You may be wondering what yoga has to do with football. It has everything to do with it. Many NFL teams participate in yoga to improve their endurance and flexibility. In fact, last year I accurately predicted that the New York Giants would win Super Bowl due to their participation in yoga and poses (asanas). Numerous other NFL teams and players implement poses as a means to help them play ball better. In addition, numerous college and high school teams practice asanas for many reasons.

The New York Giants are practicing yoga to prepare for Super Bowl again this year

The Giants won Super Bowl last year, and yoga had a large part to do with that, so why wouldn't they use that same technique again? It is smart on their part to prepare for this year's Super Bowl in much the same manner. Gwen Lawrence is a yoga instructor who is working with the Giants again this year and has been instructing them for the past 11-years. During the active season, Lawrence focuses on post game poses as a means to stretch and cool down the muscles. Her favorites are pigeon pose, frog pose and hero pose.

The Tennessee Titans' defensive tackle, Shaun Smith, lost weight due to yoga

Shaun Smith lost 22-lbs by participating in Bikram (hot) Yoga during the off-season. Some of his fellow teammates are giving him a hard time because he is participating in a form of exercise that many females also find beneficial. Let them joke all they want because yoga is for real men and it is not an easy form of exercise. It takes a lot of concentration and commitment. It will help one to shed pounds as well as gain flexibility and endurance. It also has the capability to increase muscle mass.

The Mercyhurst Lakers cool down by practicing yoga

The Mercyhurst University football team makes use of yoga after practice as a way to stretch their muscles and relax. This is a great way to cool-down since there are many asanas that stretch numerous muscle groups and help the mind and body unwind. Their instructor, Betty Amatangelo, takes advantage of poses that prevent injury and stretch the muscles used during football practice.

Kansas State University football players utilize yoga

Both receiver, Christ Harper and linebacker, Arthur Brown of the Kansas State Wildcats participate in yoga to gain flexibility. Harper says, "The first time I took it, I was upset because I can't sit Indian style on the ground, and I took it and told the teacher that's what I was trying to do, and I still couldn't do it after the class - I didn't feel any better. I took a regular yoga class so I can try to sit Indian style, because the groin area is vital for receivers. If I can sit Indian style I think that would be big."

Foley Falcons high school lineman unwinds by practicing yoga

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What Does Yoga Have to Do with Football?

As one who is a fan of yoga and practices it regularly, I was shocked to find out about a man in Portland offering "Star Wars" yoga. My first thought was, really? This sounded ridiculous. In fact, the classes originally did start as a joke. Once I began to ponder it more, my opinion began to change. I am not a "Star Wars" fan, so it took me a while to disconnect the two and have an open mind.

If it gets people practicing yoga, why not?

If "Star Wars" yoga gets people involved and into the practice I am all for it. Call it whatever you want, it is still yoga. I think I would prefer "Twilight" yoga in the dark, but I am a a fan of this movie. For those who cannot get enough "Star Wars" this could be a great way to get more people, especially men, learning the practice of yoga. Bryan Miller is offering 90-minute Yoda inspired yoga classes to men. Sorry women, if you want to participate in "Star Wars" yoga, you may need to head up your own classes.

Yoda's beliefs are similar to that of yoga

As Miller states, "Yoda fits so well into this mind-body connection," and he is absolutely correct. Yoda believes in meditation, and much of yoga focuses on just that. Yoda is known for saying, "Control, control, you must learn control!" This also rings true in the practice of yoga. Much power, flexibility and control is needed to perform poses.

Poses with new names are exciting

"Star Wars" inspired yoga poses are new and exciting. Who wouldn't want to try the Princess Leia pose or breath like Dark Vader? It is fun to be told to use your hands like the ton-ton's and perform Upward Facing Wookiee and Downward Speeder Bike rather than Upward and Downward-Facing Dog. Yoga with Yoda allows one to escape to another world while participating in yoga.

Would you give Yoda Yoga a try? I would give any form of yoga a try at least once. You never know what you like until you give it a try. I believe that keeping an open mind is important. Why not let the force help beat obesity, diabetes and suicide? This is exactly the intention of Bart Spike, Executive Director of Manifest, the group that is sponsoring Yoga with Yoda.

May the force of yoga and "Star Wars" be with you.

More from Rebecca Bardelli:

See the article here:
Fan Reaction: Really, 'Star Wars' Yoga?

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaG5E5AYma8

27-09-2012 12:06 Established in 1999, Rubicon Sports is the European distributor for Power Lift --the world's leading supplier of racks with integrated platform for weight training, as well as Infinity Flooring, Tendo Systems and Ultraslide. In 2002, we were asked by Peter Bilsborough of Stirling University to source some racks with integrated platforms from America. Apparently, the Head of the Scottish Institute of Sport, Dave Clark (a man I was to meet some two years later) had requested these and they were going into Stirling University as part of a shared usage programme with the Scottish Institute of Sport. We brought in five very sturdy racks and platforms, which are still doing well today. The same can't be said for the manufacturer unfortunately -- it decided its marketing strategy would be best served with a cheaper product with thinner steel and thinner platforms. The company chose to outsource its manufacturing to China and within two years went bust. In the meantime, Dave Clark recruited Mike Favre, an American ex-military strength coach, now based in Michigan via the US Olympic training centre in Colorado. He had used the Power Lift products in America and insisted they were the best and so Rubicon Sports were asked to source their products. I am pleased to say they not only remain the best today, but are consistently the most innovative in this niche area of the fitness market. Dave Clark was the first to bring in this type of equipment to the UK ...

Link:
How Rubicon Sports compete with larger companies of the Health and Fitness industry? By David Shaw - Video

By: Chris Cheng

FORT HOOD With the draw down of troops on the horizon, Fort Hood said it is now looking at personal health and fitness in which soldiers they keep.

Going forward a soldier's weight and physical fitness will play a larger role when it comes to re-enlisting and getting promotions.

"It will be a discriminator and it will be a discriminator on who get promoted faster and for re-enlistment of soldiers," Col. Melissa Sturgeon said.

Col. Sturgeon is in charge of the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Training Facility, which is a campus that houses a gym, wellness center, nutrition center, and a spiritual fitness center.

"Right now the army is looking for fit individuals, physically fit individuals but also mentally fit individuals, spiritually strong individuals and great leaders," Col. Sturgeon said.

The colonel said she has seen more soldiers coming to Fort Hood's nine gyms and exercising around post to get into better shape but knows how hard it can be due to the temptation of fast food and junk food.

"Sometimes soldiers feel like they have to make up for lost time and sometimes they take advantage of the access of fast food places and things like that," Col. Sturgeon said.

1St LT. Larry McNamara competes in several soldier competition and believes every soldier should be ready, physically, to deploy at any moment.

"It's extremely important. I don't know of many jobs where it is your job to be fit, there are so many day to day tasks that require you to by physically agile," McNamara said.

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Soldiers work out to stay in army

BOSTON (WHDH) -- Channel 7s free Health and fitness Expo has been a hit from the beginning, with 70,000 people turning out each year for health screenings and fitness exams. Plus, the chance to meet Channel 7 personalities and more.

Now plans are under way to make the sixth health fair the best one yet.

"I think the exciting part of that is that you can go in and you can ask any doctor any question and they're doing screening for things that you wouldn't normally get screened for and the fact that it's free and there's this wealth of information is what gets people the most excited."

Boston Medical Center is Channel 7s partner for the health fair and it's the perfect partner for this unique event.

"We're now going to bring health and fitness information to the general public to the greater Boston community and really partner to showcase what can be done, how we keep people healthy."

Dr. Ravin Davidoff is Boston medical Center's chief medical officer. BMC not only offers state of the art robotic surgery and cancer care but also set up the first in the nation hospital based food pantry.

Putting people first, BMC lives up to its motto of providing 'exceptional care without exception.'

"We always have fun. Thats what this place is really about, bringing enthusiasm and energy. That will really be felt at the expo. We will bring that enthusiasm and energy and commitment to the patient. Well bring lots of excited people who are really leaders and thinkers in this world in the health care world. And that's what we'll bring to the health and fitness expo."

Making health care accessible and even 'fun' is what the free Health and Fitness Expo is all about.

Watch The Dish live or even try your hand at being a 7News sports anchor or weather person.

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7News Health and Fitness Expo 2013

9/28/2012 9:19 AM ET (RTTNews) - While the Commerce Department released a report Friday morning showing that U.S. personal income was nearly flat in the month of August, personal spending still showed a notable increase amid the recent jump in gas prices.

The report said personal income inched up by 0.1 percent in August, matching the downwardly revised increase reported for July. Economists had expected income to edge up by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.3 percent growth originally reported for the previous month.

Disposable personal income, or personal income less personal current taxes, also edged up by 0.1 percent, in August following a matching increase in the previous month.

When adjusted to remove price changes, disposable personal income actually fell 0.3 percent in August compared to a 0.1 percent increase of in July.

At the same time, the Commerce Department said personal spending increased by 0.5 percent in August compared to a 0.4 percent increase in July. The spending growth matched economist estimates.

The increase in spending was largely due to the higher gas prices, however, and spending edged up by just 0.1 percent when adjusted to remove price changes.

Paul Dales, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said, "The U.S. personal income and spending data for August are worse than the headline figures suggest and indicate that subdued jobs growth is hitting incomes."

"As long as real spending is flat in September, annualized real consumption growth in the third quarter will match the second quarter's 1.5 percent," he added. "A 0.4% m/m increase in September would be needed to get up to 2.0%."

Dales said the weaker performance of income was even more worrying, noting that it casts some doubt over the outlook for consumption.

With spending rising at a faster pace than income, the report also showed personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income was 3.7 percent in August compared with 4.1 percent in July.

Link:
U.S. Personal Spending Rises 0.5% Amid Higher Gas Prices

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dGhmLPCoc

27-09-2012 05:29 Since joining from Benfica in 2010, Angel di Maria couldn't have wished for a much better first two years at Real Madrid. The Argentine international won the Copa del Rey in his first season and helped Real to La Liga glory earlier this year. The 24-year-old, who's recently extended his contract at the Bernabeu until 2018, played a big part last season with seven goals and 16 assists. And he puts most of that success down to one man - head coach Jose Mourinho. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) ANGEL DI MARIA Real Madrid "The day he told me to come I was at the World Cup and I was not doing very well but he kept trying, and I think most of what I am doing here is thanks to him and I try to repay that with hard work every day." Real haven't had the best start to the defence of their league title with only two wins from five. But after all the domestic success di Maria has enjoyed, could this be the time to win that elusive UEFA Champions League? SOUNDBITE (Spanish) ANGEL DI MARIA Real Madrid "I wish, I wish. The fist year with Mourinho we won La Copa, then La Liga, and I wish this year we are able to win not only the Champions. We are going to fight for every title because we are Real Madrid and that is what we have to do, and we'll see what we get." Madrid's biggest rivals Barcelona have had an impressive start this year. But despite five league wins from five, Barca forward Alexis Sanchez isn't getting carried away just yet. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) ALEXIS SANCHEZ Barcelona "We've got an ...

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Di Maria praises Mourinho for personal success - Video

ATLANTA It's a brilliant blue September afternoon, and the mood around the Turner Field batting cage is loose. The Braves have just clinched yet another postseason berth, and all is right in the world as they play out the regular season. Terry Pendleton, the 1991 NL MVP, is here tossing a baseball, a few steps from John Schuerholz, the architect of the Braves' record run of postseason appearances. All-Star outfielder Ron Gant is nearby, and somewhere in the depths of the stadium, Chipper Jones is talking to a local radio station about What It All Means. Pearl Jam's "Evenflow" is blaring over the stadium PA, and if you squint hard really hard, because Turner Field didn't even exist when "Evenflow" was released you can imagine that it's the early '90s again

Chipper Jones has made the playoffs in 14 of his 19 seasons with the Braves. (AP)But it's 2012. Terry Pendleton is a coach tossing batting practice. John Schuerholz has ceded the general manager's office, and his once-black hair is now full-on gray. Ron Gant is in a suit, preparing to broadcast the ballgame for a local network. And the line of flags commemorating Atlanta's postseason appearances stretches the length of the high-end luxury club that would have been unthinkable way, way back in 1991.

Only Chipper Jones is still playing ball, the last remaining link to one of the great, if underachieving, dynasties in baseball history. Fittingly enough, his career will end the way it began: a Braves trip to the postseason.

It was a simple play, really; the proverbial "doesn't-show-up-in-the-box-score" move that speaks volumes.

Twenty-two years ago, Jones was one of dozens of ballplayers sweating in the rookie league in Bradenton, Fla. He was surrounded by players headed up, players headed down, players headed nowhere at all. On this day, he was at first base with one out in the inning. The batter hit a sharp grounder to the first baseman, who reasonably enough stepped on first to get the runner and fired a throw to second, presumably to nail Chipper with 30 feet to spare.

[Related: Chipper Jones' 10 best "Natural" moments]

But things didn't work out that way. Chipper had deked toward second and walked casually back to first after the ball was gone. The first baseman could have tagged the kid out if he'd just looked, but Jones, just weeks out of high school, had outthought everybody on the field.

"You don't see this kind of instinct in the Rookie League," former Braves coach Bobby Dews later told Schuerholz. "In my entire baseball career, I'd only seen the play twice before. Once by Mickey Mantle and once by Pete Rose."

"This is a guy, who as a youngster, demonstrated great physical ability," Schuerholz said recently, "but more importantly, the uncanny ability to be better in tough situations, to deliver the goods when the game was on the line, when the circumstances were the most difficult and the pitcher was the best he had faced all day. He demonstrated at a very young age that he could succeed."

"Oh, we all knew about Chipper," laughed Gant, who was just entering his prime when Atlanta drafted Jones in 1990. "We'd hear about what he was doing in the minors. First time I met him was at batting practice. He was swinging this little toothpick bat, and I said, 'Kid, you need to be swinging a man's bat.' I gave him one of my 36-[inch], 33-[ounce] bats, and he's been using it ever since."

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As Chipper Jones bids farewell, he leaves behind legacy of success

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Sept. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --StockCross Financial Services recently hosted Golf For a Cure at the Trump National Golf Club, Los Angeles. StockCross and the Associates for Breast and Prostate Cancer Studies (ABC's) are a long time partner and fundraiser for the John Wayne Cancer Institute. This was the first time StockCross and the ABC's have hosted a golf event and judging by the support of their generous sponsors and golfers they look forward to hosting the event again in 2013. Together the partnership has raised over $12 Million dollars year to date and the latest event supports the effort which includes a Black Tie Gala "Talk Of the Town" and a Mother's Day Luncheon honoring cancer survivors and doctors.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100316/LA71656LOGO-b)

"We take pride in our partnership with the ABC's and supporting the talented women and men at JWCI," said Eric Tassell, Senior Vice President of StockCross Corporate Services. "I'm thankful for the generous support of our sponsors and team, everyone pulled together to make this an outstanding event."

A memorable day of golf with 80 degree weather and sunshine, celebrities in attendance included actress and model Nicky Whelan, actress and model Bria Murphy, actor Bill Smitrovich, actor Kevin Dobson, actor Bob Cotanzo, actor Joe Torrey, Lakers great Mitch Richmond, NBA star Pooh Richardson, NFL star Billy Miller, NBA Star Thomas Robinson, NBA Stars Marcus and Markeiff Morris, StockCross owners David and Richard Gebbia.

There were over 100 golfers participating in the inaugural event with the winning team led by Shervin Mirahshemi, shooting 15 under par. This year's sponsors include AEG, Ken and Carol Shultz, Wells Fargo Private Bank, Rival Sports Management Group, Plaza Home Mortgage, Tosh Classic, Incapital, the Grill on the Alley, Anheuser-Busch, Leblon Cachaca, Mercedes-Benz Calabasas, Nathaniel James and EASi.

About StockCross Financial Services

StockCross was founded in 1971 in downtown Boston's financial district and over the years has grown into one of the premiere international financial services companies.

StockCross today is headquartered in Beverly Hills, with offices in major cities nationwide. Our robust online platform serves individual and corporate investors coast-to-coast and around the world, while we continue to offer the personal, one on one attention and service our clients expect and deserve.

Our goal is to exceed the expectations of our clients, while holding true to our values of honesty, integrity, trust and respect.

StockCross' formula for success from 1971 remains unchanged today: get to know our customers as well as we know the market, and provide them with the resources and expertise they need to make educated investment decisions.

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Golf For A Cure Benefitting John Wayne Cancer Institute A Smashing Success

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/w7b9n2/personal) has announced the addition of the "Personal Accessories: Global Trends and Prospects" report to their offering.

In terms of global Personal Accessories sales, recessionary concerns in Europe are likely to dilute strong gains coming through the emerging regions of Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe in 2012. That said, industry sales growth over the 2012-2017 forecast period is projected to beat that seen over 2007-2012. Despite their status as non-essentials, jewelry and watches will lead growth for Personal Accessories over this period.

What this report includes

- Up-to-the minute analysis of the latest trends in the industry

- New product development, forecasts and other themes

- Unique graphics and illustrated case studies

- Most recent brand and company news

- New insight into the size and shape of the market

Why buy this report

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Research and Markets: Personal Accessories: Global Trends and Prospects