Tag Archives: sun salutation

Saturday Morning Drill: Weight-Free Arm Workout

Getting to the gym on the weekends doesn’t usually happen for me. It’s my time to relax and unwind and the last thing I want to do is get bundled up, make myself presentable and go get sweaty for an hour. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a quick workout before my weekend officially kicks off. This 10-minute arm workout that can be done at home (or anywhere) is my solution for that.

From boxing to yoga to body weight moves, this quick arm toning workout hits almost your entire upper body, including triceps, chest, core, and even your legs. So get into something comfy and breathable, grab a bottle of water to stay hydrated, and let’s get started!

View Saturday Morning Drills: Weightless Arm Workout Slideshow

Get Sexy Arms By Christmas With this Weekly Yoga Routine

Christmas parties and other such holiday events bring our favorite dresses out of the deep corners of the closet and revive them back to life, but often these dresses are of the sleeveless variety. From the candy-devouring weeks before and after Halloween, to eating our way through November, our bodies can become puffed, plumped and primed for baggy sweatshirts, rather than our sleek holiday get-up.

If you work hard and follow this plan starting right now, you will be showing off your sexy guns by the time you grace your first Christmas party. The only downside is that you will make your friends envious as you parade around looking fabulous.

For the best results, couple this daily yoga routine with a low-fat diet.

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Mix Up Your Yoga Sun Salutation for Increased Upper Body Strength

Most fitness experts will tell you that mixing up your workout can lift you out of a plateau and bring you closer to your desired results. Doing the same exercises day in and day out can not only lead to burn out or overuse injuries, it can slow your advancement towards becoming fitter, tougher and leaner. By changing your routine from time to time, your body will be challenged and become stronger as a result.

If you are one of the millions who practice yoga not so much for the repetitive routines some styles offer, but because you love to mix it up, stay fresh and keep it interesting, the following will show you what you can do to add a challenging variation to the classic sun salutation sequence.

In some traditional yoga styles you would normally be exhaling into chaturanga, inhaling into upward dog and then exhaling back into downward dog. This is the mid-section of a sun salute, also referred to as the vinyasa, and is great for developing total upper body strength and tone. However, mixing it up just a touch can be exactly the refreshing change you need to take your upper body strength to a new level.

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Lift Winter Blues with Yoga

Now that the holidays are over, the humdrum of winter is slowly setting in. For many, this time of year is affected by a seasonal mood disorder for Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is a kind of depression that waxes when the days become shorter and wanes as they grow longer.yoga bridge pose

Yoga has numerous health benefits with one of the most important being the ability to center your mood and find balance in your emotions and mental state. If you feel the heaviness of winter coming on, add a few uplifting and heart-opening yoga postures to your daily routine. The following asanas (postures) focus on breathing vital prana into our heart in order to lift our spirits and energize the flow of energy that circulates in and out of our body’s center. (more…)

Reverse Obesity with One Yoga Move

The obesity statistics are alarming: One-third of all Americans are obese and two-thirds are overweight. For individuals who are so overweight, losing weight is more involved than simply counting calories and exercise. It also has to do with how their relationship to food and exercise enables weight gain and the continuous cycle of over indulgence and a sedentary lifestyle.

Downward Dog

Downward Dog

The ancient system of yoga, which was developed in India thousands of years ago, has shown promising help for those who are feeling imprisoned by an unhealthy relationship to food. Not only is yoga exercise, which is an indispensable component to any healthy lifestyle program, but it makes us more aware of our thoughts and emotions and it engenders compassion and non-reaction when uncomfortable situations arise.

For those who struggle with their weight, turning to food for comfort following a stressful or anxiety-provoking event is often a knee-jerk reaction that enables overeating and binge-eating. What follows are feelings of remorse, guilt and shame. Yoga can help identify the feelings that trigger these situations and consequently help to create some space in our minds to contemplate our actions before we do something we will later regret. (more…)