10 Lazy Ways To Squeeze A Little Exercise Into Busy Days

There are a lot of us baby-boomers. I think we all recognize that the ease with which we used to discard a few extra kilos, no longer quite works as quickly as it used to in our twenties and thirties.

Many of us also have lifestyles that place greater demands on our time and energy. Some of us are no longer willing to spend the hours at the gym or on the road jogging, like we used to. So here are some ideas for getting movement squeezed into a fast paced schedule. Many of these you may have seen before, however how many have you actually incorporated into your life? Its always good to be reminded.

Have music I your kitchen or wear your iPod then dance as you cook or do the dishes. Same with any housework activity such as hanging up the washing go ahead, wiggle those hips! Measure a walking distance in your back garden. Take 4-minute breaks from computer work or any other sedentary activity e.g. my distance measured is 30 metres. Five times each day I drink a 200ml glass of water and directly follow that with 7x30metre walks. This way I get to walk 7 km per week and drink one litre of water daily.

Get a hands-free phone and headset. When having that hour-long conversation with a close friend or family member, walk around the back garden as you chat. Make it a habit for all lengthy calls.

Always take the stairs and always park the car as far from work, as is feasible. Get off the bus or tram a few stops earlier and walk the rest. Tighten your stomach muscles, or raise and lower yourself on your toes to exercise calf muscles, while waiting in a queue.

We used to walk to school by ourselves, several kilometers sometimes. Many parents now drive their children because they say its a safety issue. Could you not walk your children or ride bikes to school together? It has the combined benefit of family fitness and time to speak with each other at length.

Quit making use of the moving sidewalk (travelator) at airports if your work involves a lot of air travel. Use the stairs in large buildings instead of the lifts and elevators, even if only for a few of the floors of that building.

learn a couple of simple, yet highly effective, yoga, pilates or stretching moves and before leaving your bedroom each morning, use a few of those moves as a 5-10 min. wake up routine. March on the spot while watching television (and you said you dont have time!), or get up during the advert breaks and do a few stretches or laps of the room. Make it a habit whenever an ad begins. Instead of watching your children play in the playground, sitting on a park bench, get up and push their swing or meet them at the bottom of the slide. Kick or throw balls with them. Walk around the track while youre watching your children play soccer or athletic training.

Trade baby-sitting time with your sister or best friend. Get them to mind the children while youre at the gym and vice versa. Is the same opportunity available at work? What could you trade with a colleague to give each other 30 mins. time-out to go for a good walk each day, or few times a week?

Im sure that while reading some of these ideas it may have triggered a few of your own. Any of these activities are better than just giving in and saying that obesity is your lot in life. All the above is a lazy persons guide to exercise. Anyone can create a healthy body habit by habit. You do not have to be Tarzan and Jane with the six-pack, at the local gym. Movement is movement. Stagnation is stagnation. Choose!

2007 Thea Westra is an international life coach who resides in Perth, Western Australia. She is editor and publisher of a free, monthly newsletter at http://www.forwardsteps.com.au Thea also recommends http://www.lightisreal.com and http://freemoneyebook.com

New York Yoga Cl With Live Music

The Xbox 360 Gaming System - Is It Still The King Of The Hill

The new Xbox 360 system is the next thing in video games of today. You can still play regular Xbox games and watch DVDs on it but it is so much better then the regular Xbox for many reasons. I first bought the Xbox to play games like madden Football and Metal Gear but once the came out with the first halo I was really hooked so needless to say when the new Xbox 360 came out it was a must have video game system for me.

If you are serious about your gaming you will want to upgrade some of the basic accessories that come with the system for better performance. Below are some of the many accessories that you can buy for your Xbox or soon to be Xbox.

Even though you will not need a memory stick or card for the Xbox because you have a 20GB hard drive it is good to have in case you need to take your saved progress with you some place. To keep your controllers charged you can buy a charge station so that when you are not using one controller the battery pack for the other will be charging so you can just switch off and on like that.

You can get a wireless adapter so you don't have to worry about cables and such and you can also buy your Xbox an intercooler so it will stay nice and cool while you are playing the games you love.

There are all kinds of controllers that you can buy for your Xbox such as either wireless extra controllers or you can pick from the many different wired controllers that they are now offering these days.

You can also get the HD cables if you have an HDTV all you do is either order them or go buy them from the local gaming store. These accessories are a need if you are a big gamer and might be the key to your gaming.

Some of the games available for the system in addition to my favorite halo 3 are Meet the Robinsons and star Trek Legacy for kids and then some of my favorite shooter games like Rainbow Six, gears Of War, and hitman. Of course there are also the nearly enumerable sports games as well for those of us who are sports nuts.

I am a little prejudiced when it comes to Xbox because I have owned a version of the system for many years and have played the games on my big screen but I still think you can't go wrong with the new Xbox 360 if you are a serious gamer. With the option of getting a subscription to Xbox live it really leaves nothing to be desired.

Yoga Pilates Shoes

Use Yoga For Your Health

To the yoga practitioner, yoga is a way to get in tune with your mind and body, but to many other people, yoga is just a mysterious eastern cult that claims to improve both your mental and physical health. For some people, yoga is nothing but sitting in the lotus position and repeating a mantra. And still others think yoga is nothing but quackery. No matter where you are in the debate, you have probably heard that yoga is good for your health.

Recent studies have shown that yoga can be a safe method to increase your physical activity. These same studies also show that there are numerous psychological benefits due to the meditative nature of yoga. You not only get a stronger body with improved flexibility, but your get a stronger, more flexible mental attitude. Therefore, using yoga for your health is a positive benefit on many levels.

Some studies have shown that when you practice yoga, you become more in tune with your body, mind and spirit. These studies show that when you get these aspects of your life in harmony, you are able to improve your health, happiness and other areas of your life.

There are numerous reasons to start practicing yoga for your health. Many people take up yoga simply as an exercise program because of medical reasons, such as a back injury. Others take up yoga because of a knee injury prevents them from jogging or other strenuous exercise. Many athletes take up yoga to improve their flexibility.

As with any exercise program, yoga can improve your health by increasing your muscle strength and flexibility and your respiratory endurance. It also tends to reduce pain and inflammation by increasing the oxygen supply into the blood stream which helps to flush the body and eliminate toxins.

Another health benefit of yoga is increased positive mental state, lowered levels of aggressiveness, anxiety and excitability. People who practice yoga tend to be in better health and have fewer physical complaints and illnesses. yoga health benefits include getting more restful and restorative sleep.

yoga can be practiced by virtually anyone at any age. You dont need specialized equipment, maybe just a yoga mat to practice your positions on. You can buy a dvd or even find an exercise program on TV if you dont want to take the time to go to a gym for classes.

Remember; dont over strain yourself when you start. The instructors on these videos have been practicing yoga for years and are extremely limber. You will not be able to match all of their movements, just do what is comfortable. The old theme, No Pain, No Gain is not true with yoga. Start slow, and gradually build up in order to obtain the best benefits from using yoga for your health.

Sydney Heiden is a practitioner of yoga and founder of Yoga and Meditation for Beginners. For more yoga tips and information, go to her website, www.Yoga.Cool-Home-Stuff.com.

Certification Hatha Teacher Yoga 20

Six Branches of Yoga

Yoga is an ancient tradition from the eastern world, and these oldest practitioners tended to look at yoga as a tree with six branches. What all six have in common are the asanas (the physical positions and movements), Pranayama (the structured breathing or breath control), meditation and a strong moral code.

1. Hatha Yoga

In Indian, "ha" means sun and "tha" means moon. Hatha yoga refers to these twin energy channels in the body. Its goal is to prepare the body for the more pure state of meditation to come in the 2nd branch. Hatha yoga was brought to us by an Indian yogi attempting to purify the body to make it fit for higher meditation. Western yoga is almost completely the Hatha yoga branch, and Westerners find mental and physical comfort in the first branch alone.

2. raja Yoga

raja and Hatha Yoga are highly interrelated. raja means "royal" in Indian, and in the royal tradition, this branch of yoga has eight included branches as follows:

- niyama - self discipline - asana - positions - pranayama - breath control - pratyahara - sensory deprivation - dharana - meditation - samadhi - ecstasy

raja yoga is often practiced by religious leaders and monastery dwellers. However, anyone can find benefits in the practice of raja yoga.

3. Karma Yoga

The basic teaching of karma yoga is that what we do and how we behave today will influence our happiness and fulfilment in the future, or a future lifetime. Understanding this cosmic principle helps us to create our current environment with love and positivity in order to forestall negativity in our future. Practitioners of karma yoga lead a life of selfless devotion and service to those less fortunate.

4. bhakti Yoga

bhakti is a Sanskrit term meaning love of God and mankind. practice of bhakti involves controlling and channeling emotions and having tolerance for all who come into our lives.

5. Jnana Yoga

Jnana yoga is the branch of the intellect. Practitioners pursue scholarly paths, usually those of yoga masters or other spiritual traditions. In our Western religious culture, the Jnana yoga practitioner may be likened to the Jesuit priest, the Kabala scholars or Benedictine monks.

6. tantra Yoga

tantra yoga prioritizes ritual as the best way to experience the divine. The Sanskrit word tantra translates to weave or loom. Rituals in everyday life lead to a recognition of the divine in everyday life which leads, in turn, to a reverent attitude in everyday actions.

tantra yoga is the most misunderstood of the six branches. The ancient book, "The Kama Sutra" is a well-known example of this misunderstanding of the real goal of tantra yoga. It is a book of sexual positions and techniques, and in Westernized yoga tradition, tantra yoga has become associated almost exclusively with these published sexual practices. Worldwide, however, most schools teaching this branch of yoga recommend celibacy.

When finally understood by Westerners, tantra's ritualizations of everyday events appeal to them. Western civilizations tend to make rituals of everyday events anyway - births, deaths, weddings, going to church, forming clubs, and all the many various ceremonies and celebrations commonly held are all tightly related to tantra yoga rituals.

One of the best things about the six branches of yoga is that you are not limited to just one, or to a series. You can pick and choose what you want to practice when. Follow your own path using yoga as your toolbox.

Michael russell Your Independent guide to Yoga

Yoga Books For Beginners