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Saturday, August 30, 2014

Yoga Balances Stress, Boosts Immune Function, Reduces Inflammation






Alice G. Walton

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Tip of the Week: Relax Your Stationary Leg in Locust

Sara gave a great tip in class the other day for lifting your leg during the first part of Locust Pose. 

In the single leg lift portion of Locust Pose, the stationary leg will reflexively contract to assist the rising leg.  Bikram tells us to relax the muscles of the stationary leg while contracting the muscles of the lifting leg.

TIP: Focus your attention on identifying and engaging just those muscles in the lifting leg.  Keep the toes of the stationary leg on the floor but avoid pressing them pressing them into the floor, in order to keep that leg relaxing.

Sara's Tip: Contract the muscles of your right arm when lifting your right leg. It will help to focus on only contracting the muscles on that side of your body. Do the same with your left arm when lifting your left leg. 
1.11wfpaodjadf;lgThere should be only 20% pressure on your head and the weight is in your arms pulling on your heels. You should not feel very much pressure in your neck or on your head. If you pull on your heels and lift your hips up, the weight should come off your head. Try contracting your abdominal muscles to stretch your spine more and always lift your shoulders away from your ears. - See more at:

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Tip of the Week: Eat, Smoke, Meditate: Why Your Brain Cares How You Cope


But which methods actually work?




They also found that when the brain’s “me” centers were activated, meditators also co-activated areas important in self-monitoring and cognitive control, which may indicate that they are on the constant lookout for “me” thoughts or mind-wandering – and when their minds do wander, they bring them back to the present moment. Even better, meditators not only did this during meditation, but when not being told to do anything in particular. This suggests that they may have formed a new default mode: one that is more present-centered (and less “me”-centered), no matter what they are doing.

“This is really cool,” Brewer says. “As far as we know, nobody has seen this type of connectivity pattern before. These networks have previously been shown to be anti-correlated.”





Alice G. Walton

Friday, August 8, 2014

Tip of the Week: Losing Weight with Bikram

Yes, you can burn anywhere from 600 to 1200 calories during one Bikram class, depending on how hard you work. If your focus is on losing weight, here are some tips to help aid you in your success.

1. Believe in Yourself

To permanently change shape and achieve weight loss by practicing yoga also means to shift some of your thought processes and beliefs. For example: "When I eat fatty food, it goes straight to my hips" may not be as empowering as "I easily burn up all the food I eat".
Some beliefs are simply self destructive -- around self esteem or low self worth. Yoga will help you banish these -- sometimes consciously, sometimes they just go away with a regular practice.
2. Regular Practice

You'll need to practice Bikram Yoga at least 3 x every week.

Less than this won't establish the new body patterns you need to stimulate all the other changes. 5 or 6 yoga sessions every week will get you there super-fast!

3. Eating Regime

What is most important is a balanced diet and one which concentrates on proper food combining. Luckily, a regular yoga practice (3 or more vigorous classes a week) will kick-start your metabolism and lead to quite natural changes in the foods that you desire.

You will also become more conscious of what you eat and how it affects you as your own capacity to notice and calibrate your own body improves. Change does not have to be chaotic, hard or dramatic. With a regular practice, your body will discard "old" food behaviors and conserve those that support your emerging shape and identity.

4. Stop counting the lbs. Throw away the scales. Don't count calories.

And do:

  • Concentrate on dress size and waist size changes.
  • Notice how any previously "pudgy" areas become sleeker.
  • Watch your skin develop "the Bikram glow" as we call it.
  • Notice your eyes becoming brighter (and sometimes cleaner and whiter looking).
  • Some people see their skin change color -- from grayer (poor circulation) to pinker (good circulation).