Meditation and Breathing are essential parts of yoga which gives loads of benefits to your body.
Meditation is a way to get quiet, calm and focused. It trains your mind to slow down, relax and stay positive. Meditating for few minutes a day makes you more attentive and concentrated. Make a habit of meditation in your daily life.
Breathing and Meditation techniques have subtle but powerful positive impact on your health. These changes are most probably gradual but long lasting.
Here is how you should meditate :
➡️Go to a quiet room and find a comfortable place to sit. Set a timer for 5 minutes.
➡️Close your eyes and just focus on your breathing.
➡️As you inhale, feel your lungs inflating, your ribs expanding and the breath moving through your nostrils.
➡️As you exhale, feel your lungs deflating, and the breath rushing out of your nostrils.
➡️If your mind starts to wander, calmly say to yourself ” meditating ” and then turn your attention back to your health.
➡️Don’t worry if you’re not able to focus the first few times. Mediating comes only when you practice.
You can also do the same by breathing into the belly. This kind of breathing helps to settle your nerves before a game and before bed.
ALTERNATE NOSTRIL BREATHING :
This breathing method can help you from keeping your mind balanced and calm.
➡️Sit in a comfortable position.
➡️Place the thumb of your right hand on your right nostril. Tuck your first and middle fingers down and out of the way.
➡️As your right thumb gently closes your right nostril, slowly exhale through the left nostril, as you count to 5.
➡️Slowly inhale through the left nostril, as you count to 5.
➡️Simultaneously lift your right thumb to exhale through the right nostril and close your left nostril with your ring and little finger. Inhale slowly through the right nostril and continue the breathing exercise for ten cycles.
➡️Focus on making you inhalations and exhalations as slow and long as possible.
Nutrition is the process of nourishing, especially the process by which a living organism assimilates food and uses it for growth and for replacement of tissues. For the body to be healthy it is important to have the right amount of nutrients.
It is about eating healthy and a balanced diet. Food and Drinks what we have gives us nutrients. This helps to lead a healthy life.
A nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow, it is a substance used in an organism’s metabolism
• To build and repair tissues,
• To regulate body processes and
• To provide energy for day to day activities.
Which includes organic nutrients ?
Organic nutrients includes carbohydrates, fats, proteins ( amino acids ), and vitamins, minerals, and water.
MACRO NUTRIENTS – It is big nutrients which includes carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
MICRO NUTRIENTS – It is little nutrients which includes vitamins and minerals.
What is balanced diet ?
A balanced diet means choosing of wide variety of foods and drinks from all the food groups. It also means eating certain things in moderation, like saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, refined sugar and salt. The goal is to take in nutrients you need for health at the recommended levels. A balanced diet must contain carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and fiber.
Good nourishment is necessary to develop a strong and healthy body.
How to get enough nutrients in vegetarian counterparts ?
Regardless of whether you are a vegetarian or non-vegetarian, it’s always a healthy idea to eat a wide variety of foods.
In addition to vitamins and minerals, vegetarians need to keep an eye on their total intake of calories and fat. Vegetarian diets tend to be high in fiber and low in fat and calories. That may help you to lose weight or lower the cholesterol but it can be a problem for kids or people who are alredy at a healthy weight.
Let we see the types of nutrition, its benefits amd sources.
1. IRON :
Benefits – Iron helps red blood cells carry oxygen to all the parts of the body. Symptoms of iron deficiency are anemia, including weakness and fatigue, lightheadedness and shortness of breath. Eating these foods along with food containing vitamin C will helps you to absorb the iron better. Girls need to be particularly concerned about getting adequate iron because some amount of iron is lost during menstruation.
Sources – Iron rich foods include red meat, pork, fish, shellfish, poultry, dal, beans and soy foods, green leafy vegetables, dates and raisins. Some flours, cereals and grain products are also fortified with iron.
2. CALCIUM :
Benefits – Calcium is important for building strong bones and teeth. The time to build strong bones is during childhood and the teen years, so it’s very important to get enough calcium now to fight against bone loss later in life. Weak bones are susceptible to a condition called OSTEOPOROSIS, which causes bones to break easily.
Remember that, as a youngster, you’re buiding your bones for the rest of your life. Women has a greater risk of getting osteoporosis as adults, so it’s important for girls to get enough calcium.
Sources – Milk and other dairy products such as curd, cheese, butter, paneer, yogurt, calcium fortified orange juice, green leafy vegetables, soy milk and dried figs.
3. PROTEIN :
Benefits – Proteins provide as much energy density as carbohydrates. It is made up of building blocks called amino acids.
Sources – Dairy products are good sources of protein. Nuts, beans, soy milk, egg white, grains, cereals, and vegetables.
4. VITAMIN A :
Benefits – Vitamin A prevents eye problems, promotes a healthy immune system. It is essential for the growth and development of cells and keeps skin healthy.
Sources – Milk, cereals, eggs, liver, dark colored orange, green vegetables, carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, orange fruits like peaches, papayas and mangoes.
5. VITAMIN B :
Benefits – Vitamin B helps to make red blood cells, and is important for nerve cell function. It is important for normal brain and nerve function. It also helps the body break down proteins and make red blood cells.
Sources – Fish, red meat, poultry, milk, cheese, and eggs. Potatoes, bananas, beans, seeds, nuts, spinach and cereals.
6. VITAMIN C :
Benefits – Vitamin C is needed to form collagen, a tissue that helps to hold cells together. It’s necessary for healthy bones, teeth, gums and blood vessels. It helps the body absorb iron and calcium, aids in wound healing and contributes to brain function.
Sources – High level of Vitamin C is found in red berries, kiwi, tomatoes, spinach, and juices made from guava and orange.
7. VITAMIN D :
Benefits – Vitamin D strengthens the bones because it helps the body absorb bone building calcium.
Sources – Your body manufactures when you get sunlight on your skin. Also get vitamin D in egg yolk, fish oils, and fortified foods like milk.
8. VITAMIN E :
Benefits – Vitamin E is an antioxidant and help protect cells from damage. It’s important for the health of red blood cells.
Sources – Vegetable oils and green leafy vegetables.
9. VITAMIN B12 :
Benefits – It helps to keep the body nerve cells and blood cells healthy and it makes DNA, the genetic material in all cells.
Sources – It is found in animal products, fortified soy milk, fortified breakfast cereals.
Acne is skin condition changes when the skin is blocked by hair, dead cells, bacteria and sebum.
What Acne do in your skin ?
Acne results in blackheads, whiteheads, nodules and pimples.
Who does acne affect mostly ?
Acne occurs to all the stages of people. Mainly it effects about 80% of adolescents. People in the age between 15 to 30 gets affected by acne majorily. Usually acne starts to head out after puberty.
Why acne occurs ?
There are many predictions for causes of acne. Let’s see the main causes of acne :
🔹Air pollution results in acne. When the dirt in the air gets to stored in your skin, it results as acne.
🔹The clothing, helmets, headgears, scarfs, headbands and caps collect dirt and oil, gives you acne.
🔹Increased harmones stimulate the oil glands.
🔹This produces substances that block the pores.
🔹It results in pimples or blackheads.
🔹Heavy stress may cause acne. It increases the harmone cortisol in the body.
🔹Unclean skin gives you acne problem.
How to prevent acne ?
➡️Add fresh fruits, vegetables, fish to your daily food list. Especially Vitamin C food products can prevent you from acne skin.
➡️Wash your face twice a day with warm water and a mild soap medicated. Gently massage your face in circular motion. Don’t scrub. Overwashing and scrubing can cause skin irritation.
➡️Never ever pop pimples. It is tempted to do but you shouldn’t do because popping pimples can push the infected particles further into the skin. This can result in permenant scarring.
➡️Always keep hands away from your face. Frequently touching the face can spread bacteria that cause pores to become inflamed.
➡️Don’t touch your face after touching the objects that collect sebum like phone, keyboards, etc.,
➡️Keeping your skin clean and healthy is more essential.
➡️Wash your face after applying anything to your hair. Because when hair is left free, the dirt particles in your hair like dandruff, dust, oil, splitends will fall on your face. So it results in acne.
➡️If you wear sunglasses or glasses, make sure you keep them clean to keep oil from clogging the pores around your eyes and nose.
➡️If you are affected by acne problem, then do not wear tight clothes. It don’t allow the skin to breathe and may cause irritation.
➡️Always remove your makeup before bed. Throw away old makeup that smells or looks different from your regular use.
➡️Keeping clean hair reduces the skin affecting from dirt and oil.
➡️Protect your skin from the sun. It may seems to be tan masks the acne, but it’s only temporary. A tan may worsen your acne, not improve it. But remember, tanning also causes damages to the skin that will eventually lead to wrinkles.
Laughing together heartily at the same time forms an instant bond ~ LIZ CURTIS HIGGS
Positive thinking is expecting, talking and visualising with certainty what you want to acheive.
Positive emotions indicate short term feelings as well being and pleasure. But positive emotions can also produuce superior functioning and can be a major factor in a person’s long term happiness.
MAJOR BENEFITS OF CULTIVATING POSITIVE EMOTIONS :
• Positive emotions expand thoughts, actions and alternatives making people more flexible, creative, open and efficient.
• Positive emotions tend to undo the after effects of negative emotions.
• It can build unduring and valuable personal resources such as resilency which helps people bounce back better from stress.
• It can help in producing humor flourishing and long term happiness by accumulating and compounding overtime transforming individuals.
• Positive emotions can aid both psychological and physical health is an upward spiral of well being produced by positive emotions loading to broadened and more positive thinking.
• Positive emotions undo negative emotions and reduce the negative physical and psychological stress recieved from negative experiences.
TOP TEN WAYS TO MAKE POSITIVE EMOTIONS :
✓ Increase your happiness about the past by experiencing gratitude.
✓ Increase yiur happiness about the past by practicing forgiveness.
✓ Increase your happiness about the future by developing hope and learning to be more optimistic.
✓ Increase your happiness about the present by enjoying the pleasure of the present moment.
✓ Increase your positive vibes by appreciation.
✓ Volume up your positive emotions with implementing your strength everyday in all areas.
✓ Increase your happiness by learning new things and developing keys like gratitude, optimism, zest curiostity etc..
✓ Develop the ability to love and to be loved.
✓ Lead with strength and compensate with your weakness.
✓ Increase your happiness by identifying and nurturing your strength.
Water has unbelievable facts which you have to know. Let’s see some random water facts
• Roughly 70 percent of an adult’s body is made up of water.
• At birth, water acounts for approximately 80 percent of an infant’s body weight.
• Drinking water helps with weight loss.
• While the daily recommended amount of water is eight cups per day, not all of this water must be consumed in liquid form. Nearly every food and drink item provides some water to the body.
• Water balances your body fluids and fights with infection.
• It mostly reduces of heart attack risk.
• Water also provides cushion for our body joints.
• Water helps to regulate our body temperature.
• Lack of water can lead to dehydration, a condition that occurs when you don’t have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. Even a mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired.
• Cold water is used to reduce inflammation.
• When you are having sprain in your ankle, you use an ice pack to reduce the swelling.
• It prevents you from wrinkles in the skin.
• As the water get evoporated, it cools your body.
• Water play a vital role in making the urine to dispose.
• It boosts the body performance.
• Water dissolves more substances than any liquid. Whenever it travels, water carries chemicals, minerals, and nutrients with it.
• For an instance, water flushes out the toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat issues.
• If we do not have enough water then our blood pressure can fall to dangerously low levels. Our normal kidney function is impaired.
• Some of the signals of having a low water level are constipation, terribly dry skin and increased incidence of urinary tract infections and reoccuring headaches.
• A popular way to reduce fever is to take a bath in cold water. This helps to bring down the entire body temperature, reduces the fever. This process is called hydrotherapy.
WHICH IS THE BEST TIME TO DRINK WATER?
• AFTER WAKE UP – It freshens the body parts and makes activated.
• AFTER AN WORK OUT – While workout, the blood pressure will be high. So drinking water helps to brings the blood pressure to the normal stage.
• BEFORE MEAL – Having water approximately half an hour before your meal helps for good digestion process.
• BEFORE TAKING BATH – When you bath, your temperature raising high is normal. But drinking water before a bath lowers the temperature.
• BEFORE GOING TO BED – It replenishes if any fluids loss in your body and also gives a good sleep.
• DURING SICK – While you are feeling tired or sick, the cells of your body also gets tired. So to get hydrated drinking water is a good solution.
Sun salutation is a worship to Sun, the god of light. It can be also said as Surya Namaskar. Sun salutation consists of twelve steps. Sun Salutation gives n number of benefits to our body. Some of the benefits are given here :
SUN SALUTATION BENEFITS :
It helps to improve your metabolism and makes you to lose weight.
It prevents wrinkles in your skin and early aging. It makes the skin to glow.
It increases the blood flow to your digestive track which makes you to digest healthily.
Regular practice of the asanas helps in making childbirth easy. Also the menstrual cycle will be in proper duration.
It keeps the blood sugar level in a check.
It makes you calm down and come out of anxiety. You can see the change in your peace of mind.
It helps to maintain an efficient inhalation and exhalation in your body.
SUN SALUTATION ASANAS :
1. PRANAMASANA :
Stand with your feet together. Place the palms of your hands at the chest level.
2. HASTAUTTANASANA :
Inhale and raise your arms upward. Slowly strech your arms backward over your head.
3. PADAHASTASANA :
Exhale and slowly bend forward, let hands touch the feet. Try to touch your head to your knees. But do not go beyond the capacity.
4. ASHWA SANCHALANASANA :
Inhale and move your right leg back into lung position. Keep your hands and feet firmly placed on the ground. Make sure to look up.
5. PARVATASANA :
While exhaling bring the left foot together with the right to be beginning position of push up.
6. DANDASANA :
Continue to exhale as you lower your body to the floor until your feet, knees, palm, chest and forehead are touching the floor. This is called ” Sastanga Namaskara” where eight body parts in contact with the floor. The buttocks are raised up in this position.
7. ASHTANGA NAMASKARA :
Inhale and stretch forward and up. Use you arms to lift your torso. Make sure that you only bend your back as far as it feels safe and comfortable. This is called ” Kobra position”.
8. BHUJANGASANA :
Exhale, raise the buttocks, push the hard down and have a complete arch with the heels touching the ground and palms on the floor.
9. PARVATASANA :
Inhale and step you right foot forward into the linge position.
10. ASHWA SANCHALANASANA :
Exhale and bring your feet together trying to bring your head to your knees.
11. PADAHASTASANA :
Keep your arms extended as you raise them above your head. Lean slightly back.
12. HASTAUTTANASANA :
Exhale and in a slowly graceful motion let your arms go your sides. End by bringing your hands back to prayer position.
NOTE :
Morning time is best to do surya namaskar, but if your unable to do in morning then do it in evening or either when your stomach is empty.