7 Life Improving Benefits of Yoga

You've heard the perks of regularly hitting the mat, yet 70 percent of you still aren't prone to pose, a Self.com poll reveals. Take a closer look at how health and happiness go up with every Downward Dog.




A Sunnier OutlookThere really is something to the "happy yogi." Doing one hour of asanas —a sequence of standing, sitting and balancing poses - helped avid posers raise their levels of the brain chemical GABA (low levels are linked with depression) by 27 percent compared with a group who read quietly, a study from Boston University School of Medicine and McLean Hospital 

Aches Erased!Put nagging lower-back pain behind you. Sufferers who did two 90-minute yoga classes a week for about six months eased soreness by 56 percent, a study in Spine shows. Those given treatments like pain meds and physical therapy lessened the hurt by only 16 percent. Posing improves posture and strengthens back muscles to keep aches at bay, researchers say

Better, Longer Zzz'sInsomniacs fell asleep 15 minutes faster and slept an hour longer each night after two months of doing a 45-minute series of yoga poses daily before bed. Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital speculate that regular practice helped people relax, making it easier to switch off. No trouble hitting the hay? Doing three weekly sessions at any time of the day may still help 

Steamer Sex
You can amp up your desire and ensure an O-mazing time between the sheets by practicing daily asanas, a study from The Journal of Sexual Medicine suggests. The love connection: Yoga helps reduce anxiety, increase body awareness and even speed the release of hormones that rev arousal. All of that translates to a boost in libido, lubrication and ability to achieve

Crazy-High ConfidenceYoga could be your ticket to body love, research from the University of California in Berkeley finds. Women who practiced regularly rated their body satisfaction 20 percent higher than did those who took aerobics, even though both groups were at a healthy weight. The secret may be that yoga asks you to tune in to how your body feels and what it can do—not how it looks.

Top-to-Toe Toning
Smart yogis know dumbbells aren't the only way to sculpt. "Yoga is strength training," says Loren Bassett, an instructor at Pure Yoga in New York City and creator of Bassett's Boot-camp, a vigorous, athletic-style yoga class. "You're using your body weight to move from posture to posture, and in certain poses, you're lifting every pound of it." For sure fire firming, focus on muscle-
A Sense of Calm
Namaste the stress away! Women who had gone to the mat at least once a week for two years or more released 41 percent less of a tension-triggered cytokine (a type of protein) that can make you feel tired and moody compared with yoga newbies, a study in Psychosomatic Medicine notes.

http://www.self.com/fitness/2012/03/benefits-of-yoga-slideshow

Discover Your Purpose And Passion

It is so easy to say…discover your purpose and passion and you will unlock the true potential in your life — if only it were that simple.

For many of us, it has been so long since we had that feeling of true inner joy where time didn't seem to matter because we were doing what we loved…we forget how to dream, how to know what we even really want in our lives. Like a dog chasing its tail, we get up each day and do our best at our job, as a friend, in our role as parent, but is that enough? Is that all there is to life?

For me, the question was always could I get back the feelings I had as a 10-year old playing outside, reading or learning when I was perfectly in tune with life, unbelievably happy. For me, there were different points in my life that contributed… That led to the question – how do you discover your purpose and passion?


Here are 3 methods that you can use to change your life, regain excitement and fulfillment no matter what your age or circumstances…

1. Recall our childhood – I think if we look back on as much as we can remember between 5-18 we will remember/find passions we had at that time. We had time to dream, less preventing us from taking time to think and dream. Part of finding passion involves going back to those times and remembering what interests and passions you had back then. Sure, there may have been some bad stuff too…but really focus on what gave you the most joy and happiness. These years are where I did most of my initial learning, found music, discovered that I was very good at being critical, questioning and finding solutions to things – these are now passions.

2. When you go through momentous times in your life…major health challenges, a crisis, or a really happy time in your life (wedding, birth of a child, moving to a new job or country) It seems these times allow us to shed what has been hanging over our heads and focus on our passions once again

3. Relaxation and Introspection – learning to meditate effectively over the last 15-years or so has meant I get constantly to re-visit my passions, something I am thankful for each day. Focus first on learning to meditate and calm your mind, then you can begin to work toward guided meditations in which you can seek out your purpose and passion without a cloudy mind from the day's challenges.


Happiness, clarity, focus, health and well-being and earning potential are all linked very closely (if not dependent on) you finding your purpose and passion – do you know what your passion is?


http://www.peak-personal-development.com/blog/index.php/discover-your-purpose-and-passion/

7 Steps To Being A Better You In 7 Days

I wake up every morning knowing I can be something more than I was yesterday. I know I can be anything I want to be as long as I focus on that goal. I attempt to make every day another step towards succeeding at my dreams. There is no better day than today to start being the best you.

Every day that you have, you have the opportunity to make incredible things happen. Sure, there are almost 7 billion people on the Earth, but you can still make a difference either in your life or another. What I am asking of you is that you make one small attempt to make yourself better in some way for the next 7 days and, hopefully, continue this lifestyle change. Before we get into that, let’s answer a few questions…

Why Should You Become a Better You?
I am assuming you are an amazing person right now. You have accomplished many great things and done a lot for others in your life. However, I feel that if we aren’t striving daily to be a better person, we begin to feel comfortable in the daily norm. Like many of you, I hate the daily norm. I love making everyday different than the last and experience something different as often as possible. With that, we should all challenge ourselves to be better so that we continue to grow and develop at whatever point we are in our lives.

What are the Benefits of Being a Better Me?
By attempting to be a better you, you will be happier, more productive, and fulfill more dreams than if you chose to be stagnant. You will start to see new opportunities that once were never a reality nor a possibility. You will meet new and exciting people that may give more meaning to your life. These benefits just touch the surface of the positive impact of attempting to be a better you can have.

Why in the World Would I Listen to You About Being a Better Me?
That’s a great question and I am glad you asked. I am not perfect. I have many flaws. However, daily, I try to be a better person because I know that by doing so I am adding value to my existence and hopefully, to others as well. I am bringing more value to the great gift of life. If there is anyone that can strive to be a better person, it is me. So, if I am seeing the positives from trying to be a better person, I know you can gain from attempting this small action too. I am no motivational speaker, but I do know that I have the skills to assist others in a modest way. You don’t have to take any of this advice. But, it never hurts to try something new that may just improve your life. The worst case scenario is that I don’t help you in any way and you go back to your already awesome life.

Now that those questions are out of the way, here are 7 daily steps that are basic and useful to becoming a better you in 7 days:

1. Wake up before sunrise. This may be tough for the night owls, but this can be one of the best ways to get in tune with yourself before the chaos hits. Take advantage of being ahead of everyone else and enjoy the coming of the day. This practice will lead to a fresher, more alive you throughout the day if continued. The happier you start your day, the brighter the rest of the day will be.
2. Ask someone if there is anything you can help them with. Try to ask others if there is anything that you can do to make their day better. They will appreciate you more and may inspire them to pay it forward. This action usually leads to self-fulfillment knowing that you have improved the life of another.
3. Get outside and be active. I usually plead the case for getting outside so that more people would be healthier. But, today, I just want to share this action step so that you can get outside and disconnect from the world. By this I mean the digital world. Today, many of us spend all of our day in front of the television or computer screen. The world is vast and incredible and usually it can be experienced just by walking out the front door. Take this opportunity to walk through your town or city and greet all of those you pass. Experience life in the form of nature. Do this for 30 minutes and your mind will be clearer and more alive than when you started.
4. Write down your goals for the next week. Don’t look so far ahead. Enjoy everything that you want to accomplish this week. By writing down your aspirations for one week, you will be more in tune with taking action today instead of procrastinating. Want to simplify your workspace? Write it down along with small daily tasks that will accomplish this goal. Keep it simple and you will achieve great things that will brighten your days to come.
5. Do one thing you love. Love reading? Love running? Love talking? Love relaxing? Love writing? Whatever it is that you love, try doing that for some period of your day. When we experience the things we love, we tend to carry that positive attitude towards the following actions. This will increase your level of enjoyment with life so that you can be better at everything else that you do. 
6. Make another person’s day. You would be surprised how much positive impact a small act can have on the person you are kind to along with the impact it has upon yourself. As stated earlier, you can ask someone if they need help. You can also tell them how great they are, write them a secret note (my girlfriend loves finding these in random places), take someone out for a meal, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. It just should be something that will brighten their day. 
7. Learn something new. Have you always wanted to know how to say a few words of Mandarin as well as understand what you were saying? Well, learn that one new thing today. Take this chance to educate yourself about one thing you didn’t know before today and you will be that much brighter. Education should not stop when we leave school. By implementing this daily act, you will be capable of improving your ability to adjust to new and improved aspects of culture. 

READ THIS BEFORE YOU LEAVE: You may have read these 7 steps by skimming through this article. But what I want to stress is that you take action. Actually try something that you read here. These are not over-arching, difficult tasks. They are incredible ways that you can make major positive changes to your life. So, for me, just give it a shot for a week.


I hope through these 7 steps, you too can see the benefits of becoming a better you every day of your life.

http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2010/05/27/being-a-better-you/