Yoga has numerous benefits that extend themselves into your everyday life, past the walls of a studio. Dedicated yogis know that yoga becomes a lifestyle through 5 major points: proper exercise, proper breathing, proper relaxation, proper diet, and positive thinking and meditation.
With proper exercise, you improve your flexibility, strength, and circulation. Yoga not only works out your body, but it also strengthens your mentality and spirituality. Through proper breathing you take full breaths that open up your mind and revitalize you. Many people take only shallow breaths, which leads to bad posture, tension throughout the body, and lack of oxygen. Deep breathing releases prana, a subtle energy which, when controlled, can in turn help you control your mind. Proper relaxation flushes out all of the built up stress from day to day routines so you feel renewed and at peace. There are hundreds of distractions in the everyday world that make it hard for us to really relax, which drains your energy over time. Putting aside time to physically, mentally, and spiritually relax will allow for inner peace to flourish. The food you eat is incredibly important to how you function. A proper diet, consisting of quality proteins, complex carbs, and healthy fats from mostly non-refined and vegetarian sources nourishes your body so you feel better every day. These foods are easy to digest and contain energy directly from the sun, so you are getting the highest quality nutrition available. Finally, positive thinking and meditation come together to help you become joyful and aware. Being able to focus and control your mind is an incredibly powerful tool, but it takes regular meditation to get to that point. When you finally do, you find that your mind is stronger and calmer. All five points bring wellness, peace, and balance to your body and mind so you can live each day feeling more in touch with yourself and the world around you. We want you to incorporate yoga more into your life, and that’s why we are happy to announce that BellaVita is one of the participating studios in the Yoga Health Foundation’s one week of free yoga! This is a great opportunity for those of you that have not had a chance to take a class at our studio to discover the benefits of yoga for the first time. If you are a new student, be sure to select BellaVita for the Yoga Month Card. After you print out your card, visit us and enjoy free yoga in our beautiful studio. This is a great opportunity to practice yoga with our wonderful instructors. We hope to see you in the studio soon! In Health, Jamie Studio Representative Many people set health and fitness goals for themselves, but few actually reach them. It’s easy to forget about them, or to start off strong and slowly lose the drive to keep going. There are hundreds of reasons why people fail, but that can change. Achieving a goal is hard, but with the right planning and hard work, you can get there. Set a goal - The first step to achieving a goal is actually setting one. This may seem like a no-brainer, but how you set goals weighs heavily on whether or not you will actually achieve them. Be specific and realistic about what you want. There is nothing wrong with dreaming big, but make sure you realize the time, effort, and skill required to complete a goal so you don’t become discouraged by upcoming challenges. For example, if you want to lose weight, don’t pressure yourself to lose weight quickly by aiming to lose 20 pounds in a month. You will get easily frustrated and have to resort to unhealthy and drastic measures to successfully achieve this. Do your research – One of the most helpful tools for anything in life is research, and it proves itself useful here, too. You have to know what is necessary to reach a goal in order to actually do it. If you want to lose weight, find healthy recipes that you can make during the week, or look up workout routines that you will actually enjoy doing. Having the knowledge of the steps you need to take makes it so much easier to accomplish things instead of stumbling around in the dark hoping that you’re doing something right. Make a plan – Break your goal down into smaller steps. This will make it easier to tackle, and following a plan allows you to see how much progress you are making. Based on your research, decide the actions you need to take that will lead you to your end goal. Focus on achieving these small steps and before you know it, you’ll be at the finish line.
Make time –Now that you’ve mapped out your plan, makes sure you actually follow it. Setting goals provides motivation, but its easy for this motivation to fade after a long day at work when you really want a pint of ice cream or you really don’t want to workout. Make time in your schedule that is dedicated completely to achieving that goal, whether its going to BellaVita for a yoga class or spending your Sunday afternoon preparing your meals for the week. Don’t rely on motivation to fuel yourself. Stay determined and disciplined, and work hard everyday. Be kind - Don’t beat yourself up if you make a mistake. Just because you slip up once doesn’t mean you have failed. Your success is based on a compilation of efforts. As long as you are consistent, a couple of days off track will not harm you or undo your efforts. Reward yourself – Give yourself a treat when you reach a new milestone, such as by buying yourself a new pair of jeans or going on a weekend trip with your friends. This will provide an extra bit of motivation to keep you going when life is being extra challenging. And most importantly, never place your self-worth on whether or not you achieve your goals. Find acceptance and happiness with yourself in the present. Don’t wait for the future you to allow yourself to be happy because you deserve it right now, regardless of whether you can hold a handstand or are 15 pounds lighter. In Health, Jamie Studio Representative |
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