November's issue by The Fitness and Lifestyle Magazine

November 2015

Fitness MAGAZINE

The Low Fat

Tips for Training Motivation

Myth

Why You Should Include

achieve

Why Breakfast is Important for Weight Control

Fitting Fitness

HIIT In Your Training Program

Game of the Month:

your goals

in Your Day

Meditation

Contents November 2015

Nutrition

24 Tips for Eating Healthy When You

Fitting Fitness in Your Day

26 30 31 32 34

Are Busy Cheat Meal â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a Diet Savior or Start for Downhill Cauliflower Pizza The Health Benefits of Chia Seeds Why Breakfast is Important for Weight Control The Low Fat Myth

Cover photo

Sandra Shama Kaur Kundalini Yoga Teacher and Founder of Yalla Yoga Center

Fitness 12 Benefits of Functional 14 16 18 20 22

Movements Why You Should Include HIIT in Your Training Program The Importance of Warming Up FX3 Training Fitting Fitness in Your Day Fat Torching Home Workout

2 | November 2015

Fat Torching Home Workout

The Fitness Magazine Team Owner/Founder: Zeyad Sorour Editor-in-Chief: Ahmed El khodary Sales & PR Director: Naira El lamei Marketing & Project Director: Samar Zaki Project Manager: Jasmin Çakmakçı Editor: Mark Constantine Art Director: Eman Salama Senior Graphic Designer: Marina raafat Financial Director: Haitham Hamouda Distribution: Ahmed Abou el Ela, Ahmed Fawzy, Mohamed Abd El Nasser & Alaa hussein

23 Emad El Din Kamel St., Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt Tel/Fax: (+202) 22627533 Mobile: 01115683666

Marie Zarif: Air Yoga Teacher

Body & soul

STYLEs & FEATURES

36 The Most Effective Ways to Relax Your Muscles 37 6 Tips for Training Motivation 38 Achieve Your Goals 40 The Art of Baby Yoga

52 ELFIT Finals 54 Fitness Test: Egypt’s 56 Ultimate Fitness Festival Marie Zarif: Air Yoga 59 Teacher Shop Yoga and Pilates 60 Footwear & Apparel Portable Gadgets You Want to Have in 2015

The game 44 Meditation: The Journey

to Inner Peace 46 The Best Yoga Style for Me 48 Yoga & Meditation: The Link 50 Cure Your Ails with Pilates

Sandra Shama Kaur: Kundalini Yoga Teacher and Founder of Yalla Yoga Center 4 | September 2015

The fitness Magazine Thefitnessmagazine www.thefitnessmagazineeg.com

SUCCESS STORY 64 Sandra Shama Kaur:

Kundalini Yoga Teacher and Founder of Yalla Yoga Center

In every issue 58 61 62 66

Fit Facts Upcoming Events Meet The Experts The Fitters

Contributors Lina Lotayef

Founder of Fitzane (an online health and fitness forum)

A qualified group fitness instructor, spinning instructor, and licensed Zumba instructor based in Muscat, Oman. She has been teaching group fitness classes since June 2012, specializing in dance fitness and body weight strength training as well as completing workshops in kettle bell weight training, nutrition for sports and exercise and trigger point foam rolling. She is currently fulfilling the final qualification requirements to obtain the AFAA Personal Training Certification.

Yasmine Shahine Life Coach

An Associate Certified Life Coach (ACC) by the International Coach Federation (ICF). At the begining of her coaching career, she engaged herself in ONE on ONE coaching and through years she developed her own tailor made coaching programs for people and companies to develop their potentials and awareness. Email:Yasmine@yasmineshahine.com Facebook:YasmineShahineLifeCoaching YouTube:YasmineSLifeCoaching

Shereen Elbaz

Instructor

Graduated in 2008 from the American University in Cairo with a BA in Political Science and another one in Modern World History. She has always had a passion for teaching because for her, it feels like she is making a difference every day. Therefore, she decided to make use of it by becoming an English and History teacher. Shereen has always been a fitness enthusiast, and in 2014, she decided to combine both her passion for teaching and enthusiasm for fitness by becoming a UGI fitness, pole fitness, Jumping fitness, licensed zumba fitness, and Peak Pilates instructor.

Samira Khalil

Egyptian Fitness Blogger, Crossfit L1 Trainer, Specialist in Fitness Nutrition and Group Fitness Instructor

After a adapting a new fitness, nutrition, and health lifestyle, Samira decided to share her wonderful journey and experience in her personal blog and The Fitness Magazine. She is guided by the vision of helping readers become more focused on their physical abilities, health, and nutrition. Blog: Bodyshred-eg.com Website: www.bodyshred-eg.com Email: khalilsamira1@gmail.com Facebook: samirakhalilfitness

Sandra Shama Kaur

Founder of YallaYoga Center

She is the founder of YallaYoga Center in Heliopolis and a pioneer in repackaging Yogic based solutions for Mind & Health Management. In 2012, she completed Yoga Teacher Training at the Kundalini Research Institute, New Mexico, USA. Upon her return, she founded YallaYoga, the center that seeks to create a community of people who are keen to live life with more awareness, better health, and in service to assist one another. She is a Yoga educator, offering group classes, one on one sessions and public talks across Egypt. 6 | November 2015

Rowana Badry

BeFit Coach Certified Fitness Trainer, ISSA Certified Fitness Nutritionist, SFN

Earned Masters Degree in Education and currently works as an elementary school teacher, Rowanaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s passion for fitness is incomparable. She comes from an extensive athletic background as an exprofessional basketball player. Nutrition is her way of life and being fit is her lifestyle. Email: rowanabadry@live.com Instagram: @rowana_badry Facebook: Rowana Badry

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Sara Taha

Founder and Head Coach at My Fitness Scout+ Nike Brand Ambassador, N+TC Trainer

In December 2013, she established My Fitness Scout Egypt, which offers health and fitness guide and support. She believes it is her true calling. She is Certified Fitness Trainer (CFT) International Sports and Science Association ISSA, Certified Fitness Nutrition (CFN) International Sports and Science Association ISSA, Certified Group Fitness (CGF) Golds Academy, Cross Core Rotational Bodyweight Training Certificate of Completion, Pre and post-natal Exercise American Council on Exercise ACE, Pre and post-natal Nutrition Future Fit Training, Strength and Conditioning Reformer Level 1 Workshop completionPilates Academy at YMCA Fit UK, and Peak Pilates Level 1 Instructor (In progress). Location: Heliopolis Sporting Club | Gezira Sporting Club Tel: +(2) +0122 555 7777 Email: info@myfitnesseg.com Facebook: My Fitness Egypt

Noura Hassaballa

Jaime El Helw

Baby Yoga Teacher Certified in Birthlight Infant Massage Instructor, Mom and Baby Yoga & Yoga for Toddlers Teacher. She is PreNatal and NEPY TT graduate specialized in Power Vinyasa Flow and Yoga Alliance USA RYT 200. CPR-AED certified (2013), CBE (2015) and working towards her PNY certification. El Helw is also a studio coowner of FLOW Wellness Center.

Nutritional Consultant

Bachelor of Science in Dietetics and Nutrition holder from Northern Illinois University, USA. With great passion, she decided to pursue her successful career in Egypt as a nutritionist, with the mission of raising awareness on developing a healthy eating lifestyle, in addition to being one of the presenters of Dr. Chef on MBC 4. She is also the founder of Diet Rite Nutrition Center. Email: noura.hassaballa@gmail.com Facebook: Noura Hassaballa

Dr. Omar Mamdouh

Pharmacist, Nutrition Specialist at Goldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gym Heliopolis

Earned Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science and a Diploma in Clinical Pharmacotherapy. Precision Nutrition Level 1 (Pn L1). Specialist in Fitness Nutrition from International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA). Sports Nutrition from American Sports and Fitness Association (ASFA). CPR/AED from American Health Association (AHA). Certified Presenter and Trainer from Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), UK at Logic Training and HR Development, where he held presentations about Goal settings and Self-motivation. Email: omar.mamdouh.nutrition@gmail.com Instagram: omar_mamdouh_ 8 | November 2015

Dr. Shady Labib

dentist-turned-Nutritionist

He is a Precision Nutrition (Canada) certified Lifestyle and Nutrition cwounselor and a member of the Syndicate for Sports Professions in Egypt with a sportsnutrition specialization. He has a nutrition consultation office. Facebook: shadylabibnutrition Email: info@shadylabib.com Website: shadylabib.com

Jasmin Çakmakçı

Trainer and Project Manager at The Fitness Magazine

Trainer at Eight Fitness Club and Go Gym, Certified Zumba instructor, Fitness and Lifestyle Blogger and ACTION CPT (in progress) After years of training in a variety of fields, Jasmin was able to expand her knowledge in the fitness world based on her first hand experiences and experiments, constant search for fact based readings, and her ability to follow instructions only after knowing the reason behind it. She believes that basics and permanent lifestyle changes are the keys to healthy and balanced life. Instagram: @ysemins Blog: yseminswrold.wordpress.com Email: ysemin.cakmakci@gmail.com

Youssef Salem

Fitness Manager at Fight at Fitness Factory

National Academy of sport medicine (NASM CPT), Cross Fit L1 and Cross Fit Weightlifting Certified. He is also Blue Belt Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ) under Carlson Gracie London Anubis. Salem was New York Open 2015 Champion, Chicago Open 2015 Champion and participated in World Championship 2015 in California.

Dr. Marco Joseph

A Certified Physical Therapist at The Physio

Eman El-Hawary

Photographer & Art Director

Studied photography in Dubai in 2008 and shortly went pro, where her clients quickly recognized that what they get is not a simple “professional shot”, but rather “a moment captured”. Also studied and worked in Cairo as a print-shop expert, a graphics designer, a web designer, and a crafts entrepreneur. Though best known as a portrait photographer, she is also recognized as a competent fashion, outdoor, and corporate photographer. “There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.” -Ernst Haas Email: emozine@gmail.com

He holds a BA in physiotherapy from MUST University. Upon graduation, he joined the clinics of two of Egypt’s top renowned physiotherapists, one of which works directly with the national football team, which contributed to his experience in sports injuries. Excelling in his work in sports injuries, he opened in his clinic, The Physio, at Gezira Club in 2013. The clinic works with all the club’s team and different level athletes from a multitude of sports including handball, swimming, triathlon, and soccer. Tel: +(2) 012 29 3000 62 Facebook: The Physio E-mail: thephysio.ask@gmail.com

Riham Masoud

Cherine Samir

Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Master degree in TV and Online Journalism holder, Riham has always been passionate about sports ever since she was a little child. She has participated in several local and International competitions. She also won the “Fittest Woman in Egypt” in Elfit Challenge, last year. In 2005, Riham started working as a Group Fitness Instructor in 2005. She joined HERs instructors team and became certified Level 1 Crossfit coach. Email: riham.masoud@crossfitmonkeybars.com

Cherine has been practicing yoga since 2010. In 2015, she quit her job at the World Bank Group and completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training in Hatha Yoga. Cherine is also a Stott Pilates trained teacher. In addition to her focus on embracing yoga as a science for right living, Cherine is interested in alternative healing techniques and practices some shamanic healing methods for her own personal growth and development. Email: cheriesam@gmail.com Facebook: Mādhurya: the sweetness of wellness

Founder, Managing Director, and Head Coach at Crossfit Monkey Bars

10 | November 2015

Hatha Yoga Teacher

Fitness

Benefits of Functional Movements By: Rowana Badry

id you know that functional movements are essential for your daily life? Did you know that you use functional movements naturally, by just moving around to fulfill your daily activities? Functional movements involve many elements that are natural, and are considered universal motor recruitment patterns. They are derived from our core to the outer parts of the human body. It involves many elements including: balance, agility, coordination, multiple joints movements, speed, strength, and power. Functional movements are the opposite of isolation exercises. While isolation exercises can help you strengthen a specific weak part of your body, you wouldn’t be able to acquire the natural elements provided while including functional movements in your workout routine. Every time you sit down you are actually performing a squat. And whenever you pick something up from the ground, you are performing a deadlift. That is why functional movements are essential for our daily activities. You need to be able to pick up your suitcase from the ground and lift it overhead on an airplane

12 | November 2015

without falling on your face, or feeling the need to ask strangers for help. You need to be able to use a good posture while sitting in your office. You would want to pick your children up and lift them without having backaches or problems. Functional movements are the key to living a healthy natural, safe, and efficient life. Functional movements help us when we don’t even realize how tremendously beneficial they are. General isolated strengthening exercises can truly compliment your body shape and develop a specific muscle part, while functional movements exercises will help you develop your overall strength. Functional training will help you in becoming a stronger athlete in general. You will gain strength as you are activating your overall body parts. It will allow you to provide maximum efforts your body can develop. You will develop power, speed, and overall strength as they involve the movement of multiple joints for everyday activities. Yes, your body will hurt, yes you will have aches from being sore, but you will also gain mental and physical strength. Functional movements will make you a lean mean muscle machine.

Characteristics of functional movements:

Essential: As mentioned previously, you need them in your daily life; they are sound and safe if performed with proper technique. They will help you develop a strong core therefore you will be able to carry on any physical work without complaining.

Examples of Functional Movements: • • • • • •

Squat Deadlift Clean and Jerk Push Jerk Snatch Thruster

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Fitness Why You Should Include HIIT in Your Training Program By: Jasmin Çakmakçı

High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT, is a type of training where you give all-out effort in short, intense bursts followed by short rest period in between. This type of training keeps your heart rate high during the whole workout and has been proven to be one of the most effective training methods existing. It doesn’t matter if you want to burn fat, have better stamina, or build muscle mass. The list of benefits of HIIT training is extensive, which is explained in the following points: 1. Efficiency. Tight on time? Busy schedule?

In today’s busy world, we are not left with lots of time for ourselves. The first thing we drop out from our to do-list when we are running out of time often is exercising. HIIT takes only 10 – 20 minutes instead of the usual one hour steady pace cardio. You can do it before work or even during your lunch break (and have the time for lunch).

2. Burns More Fat. Not only does HIIT

burn quite a lot of calories during the workout but also the catch with HIIT is that it kicks your metabolism to hyperdrive and you will burn calories several hours after finishing the workout. This effect is called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), which is the amount of oxygen required to restore your body to its resting level metabolic function. EPOC is accompanied with increased fuel consumption. Your body’s response to intense exercise is to break down fat stores and release free fatty acids (FFA) into the blood stream.

Anything that will get your heart rate high is what you need.

pressure, improved cholesterol profile, stronger bones, and a superior immunity system.

3. No Equipments Needed. You can

5. Preserves Muscle Mass. Everybody

7. Increase Your VO2max. HIIT is great

4. Easily Varied. Only the sky is the limit

6. Elevated Levels Of Human Growth Hormone (HGH). HIIT boosts your HGH

8. Increased Metabolism. HIIT is a great

perform a HIIT workout in the comfort of your own living room by using only your bodyweight. While you can indeed do HIIT using equipments like speed rope, kettlebells, or a rowing machine, you don’t necessarily need any of these. Bodyweight movements like burpees, squat jumps, or mountain climbers are perfect examples.

when it comes to HIIT workouts! You can change the time ratio, movements, and the duration of your workout. Do a 4 minute Tabata squat workout after your strength training session or a 20 minute fullbody workout with different movements.

14 | November 2015

who has ever tried to lose weight knows how hard it is not to lose muscle mass at the same time. Because of its duration, HIIT shortens the time your body is in a catabolic state (a state which includes breaking down muscle mass) and hence is a better option at preserving muscles than long, steady paced cardio while on a diet.

levels during the workout and hours after it. HGH is responsible for cell growth, reproduction, and regeneration. Some of the benefits of elevated HGH levels are fat loss, higher energy levels, lowered blood

way to boost your VO2max! VO2 means oxygen consumption and VO2max is the maximum amount of oxygen that an individual can take in and utilize during exercises. Better VO2max means that you can use more oxygen during your exercise, which leads to slower fatigue, heart rate, and better endurance.

way to boost your metabolism due to the fact that you consume more oxygen during the exercise than during long, steady pace cardio. This can increase post-exercise metabolism and burn more calories after finishing the workout.

HIIT training will put your body under great stress. Due to this, the recovery time is longer and that is why it is not recommended especially for beginners to do HIIT more than two times a week. Give your body at least 48 hours to recover before doing your next HIIT workout and increase the times of training gradually. If you are familiar with HIIT, you can perform it three to five times a week. Just listen to your body and remember that most of the magic happens while recovering!

Bodyweight HIIT Perform as many repetitions as possible of the given exercise in 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds. Repeat the circuit 5 times. Burpees Push ups Star jumps Squats

kettlebell should be challenging but be careful not to go too heavy. After all, the idea of the workout is to keep your heart rate high and perform as many repetitions as possible with good form. Perform as many repetitions as possible of the given exercise for 40 seconds and rest for 20 seconds. Repeat the circuit for 4 times.

Heavy HIIT For this workout you need a tire and a kettlebell. If you don’t have access to a tire, you can substitute the movement with kettlebell sumo deadlift high pull. The weight of the

Tire flips Goblet squats with kettlebell Kettlebell swings Strict press

Sprint HIIT Sprint 5 x 100 meters with 45 seconds rest between the sprints. Rest for 3 – 4 minutes Sprint 4 x 100 meters with 45 seconds rest between the sprints. Additional Round Rest for 4 – 5 minutes. Sprint 3 x 100 meters with 45 seconds rest between the sprints.

November 2015 | 15

Fitness The Importance of Warming Up A warm up is one of those things that people often overlook, but is potentially one of the most essential elements of a good, safe and effective workout. A warm up should typically last 5 – 10 minutes depending on the length and intensity of your work out. The more intense the workout will be the more time you need to warm up to get your body to the optimal level to perform the workout. An effective warm up can consist of any movement ranging from a brisk walk, to jogging on the spot, to side steps or squats and as your body gets warmer you should begin to increase both your intensity and your range of motion.

So, why is a slow gradual warm up necessary? 1. As is implied by the title, the main function of warming up is increasing body’s temperature. This gets your muscles ready for the work that they will undertake for the given amount of time. 2. The warm up also gets your blood flowing, consequently increasing circulation to muscles and allowing them to feed off the nutrients in your blood for increased energy. 3. As the muscles get warmer, and the blood flows faster, you will inevitably notice that your range of motion has increased. You can squat deeper, you can jump higher, and you can run faster. This plays a huge role in avoiding injury to the joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments. 4. Warming up increases the blood flow to your heart and lungs allowing for oxygen to get to the muscles faster which is essential for the muscles to be able to perform. 5. A warm up that is effective will gradually raise your heart rate. A sudden and extreme elevation in the heart rate will cause a shock to the cardiovascular system and can result in health problems in the long run, and potentially even in the short run. You must slowly and steadily raise your heart rate. 6. Warming up psychologically sets you up to start working out. As your body gets warmer and you begin to break a sweat, you will notice that this is when you start to get pumped up and ready to give it your all. 16 | November 2015

7. After a good warm up you will begin to act and react faster thanks to the increased speed of your motor functions. This is very necessary for a safe workout. 8. Finally, a successful warm up which gradually gets your muscles ready for what’s next, plays an important role in decreasing delayed onset muscle soreness that may be felt as a result of an intense workout.

So, the next time you’re pressed for time and want to get the most of your workout, don’t sacrifice the warm up time as that could result in more harm than good, especially if you begin to make it a habit. It is of utmost importance to spend time preparing your body for the hard work, otherwise your body will simply refuse to perform the way you would like it to.

November 2015 | 17

Fitness

FX3 Training By: Youssef Salem

FX3 is a high intensity functional training program designed to increase your physical, physiological and performance states. This means that you will burn fat, increase muscle mass, bone density and strengthen your cardiorespiratory system. Moreover, your metabolic rate will be high up to 90 minutes after the exercise, which will also help you in losing body fat. The workouts are designed to give you the fitness of a fighter. It involves explosive, plyometric, core, speed and agility, strength and power movements. However, no heavy lifts are included.

Workouts Example: 1. Rowing A workout that uses your whole body from the shoulders, chest, back and biceps to the hamstrings, quads, glutes and core.

How to perform the move:

Sit on the seat, strap your feet into the footpads and grab the handles with an overhand grip. Arms straight, wrists flat and shins vertical. Begin the drive by extending your legs and pushing off against the footpads. Keep your core tight, arms straight and back firm as you transfer power to the handles. • As your knees straighten, gradually bend your arms and lean back with your upper body. Finish with a slight backward lean. • Bend your elbows and pull the handle into your abdomen, Extend your legs and lean slightly back at the hips. • Extend your arms by straightening your elbows and returning the handle toward the flywheel. Lean forward wih your upper body. The hips should follow the arms. Gradually bend your knees and slide forward on the seat to the starting position.

2. Battle rope power slams Battle rope training involves the entire body. It trains the neuromuscular system to apply force that begins at the core and extends through the extremities both arms and legs. You’ll also develop a killer grip and increase your power output.

How to perform the move:

Stand with feet hip-width apart and grasp the ends of the rope in each hand. Bring both arms up overhead, and then forcefully slam the ropes down into the ground, lowering into a high squat as you do so. Straighten up to return to standing and repeat. 18 | November 2015

3. Kettlebell swings The kettlebell swing works the muscles in the hips, glutes, hamstrings, lats, abs, shoulders, and an iron grip is a bonus. It’s a simple and fast way to incorporate a very athletic movement into a routine safely while burning a ton of calories.

How to perform the move:

Hold a kettlebell between your legs using a two handed, overhand grip. Swing it and keep your back straight not vertical, bend your hips back until the kettlebell is between and behind your legs; squeeze your glutes to extend your hips and swing the weight up.

4. Speed and agility The agility ladder shows how the ladder is the most effect tool for training footwork and agility. You can burn tons of calories while having fun exercising.

How to perform the move:

There are a lot of ladder workouts that can be used such as side shuffles, Ali shuffle, double trouble, etc.

5. Lunges Whether you’re trying to shape your lower body, increase muscle mass, develop core strength or make your hips more flexible, the lunge can help you achieve your goal. Most lifters cannot fully utilize their gluteal muscles because they are inhibited by overactive hip flexors. However, these overactive muscles are neutralized when performing lunges with proper form.

How to perform the move:

Keep your upper body straight, with your shoulders back and relaxed and chin up (pick a point to stare at in front of you so you don’t keep looking down). Always engage your core. Step forward with one leg, lower your hips until both knees are bent at about a 90-degree angle. Stand up having a straight back, without leaning forward. November 2015 | 19

Fitness

Fitting Fitness in Your Day

By: Riham Masoud

There’s no excuse for not working out if you’re on your vacation, a business trip, or the weather conditions are preventing you from going to your gym or just any other excuse you could creatively come up with. Having limited space or not having equipment are also not an excuse for not working out. Whether you’re aiming for volume or intensity, you could achieve both with no equipment at all. Your body weight is all the equipment you need. I’m going to list some exercises that you could do in very tight space and with minimal equipment. Just make sure you have proper ventilation and that there are no obstacles in your way.

20 | November 2015

1. The infamous burpee:

It’s the "love-hate relationship” as some may call it. It’s a great full body exercise that targets all muscle groups: arms, legs, back and core and enhances endurance. You could do a burpee to a broad jump, burpee to high knee jump, burpee to box jump or burpee to lunge.

2. The beloved squat:

The squat is one of the most frequently used functional movements in our daily lives. It is basically sitting down and standing up. The squat is one of the greatest exercises that work your hamstrings, glutes, quads, core, and back. Squats are you best friend when it comes to toning and strengthening the legs. There are several variations of the squat: you could play around with the squat stance (narrow, wide), perform leg flies or knee raises after each squat, do wall sits (lift one leg up to make it harder then switch) or play around with the time intervals (30 sec work/30 sec rest, Tabata 20/10).

3. The planks family:

The mother of all core exercises. As simple or easy as it may seem, a plank is one of the most important core exercises that you should master. The plank is an important prerequisite to the push-up. If you have a bad plank then you shouldn’t be trying to do push-ups until you master the plank. Planks work your entire body: arms, legs, shoulders, back and abs. In order to maintain a perfect plank position to stabilize your spine, you need to use your entire body. To make the plank more challenging, you could play around with the time intervals or the plank variations.

4. The push-up:

The first upper body exercise that you should master before even thinking of doing a pull-up. It has effective and fast results. The push-up works your pectoralis major (pecs), triceps, biceps, upper back, core, and shoulders.

5. The rope:

The lightest and smallest piece of equipment that you can easily pack anywhere you go. There are so many exercises you can do with a skip rope: single unders, double unders, jumping jacks, single leg unders, triple unders, crosses, just to name a few. Rope skipping is a great cardiovascular workout and works mostly on coordination. If you’re not good at it, it requires practice, patience and persistence. It’s a great way to burn lots of calories.

6. Handstands/handstand pushups/handstand walks:

You don’t usually go around and see people walking on their hands but when you do, you should consider joining them. Handstand holds is a great exercise that focuses on your core and balance in addition to upper body strength. Your arms should be strong enough to handle your own body weight. You can start by doing handstands supported by a wall, keeping your core, and glutes tight and locking the arms. Once you master it, you can start working on your handstand push-ups and practice your handstand walks. Please accept the fact that you’ll be falling down a lot. Don’t give up. You must remain persistent and patient and you’ll get there.

7. Animal walks:

If you don’t mind people staring at you while doing them, then go ahead and rock the floor. Animal walks improve your coordination, muscle endurance, flexibility and overall fitness.

Here are some suggestions of workout plans that you could follow: • 300 burpees for time • 3 rounds for time: • 100 double unders/200 single unders • 100 squats • 50 push-ups • 50m roving planks • 20-30-40-50 • burpees • split jumps/lunges • 10m bear crawl between rounds • Tabata 8 rounds of (20sec/10sec) • 20 sec squats • 10 sec 5 push ups • Plank variations for 5 min (no rest in the middle) • Tabata handstand hold Mix it up or just come up with your own routine, the sky is the limit!

November 2015 | 21

Fitness Fat torching home workout By: Samira Khalil

Ready, set, Start! Circuit 1:

15 squats 15 sit ups 10 burpees Repeat for 5 rounds

Circuit 2:

30 sec high knee runs 30 sec lunges 30 sec high plank hold 30 sec sprint in place Repeat for 5 rounds

Circuit 3

Use a dumbbell which is heavy enough to fatigue the muscles you are working. 10 squat to shoulder press 10 push up to dumbbell back row 10 lunges to bicep curl 1 min jumping jacks Repeat for 5 rounds Supersets are another training method that helps you get leaner & stronger muscles. One way is to do two exercises of the same muscle group togetherâ&#x20AC;Ś This will hurt!

One major excuse that we always get as fitness trainers from clients not eating right or working out is time. Giving that we have super crowded streets, going out to work out after work or school can be very challenging. The good news is that you can workout at home whenever you have no time to go out and the better news is that those exercises if executed properly, will yield amazing results! There are different ways to approach your workout at home. But when it comes to efficiency, circuit training is always the best. What is circuit training? Circuit training is when you do sets of strength and conditioning exercises back to back with little rest in between moves. Circuit training maximizes your calorie and fat burn as it targets all your muscle groups, tones your muscles and challenges your cardiovascular system big time.

22 | November 2015

Supersets allow you to overload your muscles thus improving your strength & endurance.

Superset 1:

30 sec squats 30 sec squat pulsing Repeat for 5 rounds

Superset 2:

1 min sit ups 1 min low planks Repeat for 5 rounds

Superset 3:

30 sec push ups 30 sec mountain climbers Repeat for 5 rounds In the end, Find your way to move whether you are at home or at the gym. Educate yourself, get workouts online or ask your friends or trainers to give you some workouts to do if you get stuck at work/school. Change your mindset & make your workouts more manageable & enjoyable.

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Nutrition

Tips for Eating Healthy When You Are Busy By: Noura Hassaballa

Keeping a healthy lifestyle while having a busy schedule can be challenging if you don’t plan ahead. Most people wake up in the morning rushing to work; they barely wash their face to even remember having breakfast. However, breakfast is what fuels their body to keep them going through the hectic day. It’s much easier to grab a bag of chips or snack on a chocolate bar than ordering a salad, and I don’t need to stress on the cost of that; which is weight gain. Luckily, eating healthy doesn’t have to take a lot of time and it won’t make you feel guilty afterwards. Let me give you some tips on how to eat healthy during a busy schedule.

24 | November 2015

Plan Ahead

The first thing you want to do is planning. Planning ahead keeps you from munching on “junk”. Make a list of what foods you need to buy and start preparing your meals the night before. You can even use your leftovers as a lunch meal if you have no time to cook a fresh one.

Eat Breakfast

Most people skip breakfast and rely on coffee as their morning booster. Eating breakfast is important because it sustains your energy levels and keeps your blood sugar stabilized. Too much coffee can overload your liver, and increases the risk of blood sugar irregularities. Because your liver is the body’s detoxifying organ, overloading it with caffeine can increase your chances of disease and weight gain. Use substitutions such as herbal

teas: dandelion root (liver detox), ginseng (energy), oolong (weight loss), green tea (concentration), and peppermint (stomach ease). According to studies, breakfast eaters have a 50% bigger chance of losing weight and keeping it off, compared to non-breakfast eaters.

Keep Healthy Snacks Visible

Have a plate of fresh fruits next to you at the office. That way you won’t go hitting up the vending machine for empty calories. Most people have a low intake of fibers because they don’t consume fruits and vegetables as much, and it is usually substituted with unhealthy snacks. You can also cut up fresh vegetables and keep it in a zip-lock bag. Snack option ideas don’t have to be daunting; fat-free yogurt, unsalted nuts, or unsweetened dried fruits is a grab and go choice, yet healthy.

Stay Hydrated

When you are dehydrated, your body often confuses this with hunger. Get at least eight cups of liquids a day to keep your energy levels up and make you stay focused. I didn’t say water, I said fluids; of course water would be your best bet, but all the fluids you get during the day are included, just make sure it’s low in sugars.

Wipe Out White

Do Not Skip Meals

Skipping meals and staying for long hours without getting anything in your system can result in weight gain. Your metabolism starts to slow down and your body starts to go into starvation mode. Not only that, but it causes you to overeat. Overeating slows down digestion and can lead to more serious problems like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and diabetes.

White rice, white bread, white pasta, and white sauces. White flour foods have the minimal nutritional value because they are all processed and the good fibers and nutrients are drastically reduced. Instead, focus more on eating whole grain breads, pastas, brown rice and whole grains like quinoa, couscous or buckwheat. Go for a tomato or pesto sauce instead of white sauces which tend to be loaded with saturated fat and sodium.

Make Workouts a Daily Routine

Don’t Shop while Hungry

Cereal and protein bars sound healthy, but the shocking fact is that they are loaded with added sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Some bars contain more than 300 calories per serving, which is a bit high for a snack. Foods that are high in sugars will spike your blood sugar levels leaving you feeling sluggish and craving for more carbs.

Whether you are at the grocery store or at the mall, smelling all the good aromas can increase your appetite and distract you from making healthy choices. Running around while you are hungry drives you to make impulsive choices especially when it comes to food. Keep a healthy snack with you. Fruits should be your first pick, a handful of almonds for some healthy fats, or even a protein shake will keep your hunger at bay.

If you have 30 minutes a day to spend on your social media apps, then you have around the same time to spend on your health. You don’t have to make a trip to the gym and feel like it’s taking up so much of your time. The 20-30 minutes workout videos are all over the internet, so it’s only a click and you are done.

Say Goodbye to Breakfast Bars

No, thank you!

Learn to say “No” when your coworkers offer you food at the office. There are lots of temptations and pull backs when it comes to eating healthy at a workplace. If you are tempted to order food with your colleagues, make it a healthy one, and avoid tasting food from others. Keep candy bowls out of sight and avoid vending machines.

Be Aware of “Light”

The word “light”, used in some foods doesn’t mean that it is healthy. Always look at the nutrition fact label before buying your food. Most of the time fat is replaced with sugar to give the product a taste, so you are not really doing your body a favor by replacing regular with light. Also, some people tend to abuse those kinds of foods because they seem to eat more than usual just because they think it is calorie free. Try to skip processed food in general and go for homemade food; at least you know how it’s been made.

November 2015 | 25

Nutrition

Cheat Meal

– a Diet Savior or a Start for Downhill

By: Omar Mamdouh

f you have been on a diet plan, especially the fat loss ones, you probably heard the term ‘cheat meal’. What is a cheat meal? what is the different between cheat meal and a re-feed day? And what are the pros and cons of a cheat meal? A cheat meal is when you break your own rules by eating a large amount of something that you shouldn’t. Let’s say that you don’t eat any fast food as part of your normal diet. If you go and order a cheeseburger and fries and eat it, you have just had a cheat meal!

A re-feed is a planned increase in calories, usually from eating additional carbohydrates. The key difference is that you stick to your diet in terms of the foods consumed. The most difficult part of dieting is getting through the first two or three weeks, when there are foods that you have had to cut out. For the first few weeks you crave those foods, but once you’ve got used to not eating something, you don’t miss it. On the other hand, if you have a cheat meal and remind yourself of what that “bad” food tastes like, you start craving it again. That’s the biggest reason that I don’t believe in cheat meals—I don’t want to keep refreshing my desire for something that I’m not supposed to be eating.

26 | November 2015

Another reason for not eating cheat meals has to do with fat loss. It takes several days of dieting in order to get your body into the zone where it has to tap into body fat storages to meet energy demands. When you eat a cheat meal—depending on the number of total calories—you take yourself out of that fatburning zone. Then it takes two or three more days of dieting to get back into it. So, if you’re consuming a big cheat meal once a week, you’re spending only about three days in the fat-burning zone and then bumping yourself back out of it. I prefer to stay in the zone seven days a week. I recommend losing not more than a pound per week. At that rate you can be certain that everything you are losing is body fat and not muscle tissue. Sometimes you’ll find yourself glycogen depleted. The symptoms include inability to concentrate, not getting a burn in the muscle and being sluggish. When you

get to that point, the smartest thing to do is to increase your carbs. This is called a re-feed day and it will let your body restore your glycogen storages. It doesn’t take a cheat meal to do that.

So what are the pros of having a cheat meal? • Increased release of thyroid hormone T3 and T4

These two hormones are responsible in increasing the basal metabolic rate, protein synthesis and our body’s sensitivity to adrenaline, but the release of hormones in obese and lean people is variable.

• Increased carbohydrate and fat burning in exercising individuals and increased leptin production

Leptin is the hormone responsible in regulating our hunger, metabolism and food intake. In

periods of caloric restriction, which is what typically happens when we are on a diet, not only do our leptin levels decrease, but our thyroid hormones and testosterone levels decreases too. This part explains well and truly why we normally lose our energy levels, excitement and happiness while dieting. Having the occasional cheat puts our hormones back into the game. Remember that different people react physiologically different to cheats. While cheating does give our hormones and nervous system a good boost, it is good to know how to manage it. Many diet plans out their frame cheat meals or cheat days as having important benefits. They’re supposed to prevent you from feeling deprived, boost metabolism, increase chances of success with a diet, etc. Well, I don’t agree. I have nothing against occasional re-feeds. November 2015 | 27

You might call these re-feeds healthy cheat meals since they’re absolutely fine and may even be good for you. But claiming that it is somehow beneficial to go for extremely harmful foods with sugar, refined wheat or trans fats just doesn’t make any sense.

What about the cons?

• Feeding the addiction

This problem appears to be common and people who have issues with cravings and binge eating should probably abstain from these foods as much as possible. If you keep having something that you’re addicted to, it just keeps the addiction going. In this case, having “everything in moderation” isn’t a good idea as it will be almost impossible to maintain. Avoid these foods completely and the cravings will diminish over time. Abstinence is the only thing that works for addiction, period.

• Binge and eating too much

Some people can binge like there’s no tomorrow and ruin a week’s worth of dieting.

• Your body won’t fully adapt to the healthy diet

When you drastically change the way you eat, a certain adaptation process needs to take place. If you keep cheating, you will prevent this metabolic adaptation from ever fully completing.

• These foods will not leave your body completely

Trans fats, seed oils and gluten… These nasty ingredients linger in the body for a while and it takes a long time to fully recover from their effects. If you keep eating them, they will never completely leave your body.

• Feeling guilty afterwards

The cheat meal may give you some pleasure while you are eating it, but it most probably won’t make you feel good afterwards.

• Cheating does not raise metabolism nor does it prevent “starvation mode”

The concept of “starvation mode” is largely a myth with no real science behind it and doesn’t really happen until you get to an extremely low body fat percentage. If you’re a bodybuilder on a long cut for a show, then re-feeds are likely to help prevent adverse effects of dieting for too long. But even in this case, choosing healthy foods is still a better idea. However, most people aren’t preparing for a bodybuilding or fitness competition and do not need to take drastic actions to boost metabolism or prevent starvation mode, whatever that means. For healthy people trying to stay healthy and lose a bit of weight, cheat meals are unnecessary at best and may be detrimental. If you’re worried about your metabolic rate going down during a weight loss period, lift weights. This is actually proven to maintain both your metabolic rate and your muscle mass.

• Leptin and cheat meal

The general misconception is that cheat meals and re-feeds are designed to bring leptin levels back up to normal. The fact is that free meals and re-feeds probably will not do much in the way of raising leptin levels significantly. The problem is that leptin levels fluctuate very rapidly as calorie intake changes. Any increase in leptin caused by a cheat meal or re-feed would be brought down shortly after. The effect would be acute and not very significant. The main reason for re-feeds and free meals are psychological, maintaining metabolic rate over a deficit, replenishing glycogen stores and to increasing overall calorie load. 28 | November 2015

If you want to implement cheat meal in your diet, here are some tips for you should stick to:

• Don’t cheat when you’re extremely hungry

Overcompensating for a feast by “saving” calories for days in advance almost always backfires. You’re more likely to overeat if you come to the table deprived.

• Cheat in moderation

If you’re serious about losing weight, limit yourself to one cheat meal per week. Pick a date, a meal time and a restaurant, and put it in your diary.

Salad Bar Scoop by

• Go beast-mode before feast-mode

The body won’t store carbohydrates as body fat until its glycogen reserves are full, so the emptier your tank is, the more room you have before it ends up on your thighs. How do you do it? Hit the gym before your cheat meal. High-rep circuit style workouts are the best depletion workouts. Even 20 minutes can make a dent. Want an extra boost? Have a cup of black coffee before your workout. Caffeine can increase fat metabolism when taken as a pre-workout supplement.

• Pre-determine your cheat meal

Have a good idea of what you’re going to order before the waiter arrives at your table. Stick to what you know you’ll enjoy most, and skip the rest. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by temptations on the menu.

• Avoid eating while watching TV

Research shows that people who eat while watching television eat an average 10 percent more in one sitting than they would otherwise. Not only that, but “distracted eaters” go on to eat up to 25 percent more total calories over the course of the day.

• The 90% rule

If you’re eating three main meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) times that by 7 days and you’ll get 21 main meals in a week. Allow yourself to be flexible for two of your main meals. If you’re eating two snacks a day, allow yourself to be flexible for one or two snacks a week (as long as you’ve planned it and you’re conscious about what you’re eating).

Not only does this salad stimulate your glands by its colours, but after the first bite, your taste buds undergo an explosion of flavours. The citrus poached salmon provides high doses of protein that meet your body’s needs and omega-3 fatty acids that nudge your cardiovascular system back on track.

• If you’re midway through a program and you’re doing fine without cheating, do not cheat! You’re doing great. • If you’re exercising and you have a body fat under 20% for females and 15% for males, the weekly cheat day should not pose a problem to you, unless you know from past experience that a cheat has the potential to turn into a crazy binge fest. • If you’re overweight and obese, and/or your main goal is to lose body fat, I do not suggest you adhere to a weekly cheat meal or day.

The nutrient-dense wheat berries, broccoli, and asparagus, are packed with fibers, vitamins, and minerals, keeping your body well nourished. The pomegranate seeds, roasted almonds, and flax seeds give you the energy burst you need to keep you on the go.

We are allowed to have whatever we want, but if you have an ambitious goal to reach, it is in your best interest to stay away from the food that would impede your progress in achieving those goals.

Train hard and eat clean.

Served with inSeason’s Italian or Sweet Chili Vinaigrette. This unique mixture doesn’t just aim to feed your senses, but also to keep your body rejuvenated by covering a large portion of the nutrient spectrum that supplies you with quite a variety of antioxidants and immunity boosters as it is made from foods that have been chosen based on their exceptional attributes.

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Nutrition

Cauliflower pizza By: Jasmin Çakmakçı

This recipe is great for anyone wanting to avoid any kind of flour, while having a low carb diet or gluten intolerance. Servings: 4 Time: 1 hour Ingredients

5 dl cauliflower, grated 2 eggs, lightly beaten 5 dl mozzarella cheese 2 tbsp grated parmesan Pepper Toppings: You can choose to have any toppings you want to. Toppings can include for example tomato sauce, minced meat, blue cheese, onions, red pepper, tomatoes, pineapple and garlic.

Directions

1. Prepare baking tray with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 200 degrees 2. Grate the cauliflower. Heat it in a microwave or on the stove until soft. Let it cool down. 3. If you use meat or chicken as a topping, fry them and add spices of your choice. 4. Mix egg, mozzarella, parmesan cheese and pepper in a bowl. Once all the ingredients are combined, pat those on the baking tray. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden. 5. Top the pizza with tomato sauce and toppings of your choice. Bake in the oven until the cheese has melted, another 10 – 15 minutes.

30 | November 2015

Nutrition

The Health Benefits of Chia Seeds

By: Jasmin Çakmakçı

hia seeds might be small but don’t let their size to fool you. Chia seeds are full of nutrients and that’s why they have lots of health benefits. These seeds are packed with omega-3, fiber, protein and vitamins. Chia seeds were used by the Mayans and Aztecs back in the day and they valued them for their ability to give sustainable energy. The health benefits of chia seeds include:

Packed with antioxidants:

Chia seeds are full of antioxidants which fight against free radicals. Free radicals can damage cells and lead to aging and diseases.

Almost all the carbohydrates in chia seeds are fibers:

Approximately 80% of the carbohydrates in chia seeds are fibers. Since fibers are not broken down by the human body, they don’t have an effect to your blood sugar levels. Since fibers expand in the presence of liquid and stay in your stomach for longer, they will make you feel full for longer. Fibers also help your bowel function.

High in protein:

The seeds contain approximately 20 g of protein in 100 g which more than in greek yogurt, codfish and eggs just to mention a few examples. Protein is the macronutrient which builds your muscles and helps with recovery.

Include many bone nutrients:

Chia seeds are high on several nutrients which are important for bone health. These nutrients include calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. The calcium content in particular is impressive: 631 mg/100 g which is five times more than in semi-skimmed milk!

Could help you with weight loss:

Due to its high fiber and protein content, chia seeds can help you with weight loss and control. Both, protein and fiber, keep you full for longer and this will help you prevent snacking foods you shouldn’t eat and make dieting more pleasant.

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Nutrition

Why Breakfast is Important for Weight Control

M By: Sara Taha

Most of us know that it is important not to skip breakfast, yet we quite often do that. Maybe, if we would understand why it is such an important meal, we would reconsider the decision of skipping it.

As per the name itself, ‘breakfast’, is considered breaking your fasting period, which your body has experienced during sleep. It is the first meal to start the day with and thus affects your eating for the rest of the day. Choosing a well-balanced meal, which includes fiber, protein and carbohydrates will keep you satiated throughout the day. It will also fuel you with energy, and keep your mind fresh and active, improving concentration and mental performance. Research indicates that “a good breakfast provides the blood sugar boost necessary for formulating the memory-boosting neurotransmitter.” Research also indicates that eating breakfast allows kids to function better at school. Beside the endless health benefits of consuming the breakfast meal, 32 | November 2015

it has been frequently shown that eating breakfast helps with weight control. “Calories consumed early on in the day were more satiating than the same amount of calories eaten later in the day; this ‘leads’ to lower calorie consumption overall.’ The American Society of Nutritional Sciences, Journal of Nutrition. If you want to reach your daily fiber quota, breakfast is a great opportunity to get that in. That will aid your digestion, keep your blood sugar levels at bay and keep you full for longer. Fruits, whole grain bread and whole grain cereals are all viable options. The idea of consuming a balanced meal at the start of the day helps you make wiser meal decisions throughout the day, as you don’t feel the need to indulge. When you keep your hunger at bay, it prevents you from snacking on anything you see in front of you. In return, this helps you control the quantity of your meals and choose the quality of the food. A nutritionally complete breakfast also replenishes glycogen stores, which provides more energy and endurance needed to engage in physical activity and more strenuous days. Subsequently, more activity is achieved throughout the day. “The biggest predictor of overeating is under-eating!” So make sure to eat your breakfast

The Summer Scrub Cleanse kit

Recover. Restore. Nourish. Energize.

Breakfast ideas:

For meal-eaters: • 1-2 wholemeal toast • 2 cups fava beans • ½ cup slices cucumber For sweet-toothers: • Greek yogurt • 1 banana • 2 tbsp peanut butter • 2 tbsp flaxseeds • 3 boiled eggs • 1 tomato • 1 slice wholemeal toast

Duration: 3 days Purpose: A deep cleanse. This aims to thoroughly cleanse, revitalize and nourish your system. Price (Juices only): LE 290 (Discounted 10%) Price (Juices & Food): LE 565 (Discounted 20%) Day 1 – Cleanse Lean, mean & Green, Toxin Neutralizer, Liver Scrubber, System Reboot + The Detoxifier Salad + Pre-Cut Fruit Day 2 – Reboot System Reboot, Toxin Neutralizer, Metabolism Megadrive, Liver Scrubber + The Immunity Bowl Salad + Pre-Cut Fruit Day 3 – Restore Toxin Neutralizer, Skin A’ Glowing, Fountain of Youth, Cashew Milk or Royal Chai Cashew + Signature Salad of your choice + Pre-Cut Fruit *Certain juicers may be substituted with others of similar nutritional properties only in the case of unavailability.

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Nutrition

The whole story of low fat diets came up during the mid 80’s when the research on dieting and fat loss was advocating cutting down fats for better health and weight. This has led people to abstain from fat-loaded life pleasures such as bacon, fried food and cheese, and to switch to diets based mostly on carbohydrates – which has caused the outbreak of obesity first in the US, then in other countries – until Atkins came up and was like “What are you guys doing? You are eating carbs and expecting to lose weight”? declaring what I like to call “the war on carbs” where carbohydrates became an overweight person’s worst enemy, and fats played “the saviors” role. Well, neither of these extremes are correct. A high fat diet, especially one consisting of saturated fats will put you at risk of cardiovascular and bunch of other diseases, while a low fat diet will prevent your body from functioning properly, not to mention that it will make your life miserable from all of the cravings that you would be getting. The best way to go is to have a balanced fat intake, based on a variety of healthy fats throughout the day while minimizing processed fats.

34 | November 2015

The Low fat

myth By: Dr. Shady Labib

Why do we need healthy fats?

• All of our hormones are made of fats (cholesterol in specific. Yes, sorry to tell you that, but we can’t survive without cholesterol) • Fats make up the walls of our cells • We need adequate fat for proper metabolism • It supports the immune system • It contributes to the absorption of many nutrients (such as vitamins A, D, E and K) • Having enough fat will also help keep you feeling full between meals.

It has also been found to have these health benefits: • Protection against heart and blood vessel disease • Anti-depressant • Improved body composition • Enhances memory • Reduces risk of cancer

Good fats and bad fats:

So now that we know that we should include fats in our diets, can we go indulge on that melted piece of cheddar cheese? Unfortunately, there is a huge

difference between the fats found in salmon and those found in cheddar cheese. The first has super anti-inflammatory powers due to its content of healthy fat superstar: omega-3, while the latter is loaded with trans fats that would induce inflammation in your blood. It all goes back to the food industry which has managed in one way or the other to include processed fats in everything we eat. From cupcakes and chocolates to cheeses and snacks. All contain what is called “hydrogenated or

trans fat”, which is fat that has been altered and disfigured in order to accommodate the market’s needs, such as the ability to last longer on shelves, or to have it sold at cheap prices. Other examples include vegetable oils (sunflowers and corn) and margarine.

What’s wrong with trans fats?

The problem is that trans fats are capable of throwing off and replacing other essential fatty acids that are crucial for our health. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine monitored the exercise and nutritional habits of 80,000 women over 14 years and found that the most important correlate of heart disease was the amount of trans fats in the diet. In fact, a single meal with a high “bad fat” content is capable of reducing blood vessel function and elasticity, which is an early stage of cardiovascular disease.

What are the types of healthy fats?

Healthy fats are basically all naturally occurring fats found in whole food sources such as (olives, avocados, nuts, seeds, etc.) They all belong to one of 3 major healthy fat groups: 1. Saturated fats: Fats of animal origin found in natural butters, dairy, meats and eggs or fats of tropical origins such as coconut oil. 2. Monounsaturated fats: Olives and olive oil, avocados, nuts (cashews, pistachios, tahini, almonds, pecans). 3. Polyunsaturated fats: consist of 2 groups: • Omega-6: Found mainly in seeds and vegetable oils (sunflower seeds, peanuts, walnuts, flax seeds and oil) • Omega-3 (the most important of all fats) found exclusively in fish and algae oil.

We should aim at having 1/3 of our fat intake of each of the 3 types. The whole point is to balance these different groups together and not to depend on only one group.

Guidelines to a balanced fat intake:

1. Aim at whole food sources. (Olives, eggs, salmon, nuts, seeds, etc) 2. Always include a wide variety. Don’t get stuck on nuts, make sure to include other groups of fats too. 3. Focus on adding monounsaturated and omega 3 fats, because the others types are normally found in the food we regularly eat. 4. Use supplements to cover deficiencies, especially omega 3 which is not readily available in food. November 2015 | 35

Body & soul The Most Effective Ways to Relax Your Muscles By: Marco Joseph

ometimes a little muscle soreness can be pleasant. You worked hard and reached a new level of athleticism or strength, but when the soreness gets severe, it can become a big pain. A lot of people make the mistake of dismissing recovery as something that’s too complicated or that they do not have time for. The fact is that you can recover your body and relax your muscles by just a few modifications to your lifestyle. There are several ways to relax your muscles. whether it is after your daily workout or on your rest day before starting a new workout circuit. Relaxing your muscles depends on two major factors: internal and external factors. Internal factors are as simple as nutrition and hydration. External factors are sauna, steam, jacuzzi, ice tubs, massage, yoga, foam rolling, or even swimming and bathing in hot water. The question is which one do you need? It all depends of what kind of sport you are doing. How many hours a day? How many days a week? It all starts with your nutrition: eat blueberries, green leafy and cruciferous veggies, almonds and other nuts. Eat proteins like eggs, milk, fish, chicken and cheese as well. Make sure to drink plenty of water especially during your workout. While there is no consensus on how much water you should drink, somewhere around 1/2 of your body weight in ounces of water per day is a good starting point. Meditation is the number one way to relieve stress and relax muscles. You can meditate just before you go to bed to ensure that your body is completely relaxed. Stretch. A tense muscle becomes a stiff muscle, so proper stretching is essential after working out. Do Yoga. Certified massage therapists can work on your muscles and relieve tightness in muscle fibers that you can’t relax with regular stretching.

36 | November 2015

I always advice my clients to make use of their rest day by an active recovery workout that will enhance blood flow and accelerate muscle recovery. Swimming can be very efficient as an active recovery. In every fitness/sports facility you will find sauna, steam and jacuzzi. They are there for you to use, to help you recover and relax your muscles. I would advise you to use one of them at least once a week for a minimum time of 20 minutes. Deep compression helps to break up or relax tight muscles and adhesions formed between muscle layers and their surroundings. Imagine you are tenderizing your own muscles. They should be soft and supple like a baby’s muscles. However, if our muscles are not taken care of properly, we can experience loss of flexibility, adhesions, and painful movement. The deep compression of self-myofacscial release allows normal blood flow to return and the restoration of healthy tissue. The body naturally wants to be healthy and strong, but sometimes an extra boost is needed to achieve optimal muscle and tissue health. Self-myofascial release is known as foam rolling which is the cheapest and the most effective tool to relax your muscles anytime and anywhere.

Body & soul

6 Tips For Training Motivation

By: Aya El Kolaly

hat would you do if you knew that you could never fail? So many people make themselves believe that they can’t do it or they are not good enough, others don’t even try out of fear of failure. The surprise is that sometimes people’s self doubt blocks them from their own capabilities, as it is known that “you are your worst enemy.” Stop underestimating yourself; you have so much more than what you think you are capable of, and you can achieve anything if you believe in your self-worth. It is all in your head: train your mind to believe in yourself and commit to your goals. Take charge because you are the only thing in your way to achieve what you wish for.

1. Follow a plan

Start by setting a clear goal and create a reasonable plan to achieve that goal. The trick is to take it slowly but surely, it is not an easy process nor does it provide fast results, but following a healthy diet plan along with a designed workout plan will definitely secure your goal and help you reach it sooner.

2. Enjoy it!

Have fun with your plan, challenge yourself while working out, test your maximums, compete with yourself, make your diet delicious, add spices to your meals, try new recipes, and look forward to enjoying it again tomorrow!

3. Keep a journal

Write down the days when you were close to give up, the days when you were proud of yourself, the chocolate you ate hiding in the bathroom so it doesn’t count and the well deserved cheat

meal after a good while of commitment. Track your progress in terms of reps, rounds/sets, and weights. Write down how many kilometers you ran this week or how many burpees you did. Write down your journey to your goal.

4. Reward yourself

Talk about it with others, give yourself some credit, take a note when you do something good, accept the good comments you get, give yourself some love and appreciation to holding on and never giving up. Eat a cheat meal every now and then with no guilt! Control your doubts and turn them into beliefs, be proud!

5. Don’t stop until you are proud

Remember that moment when you had a talk with yourself and decided to take the first step? Remember the goal that you were so excited to achieve? That’s motivation. You have a vision; all you need alongside that is to believe you can do it, trusting the slow results, and working harder to own that dream. Do not give up before it is yours.

6. Push others with you

Choose someone who needs help, grab them with you and be responsible for this person’s motivation. Push someone up the ladder with you. Have an exercising buddy and a diet buddy. In that case, when you are about to lose the motivation and excitement, this person will not let you do it, nor will you let yourself bring that person down after lifting them up.

“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” Confucius

November 2015 | 37

Body & soul

Achieve Your

GOALS By: Yasmine Shahine

38 | November 2015

e all have goals, whether we know it or not. We have goals to keep our current job, or to get a different one. We have goals to save for the future, to travel, take a vacation, or buy new things. All goals will definitely be heading towards one direction; to make our lives happier and more enjoyable.

4-Learning

Sounds great! But have you ever asked yourself why does it always seem like a hard thing to do? Why can some people set goals and achieve them and some cannot?

Every morning before you get out of bed, set out what you intend to do. Find a quiet private place, inject as much feelings as you can in the process, think about the parts of your day and what do you really want to get out of it. Once you’ve decided, you need to declare out loud what are you going to do.

Because unfortunately we start by setting a deadline without understanding the real meaning of the word “GOAL”, and the tools that we need to achieve it.

So what’s a “G.O.A.L.”? 1-Grow

Each day we grow one day older and add at least one new experience to our life. As we grow, our past and present decisions, our values and beliefs will keep on drawing and shaping our future steps and directions. Growing needs our continuous maintenance just like a tree. We need to help ourselves grow in the right direction; the direction of sunlight and fresh oxygen. Growing in the proper direction will help our roots to be strong and our stem to be firm. By then, we can reach the goal of living a healthy, happy life.

Learning is the state of continuous personal development. This includes self, mind and body development. There is always a direct relation between learning and personal growth. Proper application of continuous learning will turn people to powerful, effective and confident human beings who can easily point out their objectives to be able to score their life winning “GOAL”. These are the 4 main tools that we should always keep in mind if we really want to be heading in the right direction towards reaching our goals. The only way to translate all the above into action, is to start NOW the practice of “Intention”.

These goals might be big or small: I intend to have a great day I intend to eat healthy all day long I intend to get to work on time I intend to have a great evening with my partner… The practice of intention will fill you with positive energy; it will set up your day the way you want it to be. Most importantly now, is to try to surround yourself with the right positive people. Most achievers are never influenced by what others may think about their goals, or have ever listened to the ones who say “Forget it”. Believe in your capabilities, that you can, and believe that you will! People who are happy get happiness back. We always attract emotions on the same wavelength.

2-Objectives

What you think is what you get

3-Awareness

What matters most is to always ask yourself “what do I want”? and “am I thinking in a way that will bring my wishes to reality”?

“Objectives are things that one’s efforts or actions are intended to attain or accomplish”. We will not be satisfied with the quality of our lives without identifying and setting our objectives clearly. Reaching our objectives in life is one of the main incentives that will keep us moving forward to accomplish our goals.

Awareness is being in a state where we know who we are, what we believe in, what our true inner values are and what we really want from our lives. I consider awareness to be one of the most powerful keys and tools in reaching our goals. Without awareness, and especially deep levels of self-awareness, one will never be able to align his goals with his true inner values and beliefs.

Focus, aim right and go score the winning “GOAL” of your life!

November 2015 | 39

Body & soul

Yoga The Art of

Baby

By: Jaime El Helw

â&#x20AC;&#x2030;oga is a physical, mental and spiritual practice which originated in the Indus River Valley some 5000 years ago. The purpose of yoga was originally intended to bring a permanent state of peace to the highest caste of people in the Indian society; the brahmin monks who practiced it regularly. It was exclusive and mysterious in this ancient society and yet has managed to stand the test of time and to infuse into many different modern cultures today. It is practiced in many countries regardless of race, gender, age, creed, religion, or socio-economic standings because of its profound effects on the overall wellbeing of its practitioners.

Yoga for babies is a relatively new concept in the West, but has been employed in various forms by many primitive societies for ages. Amazonian women have done daily oiled massage and stretching movements with their children for many generations and researchers have shown that the effects of these stretching and massage techniques have life-long effects on the children's emotional and physical development and are passed down from generation to generation. Similar practices have been recorded in ancient Egypt, China, and India.

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Yoga is an art and its movements for adults promote the union between mind and body, and have cumulative effects on levels of flexibility and strength. Yoga focuses on breath awareness while moving through a sequence of varying asanas, and just about anybody that can breathe can do yoga. Yoga poses and breath awareness are the most commonly associated traits with modern yoga classes, but as defined in the 8 Limbs of Yoga of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, there are other related principals which must be incorporated into one's yoga practice in order to reach the goal of Samadhi (union with the Divine). There are the Yamas and the Niyamas which are ethical and moral standards as they pertain to one's sense of integrity and self-discipline. One should strive to achieve these goals through meditation and self-re-

flection for both personal gain and ideally for society as a whole. These first two sets of guidelines are used throughout the lifetime of one's yoga practice, and can be followed concurrently with the third limb: asanas. The first two limbs work in combination with the asanas or postures to help the yogi to develop a sense of discipline and concentration necessary to meditate effectively. The fourth limb is Pranayama or breath control, and is preformed throughout the asanas and in meditation.

character, and mind over body control, the last four limbs work on attaining a state of higher consciousness. The fifth limb Pratyahara, or withdrawal of the senses, is most often practiced concurrently with the sixth limb Dharana or concentration while meditating, which is the seventh limb: Dhyana. The final limb of ashtanga yoga is the everelusive Samadhi or state of eternal peace. This can neither be bought nor possessed, but must be experienced by the practitioner alone. Mothers in a modern baby yoga class will experience teachings from mainly the first four limbs of yoga as they can be easily incorporated into and will most benefit her active and

dynamic lifestyle with her new baby. She will be introduced to the concept of Ahimsa (the first of the Yamas) or non-violence during the opening of each class she attends when the instructor reinforces the rules of never forcing any movements or over stretching herself or her baby. The group is encouraged to remain positive and nonjudgmental as a whole in order to create a safe haven whereby all of the participants feel comfortable and free to share and explore any new and difficult feelings they may be experiencing. Mothers will enjoy the physical benefits of the asanas as they will help her to strengthen, tone, tighten, relax, expand and contract her muscles, bones and joints while working on regaining balance and energy levels pre-pregnancy.

Employing various breathing techniques can provide a feeling of rejuvenation and help to link the mind with the body. While the first four limbs have dealt with the refining of

November 2015 | 41

Yoga is about creating space between one's bones, one's muscles and joints, one's emotions and reactions. It is an empowering yet gentle practice which perfectly suits the condition of most new mothers. No yoga practice would be complete without focusing on how proper deep breathing can benefit the mother both in the yoga studio and outside. Deep breathing releases oxytocin which is the feel good hormone, one of only two known hormones proven to have effects on others who are nearby. It also helps to calm and reduce the amount of stress-releasing hormones (cortisol) in the body. In baby yoga classes there is much emphasis given to the power of the breath during every facet of the class; it helps to center and focus us at the beginning, fills our bodies with energizing heat working through the poses, and entertains the babies when used with sounds which delight and stimulate them. During the relaxation time at the end of the class, breathing is the single most important factor in whether or not it will be successfully preformed by the mothers as it has effects on the babies as well. While the mother’s needs are sufficiently attended to, the main focus of a baby yoga class is on the babies themselves. They enjoy the same benefits as described above for mothers, and it also increases the rate at which they will develop emotionally, mentally, and physically. Small babies will enjoy the physical sensation of the dry massages and the various stretches while unbeknownst to them, they are benefitting from it neurologically as well, as regular massage and diagonal movements that cross the midline have been proven to increase the rate of mylenisation in the developing brains of babies. These are the connections in the brain which will stay with them for life and will give them a jump start on the process of developing emotional intelligence as well as forming the network in the brain responsible for motor skills, balance and coordination. Yoga for babies registers in each and every one of the systemic functions ranging from the circulatory (increases blood flow to reach the extremities), respiratory (increases lung capacity) to the digestive system (helps relieve symptoms of colic).

42 | November 2015

The actual yoga postures and movements have been adapted with the babies’ capabilities in mind. The weekly class duration is a maximum of 60 minutes total as babies often tire or lose focus quickly. The pace of the class is active and lively which helps the babies engage in the movements willingly. Songs and fun games such as peek-a-boo are employed as tools to guide the babies through a set of arm and leg stretches. Hip sequences are pared down to a few highlyeffective poses which through repetition will help the baby development into a mobile state. The dips and swings help to stimulate the baby's vestibular system which provides them with a solid foundation from which they can develop coordination in their bodies. The inversions for babies are kept to small movements which elevate the feet above the level of the heart. As in adults, inversions energize and encourage blood flow to the brain. The babies also benefit from the relaxation period at the end and often are lulled into a state of calm contentment whereby they begin to realize that the need for constant attention by their mothers is not always necessary and encourages a sense of safe independence while mothers are still nearby and accessible. Ghandi has been quoted as stating that: "If one wants to change the world, one must start with the children". Yoga is an art that has adapted itself throughout history to remain current and effective to all who practice it. The Art of Baby Yoga is to offer just the stimulation the baby needs. The benefits of baby yoga are immediate, but the effects will last a lifetime.

What are the benefits of Baby Yoga For babies, yoga can: • Accelerate emotional, intellectual, and physical development • Improve strength, flexibility and coordination • Increases sociability through parallel movements and interactive songs For moms, yoga can: • Improve the quality of breath and energy control • Realign the spine and correct posture • Tone the muscles of the lower abdomen and pelvic floor • Aid relaxation and selfcalming skills

Body & soul

Meditation: The Journey to Inner Peace By: Sanda ShamaKaur â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Kundalini Yoga Teacher and Founder of YallaYoga Center

t is encouraging to see the community of meditators growing in Egypt. For those of you who do not meditate but have friends who do, you are probably wondering what the big fuss is all about? How do people sit still for so long? Do they really stop their thoughts? Is meditation really helpful for daily life?

Well to start with, we all experience around 70,000 thoughts per day and if we let our thoughts run wild like monkeys jumping around, the monkeys will run our lives for us.

44 | November 2015

So here is a question for you, do you want the monkeys to run your life? If you answered no, then you should continue reading. When the mind is vibrating over one thousand thoughts per hour and each thought is about a different topic, person, subject or idea and some thoughts are about the past, present or future, the individual being (soul) feels stressed, overwhelmed, bifurcated and conflicted. Imagine for example the river Nile, as you move north towards the Delta, the Nile splits in to two, and similarly the ongoing thinking processes results in you feelings that you are split in two halves. So, one of the things that meditation does is that it sows you back together, so you become one pointed, or just ONE. You regain your oneness with your inner being (soul). What happens during meditation is really interesting and it is not what it looks like. When you watch a friend or family member meditating, they look pretty peaceful and happy, but allow me to share with you a little secret and that is about 90% of the time, the meditator is being challenged with quite a lot of thoughts, drama linked to the past and future, emotions like fear, anxiety and anger and big and small decisions. What I am trying to tell you is that it is not

a walk in the park and it is not easy for anyone. However, what happens over time, as the meditator becomes skilled, he/ she starts to get used to this game. The game goes like this: you cross your legs to sit down, straighten your back, close your eyes, bring your hands in gyan mudra (thumb and forefinger connected tip to tip together forming a circle) and prepare to meditate. Suddenly, you get hit by a huge surge of thoughts coming from everywhere. You might even be shocked to meet the thoughts and stories coming from a week or a month ago. The meditation becomes so difficult to contain that you want to get out of your meditation to write about it, talk about it or do something about it. This, my friends, is the game. Now, just like any game, be it football or basketball, a video game or a card game, the player gets better over time with practice. What happens over time is that the player learns to transcend this game and builds the skills to sit there comfortably and to watch his/her thoughts come and go. A little like watching a movie on a movie screen. One thought will come and you will let it go and the other thought will come and you will let it go. The skill here is when the play can be experienced as a comfort in the body (instead of agitation and restlessness) and the meditator is able to sit there and watch this movie of your life.

Of course, like any game in the world, there are tools that can help you to get better. In meditation we have many tools such as, eye gazing (drishti), mantra, breath awareness, counting, visualization and going inwards, just to name a few. As a player and with guidance of a coach or in our case your yoga teacher, you can learn how to use one of these tools to bring your mind into focus. As a Kundalini Yoga teacher we use mainly mantra, eye focus and breath awareness during meditation. The word ‘man’ means mind and the word ‘tra’ means waves. So chanting a mantra (such as repeating a sacred word like Sat Nam which means “The Identity of Me is True) several times effectively breaks down the waves of thoughts. Holding a strong eye focus like gazing at the tip of the nose (the lotus point) controls the mind which is locked in triangle, stimulates the pineal gland and the frontal lobe of the brain and thereby creates new energy pathways and patterns in the brain. So the next time you think that meditation is not for me, just remember that it is like any other game in life, you can learn to be a player and once you get good at this game, you will become one pointed and much better able to make decisions that serve your needs and the needs of those around you.

November 2015 | 45

The Game

The Best Yoga Style

for Me By: Cherine Samir

Yoga is more than just a collection of physical exercises. It is a way of life and includes many practices for the body, mind and spirit. The Indian Sage Patanjali defined yoga in the early part of the first millennium through a collection of texts called the Yoga Sutras. The Sutras and Patanjali’s eight-limbed path became the first systematic presentation of yoga. However, the man who deserves the most credit for influencing the type of physical yoga practiced today is Tirumalai Krishnamacharya who took it upon himself to spread the beauty and the benefits of yoga posture or “asana” sometimes in the 1930s. All forms of physical yoga practiced today are based on his teachings. Hatha Yoga:

Asanas are the physical movements of yoga practice and combined with breathing or pranayama, they constitute the style of yoga referred to as Hatha yoga. So basically, any form of yoga as we know it today can be classified as Hatha yoga. When a practice is marketed as Hatha yoga, it means that you will get a gentle introduction to the most basic yoga postures moving through them with ease at a mindful meditative pace. If you are new to yoga, this would probably be the best place to start.

Ashtanga Yoga:

Ashtanga is a dynamic and physically demanding practice that synchronizes breath with movement. Traditionally, Ashtanga is taught “Mysore style” where students learn a specific sequence of asanas and practice at their own pace with the teacher moving in the room to offer guidance and adjustments. Ashtanga is also taught in a led class format. However, if you are a beginner, I would recommend that you practice Ashtanga 46 | November 2015

Mysore style. This would allow you to work progressively with the teacher learning postures slowly until you become stable and steady in each posture, which will ensure a solid foundation for a sustainable and healthy practice. Ashtanga is a great practice to cultivate non attachment as students learn to observe what arises without judgement. Prepare to sweat and produce internal heat that will help you purify the body while building stamina, strength and flexibility.

Iyengar Yoga:

Iyengar is a style of yoga that gives utmost attention to finding the proper alignment in a posture using a wide array of props — blocks, blankets, straps, chairs, bolsters, and a rope wall are all common. If you have an injury or chronic condition, Iyengar is probably your best choice to ensure you get the knowledgeable instruction you need. The primary focus is to understand the alignment and basic structure of the postures and to gain greater physical awareness, strength, and flexibility.

Kundalini yoga:

Sometimes referred to as the yoga of awareness, kundalini yoga focuses on awakening the kundalini energy (believed to be located at the base of the spine) that leads to spiritual awakening. In addition to vigorous movement-oriented postures, expect to encounter challenging breathing exercises, mini meditations, chanting and beyond. I would recommend this type of yoga for those who seek to awake their inner energy.

Sivananda Yoga:

Like kundalini yoga, sivananda yoga practice is more a spiritual practice than physical exercise. The practice is slow paced and focuses on twelve core poses in addition to breathing, meditation and relaxation. It promotes physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing. If you like to take it slow and gentle, sivananda will appeal to you.

More Yoga Styles:

Those include restorative, yin, vinyasa, power, among many others. They are all based on Hatha yoga postures but target different needs. Restorative yoga involves a few very gentle postures supported by the use of props to promote rest and relaxation. Yin yoga is a passive gentle practice that focuses on the deeper layers of fascia through a series of seated and supine postures held for 3 to 5 minutes. Vinyasa literally means flow. Vinyasa yoga classes are characterized as fast paced and energetic. Practitioners flow smoothly from one pose to another while coordinating breath with movement. Power yoga is a fitness-based vigorous vinyasa flow that builds internal heat, increased stamina and strength. As a novice practitioner, how do you determine the style that is best for you? As a practitioner and a teacher, I believe that you are the only one who can determine which type of asana practice is best for you. I personally practice Ashtanga yoga because it allows me to develop the skills of observation, acceptance and non attachment which I need to cultivate most. And because Ashtanga is a challenging practice mostly classified as reinforcing the masculine energy, I balance it out with Yin yoga. This is what works for me but each person is different and your practice will change over time as you grow and develop. Generally, you may want to do the following before deciding which yoga practice is best for you: 1. Consider the reasons behind your desire to practice yoga. Are you seeking a challenging physical exercise routine, a more spiritual experience, or relief from back pain or any other physical ailment? 2. Try different styles and teachers. After all, you may not know what you need until you try different styles. Be mindful of how you feel physically, mentally and emotionally during and after class. Your practice should be challenging but comfortable.

November 2015 | 47

The Game

Yoga

& Meditation: The Link By: Sanda ShamaKaur â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Kundalini Yoga Teacher and Founder of YallaYoga Center

48 | November 2015

have been asked this question several times what is the link between yoga and meditation? Most people who have heard of yoga or meditation, think of yoga as the moving part of the body, you know, where you might go to a class, do some poses on a yoga mat and end with corpse pose (savasana). They might also think of meditation as the sitting part of a class - sitting cross-legged and doing nothing. So in this short piece, I try to point out the missing link.

In 400 CE, Sage Patanjali wrote the yoga sutras, which describes the eight limbs of yoga essential for a yoga practice. The sutras contain 195 thought-laden aphorisms which are weaved together and even today remain as the definitive work on yoga. Very few people know that having a sound yoga practice means practicing all eight limbs of yoga, which are: 1. Yama: Universal morality 2. Niyama: Personal observances 3. Asanas: Body postures 4. Pranayama: Breathing exercises, and control of prana 5. Pratyahara: Control of the senses 6. Dharana: Concentration and cultivating inner perceptual awareness 7. Dhyana: Devotion, Meditation on the Divine 8. Samadhi: Union with the Divine

Now what is interesting is that the third limb of yoga – asana – is the part of the yoga practice where physical postures are practiced. There are five categories of postures – standing, forward bends, backbends, twisting and inversions and more recently arm balances and core strengtheners. In every posture, practitioners are expected to breathe. Breathing exercises fall under the fourth limb of yoga (pranayam). Of course, no yoga class would ever be complete without the final and most important pose of all and that is Savasana or corpse pose. Corpse pose is a deep relaxation and a form of meditation because it requires the practitioner to use the breath to relax various parts of the body, which is done through concentrating (which falls under the fifth limb) on different muscles and joints. Meditation, as we understand it today, includes all eight limbs of yoga. To meditate, one needs to choose a posture (third limb of Yoga) – asana – and we usually choose a seated pose such as sukhasana. To meditate, one needs to breathe equally through the right and left nostril, which requires certain pranayama techniques (fourth limb of Yoga). To meditate, one must turn all attention inwards and to draw away from the senses of hearing, seeing, smelling and tasting (sixth limb of Yoga). To meditate, one needs to focus and concentrate on one point (seventh limb of Yoga) and this be an eye gazing point, mantra or visualization. Sometimes in meditation, if you’re very blessed and experienced, a practitioner goes deeper into the state, where he or she can feel devotion and connection with the divine also known as

samadhi (eighth limb of Yoga). Pretty soon, and with practice in meditation, the practitioner is united with his own self and is able to connect with the creator and with the Divine force. Interestingly, masters of Yoga, are able to attain the highest form of meditation (samadhi) while they are practising a yoga asana (posture) that is more challenging that easy pose like for example a back bend or head stand. So what happens over time and with practice is that the practitioner learns to slow down his breath and therefore heart beat, turn attention inwards, withdraw from the senses, concentrate, focus and become one with the Divine. He or she is able to do all of this while they are in a challenging pose. In other words, he is able to meditate while his body is in a challenging pose. On the other hand, and for our own purposes and understanding, the asana (posture) and pranayam (breathing) practice is extremely important for anyone who wishes to have a meditation practice. In my last article where I talked about meditation, we could all relate to how challenging it is to sit cross-legged for a long period of time. Not only on a mental level are we agitated and restless but also on a physical level and we might experience pin and needles, knee or back pain. Hence, the third and fourth limbs of Yoga are so important. When the mind is so agitated with so many thoughts, we are required to move the body by practicing Yoga postures to release excess energy and then relax with breathing. Once we have been doing this part, sitting cross-legged and focusing on thoughts becomes much easier.

November 2015 | 49

The Game

Cure Your Ails With Pil ates By: Shereen Elbaz

ith every new gadget and every technological advancement, we keep thinking to ourselves, “Yes! This is going to make our lives way better!” Almost everything today has become obtainable with just a push of a button. Sounds effortless and amazing, doesn’t it?

No! The truth of the matter is that all of these new advancements have changed our lives drastically, making it sedentary. Not to mention the different forms of stress that accompanies it. As you have heard before in the movie Spider Man, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Well, in the real world, with great technological advancement comes higher expectations, and so you become more stressed out as you are expected to do a lot more every day since life is “easier” now. Stress and unhealthy habits have taken a toll on our health, and it sure hasn’t gotten any better over the years. We all experience it in different forms. Whether it is that chronic tweak in your neck you get from starring at the computer or phone all day with a rounded shoulder, back pain from your desk job, driving in the horrendous traffic for hours or even trying to hold that mobile of yours between your ear and your shoulder. Pilates is one of the best exercise programs that helps in relieving stress, and most importantly improves your posture. Here are a few reasons why you should give it a shot to help you maintain your sanity and health in this crazy fast paced world.

Postural Deviation:

Poor posture is usually a combination of many factors. It could be caused by hereditary influences, hours of sitting and remaining static (desk jobs), insufficient exercise or developing unhealthy habitual patterns; such as slumping over the desk. Bad posture has a lot of negative side effects on the body, such as chronic lower back pain, quick fatigue, digestive problems, internal organs can become crushed downwards or nerves along the back and neck become constrained. However, this does not mean that it cannot be fixed; doing the correct kind of exercise regularly could help in adjusting bad postures.

50 | November 2015

Pilates can help in improving bad posture, as it is a movement system. This means that it is an exercise form that aims to improve overall fitness of the entire body, where the muscles are worked as a whole, unlike other fitness programs that focus on muscle isolation. Pilates exercises focus on the alignment of the body, making sure that all the muscles in the body are developed equally, allowing them to

work effectively without putting excess strain on one muscle group over the other, and eventually holding your spine in its correct neutral position, helping you maintain a good posture and most importantly a pain-free body.

Reduce Stress:

“A body free from nervous tension and fatigue is the ideal shelter provided by nature for housing a well balanced mind, fully capable of successfully meeting all the complex problems of modern living.” - Joseph Pilates As mentioned earlier, we face stressful situations on a daily basis, which we cannot really run away from. For instance, getting stuck in traffic or holding yourself back from picking up a fight with your boss. Our sedentary lifestyles stop us from engaging in constant physical activities, which are supposedly great to help in decreasing our stress hormones. Therefore, we end up with stress hormones settling in our bodies causing hypertension, muscle spasms and pain. But worry not, for Pilates is here for the rescue! Whether you choose to attend a mat class or a reformer class, Pilates exercises focus on relieving the tension built up in the muscles through gentle stretching and gradual

conditioning. This process will help your body release the stress and in turn will put your mind at ease too.

Lack Of Sleep

Another issue, which Pilates could cure you from, is lack of sleep. As mentioned, attending Pilates classes regularly will help release the stress hormones that had built up in your body, keeping your body relaxed with no tension. This sense of relaxation will definitely help you to get a good night’s sleep. Another way in which Pilates could help you sleep well is breathing! One of the main Pilates principles is breathing. It is all about becoming mindful of your breath, your body and muscles, hence exercising eventually becomes a form of meditation. This in itself will help in quieting your mind, which in turn will help you become calmer, more relaxed and enjoy a better night’s sleep.

Improves Flexibility:

The more flexible you are, the less muscle tension you’ll endure. Flexibility should not be taken lightly. We all need to become flexible to maintain our health. One of the main causes of severe back pain, which a lot of people suffer from, is the lack of flexibility. This inflexibility in their bodies in general, and in their spine to be more specific, is a result of sitting for long periods of time. Pilates can be very effective when it comes to flexibility. Rather than focusing on static stretches, it focuses on movements while stretching. This means the muscles are warm as you stretch, allowing you to stretch farther within your joint, with less pain and to progress faster. Not to mention the obvious fact that these exercises will help tone and strengthen your muscles, leaving you with a strong body and a good posture.

November 2015 | 51

Styles & features

El Fit Finals ELFIT promised to raise the bar for Season 3, and 2015’s 3rd Season has been nothing short of the greatest season yet! This year’s season was a long one, starting with the Primary Qualifications from April-June, followed by the Main Qualification in September and October, and closing with the Finals from the 22nd-24th October. There was an incredible total of 605 athletes who participated in ELFIT’s Season 3 this year, including 45 athletes from other countries across the Middle East. The overall spirit of the event exemplified highly intense levels of energy, passion, motivation, and inspiration. From athletes, to judges, to family, friends, and guests, all spectators joined in to support and cheer each other on, sending vibes into overdrive over the course of the entire weekend!

This year’s ELFIT athletes experienced intense and gruelling workouts during each stage of the competition, so a massive CONGRATULATIONS to each of the Top 3 Finals Winners for ELFIT’s 2015 Season 3! ELFIT 2015 WINNERS in the individual Men’s Category are: 3rd Place – Gomaa Abdelaziz, 2nd Place – Mohamed El Omda, and 1st Place – Haitham Mahgoub. ELFIT 2015 WINNERS in the individual Women’s Category are: 3rd Place – Heba AbdelRahem, 2nd Place – Nesrine Fathi, and 1st Place – Charlotte Hickingbottom. ELFIT 2015 WINNERS in the individual Male Master’s 35+ Category are: 3rd Place – Saleh Roshdy, 2nd Place – Mohamed El Bakr, and 1st place – Ahmed Galal. ELFIT 2015 WINNERS in the individual Female Masters 35+ Category are: 3rd Place – Gee Elizabeth, 2nd Place – Riham Hamouda, and 1st Place – Denise Ewig. ELFIT 2015 WINNERS in the individual Male Master’s 46+ Category are: 3rd Place – Hany Anwar, 2nd Place – Michael Gibson, and 1st Place – Naser Gomaa. ELFIT 2015 WINNERS in the Mixed Teams Category are: 3rd Place – The Engines, 2nd Place – Crossfit Machine, and 1st Place – Silver Giants. ELFIT 2015 WINNERS in the Males Teams Category are: 3rd Place – The Giants, 2nd Place – Demento, and 1st Place – Silver Giants. Congratulations and thank you to each and every athlete who participated in the Primary and Main Qualifications, as well as the Finals Round. ELFIT’s 3rd Season would not have been possible without your passion, dedication, and perseverance to up the ante and give +100% throughout the course of such an intense season!

52 | November 2015

Raising the fitness bar for ELFITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 3rd Season meant partnering up with the largest sponsors in the region. An enormous thank you to our title partner Reebok, our technical partner Multiworks, our main sponsor Bake Rolls, our real estate sponsor Iwan, and our media sponsors The Fitness Magazine, Get Healthy, and Masry El Yom. An event such as ELFIT is built on an amazing Team of Organizers, Judges, and Volunteers. Without their hard work, dedication, enthusiasm and passion, and their diligence for absolute success, none of this would have been possible, so a gigantic thank you to the entire ELFIT TEAM! An enormous thank you also going out to all of the guests who came out to perform at the Closing Awardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ceremony: EgyFlow, Badr and Meligi, Bash Beats, and DJ Fabric, entertaining athletes and spectators with their astonishing talents! Finally, what would a fitness event be without all of the spectators who joined to cheer on all of the athletes, supporting and encouraging them to push past their limits when their energy levels started to deplete? So a massive thank you to all of the guests, family members, and friends who came out to some, or even all of our ELFIT events this season, we could not have pulled off a successful year without your incredible support and the phenomenal vibes and energy that you added, making each of the events a brilliant success!

November 2015 | 53

Styles & features

Fitness Test:

Egypt’s Ultimate Fitness Festival

itness enthusiasts gathered from all over the Middle East to celebrate the rapidly growing health and fitness community at it’s finest last weekend, at Katameya Sporting Club, in Cairo, Egypt. Created by In The Zone Sports, and partnered with Misan Sports, the Egypt Fitness Fest’s 3rd season came to a successful close after two jam-packed days of mind-blowing fitness events! Egypt’s Fitness Fest highlights the growth of mind, body, energy, soul, and heart, through health and fitness; spreading their importance in an engaging way through a multitude of workouts carried out in a fun and exciting way. 54 | November 2015

People flooded onto the field each day to participate in various workshops and classes that were held by a variety of fitness entities, including Jumping Egypt, Samia Allouba, PFE, Hers & Balance Gym, The FitNation, Insanity, and Crossfit Monkey Bars. Guests had the opportunity to watch and participate in Zumba classes, Les Mills classes, Insanity classes, Crossfit classes, and Jumping Fitness classes. A massive thank you to all of the companies, coaches, instructors, and volunteers who joined this year’s Egypt Fitness Festival to share their knowledge, skills, and invigorating passion for health and fitness with the rest of the community last weekend. A festival is never complete without its entertainment piece, and did the crowds ever get riled up watching talented athletes from Cairo’s EgyFlow, bounce around on the field dazzling spectators with an outstanding parkour show, WOW! Egypt Fitness Fest’s After Party continued as Badr and Meligi (aka loser) stepped on stage to perform ELFIT’s theme song “Ha’adar Akon”, followed by a very impressive performance by the infamous Bash, from Bash Beats. The EFLIT Team then had the honour of proudly announcing the final winners for 2015, during the ELFIT Awards Ceremony. Closing Egypt’s Fitness Fest for the evening was Cairo’s renowned DJ Fabric, turning the volume up with his mixed-tracks and bass, along with ELFIT’s very own DJ Nour Ashraf, joining Fabric for the final segment, with a crowd-roaring team-spin!

Styles & features

Marie Zarif: Air Yoga Teacher Tell us more about air yoga:

Air yoga is a new type of yoga practice using the hammock support mechanism. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a combination of yoga asana, full body workout, stretching, inversion exercises, breathing & mediation in the hammocks. Nevertheless, some flying & fun acrobatic exercises that stretch the overall body and strengthen the muscles.

You have a full time corporate job. How do you find time to have yoga classes?

Well, you can say that I always managed to find time to practice yoga 4 or 5 times a week. Now the time I used to dedicate for practice is split equally between practicing and giving classes which also leaves me with some room for other self-practice. 56 | November 2015

I started my yoga practice a year ago, and eventually as I realized the yoga effect on my body, mind, and overall wellbeing, yoga became my new habit. These 45-minute yoga classes are really the highlight of my day, as I clear my mind and work on my asana. Throughout this year I tried different types of yoga, and mostly, I was practicing 4-5 times a week in the evening after work.

What is special about air yoga? We all want to do inversion yoga poses, which they usually have in normal yoga class. Most of these poses are not for the beginners. However, in air yoga itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s much easier to invert using the hammock support. For example, I still find it very challenging to do a handstand

in normal yoga classes, but in air yoga it’s doable, and it deepens your practice for normal yoga. The use of hammocks in air yoga allows safer spine stretching in inversed asana. Inversed asana improves brain blood circulation. Any inversed pose causes plenty of blood flow to the brain due to gravity forces. It helps to wash brain cells and excrete, improves general brain health and coordination between brain centers and various body organs as well. Also one of the amazing benefits is the decompression of the spine. Air Yoga contains many beneficial positions which help to relieve lumbar spine and vertebral parts.Additionally, no pressure is put on the spine in inversed poses in the hammock. On the contrary, the spine is stretched and extended on account of body weight under gravity forces.

Who inspired you to get certified in air yoga?

Yulia Baturina. The first time I met her was at Yalla Yoga doing Gong meditation & sound healing session. Then later on when she announced the first Air Yoga teacher training in Cairo, I just couldn’t miss that.

What do you enjoy the most in yoga?

Yoga benefits are endless. Yoga is an amazing workout for the overall body. It improves the body,

and the breathing. Improves the overall wellbeing, and with regular practice it also reduces stress, clears the mind and improves sleeping patterns. It also boosts the mood and concentration at work and increases strength & flexibly.

Can anybody practice air yoga?

Basically, yes. Air yoga has different practices and levels from beginners to advanced poses. The hammock can hold a body weight of up to 180 kg. However, it could be challenging at the beginning for those who do not do any kind of practice or sports. But everything gets better with practice.

What would you say to someone who has never done yoga? Please give it a try. I promise you won’t regret it.

Many of us are living a busy life. Can yoga help you to calm down and reduce stress? Definitely! It did for me.

Where do you teach Air Yoga?

I currently teach at Yalla Yoga. I love the place and I love our community there. It’s also close to where I live in Heliopolis. I feel that this place had a role in changing my life, and I wish to see this same effect in more people. Now I teach twice a week, one class in the weekends and one class during evenings, on weekdays.

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F T Facts

Your nose can smell at least 1 trillion scents.

There are at least 60,000 miles of blood vessels in an adult human body.

When awake, the human brain produces enough electricity to power a small light bulb.

Your bones are composed of 25% water.

Sleeping less than 7 hours each night reduces your life expectancy.

Your taste buds are replaced every 10 days.

Styles & features

Baleaf Women’s Workout Fitness Capri Legging

SHOP YogA & PILATES FOOTWEAR & APPAREL

DOUBLJU Handkerchief Top HOEREV Spandex Pilates Pants

Bonzaai Aladin Yoga Pants Vibram Women’s Yoga Shoes

Yukata Women’s Kimono Robe

YogaAddict Yoga Mat Bag Supreme

Natural Fitness Grip Socks

2 Tone Thai Fisherman Pants Yoga Trousers November 2015 | 59

Styles & Features

PORTABLE GADGETS YOU WANT TO HAVE IN 2015 ORB Sphere

Gaiam Athletic Yoga Series 2gripMAT

If you’re looking for a more sure and secure mat for your hardest inversions and extended poses, look no further. This mat was designed to be everything you need for your most strenuous and intense class. MatDT (Dry-Tech) technology absorbs moisture and provides a better grip in sweaty situations. Ideal for hot yoga or advanced yoga classes. Athletic 2gripMat features a supportive 5mm thick mat for joint protection and is 10” longer and 2” wider than the standard mat.

To explore the goodness of ORB, you have to hold it in your hand and for the next six odd minutes you immerse yourself in reverberating sound reminiscent of the sounds in a chapel. As you go on listening to the magical music the gadget also vibrates thereby enhancing the experience. The MIT Media Lab and bold-design in Paris have come up with the ORB to incarnate the sounds of the user. Bold-Design has not yet revealed the availability or price of this meditation gadget, but be rest-assured it will be out soon for purchase. Till then, go on listen to some scintillating meditation music like Buddha Bar. www.bold-design.fr

www.gaiam.com EGP 600

Tranquil Moments® Bedside Speaker & Sleep Sounds Hearos Ultimate Softness Series

The Ultimate Softness Series was launched as the original HEAROS ear plug in 1992. Today, eighteen years later, this ear plug is used by millions of people who want to sleep better, protect their hearing and reduce noise. These polyurethane earplugs are easy to clean and insert. They’re so effective at reducing noise, that heavy sleepers should use them with caution. www.hearos.com EGP 8 per pair 60 | November 2015

Another bedside companion is the Tranquil Movements ®. It pairs with your mobile device via Bluetooth ® and promotes better sleep by playing sounds that stimulate brain wave patterns and puts you in a deep and relaxed state. The speaker is preloaded with twelve sleep sounds: rain, thunderstorm, focus, body sync, white noise, brown noise, white rain, unwind, celestial, ocean surf, summer night, and stream. The speaker’s portability makes it easy to carry during travel, and the inclusion of a travel lock ensures it won’t accidentally be powered on while in a bag. The device is powered by an internal battery that can be charged via microUSB; it takes about two hours to fully charge using a 5V power input. www.brookstone.com EGP 800

UPCOMING EVENTS Breaking Bad Habits December 5 – December 7

Are you tired of living in a daily routine of bad habits like procrastination? Do you want to get rid of those unhealthy habits? Are bad habits getting in the way of your happiness? Join Break bad Habits workshop with Hossam Fahmy to learn how to break bad habit and build new healthy ones. For more information and registration, please contact: 01001204071

Ashtanga Yoga Weekend Intensive with Iman Elsherbiny November 6 - November 7 We are your Heliopolis-based hub for yoga, meditation, healing and spirituality. Our mission is driven from our name, “Shanti”, which means “Peace” in Sanskrit, the old Indian language. We help you reach peace within and with the universe around, using ancient yoga, meditation and healing techniques from different cultures.

For more information and registration, please contact: Facebook: Shanti Yoga Cairo 01125010509

Sustainable Campus Day Farmer’s Market 22 November

If you like food, community or fun this is the event for you! Come to Bartlett Plaza to shop at our Farmer’s Market, play sustainability related games and maybe buy a banner bag. For more information: Facebook: Sustainable Campus Day Farmer’s Market

Candle Meditation (Trataka) with Hannah Kamal November 2 – December 31

Because sight, mental discrimination, and the fire at the manipura chakra are intricately interwoven, trataka also nourishes the subtle flame at the navel center, promoting vitality and inner health, and last but not least it cultivates clairvoyance and inner vision. As much as you practice, it eventually merges into surya sadhana, meditation on the solar energy. For more information and registration, please contact: 0227361938 – 01112621532 November 2015 | 61

Meet The Dr. Azi Ahmadi Master’s in Clinical Nutrition

Carbohydrates cause water retention, right? What can I do about the bloat? Basically for every gram of carbohydrate or certain amount carbohydrate you consume, your body automatically stores water. This is healthy it’s just what our bodies do. And the best way to actually get rid of excess body water is to drink more water. More water actually helps, you know, get rid of the bloatiness.

Dr. Andrew Shim Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

Can I do specific exercises to lose fat in a certain area as a woman?

Generally, what we tend to see bio chemically is that when we’re trying to use up body fat, it’s very difficult for the body to take it at a specific site. So a good general example of this is when someone starts to do some running or brisk walking, most women will start losing fat around the neck, the cheek bones and shoulders, before it even touches the aspects what they would think of legs - as it is a leg

motion. So, based upon that and how the body works we tend to say that there is not such a thing as spot reduction. So the best thing that I would advocate is a combination program where we are working caloric burning, as well as, strength. So as we are losing at certain areas, we are also showing a little bit of hypertrophy and definition of that muscle cell or cells, so we are seeing a little bit of definition improving on those body parts that people want to see. So, if it’s the arms, and people are complaining that their arms are soft, or they’re not really toned, should they specifically be working on just arm exercises? I would say you need a combination of both, which is working a little bit of muscular development through some toning or some strength training of arm exercises as well as a very moderate cardiovascular fitness program to accentuate some of the metabolism of the fat loss.

Leo Troso Personal Trainer / Master Instructor at Equinox

I sit at a desk all day. How can I train to improve my posture?

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Because we have shoulders that are coming forward; because we sit at desks for long periods of time, what we need to do is we need to do more exercises that would help bring the shoulders back so exercises you can do would be rear shoulder row or rear shoulder flies because these muscles are going to help bring your shoulders back. For most people that have these rounded shoulders you can pretty much double up so you can at least do twice as many exercises than, you’re doing for the chest, for your rear shoulders. Not too many people wake up in the morning and say “I want to get to the gym and get my rear shoulders stronger”. Another thing that can happen especially if you use a computer monitor is your head can come forward a little bit and the muscles in the back of your head are becoming stretched and weakened while the muscles in front of your neck are becoming tightened and they’re becoming a little stronger. You can do supermans, also called superwomans. Lie on your stomach and lift your arms and legs up as high as you can and this is going to strengthen the muscles that are in the back of your neck.

E PERTS Heather Reese Registered Dietitian

My 7-year-old granddaughter is overweight. Can you give me any advice?

Carmen Roberts, RD. Registered Dietitian

What are The Nutritional Benefits of Leafy Greens?

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend including at least 1 ½ cups of dark, leafy greens in our diet each week. The nutritional content of these greens is unparalleled. They are high in potassium, fiber, and vitamins A, C, and K. Kale, collard greens, and cabbage have been shown to play a role in cancer prevention. Spinach, kale and turnip greens are high in lutein, which is a phytochemical that may decrease the risk of age-related macular degeneration. And for only 5 to 40 calories per cup, leafy greens are a great way to pack a lot of nutrition into your diet for minimal calories. Dark, leafy greens are packed with more nutrition than any other fruit or vegetable. They are available year-round and can keep fresh in your refrigerator crisper for up to a week. Delicious either raw or cooked, try adding several servings of these greens to your diet each week to maximize their nutritional and health benefits.

Childhood overweight is an increasing problem all over the world. It is particularly concerning because overweight children are very likely to become overweight adults. However, weight loss programs are not generally recommended for children because they require adequate nutrients for proper growth and development. Instead of encouraging weight loss, encourage your granddaughter to eat healthy foods and be more physically active to stabilize her weight so that she can “grow into” it. Fill your kitchen with fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grain products, these are the foundation for a healthy diet. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that children get a total of 60 minutes of physical activity every day. This may seem like a daunting goal for your granddaughter if she has been relatively inactive up to this point. The good news is that this can be broken up into several shorter bouts of exercise. If your granddaughter is not used to being active, encourage her to start with what she can and work towards 60 minutes a day.

Patrika Tsai Diet and Fitness Doctor

Is it bad to do the same workout every day?

It’s long been known that getting too little vitamin D weakens bones. The role vitamin D may play in developing high blood pressure and heart disease is less clear. Vitamin D deficiency may be linked to heart disease and a higher risk of high blood pressure (hypertension). It’s too early to say whether too little vitamin D causes high blood pressure — or whether vitamin D supplements may have any role in the treatment of high blood pressure. Still, vitamin D remains an important nutrient for overall good health. The Institute of Medicine recommends 600 international units (IU) of vitamin D a day for adults ages 19 to 70. For adults age 71 and older, the recommendation increases to 800 IU a day. Some doctors question whether these levels are adequate and think that getting more vitamin D would benefit many people. However, the Institute of Medicine recommends that adults avoid taking more than 4,000 IUs a day. If you’re concerned that you’re getting too little — or too much — vitamin D, contact your doctor. He or she may recommend a blood test to check the level of vitamin D in your blood. Screening for vitamin D deficiency is important in African-Americans and other ethnic groups with dark skin, due to decreased natural production of vitamin D with sun exposure. November 2015 | 63

Success story

Sandra Shama Kaur Kundalini Yoga Teacher Founder of YallaYoga Center

How long have you been practicing yoga?

I started my yoga practice in March 2011. I remember quite clearly, it was only 2 months after I returned home from Vancouver to be with my dying mother, a terminally ill cancer patient who had only 6 months left to live.

How did you start your yoga practice?

Back then I was living in the Fifth Settlement, there weren’t any yoga centres nearby but a friend of mine recommended this awesome website called yogatoday.com. I started with Ashtanga and Vinyassa and with regular daily practice, I found my body and mood gravitating more towards hatha and vinyassa blend and then I landed in Kundalini – my all time favourite practice and also what I teach.

What made you start your practice?

When my mother was ill, I had to do something to keep my body moving and to stay fit. I was always extremely athletic and I guess you can say I was a gym-junky. But when my mother was ill, I couldn’t bare the guilt of going to the gym, having a nice workout and coming back home all pumped while she continued to lie in bed. She was also extremely athletic but was not permitted to do any kind of sports. So that’s when the shift came in, I just went into my room (and even at the hospital) and practiced 60 minutes of yoga every day.

How did yoga help you during this difficult time?

Well typically the more organised, orderly and competitive I was, the more I wanted a tough and well-sequenced yoga practice to give me that discipline. But as I relaxed and let go, I became more open to do something more creative and spontaneous like vinyassa and then I realised that hey, I don’t need to compete or push myself hard!

I remember very well when mum passed away in June 2011, I was in a shock. I had never experienced the death of a loved one before. The thought that I could never see, speak or touch this woman again, was so painful. So in my grief, I would lay in bed, close my eyes and when the negative thoughts and pain came, I would focus on my breath, Ujai breath and the breath calmed me down and put me to sleep. I would also do visualization exercises and visualise that she was still by my side. And hey, it worked! I felt comforted and able to cope and transform grief into acceptance pretty fast.

Why did you choose Kundalini? Why is it special to you?

What made you start teaching yoga and start a center?

How is the mood related to a yoga practice?

I was attracted to Kundalini because of how effective it was. For example the ‘high’ that I felt after 11 minutes of a Kundalini yoga kriya, I never felt after a 60-minute regular yoga class! This can be attributed to something called hard arm meditations, where we keep our arms up anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes and in coordination with a powerful breath called rapid breath of fire. What’s incredible is that after the meditation, you feel extremely high and kind of invincible, like you can do anything. So you effectively move beyond any limitations that you had thought you had and in very little time. 64 | November 2015

When I had a daily practice, a few of my friends started to encourage me to teach. I was not certified but I guess teaching has always been part of me. So I agreed and started teaching in a few places in Maadi and Zamalek. The problem was traffic! I remember, in one class, I was late and all my students were also late, and it turned out that we were all driving from Heliopolis and the Fifth Settlement! So that was my sign, I had to start something on the other side of town.

How and where do you work out?

I do a daily yoga practice and that’s how I stay fit, balanced, relaxed and happy. I prefer natural and quiet environments so I mostly practice at home. I prefer using my own body weight to get stronger versus weight machines. I noticed that I also prefer working out individually, to my own natural body rhythm. I choose the yoga poses or sets according to my needs.

How did yoga help you to train for triathlons and marathons?

I guess it helped me to keep up. There is a saying in Kundalini yoga, “keep up and you will be kept up”. So I never thought about stopping or giving up. But on another level, I could breathe myself through anything. I had a lot of endurance and stamina, kind of like an Energizer battery and this comes from continuous pranayam or breathing practice.

What tips would you give sports lovers about how yoga can help their performance?

It’s really all about the breath. The breath can conquer all. I know it is hard to comprehend, but when an athlete can breathe properly he or she can fuel his/ her muscles with prana and keep going. They can also recover from strenuous sports fast and reduce the likelihood of injury and pain. Moreover, yoga gives the athlete a chance to know their own body rhythm and respect his/her own limitation so we become less likely to compete with others and just enjoy the sport. Finally, yoga helps us with our diets and lifestyles. The way we eat, sleep and exercise changes to the better and we no longer need to follow what a doctor or coach says, we figure it out on our own.

So do you really always wear white? Why? I started wearing white in March 2013, so it hasn’t been too long. I started it as a form of discipline to see how much my ‘happiness’ depended on colours. The experience reminded me of how to make a promise and keep it. On a spiritual level, the colour white magnifies the aura which is the electromagnetic field that surrounds the body. A strong aura protects us from negativity and allows us to project our personality in any situation. People seem to feel relaxed and happy around me ever since I started wearing white. And since I am in the business of helping others, it is good to see how the colour contributes. Of course, when you wear one colour getting dressed and shopping becomes much easier!

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THE FITTERS RIDEgypt holds the first ever Spinning® Marathon in Cairo On October 2-3, RIDEgypt held its first Cairo Spinning® Marathon at the Egyptian Rowing Club, with Continuing Education Workshops for instructors on Friday, and a 6-hour Marathon on Saturday for Spinning® Instructors and enthusiasts alike from 1pm – 7pm. Organised by Gina Grant, the Master Instructor and Training Coordinator for the Spinning® Program in Egypt and Kuwait, 125 riders rode with Master Instructors from England, Poland, The Netherlands, Ireland and UAE, Egypt and Kuwait.

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THE FITTERS

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THE FITTERS Alex Runners Alex 10k Race to Support Tourism

On Friday 23rd of October Alex 10k race successfully delivered its message to the world to support sports tourism, encourage and open a new channel of tourism in Egypt by the participation of different nationalities including German, British and Slovenian. The race was also a great fundraising to Ayadi El Mostakabl for cancer treatment to increase awareness about the cancer disease and help the cancer patients to have a proper treatment. Guests of honour : Dorra and Nour El Sherbini (worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s junior squash champion). #Alex_Runners #Run_for_your_life

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