Find And Maintain Your Perfect Weight: The Yoga of Mindful Eating

Find And Maintain Your Perfect weight: The Yoga of Mindful Eating

A common experience, among those who have practiced some form of yoga (or qigong or meditation) for a sustained period of time, is the experience of having ones weight stabilize, and maintain itself ~ almost magically ~ at the perfect level. This has certainly been my experience Regardless of what I eat (and granted, my diet is, my most standards, quite a healthy one), my weight has appeared, over many years, to fluctuate no more than a couple of pounds in either direction. I dont have scientific proof of this, since I almost never weigh myself on a scale but it is my perception, which Ive grown to trust. Basically, I feel comfortable in my body, and most of the time what I want to eat is what my body needs After Ive eaten what I have desired, I feel nourished, satisfied, and energized by those choices.

But this sort of natural equilibrium, around weight and food choices, for most people takes a while to cultivate. So, in the meantime, what to do about this eating thing? This body-weight thing? Based upon advice Ive received, over the years and from people I trust, Id like to present two practices: one very simple (in terms of its mechanics, at least); the other a bit more involved. What they have in common is this: youre not required to change WHAT you eat, in any way. Sound intriguing? read on !

The first practice, designed specifically for those who would be healthier & happier if they weighed less than they do now, is to follow one simple rule, which is: dont eat anything after 5 p.m. This is a strategy that was transmitted to me by one of my teachers (herself a yogini, in the Sikh tradition) in Chinese medical school. What she noticed was that, almost universally, those patients of hers who were able to do this one thing, did indeed lose the weight that they needed to, without doing anything else. The explanation for this (common to both the Chinese and the ayurvedic medical models) is that our digestive fire is hottest at high noon, and from there begins its daily descent reaching its low point at around midnight. To be in alignment with this natural cycle of our digestive system, its best to eat our largest meal at around noon, and definitely to avoid those fashionably late dinners, or midnight snacks. Now actually doing this may require some inconvenient if not downright painful (emotionally, socially) shifts & changes in your habitual eating patterns But if youre able to work through that piece of it, its a very simple thing!

A more involved meal-time practice ~ which still does not require you to change what you eat (though over time, this may indeed, and quite naturally, begin to happen) ~ is to bring a new level of mindfulness to the entire eating process. This sort of practice begins with the commitment to simply eat, when youre eating, i.e. to avoid meal-time multi-tasking (you know: reading the paper, checking you email or voice messages, driving the kids to school at the same time as youre having breakfast, lunch or dinner). Then, once you have your food on your plate, to pause for a moment or two to consider where the food has come from: to think of all the plants, minerals, animals and human beings without whom this food would not be here in front of you. So to remember: the farm-workers, the sunshine & minerals which were food to the plants that youre about to consume, the plants which were food to the animals youre about to consume, the workers in the supermarket and in the slaughterhouse As we deepen this practice, we come to understand that the food were about to consume could not be here were it not for the entire universe! Then we say a prayer, of acknowledgement and of gratitude, for what were about to consume. This could be anything that youd like it to be. A traditional prayer from the Hindu tradition is as follows (first in transliterated Sanskrit, then the english translation):

brahmaarpaNaM brahma haviH brahmaagnau brahmaNaa hutam.h . brahmaiva tena gantavyaM brahmakarmasamaadhinaa ..

A process of offering is Brahman, the oblation is Brahman, the instrument of offering is Brahman, the fire to which the offering is made is also Brahman. For such a one who abides in Brahman, by him alone Brahman is reached.

The essential message of this prayer is: we and the food and the process of eating & drinking are all made of the same stuff and as we come, directly, to realize this, we and our food and our entire world is revealed as Divine (Brahman). In other words: you are God, eating food which is God, which is digested by God, and if you really get this, you will have reached God!

So now ~ at long last! ~ we take our first bite and chew it long enough to really taste it, and perhaps even long enough to notice how the taste changes as the food begins to break down in our mouths. And we allow ourselves to notice: is this an enjoyable or less-than-enjoyable taste? And allow ourselves to enjoy the whole process and to marvel at its miracle: at some point (where exactly is that point?) this food ceases to be food and becomes part of my body!

These sorts of mindfulness of eating practices are a potent way of waking up the bodys own intelligence and as such, are likely, over the long run, to have balancing and stabilizing affects on all of our physical (as well as emotional and spiritual) systems. Give it a try and bon appetit!

Elizabeth Reninger holds Masters degrees in Sociology and Chinese Medicine, is a published poet, and has been exploring Yoga ~ in its taoist, buddhist & Hindu varieties ~ for more than twenty years. She is a student of Richard Freeman and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, and currently resides in Boulder, colorado. For more of her essays on yoga-related topics, please visit her website: http://www.writingup.com/blog/elizabeth_reninger

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Learn Self Hypnosis Techniques

Although most of us associate hypnosis with the client sitting in a comfortable chair with the hypnosis therapist standing or sitting giving suggestive commands. There are actually lots of self hypnosis techniques that you can learn and apply on yourself, and this way gain full control of your mind. To put it another way these techniques will help you become your own mind manager. Below follows a description of the core of these techniques which you can alter and adjust to fit your needs. This technique pretty much consist of the same core method that the hypnosis therapists are using on their clients. Be aware though, that you should be very careful about which statements you program into your sub-conscious mind. So take your time and select these statements very carefully.

The first thing you have to decide is the purpose for the self hypnosis: What are you really trying to find out or accomplish? As soon as you have defined your goal with the self hypnosis session, you must keep to this goal. Never select more than one goal at a time and resist the temptation of solving all your problems in one batch. You simply will not be able to do that but instead create even more problems by trying that. So how should the statements or suggestions that you're going to implant into your sub-conscious mind be?

They must be positive and represent something good. Never use suggestions like "I'm going to learn to bungee-jump no matter how scared I am". This will only make you even more scared. So cleanse out all negative words when you formulate your suggestions and substitute them with positive words like "I really look forward to bungee-jump and thus have the fantastic feeling of freedom when I fly in the air."

The suggestions you formulate must be easy to remember. Let's say you want to communicate better with other people, then for example you can make a suggestion like, "I am a damn good communicator." now, write it down and then add all the reasons why you want to reach this goal plus what you expect will happen when you reach it. Each time you repeat the statement, visualize that you succeed to strengthen the message in your sub-conscious mind. It's also important that the suggestions you make are short, direct and specific like "I will only eat healthy food".

When you perform your self hypnosis sessions make sure you are not disturbed. Disconnect the phone, lock the doors and make yourself comfortable. You might lay on a bed or sit on a chair with straight back.

• Focus your attention on a point slightly above your eye level
• take a few deep breaths while you repeat the word "relax" for yourself
• When you breath out imagine that you're getting rid of all the bad air that have caused all the trouble inside you and that you substitute it with the fresh air you breath in
• Close your eyes and try to focus on a few (3 to 5) sounds you can hear like water running in the pipeline, the wind that blows outside, the rain tapping on the roof etc. Also be aware of what you feel for the moment like the temperature of your skin, the weight of your body against the chair or bed etc.
• start the descent to your subconscious mind by imagining that you are walking down a ten step spiral staircase to a beautiful garden which awaits at the end of your descent. For each step you take you have to pass layers of clouds and you feel more and more relaxed and all your worries are gradually leaving you. When you dismount the last step, you put your foot on a green lawn which have a glow on it from the rays of the sun.
• You should now be sufficiently relaxed to start the repetition of your suggestions or statements to your subconscious mind. Repeat each suggestion three times with a short break in between. When you're finished with your suggestions, imagine that you slowly climb back to the top of the staircase.
• now the self hypnotic session is over and you are back in your ordinary state of mind.

Try it out. If you feel that hypnosis can help you accomplish whichever goal you have, redo it and make it a regular practice for your own self improvement.

Terje Brooks Ellingsen is a writer and internet publisher. He runs the website 1st-Self_Improvement.net. Terje is a Sociologist who enjoys contributing to the personal growth and happiness of others. He tries to accomplish this by writing about self help issues from his own experience and knowledge. For example, hypnosis and other self improvement methods as well as developing higher self esteem.

Yoga And Meditation Resources In Canada

Yoga Is Good For Stress Management

yoga is very good in stress management. research has also shown that hatha yoga - the type of yoga practiced in the West - if practiced regularly, has a significant impact on ones muscular strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. Studies done on a group of people, who practiced yoga, revealed that after eight weeks - on average - the flexibility of this group improved by 14% to 35%.

The body/spirit/mind union together with breathing also brings about emotional benefits. It has been reported that people who practice yoga say that they felt less stressed out and sleep better. It also enables one to handle stress better, whether it is family or work related.

So how does one get started? The first step is to have an open mind. Many people are of the mistaken opinion that one has to be flexible in order to do yoga. This is not so less flexible individuals generally see results faster.

Next you need to join - preferably - a beginners class that has a qualified yoga teacher. At first you may have to try out a few different types of classes and see what suits you best - as there are many types of yoga. Generally, hatha yoga would be the recommended type for a beginner; as it is the most gentle and flowing type.

Sometimes you may have joined a class that may be a little bit ahead of you and this might cause you to worry whether you are doing it properly or not. Do not worry about it; all that matters is what your body feels in each stretch and how relaxed you can allow yourself to be with each pose. Remember, practice makes perfect.

It is important to understand that no two people have the same level of flexibility. If your teacher instructs you to do a particular pose and if you feel your body cannot handle it, but everyone else seems to be doing it, DO NOT force your body to do it. You might end up injuring yourself.

Concentrating on your breathing is very vital in yoga and is the key to stress management. Your teacher will tell you when you should inhale and when you should exhale when you are working through your poses. It is recommended that you breathe through your nose only, as this helps keep the body heat in and the mind focused. Practicing yoga with bare feet is generally recommended as it has a twofold purpose. One is, it will help you not to slip when you do the standing poses and second, you fully articulate and exercise your feet when you do not wear shoes.

Any type of clothing can be worn for yoga as long as it is comfortable. They should not be too big for you as it might get in the way with some postures. A leotard or bike shorts and a loose T-shirt short are fine.

Most often a yoga lesson ends with simply lying on ones back with the arms by the side, eyes closed and taking deep breaths. This is known as the corpse position and it helps in ones relaxation.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Yoga

Prenatal Yoga Cl Ma

USB Flash Drive

usb flash drive or any other flash memory drive is basically an EEPROM that means Electrically Erasable Programmable Read only Memory.

usb flash memory sticks are nothing but an assembly of EEPROM, a controller with a RISC microprocessor, RAM and ROM. All of this interacts with a computer using a usb controller and connector.

Because usb sticks are EEPROM, these can hold data for as long as 10 years. As these memory modules are shock proof and dont have a volatile memory, they are good enough to sustain shock and humidity. To some extent, they often undergo casual abuse that include being ran through a washing machine, or even dropped into coffee.

UBS thumb drives normally dont require drivers. But with few old operating systems like Windows 98 and Windows 95, you need drivers that are provided by the manufacturer. Latest OS consider usb drives as usb Mass storage devices and have built in support for these drive. This means that you dont need any drivers, you just plug in the drive and start using it.

Some linux versions might recognize it but wont let you use it until you manually mount the drive. To mount the drive manually, use the command:

mount vfat (drive to mount) (directory to mount at)

For eg. mount -vfat /dev/sda1/mnt/usbdrive

Manufacturers are also coming up with systems that have bios support for usb. This means that you can boot from the small usb drive. There are different versions of operating systems coming up that can be installed on a ROM and are so small to fit a usb drive as well. Most of these OS versions are linux based, for example Damm Small linux.

usb drives are mainly used to carry personnel data. But you need to be very careful with your personnel data nowadays. You can have anything in your personnel data collection that you have forgotten, for example your bank account details or anything. try using some encryption engine to secure your data. You can use encrypted file system over the usb drive. But by doing so, you will only be able to access your drive at few computers and not every single computer. Alternatively, you can have a encryption application that can run without installation from your usb. The best would be to use biometric USB drives.

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