I remember a world with no telephone, no TV, no mobile phone, no computers, no email and no internet…..
I also remember a time when shops closed Saturday lunch time and did not re-open till Monday morning.
Life was definitely slower. Throughout history there was more time than opportunity – meaning that we actually had spare time on our hands – this is how things like embroidery, poetry, making music, dance etc. have evolved. I think the world would be a much poorer place without all those lovely things.
We now have reached a time in history where for the first time we have more opportunity than time. There is simply too much on offer, too much going on, constant stimulation. As a result, our creativity suffers. You may think that this doesn’t matter much because those “creative things” are a luxury. Some might be, but creativity is absolutely essential for problem solving, for seeing things from different angles, for finding solutions, for thinking outside the “box”. Creativity will give you new ideas for your business or workplace and will inspire you to try something new.
It is very important to nurture our creativity and have complete “time out” from all responsibilities and put an end to this constant availability.
How about a full day (24 hours!) without phone, mobile phone, computer, TV and whatever else you may have that makes you electronically “available” to others and keeps your brain occupied….
At least think about what you would do with your time and how it may benefit you, then take action. You may enjoy it so much that you may want to make it a regular event.
Till next time,
Connie
Your Yoga Partner
from
With the recent bushfires and the terrible damage and trauma they have inflicted on so many people I want to do my little bit to help children and adults to deal with it.
I am giving you a link to a beautiful ritual which was designed by Petrea King. If you haven’t heard about Petrea and her amazing work, have a look at her website after you download the Rainbow Ritual. Go to:
http://www.questforlife.com.au/
Click on the “Services” link on Petrea’s page (on top of the page, just under the lotus flower) and in the drop down box you will find a link to “Rainbow Ritual”. From there download the free PDF file and save it to your computer - it is really beautiful.
Children who have been traumatised need lots of reassurance and patience. They deal with feelings in a different way to us adults. Their feelings are expressed through behaviour. Most children cannot verbalise that they feel upset, angry, distressed or sad – but they certainly show it in their behaviour.
Be patient with your child, give lots of reassurance and help them feel secure by doing a nightly ritual like the rainbow one. It will help children and adults alike.
Yoga also can play a big role in recovering from trauma. According to yogic philosophy trauma stops the proper flow of prana (life energy) and this leads to all sorts of problems. The diaphragm (a very important internal sheet of muscle that stretches across the bottom of the ribcage and helps with breathing) gets contracted or “frozen” and breathing becomes shallow and too fast. Different imbalances arise from there.
The first thing to try and restore in a traumatised person is slow, steady and deep breathing. This will take quite some time but even short bursts of deep breathing will be very helpful. Breath is the main vehicle for getting prana into the body. When the respiratory system starts to malfunction, the ability of prana to enter, be absorbed and circulated through the body’s energy channels becomes severely compromised. This will lead to all sorts of other problems, so prana flow needs to be restored to the body as quickly as possible to avoid further issues.
One technique would be to inhale through the nose and mentally say to yourself: “I am”. When you are exhaling say to yourself “letting go”. Try it, I sincerely hope that you will benefit from this simple technique.
Till next time
Connie
Your Yoga Partner
from
It finally has arrived, our book is ready to go. We are so happy to announce its arrival. We firmly believe that this book has the potential to make a difference to the world we live in!
It will certainly make a difference to your life if you implement some of the suggestions in the book and use the bonuses we have included on a regular basis.
Have a look here:
http://stretchyourmindandbody.com/blog/tigerebook
Have a look just to see what we have put together for you, even if you are not ready to buy, maybe somebody you know could use our book to improve their life. We have nicknamed the book “Tigerbook” – have a look why!
http://stretchyourmindandbody.com/blog/tigerebook
Connie,
Your Yoga Partner
from
