The Secrets of Longevity have been a quest by many people for aeons of time.There world longevity centers of the population such as Korea, Japan and China and specific pockets of people such as the Vilcambas (Andes), Hunzas (Pakistani Himalayas), Georgians and Abkhasians. Researchers tracking cultures living the longest have found that its not unusual for these peoples to live a life of quality. Work and play beyond 80 years and beyond is typical. A majority, attain 100 years remaining active and honored by all they live with. Here are the longevity habits of these people. 

THE 7 PILLARS TO A LONGER, HEALTHIER LIFE

  1. SLEEP

Sleep more, age less…Sleep is not an optional activity. It is as essential to life as water and food and is essential for a strong immune system.

Any book dedicated to the topic of aging will cite the necessity for enough sleep, which is 7-9 hours.

There is a strong relationship between deep sleep and the release of Growth Hormone. It is during sleep that adults secrete the greatest amount of HGH.

Sleep disturbances usually stem from 1) deficient adrenals and kidneys (need energy to sleep), 2) high blood pressure spike at 3AM, 3) damp-obstruction in the throat (blocks airways) snoring, semi-wakefulness , 4) excess heat rising from the liver which causes alert status, head heat and headache and 5) excess urination which wakes the person thus not allowing deep REM sleep

2. STRESS REDUCTION

You cannot deny the health benefits of stress reduction.

Stress reduction can go a long way in reducing symptoms of aging along with the onset of disease.

Dr. Paul E. Lemanski (Albany Medical College( writes, ‘Stress causes the release of ‘fight or flight’ hormones which increase blood flow to our large muscles, increase our heart rate, respirations and blood pressure, and decreases blood flow to the gastrointestinal tract including the saliva glands.

Sleep disturbances usually stem from 1) high blood pressure spiking at 3AM,  2) Deficient adrenals and kidneys (need energy to sleep), 3)  

3. EXERCISE

In ’Successful Aging’ (1998) a study on aging in America, which had begin in 1987, showed that almost all healthy seniors had been physically active throughout their life.

Dr. Andrew Weil, a well-known proponent of alternative or complementary medicine and the author of, ‘Healthy Aging’, supports the idea that up until modern times, humans have almost always been physically active, simply by surviving off the land. Today we work off computers. If you don’t spend some time daily exercising, your body breaks down due to the excess and obstructed body acid. Yes, walking counts, if done briskly.

4. NUTRITION

We all know the importance of good nutrition and a balanced diet. But which diet? The best history of longevity is held by the Hunzakuts of the Pakastani Himalayas. The majority of the people live over 100. They practice these health pillars, exceptionally, and more. They eat 3/5 the calories as those in industrialized society, drink 40 cups of water with chunks of Himalyan mineral salt daily, work 12 hours a day then play,take long 20 mile treks or hike up the mountin side, meditate many times in the day, etc.  Their diet consists of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and a little goat or Yak meat every couple of weeks, drink home made “Pani” wine (weak) and goat milk. The secret to their health is that they are not wasteful. They put all animal and human elimination and garbage back into the soil as compared to industrial society where all all elimination goes down the drain to public works depts. and dumped in sanitation pits. The problem here is that our soil is depleted and their soil and crop can defend itself without the use of pesticide and nutrients. 

5. WATER

Like that of nutrition, lots can be said and studies can be cited all day long as to which type of water is best for us. One thing is for sure however. Drinking enough water on a daily basis is essential for proper elimination and detoxification. I have found that water in plastic containers is very acidic which results in an inflammatory state. City water is in healthy acid/alkaline ranges but still has too much chlorine. I suggest putting a filter on the tap and shower head. Low acid content and chlorine.

6. SUPPLEMENTATION

Today it is becoming very hard to argue against proper supplementation in order to maintain health due to our poor soil nutrition. However, if one were to source natural crop supplementation, they would be better off. This is hard to come by because it takes extra knowledge to provide for yourself and you need to take the time to grow your crop. But, if you are are desiring longevity then I would begin the search for an urban community garden or acquire land to produce yourself.

Our top researchers, scientists and medicial professionals know connection between food-nutrient deficiencies and the diseases which plague the human body.

Over the last century, our soil has become nutritionally deficient, making it necessary to supplement founded on easily absorbable plant nutrients. Longevity herbal is a beneficial natural source of highly mineralized, vitaminized food. Besides the health engendering alkalods contained there are dense nutrients which provides the human body the potential for correction. The key is the knowledge of the practitioner and chooser of the herbs essential for balance to be achieved. 

7. POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE

In the work called “The Secret” and many studies before, a positive belief in oneself, one’s vision, having supportive people to hold you to the task and believing in you, recognizing when you are off-course and positively course correcting will greatly minimize stress, affect others to be positive and reflect back positivity.   

There are, of course, other pillars to support a long and healthy life, but these are what we consider the most fundamental. More in-depth information can be found at “Secrets of Longevity“ 

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Yoga For Lower Back Pain

Using yoga for lower back pain, will it give you the relief you need? Unfortuately back pain is something that most people will experience at least once in their lives. It may be the type of back pain that is alleviated quickly and easily. It can also be something that comes and goes even sticks around for months if not for years. There are things you can do to help the lower back pain including surgery, but it is not always an option. For some types of back pain, even that is not useful or even recommended. There are a variety of exercises that help with some different back pain and yoga can be one of them. In fact yoga for lower back pain is often considered a great solution to alleviate as well as even prevent pain in the back.

Most often the pain that is experienced in a person’s back occurs on account of problems with maintaining proper posture. So it may become necessary to consider suitable means to realign the body. This is a good time to consider using yoga exercise for back lower pain as this is one of the best and most natural means of bringing mind, body and soul back into perfect synchronization. Your doctor and health care practitioner can help you decide what you can do for your lower back pain, it is recommended you to what they have to say. Doing the wrong thing may make your problem worse. If they say that yoga for lower back pain is something that would help you, you may want to seriously consider it as an option. The great thing about yoga is that it can be very easy on the body, and there are many different movements in yoga that you can do. You don’t have to do all of the moves that most classes have. You only need to do the ones that work well with your back. If your doctor does recommend yoga for lower back pain you should follow the guidelines and recommendations that they have.

Yoga is about strength and flexibility and for the most part, this is going to be recommended for those that have muscle problems rather than some type of spinal injury. It may not be helpful for bulging and crushed discs, but yoga for lower back pain can help when your muscles are tight, weak or tense and won’t relax. Thanks to weak muscles,some back simply go out of place, so doing yoga to help with back problems can be a preventative measure. Purchasing a book that has information about yoga for lower back pain might be something you wish to do.

At Home or In A Class-Which Suits You Best?

When performing yoga for lower back pain, you have two main choices.

1. You can do it from home with the right instruction

2. You may want to take a lesson with a experienced yoga teacher.

If you are going to do it from home, you want to go out and find the right DVD or book. You should also make sure you get the right mat to use on your floor, and any other accessories that will help you through your workout. If you are taking a class, call ahead to see what you would need, and stress that you need beginners classe. To start you will generally need a yoga mat and you may even wish to purchase a book that has information about yoga for lower back pain.

Make Sure You Are Comfortable

Get the right clothing for your yoga for lower back pain sessions, and make sure you remember that your limits may be pushed. As you work your way through the exercise you may feel a little pain, but stop if it becomes to painful. You don’t want to cause more damage than you already have in your back. What is going to happen is that you are going to build up the muscles that hold your spine in place, and that can do wonders for any back. Yoga for lower back pain doesn’t work for everyone, if this is the case for you, talk to your doctor about other exercise alternatives.

Which Yoga Pose For Lower Back Pain?

It is possible that yoga exercise for back pain will help fix problems related to pain in the back that emanate from the hips that could have been overworked or stretched beyond their limits. The right kind of yoga for lower back pain will ensure that the muscles of the hips are stretched, worked as well as brought back to their proper balance – all of which has the effect of decreasing pain in a person’s back. You can also perform the standing yoga postures that aid in providing better balance and help to achieve better flexibility as well as strengthen the hips.

The Mountain pose in particular is a yoga exercise for back pain that trains each and every muscle and brings the body back to its proper alignment. A person’s hips play a major role in how easily or the difficulty they have when they move and they also help in keeping the body posture correctly balance. The hips are located to a person’s lower spine and are located centrally. As many as eighty percent of people who suffer from pain in the backs do so due to hip problems.

The triangle pose is one of the yoga exercises for lower back pain that helps in realigning the hips and making them properly mobile once more. Stretching the flanks with a yoga exercise for lower back pain known as extended side angle pose is another way of achieving the right body balance and in addition this yoga exercise for back pain helps to elongate the spine while also countering problems such as poor postures. It is a very useful exercise and can really help you achieve a pain-free existence once more. Back pain also occurs because of slipped discs. The ache in your back is experienced by people in all parts of the world, it is one of the most common of health problems. The aches can become extremely painful and can lead to disabilities unless proper and timely treatment is given to the patient.

Conclusion

It is really worth considering yoga for lower a back pain, it may be beneficial to not just your back, but your overall well being. Visit HealthyYogaInfo.com to find out more information on back care and management.

When we practice meditation that brings our attention to our bodies, we may become aware of many aches and pains in our bodies that we hadn’t noticed before.  These could be very subtle or they could be very noticeable.  A pain or discomfort in a particular area of the body we may be inclined to try to get away from it or change it somehow, which is a natural reaction.  If the pain isn’t a result of some specific physical problem, like in the knees for example, then this may be a chance to really deal with the potential for release and healing. Let this be your beginners guide to meditation.

Many unresolved issues are actually held in the form of tension or discomfort that is held in the body.  The subconscious holds the past that has not been healed.  The body is a kind of storage for the subconscious to keep things that have not been completed in our lives.  That is why in meditation we may discover pain from this, welcome it and use it to release the original hurt.

We may gain insight into what we were holding and how it came to be visible to us as we experience release.  If we have an ongoing pain in a place like our right shoulder, we may be able to find the source through meditating and becoming conscious of something from childhood connected to our father.  This memory of a childhood reflection related to the father can be the vehicle for giving us some insight into the self.  The real issue is not what the father’s actions were at all.  He serves as the reflection of something that already existed within the self.

We may draw some understanding from this insight about a childhood experience about a pattern that has persisted in our relationships with men.  We may notice a way of relating, or not relating to men.  In the end we will understand this as a distortion of our masculine polarity.  We will see, through examining the source of problems in the past in our lives, that the issues relating to masculinity were influenced by imprinting from the father, and to the feminine, by imprinting from the mother.  They are the basis for the reflection and imprinting that occurs in our lives, and following the laws of sympathetic attraction will pull us to the parent that will enable us to work out the karma we’re meant to focus on in our lives.

The case is the same for emotional pain.  If we really allow ourselves to experience our emotions in our bodies, to be present to ourselves and honor what is happening, we will be able to notice what develops during this process. This includes coping with anxiety and depression.

Whenever we experience any discomfort either physically or emotionally, we can’t take the time to just sit and meditate.  However, the practice of meditation will enhance our ability to really be available to the experiences we have in the rest of our lives that may be challenging, and through this we can become empowered. You can also look to learn yoga for stress relief.

Meditation has its origins in Eastern culture, but it has been practiced for centuries in cultures all over the world.  Meditation refers to a large variety of practices and techniques and includes guided meditation, transcendental meditation and mindful meditation practice.  Many different techniques can be used, such as the focus of the mind on certain objects or words, or on the breath.  Sometimes a particular posture can be used but isn’t necessary. Let this be part of your beginners guide to meditation.

Meditation can be simple to learn, does not require special equipment, and can be done in almost any location.  Meditation and yoga for stress relief can make a big impact. After only one session a person can experience stress reduction.  It has been found by most researchers that only 20 minutes a day will produce long-term health benefits.  The effects can be felt even with the practice of meditation for only 10 minutes a few days a week.

Psychological and physiological health can be improved by regularly practicing meditation.  Meditation can induce the pattern of brainwaves to achieve the alpha state, which is the state of consciousness that encourages healing to take place.  Meditation can be a way to relax, to promote mental clarity, to bring about psychological health, to assist in treating many different diseases and maladies, and for general health of mind and body.

It’s been found in studies that meditation activates the part of the brain that controls the autonomic nervous system, controlling the body functions like digestion and blood pressure.  Stress has a powerful negative impact on these functions, so meditation can help relieve the causes of stress-related disease, like digestive disorders or heart conditions.

A study reported in Psychosomatic Medicine described 90 cancer patients who practiced mindful meditation for seven weeks.  At the conclusion of this study, patients said they experienced less depression, confusion, anger or anxiety.  They reported having more energy and fewer gastrointestinal or heart problems.

At the Maharishi School of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, a group was studied whose members had meditated for four months.  Researchers found reduced levels of cortisol, which is known as the stress hormone, and these people who had meditated reported they could better handle stress in their lives, which includes tips on dealing with anxiety and depression.

Research can help confirm some of what we know about, but there are obviously many benefits we can claim without research.  Meditation offers benefits to almost everyone, and has no reported ill effects.

Celebrities swear by yoga and more specifically, pilates yoga, as the ultimate way of putting the finishing touches on an exercise regimen and toning all those difficult areas. If you’d like to get started, you may not know where to begin. There isn’t just one type of yoga, in fact there are many. This article examines some of the different styles so that you can choose which yoga class would best suit you.

For beginners, Hatha yoga is slow-paced and gentle. It is believed that one cannot control the mind until the body is adequately prepared to receive spiritual guidance. By a series of postures, stretches, breathing and relaxation techniques, one can find focus, concentration and a sense of inner peace. This yoga is good for increasing flexibility and toning muscles. Iyengar yoga focuses on aligning the body to provide maximum results and minimal injury, making it another smart choice for beginners, including ill or elderly participants. Contrary to “flow” styles of yoga, Iyengar uses fewer positions and the stretches are held longer. Props to aid alignment include mats, blankets, straps and blocks. This style can improve coordination, balance and circulation, while building stronger legs.

Fitness yoga aims to increase flexibility, muscle strength and improve energy and cardiovascular systems. This is a more modern approach to the ancient principles and targets certain areas like the gluteus muscle or abdomen to tone and strengthen. Similarly, Pilates yoga is one of the most popular forms, with over 11 million regular practitioners in the US and over 14,000 instructors. The core postural muscles and spinal cord are emphasized, in addition to utilizing flowing movements to strengthen and define.

Ashtanga Vinyasa (also known as “power yoga” or “Raja yoga”) is derived from an ancient Indian manuscript called “the Yoga Kurunta.” The word “ashtanga” literally translates to mean “eight limbs,” which refers to eight positions: yama (moral codes), niyama (self-purification and study), asana (posture), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (sense control), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (contemplation). Vinyasa means “breath-synchronized movement.” After warming up with “Sun Salutations,” the different postures are repeated with smooth flowing movements and specific breathing patterns. This advanced style of yoga attracts people who may typically be the cardio types, participating in kickboxing or step classes, and is intended to help extroverted high-stress personalities find their inner quietude.

A couple of forms of yoga are used for therapeutic purposes. Bikram yoga (also known as “hot yoga”) occurs in a sauna-like room maintained at 95-100 degrees to induce sweating, leading to body cleansing and additional weight loss. These twenty-six positions loosen the muscles in a relaxing way. The Forrest style meditation yoga from Santa Monica California is intended to release inner emotional pain, purify the body of toxins and strengthen the abdomen through deep breathing and stretches.

Some styles focus on the spiritual side, with chanting, meditating and contemplating, borrowing inspiration from the eight principles of ashtanga. Jivamukti and Kundalini use chanting and rapid repetitive movements to free trapped energy. Karma yoga is derived from the Bhagavad Gita, an ancient sandskrit Hindu scripture and is based around the idea of “union through action.” It is believed that one can express love for God by giving up selfish desires and participating in “detached, selfless action,” which will eventually result in liberation. The Anusara style is a form of meditation yoga for beginners because teachers believe in positive communication to open the heart and mind. All levels are welcomed and there is a philosophical belief in the intrinsic goodness of humankind. This light-hearted approach to alignment is a good springboard to more intense forms.

Whether you’re looking to free up some energy the natural way or to find a sense of tranquility, yoga is a great complimentary exercise to your normal routine.

It may surprise you to learn that Yoga dates back to 3300-1700 B.C.E. and has long been a practice of Buddhists, Hindus and other Eastern religions. But what should not be surprising the tremendous benefits that this form of exercise and meditation can bring to your life. Working professionals, students, home-makers and the retired alike are finding how wonderful they feel after participating. The sense of calm that prevails as well as the satisfaction of muscles well worked all make Yoga the perfect blend of philosophy, religion and exercise. Even if you do not practice the spiritual aspects of this ancient practice, you can still benefit. Click here to see more: Yoga Positions and at Basic Yoga also at Hatha Yoga Techniques