My Yoga For Life has MOVED

We've move to our own domain so we will no longer be posting here. Visit us at our new home and bookmark it then subscribe to our RSS so you can receive every post directly to your inbox.

Our new site is more interactive, giving you the ability to join in and share your own yoga experiences as well as ask questions and share information.

So, come on over and visit us at http://www.myyogaforlife.com/

See ya over there:)

Yogagirl

Relax and Renew: Stress Less, Lose Belly Fat

Relax and Renew: Stress Less, Lose Belly Fat

It's easy to get wrapped up in all the hype about diets. Instead of adopting a short-term strategy to drop a few pounds (which may backfire and result in twice the weight gain), it's better to focus on finding a balanced approach to eating and exercise that you can enjoy and will keep you healthy over the long haul. Yoga can help you along the way by reducing stress.

In response to stress, levels of the hormone cortisol rise; for people who chronically worry, those levels can stay high. Elevated cortisol levels not only stimulate overeating, they ensure that any additional calories are efficiently converted to fat. Worse, under the influence of cortisol, the excess fat tends to get deposited in the abdomen, a particularly unhealthy place. Big bellies are linked to insulin resistance-a precursor to Type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes-and heart disease. By combating stress, yoga helps to normalize cortisol levels and keep belly fat to a minimum.

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Yoga Basics: Remember the Gift of Life

Anjali mudra, or pressing the hands together at the heart, is an age-old means of helping human beings to remember the gift of life and to use it wisely. Anjali means "offering," and in India this mudra is often accompanied by the word "namaste." In daily life, this prayerful gesture can be used as a way of bridging inner and outer experience, when saying grace before meals, communicating our truth within a relationship, or as a means of cooling the fires of stress when feeling rushed or reactionary.

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