Yoga for Back Pain Relief

Yoga in general relieves back pain. However, if you’re looking for a few specific yoga poses that are targeted for this purpose, try knees-tochest and bridge pose. Here’s a quick how-to on each.

Knees-to-Chest

Lie on your back on a thick or double layered yoga mat. Stretch your arms overhead and your legs out long.

In full body stretch pose, take a deep breath and let it go. As you exhale, draw your navel to your spine. Bend elbows and knees, hugging them toward one another. Wrap your hands around the front of your kneecaps or behind the backs of the knees. You may keep your head resting on the ground or lifted up as you tuck your chin into your chest.

Begin to rock gently from left to right side. Feel the spinal support muscles of the back being massaged by the mat and floor below you.

When you’re ready, return to center and place your feet down and arms by your sides.

Bridge Pose – Yoga to Help with Back Pain

To do bridge pose, lie on your mat with your feet hip width apart below your bent knees. Take your arms down by your sides, palms pressing into the floor. Feel your low back, ground down toward the mat and inhale fully. On your exhale. Begin to lift your tailbone and hips up slowly, so that they float away from your mat.

Continue by peeling one vertebrae at a time up toward the ceiling. Notice if your shoulder blades can hug into the midline. You can even try standing the shoulder blades on their tips, if that feels okay in your body. If so, try interlacing your hands below your back.

Enjoy a deep few breaths here before rolling back down just as slow as you can, one vertebrae at a time. Finish with a knees to chest pose for balance.

Figure-4 Stretch for Back Health

To do figurefour stretch, stand one foot on the mat and bring the other knee into your chest. Cross the ankle of the lifted foot to the knee of the standing leg. This creates the figure four shape, or at least a sideways triangle.

Notice if you can press your knees gently forward and flex your feet. Activate your arms down into the mat by your sides for a moment. After taking a full cycle of breath here, you can add on to the stretch, wrapping your arms around the back of your right knee in the figure four shape.

When you do this, you should feel a stretch in the IT band around the outer right hip. This stretch opens up space in the hips and lower back and helps to prevent sciatica nerve pain.

Stay here for a few breaths. Before placing your right foot back down to the mat. Release your left ankle from the figure four shape and repeat on the opposite side.

D O W N L O A D T O D A Y

Inflammation and the Health of Your Joints

Joints are places of the body where many moving parts come together. Joints contain Bones, Muscles, Ligaments, Tendons, Arteries, Veins, Nerves and Lubricating Fluids. So it’s no wonder they can be a point of contention for so many people.

One of the worst and most common complaints about joints is their tendency to become inflamed. This can happen for many reasons.

For example, joints are the body’s normal immune response to having an injury or dealing with an infection. Allergies cause irritation which may also cause inflammation.

The most common causes of joint inflammation are associated with conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis and lupus.

Massage for Joint Health

Health professionals agree that massage is not just for muscles. Although muscles may receive most of the attention during a massage therapy session, joints also receive many of the benefits.

Massages increase the blood flow to tissues surrounding the joints, which aids them in maintaining mobility, lubrication and healing injuries. According to The Arthritis Foundation, a moderate pressure massage should reduce arthritis pain and ease tension.

If you suffer from arthritis, try a lymphatic massage, which is designed to reduce swelling and inflammation. These issues often occur in or around joints. (Ever had swollen ankles?)

However, for those who can’t get to the masseuse, there are some yoga poses and self-massage techniques that are sure to offer some of the same benefits as a massage from a therapist.

Yoga Poses for Reducing Inflammation

Searching for yoga poses to help reduce inflammation? Great thinking, because with youga, you’re putting your own healing energy and intentions right back into your own body. Also, who better to know the right pressure, temperature and location for a yoga pose or massage? None other than you!

Legs Up the Wall

Legs up the wall is one of the most beneficial yoga poses because it helps to support the lymphatic system.

The lymphatic system is known as the garbage collection system of the body. Its job is to remove toxins from the bloodstream and excess fluids from wherever they have gathered.

When you think of the lymphatic system, you may recognize the term lymph because of your lymph nodes. You may have noticed tender or enlarged lumps at some point in your underarms, chest, throat or groin areas. These could have been swollen lymph nodes.

Lymph nodes can become swollen and painful when the lymphatic system gets overwhelmed by a particular threat, like a cold.

An especially good time to do this pose is when you are under the weather, tired or restless. Fluids also tend to get stuck in the lower legs and ankles of people who spend a lot of time on their feet.

Adding this anti-gravity move to your nightly routine will be a great way to support your joints as well as your immune system health.

To do the post, roll a mat out from the wall. Cover it with a blanket especially if you have tile or hardwood floors so that you will stay warm.

Make sure the wall has an open space on it and that there are no pictures or artwork that’s going to get knocked over when your legs go up the wall.

Then sit with your left hip close to the wall so that you are looking down the wall.

As gracefully as you can, hoist your legs up the wall as you slide your back down and onto the mat to the right of you.

If your bottom is not touching the wall, scoot closer using your shoulder blades and hips as feet until you are touching the wall.

Keep your legs straight. Then flex and point your toes a few times before relaxing your feet completely.

You may also choose a place for your arms and hands that feels relaxing. Maybe by your sides or overhead or with your hands resting on your low belly.

Take a few rounds of deep breaths.

You can stay here as long as you want, inviting a few movements with the legs into a straddle or tree variations. Or you may just want to remain with your legs straight up against the wall.

It feels extra good to cover yourself with a blanket, especially if you will be here for a few minutes or more.

Five to ten minutes is an optimal time frame to stay in this pose. Doing it right before bed can be very relaxing and helps the nervous system transition toward sleep mode.

To exit the pose, bring your knees into your chest and rock to one side, taking your time to come back to a seated position. Notice the effects.

Self Massage for Optimal Joint Health

Have you tried Abhyanga? This self-massage technique is from Yoga’s sister science, Ayurveda. It is a lovely practice that brings nourishment to the skin, helps circulation and strengthens the immune system. How to do Abhyanga:

Abhyanga is traditionally done before a shower or bath. For starters, you’ll need to find some organic olive, sesame or coconut oil or unscented lotion.

Using a small, plastic squeeze bottle for your oil, place it in a cup of warm water for 5-10 minutes to warm it up. Pour a quarter size amount into your palm. You may like to add a few drops of lavender, frankincense or your favorite essential oil blend too.

To begin your massage, move from the extremities toward the center of your body (hands to heart) and from bottom to top (feet toward the head), always massaging long strokes on the long bones and in a circular motion over your joints. Massage toward the heart with very gentle pressure.

Give extra love to the hands and feet. If you can, grab a buddy to help with your back. Move slowly – there’s no rush! To seal in your self-care, finish with a few deep breaths with your hands over your heart. Then take a warm shower or bath using a gentle cleanser.

Make sure to get the bottoms of your feet clean and dry them well. Put on socks or slippers and your comfiest clothes. Enjoy a nice cup or tea or meditate.

Heart Health: What Types of Foods are Good and Bad for Your Heart?

In addition to helping you lose weight, focusing on fat will definitely affect your heart. A few decades ago, so-called health experts of the day kicked off a major low fat and no fat trend, with major food brands following suit. If you wanted to drop some pounds and trim your middle, you were told to only eat low-fat no fat or reduced fat products.

With a little more information at our disposal these days thanks to the internet, our fear of fat has evolved to a greater understanding that fat is an essential nutrient that our body needs to perform at its best. The types of fat that consume and in what quantities, play a part.

Our endocrine system is nourished when we eat foods that contain fat. But everything should be in balance and it’s likely that if you consume the typical American diet then you are over indulging in the harmful types of fat.

Saturated fat that comes from animal products, and hydrolyzed vegetable fat otherwise known as trans fats, are the worst kinds of fats to consume in excess. These fats alter your blood chemistry and can lead to high blood pressure and eventual hardening of the arteries. well as omega facts from olives, nuts and seeds, end up healthier for longer.

If the arteries are not flexible it becomes more difficult for our body to pump blood to our extremities and deliver oxygen to our cells. We are at increased risk of heart attack and stroke if this happens.

What Types of Foods are Best for Your Heart?

Blood tests show that those who consume a Mediterranean type of diet show up with healthier blood work, lower cholesterol, and live longer than those whose diet consists of more saturated fat such as that which comes from red meat, bacon, sausage, ham, hot dogs and other salted fatty meats. In combination of an active lifestyle that includes regular, moderate exercise, many live into their nineties.

Whole grains.

Studies have found that Mediterranean people who consume omega-3 fats such as those found in fatty fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines, as

Anytime you can switch from enriched processed white flour based foods to whole grain-based foods, you’re doing your heart a favor. You’ve probably noticed on a box of Cheerios that this cereal is said to contribute to heart health. Cheerios are made from whole grain oats, but just because the maker of the food didn’t shout it out on the label doesn’t make other whole grain foods any less heart-healthy. Cereals that are prepared from whole grains have proven beneficial because they help to flush LDL (bad) cholesterol from the blood.

A colorful variety of fruits and vegetables.

Fruits and vegetables of all kinds, including broccoli, cabbage, dark green lettuce, green leafies such as spinach and chard, are high in nutritional value including vitamins and minerals. These are excellent for our health, and the better quality soil that these plants are grown in, the more nutritional benefit they carry. Fill your plate half of the way with fresh vegetables. Diivide the other half of your plate between a low fat protein and a whole grain starch. This is excellent policy for getting a balance of nutrients into your diet each day, and you’ll find more information about it on the CDC (center for disease control and prevention) website.

Where does the hearthealthy fat come in? Maybe you’re used to pouring bottled dressings over your salad. Some of these are cheaply made using plant oils that are not particularly beneficial. They also likely ccontain additives to prolong their shelf life and improve the taste so that people will crave them. nourishment to your body. Beans and legumes.

Be sure to add a variety of beans, lentils and other legumes to your hearthealthy diet as well. A bowl of seasoned lentil soup supplies protein while giving a serving of iron to your body. Soup made with beans or lentils makes a great healthy start to your dinner. You might even end up consuming less meat because the protein-packed beans will fill and nourish you.

A homemade dressing prepared with extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and some of your favorite flavorings like mustard or raspberry or garlic makes the perfect heart healthy dressing, just two tablespoons will do for an average size serving of salad containing mixed vegetables.

You can even use the same heart-friendly mixture, healthy oil and acidic vinegar, to drizzle over lean meats such as chicken breast. This will work to enhance flavor, aid digestion and deliver boost of extra

Fresh food, colorful plate, and a variety of foods with the majority being vegetables, is the way to go.

Mediterranean people have a track record of living into their 90s and beyond. Feeding your body a general diet that is rich in vegetables and fruits, contains whole grains, goes easy on the meat and incorporates healthy fats as well as a few servings of seafood a week, are the keys to improving your heart health in a very delicious and enjoyable way.

5 Most Effective Exercises to Do at the Gym When You’re Short on Time

The most overly-used excuse for not going to the gym to exercise is a perceived lack of time. And while most of us usually can find the time if we really want to, there can be unexpected things popping up occasionally right before a workout that can shorten up the amount of time available. Keep in mind with shorter workouts, you are trading time for intensity; because you have less time to exercise, you must do it at a higher level of work. When something unexpectedly does come up, here are some ideas to get the most out of the time you have.

Cardio

1. Rowing Machine

One of the best machines to use when pressed for time is a rowing machine. Why? Because it works both the upper and lower body at the same time thus maximizing your time on the machine. To kick up the intensity of your cardio workout, crank up the resistance and speed up the pace.

2. Treadmill

Treadmills are very versatile as machines that work the lower body. To make up for the shortened amount of time, increase the intensity by upping the incline and increasing the speed. To add some upper body in the mix, pick up a pair of dumbbells in an appropriate weight and do lateral and forward raises, or bicep curls while walking.

3. Elliptical Machine

Some people prefer using an elliptical trainer over a treadmill, because it has a lower impact on the lower body joints, especially the knees. If using the stationary handles, it just works the lower body, but most ellipticals also have a pair of handles that oscillate back and forth making it a full body workout. To increase the intensity, increase the angle of the footpads and crank up the intensity. And because it is powered by the user, the speed can be increased by moving the footpads back and forth quicker.

With the increased intensity of any cardiotype exercises, be sure to keep track on your heart rate and keep it in your Target Range (220-age x70% to 80%).

Strength Training

4. Compound ExerciseUpper Body

With the short amount of time you have available, strength training should focus on exercises that work more than one muscle group at a time. For instance, to target the upper body – shoulders, upper back, neck and triceps - do shoulder presses with either a pair of dumbbells or weighted barbell.

5. Compound ExerciseLower Body

For the lower body, do dumbbell or kettlebells squats and weighted lunges that target the quadriceps, glutes and calves. To do a combined compound exercise, do weighted lunges and when in the down position (foot forward/ knee bent at 90-degree angle), raise the dumbbells up in a bicep curl. Return back to the lunge position, push back off your forward foot returning back to the starting position.

Getting in a workout in a shortened amount of time is not difficult if you have a plan going in and minimize the time spent not exercising.