Denise Sautters CantonRep.com staff writer

Ida Mae Graves of Canton, 94, is on the move.

It isn't always easy for the woman who uses a walker to get around, but Mark Jones is making it easier for her.

"My mother raised us to keep moving," she said. "I don't know why, but I keep doing it, and it is working for me. I feel good."

Her method of movement nowadays is chair yoga, a practice of modified yoga poses with participants seated in a chair instead of on a mat.

"This practice is about balance," said Mark Jones of Canton, who specializes in both mat and chair practices. "It is good for people with specific conditions such as multiple sclerosis, vertigo really, it is for everybody, but primarily for those who have a lack or mobility, balance or ability to stand for any length of time. Like mat yoga, chair yoga provides participants with core strength, good stretch, improved muscle tone, better breathing habits, stress relief and a sense of well-being."

Angela Caster, 70, and Jean Flitcraft, 82, both of Canton, can attest to the benefits of chair yoga.

"I can bend over without falling," said Flitcraft. "I was getting to be a couch potato before I started taking chair yoga. But, now, my balance is so much better, and my body feels so much better now and I have only been doing this not even a year yet."

Caster said she is much more relaxed now, and her knees no longer hurt like they did before.

"I've taken the class for the past four years and I feel so much better than I did before," she said, noting that because of the benefits she's able to work part time at the Meyers Lake YMCA, where she takes her classes.

Flitcraft also takes classes at the Meyers Lake Y, taught by Krysten Neal of Canton. Graves follows Jones at The Regency, where she is a resident.

"We've taught chair yoga here for the past 4 years," said Neal, explaining the program was certified by Silver Sneakers, a fitness program for those 65 and older that is available through numerous insurance companies. "This is a modified yoga program, seated and standing, for older adults who are basically either fit or sedentary that have had some rehabilitation and want to start back into exercise. It is also good for their mental and emotional state, if they are having trouble sleeping or with stress and anxiety."

Neal, 52, is a fan of mat yoga for herself, but really is not a student of the discipline. Most of her yoga education has been through the Silver Sneakers program.

"I've done it on my own here and there but never have been a real student of yoga," she said. "I do like mat yoga, but I do this to help my students breathe better and get their balance."

Jones' parents got him to the mat.

"When I was 42, I began the practice of yoga immediately upon seeing my then-77-year-old mother who had been practicing yoga for more than 30 years swoop easily into a full forward bend to pick up a kitten. I remember committing at that moment to whatever it would take to earn such gracefulness at 77. That was 14 years ago. Today, I have a whole new respect for the practice."

He received his 500-hour level of Brahmrishi Yoga Teacher Training Certification in 2016 and is registered with Yoga Alliance, a nonprofit organization that promotes and supports the teaching of yoga.

He teaches yoga full time now, at numerous locations, including The Regency, Mercy Medical Center and The Danbury.

"The brain runs the show, " he said. "Every movement comes from the brain, so we are using the body to access and quiet the brain. Basically, yoga maintains the body."

Reach Denise at 330-580-8321 or denise.sautters@cantonrep.com. On Twitter:@dsauttersREP

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Chair yoga helps Stark County seniors increase mobility, stability - Massillon Independent

When I was growing up there were certain things that boys did and other things reserved for girls. Boy sports included boxing, basketball, and football. Girl sportsWell, girls werent encouraged to engage in sports at all. They were the pretty cheer leaders who did back flips when we scored a touchdown. They were the ones we hoped to score with after the game if we were good enough, strong, enough, fast enough, tall enough, and handsome enough.

But, to paraphrase Bob Dylan, The times are a changing, big time. Now women are doing all the sports that were once reserved for men. In addition to female basketball players and footballers, we now have women boxers like Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, and Regina Halmich, who popularized female boxing in Europe. We have mixed-martial artists like Amanda Nunez, Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey.

While women have been breaking through the barriers that have kept them out, men are slower to break through the barriers that have kept them from enjoying and benefitting from healthy activities such as Zumba and Yoga, which in my town, continue to be predominantly practiced by women.

I go to Zumba classes twice a week. I love the Latin music and I get a great workout that keeps me fit. There are additional benefits as I wrote inSix Sex Trends From My Zumba Class.I also go to Yoga classes, which I also enjoy and get great benefit from attending. My wife, Carlin, has taught Yoga classes for many years. It took me awhile to try them out. I had accepted the stereotype that men go to the gym. Women do yoga.

But now I find they are a super good work out. The classes I attend still have mostly women in them, but hey, hanging out with a lot of hot, sweaty women, isnt too bad. I mean, someone has to do it.

Here are some great reasons to do Yoga:

Staying flexible is good at any age, but as I get older, its become increasingly important. A lot of my men friends are stiff and move like old men. I like the feeling of ease I receive.

We all want to keep breathing and insure our hearts are healthy. The American Heart Association recommends Yoga. Hand in hand with leading a heart-healthy lifestyle, it really is possible for a yoga-based model to help prevent or reverse heart disease, saysM. Mala Cunningham, Ph.D.,counseling psychologist and founder of Cardiac Yoga.

I love to play racquetball and my buddy, Ian, is a golfer. With those activities, the spine tends to consistently turn in one direction. Yoga helps balance us out, using postures that keep the spine supple.

In a study by theJournal of Alternative Medicine, overweight men who practiced yogalost four pounds in 10 days.Yoga lowers levels of cortisol, the stress hormone that prompts your body to collect belly fat.

Theres nothing more miserable than back pain and nothing that will ruin your sex life faster. Like most guys I know, I spend a lot of time sitting on my butt in front of a computer. Muscles get tight and shorten and chronic back pain is the result. Yoga not only alleviates lower back pain but also helps with fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, and other kinds of chronic pain.

Yoga uses a combination of physical poses, controlled breathing, and relaxation techniques that have been shown to lower blood pressure and heart rate, both of which help modulate the stress response. Its been proven that yoga can also help withanxietyanddepression.

Ill admit it. Ill try anything that can improve my sex life. Both increased libido and improved sexual performance have been linked to regular yoga practice. In a 2010 study of men ages 24 to 60, yoga was shown toimprove all domains of sexual function in men. The breathing techniques and concentration taught in yoga can help men better channel their sexual energy.

Meet the Men Dedicated to Helping Guys Become Healthier, Happier, and Sexier

Louis dOrigny loved mathematics, but the immense pressures of university life, were stressing him out. He turned to yoga to help improve his physical and emotional strength. After graduating in 2013, he followed the well-trodden path of his predecessors and went to work in banking. But he continued to practice yoga and found it a massive support in becoming a success in the business world.

But he became increasingly disillusioned with the finance world:

I wanted to create something to inspire men to embrace their individuality and be the best that they could be.

During a yoga class in London in September 2014, Louis had the idea that he could create better yoga clothes for men than the offerings currently on the market. Diving in, head first, Louis put all of his time and energy into building OHMME. Whats the deal with the name? I asked. I mixed the yoga mantra sound AUM with the French word for man HOMME to make a brand which is yoga focused and solely for men.

Starting a business alone is very hard, and 18-hour days are not uncommon. Louis uses yoga as a way to calm his mind and maintain focus on the important issues in the business. He also partnered with a fellow yoga enthusiast named Jonty.

Jonty Hikmet was a shy boy growing up in North West London. I had all the usual allergies and ailments as everyone else; Colds in the winter, hay fever in the summer and stomach issues as well, he told me. But in my early 20s I started to align myself more with health. He earned a degree in Business Management, but instead of going to work in an accountancy firm, Jonty moved to Buenos Aires to teach English. Not being able to resist a new experience, he discovered yoga. He later returned to London.

Louis and Jonty met through an Ashtanga yoga class that they both regularly attended in Central London. Here they noticed they were the only guys in the class, and they bonded over wanting to be able encourage guys to get involved in yoga practice. They shared a passion for yoga, business, and helping men break through the stereotypes that have kept men from being all that they can be.

They explained:

We are currently theonlymens yoga brand, created to make men feel that its normal and O.K. to do yoga. This is the only business designed by guys that do yoga,for guys that do not, to encourage them to take up the practice, for their health, fitness and wellness.

Ive been trying out their yoga pants and shorts and I love them for all kinds of movement activities. Theyre extremely well made and super comfortable.

Louis and Jonty take seriously author Sam Keens challenge that The radical vision of the future rests on the belief that the logic that determines either our survival or our destruction is simple:

We use Bluesign fabrics, they told me, which means all of our clothes reduce our collective carbon footprint as much as possible. We use the best fabric technology like recycled plastic bottles which uses 35-55% less energy than making new polyester.

If all that wasnt a reason to check out OHMME, they are offering my readers a 10% discount valid until August 31st2017 with the code M3NALIV3, to use at checkout! Cometake a lookand check them out. Ive been wearing theWarrior I Yoga ShortsandDharma Graphite Pants(which are super well-made and comfortable) depending on what Im doing. But check out their whole line of great clotheshere, take advantage of their special offer today, and let us know what you think.

Be healthy, happy, and sexy, my friends.

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This article originally appeared on Men Alive

Photo credit: Getty Images

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7 Reasons Men Should Do Yoga - The Good Men Project (blog)

TROY, N.Y.>> Every summer lots of locals start their Sundays with a stretch on the Troy riverfront for Fitness in the Park.

This popular program, now in its fourth year, is put on by the Downtown Troy Business Improvement District and sponsored by CDPHP.

Depending on weather, the free weekly outdoor event typically draws about 250 people at 9 a.m. each Sunday to Riverfront Park.

This year the program is exclusively offering yoga sessions, which proved to be a favorite with attendees previous summers. Classes are taught by instructors from three downtown yoga studios: Heartspace Yoga & Healing Arts, The Balance Loft and Lotus Wellness Studio.

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Regulars like Nina T. Stark and Shirley Buel, both Troy residents, aim to make it out every weekend.

I think this is such a wonderful opportunity for people, said Buel, noting that likes trying out different styles of yoga with different instructors. It reallys gives you a good opportunity to see all different kinds of yoga, she said.

I think that yoga is one of the best things that people of any age can do, just in terms of good health, Buel continued.

Especially as people age, the women said, yoga is a good way to maintain flexibility, core strength, balance and mindfulness.

There are so many health reasons, medical reasons, that yoga is really good, said Stark, who didnt start practicing yoga until she was older. Now, she regularly attends the downtown Heartspace Yoga studio. I think its helping, she said.

Buel also noted that there were children in the crowd at Sundays class. For those youngsters, Its kind of a nice introduction to yoga, she said.

These Troy yogis and many others are happy to have the classes offered for free in their community.

Likewise, residents from around the region flock to Riverfront Park on Sunday mornings to participate as well.

I love that it brings people into the city, said Erica Rock of Troy.

Rock also loves being part of it, herself. I think its a great way to start your day, she said after class on Sunday. I love that were outdoors. You can feel the sun on you. I think that its very relaxing and its just a nice, quiet time.

Katie Hammon, executive director of the Downtown Troy Business Improvement District, said Fitness in the Park shows off a different side of Troy. As part of our mission, were working to improve the lifestyle of downtown. So this is kind of a come down, enjoy your surroundings and experience what Troy has to offer - in a different way, she said. We obviously run lots of larger events, but this is a different style event.

Fitness in the Park will continue from 9 to 10 a.m. on Sundays in Riverfront Park through the end of August. The next three sessions are scheduled to be taught by instructors from new downtown business Lotus Wellness Studio.

More information about Fitness in the Park and other Downtown Troy Business Improvement District events is available online at DowntownTroy.org.

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Fitness in the Park brings yoga to Riverfront - Troy Record

VANCOUVER, Wash. Molly McAllister took a deep breath and prepared to go into the downward dog pose. She spread her hands apart, tucked her toes and lifted her knees off the ground. She lowered her head and eased into the yoga pose, stretching her hamstrings.

Then she noticed Jacks diaper needed changing.

The Ridgefield mom quickly broke from the pose and pulled 5-month-old Jack onto a portable changing pad spread out over her yoga mat. She talked to Jack as she quickly swapped out the wet diaper for a dry one.

Meanwhile, the five other women in the yoga class moved on. They shifted into the sitting position and began pelvic floor exercises.

Thats when 9-month-old Izebella decided she was ready to eat. Mom Garri Hiles cradled the infant and began nursing her daughter while continuing with pelvic muscle exercises.

Changing dirty diapers. Breastfeeding hungry babies. Soothing fussy babies. Its all OK encouraged, even in Daniele Strawmyres Mommy and Me Yoga class.

There are no rules in Mommy and Me Yoga, Strawmyre tells the moms before the class begins.

Strawmyre, a 43-year-old mother of two young children, began offering the postpartum yoga classes this spring. The class is open to women who are at least four to six weeks postpartum and their babies.

During the hourlong class, moms perform yoga moves and take breaks to tend to their babies as needed. Sometimes babies are incorporated into the class, such as walking on their rear ends and lifting baby while singing The Grand Old Duke of York or stretching down to blow raspberries on babys tummy.

For McAllister, the class offered an opportunity for the new mom to get back into yoga after the birth of her son.

I like doing yoga, and I dont normally have anyone to watch him while I do yoga, she said.

For Hiles, the class was a chance to try something new.

I really enjoyed it, she said. It was my first time doing yoga, even.

Izebella stayed entertained during the class by playing with cellphone cases and chewing on the top of a water bottle. But once shes mobile, Izebella and Hiles will have outgrown the Mommy and Me class.

Once babies are crawling, Strawmyre moves the moms to a different class: Multitasking Mama Yoga, which is for moms with kids younger than 4. That class, Strawmyre says, is a little more chaotic.

The multitasking class really is a free for all, she said.

Some of the kids want to do the yoga poses, others just want to play. All of it is OK, Strawmyre said. While the class may get interrupted, the goal is still the same as the Mommy and Me class: to let moms do something for themselves.

Self-care is really important to being a good mom, Strawmyre said.

Strawmyre was a professional dancer in Philadelphia and taught dance and yoga. After teaching yoga for 10 years, she decided to get her instructor certification.

At the time she began the intensive coursework, she was 6 months pregnant with her son. As part of her training, Strawmyre had an apprenticeship with an instructor who taught mommy and me yoga classes.

I just got so inspired by teaching pregnant women and new moms because the environment is just magical, Strawmyre said.

Strawmyre took courses in prenatal and postpartum yoga, as well as postpartum doula, childbirth and breastfeeding trainings. She offered some yoga classes to new and expecting moms while in Philadelphia and formed a bond with the women in her class. She leaned on them when her son experienced health issues and when her mother died from cancer.

I had created this tribe of other moms and other women, she said. When we moved out here, I was inspired and wanted to do something similar here.

I havent been this inspired. I feel like I can be of service and help others.

More Northwest articles

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Yoga class helps new moms get their move on - The Register-Guard

By Amy Norton

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Aug. 3, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Many people try yoga hoping to heal an injury, but some wind up with more aches and pains, a new study finds.

The study, which surveyed hundreds of people doing yoga for more than a year, found that two-thirds said that some existing aches improved because of yoga -- most often, lower back and neck pain.

On the other hand, 21 percent said yoga worsened their muscle or joint pain. And almost 11 percent said it caused new issues -- most commonly, pain in the hand, wrist, elbow or shoulder.

The study didn't delve into specific injuries, but instead asked people about general aches in different body areas.

So it's hard to know how serious the problems were, said Tom Swain, a researcher with the Center for Injury Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"You don't have to sustain a serious injury to have pain. It could just be sore muscles," said Swain, who wasn't involved in the study.

In a study published last year, Swain and his colleagues looked at serious yoga-related injuries. They found that between 2001 and 2014, almost 30,000 Americans landed in the emergency room for injuries attributed to yoga -- including sprained joints, serious muscle strains and even fractures.

And the rate climbed over the years, the study found.

Still, given how popular yoga is, the risk of ending up in the ER is quite low, the researchers said. By 2014, the rate of ER-treated injuries stood at 17 for every 100,000 yoga practitioners.

"So even though there is some risk of injury," Swain said, "that shouldn't deter people from participating in yoga, because there are many potential benefits."

Studies have tied yoga to health gains ranging from lower blood pressure, cholesterol and heart rate to improvements in depression, anxiety and sleep problems.

Plus, based on other research, yoga may not be any riskier than other forms of exercise, according to the researchers behind the current study.

The study's investigators, led by Marc Campo of Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., reported their findings in the Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies.

For the study, the researchers surveyed 354 people, mostly women, who practiced at two yoga studios. Classes there ranged from gentle, "restorative" yoga to fast-paced Vinyasa-style.

Each study participant was surveyed twice, one year apart.

Nearly all (87 percent) said they'd had pain in at least one body area during that year. About two-thirds said their pain had improved because of yoga, while one-fifth believed yoga had worsened some of their aches -- often in the wrist or hand.

Meanwhile, almost 11 percent said they'd developed a new injury they attributed to yoga. For about 5 percent, the pain actually cropped up during class.

Again, the upper extremities were often the problem area.

That, the researchers speculate, might be because yoga can include a lot of weight-bearing in the hands -- in poses such as downward-facing dog.

Dr. Joshua Harris is an orthopedic surgeon at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas. He focuses on hip issues, and said he's seen the consequences of pushing too hard in a yoga class.

A concern with yoga, according to Harris, is that some of the poses involve extreme range of motion in the joints. And what's reasonable for one person is not necessarily right for another.

"Range of motion is very different from one person to the next. It's so individual," Harris said. "If you keep pushing your range of motion beyond what it should be, you'll probably end up getting hurt."

Like Swain, Harris said yoga can have many benefits, and the point is not to scare people away from it.

His advice to yoga novices is to find an experienced, knowledgeable teacher -- by word of mouth, or reviews, for example.

"If you have an injury," Harris said, "let the instructor know -- 'I'm new to yoga and my back hurts.' "

Take it slow to begin, he advised, and ask the teacher for modifications of poses that don't feel right.

"Listen to your body," Harris said. "The 'no pain, no gain' mantra is just not right."

WebMD News from HealthDay

SOURCES: Thomas Swain, M.P.H., research assistant, Center for Injury Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Joshua Harris, M.D., orthopedic surgeon, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas; June 2, 2017, Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies, online

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When Ouch Comes With the 'Ahh' Yoga Has Risks - WebMD

Decades of research show that yoga can reduce the emotional and physical fatigue brought on by cancer treatment. Now researchers have shown for the first time thats also true specifically for men being treated for prostate cancer. Men who took a yoga class twice a week during treatment reported less fatigue, fewer sexual side effects, and better urinary functioning than men who did not, according a new study. The data are convincing, said the studys principal investigator, Dr. Neha Vapiwala, an associate professor of radiation oncology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. What we need now is a better understanding of how and why yoga produces these benefits.

Vapiwala and her colleagues enrolled 50 men with early or advanced non-metastatic prostate cancer who ranged in age from 53 to 85. Among them, 22 were assigned to the yoga group and the rest were not. All the men got scheduled radiation treatments during the study, 29 were also on hormonal therapy, and 19 had previously been treated surgically for prostate cancer. The groups were evenly balanced with respect to cancer treatments, in addition to other possible treatments for erectile and urinary problems. Men who already practiced yoga or were treated previously with radiation were ineligible for the study, as were men with metastatic prostate cancer.

The type of yoga assessed in the study, called Eischens yoga, focuses on holding and maintaining poses. And its accessible for all body types and experience levels and allows for hands-on guidance from instructors, Vapiwala said. The sessions lasted 75 minutes each and incorporated sitting, standing, and reclining positions matched to each mans needs and abilities. Before, during, and after the nine-week study, men in both the yoga and control groups were asked to rate their fatigue, sexual health (including but not limited to erectile functioning), and urinary symptoms.

Men in the yoga group reported improving or stabilizing symptom scores over time, whereas men in the non-yoga group reported worsening symptoms. Ordinarily, youd expect symptom scores to decline with continuing treatment, Vapiwala said. But in the yoga group, the changes were notably positive.

Vapiwala speculates that yoga improves erectile and urinary function by strengthening core muscles and improving blood flow. Asked how shed counsel a man whos considering yoga during cancer treatment, Vapiwala said, Regardless of how you view your own fitness, its important to keep an open mind. Theres something to be said for finding the right group and the right instructor. But you might be surprised at what you can do!

The Harvard Medical School Guide to Yoga is a comprehensive guide that gets to the true healing heart of yoga and its latest research. With a streamlined eight-week program, illustrations, adaptable sequences, principles of yoga safety, and an unpacking of the eight limbs of yoga-including breathing techniques and meditation, The Harvard Medical School Guide to Yoga is a medically sound overview of the practice.

Availableonline now.

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Yoga improves treatment-related symptoms in men with prostate cancer - Harvard Health (blog)

For students of any age, there are more distractions today than ever before, and finding stability in the chaos is difficult. Between sports, studying, moving to a new city for college and meeting new friends, it can be easy to throw healthy eating habits out the window.

It is no secret that munching on sugar-laden treats or deep-fried potatoes will not inspire you to hit the books. Bottomless iced coffee and Unicorn Frappuccinos are not going to help much, either, especially after you crash and burn from that initial caffeine rush.

As you prepare to return to school after the summer, consider that there are a slew of foods that have long been known to cure pretest jitters, calm your anxiety and help you tap into your intellectual side.

In a very, very, non-traditional nutritional approach to cleansing the body and preparing the mind for that mid-term crunch time, there are alternative approaches that focus on preventing a total burn-out. How so?

According to ancient eastern cultures (think the 5,000-year-old yogic culture in India), there are three energies called doshas that circulate throughout the body at any given time. The belief is that a person may have one or two energies that are stronger than the other, or all three of them could be equally present. Each of these energies have their own unique set of characteristics. When in balance, these energies help people operate at maximum level. When out of whack, a person may feel lethargic, anxious or angry.

William Bill Courson teaches students at Sai Ayurvedic College of Miami and works with patients to balance doshas energies in their bodies called Pitta (fire), Vata (air) and Kapha (earth). He believes students can manage their stress levels by using tips from a 5,000-year-old medicinal practice called Ayurveda.

William Courson Courtesy of

Food and drinks are known to have nurturing, energy efficient properties that coincide with your dosha, which, comes from a Sanskrit word meaning, that which can become polluted or imbalanced, or fall into disrepair, said William Courson, dean of academic affairs and institutional development at the Sai Ayurvedic College of Miami.

It is an ancient Ayurvedic belief (Ayurveda is also known to be a 5,000-year-old medicinal practice) in which people have three main energy centers in the body Pitta, Kapha and Vata fire, earth and water. Or, to put it simply, some food is bad for you and will make you feel drained, while other foods will keep you light and focused.

At the end of the day, he said, it is all about balance.

In each person, one, sometimes two, of these doshas is most intensely active and most emphatically present, said Courson, who has a bachelors degree in Vedic studies (Ayurveda) from the Sai Ayurvedic College of Miami. That presence impacts on bodily shape, appearance, psychological traits, nutritional and fitness needs. They will respond to one's environment, and they reveal the types of diseases and health issues one is most vulnerable to.

Trying to balance the inner-dosha may seem like a tall order for students, who constantly lack time and a breadth of money, but Courson strongly believes that the reason Ayurveda works so well is because its preventative.

Courson said that his experience working with patients has repeatedly supported one of his main messages - that committing to preventing health problems is more cost effective than waiting for a problem to become too big to manage.

Here is a short primer on determining your dosha:

Are you someone who runs hot, even when it is technically cold outside? Are you intense about your work and passionate about your hobbies? Do you eat fast, talk fast and sweat easily? Do you have an insatiable appetite? You have a strong presence of Pitta.

Foods to eat to help you remain balanced: cold, sweet and astringent (drier) include cucumbers, sunflower oil, sweet fruits, kale, dandelion leaves and ghee (clarified butter). According to Courson, Pitta body types are encouraged to eat cooling, slightly dense foods, plentiful in the sweet, bitter and astringent tastes.

A cucumber and tonic nonalcoholic cocktail may be the perfect drink for you if you have a strong presence of Pitta, one of three energy centers a person has in their body, according to the ancient Ayurvedic belief. Pitta represents fire

RIKKI SNYDER NYT

Minimize your intake of spicy, salty and sour foods (stay away from that hot sauce and sharp cheddar cheese).

Also, try to give yourself a daily massage, since Pitta oriented people have a tendency to store the intensity in their neck and shoulders.

Are you a naturally mellow person who likes to stay in your comfort zone? Are you friendly and love bear hugs and see the goodness in everything? Do you enjoy nightly doses of Netflix? Is it difficult for you to motivate when your bed seems like such a better option? You are one with the earth.

For the nurturing Kapha types, Courson encourages eating warming, lighter and drier foods.

Foods to eat to help you energize and feel the surge of spontaneity include spices, beans, cloves, barley, apples, pears, pomegranates and cranberries.

Try a liquid fast once a week.

Stay away from heavier foods that will further increase the laziness.

Push yourself to get on a solid workout routine and be an early riser.

Are you a project person who takes on tons of tasks but then bores easily and quickly moves on? Do you have an irregular sleep cycle and a tendency to over-think and then panic? Are you a social butterfly but also a bit more on the anxious side? Are you always on the move, chasing adventure and pursuing creative outlets? You are an airhead (not literally, metaphorically).

Foods to help you remain grounded, focused and calm include cinnamon, legumes, lemons, mangoes, pineapple, grapes and sharp cheese. Courson suggests airy Vatas stick to sweet, salty and sour tastes.

If your energy center comes from the air, or Vata, foods to help you remain grounded, focused and calm include cinnamon, legumes, lemons, mangoes, pineapple, grapes and sharp cheese. Here is Haden Mango from what could possibly be the first and oldest Haden Mango tree in Coconut Grove.

C.M. GUERRERO cmguerrero@elnuevoherald.com

Stay away from caffeine, which only induces panic. Vatas are high-strung enough as it is without the added caffeine boost.

Try to schedule times to eat, since Vatas tend to skip meals, which causes more anxiety and less grounding.

Herald Writer Alexandria Bordas is a certified yoga instructor.

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Worried about school's start? Try these foods to curb anxiety, tap your inner dosha - Miami Herald

Have you ever gotten up the morning after a tough arm workout and noticed your toothbrush suddenly feels like a 100-pound dumbbell? Sure, those hour-long fitness classes leave us satisfyingly sore, but when the calendar starts filling up, workouts are usually the first to get cut. With this video, you'll get all the benefits of a 60-minute cardio or yoga class in just 10 minutes.

This workout integrates bodyweight strength training into a traditional yoga flow. By slowing down the flow with frequent planks or speeding it up with a burst of cardio, you'll build both strength and stamina in your upper body in half the time. For every pose, one of the instructors provides a modification for yogis of all levels. Just grab a mat and get ready to fire up those forearms.

Strengthen your yoga practice in the comfort of your own home. Explore online yoga classes for beginner, intermediate, and advanced yoga practitioners on Cody. Greatist readers get 30 percent off their first purchase on Cody with promo code 30GREATIST.

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Build Upper-Body Strength and Stamina With This 10-Minute Cardio Yoga Flow - Greatist

The New Orleans Saints have spent the better part of the past few years trying to figure out how to better monitor their players and avoid injuries.

The team started using tracking data three years ago to get a better idea of how to identify when players were starting to reach dangerous levels of usage. Theyve paid better attention to nutrition. And, last year, the team added yoga to its workout repertoire to help players better recover from the rigors of the week of practice and add flexibility.

Last season on Fridays we had certain recovery elements, and thats one of them for flexibility, coach Sean Payton said. The idea is that its a little different program on a Friday in season than it is after a practice like we had here. Its a little bit more of a worn-down exercise where youre really working on your flexibility, and youre stretching.

Its no secret the Saints have experienced bad luck with injuries. And even the best technology, analytics, training staff, and workout program can't prevent all bad things from happening. Theres nothing besides better luck that could prevent Sheldon Rankins, Josh Hill and Delvin Breaux from suffering broken fibulas last season, nor was there a way for P.J. Williams to avoid a season-ending concussion in Week 2 other than to be elsewhere on the field when it happened.

Note and observations from Saints practice Thursday.

But other injuries can be avoided, and yoga can help with that. The other benefit of the exercise is that is can also help players gain more flexibility.

Thats something Rankins realized after being introduced to it last year leading up to the draft. His goal is to be a player who never comes off the field, which is how he was used in college at Louisville, and he believes yoga can play a part in helping him achieve the goal.

Your body can move certain ways and kind of get you out of certain weird positions, he said. I think rest, flexibility, obviously conditioning. Making sure youre stretching every night, stretching every morning, rolling out the muscles, getting that soreness out. Its always little things that lead to bigger and better things.

Yoga is becoming more common among NFL teams. The Philadelphia Eagles and Seattle Seahawks do it on a regular basis, and the New York Giants have been known to use it as part of their rehabilitation program.

The Seahawks' players missed 153 combined games due to injury last season, while the Eagles checked in at 75. The Saints' ranked in the NFL with 301 games lost.

The New Orleans Saints are changing up their practice plans this weekend.

For those who do it, not doing it after being exposed to it wouldnt make sense.

Getting that lactic acid out of your muscles after practice, Williams said. Just moving around, stretching, flexibility, for all the pulls and tears. It really just makes you durable throughout the year.

But the expand beyond just preventing injuries. Think about how often a receiver needs to get low to catch a ball. Now picture a defensive end rushing around the edge and how he contorts his body and travels low to the ground.

Yoga can help with all of that.

Thats why pass rusher Hauoli Kikaha is a believer in doing it. He missed last season with a torn ACL, but has been in sessions since and can feel a difference when he steps on the field.

It gives you more explosive potential in our bodies. I think being as flexible as possible is good, Kikaha said. But mobility, (being) stable throughout all of those movements is just as important if not more than just flexibility.

Some players seem to be buying in more than others. Right or wrong, yoga is often associated with a Zen-like state or the act of meditation.

And, it seems that fullback John Kuhn has embraced that aspect of the exercise as much as the exercise itself.

Last year, David Onyemata wasnt just adjusting to life in the NFL.

I just imagine myself being really flexible and really focusing my brain on positive thoughts and what I want to happen this season, Kuhn said. Now, I cant tell you. Its kind of like blowing out the candles on a cake. But I really enjoy it.

One thing the Saints would certainly like to happen this year is fewer injuries and having a team full of explosive, flexible players. Yoga can help with both.

Follow Nick Underhill on Twitter, @nick_underhill.

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Story of why Saints have adopted yoga: 'Little things...lead to bigger and better things' - The Advocate

In the past 60 years, yoga has gone froma little-known, esoteric Indian practice to a central activity of the cultural mainstream. But while it is commonly available in cities throughout the world and almost everyone has heard of it, yoga still remains something of a mystery to people who have never tried it. That's because it resists an easy definition.

Yoga is a diverse and diffuse practice with numerous threads that can be interwoven in many ways.

Complicating matters further, the term yoga has been in use for several thousands of years and has shifted meanings many times. To start to unpack what contemporary yoga is, let's take a look at yoga's evolution and how it is practiced today.

The word yoga comes from Sanskritan ancient Indian language. It is a derivation of the word yuj, which means to yoke, as in harnessing togethera team of oxen.

Today, it is often interpreted to mean union. Yoga is said to be for the purpose of uniting the mind, body, and spirit.

Most modern yoga practices rely heavily on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a series of aphorisms written c. 250 CE, as the basis for their philosophies. The Yoga Sutras specify eight "limbs" of yoga. The three most commonly practiced limbs are pranayama (breathing exercises), meditation, and asana. Asana is what most of us have come to know simply as yoga, the physical poses.

So what should youexpect when you head to a yoga class? While meditation and breathing exercises may be included, asana has assumed a primary role in most types of contemporary practice.

Some classes may also include chanting or an inspirational reading, depending on the individual teacher and the yoga style.

Generally, yoga classes at a gym or health club will focus primarily on the physical aspects of the practice, while people who want a more spiritual approach are more likely to find it at specialized studios.

The origins of today's most popular types of yogacan be traced back to one man,T. Krishnamacharya. Through his three most prominent students, yoga, as we know it, was disseminated to the west:

With so many types of yoga, it can be daunting to pick the right one. Thischeat sheet covers 20 popular styles (including Bikram/hot yoga, power yoga, and Kundalini) to help you narrow down the field. But there is usually a bit of trial and error involved too. You may find the best yoga class on the first try, but you may also need to shop around and try different things until you find the one that feels right.

Many people think thatyoga is just stretching. But while stretching is certainly involved, yoga is really about creating balance in the body through developing both strength and flexibility. This is done through the performance of postures, each of which has specific physical benefits.

The poses can be done quickly in succession, creating heat in the body through movement (vinyasa-style yoga) or more slowly to increase stamina and perfect the alignment of each pose. They can be done in a hot room, on a rooftop, in a gym, or even on a paddle board.

Also,poses area constantlinking together the disparate branches of the yoga family tree.

The amazing thing about yoga is that although the poses themselves do not change, your relationship to them will.Your practice is always evolving, so it never gets boring.

Poses fall under broad headings, although there is plenty of overlap:

Doing yoga is good for your health in innumerable ways. Many of them are connected to yoga's proven ability to reduce stress. So many ailments are caused or exacerbated by stress: heart disease, insomnia, headaches, depression, diabetes, IBS, infertilitythe list goes on.

And this is before we even consider the physical benefits of greater strength (core strength in particular), flexibility, and balance.

Yoga also fosters mental calmness, clarity, and self-acceptance, giving you the tools to combat anxiety and feelings of inadequacy. Is there anything yoga can't do? Well, it won't increase your height, but it can improve your posture so you stand taller.

Forget any stereotype you might have in your head of what a "yoga person" looks like because anyone can do yoga. That includes men, seniors, children, pregnant women, people with bigger bodies, people with arthritis, and so on. If you have a body, you can do yoga.

If you are not at all flexible that doesn't mean you can't do yoga. It means you can and you should.Yoga is not a sport that you need to have trained for since childhood. It's not a competition where the bendiest person gets a prize. It's not even something you can be "good at" or "bad at" because there is no final goal to achieve, nothing to accomplish.

The people on the covers of yoga magazines and the most famous teachers are not any better at yoga than the rest of us.One of the most difficult, but ultimately most liberating things about yoga is letting go of the ego and accepting that no one is better than anyone else. Everyone is just doing their best on any given day.

So now that we've taken the veil off a bit and convinced you that you can do yoga, how do you follow through and actually get started? The easiest thing you can do is find a class nearby and go to it. It needs to be convenient to your home or work so that getting there is not a chore. And it should be a class for beginners.

Once you get your butt on a mat in a classroom, the yoga becomes inevitable. Though it is possible to do yoga at home (and many people do) it's not an ideal way to start. Taking classes with an experienced teacher gets you going on the right foot so that you begin to understand the fundamentals of alignment and avoid injury.

Eventually, you may find thatyoga at home is more convenient and affordable. There are lots of great ways to practice at home once you feel ready.

If you're still nervous, remember that everyone who does yoga was once a beginner. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll discover its wonderful benefits, chief among which is that doing yoga makes you feel amazing. Yoga is a lifelong practice that will help you stay healthy for years to come.

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Yoga - Articles, Advice, and More - Verywell - Know More ...