Friday 26 July 2013

Finding Natural Ways to Prevent Weight Gain and Stress


Life can be pretty crazy

The fast pace of life can really sneak up on you and before you know it you feel like you are on a roller coaster. 
How do we get back to doing what we want to do instead of what others need us to do?  One day we wake up and we aren’t living life, life is living us and it is spiraling out of control.  Fatigue, excess weight, and stress become a daily focus.   Even simple things we enjoyed before become a challenge.

Focusing on others instead of yourself, forgetting to drink that extra glass of water, skipping exercise and then avoiding a walk, over eating and indulging in the wrong sorts of foods, eating when there is no appetite just to fill the time, getting stressed out at work AND at home, not getting enough rest, high expectations and the list goes on and on.

Situations like these can put your life out of balance and open the door for diseases, with their roots in stress like Obesity and Diabetes.
How do we get to this spot?  It starts so gradual that you don’t notice it and then BOOM! One day it hits you like a brick on the noggin.  Where does it all start?

We start by reintegrating our priorities.


It seems like so much work to get things going back in the right direction, we wonder if the effort is worth the results.

To that I say yes and most certainly YES!

What are some natural ways to manage imbalances that could cause weight gain, increased stress and diabetes?

1.By putting one foot in front of the other and head out the door for a walk.  This is a simple solution; you are born with the equipment to do just that!

Your walk will increase your metabolism, allowing your body to burn off excess energy before it converts over to “reserves”, it will help you to digest your food and convert it into energy and tissue and it will make you feel light and energized for your next task. 

2. Your next improvement can be implemented at the same time.  Drinking more water will help to flush toxins out of your body, will help to maintain a healthy weight and because many of us are dehydrated, it will hydrate your body so it can operate at an optimum level.  Start by adding just one extra glass (8oz.) of water a day of pure, clear clean water; this is one more small improvement that is simple and natural.

3. Learn to breathe correctly.  We breathe all day every day and rarely think about it and yet it is the most important thing we do.  We can survive without food for some time and without water for a while but without oxygen you will die within 10 minutes (in most cases).

Many of us breathe into our chests and fail to use the entire organ, trapping stale air in the lower lobes of the lungs.  This affects our thought process, our ability to think correctly, our energy levels and our memory because it decreases oxygen levels. 

In the long run this will affect overall health and create imbalance in our bodies.  Sit up straight, and breath from the diaphragm, which is below your lungs, feel the air going in and out, be conscious of how wonderful it feels.

Who is more important to you than you?  Nobody will take better care of you than you so it’s up to you to do that.  On that note, nobody is more convincing to you than you.  You can talk yourself out of exercising and right into a trip to Starbucks and it doesn’t take too much effort.

You will learn more simple and natural ways to take care of your health and the health of your family at Kerala Ayurveda Academy where we teach you to take charge of your own health and wellness in a more natural way, helping you to become more aware of your balanced body and mind and how to manage imbalances that may lead to diseases.

Remember to take care of you first and that will give you the energy to take care of everything else.

Blog Post by Shelli Thompson


Monday 22 July 2013

How Can Ayurveda Help to Lower Your Stress Levels?


Stress

sometimes it gets to the best of us, there’s no way around it and sometimes it creeps up so slow we don’t even recognize it for what it is.  Stress comes from many places, externally, internally, from our diet, our thoughts, and emotions it can be easy to be overwhelmed.

Ayurveda is an ancient medical system dating back over 5,000 years; one of the oldest chronicled medical systems. Ayurveda believes that ALL disease is stress related. How do we control the stress in life, especially if we don’t recognize it for what it is?

Today the pace of life is incredibly fast, machines do much of the physical work that we used to do.  Many people run from job to activity and other things so fast, they rarely take time out for a spare moment.

This is where stress begins and we fail to recognize it


The key is in the “spare moment” of your busy day. There aren’t many spare moments so the moments you take need to make a difference. After a stressful day, it is generally not relaxing to watch a crime drama or play a game that gets your blood pumping. Here is a list of Stress reducing activities that you can do in a short amount of time to replace activities that may otherwise “pump you up” instead of calming you down.

  1.   Take a walk outside
  2. Yoga
  3. Breathing exercises or Pranayama
  4.  Meditation
  5. Fresh, local and organic diet (relieves digestive stress)
  6. Visualization
  7.  Regular Exercise
  8.  Faithfulness or devotion

The MOST important thing is to take time out for YOU.  It may be an entire day; it may be a few stolen moments however the time devoted to you will bring lasting results with lowered stress levels.

Look at your day and see where you can take some time; it may be that you get up just a little earlier or take that walk after dinner. Schedule times in that belong to you and make good use of your time to de-stress by trying one or more of the suggestions above.

Kerala Ayurveda Academy Teaches Ayurveda in a very Authentic and relevant way that makes sense in our modern times.  Find out about our Workshops, Classes and Certifications, products, services and so much more.  The more you learn about stress levels and how they affect your health, the more you can pro-active about reducing stress in your life.

1-888-275-9103

Click HERE for more information about Kerala Ayurveda Academy
Blog Post by Shelli Thompson