A.S. " Be Still"
Botanica Garden
Washington D.C.
Top 10 Reasons to Connect with YOGA
1 - STRESS RELIEF Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body. Re-patterning the mind and body to connect takes practice. By encouraging relaxation, yoga helps to lower the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Related benefits include lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system as well as easing symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma and insomnia.
2 - PAIN RELIEF Yoga can ease pain. Studies have demonstrated that practicing yoga asanas (postures), meditation or a combination of the two, reduced pain for people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, auto-immune diseases and hypertension as well as arthritis, back and neck pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, eczema, irritable bowel syndrome and other chronic conditions. Some practitioners report that even emotional pain can be eased through the practice of yoga. Learn to manage stress and break harmful stress/pain cycles.
3 -HEALTHIER BREATHING Yoga teaches people to take slower, deeper breaths. This helps to improve lung function, trigger the body’s relaxation response and increase the amount of oxygen available to the body.
4 - FLEXIBILITY Yoga helps to improve flexibility and mobility, increasing range of movement and reducing aches and pains. Many people can’t touch their toes during their first yoga class. Practitioners begin to use the correct muscles to make the movement and, over time, the ligaments, tendons and muscles gradually lengthen and elasticity is increased. These gradual changes can mean that more and more poses are possible.
5 - INCREASED STRENGTH Yoga asanas (postures) use every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength literally from head to toe. And, while the postures practiced in yoga strengthen the body, they also provide an additional benefit of helping to relieve muscular tension.
6 - WEIGHT MANAGEMENT Yoga (even less vigorous styles) can aid weight control efforts by reducing the cortisol levels as well as by burning excess calories and reducing stress. Yoga also encourages healthy eating habits and provides a heightened sense of well being and self esteem.
7 - IMPROVED CIRCULATION Yoga helps to improve circulation and, as a result of various poses, more efficiently moves oxygenated blood to the body’s cells.
8 - CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITIONING Even gentle yoga practice can provide cardio-vascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.
9 - BETTER BODY ALIGNMENT Yoga helps to improve body alignment, resulting in better posture and helping to relieve back, neck, joint and muscle problems
10 - FOCUS ON THE PRESENT Yoga helps us to focus on the present, to become more aware and to help create mind body health. It opens the way to improved coordination, reaction time and memory. Be in the NOW.....
Ten Health Benefits of Massage The Pilates Vision “Health and Wellbeing” Joseph Pilates was born near Joseph’s original system of exercises were called “Contrology” , today called Pilates. His first set of apparatuses were developed during WWI within an internee camp in *Health Benefits Joe believed in order to gain whole body health, you must develop the body, mind, and spirit within the way you eat, exercise, sleep and take care of yourself. He believed a person must have plenty of sunshine and fresh air as well as have a balance between work and recreation. It was important to relax in order to rejuvenate one’s soul and feel healthy. Mr. Pilates believed in whole body commitment. When you take on the Pilates exercises faithfully, you are ready to physically and mentally discipline yourself. If practiced four times a week, you will achieve the desired result of a heightened mental and spiritual state of whole body health. Breathing to Joe, was the key factor to a functional body. He believed that inhaling and exhaling fully would rid the body of toxins, increase lung capacity, and improve the circulation of the blood. Practicing the Pilates Method When you begin a Pilates program and practice it daily, you will begin to see changes in your body’s physique. You will start to create long lean muscle tone and will be able to perform your everyday activities with ease. One will feel refreshed and rejuvenated, instead of tired and exhausted. You will begin to see how important it is to use precise, controlled movements to get the result of balanced muscle development. If practiced correctly, Pilates should be effortless, flowing, and rhythmic. When practiced at least two to three times a week, you will start to feel stronger and more flexible. The end result is body-awareness, leading you to self-confidence and an enhanced quality of life.
1. Benefits of Massage assists venous flow of blood, encourages lymphatic flow, reducing edema.
2. Massage calms the nervous system and promotes a sense of relaxation and well being, reducing tension and anxiety.
3. Increases range of motion in tendons, joints and muscles
4. Calms the nervous system and reduces physical, mental fatigue, stress and encourages endorphin release
5. Enhances athletic performance, relief of muscle cramps and spasms
6. Provides pain management for such disorders as Fibromyalgia, arthritis, sciatica and Multiple Sclerosis
7. Reduces chance of injury and help assist in speedy recovery of injuries
8. Works in conjunction with Physical therapy and chiropractic to expedite healing of injuries and aid in healing
9. Reduces scar tissue, improves blood circulation, which delivers oxygen and nutrients to the cells
10. Rids body of toxins and strengthens the immune system and promotes disease prevention