If the usual sit ups and crunches bore you, yoga is a great alternative for core strength, good balance, stability, and posture. Read our top four yoga poses specifically for core strength.
Plank Pose- Plank is a total body toning pose that we have a love-hate relationship with. Make sure to keep your body in a straight line and keep your palms on the floor directly below your shoulders. Side Plank Pose- This pose is an arm balance and a core strengthening pose. Shift to your right or left side from plank pose. Place your right or left arm to the sky and press your weight to the opposite hand. Gaze at your top hand, hold for half a minute, and engage your core and thighs. Boat Pose- This pose will strengthen your abs. Balance on your sit bones and extend your legs straight in front of you creating a V shape with your body. Extend your arms forward with your palms facing towards each other.
Chair pose- This pose strengthens your entire body including your core. Stand with your feet parallel and bend your knees. Make sure you bring your thighs parallel to the floor, keep your back long, and arms extended. Put the majority of your weight into your heels and lift your toes up. Feature: Yoga Heals the Soul Tank Top
“A good run is like a cup of coffee… I am much nicer after I had one!” -Anonymous
Studies show that running elevates your mood due to the fact that endorphins are released when exercising. The endorphins are the body’s natural pain and stress. These chemicals are famous for the “runners high.” When they are released the benefits are endless and the importance of running and exercise cannot be stressed enough.
Benefits:
-Reduces Depression and Anxiety
-Reduces the Perception of Pain
-Improves the Body’s Response to Stress
-Boosts Self-esteem
-Reduces Symptoms of Mental and Behavioral disorders
-Fights Diseases
-Faster Weight Loss
-Greater Stamina
Essentially running regularly will keep you feeling refreshed, relaxed, and happier. Here is how it will help improve your mood…
Improves Your Body’s Response to Stress- When you run regularly, your body becomes adept at handling stress due to the fact that exercise increases body temperature and blood circulation in the brain. This essentially improves heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol levels.
Counters the stress hormones with happiness hormones- Who said you can’t run away from your problems? If you had a tough day at work or in general, go on a run. Running is my therapy, reset button, time to think, motivation, instinct, outlet, and well-being. I personally couldn’t imagine my life without running. Running brings about chemical changes in the body, as it balances the negative effects of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol with the production of endorphins, as I stated previously. These chemicals in the brain act as natural mood enhancers and painkillers. The feeling of optimism and relaxation occur post long distance run. The endorphins work like anti-depressants without side effects relieving tension. Essentially running boosts mental energy and relaxes your mind and body.
Improves self-esteem- When you run it is just you and the rhythm of your feet. Regular runners who are passionate, push there limits, set goals, and attain them have a direct correlation with self esteem and confidence.This is because goal setting creates a sense of achievement.
Reduces contradiction in thought and action- Running is not only about feeling good, but it can alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety. Running will improve your faith in your own capability, fight distraction, and help you stay focused. Exercising and running gives us time to clear our heads. This reduces contradictions in thought, belief, and action. Cognitive dissonance is a state of mental tension one may experience, as they hold different views and beliefs. Running naturally lifts your mood and boost your morale.
Improves focus- Running improves concentration, focus, and memory, as it boosts the levels of serotonin and dopamine in the brain. This keeps attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in check. Not only will running give better resistance to impulse decisions and temptations, but will improve concentration levels of ADHD patients.
Running keeps your mind young and sharp, as there is a positive relationship between mood and exercise. A regular routine can help keep the mental decline caused by degenerative diseases at bay. Run for 30 minutes a day to experience the healthy benefits.
About: Our Colorbands are made for motion and will not slip! Featuring: ‘Marble Colorband Twist’ Special Discounts: Save 15% on 3 or more Colorbands! Code: ‘3orMore’ and FREE shipping at $30Click on the photo to read how to stay motivated to reach your health and fitness goals!
3 Types of Meditation to Practice that Reduces Stress
:
Meditation is practiced to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state. Practicing will enable you to learn how to observe your feelings or thoughts without judgment and understand them better. Meditation is a skill and takes practice and consistency in order to get comfortable. Statistics show that meditating reduces anxiety and depression. Practicing creates a greater degree of self-control and an increased cognitive function. Mindfulness meditation also known as Vipassana, transcendental meditation, and guided visualization meditation are three popular types.
Mindfulness Meditation: Mindfulness meditation is practiced with your eyes closed in a comfortable position on your back or sitting up straight and focuses on the breath as you inhale and exhale. During this practice a distracting thought may come to mind. The best way to proceed and focus on your breath is to notice that you became distracted, remain non-judgmental, and shift your focus back to breathing. Be mindful of any thoughts. Mindfulness is essential in overcoming suffering and understanding natural wisdom. It is about acknowledging reality through letting the mind wander and accepting any thoughts that come up and understanding the present.
Transcendental Meditation: This type of meditation is taught by an instructor and involves repeating a particular mantra or sound at a comfortable pace effortlessly. Essentially you enter a deeper state of emptiness, like most meditation practices your mind might become distracted. Acknowledge your thoughts and return back to the mantra.
Guided Visualization: Guided Visualization meditation involves your imagination. Statistics show if you imagine relaxing and positive experiences the body will respond by releasing chemicals that generate feelings of positivity. A guided visualization is necessary for a more powerful experience, however it can be practiced alone. Meditation is the heart of yoga and is practiced in ‘Shavasana’, a total relaxation pose. The literal meaning is the corpse pose where the yogi is lying on their back and their eyes are shut and the breathe is long and deep. Yoga and meditation will lead to reduced stress and anxiety.
Please click on the image to view our yoga headband collection! Click on the image to read how running will improve your mood!
Self-care is important as it boosts your confidence and produces positive feelings and emotions. Maintaining a healthy relationship with yourself will increase your self-esteem and remind yourself and others that you are your needs are important too.
1.Put up decorations
2. Have a Hot Co-Co
3. See a loved one
4. Take a slow, scenic walk
5. Declutter and donate
6. Make a playlist for the Holidays
7. Write positive new years resolutions
8. Write a gratitude list
9. Look at local Christmas lights
10. Call a relative to chat
11. Put on some music and move your body
12. Burn a scented candle
13. Cuddle with a blanket and read
14. Get some sunlight
15. Do an act of kindness
16. Write down your bad thoughts
17. Journal
18. Practice Yoga
19. Watch a childhood Christmas movie
20. Take a moment to do absolutely nothing
21. Give yourself a compliment
22. Make someone a gift
23. Take a long shower or bath
24. Do a home exercise
25. Write down some of your favorite memories of 2018
26. Spend an hour doing your favorite hobby
27. Cuddle up in a blanket and read
28. Give yourself a manicure or a pedicure
29. Make a plan for the weekend, thus ensuring you have something to look forward to
30. Make a healthy snack
31. Treat yourself to a massage
Feature: Amanda Colorband Fleece
Special Offer: 20% off First Order
Code: ’20Percent’Click on the image to read our blog ‘Five ways to be kind to yourself!’
5 WAYS TO STAY MOTIVATED TO REACH YOUR HEALTH AND FITNESS GOALS
Sometimes LIFE can get in the way of our health and fitness goals. In order to stay on track and be accountable having a support system and a plan to take action is critical. Listed are our top five ways to stay motivated in order to stay on track and be driven to reach your nutrition and fitness goals.
1. Find Out Why.
Why do you want to reach this goal? What is the purpose of reaching this goal? How will you feel once you meet this goal? Figuring out your WHY will help clear your mind and focus on the outcome if you do take action. It takes dedication in order to continue with a nutrition and fitness journey so once you find your “WHY” it will give you motivation to continue. Even when life gets busy or you get tired, your goals will still stay on the top of your to-do list.
2. Support System.
If you have people surrounding you that not only support and encourage you, but also hold you accountable this will help you stay motivated. There are tons of FREE online communities that you can join that can help start your fitness journey. Results will be higher with a workout or accountability partner and it can really mean the difference between success and failure.
3. Have a Plan.
“Failing to plan is planning to fail” Planning is a crucial for success not only to continue and reach your health and fitness goals, but if you want to accomplish anything in life. Once you write down the step by step actions to take daily it will give you an insight on what you have to do in order to reach the end result.
4. Redefine Success.
The scale is not the best measurement of success. Monitor your results through progress photos and your energy levels. The scale cannot differentiate between gaining muscle and losing fat. Don’t forget to reflect upon what you want to accomplish. If you want to run around the park and not be winded than accomplishing this is a great way to define success.
5. Improve.
You cannot expect to see results overnight, however if you take everyday as a new opportunity to improve, you will find purpose for each meal you eat and every workout you complete. The key is consistency over time so if you focus on getting 1% better each day and never give up you will see results in the long run. Even if you have had one bad weekend of eating or a small setback it is OK. There is no need to feel guilt or shame if you get off track. Acknowledge what happened and choose to get back on the right track. Stay in the present for today is a new beginning and your decisions of today determine your future.
All of my tips can be applied to everyday life. We hope that they encourage you to stay on track and get better each day.
Click the image to read my tips on how to bounce back after failing to reach your goals!
People with high levels of vitality tend to have some of the same traits that highly grateful people do, like high levels of optimism and life satisfaction. Keep a gratitude journal and add to it everyday, tell someone you love and appreciate them, notice the beauty of nature every day, nature the friendships you have because good friends don’t come along every day, smile often, and watch inspiring videos that will remind you of the good in the world. I encourage you to journal what you are grateful for once a day this month. It is so important to be grateful, as a spirit of appreciation promotes optimism and helps us develop a more positive outlook. Listed is my 30 day challenge that I encourage you to participate in:
Day #1: What smell are you grateful for today?
Day #2: What technology are you grateful for?
Day #3: What color are you grateful for?
Day #4: What in nature are you grateful for?
Day #5: What food are you grateful for?
Day #6: What sound are you grateful for?
Day #7: What memory are you grateful for?
Day #8: What book are you grateful for?
Day #9: What place are you grateful for?
Day #10: What talent are or skill that you have that you are grateful for?
Day #11: What friend/ family member are you grateful for?
Day #12: What small thing that happened today are you grateful for?
Day #13: What tradition are you grateful for?
Day #14: What small thing that you use daily are you grateful for?
Day #15: What form of expression are you most grateful for?
Day #16: What moment this week are you most grateful for?
Day #17: What challenge are you grateful for?
Day #18: What tradition are you grateful for?
Day #19: What story are you grateful for?
Day #20: What song are you most grateful for?
Day #21: Who in your life are you grateful for?
Day #22: What touch are you grateful for today?
Day #23: What knowledge are you grateful for?
Day #24: What piece of art are you grateful for?
Day #25: What about your body are you grateful for?
Day #26: What season are you grateful for?
Day #27: What sight are you grateful for today?
Day #28: What abilities are you grateful for?
Day #29: What texture are you grateful for?
Day #30: What taste are you grateful for?
Click the photo to read 4 morning rituals to make everyday your healthiest!
Everyone wants to succeed, however failure is inevitable, as there can be no success without failure. The key is not to avoid failure, but rather to learn how to manage it when it comes. Listed are six ways to bounce back and handle the situation after failing to meet your goals.
1. Failure is Your Perception. Change your perspective and look at failure as a new opportunity. This new opportunity is an important lesson for growth. If you view failure as something positive, this can lead to not only a new understanding, but a new beginning. This can help you find a new way regarding tasks, actions, and steps to take in order to meet your goals in the future. Remember, you are only a failure if you choose to give up.
2. Focus on The New Opportunity. When you fail to reach your goals, ask yourself “What does this mean and what can I learn from it?” Focus on a new lesson and NOT the problem. Most people look at failure as the opposite of success, which is not true, it is actually a part of success.
3. Remember Your Dream.Never lose interest in what you want. When you see yourself living your ideal lifestyle and achieving your goals, you feel motivated. Never get distracted by everything happening in your daily life and stop taking action. Keep pursuing your dreams and put your goals in mind at all times.
4. Rediscover Your Purpose and Passion. Your purpose guides you through the tough times and your passion is the fuel that drives you to take action each day. Rediscover your purpose and passion, and fully understand why you want to achieve the goals you set. The stronger you feel about your purpose the more motivation you will have.
5. Plan Ahead. Once you understand better why you failed in the first place it is time to plan ahead again and create your new daily and weekly tasks. Maybe you did not take enough action or your approach did not work. Create a new action plan, start again, and never underestimate the power of planning. Nobody ever wrote down a plan to be broke, fat, or lazy. However, those things happen when you do not have a plan.
6. Take Action. Do not sit around and do nothing, bounce back and take action. Sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself for not reaching your goals will not get you anywhere in life. Making progress and continuously moving consistently according to the plan that you have created will bring you one step closer to succeeding and meeting your goals.
Conclusion.
Never give up and always follow your dreams. If you do not see your failures as failures and look at them as an opportunity to learn and grow, you will be able to turn any situation around and bounce back to reach your dreams.
Click on the photo to read our simple ways to start detoxing!
The best way to cleanse your body and detox is the old fashion way. Eating the right foods, keeping a positive mental attitude, and getting exercise. If your energy level is low, if you are feeling stressed out, if you take medications, or you feel congested, a weekend detox may help you feel better. Our bodies carry loads of petrochemicals from fish and animals. Detoxing is a great way to get rid of these toxins, recharge, rejuvenate, and renew. Anyone can benefit from simple cleansing and detoxing. Below are fourteen ideas and ways to start detoxing your body today to reach a healthier and happier version of you!
1. Hydrate-
Drinking water is the fastest and BEST way to detox. Water is the reason we are surviving and our bodies need it to function, If there is ANYTHING that will flush toxins out of your body it is water. Sip the H20, stay hydrated, and this will help your body look, feel, and perform optimally.
2. Deep Breathing Exercises-
Oxygen helps with cleansing your lungs, as we can go weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without air. Deep breathing exercises can help improve lung performance and clear airways, essentially making you feel better and give you more energy. Deep breathing allows more oxygenation of the cells within the body due to the fact practicing expands the diaphragm muscle and the air pockets within the lungs. These exercises improve health and helps the body perform better.
3. Massage Therapy-
A detox massage can help relieve pain, heal injuries, improve circulation, relieve stress, increase relaxation, and aid in your general wellness.
4. Unplug-
Studies show that the light from the screens make it more difficult to fall asleep at night and sabotages the amount of sleep that we do get. Our body needs sleep, as it helps us recover and re-energize. If our sleep is sub-par, than so is our body’s ability to perform it’s natural functions including detoxification and fighting off viruses.
5. Walking or Exercising-
Exercising leads to an increase in blood flow. Blood flow is essential for our organs to work most efficiently and effectively. When we move, our bodies , our heart pumps with greater force, therefore pushing blood throughout the body. This gives our liver an opportunity to pluck out toxins as they pass through our blood stream.
6. Sauna-
Spending time in the Sauna will give your liver a boost, as well as give you time to unplug, and put your mind at ease.
7. Meditation-
Meditation can decrease stress and anxiety, while increasing productivity and focus. FUN FACT: A Harvard study discovered a group of participants that were in a relaxation and meditation program had decreased there overall health costs by 43%. Detoxifying our mind can essentially detoxify our body improving overall health.
8. Turmeric Tea-
Turmeric is used as a common spice in Indian Curry dishes, however it is also used in tea. The benefits of this spice are incredible, as it reduces inflammation and pain, and helps prevent and fight cancer. The spice improves circulation, which sets your liver up for success to get rid of toxins within your blood.
9. Epsom Salt Bath-
A lack of magnesium can lead to chronic fatigue, a hot bath with Epsom salt can prevent this due to the magnesium content within it. Sitting in hot water alone, creates a similar response in your body as exercise or a sauna does.
Click the image to participate or read our 30 days of gratitude challenge!
Having a morning ritual can help start your day on a positive note.
1. Write Down Self Affirmations. It is a great way to start your day by writing three simple positive self affirmations. Write out an affirmation that offers the positive flip side of your negative beliefs about yourself. Write them in the present tense, make it personal, and reflect deep kindness to yourself. Similar Post: 40 Positive Self Affirmations to Write or Recite Every Morning
2. Do Something You Love. The best morning rituals involve a good reason to get out of bed, whether it be a DELICIOUS cup of coffee, a morning yoga routine,satisfying breakfast, or even your favorite morning tv show. Do something that makes you happy and brighten your morning, but most importantly, get OUT of bed and be productive. Similar Post: 4 Yoga Poses to Practice Every Morning
3. Start Your Metabolism. Drink water, coffee, or both every morning. In a recent study, it shows that drinking sixteen ounces of water increased metabolic rate by 30%.
4. Just Breathe. Try a breathing exercise before getting out of bed. As you inhale, follow your breath to the back of your throat down your lungs. As you exhale, do the same in reverse. Get oxygen into the body. Deliberate, deep breathing also feeds the confident centers in the brain.
Feature: Grey Floral Colorband Twist
Deal: Save 20% First Order
Code: ’20Percent’Click on the photo to read ‘4 Surprising Ways Yoga Can Improve Your Life’ !
Practicing a morning yoga routine is a great way to start the day on a positive note. In this new digital age, it is so easy to slip into the habit of checking your phone the moment you wake up. It is important to begin your day with a non-digital interaction such as a nice hot shower, meditation, reading, or my favorite…yoga. Listed are four yoga poses to say good morning to your body.
Child’s Pose- Child’s pose is a resting pose that helps stretch the hips, thighs and ankles. The pose stretches the muscles of the back torso and relaxes the front of your body.
Downward Facing Dog – This asana deeply stretches your shoulders, calves, arches, hamstrings, and spine. In order to perfect the downward dog you have to lift your hips so your knees are not on the mat, engage your low belly, and straighten your legs.
Upward Facing Dog- This asana improves posture, strengthens the spine, arms, and wrists, and stretches your chest, shoulders, and abdomen. Begin by lying down with your legs extended behind you. Place your hands on the floor alongside your body next to your lower ribs. Press your hands through the floor.
Plank Pose- This pose tones the abdominal muscles as well as strengthens the arms and spine. It helps you achieve less back pain and better balance.
If the usual sit ups and crunches bore you, yoga is a great alternative for core strength, good balance, stability, and posture. Read our top four yoga poses specifically for core strength. 
5 WAYS TO STAY MOTIVATED TO REACH YOUR HEALTH AND FITNESS GOALS
People with high levels of vitality tend to have some of the same traits that highly grateful people do, like high levels of optimism and life satisfaction. Keep a gratitude journal and add to it everyday, tell someone you love and appreciate them, notice the beauty of nature every day, nature the friendships you have because good friends don’t come along every day, smile often, and watch inspiring videos that will remind you of the good in the world. I encourage you to journal what you are grateful for once a day this month. It is so important to be grateful, as a spirit of appreciation promotes optimism and helps us develop a more positive outlook. Listed is my 30 day challenge that I encourage you to participate in: 
Having a morning ritual can help start your day on a positive note.
Child’s Pose- Child’s pose is a resting pose that helps stretch the hips, thighs and ankles. The pose stretches the muscles of the back torso and relaxes the front of your body.
Downward Facing Dog – This asana deeply stretches your shoulders, calves, arches, hamstrings, and spine. In order to perfect the downward dog you have to lift your hips so your knees are not on the mat, engage your low belly, and straighten your legs.
Upward Facing Dog- This asana improves posture, strengthens the spine, arms, and wrists, and stretches your chest, shoulders, and abdomen. Begin by lying down with your legs extended behind you. Place your hands on the floor alongside your body next to your lower ribs. Press your hands through the floor.
Plank Pose- This pose tones the abdominal muscles as well as strengthens the arms and spine. It helps you achieve less back pain and better balance.