Simple Breathing Exercises

There are many types of breathing exercises in Yoga, Meditation, Therapy etc. Honestly, I have not tried all because there are too many, and I feel it is more important to focus on breathing properly first.

Most people tend to take shallow hurried breaths, or we just simply forget to breathe at all. Most students will remember me nagging at them in class to “keep the breath flowing” or “don’t forget to breathe”.

In yoga classes, breath helps our muscles to relax when we are in passive poses, and helps us to get through “tough” poses where it requires more physical ability to hold the pose longer.

In life, breath helps us to calm down when we are experiencing overwhelming emotions (anxiety, anger etc). It enables us to be more mindful of our emotions as we learn how to breathe better.

You do not have to master extraordinary breathing techniques to calm down or benefit you. In the Hack Spirit article below, the 3 mindful breathing techniques below are those that I myself use frequently, and encourage you to practice – see if it works for you.
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1. Equal Breathing
2. Belly Breathing
3. Alternate Nostril Breathing

5 mistakes people make when trying to get to sleep

We’ve all experienced a restless night of no sleep; it seems that no matter what you try, you find yourself watching the clock, unable to fall asleep. If this sounds like you then you’re not alone, as 63% of people surveyed claimed to be unhappy with the amount of sleep they get each night. However, there are certain measures you can make to revolutionise your sleep routine; here are five common mistakes people make when trying to get to sleep and tips on how to stop making them:

1. They don’t alter their bedroom temperature

Temperature is a big factor when it comes to getting a great night’s sleep as your body can use a lot of energy trying to alter your core body temperature, which can leave you feeling groggy and exhausted when your alarm goes off. 60-75F is the optimum room temperature if you want to get the best night’s sleep possible, so you should take every measure possible to keep your room at this level; fans and internal air conditioning are one way to do this during the summer months.

1. Too much screen time

It might be tempting to check your social media or work emails before bed, but this can be costly for your night’s sleep. Research suggests that the blue light emitted from our technology can really disrupt our sleep pattern; participants in the study had significantly lower levels of sleep hormones if they were exposed to blue lights before bed. Swap your technology for another pre-sleep ritual and use the time to fall in love with reading or even to talk more with your partner.

1. Not enough exercise

You might struggle to fall asleep at night simply because your body isn’t tired enough. This is particularly common for people who have inactive office jobs as they aren’t getting enough physical activity to fully tire out their body. Yoga is a great exercise to try out, as it is less strenuous than most other exercises and will prepare your body for sleep; when you practice yoga, your body releases endorphins and encourages the production of the ‘happy hormone’ serotonin; this means that you’ll go to bed feeling less stressed and anxious.

1. Hit the bottle before bed

Alcohol has a relaxing and calming effect on the body which is why many people turn to it for an easy way to fall asleep; however, alcohol consumption is probably contributing to your sleepless night as your sleep quality and depth is likely to be impacted; you’ll probably get up several times to go to the toilet and you’re also likely to wake up feeling dehydrated.

1. Going to sleep at random times

Are you guilty of staying awake that extra bit longer to finish a TV show, or “catching up on sleep” at weekends with a lie-in? If so, you could be disrupting your own sleep pattern. The secret to waking up feeling refreshed is by establishing a consistent sleep routine that doesn’t end at the weekend. By sacrificing your lie-ins and being more strict with what time you go to bed, you could reap the benefits of a more productive workday that you can power through without any caffeine.

How to support someone who has anxiety

We often read about how to handle our own anxiety attacks. But what if you are someone who has never experienced an anxiety attack, how do you give your support to someone close to you who is experiencing an anxiety attack? Or are you giving the appropriate support?

I have never had an anxiety attack till I am 29 years old. And before that, all I could say to someone having an anxiety attack is to “just calm down and breathe”. And sometimes, I cannot understand why they cannot calm down, the world is not ending (or so I thought). But boy I was wrong and sorry to all my friends who probably think I am a bad support in the past! After experiencing my first anxiety attack, the world can feel like it is ending or my life is ending at that point of time.
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Hence, whether or not you have had an anxiety attack before, and you would like to give support to people close to you, this article (CLICK HERE) is worth the read.

Why every Athlete should do Yoga

​As a yoga instructor for the past years, I have taught yoga to many athletes. They lead an active lifestyle (running, badminton, soccer etc) but they are mostly very inflexible and often experience back pain, tight calves etc. Yoga to them, is a great balance to their active lifestyle – Yoga complements it. Yoga stretches the tired muscles and aids in muscle recovery. How you use your breath in Yoga is also very important  but I will leave that to the next article. In the article  (source: https://www.shape.com/blogs/working-it-out/why-every-athlete-should-do-yoga) below, you will find the benefits of yoga for athletes.

Yoga is for everyone, athletes included. Yoga works on strength, flexibility, balance, agility, endurance, core, and overall strength, among other things. Any athlete could benefit hugely by adding yoga to her or his training regimen. Here’s more details on a few of the perks:

Strength: No amount of weight-lifting with free weights will give you the strength that consistently holding up your own body weight will.

Flexibility: Practicing yoga increases flexibility and ease of movement, therefore increasing range of motion. In particular, athletes in sports that require swinging action (tennis, golf, etc.) can benefit greatly. Flexibility in general also helps to prevent injury.

Balance: Balancing poses in yoga improve overall balance in everything you do, preventing falls and injury.  When you learn how to be soft and go with the flow, you can more easily bend and are less likely to break or fall over.

Endurance: The endurance that the ease of yoga gives you lends to endurance sports like running, triathlons, and Iron Mans. When you learn to tune into your body and mind, everything can be a meditation—sports included. Yoga also helps you learn how to pace yourself: slow and steady, in it for the long haul.

Core: Almost everything you do in yoga works on your core strength. Strong core equals a healthy back and a healthy body.

Stability: Yoga helps strengthen all of the little stabilizing muscles that people tend to miss in other physical workouts and are vital in protecting your joints and spine (among other things).

Recovery: Yoga also helps put athletes back together after injuries. Again: You’re tuning into your body and giving it the care it wants and needs. Yoga also elongates all of the muscles that athletes spend so long contracting, so it is a great counter-action.
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Most importantly, yoga changes the way you think and approach everything in life: When you learn to move with ease and stop forcing things, you will prevent injuries and your body will open with your mind, increasing your flexibility all around.

How to Calm Anxiety and Stress

I was reading this article a couple of days back and I feel these are useful pointers to manage anxiety and stress in  this world – where perfection is overrated in social media, and almost everyone is glued to their digital devices. And you don’t have to spend a fortune using these pointers. I will recommend to head over to the link to read more as I will only be putting the main points here.
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• Take a Techno-Detox – so that we can sleep better. Singaporeans are the 2nd most sleep-deprived people in the world!

• Find Your Own Way to Exercise –  No matter what is your choice of exercise. Getting some forms of physical activity a few times a week is known to relieve stress

• When in Doubt, Breathe – Take deep breaths, and exhale out slowly. Shallow breaths will cause more anxiety

• Embrace a Relaxing Hobby – Any activities (like yoga or meditation) that require extended periods of concentration – sometimes known as getting into the “flow” state – may just be the antidote to anxiety. Find something you love so that you will be more enticed to continue doing it.

• Fuel Up on the Right Food – I am not sure about you, but this is the hardest for me when I decided to cut down on sugar and carbs. I will suggest one step at a time, and never total elimination until you are comfortable. Eg. If you are used to ordering 100% sugar in bubble tea, for the next 2 weeks u may opt for 75% and then subsequent 2 weeks 50%. If it gets tough at the 50%  point, give yourself more time (maybe give it 4 weeks at 50%) to get used to the taste. The goal is not to give up and persevere no matter how long the journey is. After all, it takes time to cultivate a habit / lifestyle. It took me about a year to get used to 0% sugar, and once in a while I still indulge myself in sugar drinks.  Find the way that works for you :)

The "outcast" - Calf Muscles

It is true, we do not really think about stretching our calf muscles that often, compared to our hips or hamstrings. How often do you walk in to a yoga class, hearing the instructor say “we will be focusing on hips in today’s class...”

As I teach more students throughout the past 5 years, I came to realise that I should pay more attention to the calves because tight calves will eventually led to many other aspects such as accessibility to a yoga pose, body pain etc. Taking my personal experience as an example, I used to dislike the pose - Malasana (squat pose, see photo at the end).

For the longest time, I thought my tight hips was the main reason why I had a hard time trying to flatten my entire feet down on the floor or I could not stay long in it. Doing more hip opening poses did help a bit, but I also forgot to stretch my calves which is crucial in a squat form.

Aside from accessibility to yoga poses, our calves play a big role in leg movement and tightness will often lead to pain in other body parts eg. lower back pain

Often when we have lower back pain, it is true that tight hamstrings and hips do play a big part. But what if after stretching our hips and hammies out, we still feel the pain? Maybe it’s time we think about the calves in this case. For some people, they probably do not even know they have tight calves, because they do not feel ache or pain in the calves at all, yet their lower back pain could be caused by tight calves. Pretty amazing yea? There is probably an anatomical explanation behind it but I will leave it to the experts to explain it. This is why every “body” is different and we all need our own kind of yoga - there is no “one size fits all” in yoga.

If you wear heels regularly or sit at a desk for the whole day, daily calf stretches will benefit you in the long run. You do not need to have any body pain to start stretching your calves.
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Here you will find an article on 5 good calf stretches which I personally do and include in my own classes. My recommended daily dose will be 2 sets of 30s for each sets. Feel free to increase the sets when you do not feel much stretch after a while.

Self-Care Means Balancing Your Fitness Routine, Too

 Photo by Pixabay
  
Balance is a simple concept but difficult to develop in real life. There’s always something getting in the way of plans to exercise and eat right. However, part of the difficulty may be in our definition of what balance means. Here are some thoughts on redefining balance, as well as  developing and maintaining it.
 
First, we need to realize that our whole being, our mind, body and soul, needs nourishment. Our flesh and blood need air, food and water, and our spirit needs nourishment, too. Sometimes when we’re focusing on the former, we forget the latter.
 
Exercise can be a form of enrichment for the soul, as we learn to listen to our body and give it what it needs and avoid what it doesn’t. For instance, you might think you need french fries, and occasionally you might, but your body will tell you whether it feels good or not. Just as exercise needs a recovery period to build muscle, your soul and spirit need rejuvenation periods as well.
 
If you’re so busy doing everything you’re “supposed” to do that you don’t get enough sleep or relaxation --  “me time” -- then you’ll be just as burned out.
 
 Like night follows day, we need rejuvenation following activity. This world encourages working and excelling while overlooking being, relaxing and recovering. But we can’t have one without the other. Even too much exercise is unhealthy. The point of balance is having both activity (exercise, eating healthy foods) and relaxation (down time, occasional comfort foods). Moderation is key. Somewhere in our rush to be all that we can be, we forgot that it’s not just bigger, better, faster. The rhythm of life demands slow as well as fast.
 
 
So what’s the answer? I say it’s in listening. Listen to what others suggest, yes, but also do what our body is telling us. Do we feel good after eating a huge meal, or are we lethargic? Does exercise make us feel better? If not, let’s try another. Maybe yoga or tai chi is more your thing than Zumba. As long as you’re moving your body and strengthening muscles, you’re moving in the right direction. If it makes you feel good, do it. If not, try something else. Your body is a well-built machine that will let you know what it needs, if only you listen to the signals it’s sending.
 
If you are recovering from addiction, your ability to listen to your body has been compromised and will need readjustment. It will take awhile before you feel like yourself again, but eating right and exercising can help in the healing process. Your body was subjected to chemical stimulation or depression, so your normal rhythms were masked.
 
You need to relearn how to feel what you’re feeling and respond to it. Make exercise part of your routine. Exercise releases endorphins that elevate your mood. If you can exercise outside, all the better as you flood your body with healing vitamin D. Find a friend and go for a walk; socialize while working out. You will be healing your body and your spirit. Slowly, surely, you can get better and stay sober. Replace bad habits with good ones that will make you stronger, physically and emotionally. 
 
Caring for yourself and finding balance are a daily pursuit based on your lifestyle, family and friends, and your definition of what balance means to you. Every day you decide what you’re going to do to be healthy, and every day you weigh those choices against your schedule, things that come up unexpectedly, and the importance of knowing what can control and what you can’t. You can’t control a work meeting that runs late, but you control whether you eat that doughnut. Maybe a margarita with friends after work is important, because you’re supporting each other and building relationships. But maybe it’s a weekly or monthly activity, not a daily one. Going home and reading a good book or dancing around your living room with the kids is important, too.
 
You need all these things in your life, but only you can decide when and how much. Balance is elusive but not impossible. It’s determined by you as you choose each day how you spend your time. Do what’s “good for you” and what’s good for you. Only you can determine which is which.

Author: Sheila Olson (www.fitsheila.com)