Day: July 5, 2018

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4 Ways Practicing Yoga Outside Benefits You

 

Research has made a strong case that taking the time to practice yoga outside can enhance your practice in a different way than your studio does. 

  1. Natural Scenery Can Heighten Awareness. Nature will help you to be in the present. Practicing yoga outside will help quiet mind chatter, as your mind will be focused on all that is going on around you. Endorphins are released when looking at beautiful scenery. Connecting with the actual, physical earth will help you feel more grounded.

  2. Spending Time in Nature Can Replenish Depleted Energy. Studies show that spending time outdoors can give us more energy. A group of researchers from several Canadian universities conducted an experiment to learn more about vitality. They defined vitality as “having physical and mental energy…that one can harness for or regulate for purposive actions.” Participants took a fifteen minute walk. Half of them spent the walk inside and the other half walked outside regardless of the weather. The participants who spent there walk outside felt a significant increase in how energized they felt.

  3. Fresh Air Can Motivate People to Take Deeper Breaths. More oxygen that comes into the body will enable you to improve your body’s systems and relaxation. 

  4. The Outdoors can Further Boost the Benefits of Meditation. This is because being outside helps people clear their minds and offer a new perspective. A clear and balanced mind will enable the practitioner to make better decisions. Yoga outside will essentially reconnect you with nature and de-stress the mind.

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5 Reasons to Start Meal Prepping

Meal preparation is a weekly preparation of meals for a period of time longer than two days. Planning, cooking, and packaging food for the upcoming week can save time and money. There are many benefits and it is not as intimidating as it looks! Here are my top 5 reasons to start.

  1. Save Time– Planning ahead is a key component in staying on track, reaching your goals, and saving time. Planning your meals in advance requires you to create a list of all the ingredients you will need for that week’s meals. In doing so, you can eliminate the possibility of running back and forth to the grocery store for last minute items.

  2. Save Money- You will save money through buying in bulk and eliminating restaurant markup. 

  3. Decrease Stress–  Throughout life, people are encouraged to stay organized by creating to-do lists in order to fulfill obligations without last minute stress. This same philosophy applies when aiming to maintain a healthy, nutritious diet. As your schedule becomes hectic, it seems juggling nutrition with the rest of your life is impossible, however, meal preparation is one way to reduce stress and give you one less thing to worry about. 

  4. Make Healthier Choices-Preparing meals yourself enables you to include healthier and unprocessed ingredients. 

  5. Eat Higher Quality Foods– Instead of reaching quick processed and prepackaged snacks or meals that go over your caloric needs, you will now be able to eat home cooked healthier foods in proper portions.

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6 Reasons to Practice Yoga

 

 

Practicing yoga is a positive journey for both your physical and mental health. Mentally, you will notice more strength to move away from negative situations. Physically, you will become more flexible and improve your posture. Here are my top six reasons to start practicing yoga.

1.    Relieve Stress.  One major component of yoga is meditation. Yoga meditation was designed to calm your mind and move into a deeply meditative state. This is mainly practiced in order to be more relaxed. Meditating often will help control stress, decrease anxiety, and improve your cardiovascular health. Learning to focus your mind on one thing at a time seems difficult at first, but with practice you start to develop new habits towards a more relaxed internal state. Meditating becomes easier changing your life for the better.

2.    Breathe More Effectively. Yoga mainly focuses on pranayama techniques giving you the opportunity to use your entire lung capacity. Practicing enables you to learn how to breathe better. These techniques have an extremely calming effect.

3.    Become Stronger Mentally. Not only will you notice that you will become more positive, but you will be able to accept whatever life brings to the table. Not all life experiences are good. Yoga teaches you that both positive and negative things in life come and go. Understanding this on a deeper level makes it easier to accept, stay present, and be positive. You will slowly become more aware of how things influence you. You will naturally make changes that will impact your life in a favorable way. Overall, you will become more aware of everything in life. Once you develop self-awareness you are able to change your thoughts and interpretations.

4.    Become Stronger Physically. Yoga is a full body workout that targets muscles within the body through specific poses and postures. Yoga increases mobility and flexibility bringing more ease into your movement. Essentially you won’t feel so stuck within your body. You will notice that your posture will improve.

5.    Be in the Present. People tend to get bogged down thinking about the past or the future and in today’s society checking out completely into the land of cell phones or social media however, yoga gives you the ability to unplug and focus on what is going on in your body and in your life right now. Happiness can only be found here and now in the present.

6. Manage Your Pain. Studies suggest that practicing yoga reduces pain for people with conditions including hypertension or arthritis cancer.

Do you practice yoga? Will you consider trying a yoga class after hearing these benefits?

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