The expanded lung capacity physiologically enhances our moods. Also by powering metabolism, backbends hike the body’s nutrient absorption capacity. This in turn helps the body access key nutrients that are essential for our happiness: magnesium, calcium, vitamin B, etc.

The tension at the shoulder, again a psychosomatic response to stress, is released and relieved. The back of the neck and the upper back, regarded as the gateway to diseases in Chinese medicine and through which all the major energy meridians are said to pass, is strengthened.

In movement therapies, this region is also seen as most adversely hit by negative mind states. It is called the primary fear centre: its response to fear, anxiety, anger and stress in various forms is what causes muscular tension and stiffness in this region. Backbends wring such tension out of the body, thus clearing out the effects of our mental tension.

Points to note: Please remember to always follow a backbend with a forward bending pose. This is essential to work the musculo-skeletal system evenly and ease any tension that may have developed while bending back.

1. Put Moving Your Body as Your Top Priority

2. Eat Like a French Woman

3. Learn What Not to Wear

Some people, such as my son, have an athletic soul. He works out and plays sports as an essential part of his daily regimen. He knows the “runner’s high” effect from exercising so hard and producing so many mood-enhancing endorphins.

While I am coordinated and I love to dance, I can sit for days, weeks even. My body does not cry out to move as some people’s do.

I love walking with friends, but I have a hard time getting my butt off the couch and out the door by myself. I hate working out in gyms. I’ve tried aerobics classes, step classes, yoga classes, and Jazzercise. I cannot get myself to go.

1. Put Moving Your Body as Your Top Priority

When I asked myself the question “What do I know would greatly benefit me?” the answer was simple and clear: yoga. My body loves yoga. But not all yoga classes.

Classes which tend toward the “yoga Olympics” as I call it, where there is a subtle or not-so-subtle judgment that we, I, should be able to be more limber, more flexible, more anything – these classes discourage and anger me.

Classes that are an hour and a half are just too long for me right now. I get antsy. I get antsy, me, the person I really am, gets antsy. The person I think I should be does NOT get antsy. She loves an hour an a half. But this mythical person also has not trouble getting out for a weak by herself.

There is a gentle yoga class that is a fifteen minute walk from my house. Anything I can do independently, as in I do not need to find a ride, has great appeal.

I loved this class, love the teacher, and yet I could not get myself to go regularly. Weeks and weeks would go by and I would sit and feel fat and stiffening.

But when I let myself know how much good I knew yoga would do for me, I got a brilliant (simple) idea. What if I put my body first? What if I decided everything else I do come AFTER I get the exercise I need.

This simple decision changed everything. Now I go faithfully to yoga three times a week, rain or shine. I walk there and back which is good of many reasons. I have a tendency for depression and nothing is better than getting outside, outside where Life is and whet weather and the trees and the flowers and the birds an. Outside my dark thoughts can fly away as I get grounded in the reality of Here and Now.

I love every minute of my yoga class. My body loves it. I am getting toned. My skin feels better. * like the feel of my body as it shapes up. I am recovering a body that has been buried in extra pounds and sedentary behavior.

And it is fun, fun, fun, and easy easy, easy.

2. Eat Like a French Woman

A little background eating history: I was too skinny growing up. I could not gain weight. Then I was fine, then I started taking hormones and put on thirty pounds. Then I did not know myself anymore.

I have never dieting. All the research on dieting is bad. It is unhealthy and can lead to morbid obesity. Deprivation and self-hate are lousy motivators. If I even start to think deprivation, I want to eat a bag of potato chips.

French woman do not diet. They do not go hungry. They eat all they want of whatever they want and they do not get fat. How do they do this? Here are some of the secrets. Don’t let yourself get hungry. Pay attention to what you eat. Chew slowly and savor what you eat. Pay attention to proportions. Eat more fruits and be tables. Take an inventory of what you are eating, find the worst offenders, and gradually reduce them as you replaces the foods that are causing problems, such as too many pastries, with food your body truly enjoys.

I love chocolate and I eat all I want. But I only want one small dark Dove chocolates a day. Maybe two. I can have all I want, but I pay attention to what I want and stop when I am done.

Sounds simple and it is. Simple, wonderful. In two months I have lost nine ponds without suffering. Even if I weren’t losing weight, I would still eat this way. It is the Yoga of

Eating or Mindful Eating. I enjoy my food more and I’m losing width as my body slims down. Simply fabulous!

3. Learn What Not to Wear

This is the newest part of my regimen. I “stumbled” (coincidence is god’s way of remaining anonymous, they say) on the BBC America show What Not to Wear. Women volunteer for a brutally honest assessment of there dressing habits, learn what not to wear and what flatters the body they have, and then go shopping.

The results are stunning and poignant. These women are real women with real bodies. The point of the show is to love the body you have and know how to dress it so you feel alive, sexy, and confident.

My legs are thicker, my belly sags, and I have been trying to hide it in long flowy clothes for years. But not anymore. I do like my curves and my new cleavage. I’m going to look for clothes with color that show off my shape instead of trying to hide it. I’ve seen women absolutely transformed, and I want to be one of them

Your Challenge

1. How does your body like to move? Do you have anyone who could be a Success Buddy to help your find a way to move regularly? You might have to trick yourself, but as soon as you put moving your body as a top priority, you will find a way to resolve the problem.

2. Read FrenchWomen, Don’t’ Get Fat and do what she tells you to do. You will never be the same.

3. Watch What Not to Wear on BBC America. You owe it to yourself. Take one baby step toward finding a style that makes you feel gorgeous.

It’s no wonder that we have more complaints than ever about poor circulation, aching back, stiff neck, tired legs, and the lack of mobility, flexibility, and an unfocused mind. We never leave our desk or that office chair! Well good news for you. I have a few great stretches that can be done in the chair or in and around the chair. It takes anywhere from 3-7 minutes of your time. Do you think you can spare a few minutes? Great! Let’s get started. Over the next few weeks I’m going to show you many easy stretches that you can do right at your desk. Let’s start with some easy and good ones for the back

Easy back stretches:

(Spinal Twist)

Step One: Push your chair back from your desk for the time of stretching.

Step Two: Uncross your legs and sit with your legs slightly open, which is chair or hip width. Put your feet solidly on the ground. Your hands can rest on the tops of your thighs for now. During the stretching please breathe in and out through your nose only.

Step Three: Take your LEFT hand and cross it to your right knee. Now take your right hand and hold firmly to the back of the chair. Push your left hand against your right knee, and twist your body. You will look over your right shoulder. Hold for approximately 5-15 seconds. Breath in and out only through your nose. Release and put your hands back on your legs

Switch Sides–

Step Four: Take your RIGHT hand and cross it to your Left knee. Now take your Left hand and hold firmly to the back of the chair. Push your right hand against your left knee, and twist your body. You will look over your left shoulder. Hold for approximately 5-15 seconds. Breath in and out only through your nose as you can. Release and put your hands back on your legs. You can repeat for as long as you need to. It helps to release the spine and back.

New Stretch:

(Bending to the Side)

Step One: Sit with your legs slightly open, which is chair or hip width. Put your feet solidly on the ground

Step Two: Take your RIGHT hand and place it on the chair seat beside your leg. Hold on to what you find there. You may have to shift in your seat to get some chair space on the side of you.

Step Three: Take your Left hand and arm, and bring it over your head towards your right side. Bending now to the right, and extending your arm and palm of your hand down towards the floor near your RIGHT side. You are stretching the left side of your body and back with this stretch by bending over to the right. Hold for approximately 5-15 seconds. Breath in and out only through your nose. Release and put your hands back on your legs. You can repeat for as long as you need to.

Switch Sides–

Step Four: Take your LEFT hand and place it on the chair seat beside your leg. Hold on to what you find there. You may have to shift in your seat to get some chair space on the side of you.

Step Five: Take your Right hand and arm, and bring it over your head towards your left side. Bending now to the left, and extending your arm and palm of your hand down towards the floor near your LEFT side. You are stretching the right side of your body and back with this stretch by bending over to the left. Hold for approximately 5-15 seconds. Breath in and out only through your nose as you can. Release and put your hands back on your legs. You can repeat for as long as you need to.

Let’s proceed with one more stretch for today. We will maintain and use the same sitting position.

New Stretch—

(Stretch your arms upward and interlock your hands over your head)

Step One: Lift your arms over your head and extend them upward as far as you can. Interlock your fingers. With your fingers clasped stretch from side to side as you breathe in and out through the nose. As you can. Do that several times back and forth from the right to left.

Step Two: Now stop your arms in the middle (arms still upward with your fingers still interlocked above your head.) Lean your arms and hands backward and push your chest slightly forward. Hold for a few seconds. Release.

Ahhh!! Doesn’t that feel better already?! By now with these simple stretches you got some blood flowing. That is one of the key points. It’s very important to leave your desk once and awhile too. Continue breathing and get that oxygen to your belly if you can.

Fitness Walking is one of the best ways to keep you healthy and strong. Walking briskly on flat surfaces, say experts, is a great way to burn calories without the risk of muscle strain. You could walk uphill to increase the intensity of your workout, give your heart some exercise and build some muscles.

Before you begin walking, though, here are a few things you must keep in mind. The most important thing you need to buy is a pair of good walking shoes. You may chafe your skin or suffer from blisters by not wearing the right kind of footwear. Shoes with soft rubber soles will keep your heels from soreness. You could get extra padding by wearing thick socks – but make sure they’re cotton. Don’t wear awkward shapes and high heels as they will harm you in the long run. Apart from walking shoes you might need to buy a water bottle. Sure, you have bottles but you would rather have one that you needn’t lug around, leaving your hands free. You should keep yourself hydrated while walking and a water bottle is a good idea, especially if you’re going on a long walk. Some people like having a heart monitor so that they can check out their heart-rate while walking. Some like to have music with them. Remember not to dress too heavily though you should keep weather conditions in mind as well.

Once you have everything you need, you should find a group of beginners. You don’t want to join a fitness walking group that will leave you behind. Motivation is very important for any exercising activity and being in a group that will push your limits and still leave you behind can be demoralizing. You can’t just jump into a strenuous routine from the start. You need to work up to pace gradually.

Remember, fitness walking is different from regular walking. For best results try interval walking out. Alternate between slow and fast walking for up to one minute at a time for about ten repetitions. This will reduce your body fat while increasing your metabolism and making you fitter. You can have the body you want to – just walk. You can find out more about how walking is good for you online.

Herbal treatment or herbal medicine is a method of treating diseases and ailments with the use of medicinal herbs or therapies/preparations made from a plant or plants. Plants have been used for medicinal purposes for over centuries. This form of treatment is particularly popular and being widely practiced in India. Herbal treatment in India is called “Ayurvedic” treatment. It is practiced in India for over 5,000 years and a recognized system of traditional medicine by World Health Organization (WHO).

Ayurvedic tradition holds that illness is a state of imbalance among the body’s systems. Though it originated thousands of years ago, Herbal Treatment (With Ayurvedic Medicines) is very relevant and appropriate for today’s generation and society, where so many people suffer from stress-related conditions which conventional medicine has been unable to cure.

Ayurveda’s logical, commonsense approach to health and living is combined with philosophy, psychology and spiritual guidance. Ayurveda explains use of herbs, minerals, natural remedies, herbal products, life style modification, dietary modification, nutrition, meditation, purification and rejuvenation as methods of natural healing.

Herbal Treatment (With Ayurvedic Medicines) includes several physical treatments from medication to massage, yoga, cleansing and detoxification programs, and remedies for disorders such as diabetes, high BP, infertility, impotence, arthritis, hypertension, gastro-intestinal problems, and a whole barrage of chronic illness and infectious diseases. It offers natural, herbal remedies, which counteract imbalances in the body and can fruitfully treat most health problems encountered today.