Tuesday Healthy Living

September is National Yoga Month! On Saturday, September 19th, Sassy Fit will be holding a free outdoor yoga class at Gasworks park at 10 AM. Please meet in the main parking lot on the far left side. If you have any questions, please email amanda.whitworth@getsassyfit.com

Here is some valuable information on everything you need to know to begin your yoga practice. (Information taken from the National Yoga Month Website)

WHAT IS YOGA?

Yoga is a scientific system of physical and mental practices that originated in India more than five thousand years ago and has been adopted in the west especially over the last 30 years. It includes various postures (exercises) that involve deep breathing, body movement, meditation and relaxation. Its purpose is to improve physical, emotional and mental health, thereby enhancing the holistic quality of our lives.
Yoga promotes a connection between the mind, body and spirit. It is a lifestyle that embraces a system of physical science while honoring the quest for mental and emotional stability and balance.

WHY YOGA?

The scientifically proven benefits of yoga are numerous, including an increase in flexibility, reduction of stress, reduction of inflammation and pain associated with arthritis and other chronic conditions, and a decrease in hypertension. Everyone who practices yoga can gain some level of benefit. The only requirements are proper instruction and regular practice.

WHO IS PRACTICING YOGA?

Based on a survey by Yoga Journal, over 15 Million people from all walks of life are practicing yoga in the US; another 15-25 million have expressed an interest in trying yoga. There is a Yoga style for everyone, including children, teens, business professionals, politicians, celebrities and seniors.

IS YOGA A RELIGION?

No! Yoga is a lifestyle or philosophy on life, but it does not ascribe to a specific set of religious practices. Yoga can be done by anyone of any faith. In fact, yoga or yoga-related lifestyle modalities can be found in many religions or faiths around the world. By lowering stress and facilitating physical, emotional, mental balance, yoga has been known to deepen one’s faith.

WHAT TYPES OF YOGA ARE AVAILABLE?

Here are brief descriptions of some of the most common types of yoga:

Ananda: This is a gentle practice that emphasizes the importance of meditation, breathing, and affirmations while flowing through yoga postures.

Anusara: When translated, Anusara means “following your heart.” This style celebrates the heart, positive and balanced energy, and the freedom to change and adapt the practice as needed.

Ashtanga: Often referred to as power yoga, Ashtanga provides a heart-pounding, intense, and very challenging workout. The physical goals of the practice are to increase stamina, strength and flexibility. Mentally, students appreciate the sense of calm the practice can provide. Those who adhere to this style of yoga experience deep detoxification due to the profuse sweating that takes place during the session.

Bikram: Bikram is called hot yoga for a reason – the temperature in the room is approximately 105 hot and steamy degrees. Every session consists of 26 postures and two breathing exercises.

Hatha: The most popular style of yoga in the United States, Hatha focuses on both physical and emotional well-being. With more than 200 postures to choose from, students utilize these asanas to enhance circulation, flexibility, balance, and a supple and vibrant mind.

Integral: This style of yoga emphasizes relaxation through controlled breathing and meditation.

Iyengar: A form of Hatha, Iyengar focuses on symmetry and alignment to obtain mental and physical balance.

Kripalu: Meditation in motion, Kripalu utilizes three stages to achieve reliance on the body’s inherent wisdom. Eventually, students are able to flow through postures spontaneously without conscious thought.

Kundalini: A mix of breathing, chanting and poses, this style awakens natural energy and encourages self healing through the stimulation of the immune and nervous systems.

Sivananda: A healthy lifestyle is promoted by embracing 12 sun salutation postures, chanting, meditation, positive thinking, and a vegetarian diet.

Tantra: Tapping into the body’s natural energy, students are guided through postures, chanting, and visualizations to achieve pleasure, joy and a sense of completion in their everyday existence.

Viniyoga: Gentle flow yoga emphasizes the connection between breath and a series of poses that are easy on the joints and easy to adhere to in private practice as well as therapeutic settings.

HOW OLD SHOULD ONE BE TO START YOGA?

You can start yoga at any age.

WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF PRACTICING YOGA?

Some of the benefits of practicing yoga are increased flexibility, stronger muscles and connective tissue, alignment the vertebrae, toned and rejuvenated internal organs. In addition, the epidermal, digestive, lymphatic, cardiovascular, and pulmonary systems are purified of toxins and waste matter; the nervous and endocrine systems are balanced and toned; brain cells are nourished and stimulated. The end results are increased mental clarity, emotional stability, and a greater sense of overall well-being.
Yoga is one of the 10 most used Complementary Medicine methods in US. Because Yoga works on so many different levels, it has great potential as an effective therapy for chronic diseases and conditions that do not respond well to conventional treatment methods. In addition, a regular Yoga routine can help develop greater concentration, balance, and composure.

If you are wondering exactly what you should be eating when you are trying to shed a few extra, fear no more, we are here to help. According to Men’s Fitness Center, you should consume these 15 tasty foods on a regular basis.

*Secret Ingredient – Calcium, complex carbohydrates and fiber

- these 3 ingredients help keep your insulin levels low after you eat

* Secret Ingredient – Capsaicin – the chemical in peppers that gives them their bite

- Helps speed up your heart rate and spikes calorie burn for up to 3 hours after eating

* Secret Ingredient – Caffine and a chemical called ECCG in the green tea

- Speeds up heart rate

* Secret Ingredient – Protein

- It takes more energy for your body to digest the protein from meat than it does carbohyrates or fat.

* Omega 3 Fatty Acids

- Works by altering levels of a hormone called Leptin in your body.

Good morning all you sassy readers. We came across a very interesting article in the NY Times the other day. I thought it was interesting especially because I just completed my first half marathon on Sunday. The question they are trying figure out in the article is whether or not running helps or hinders your knees in the long run. Here is a little bit of the article.

But despite entrenched mythology to the contrary, runners don’t seem prone to degenerating knees. An important 2008 study, this one from Stanford University, followed middle-aged, longtime distance runners (not necessarily marathoners) for nearly 20 years, beginning in 1984, when most were in their 50s or 60s. At that time, 6.7 percent of the runners had creaky, mildly arthritic knees, while none of an age-matched control group did. After 20 years, however, the runners’ knees were healthier; only 20 percent showed arthritic changes, versus 32 percent of the control group’s knees. Barely 2 percent of the runners’ knees were severely arthritic, while almost 10 percent of the control group’s were. “We were quite surprised,” says Eliza Chakravarty, an assistant professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “Our hypothesis going in had been that runners, because of the repetitive pounding, would develop more frequent and more severe arthritis.”

Instead, recent evidence suggests that running may actually shield somewhat against arthritis, in part because the knee develops a kind of motion groove. A group of engineers and doctors at Stanford published a study in the February issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery that showed that by moving and loading your knee joint, as you do when walking or running, you “condition” your cartilage to the load. It grows accustomed to those particular movements. You can run for miles, decades, a lifetime, without harming it. But if this exquisite balance is disturbed, usually by an injury, the loading mechanisms shift, the moving parts of the knee are no longer in their accustomed alignment and a “degenerative pathway” seems to open. The cartilage, like an unbalanced tire, wears away. Pain, tissue disintegration and, eventually, arthritis can follow.

So, the best way to ensure that your knees aren’t hurt by running is not to hurt them in the first place. “The biggest predictor of injury is previous injury,” Tucker says, and one of the best deterrents against a first (or subsequent) knee injury is targeted strength training. “The hip stabilizers, quads, hamstrings and core must all be strong enough. As soon as there is weakness, some other muscle or joint must take over, and that’s when injuries happen.”

If you’ve injured your knee in the past, particularly if you’ve ever torn an A.C.L. (an injury that, in the Stanford gait study, was closely associated with misalignment and cartilage degeneration), talk to your physician before running. But for most runners, the scientific observations of Chakravarty will ring true. “What struck me,” she says, “is that the runners we studied were still running, well into their 70s and 80s.” They weren’t running far, she says. They weren’t running frequently. They averaged perhaps 90 minutes a week. “But they were still running.”

I personally find this topic to be extremely interesting. I’ve been a runner for years and have experienced what putting that much force on my knees can do but after completing my first half marathon, I woke the next day feeling nothing! Yes that’s right, no pains other than the normal tightness of the hamstrings. So, maybe there is something to it? What do you think?