Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Important Yoga Tips for Kids

Yoga refers to the traditional way of maintaining physical and mental disciplines through meditative practices. Yoga helps to get physical and mental fitness and create a balance between mind, body and soul. In the current scenario, yoga is very much useful for everybody, be it an adult or a child to fight away stresses. Nowadays children are under immense pressure of homework, extra-curricular activities, competition with others and performance anxiety. Yoga for kids delivers many a benefits to children for relaxing and making themselves able to cope with this increasing pressure of modern lifestyle. A distinct form of yoga, Kundalini yoga, plays an important role in children’s yoga practicing. Children can practice yoga taking help from various Yoga DVDs offered by Spirit Voyage.Los Angeles SEO

A growing number of kids are turning to Yoga as it helps them to enhance self-consciousness, build self-control, generate better body awareness and flexibility over everything. By practicing Yoga, children can easily coordinate with the happenings around them. It will be more useful if they carry these skills in their daily chores. Yoga has the power to treat different illness even the severe ones. By practicing yoga kids can learn how to tune their own bodies and gaining control over both body and mind. Childhood is the first step of building a balanced future. So by bolstering self-esteem a balanced future can be achieved. Practicing yoga helps kids to attain this self-esteem paired with healthy body and mind. Yoga music can be a good help for getting the right mood while doing the asanas. A perfect yoga session ends with meditation. Meditation music enhances the atmosphere with its calm and soothing tunes.

Some rules should be followed by everyone while doing Yogasadhana or practicing yoga. Like kids should not have heavy meal right before starting the yoga session. Yogasadhana in full stomach should be avoided. It is better to do yoga in quiet place as it helps to concentrate. Here yoga mat is very much useful and effective. Beginners can start with some easy poses and then go for the tough ones according to their own capability. Each yoga session should be completed with ‘Do Nothing Pose’ or ‘Savasana’. Lying on the back with the arms resting alongside the body and the palms facing the ceiling while breathing very slowly is the original pose of Savasana. This pose helps to relax and rejuvenate one’s mind and body.

Yoga for kids also enhances the power of imagination and self-expression as it makes the mind clear from all unnecessary thoughts. Yoga controls and directs mind to a more focussed way. It teaches kids to be less dependent on others and more self-disciplined. Children get the confidence to work together and help each other to reach their respective goals. Yoga also helps to strengthen the family ties as different generations take part in Yoga session together. It makes the little ones feel closer to their families and loved ones. Children often experience tension and worries before tests or exams which can be healed by breathing techniques and meditation. Different types of Yoga is useful for kids like Hatha yoga and Kundalini yoga. The prime philosophy of Kundalini yoga i.e. identifying, exploring and exercising buried energy makes it an ideal choice for children of all ages. And when this yoga is practiced with meditation music, it becomes more powerful and effective as music generates more concentration.

Music makes kids more interested in practicing yoga regularly. Spirit Voyage is an online company offering a vast collection of Yoga DVDs for kids. These CDs and DVDs for kids contain devotional chantings and divine musics where legends like Snatam Kaur, Shakta Kaur Khalsa, Deva Singh Khalsa and Wah! have lent their ethereal voices. This collection of Yoga music helps kids to attend yoga session regularly and keep all tensions and anxieties away from their daily life.

Monday, August 3, 2009


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (Pregnancy Health and Fitness Care)

Question 1 I am 30 yrs old & this is my first pregnancy. I have been exercising since the past couple of years-walking & some exercises on my own at home & have managed to maintain my weight. But now that I'm pregnant I'm worried I may gain too much weight. Can I do something to make sure I don't? (Kusum)
Answer 1 Hi Kusum. Congratulations. The good thing is that you are concerned about your weight. That by itself solves part of your problem. It is important to understand that while pregnancy is not a time to be on a weight loss program it is also not a time to let yourself go. To start with you could make sure you get some form of physical exercise. Walking according to me is the one of the best exercises during pregnancy. The pace & duration has to be something that you can comfortably maintain - if you manage to get about an hour everyday in totality - should help. The other important aspect is to make sure you're eating right. Your total caloric requirement increases only by about 150 to 200 kcals per day for the first trimester & about 400 to 500 kcals for the second & third trimester. This however applies to a woman who is at normal weight at conception. In practical sense this would mean an additional glass of milk & a couple of nuts for the first trimester & an addition of about 1 serving of any one of chapatti/rotla/dalia/upma/bajara/jowar or any other form of unrefined carbohydrate food plus an additional serving of any one of dal/pulses/curd/fish/chicken/eggs whites in the second & third trimester.

Question 2 I am three months pregnant. My doctor recommends me to take folic acid, iron & calcium supplements daily. Is this necessary? (Vandana)
Answer 2 Congratulations! Vandana. Your doctor only wants to make sure you don't suffer from any deficiencies while you're pregnant. Even though you may be very carefully watching what you eat it is possible that your diet may lack certain essential prenatal nutrients. Be assured neither you nor your child will have any kind of a negative side effect to any of these supplements.

Question 3 I would like to know what is the right amount of weight to gain during pregnancy? (Janki)
Answer 3 Well Janki firstly it is important to know what your weight was at the time of getting pregnant. If you were underweight & if your doctor observes this could be an issue he or she may encourage you to gain up to 15kgs to 18kgs during pregnancy. For someone who is normal weight recommendations are a gain of about 10kgs to 12 kgs while for someone who is overweight or obese to start with may be allowed only a gain of about 6kgs to 8 kgs.

Question 4 I would like to know how soon can one start exercising post delivery? (Sonal)
Answer 4 Well Sonal you can start simple exercises such as walking as soon as the first week. Start slow & choose exercises that don't involve too much exertion. Abdominal & back exercise especially post a cesarean section should be added in your routine only after about a month & a half. Listen to your body - don't over exert in an attempt to lose weight quickly.

Question 5 My wife is four months pregnant & I am very concerned as she seems to have turned into a different person. She is extremely moody & cries all the time. I have been trying to explain to her that it is important she eats for two, take adequate & give up her job so that she can rest but she refuses. I am very concerned. (Jay)
Answer 5 Hello! Jay, Congratulations. It is good to know you're so concerned about your wife. The problem is you're slightly going overboard. Your wife may be pregnant but you must understand this is a absolutely normal physiological process. Yes, she needs to take extra care but there is no logic in eating for two & giving up her job. Her mood swings are a result of normal hormonal changes. Comfort & support her through these times but don't pressure her. Enjoy this wonderful time. Good luck!

Question 6 I would like to know if I can continue to swim while I'm pregnant? (Neelima)
Answer 6 Swimming is an excellent form of exercise during pregnancy as long as it is not a public pool with multiple users & has water which is less chlorinated. It may be a good idea to use the pool for 3 to 4 days after its weekly cleaning & give it a miss towards the end. Your doctor might be concerned about you catching a urinary tract infection so makes sense to consult him or her before beginning.