Natural Hair Rinse

Hair rinses are good for adding “shine” to your hair and they nourish the hair, too. Natural hair rinses have the added advantage that they do not contain harmful chemicals. You can buy hair rinses from the stores and even better you can use your homemade natural hair rinse too!

Natural Hair Rinse with Cider Vinegar and Rosemary:

What You Need:

• 1 cup of finely chopped rosemary leaves*
• 2½ cups of cider vinegar

*You may also use herbs like chamomile and parsley.

How to Prepare and Apply:

• Pour the cider vinegar into a clean, dry glass bottle. Add the finely chopped sprigs of rosemary leaves. Seal the bottle, and store in a cool, dark place for about 15 days.
• After 15 days, use a muslin cloth or cheesecloth to strain this mixture. Pour the strained liquid into a clean, dry bottle. Refrigerate this natural hair rinse. This natural hair rinse should be used within 6 months.
• When you want to use this natural hair rinsemix 1 tbsp of the cider-vinegar and rosemary hair rinse in 1 cup of water. Apply the hair rinse uniformly on your hair. Leave it on 5 minutes and then rinse your hair with plain water. For better conditioning, use this natural hair rinse as your final wash after you shampoo your hair.
• Dry your hair with a towel.
• This natural hair rinse conditions and nourishes your hair. Ideally, this hair rinse should be used once in 7 days.

Lemon Natural Hair Rinse

What You Need:

• Juice of 1 ripe lemon
• 2 cups of water

How to Prepare and Apply:

• Pour 2 cups of water in a glass bowl and add the lemon juice. Mix well.
• After you shampoo your hair, apply the lemon rinse on your hair and scalp.
• Leave this natural hair rinse on your hair for 5 minutes.
• Rinse your hair with plain water.
• This natural hair rinse removes excess oil from your scalp and gives a “shine” to your hair.

Caution: If you are allergic to any one of the ingredients, then, do not use these natural hair rinses. You can also buy natural hair rinses. You may look up websites like Herbal-Gardens.Net if you want to buy natural hair rinses.

Yoga for Weight Loss

Yoga will help you burn more calories per day and get a more lean and strong body.Yoga can support your weight loss goals by giving a healthy direction. Weight gain is the result of leading a lifestyle where you take in more calories than you utilize.

Yoga offers a good solution to this problem. Yoga tones the body in a uniformed manner, unlike any " weight loss program" which claims to decrease your butts by this much inches and waist by this much, leading to side effects. Yoga can be practiced at any age to keep the body supple.

With all the conveniences of modern life such as washing machine, car, computers we do not use as many calories as we did just a few decades ago. Another big player in the weight gain game is diet. Modern lifestyle includes an abundance of packaged food with appealing food aromas, food colors, spices, refined products and even addictive ingredients. No wonder we find ourselves facing the weight gain dilemma. How can yoga help us get out of the vicious cycle of taking in more calories than we utilize? Listed here are some of the benefits:

* Yoga is a natural exercise for everybody. We have been doing yoga right from the time we were babies.

* Yoga can give you the energy and enthusiasm to create your weight loss plan and more importantly the inner strength required to stick to the plan. Create a strategy based on clear understanding of your problem. Get help from a Sri Sri Ayurveda and Sri Sri Yoga experts.

* Yoga can support your weight loss goals by giving a healthy direction to your life energy.

* Balance your body with yoga postures. Some yoga postures, when done correctly, massage the endocrine glands and the digestive system which improves digestion.

* You can build your support group at the nearest Sri Sri Yoga class and make friends interested in a healthy lifestyle.

* Lastly and most importantly, control how much, how & what you eat with yoga. Regular yoga practice can give you a valuable and unshakeable body consciousness that will help you eat less and help you eat the right food.

* Enjoy your first steps to a more healthy and happy lifestyle, enroll yourself to a yoga class right away. Find the right teacher for your level, and get a lean, fit and strong body.

Benefit Of Yoga For Back Pain

But if you have been suffering from back pain, you might reconsider. Pain relief is just one of the benefits of practicing yoga. You might also experience an improvement in your mental and emotional health that causes you to be relaxed and focused for the demands of your busy life.

* Fists Forward Bend 

Stand with feet hip-distance apart. Bend your knees and release your torso over your legs until your belly touches your thighs (or as close as you can get). Make two fists and place them in the opposite elbow creases. Relax your back, neck and head, and squeeze fists actively. Fists and bent elbows together are a central nervous system trigger that causes your back muscles to open. You’ll feel it after just a few breaths! Take 10-20 breaths here, releasing more tension from the back with every exhale.

* Wall Plank 

Stand in front of a wall at arm’s length. Reach forward from your shoulders and plant your palms on the wall, fingers wide, middle fingers pointing straight at the ceiling. Firm your fingers into the wall and draw your navel back as you lengthen the tailbone towards the floor.

Lift your ribs from the pelvis. You want to work with a natural lower back curve but an active belly. Keep length in your spine as you begin to walk the legs back, folding at the waist, and walking your hands down the wall.

Eventually you’ll come to an L-shape as seen here. If you can’t get there today without feeling pain or rounding in the lower back, bend your knees and maintain the proper spinal alignment.

As you lift the navel and lower ribs into the body, reach long through the tailbone and legs into the floor while reaching the spine, arms and head towards the wall. Repeat for 10-20 breaths, then fold into Fists Forward Fold once again. Move to the next pose after a few breaths.

* Downward-Facing Dog 

If done properly, this tried-and true asana can be excellent for spinal traction and back health. Move into the pose with feet hip-distance apart [did you know that’s only two fists-width or so?] and hands shoulder-distance apart. It’s important not to let your back arch too much, which pressurizes the shoulder joints and over-contracts the back muscles. Instead, think of lifting the navel and front ribs, providing a buoyancy in the shoulders and back.

Carve the tailbone towards the heels and press back through the inner and outer legs equally. This provides a root, a backward grounding from which you can pull and grow your spine and head forward towards the space between your hands. Even as you move the shoulders down the back and wrap your outer shoulder blades towards your armpits slightly, press long through the arms and fingers, providing a whole-body realignment and stretch. Take 5-10 breaths here, then proceed to the next pose.

* Pigeon 

We should call this pose “Angel of Mercy” for what it can do to rescue your poor aching back. It’s genius at opening the lower body muscles like hamstrings, hip rotators and the iliopsoas muscles, all which can contribute to back pain, without putting too much torque on the already tight back muscles.

This releases them by springing open the muscles beneath. It’s a must-do in my yoga sequencing. From Downward-Facing Dog, bring your right knee behind the right wrist, foot either touching the left hip crease or slightly forward.

Stretch the left leg out long behind you, knee and top of the foot facing the floor. Center your hips in space even if they don’t touch the floor.

Press your palms into the floor or a yoga block, ground your legs into the mat, and allow your legs to stretch while you let your low back curve and lift up. Draw your navel and pelvic floor muscles in and send your heart to the sky. To deepen this pose, move your front knee wider and back and creep the back leg longer. Take 5-10 breaths here, then fold forward, forearms on a block or the floor for a full-body stretch to counterpose. Return to Downward-Facing Dog, then repeat on the other side.

* Back Traction Pose 

After your last Pigeon, swing your back leg around and come onto your back, knees bent, feet under knees as if to prepare for a Bridge Pose. Grab your yoga block or if you don’t have one, a firmly-rolled yoga mat will do. Lift your hips, and place the block in the center of your hips (not low back).

The block should be the skinny way, in the same direction as your spine, not wide across the hips like your pants line. Place your hips on the block and gently walk your feet wide. Knock your knees in towards one another for one minute to stretch across the sacrum, and then walk feet and knees together.

Lift your knees over your hips until you can relax them but still stay suspended in the air. This pose will release your iliopsoas muscles even as it detoxes you and provides traction for the low back spine. After about 30 seconds or so, scoot your head further from the shoulders and rest for another 30 seconds. Return to the first variation, feet wide on the floor, knees closer, for a few breaths. To release, walk the feet under the knees at hip distance.

Engage your navel, lift your hips off the block and remove it to the side. Roll slowly down the spine inch by inch and enjoy your new spacious lower back curve and sacrum!

* Child’s Pose 

Roll over and take Child’s Pose for one minute or more. Try knees wide, big toes closer, but end with knees together for a neutral spinal stretch. If your head doesn’t touch the floor, place a yoga block or fists under your forehead so you can relax completely. Breathe slowly into your back body, expanding more nourishing energy and space on the inhale, and on the exhales, let ever more tension dissolve.

Mantra Yoga Benefits

Different people use different mantras for chanting.

The mantras could be a particular sentence or a group of sentences related to a particular spiritual meaning.

The most commonly used word for chanting is ‘Om’ which according to Sanskrit means spirit and according to hindu mythology it means emptiness.

The combination of the two derives the purpose of the mantra yoga – A calm spirit detached from the anxieties and worries of a regular life.

* Mantra yoga works a great deal on people suffering from anxiety, stress , nervousness, panic attacks and fear,

* Regular chanting of the mantras creates a sense of tranquillity.

* It also helps achieve inner peace

* The advantage of mantra yoga, as it is believed, is that it turns an unhappy person into a happy and serene individual.

* Since the most commonly chanted word is the word ‘Om’, the repetition of this word creates a physical vibration along with the mental one. This leads the practitioner to lead levels of sub and super consciousness.

* Helps focus on your inner self. * It has positive effects on the nervous system.

* This yoga relaxes the mind, body and the soul.

* Mantra yoga when practiced to extreme levels, helps attain intense points of concentration that can cure any physical or mental disorders.

* A person practicing mantra yoga benefits from regulated breath and clarity of mind.

* The spiritual benefits of this yoga are psychic intervention, control of ones own mind and thoughts.

* The relaxation of the mind enhances knowledge and the pressures of life are controlled by the thought control process.

* The most important and ultimate benefit of mantra yoga is self realization and leads an individual on the road to enlightenment.

Heart Attack and The Facts

A heart attack is a frightening event, and you probably don't want to think about it. But, if you learn the signs of a heart attack and what steps to take, you can save a life–maybe your own.

We all think that heart attack is sudden intense, where a person clutches his or her chest and falls over. But the truth is heart attack starts slowly, as a mild pain or discomfort. If you feel such a symptom, you may not be sure what's wrong. Your symptoms may even come and go. Even those who have had a heart attack may not recognize their symptoms, because the next attack can have entirely different ones.

Medical experts say the body likely will send one or more of these warning signals of a heart attack it could be like..

Uncomfortable pressure, fullness, squeezing or pain in the center of the chest lasting more than a few minutes.

Pain spreading to the shoulders, neck or arms. The pain may be mild to intense. It may feel like pressure, tightness, burning, or heavy weight. It may be located in the chest, upper abdomen, neck, jaw, or inside the arms or shoulders.

• Chest discomfort with light head redness, fainting, sweating, nausea or shortness of breath.
• Anxiety, nervousness and/or cold, sweaty skin.
• Paleness or pallor.
• Increased or irregular heart rate.
• Feeling of impending doom.
• There is no rule that those all symptoms should occur in every attack. But If you notice one or more of these signs in yourself or others consult your immediately.

Causes of Heart Attack

Age

this is considered to be the largest risk factor. When a man is over 45 years, and the woman is over 55 years of age, their risk of having a heart attack starts to rise significantly.

Angina

Angina is an illness where not enough oxygen is reaching the patient's heart. This raises the risk of a heart attack. In some cases a diagnosis of angina was wrong - it could have been a mild heart attack instead. The main difference between a heart attack and angina is that the patient with angina will feel better about 15 to 30 minutes after taking medication, while the heart attack patient won't.

Blood cholesterol levels 

Iif a person's blood cholesterol levels are high, he/she runs a higher risk of developing blood clots in the arteries. Blood clots can block the supply of blood to the heart muscle, causing a heart attack.

Diabetes

People with diabetes have a higher risk of developing several diseases and conditions, many of them contribute to a higher risk of heart attack.

Diet 

A person who consumes large quantities of, for example, animal fats, or saturated fats, will eventually have a higher risk of having a heart attack.

Genes 

You can inherit a higher risk of heart attack from your parents, and/or their parents.

Heart Surgery

Patients who have had heart surgery have a higher risk of having a heart attack.

Hypertension (High blood Pressure) 

Tthis could be due to lack of physical activity, overweight/obesity, diabetes, genes, and some other factors.

Obesity, Overweight

As more and more people are overweight, especially children, experts believe heart attacks will become more common in future (if the overweight children become overweight adults).

Physical Inactivity 

People who do not exercise have a much higher risk of having a heart attack, compared to people who exercise regularly.

Previous Heart Attack 

Anybody who has already had a heart attack is more likely to have another one, compared to other people.

Smoking

People who smoke heavily or regularly run a much higher risk of heart attack, compared to people who never smoked and those who gave up. Smoking regularly means smoking every day.

Check your Family History

If a close relative is at risk of developing coronary heart disease from smoking, high BP, high cholesterol, lack of physical activity, obesity and diabetes, then you could be at risk too.

How to prevent Heart Attack

1. You are what you eat! Eat nutritious, healthy food.

2. Choose foods low in saturated fat. Make sure you include servings of fruit, vegetables and whole grains which are rich in starch and fiber, but low in fat.

3. Cutting down on dietary cholesterol consumption can help bring down blood cholesterol. Egg white, and foods from plant sources do not have cholesterol.

4. Read food labels. Look for the amount of saturated fat, total fat, cholesterol and total calories per serving on the nutrition label.

5. Stress can be harmful by raising blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and making your heart beat faster. Relax, smile, don't get angry often.

6. Bring down high blood pressure. You can do this by minimizing risk factors, making lifestyle changes, or by taking medication if necessary.

7. Stop smoking. Stub out that cigarette butt - Now!

8. If you drink, do so in moderation. A limit of two drinks per day is good for your heart.

9. Fight the battle of the bulge! Obesity is bad. Stay slim and lean.

10. If you are overweight, try and lose the excess.

11. Don't try crash diets - instead opt for a slow, steady and sustained program to lose weight.

12. An active lifestyle is healthy. Exercise regularly.

13. Try and incorporate a higher activity level into daily activities like taking a walk, riding a bike to the supermarket, climbing stairs instead of using the elevator and playing sports like badminton and basketball.

Risk factors for heart attacks have often been talked about. Let us now focus more on the positive side of cardiac well being.

Healthy Breakfast

Fish, the Environment and Health

When you consider what the report says, it may make you decide that you prefer to focus on fish as your source of animal protein.

But there are ramifications for this also: both for the environment and for your health.

In fact, there are so many ramifications to eating fish that I will devote an entire series to this subject at another time.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t eat fish, or any animal food at all. That’s your personal choice, but it’s best if you make your choice an informed and educated one.

If you’re not willing to consider becoming a vegetarian, you want to at least cut down on the amount of animal food you do eat, or at least do what Paul McCartney is advocating, of going meat-free on Mondays, or whichever day you want to designate as a meat-free day.

If you watch the above video, which is a trailer to a film called The End of the Line, you will understand what one of the environmental reasons is for considering your fish intake.

A 2008 United Nations reports that 80 percent of the world’s ocean fishing areas are now either fully fished (i.e. incapable of providing more) or overexploited.

This is also what The End of the Line is stating. But besides the overfishing and possible catastrophic results from it that The End of the Line discusses, there are also environmental and health issues.

There are many fish in the ocean that contain dangerous levels of mercury, PCB’s and pesticides, and the trend towards fish farms isn’t necessarily a panacea, as there are troubling environmental and health issues surrounding fish raised that way – from the corn feed, chemical feed and hormones that some farmed fish are given, to the pollutants that are in the waters at these factory fish farms.

And then there are questions as to whether the health claims of fish are overhyped, as a study that came out in March 2009 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal stated.

So what to do about eating fish? You can make your decision by choosing sources that are fished or farmed responsibly, and low in environmental contaminants.

According to the Environmental Defense Fund, you want to choose either wild fish from healthy, well-managed populations, or caught using fishing gear that does little harm to sea life and marine habitats; or choose farmed fish raised in systems that control pollution, the spread of disease, chemical use and escaped fish.

Most fish that the Environmental Defense Fund considers safe to eat are also low in environmental contaminants and can be safely eaten at least once per week.

The list of fish that make this list include: Arctic char, farmed oysters, sablefish (aka black cod), wild Alaskan salmon, sardines, farmed trout and West Coast albacore tuna, anchovies, catfish, soft shell clams, Pacific cod, Pacific halibut, farmed striped bass, tilapia, farmed white sturgeon, and squid.