Tag: yoga

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Finding the Right Balance

September is National Yoga Awareness month, and if you’ve never given this relaxing routine a shot, I highly recommend it!

Various cultures have been practicing this routine for over 5,000 years, and there are quite a few mental and physical benefits to yoga. It’s common knowledge that yoga can make you more flexible and help you cope with stress, but an article from Everyday Health shares even more unexpected benefits!

  • Yoga has been shown to fight insomnia. Practicing posture poses such as a ‘forward fold’ helps blood circulation. Improving your circulation is crucial for relaxing your body and calming your mind – helping you get to sleep.
  • Researchers also say yoga helps with memory. By reducing mental stress, we are able to recall facts and figures much more easily and use our mental capacity more efficiently.
  •  Interestingly, some yoga studies have shown reduced asthma symptoms. “Breathing practice, known as pranayama, is an essential part of yoga, and such exercises have been shown to help ease the symptoms of asthma,” one researcher reported.

You don’t have to be a connoisseur or a hardcore yogi to reap the benefits of yoga. Even trying just a few poses each day can boost your health in all sorts of ways!

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Zen: Easy as 1, 2, 3, Fore!

Want to improve your golf swing? Perhaps it’s time for a little more “zen.”

Masters champions such as Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Jordan Spieth haven’t just practiced their golfing techniques on the course. They’ve also practiced on their mats, as yoga has become more popular among athletes in recent years.

Dana Santas, a professional sports yoga trainer has shared with CNN a few positions for golfers to try to help not only their swings but also their back, shoulders and knees. The three she recommends highest are:

  1.  Sphinx – Helps with proper mid-back extension, strengthens shoulder girdle, opens front of shoulders and chest and lengthens low back.
  2. Twisting Chair – Promotes thoracic spine rotation and shoulder girdle function, stabilizes your low back, activates glute muscles, encourages ankle mobility, strengthens adductors (groins), core and legs.
  3. Half child’s pose with internal hip rotation – Stabilizes and lengthens lower back muscles, stretches upper back and shoulders and encourages ankle mobility.