How to Get a Flat Stomach with Simple Easy Yoga

Yoga can help you get a flat stomach and be a great ab workout. In this yoga video teaches us simple and effective yoga positions to lose weight, get fit, and get rid of the belly fat.

Learn the 12 Steps of Surya Namaskar

Learn the 12 steps Surya Namaskar (sun salutation)

Exercise 97% of your body muscles!Yoga: The 12 steps of surya namaskar (sun salutation Yoga instructor,) Dr Johnson demonstrates in detail the 12 yoga steps of this popular asana. Also find out the surya namaskar improves flexibility, balance and works out nearly all of your muscle groups! Yoga:


Surya Namaskar or Sun Salutation

Surya Namaskar literally means ‘salute to Lord Surya or Sun God.’ It is an expression of gratitude to the Sun God for providing light and prosperity. The ancient yogis practiced it every early morning facing the sun, to greet the the Sun God and the new day. Surya Namaskar, is not an asana, it is a scientific warm up that prepares mind and body for asana practice. Each position is synchronized with gentle and graceful movements and specific breathing to improve alertness and remove lethargy. When getting into a position, a specific mantra is chanted inwardly to keep the thoughts away and feel the power of divinity. It is a dynamic sequence of 12 positions, that stretch the spine backwards and forwards. A set consists of 24 positions (12×2). Normally, 3 to 7 sets are performed. When practiced in a slow pace with awareness, the gain is physical, mental and spiritual. When practiced mechanically in a fast pace, the gain is only physical.

Cautions: People suffering from arthritis, headaches, uncontrolled blood pressure, slip-disc, retinal problem, heart problem, insomnia and pregnant women must avoid Surya Namaskar.

Benefits: Improves awareness, increases flexibility and strength, relieves lethargy and tensions, reduces weight, enhances agility and grace.

Britney Spears Reveals New Diet, Works Out Five Times a Week

Whoa! Anyone else getting a flashback of old school Britney Spears?
The 31-year-old mother of two has landed the cover of Shape magazine, and in the June issue, Spears shows off her toned abs that are reminiscent of her "Baby One More Time" days in 1999.
However, 14 years later, Spears admits that maintaining her body is not as easy as it used to be...particularly when it comes to keeping her backside in shape.
"I like it, then again, I hate it," Spears says. "I’m in my 30s now, so I have to work harder to keep it 'up.'"
So what does her hard workout routine entail?

“I’m doing 90 minutes of yoga twice a week in addition to a lot of cardio — hour-long sessions three times a week with my trainer, Tony Martinez,” Spears reveals. This conditioning will get Spears in shape for her upcoming performance stint in Las Vegas. While a start date has yet to be confirmed, it is rumored Spears will perform 40 alternating weekend shows at Planet Hollywood’s PH Live.

“The [Vegas] performances won’t be simple — they’ll be a massive party from start to finish," Spears says. "And to pull this off, I have to be in top condition and running at full speed."
This also includes a more restricted diet regimen.

"Dieting is tough," the "Scream and Shout" singer admits, "because my specialties are spaghetti, brownies and chocolate chip cookies. I try not to make those too often or I’ll eat the whole bowl of dough.”
Spears also cites the Nutrisystem weight loss program — specifically a shake for breakfast and lunch plus a dinner of protein and veggies — for keeping her healthy.

However, the Southern girl can't resist splurging on Kentucky Fried Chicken from time to time. After shooting her Shape cover in March, Spears was photographed carrying two bags of KFC out of the fast food chain’s location in Thousand Oaks, California. Each was filled with fried chicken and side dishes.
Hey, we all have cheat days, right? And clearly whatever Spears is doing is working for her love life. The singer is still going strong with her boyfriend of three months, David Lucado.
source:

Belief in God may boost depression treatment

Belief in God may boost depression treatment: study

The power of prayer! Belief in God may improve treatment for those suffering with depression, a new study claimed. Patients who believe in God may significantly improve the outcome of receiving short-term treatment for psychiatric illness, according to researchers.

In the study, David H Rosmarin, McLean Hospital clinician and instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, examined individuals in an effort to investigate the relationship between patients' level of belief in God expectations for treatment and actual treatment outcomes.

"Our work suggests that people with a moderate to high level of belief in a higher power do significantly better in short-term psychiatric treatment than those without, regardless of their religious affiliation. "Belief was associated with not only improved psychological wellbeing, but decreases in depression and intention to self-harm," said Rosmarin.

The study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, looked at 159 patients, recruited over a one-year period. Each participant was asked to gauge their belief in God as well as their expectations for treatment outcome and emotion regulation, each on a five-point scale.

Of the patients sampled, more than 30 per cent claimed no specific religious affiliation yet still saw the same benefits in treatment if their belief in a higher power was rated as moderately or very high.

Patients with "no" or only "slight" belief in God were twice as likely not to respond to treatment than patients with higher levels of belief. "Belief in God is associated with improved treatment outcomes in psychiatric care. More centrally, our results suggest that belief in the credibility of psychiatric treatment and increased expectations to gain from treatment might be mechanisms by which belief in God can impact treatment outcomes," researchers concluded.

"Given the prevalence of religious belief in the United States - over 90 per cent of the population - these findings are important in that they highlight the clinical implications of spiritual life. I hope that this work will lead to larger studies and increased funding in order to help as many people mas possible," Rosmarin said.
source:indianexpress

Yoga to cure sciatic pain

Yogasutra: Any inflammation or injury to the sciatic nerves can significantly restrict our movements and cause pain or numbness in the hips, knees or legs. Yoga asanas help in relieving sciatic pain.

Body Rap! (on iTunes)

At 78, workaholic Prime Minister Manmohan Singh puts in 18-hour days

At 78, workaholic PM puts in 18-hour days

NEW DELHI: Invariably polite and punctilious, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's energy levels and intense concentration can give someone in his 20s a run for his money despite two heart surgeries. Disciplined and balanced in his lifestyle, 78-year-old Singh can keep punishing schedules, switching between reviewing Afghanistan and Pacific security with a visiting prime minister and meeting MPs with localized grievances.

Manmohan Singh increasingly works out of his 7 RCR office with its attached residence. He begins his day fairly early with a brisk morning walk on the lawns, a routine he is loath to miss out on. He is ready for work by around 7 am. Occasionally, breakfast is when Singh meets people – old associates like economist Jagdish Bhagwati for example -- he would like to toss an idea around with. This is also when he goes through newspapers.

The PM's appointments typically begin around 9 am when he meets senior staffers and at times receives high-level briefings on matters considered priority in terms of security or political significance. Unlike some of his predecessors, Singh does pay attention to detail and holds regular sectoral reviews instead of leaving matters to top PMO officials.

After his multiple coronary bypass in 2009, Manmohan Singh is more careful about having his meals on time and retires to his residential quarters for lunch around 1 pm. He is back at work at 2.30-3 pm in the afternoon.

Although not exactly a night bird, Manmohan Singh doesn't turn in early. His evenings are usually packed with engagements and there are callers seeking time at short notice like ministers requesting a few minutes after a Cabinet meeting. Singh usually does not refuse and minutes can stretch on a bit longer.

He works right through weekends, unfazed by political storms raging around him. A few months ago, on a Saturday when Delhi's rumour mills were busy speculating about his political future, an unperturbed PM calmly oversaw a meeting on green energy options.

While his ability to scan files and minutiae is legendary, aides insist he doesn't get bogged down in micro-management. He does not breathe down a ministry's neck, expecting ministers to get on with their day to day jobs, something that came across in his suggestion at his meeting with editors on Wednesday that he could not be a class monitor when it came to working with allies.

His focus is on goals and hurdles in the way. As on Friday, when he will take an overview of infrastructure sectors, the PM looks at major roadblocks and calls for solutions to break logjams. Despite seeming a bureaucratic exercise, these sessions keep officialdom on its toes as ministers and bureaucrats are aware that they face an accounting exercise with someone who is not intimidated by details and statistics.

Manmohan Singh's schedule requires him to regularly address academic, industry, government and constitutional bodies. He delivers a couple of speeches a week on an average. Government and party work at the Planning Commission, Congress core group meetings, official functions at Vigyan Bhawan, Cabinet meetings and other business like a meeting to commemorate his mentor P V Narasimha Rao this week are all part of work.

The afternoons often see meetings with chief ministers and senior officials and are 15-20 minute affairs and then there is file work to attend to. Singh often pens a "please examine" on representations that keeps officials busy. Despite the volume of work that awaits him every day, officials say he is a gracious boss ever ready to hand out a generous recommendation to those who have served him. He respects diligent officers and is faintly deprecating about pushy ones.

The PM's evenings stretch on longer than was the case in his first term, partly because of more frequent and prolonged crisis ranging from the Telangana protests to dealing with civil society agitators but also because he is keenly conscious of the need to keep the wheels of policy turning.

A family man, Singh does not step out much for social dos nor does he entertain. He does watch television – some party colleagues feel he can reduce the attention he pays to news channels – and wife Gursharan is not far from his side. Even when he travels long distances within India, his staff try to get him back to Delhi for the night.

Despite the cares of office with UPA's second term honeymoon ending abruptly due to corruption scandals, Singh is not going to give his rivals a walkover. Those who know the PM say he is not a quitter. His critics who forget this are fated to be reminded of their folly as aides point out that Singh can weather storms without losing his cool.

There is a flinty toughness in the way he turned tables on Opposition BJP in Parliament during the debate on a joint parliamentary committee on the 2G scam. The same grittiness is likely to be on display again next month when government tees off with a resurgent Opposition in Parliament.

Get rid of your belly fat!

Whether you have a major paunch or a tiny roundness and want to slim down, we have just the answers for you .

Looking for the simplest way to get rid of fat around your tummy? Go for this creative 20-minute fat-blasting workout and you'll begin to see a toned tummy in just three weeks. Do them four times a week, with a day of rest in between.

Work out
Your legs are your scissors: Lie on your back with arms by your sides, legs raised, and toes pointing toward the sky. Flatten your lower back, engaging lower tummy muscles.

Inhale while lowering your right leg, so your toes are in line with your nose. Exhale, switching your legs scissor-like, so your right leg lifts back up and your left comes down. (Don't touch the ground with your foot.) Do 3 sets of 8–10 reps.

Lie flat in front: Get on your knees and forearms with your elbows directly under your shoulders, fingers interlaced. Stretch your legs long, and come up on your toes into plank position. Exhale while twisting slightly to the left from your waist only. Inhale, returning to the starting position, then repeat on the opposite side. Do three sets of 10-12 reps.

A ball-game: Look up at the ceiling, lie down on a stability ball, and drape your abs and hips over it. Place your hands on the ground in front of you, and walk them out until the ball rolls beneath your shins; contract your lower abs and lift your hips slightly, then slowly lower them down. Do three sets of 10-12 reps.

Sleeping Buddha-pose: Lie on your left side with your legs straight and stacked on top of one another and your feet flexed. Rest your head on your straight left arm. Inhale while lifting both legs off the ground, then exhale while slowly lowering them until they're about 1 inch off the ground. Do 10-12 reps, then switch sides and repeat to complete 1 set; do three sets.

Major paunch: Do 3 sets of 15 bicycle crunches 2-3 times a week, plus 30-45 minutes' worth of run-walk intervals (2 minutes each) 4-5 times a week. You'll notice the result in 4 weeks.

Tiny roundness: Do 3 sets of 12-15 crunches on a stability ball 2-3 times a week to sculpt your tummy in 3 weeks.

Eat this
Major paunch: Cut or burn 500 calories and drink 2 cups of green tea daily, as green tea alone helped exercisers drop ab fat in 12 weeks.

Tiny roundness: Eat snacks with belly-busting monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) daily: 23 almonds, 6 olives, or 2 squares dark chocolate. MUFAs can reduce ab fat in a month.

Fake it
Major paunch: Dress in a way that your belly fat is kept hidden. Go for lacy camisoles to pull in and shape your middle, plus give your chest a lift.

Tiny roundness: Get a belt that's at least 3 inches wide and made of a stiff material or leather. A belt that won't bend like a corset helps to hide your tummy.

How can I increase my height?

Question :     MAY I KNOW TILL WHAT AGE DOES THE HEIGHT GROW?AND BY PERFORMING YOGA WILL THE HEIGHT INCREASE?PLS SUGGEST ME SOME HOME REMEDY ONLY...

Answer : Height grows till the age of 28 - 32 years. Practicing Tad Asan and Surya Namaskar is beneficial.

Krisnamacharya Yoga Film 1938 (silent) VIDEO

Benefits of Yoga to Your Bones, Muscles, and Joints

* The physical benefits of yoga are myriad. Yoga keeps your body strong, as it involves all the muscles in your body to hold and balance yoga asanas (poses). The various yoga postures strengthen your feet, legs, hands, abdominals, lower back, legs, and shoulders.

This is a film made by McPetruk in 1938 showing the Great yoga teacher demonstrating asana and pranyama. He was the teacher of BKS Iyengar and Sri K. Pattahbi Jois, founder the Astanga style of yoga.

YOGA For Greeat Legs

For those of you who want great pair of legs we have some easy yogasanas which will ensure that you too have those million dollar legs.

Utkatasan: Stand up and bend your knees slightly.

Take your hands behind your head and pulse down. This asana strengthens the ankles, thighs and shapes the lower muscles of the body.

Vrikshasana: Stand up and bring your left knee on to your right thigh.

Keep your eyes focussed on one point and slowly bring your hands up and balance yourself. This asana is beneficial in strengthening the ankles and knees. It also improves your concentration.

Veerbhadrasana: Keep your legs wide apart and your hands straight.

Point your right toe towards your right hand and bend towards the same side and look at your hand. Repeat it on the other side.

Moordasana: Open your legs as wide as you can and bend down and touch the ground. Come up slowly. A word of caution for those of you having a knee pain. Do get in touch with a doctor before doing these exercises.

Bollywood Actress Bipasha's Fitness Secret

Yoga moves for that perfect Body!

Thousands of years ago, a man sat with his eyes closed, deep in meditation, yet aware of the connection between all beings. When he opened his eyes, he noticed a beautiful, strong tree. But instead of breaking the meditative state and experiencing the tree as "over there," he had a shift in perception.

He saw, for the first time, that there was no separation between himself and the tree. They were made of the same molecules, they breathed the same air, and they could not live without one another -- they actually were the same being in different physical forms.

Sara Ivanhoe, Yoga Instructor/writer, www.saraivanhoe.com. "Like the lotus flower that grows out of the mud, I feel totally grounded here, balanced...so that I can bloom completely,"
In other words, he and the tree were one. This was a moment of identification, connection, and unity. It was yoga. Overwhelmed by this feeling of "tree-ness," he could no longer keep it confined in his mind. This feeling of union had to take a physical form.

The man spontaneously stood up, balanced on one leg, and shot his arms into the air in a passionate expression of the bhav (feeling) of the tree. He had channeled his tree-ness, and was so overtaken with compassionate feeling that he couldn’t help but spring into the pose to experience being the tree: "I know how it feels to be you, it feels like this..." This was the beginning of hatha yoga.

Beyond words, yoga is the experience of union that we once thought was outside ourselves. The yogis pictured here went on a personal journey within to channel their own nature of asana. And because the focus of this issue is on our environment, we especially wanted to explore yoga’s connection to nature.

Sara Ivanhoe, Yoga Instructor/writer. "I am the tree! The tree is me!" says she. This redwood tree, planted in 1908, will turn 100 years old next year. Special thanks to Gary Deutschman for the use of his home.

eEka Pada Rajakapotasana (Pigeon pos) Keshni Kashyap, writer

"Pigeon opens my hips and makes me feel creative!" says she.

Simhasana (Lion pose) Ross, yoga instructor.

"It's all good. Yoga feels good and it's fun!" says he

Vatayanasana (Horse pose) Schein, yoga instructor

"I love Horse because it’s a deep hip-and-shoulder opener. As a balancing pose, it also challenges me to focus on my drishti. It’s fun to incorporate hips, shoulders, drishti, and balance into one posture."

Garudasana (Eagle pose)

Kahshanna Evans, Actress, upcoming indie film The Wrong Hands, her first lead.

"I love Eagle Pose! I love that an eagle connects the ‘heavens’ to the earth. There is something empowering in journeying between the God and the Goddess, connecting and understanding, receiving inspiration from both...uh, oh, now I sound like a real hippie! I feel strong, rooted, and still very feminine when I rock my Eagle Pose."

Parsva bakasana (Side crow) Vinnie Marino, yoga instructor

"It's a little bit like taking flight..."

Ardha chandrasana (Half moon pose) Tom Morley, yoga instructor

"I like Half Moon Pose because I feel like I'm flying for a moment. I actually feel the transition from effort to effortlessness.

Krouhancsana (Heron pose)

Sofia Vassilieva, actress on NBC hit series Medium

"The heron is an intense stretch that restores my inner balance, releases tension in the body and mind, and opens the heart."

nasana (Upward facing dog) Maxine Bahns, actress/certified yoga work instructor

"I love the way I feel in Upward Facing Dog. My chest and shoulders are open, allowing me to take a deep breath. And, at the same time, my spine is elongated and flexed, which helps with the lower back pain I sometimes get from cycling and running. It’s a gentle backbend that fires up the whole body."

source

Long Life For YOGA

Who In A Bid To Lose Weight, Eat Raw Vegetables And Fruits

THE DETOX DEBATE
To detox or not is the question. naturopath and an allopath to get both sides of the story

Detox! That's the latest health fad the city junta is swearing by. Juice fasts, water-only diets, saltfree diets coupled with body massages, mud packs, steam baths, saunas and yoga are the rage these days. But, are these procedures safe, or for that matter even necessary?
"The human body has a built in detoxifier called the liver. The very function of the liver is to break down toxic substances, so that they get excreted. So, why do people need to go for a detox diet?" asks Dr M V Rao of Yashoda Hospitals. But Dr N R Nirmala Jyothi, a naturopathy and yogic science expert, prefers to differ, "Just as vehicles need regular overhaul to keep them in good condition, even human bodies need to go through a cleansing process on a regular basis. Diseases are caused by build up of toxins and 90 per cent of the cases that come to us are patients who have tried all sorts of medication and come to naturopathy as a final resort."

The common grouse about detox treatments is that they border on the extreme. Especially techniques like vamanakriya where the patient is made to drink large amounts of salt water in order to vomit, given enemas or made to go on rigorous fasts. "No treatment is prescribed without a thorough study of the patient. Most treatments have contraindications. For example vamanakriya is contraindicated in pregnant women, heart patients and hypertensive people. A qualified doctor studies the patients and prescribes the diet or treatment that he or she can withstand. It is not like the patients come and pick up a treatment of their choice!" rebuts Dr Jyothi.

But then it is difficult to stop people from picking up tips from those who have gone to some exotic detox spa. Even simple fads like drinking too much water to flush out toxins can have a fatal effect because along with the toxins vital salts are flushed out. "I get at least one patient in a week, mostly elderly, suffering from hyponatremia (low sodium in the body) because of the new fad where people are told to drink as much water as possible. People with sedentary lifestyles need to drink about 1.5 to 2 litres per day, but those who are into rigorous activity need more. The rule of thumb is to listen to your body. Drink water when you are thirsty, that suffices," says Dr Rao as he lists out the symptoms of hyponatremia that includes confusion, followed by drowsiness, fits, coma and even death.

Another disturbing trend in the city is the growing cases of obesity and Type II diabetes – from school children to adults. Both Dr Rao and Dr Jyothi confirm the trend and people’s inability to stick to healthy balanced diets.


"Instead of gorging on pizzas and fried food laden with transfatty acids that put a great load on the liver, why don't we go for a non-toxic regular balanced diet with the right amount of carbs, proteins and fresh vegetables and fruit?" questions Dr Rao bringing to the fore the ancient adage that prevention is better than cure. At the other end of the spectrum are young girls, who in a bid to lose weight, eat raw vegetables and fruits alone that they do not get the required protein for muscle growth at a stage when they need it the most, says Dr Rao.

Most detox diets have their roots in Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science. Dr Jyothi tells us about the various diets and treatments for chronic gout, arthritis, asthma, kidney stones and other ailments that get cured with Ayurveda without the drastic side-effects associated with allopathy. Dr Rao too agrees that Ayurveda is an ancient science, but voices the need for conducting research and randomised studies to prove the efficacy of the medication that people swear by. Well this will take quite some time, meanwhile some treatments need to be taken with a pinch of salt!

I get at least one patient in a week, mostly elderly, suffering from hyponatremia (low sodium in the body) because of the new fad where people are told to drink as much water as possible.
Dr M V Rao
Toxic foods to avoid are all fried foods and fast foods.
The rule of thumb is to drink when you are thirsty.

source:timesofindia.com

YOGA IS A WAY OF LIFE !

Yoga is a way of life. It is predominantly concerned with maintaining a state of equanimity at all costs. All yoga schools of thought emphasize the importance of the mind remaining calm, because as the saying goes, only when the water is still can you see through it. Yoga Darshan or Yoga Philosophy also happens to be a valid discipline of Indian metaphysics (Brahma Vidya). It is the result of human wisdom and insight on physiology, psychology, ethics and spirituality collected together and practiced over thousands of years for the well being of humanity.

The basic idea of yoga is to unite the atma or individual soul with the paramatma or the Universal Soul. According to Yoga philosophy, by cleansing one's mind and controlling one's thought processes one can return to that primeval state, when the individual self was nothing but a part of the Divine Self. This is the sense encapsulated in the term samadhi. The aim of the yogi is to be able to perceive the world in its true light and to accept that truth in its entirety.

In Sanskrit, the term 'yoga' stands for 'union'. A yogi's ultimate aim is to be able to attain this 'union' with the Eternal Self with the help of certain mental and physical exercises. It is often said that Hiranyagarbha (The Cosmic Womb) Himself had originally advocated the traditional system of yoga, from which all other yoga schools have evolved. But for all extant knowledge of yoga and its practices, such as yogasanas and pranayama, the entire credit goes to Maharishi Patanjali.

Patanjali systematized the various yogic practices and traditions of his times by encapsulating them in the form of aphorisms in his Yoga Sutra. In this momentous work, he describes the aim of yoga as knowledge of the self and outlines the eight steps or methods of achieving it. These are:

• Yamas or eternal vows
• Niyamas or observances
• Yogasanas or yoga postures
• Pranayama or breath control exercises
• Pratyahara or withdrawal of the senses from distractions of the outside world
• Dharana or concentration on an object, place or subject
• Dhyana or the continuance of this concentration-meditation
• Samadhi or the ultimate stage of yoga meditation

The collation of these eight steps is known as "Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga".