Ab excercise #2 “PIKE” – Video
Posted: June 6, 2012 at 10:13 pm
Nice: Yoga Helps Stroke Survivors Get Back in Shape
Posted: at 10:13 pm
An eight-week yoga rehabilitation program led to significant improvements in strength, flexibility, balance, and endurance.
Dmitriy Shironosov/Shutterstock
PROBLEM: Around five million stroke survivors in the U.S. live with lingering physical impairments, including reduced functional strength, flexibility, and endurance. These "chronic stroke" symptoms alter patients' lifestyles by making them less mobile and independent.
METHODOLOGY: Researchers led by Arlene Schmid enrolled older veterans recovering from stroke in an adapted yoga program. These men and women had completed their post-stroke occupational and physical therapy before the study commenced but continued to have stroke-related injuries. Over an eight-week period, the researchers measured their hip flexion strength, ability to perform arm curls, aerobic endurance during a six-minute walk, speed at standing from a seated position, and range of motion.
RESULTS: The veterans who were practicing yoga experienced gains in functional strength, flexibility, and endurance. A related study that focused on the participants' gaits showed improved balance as well as faster and longer strides. Schmid explains in her report that yoga might have "improved neuromuscular control, likely allowing for strength improvements in affected limbs, sides or areas of disuse."
CONCLUSION: Yoga improves post-stroke patients' balance, flexibility, gait, strength, and endurance.
IMPLICATION: The authors note that yoga should be considered for post-stroke in-patient or out-patient rehabilitation and should be taught by a yoga therapist who has had training in anatomy, physiology, and working with people with disabilities.
SOURCE: The full study, "Physical Improvements After Yoga for People With Chronic Stroke," was recently presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in San Francisco.
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Nice: Yoga Helps Stroke Survivors Get Back in Shape
Yoga nonprofit slates gala fundraiser
Posted: at 10:13 pm
A nonprofit group that is providing free yoga programs for abused an disadvantaged women has planned its first major fundraiser later this month.
The Yoga for All Cooperative Inc. will host an evening of music, dance, yoga demonstrations and dinner on Thursday, June 21, at the Penfield Beach Pavilion on Fairfield Beach Road.
Tickets are $100 and include a buffet dinner, beer and wine. Corporate sponsorships and volunteer opportunities also are available, the group said.
The event begins at 8 p.m. and will include a silent auction, Yoga for All said in a news release.
The group said its goal is to bring yoga, its stress-reduction effects and the sense of well being it can foster to people who otherwise might not have access to it.
It plans to expand its programs to inner-city schools and corrections facilities and families impacted by incarceration, the group said.
Through outreach programs and scholarships, the cooperative said, it hopes to interest participants in training other disadvantaged people in yoga techniques.
Yoga for All now is providing services to The Center for Women and Families of Eastern Fairfield County, which aids abuse victims, and to the Mercy Learning Center, a Bridgeport literacy program for women.
The group said it is planning programs for Danbury Federal Correctional Facility, the state's Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, the Bridgeport Public Schools and Family ReEntry, a Norwalk-based nonprofit that deals with family social problems stemming from incarceration.
All gala ticket fees and donations are tax deductible, the group said.
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Yoga nonprofit slates gala fundraiser
Portland yoga enthusiasts embrace lighthearted 'play-based' forms
Posted: at 10:13 pm
There's a movement afoot in Oregon's yoga studios to add a little oomph to your om.
Yoga-based infusions of activities from circus arts to acrobatics to slacklining are gaining popularity among those who prefer a more interactive, lighthearted, "fun" yoga experience.
At a recent AcroYoga class at Southeast Portland's Yoga Union, instructor Jacob Handwerker started the session with yoga poses and light meditation. Then, he turned up the music with a heart-quickening beat and the fun began.
"You guys warm enough?" he asks a dozen or so students. "Let's try some flying."
Nobody seems particularly Zen, but participants certainly seem to be in union, laughing and clapping as they execute yoga poses while balancing precariously atop hands and feet of a partner who lies on the ground as a human balance beam.
"It's about working together, developing trust, and playfulness," says Handwerker, who teaches the acrobatics-infused yoga classes in Portland and around the world. "It's taking yoga off the ground and into the air."
The newest wave of innovation in yoga appeals to the adventurous, and those who hesitate to delve into more traditional and meditative yoga styles.
"I really love how it feels to be weightless up high," says Steph Rooney, 35, a certified yoga teacher who joined Handwerker's Flight School. "It's different than alignment-based yoga."
And its popularity is rising.
Across town, Portland families use Morgan Goldberg's CircusYoga workshops to forge intergenerational bonds. The classes are built around the idea of young and old family members playing together. A typical class might include acrobatics, juggling and tumbling.
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Portland yoga enthusiasts embrace lighthearted 'play-based' forms
Learning how to sit with Utah yoga writer Charlotte Bell
Posted: at 10:12 pm
(Kim Raff | The Salt Lake Tribune) Charlotte Bell helps Sandy Maclead with a pose while leading a yoga class recently in Salt Lake City. Bell recently published a book called "Yoga for Mediators."
Yoga Charlotte Bells new book offers a recipe for everyone who sits too long and too poorly.
We are a nation of couch potatoes, but that doesnt mean we know how to sit.
We know how to slouch. We know how to lean toward a screen and hunch over a desk. But we dont know how to sit still and straight so that our minds might be quiet. When we try, we discover its harder than it looks.
Reading about sitting
Charlotte Bells second book, Yoga for Meditators, is published by Rodmell Press ($14.95).
Charlotte Bell remembers going to her first five-day meditation retreat, which required her to sit upright and silent for hours each day.
"At some point, every part of my body chimed in, and sometimes shouted at me, pummeling me with its resistance," she recalls. "My knees screamed, my back and shoulders veritably shrieked. None of this helped my attitude, which became more dour with each agonizing minute."
Its difficult to make your mind empty when your body is so full of complaints.
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Learning how to sit with Utah yoga writer Charlotte Bell
AntiGravity Yoga Gains Popularity
Posted: at 10:12 pm
LOS ANGELES - A growing number of health clubs around the world is offering exercise that allows people to stretch and strengthen their bodies while hanging in the air, often upside down. It's called AntiGravity Yoga.
At first glance, students hanging upside down on hammocks made of silk cloth hanging from the ceiling seems more like acrobatics than yoga.
When I first saw people hanging upside down from hammocks and calling it yoga I thought they were crazy," said Marie Bice. "But it ended up being a lot of fun and just swinging it felt very playful.
Thats student Marie Bice. She says AntiGravity Yoga is not all play. Its also hard work, with benefits.
I dont have a lot of flexibility in my back and doing this work has really helped my back with that," she said.
Instructor Heather Blair says hanging upside down helps the body in a way that regular yoga does not offer.
You actually have spinal decompression so when youre upside down your vertebrae actually open up so the space in between the vertebrae opens naturally and gently," said Blair.
Student Chris Meierhans has done traditional forms of yoga. But this is his first AntiGravity class.
I would like to increase flexibility," said Meierhans. "Of course, Im a guy, a runner, so my hamstrings are very tight.
Blair says when Believe Fitness Studio first started offering AntiGravity classes over a year ago, people became interested very quickly.
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AntiGravity Yoga Gains Popularity
The first Canadian National Health and Fitness Day, June 2nd, 2012 – Video
Posted: at 9:23 pm
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The first Canadian National Health and Fitness Day, June 2nd, 2012 - Video
Women’s 100 orgasms a day! NO JOKE! – Video
Posted: at 9:23 pm
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Women's 100 orgasms a day! NO JOKE! - Video
June-Marie Raw Food and Fitness Health My Mom was video taping hehe 002 – Video
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June-Marie Raw Food and Fitness Health My Mom was video taping hehe 002 - Video
Synergy health center to close for renovations
Posted: at 9:23 pm
EXETER Synergy Health & Fitness will close at the end of the year for 14 months for construction of a comprehensive musculoskeletal center.
Hospital officials say Synergy Health & Fitness will close on Dec. 1, 2012 and will reopen with the new musculoskeletal center in the spring of 2014.
The renovation project is a result of the Seacoast regions growing need for musculoskeletal services, the hospital said in a statement released on Wednesday.
The Synergy Health & Fitness building is located on the hospitals campus.
By offering clinical specialty services including orthopaedics, podiatry, rheumatology, neurology, neurosurgery, comprehensive rehabilitation; and alternative medicine, the musculoskeletal center will focus on effectively and efficiently evaluating and treating bone, joint, and muscle conditions, the hospital statement said. Synergy will continue to offer medically-based fitness programs.
All of the approximately 3,000 Synergy members were notified this week about the temporary closure in a letter mailed to their homes.
Patient-related services currently provided in the Synergy building, including acupuncture, massage, nutrition, cancer Well-fit program, cardiac rehabilitation, and physical/occupational rehabilitation (AthletiCare) will be temporarily relocated to another building on the Exeter Hospital campus during the construction period.
Hospital officials said approximately five full-time, 27 part-time, and 53 per diem Synergy staff will be impacted by the temporary closure on Dec. 1.
These staff members have received six months notice, during which time they will be provided with extensive job search assistance, the hospital statement said. Some of the impacted staff may be able to transfer to positions elsewhere in the organization. After the Dec. 1 closing date, we will provide salary and benefits continuation for a set period of time to those who have not secured another position. Current Synergy staff will have first rights of reemployment when the facility reopens.