Take Your Time Results from Yoga Practice

by Nina

Unfurling Squash Blossom by Melina Meza

Because my post yesterday False Claims Harm Yoga discussed how misleading and/or false claims about yoga can cause serious harm, I decided to rerun an old article of mine about how results from yoga practice take time. In addition to making false claims about the power of certain yoga poses and practices, some of the articles we see out there imply that results are quick and easy (for example, the article about six poses to "heal" diabetes claimed that a month of practice might be all that was necessary). A couple of years ago I addressed this very issue after I read a New York Times article about how exercise can help us sleep better. My original post follows. —Nina

It's a running joke in our family that when Brad gets impatient with me—because I often do various household tasks a bit slower than he does—he says to me, "Take your time!" He swears that Bill Murray said this repeatedly in the movie "Caddy Shack," but when we watched it again recently, no one actually ever uttered that line. Regardless, I always reply, "You take your time." 

But many worthwhile things really do take time. For example, if you want to cook a really good meal instead of eating fast food, you need to shop for fresh ingredients and prepare everything from scratch. And if you want to turn a new acquaintance into a close friend, you need to spend a lot of time together, getting to know and trust each other. The same is true for seeing results from yoga practice. Obviously, one Downward-Facing Dog pose doesn't instantly make your arms stronger, though with regular practice, it definitely will increase your strength. And it also seems obvious that if you want to reduce your stress levels, you'll need to practice stress management regularly over a period of time.

So it was very interesting for me to hear about a recent study at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, that looked at the effect of exercise on insomnia. One of the findings as reported by Gretchen Reynolds in the New York Times post How Exercise Can Help Us Sleep Better was:

"After the first two months of their exercise program, the exercising volunteers (all of them women) were sleeping no better than at the start of the study. Only after four months of the program had their insomnia improved."

Yes, it took four whole months of regular exercising to bring improvements. That's quite a bit of time, don't you think? The women in this study were not practicing yoga for exercise, but it's likely that using yoga as a form of exercise to help with insomnia (something I definitely recommend) might take a similar amount of time. And it also makes sense to me that if you are practicing yoga for insomnia (see Yoga for Insomnia, Part 1) by using stress management techniques, you should also give that some time (though some people report that doing breath practices in the middle of the night produces immediate results). So be patient.

In general, the time you invest in your yoga practice—whether you are practicing for your physical, emotional, or spiritual wellbeing—is what brings the payoffs. After all, yoga sutra 1.14 tells us that equanimity is attained only through steady, dedicated, attentive practice:

Long, uninterrupted, alert practice is the firm foundation for restraining the fluctuations of the mind. —trans. by B.K.S. Iyengar 

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2 Steps to Take Charge of Your Stress or Anxiety

by Nina

Enclosed Field with Rising Sun by van Gogh

Lately I’ve been trying to help several people who are suffering from stress and/or anxiety. Although these people are all quite different from each other—they range from a young woman with a new baby to man with newly diagnosed heart disease to an older man with chronic insomnia—I found myself saying the exact same things to each one of them. And since my advice was, in a way, very basic, I thought I’d write it up for the blog.

One of the things that motivated me to share this advice was that I was struck by something my friend said when talking over her daughter’s problems with her. “Well, I guess, anxiety just comes and goes.” My friend seemed to feel that her daughter was at the mercy of some emotion that took her over periodically and that there was nothing she could do to change that. But I feel that through a combination of educating yourself and making some lifestyle changes, you can empower yourself to deal more effectively with stressful situations and hopefully also reduce the levels of stress and/or anxiety that you are suffering from. 

And the advice I’ve been giving boils down to two simple steps.

1. Learn About Your Nervous System.

The first thing I always tell people I’m teaching to manage stress and anxiety is to read The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson so they can learn about how their nervous system—specifically the autonomic nervous system—works. I recommend this book because although we have some information on the blog about the nervous system (see Chronic Stress: An Introduction and Stress, Your Health and Yoga), we don’t yet have a comprehensive overview of the nervous system. (I am going to write one tomorrow, though, because I’ve realized how important it is!) 

I feel strongly that educating yourself about your nervous system will help eliminate some of the mystery of what’s happening to you and empower you to make some important decisions. Knowing the symptoms of chronic stress, such as insomnia, digestive problems, headaches, high blood pressure and so on, will help you choose the right solutions (see below) for you and to take action before things get out of hand. And I also believe that knowing about how your nervous system works and understanding the difference between sleep and conscious relaxation (see Conscious Relaxation vs. Sleep) will motivate you to start practicing stress management. Otherwise, you might think—as one friend did—that exercise and sleep are all that is needed.

For example, I can always tell when I’m getting stressed out because I start sleeping poorly, lose my appetite (sometimes even feeling nauseated), and, because my mind is racing, I talk more than usual! If things get really bad, I start to feel a burning sensation in my chest. So rather than just waiting until things get even worse (I have been there—“going over the edge” I call it), I double down and focus my yoga practice on stress management (see Friday Q&A: Practicing to Manage Stress). I believe this has helped keep me emotionally healthy for almost 20 years now.

2. Find Ways to Manage Your Stress and Reduce Anxiety, and Practice Them.

Once you’ve learned about your nervous system and how important conscious relaxation is for your emotional as well as physical health, you should take the time to explore the possibilities yoga offers for helping you manage your stress and reduce your anxiety. We’ve been writing about the different ways that yoga can help you manage stress since the very earliest days of the blog. And throughout the years, we’ve continued to write about this. That’s because we feel that yoga includes such a wide range of possibilities that you’re sure to find something that works for you. Interestingly, the paper I wrote about in Self-Regulation, Psychological Health, and Yoga confirmed this very opinion!

But everyone needs to experiment to find what suits them best. For example, even though breath practices (see Friday Q&A: Breath Practices for Anxiety) are traditionally thought to be helpful for stress and anxiety, one person I’m working with found that breath practices I recommended tend to agitate him. Happily, however, I introduced him to supported forward bends, which he immediately found soothing. Another man I’ve been counseling does find breath work helpful, and he has used to it to relax while getting medical procedures that make him tense. He also really enjoys the guided relaxation tracks we have available on our site (see Audio Tracks). 

I myself love the breath practices and supported inversions (see All About Supported Inversions). But I never enjoy restorative yoga, unless I’m super exhausted, and I don’t like listening to an audio recording of any kind while I practice, which are two of Baxter’s favorite things. Hey, we’re all different, not only in our tastes but in the ways we get stressed out. See The Relaxation Response and Yoga for an overview of the different practices.

Finally, once you’ve identified the practices that work for you, you need to practice them regularly. This is crucial! Although some of the practices can provide quick, temporary relief, none are going to instantly re-balance your nervous system. After all, it probably took a while for your nervous system to become over-stressed, so it will take some time to return it to normal. But making the commitment to actively take care of yourself by practicing regularly is empowering—you are no longer at the complete mercy of outside forces—and that in itself is a huge step to take.

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You and I must take responsibility to stop this Ebola ZIMBABWES RICHEST MAN SPEAKS ON THE EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE

From a heart with great concerns, not just for his nation or continent, but for the world he desires to see, a better place, Strive Masiyiwa, Zimbabwe's richest man voices out on the issue of the Ebola Virus Disease, which has become a great threat to the continent of Africa, and even the world.

The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), which has broken through the coast and boundaries of five countries in Africa since its recent March outbreak, has become a household name, 'ebola', a 'terrifier' of the unprotected and threat to the yet-not-affected.

In his recent post on Facebook, Dr. Strive, as he's mostly called, compares the ignorant attitude of people towards the Ebola virus outbreak to that of the HIV/AIDs outbreak in Africa. He said, "I remember the ignorance, then the fear, the superstitions. I remember the lies, and the denials. Then, I heard about people who had died, then I knew people who had died, and soon it was my friends and my family. At the time, they said it was far, far away, in strange and remote countries of Africa. How can it come here, they asked? ...And so it spread.... We should not allow this to happen again!"

According to a BBC report, up to 23 October, 4,922 people had been reported as having died from the disease in five countries; Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and the United States. A further death has been reported in Mali.

Dr. Strive further writes to beseech all Africans, and the world at large to join him in the fight against ebola. He said,"We can stop the spread of this disease, but it requires each one of us. Yes, this is not a problem that is going to be solved by the United Nations, or the United States, or the Europeans. It can only be stopped by each one of us, acting as a global citizen. I say global citizen, because Ebola does not know borders, or race or age, or skin colour. It will kill anyone who gets infected; rich or poor, old or young. You and I must take responsibility to stop, this Ebola".

So far, the total number of reported cases is in excess of 10,000 and the World Health Organization (WHO) admits the figures are underestimates and warns there could be as many as 20,000 cases by November if efforts to tackle the outbreak are not stepped up. CDC experts have also predicted an upsurge to the rate of 1 Million Ebola Cases by January 2015.

The question to all is, what are you doing, in your 'capacity' to help contribute to bringing down the mighty wall of Ebola???!!!.

Why Should You Take Weight Reduction Supplements

If you want to reduce weight, go for weight reduction supplements, and with the right diet plan you'll manage to lose significant amounts of fats. There are several types with various subtypes, and they can help you in diverse ways. Here are some basic details concerning numerous options that you can go for, together with common ingredients which can influence your decision related to the suitable supplements for you.

Prescription Pills: Those prescription pills will help you repress your appetite, and will increase your energy level so that you can train more. It is compulsory to utilize these pills only based on the recommendation and supervision of a doctor since they most of them are addictive. If you don't want your internal organs to be affected by these pills, consult a specialist.

Non-Prescription Pills: You can buy these non-prescription pills over the counter and their commercialization isn't severely regulated by laws. Your desire to eat will be restrained and your energy will be increased with their help. Nearly all shops that commercialize vitamins and medicines also sell non-prescription pills, and even some convenience stores. Despite the fact that their commercialization isn't regulated, prudence is required.

Non-prescription diet pills might also harm your internal organs and can lead to addiction. All these prescription or non-prescription pills consist of one sort of drug. Due to the fact that there can be certain side effects, you should have knowledge of the active element incorporated in the pills. You will see now several widespread ingredients.

Anorectics: The pills containing anorectics are generally suggested to overweight individuals. They are able to strongly hold back the hunger.

Amphetamine: Addiction can represent the effect of amphetamines pills. They are part of the phenethylamines ingredients. The need to eat is restrained and the energy is augmented by this drug.

Ephedrine: This compound has encountered difficulties in the past. The United States government banned its commercialization back in 2003, but after a while it became legal yet again. It represents a very popular compound in weight loss supplements because of its capacity to repress appetite and boost energy. Numerous weight loss supplements contain this drug, since it holds back the desire to eat and augments energy level. You shouldn't use ephedrine pills without being observed by a medical professional.

Hoodia Gordonii: This represents a natural compound used in diets by those who are looking forward to losing weight. This natural ingredient comes from the Hoodia plant, which mostly grows in South Africa, Botswana, Angola and Namibia. When they were interested in losing weight, local citizens made use of this natural substance which restrained their hunger and amplified their vigor.

Pyruvate: Pills which consist of this substance are useful for reducing fat, but also for avoiding muscle tissue loss.

Proactol: This is a very good ingredient for holding back your appetite. It is entirely natural and it is extracted from a plant. There are no side effects and it doesn't contain artificial additives or other allergens. The food you consume is assimilated better if you utilize Proactol, and you will become thinner with the help of a natural method.

About the Author:   Daniel Perry

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