Yoga For Women - Five Easy Yoga Poses to Keep You Happy and Boost Your Energy

By Ntathu Allen

As a working mum, you have a multitude of tasks and activities to complete. In any one day, you probably play the role of mother, work colleague, sister, daughter, friend, partner, neighbour and financial advisor as you try and balance your family budget.

Given the variety of commitments you face it is vital you make time each day to rest, nurture and revitalise your energy. Have you noticed that when you come home from work you feel drained and tired yet still have to change gears to be present and real for your family?

Wouldn't it be nice to come home, be able to relax and take the time to be present and enjoy being with your family?

Does the thought of coming home and putting your feet up feel like a fantasy? Something that you know you are entitled to, yet feel too rushed, stressed and busy to take five minutes rest?

When your days are full and energy low, practicing yoga or going to a yoga class may feel like the last thing you want to do. It is so much easier just to crash out on the sofa and watch reality TV or even better -go to bed....

But once you get into the habit of practicing yoga you are hooked and your body will demand that you Do Something.

If you are new to yoga, here are five easy yoga exercises that you can easily do when you get home from work.

If your time is short then just choose one exercise to do and really focus on doing it to the best of your ability. Otherwise try all five poses and dedicate the time to you. Whichever path you choose, you will feel happy and boost your energy.

1. Deep Breathing Exercise: Rest your palms on your thighs. Close your eyes, relax your face and relax your shoulders. Breathe slowly in for a count of four. Exhale slowly for a count of four. Repeat this breathing practice 4-7 times and then return to normal breathing.

2. Seated Forward Bend: Sitting comfortably. Rest your hands on your thighs. Exhale. Slowly fold forward from your hips. Allow your hands to drop towards the floor and hang loosely. When you have stretched as far forward as you comfortably can, gently lower your head towards the floor and allow your back to round. Hold this position for 4- 7 deep breaths. Inhale as you lift your head a little and slowly come back up.

3. The Mountain Pose/Tadasana

• Stand with your feet together. If it is comfortable for you, have the big toes, inner ankles and inner heels touching. Spread the weight evenly over the feet.
  
• Tighten your kneecaps, pull up the thigh muscles and your lower abdomen.
  
• Breathe and feel your spine lengthening, let your tailbone sink and lift in the front of the body. Feel your chest opening. Allow your arms to hang down the sides of the body with the palms facing the legs, fingers gently extending towards the floor.
  
• Relax your shoulders and allow your shoulder blades to slide down. Relax your face, lengthen the back of your neck and look straight ahead.
  
• Stay steady in this pose for 3 - 10 rounds of deep abdominal breathing.
  

4. Laying on your back, raise both hands. Rotate your wrist 5 - 7 times in each direction then shake your hands 5 - 7 times. Lie still and absorb the energy.

5. Lie on your back. Hug both knees to your chest. Curl your body up into a small ball. Rock gently from side to side 5 - 7 times. Lower your head to the bed, still holding your knees to your chest and take 3 - 5 deep breathes in and out. Gently move your knees from side to side, giving a gentle wringing action to the back muscles. Lower your feet back to the bed and slowly straighten your legs.

As you can see these yoga exercises are easy to do and leave you feeling energised, relaxed and calm. Just right for a good night's sleep.

Yoga For Women - How to Boost Your Energy at Home Using Five Easy Hatha Yoga Exercises

By Ntathu Allen

Are you a busy women and tired of being tired? Would you like to have more energy, fun and vitality? Have you thought of practising yoga, but feel you don't have the time or energy to go to a yoga class?

Working full time and raising a family requires a lot of positive energy. To maintain your energy it is essential you engage regularly in activities which nourish and nurture your soul; failure to do so leaves you feeling ratty and snapping at your children, always being late or feeling rushed to fit everything into your busy schedule..

As a working mother myself, with three teenage daughters, I know how challenging and weary life can be.

Yoga for woman is the ideal form of exercise to help you relax and nurture your soul.

The following five easy hatha yoga exercises offer you a simple and easy yoga practice you can do at home, in your own time. Regular practice will help you to stay active, relax and energised.

As with all forms of physical activity, especially if you have a medical condition or haven't exercised for a while, please consult your GP prior to exercising. Remember also to listen and respect your body. Always exercise within your own safety limits.

1. Downward- Facing Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

a) Begin on your hands and knees on All Fours.
b) Spread your fingers wide and press your hands firmly into the mat. Press your heels and feet downwards as you straighten your legs, lift your hips and tailbone to the sky. Lengthen your spine. So your body represents a V-shape. Let your head hang down and relax your jaw.
c) Stay in this position for three- five rounds of deep yogic breathes then slowly come out of the pose.

2. Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)

a) Lie on your belly with your hands flat on the floor, under your shoulders and legs straight out behind you close together. Press your feet and toes firmly down into the floor. Have your forehead resting on the mat. Breathe in and slowly raise your forehead, nose and chest up from the floor, keeping your hands down on the floor and press your hips on the floor.
b) Hold this pose for 3-5 rounds deep breaths, then slowly exhale and come slowly down.

3) Extended Child Pose

a) Start in a kneeling position, sitting back on your heels. If this feels uncomfortable, lace a folded blanket or pillow between your buttocks and your heels.
b) Breathe out and slowly lower your body forward until your head touches the floor. If your legs or back are stiff and you find it difficult to place your head on the floor without your hips coming up, make a fist with your hands, place them one on to of each other and rest your forehead on the top fist. If your stomach feels uncomfortable or gets in the way, just spread your feet apart.
c) Keep your buttocks on your heels. Stretch your arms out in front of you.
d) Each time you breathe out let your chest go closer to your knees. Keep your shoulders relaxed and take your arms back so your hands are close to your feet.
e) Stay in this position for 10 - 15 rounds of deep breathing.
f) Gently breathe out, slowly kneel up again and be aware of how you feel. Stay still for a few more moments before you get up from this position.

4) Wide Leg Forward Bend/Hands Behind Back

a)Stand with your legs and feet hip distance apart. Interlace your fingers behind your back. Gently bend forward. Stretch your hands and arms up and back. Gently breathe into the stretch. Slowly release your arms and come back to an upright position. Repeat 3 - 5 times.

5) Savasana (Corpse/Relaxation Pose)

Lie on the floor or yoga mat on your back, feet spread about 18" apart and hands about 6" from the sides of your body with palms up. Take a few moments to make sure you feel comfortable and relaxed in this position, make sure your body is symmetrical. Let your thighs, knees and toes relax and turn outwards. Close your eyes and breathe deeply, in and out through your nose. Remain in this position for 5-15 minutes. Gently open your eyes and roll over to your side before coming to a seated position.

As a busy working woman, regular yoga practice will help you to stay active, relax and energised through out your day. Let me know how you get on, I would be delighted to suggest further yoga postures you could do at home to help you relief stress and boost your energy.

Iyengar Yoga Can Promote Well-Being In Women Breast Cancer Survivors

Breast cancer is the most prevalent type of invasive cancer attacking women in the United States. Last year alone some 213,000 women were diagnosed with the disease. The good news is that two million women have survived. Many women with breast cancer seek complementary interventions that will enhance their quality of life. Yet research is lacking whether these programs such as yoga, also benefit immune function.

A new study of breast cancer survivors practicing Iyengar yoga - a form of yoga that incorporates all of the components of physical fitness and focuses on structural alignment of the body as well as mental relaxation - has found that breast cancer survivors who practice yoga have changes in the way their immune cells respond to activation signals, which may be important for understanding how physical activity and meditative practices benefit the immune system. The function of genes in immune cells can be regulated by proteins called transcription factors. Transcription factor nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) is linked to immune cell activation and to the stress response.

The study, entitled Down-regulated lymphocyte NF-κB activation in breast cancer survivors following yoga participation, was conducted by Pamela E. Schultz, Mel Haberman, Ph.D., Kenn Daratha, Ph.D., Sally E. Blank, Ph.D., from Washington State University, and Joni Nichols, M.D., from Cancer Care Northwest (US Oncology), in Spokane, WA. They will discuss their findings at the 120th annual meeting of the American Physiological Society (APS; www.The-APS.org), being held as part of the Experimental Biology (EB '07) meeting. More than 12,000 scientists and researchers are attending the conference, being held April 28-May 2, 2007 at the Washington, DC Convention Center.

Methodology

Active practice of Iyengar yoga, named for its creator B.K.S. Iyengar, differs from the gentle restorative practices typically offered to cancer survivors as it can include all the components of physical fitness. The active practice of âsanas (postures) can incorporate cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and balance.

Nineteen women, average age 61 years, diagnosed with stage I-III breast cancer and receiving antiestrogen or aromatase inhibitor hormonal therapy participated in the study. Time since diagnosis was approximately four years. None had any experience with Iyengar yoga. The subjects were randomized to either yoga (n=10) or a wait-list control group (n=9).

Beginning level Iyengar yoga classes were conducted two times per week for eight weeks and included the following yoga poses: standing poses, chest and shoulder openers; and inversions. The women were given a home instruction sheet to practice once a week at home a week at home for a total of three yoga sessions per week.

A survey of the subjects demands of illness and a blood sample to determine lymphocyte NF-κB activation were collected prior to and following the intervention.

Results

Preliminary findings indicate:

-- Demands of illness, which reflects the burden and hardship of breast cancer survivorship, decreased following yoga participation.

-- Compared with pre-intervention responses, women who participated in yoga had lower stimulated lymphocyte NF-κB activation after eight weeks of yoga than did the control group

-- Decreases in demands of illness were associated with decreased lymphocyte NF-κB activation in the yoga participants, only.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that an active yoga practice taught in the Iyengar tradition can be successfully offered to breast cancer survivors who are approximately four years out from initial cancer diagnosis and who are receiving certain types of hormonal therapy. It also shows that the program can have important psychological benefits for breast cancer surivors. This study is an important addition to the literature on the effectiveness of yoga intervention on the quality of life for female breast cancer survivors and that these changes may be associated with cell signaling regulating lymphocyte function.

The American Physiological Society (APS) has been an integral part of the scientific discovery process since it was established in 1887. Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function to create health or disease.

Women With Breast Cancer Benefit Emotionally From Yoga

Women undertaking a ten week program of 75 minute Restorative Yoga (RY) classes gained positive differences in aspects of mental health such as depression, positive emotions, and spirituality (feeling calm/peaceful) compared to the control group. The study, published in a special issue of Psycho-Oncology focusing on physical activity, shows the women had a 50% reduction in depression and a 12% increase in feelings of peace and meaning after the yoga sessions. 

RY is a gentle type of yoga which is similar to other types of yoga classes, moving the spine in all directions but in a more passive and gentle way. Props such as cushions, bolsters, and blankets provide complete physical support for total relaxation with minimal physical effort, and so people in differing levels of health can practice yoga more easily. 

44 women took part in the study, with 22 undertaking the yoga classes and 22 in the waitlist control group. All of the women had breast cancer; 34% were actively undergoing cancer treatment while the majority had already completed treatment. All participants completed a questionnaire at the beginning and end of the ten week program, asking them to evaluate their quality of life through various measures. The results clearly showed that the women who had been given the RY classes experienced a wide range of benefits compared to the control group (who were later all invited to attend identical RY classes). 

"Evidence from systematic reviews of randomized trials is quite strong that mind-body therapies improve mood, quality of life, and treatment-related symptoms in people with cancer. Yoga is one mind-body therapy that is widely available and involves relatively reasonable costs," said lead researcher Suzanne Danhauer, Ph.D., based at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. "Given the high levels of stress and distress that many women with breast cancer experience, the opportunity to experience feeling more peaceful and calm in the midst of breast cancer is a significant benefit." 

The study found that women who started with higher negative emotions and lower emotional well-being derived greater benefit from the gentle yoga intervention compared to the control group. Women in the gentle yoga group also demonstrated a significant within-group improvement in fatigue, while no such change was noted for the control group. 

"This was a pilot study to identify the worthiness and feasibility of conducting a larger randomized control trial on restorative yoga and women with breast cancer," added Danhauer. "Our results are very promising and will allow us to embark on a much larger scale study." 

----------------------------
Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
---------------------------- 

Source: Jennifer Beal

Yoga For Women - How to Boost Your Energy at Home Using Five Easy Hatha Yoga Exercises

By Ntathu Allen

Are you a busy women and tired of being tired? Would you like to have more energy, fun and vitality? Have you thought of practising yoga, but feel you don't have the time or energy to go to a yoga class?

Working full time and raising a family requires a lot of positive energy. To maintain your energy it is essential you engage regularly in activities which nourish and nurture your soul; failure to do so leaves you feeling ratty and snapping at your children, always being late or feeling rushed to fit everything into your busy schedule..

As a working mother myself, with three teenage daughters, I know how challenging and weary life can be.

Yoga for woman is the ideal form of exercise to help you relax and nurture your soul.

The following five easy hatha yoga exercises offer you a simple and easy yoga practice you can do at home, in your own time. Regular practice will help you to stay active, relax and energised.

As with all forms of physical activity, especially if you have a medical condition or haven't exercised for a while, please consult your GP prior to exercising. Remember also to listen and respect your body. Always exercise within your own safety limits.

1. Downward- Facing Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

a) Begin on your hands and knees on All Fours.
b) Spread your fingers wide and press your hands firmly into the mat. Press your heels and feet downwards as you straighten your legs, lift your hips and tailbone to the sky. Lengthen your spine. So your body represents a V-shape. Let your head hang down and relax your jaw.
c) Stay in this position for three- five rounds of deep yogic breathes then slowly come out of the pose.

2. Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)

a) Lie on your belly with your hands flat on the floor, under your shoulders and legs straight out behind you close together. Press your feet and toes firmly down into the floor. Have your forehead resting on the mat. Breathe in and slowly raise your forehead, nose and chest up from the floor, keeping your hands down on the floor and press your hips on the floor.
b) Hold this pose for 3-5 rounds deep breaths, then slowly exhale and come slowly down.

3) Extended Child Pose

a) Start in a kneeling position, sitting back on your heels. If this feels uncomfortable, lace a folded blanket or pillow between your buttocks and your heels.
b) Breathe out and slowly lower your body forward until your head touches the floor. If your legs or back are stiff and you find it difficult to place your head on the floor without your hips coming up, make a fist with your hands, place them one on to of each other and rest your forehead on the top fist. If your stomach feels uncomfortable or gets in the way, just spread your feet apart.
c) Keep your buttocks on your heels. Stretch your arms out in front of you.
d) Each time you breathe out let your chest go closer to your knees. Keep your shoulders relaxed and take your arms back so your hands are close to your feet.
e) Stay in this position for 10 - 15 rounds of deep breathing.
f) Gently breathe out, slowly kneel up again and be aware of how you feel. Stay still for a few more moments before you get up from this position.

4) Wide Leg Forward Bend/Hands Behind Back

a)Stand with your legs and feet hip distance apart. Interlace your fingers behind your back. Gently bend forward. Stretch your hands and arms up and back. Gently breathe into the stretch. Slowly release your arms and come back to an upright position. Repeat 3 - 5 times.

5) Savasana (Corpse/Relaxation Pose)

Lie on the floor or yoga mat on your back, feet spread about 18" apart and hands about 6" from the sides of your body with palms up. Take a few moments to make sure you feel comfortable and relaxed in this position, make sure your body is symmetrical. Let your thighs, knees and toes relax and turn outwards. Close your eyes and breathe deeply, in and out through your nose. Remain in this position for 5-15 minutes. Gently open your eyes and roll over to your side before coming to a seated position.

As a busy working woman, regular yoga practice will help you to stay active, relax and energised through out your day. Let me know how you get on, I would be delighted to suggest further yoga postures you could do at home to help you relief stress and boost your energy.