Yoga Tip N°5...

Following our series, we'll complete the Supta Padhagustasana (Tip N°3) with one of its variations:

1. Take both stripes of the belt with your right hand and open your leg to the right, towards the floor.

2. Your left leg should be pushing towards the floor and the wall, helping you to keep the pose.

3. Breathe in, and when breathing out, stretch the inner sides of both legs towards your feet while contracting the outer sides towards your butt, thus allowing the circulation of the energy.

To maintain the equilibrium of the hips, you can place a folded blanket under the thigh of the leg with which you are working.

Keep the pose for 1 minute. Then move your leg back towards the ceiling and repeat with your other leg.

With this variation you'll be working out your legs completely, giving relief to the tensions of the hips and preventing hernias. 

Thank you Sonia!

Yoga Tip N°2

Here's a new tip from Sonia...

"I give you today this pose that's a classic when returning home from an interesting but exhausting journey... It's called Supta Baddha Konasana. You must sit in front of a bolster and tie a belt from your sacrum to your feet, going through your thighs. Lie down leaving a gap between the bolster and your hips (so you can rest your first ribs) and place a neck rest under your head.

Relax your arms close to your body (palms up), your chest, shoulders, stomach and groin. Rest like this for 3 to 5 minutes, breathing softly but deeply.

This pose is perfect to relax your nervous system. It generates a deep breathing which unleashes an energy flow towards your pelvic area, increasing the vitality of your digestive and sexual organs."

For inquiries, contact Sonia at:
www.kerala.com.ar
4 781-6383

Yoga Tip N°1

As you already know, Yoga is essential in my life. I've been taking clases for many years now with the same teacher, Sonia Khoury, who's a genius. I want to share with you a bit of her knowledge, so I asked her to write for us, from time to time, some Yoga Tips for this section of our blog. Here's the very first one...

"When I've had a long day, with lots of physical work and little mental rest, it's hard for me to reach the evening feeling fresh and relaxed. So I do this Yoga pose that brings back my vitality and spirit to enjoy what's left of my day.

This variation of Viparita Karani is simple and easy to do: you just need a bolster (or a couple of blankets) and a wall. You must try to lay down having your butt as close to the wall as possible and, if you can, also your legs. Relax your neck and throat, your stomach and eyes, directing your vision towards your heart.

This pose is good to reduce water retention in feet and ankles, improve blood flow in arms and legs, relax your neck and face and calm the mind from stress."

Thank you, Sonia!

Kerala - Estudio de Yoga

Olazábal 1562

Ca. Fed.

www.kerala.com.ar 

Exercise - Part II: Virtues of Yoga

We've covered already the importance of working out.

Now, I'd like to say that there is no exercise that gives such a harmonious aura to a woman than Yoga. It is the best way to be conscious of our postures and the intimate connection between our brain and the different members of our body. It helps us align our muscles and walk better, allowing our feet to contact the ground correctly, thus becoming a solid base to all our body.

Fifteen years ago I was in a car accident with my father (I do not drive) and two of my cervical vertebrae were badly shaken. Due to this, for a long time I became a helpless victim of headaches and true migraines anywhere, everywhere...

In January 1997 an American friend of mine took me to a test class at New York's Yogazone, located on 56th st, between Lexington and Park Ave. By that time I knew little about this millenary discipline from India and less about its benefits. But I soon became interested and motivated by the amazing relaxation of my tense muscles, back in Buenos Aires, I found a school and took classes 2 to 3 times a week. After a couple of months, my migraines magically disappeared... I've even found an out-of-this-world teacher: Sonia Khouri, thanks to who, in the past 10 years, I've never became bored in her unique classes!

I still find virtues in Yoga: not only I get to develop more energy against health problems, but I have simply learned how to breath correctly, using not just part of my lungs, but their entire capacity and, thanks to this, I even sleep better...

I've learned how to find moments of peace when in stress without running to the gym or leaving home... it's enough for me to find a quiet spot, lift my legs in an L against the wall and breath... As easy as it sounds...

Yoga is a valuable source to get rid of tensions and bring oxygen to the tissues of our body by inhaling and exhaling. There are different kinds of Yoga: some concentrate on our postures, others on our minds or on the way we breathe. But all of them cherish the intimate connection between our body and our brain. This is why it is important to find the version that suits you best. I will never get tired of speaking about its benefits and how it can improve your lifestyle... how it can reduce your stress to transform you into a more centered and elegant woman...

Or have you ever seen an hysterical that looks glamorous?

Exercise

As important as being disciplined with your diet is, without a doubt, doing exercise!

I remember my childhood and I cannot believe I'm writing this! More or less till my twenties, the word sports was enough to send a chill down my spine! I spent most of my school years trying to exaggerate a really-mild-blow in my heart to skip gym classes or to convince our family doctor to produce prescriptions that would allow me to avoid all physical activity...

Now that so many years have gone by, I find it hard not to exercise every day. I even dedicate to it 3 hours-a-day sometimes! I do it all: gym, walks, yoga. What made me change my mind? Mainly discovering that nothing can revert the passing of time as physical training, as moving, as sweating, as knowing your muscles and having confidence in them. Training is an essential fuel to feel good about ourselves.

Not moving is possibly one of the worst habits and one of the unhealthiest too. A woman or a man that's always still is doomed to age fast. And this just to not mention the worst consequences as overweight and high blood pressure, among others...

Many tell me that they have no time to exercise and, with their full-time jobs and kids and house chores, training is seen as some kind of luxury... But that's false! Exercise is, above all, an important prevention precaution to look after our health and beauty. This is why I believe it is a must to find time to work-out. Thirty minutes is enough to maintain your weight. With more than thirty minutes of exercise you start burning calories. Whenever I travel to the US and due to the time difference I go the the gym at the craziest hours, I'm always surprised to find newyorkers already there, even if it is 6 in the morning, training, sweating, with enough time to head to the office as they finish.

Exercise pumps up your self-steem, burns calories, prepares us to face an activity-full day and helps us release serotonin, the "good-humor hormone," which is essential to our brain and to regulate our moods. A work-out routine makes us be and feel good about ourselves, and this reflects in your body and is visible to others.