Getting Started with Yoga

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Tips for Beginners

Downward-Facing Dog, Eagle Pose, Garland Pose, Half Moon Pose and Lotus Pose – just to name a few. This is the empowering language of yoga that can leave even a beginner wanting more. More flexibility, more strength, a stronger core, better muscle tone and even more focus. Can one practice really deliver all of this? Yoga Instructor RJ Lisander  offered a resounding Yes! when I went to her to find the answers that many women who are curious about yoga want to know. As RJ makes clear in this Q&A, getting started with yoga doesn’t have to be intimidating and it doesn’t have to be scary. Everyone who tries this ancient practice is a beginner at some point, but as most find fairly quickly, yoga is not only good for your body, it’s great for your mind as well. I think RJ put it best when she said, “It helps you find balance between the extremes of everyday life on and off the mat.”

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6 Tips for Better Sleep

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Why Sleep is so Important

“I can sleep when I’m dead. I have more important things to be doing…” If you’ve ever had those thoughts, you’re not alone. In fact, I count myself among the worst offenders on this. But the reality is, we do need sleep, and lots of it. But why is it so important, why aren’t we getting enough of it, and most importantly, what can we do about it? The answers to these questions, plus our 6 tips for better sleep could just change your entire outlook on life. So, before you quit your job, consider divorce, or do anything else drastic, keep reading. It may be that you just need more sleep!

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6 Ways to Regain Your Joy

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And How to Keep From Losing it in the First Place

Have you ever had a time when you felt like you were going through life on autopilot, or that you just felt “flat?” If so, you’re certainly not alone. While we all feel that way at one time or another, it could mean you’ve lost touch with your joy. That’s not a place you want to be in for long. As we know, our mind, body and overall wellbeing are connected, and joy plays a critical role in this circle of integrated wellness.

But what is joy really, how do you know if you’ve lost it and most importantly, how do you regain it? I went to “The Joy Doctor” to find the answers to these important questions. Dr. Shannon South, LPC, ThD is a transpersonal therapist and author who has been through quite a bit of trauma herself, has come out on the other side and now helps others to overcome trauma by focusing on what is right about themselves – their joy. With her expertise to guide us, we’re going to learn about ways to regain our joy and how we can keep from losing it in the first place.

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Dr. Shannon South, LPC, ThD

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Integrated Wellness While on Vacation

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How to Keep It Relaxing, Fun and Healthy

When we go on vacation, we want it to be relaxing and fun. In most cases, the last thing we want to think about is whether we’re being healthy or not. After all, this is our time to take it easy on ourselves. While that’s definitely true, if we do everything differently than we do at home, we may end up feeling run down, tired, having digestive problems because we’re eating differently and just not ourselves before the vacation is even over.

That’s why integrated living is an important concept all of the time and not one that you can really take time off from. But that’s the whole idea. Recognizing how everything is connected shouldn’t be a burden, a hardship or create a lifestyle that isn’t enjoyable. It isn’t something that you should need a break from and is a mindset that you should want to take with you wherever you go. Yes, when you are in a different place or have a different schedule, you do have to be flexible. But you don’t have to compromise on everything and your health certainly shouldn’t suffer. That’s why we’re going to take a look at a few ways you can keep it relaxing, fun and healthy all at the same time.

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Meditation for Beginners

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Seven Tips for Getting Started

The word meditation can conjure up different ideas for different people. Some may picture a peaceful looking person sitting cross legged on top of a mountain with a gorgeous view and brilliant sunrise. Others may picture a comfy looking pillow surrounded by lit candles and burning incense, and still others may think of a monk sitting in isolation or surrounded by other monks. While these are just a few of the images that may come to mind when you think about meditation, none of them, at least in my world, seem very realistic on a regular day to day basis.

Many people who are interested in learning more about meditation often don’t because they get caught up in the idea that their setting has to be perfect or that they need hours every day to learn how to do it “right.” While it’s fabulous if you do have an ideal setting or plenty of time to go on a retreat, it’s not necessary. The setting, and to some extent, the length of time you spend meditating, don’t make your practice. It’s all about what happens inside you.

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Photo by Nicollazzi Xiong from Pexels

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3 Tips to Jumpstart a Healthy Lifestyle

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How to Quickly Get Started

I’ve had quite a few people say to me that they want to adopt a healthier lifestyle, but they just don’t have time right now to figure out how to do it or what exactly that looks like for them. I completely get it, but if you think about it, when we’re at our busiest, craziest and stretched to the limit, that’s when we need to be our healthiest and sanest or something’s going to give. We’re simply going to fall apart. So, I get not having time, but on the flip side, can you really afford not to spend the time to at least get started?

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Beyond Stress Eating: Why Stress Causes Weight Gain

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Manage Your Weight by Learning to Relax and Manage Stress

 

We all know that when we’re stressed, we automatically tend to reach for foods that aren’t necessarily good for us. For some, it’s something sweet, smooth and comforting. For others, salty and crunchy are the name of the game. Doing this over any period of time clearly leads to weight gain and not feeling your best, so I’m not going to spend too much time on the obvious. What I want to do is go beyond stress eating and look at why stress causes weight gain in other ways and more importantly, what we can do about it.

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Your Key to Success for a Healthy Lifestyle…Planning

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Tips for Achieving a Healthy Lifestyle

Do you want to be healthy… I mean down to your core healthy? If so, I’m here to let you in on a not-so-little secret. Your key to success for a healthy lifestyle doesn’t necessarily start with how many miles you run or walk, how much salad you eat for lunch every day or how many minutes you meditate in the morning. These and many more components all play important roles in a healthy lifestyle, but there’s one thing needed to bring it all together so that you can live your most vibrant and healthy life. Planning. That’s right, planning. It may not sound very sexy, but it’s where we all have to start and the place we sometimes have to come back to. That can be true even if you have a regular exercise routine in place but still aren’t feeling your best; you eat the healthiest of diets but still don’t have enough energy or you’re a master at mindfulness but can’t quite manage to get movement into your schedule. If any of this is true for you, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and come up with a blueprint for the healthiest you possible.

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