by Jasmine | Dec 1, 2021 | Alternative Health, Partner Yoga, Yoga For Weight Loss, Yoga Health
Dump Your Excuses to Exercise
The benefits of exercise are many—equaled in number only by our excuses for avoiding it.
Just one in four U.S. adults works out at low to moderate intensity for 30 minutes most days of the week or at vigorous intensity for 20 minutes three days a week.
Some of those excuses—I weigh too much, I’m too old, I have too many health problems—are in themselves strong arguments for increasing physical activity. It’s harder to see through other reasons that show up in surveys asking why people don’t exercise.
Jasmine Kaloudis, a yoga and fitness instructor in Philadelphia, suggest these ways to work around the most common excuses and mostly around yoga to lose weight.
“I don’t like exercise”
Kaloudis suggests you think back to your childhood. “When we were kids, we ran and jumped and played all the time, and then we grew up and it became ‘exercise,'” she says.
Here’s what to do:
Add movement to something you like to do. If you play golf, walk the course. If you like music, listen to your favorite tunes as you walk. Take a stroll with family or friends.
Do you have a dog? Most dog love to run around and chase. Find a nearby dogpark if you don’t have a closed in yard. The kids will find great delight in this also.
Exercise with a friend. Instead of meeting at Starbucks for a fattening double mocha latte, suggest talking a walk around the lake. If you have children, play soccer or some outside games. If it’s cold, you can turn on the music inside and dance. Besides getting fit, you are creating memories. Schedule these kinds of activities on a weekly basis.
“It’s too expensive to join a gym or hire a personal trainer or buy fitness DVDs.”
The internet is your answer. There is an unbelievable amount of free exercise routines in all kinds of subjects such as yoga, martial arts, boxing, tennis. etc.
Often many gyms or fitness clubs will have special intro rates. If you are having financial challenges then let the club or trainer know what you can budget toward fitness and see if they can accomodate you.
If you also have a skill such as massage therapy or carpentery, see if you can trade or barter services. This can work well with independent practitioners but not with a big corporate gym chain.
“I don’t have the time”
This is the granddaddy of exercise excuses. With the demands of work, family, and other obligations, it seems plausible. Except when you consider that lack of exercise—and the poor health that follows—can affect the quality of every waking moment. Here’s how to overcome the excuse:
Make exercise a priority. If you think of exercise as being as important as brushing your teeth or any other “essential” routine, you’ll find time.
Avoid the “all or nothing” trap. If you can’t find 30 straight minutes to work out, try for three 10-minute blocks—or even one 10-minute block. A little exercise is better than none.
Be flexible.
Incorporate movement whenever you can. Walk instead of driving. Climb stairs instead of riding the elevator. Do calisthenics, stretch, or ride an exercise bike while you watch television.
This is a more drastic option, but consider getting rid or the TV or getting rid of some cable stations. How important is it to your life that you caught the last episode of Grey’s Anatomy? When you don’t have those extra stations, you won’t miss them. You will have more time and less excuses for being active and healthy. You’ll also save money on your cable bill.
Are you committed to changing your life or are you committed to your excuses?
by Jasmine | May 3, 2018 | vitality health, Yoga For Weight Loss, Yoga Health
Can Yoga Help You Lose Weight?
Did you know that most men gain 15 pounds within the first year they get married? Results are similar for women. Why is this we feel once we have “landed” someone that we no longer need to try and impress them. I know when I was single I would forbid myself from eating white bread, I just didn’t feel like I had the luxury of getting fat.
Yoga is an exhilarating fitness challenge that allows couples to clear their heads, melting away anxiety and stress. The steady flow of poses encourages couples to develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of the human body. Encouraging each other in class helps build strong bonds of communication and trust. You will connect with your partner on a deeper level when you take a yoga class together. Working up a sweat naturally induces the release of endorphins, making you feel happier and more content. Yoga establishes the ultimate connection to your own body. You will find it much easier to connect to your partner’s body once you are able to connect to your own.
Stretching with your loved one turns the tables on the rat race, allowing you both to be in the moment and renewing your connection
What is the purpose of yoga?
Most non-practitioners of yoga assume that yogis are flexible and strong. While that is indeed true, there’s more to the practice of yoga than a fabulous body. Yoga brings a sense of quiet and stillness with a focus on deep, rhythmic breathing and the challenge to honor your body where it is on a particular day. Let it go and allow your mind, body and spirit to come into alignment…that’s the mindset of a yogi.
However, partner yoga, where two yogis work in tandem, is playful and fun, exploratory—and harder than it looks. To experience the depth of partner yoga, the partners must be willing to support and be supported and work as a team to deepen into poses together. Encouraging and synchronizing each partner’s breath takes yogis further into postures and brings a sense of exhilaration upon realizing what has been accomplished jointly.Watching yogis release from shared asanas enriches the practice as the partners enthuse “wow, I never thought I could go so deeply into that pose!” or reveling in the intimacy of sharing something so personal with another.
- Yoga is not about self-improvement, it’s about self-acceptance.
- Yoga is a discipline, a practical philosophy to experience individual consciousness through the union of body, mind, and spirit.
- We are each responsible for our spiritual growth and healing and yoga provides us with a way to move towards optimum vitality.
- Yoga was originally created as a series of asanas (asana literally means “seat”) or positions that prepare the individual to do the work of meditation and to heal the body to its natural state.
We try to get close and stay close in a relationship — but our tactics often put a strain on the very bonds we’re trying to strengthen. Why not try breaking new ground? Get close with a partner yoga practice, and see how you can use it to strengthen your connection while having fun together.
What are things you and your sweetie do together to tone up and bond (keep it PG Rated guys) and have you done couples yoga for weight loss…..?
by Jasmine | Jan 1, 2016 | Yoga For Weight Loss, Yoga Health
Guest Blog By Heather Rudalavage RD LDN
What Yoga Positions Help You Lose Weight?
One of the most challenging pieces of the the intuitive eating approach is that people can’t see how it can work. People, in general, don’t trust themselves. They believe they won’t be able to stop eating chocolate or cake or pizza. Maybe it’s because the diet message is so pervasive in our society, or maybe we are just narcissistic in nature, but it continues to astonish me how much my clients rely on external sources to know what, when and how much to eat. Odd, because hunger is a physiological response similar to breathing or having to pee. When we visit the restroom, we don’t say, “did I pee too much?” When we take a breath, we don’t say, “it’s not time to breathe yet”. But clients ask me all the time, “how much should I eat?” Or they say, “I am hungry all the time.”
Geneen Roth, in her book, Women, Food and God states that overeaters fall into one of two categories, restrictive and permissive. Restrictive eaters want, need, must follow strict guidelines. This is how they perceive having control of their life. They can tell you the glycemic index number for a banana, or the grams of carbs in a soda. Permissives on the other hand, figure that since life can’t be controlled, they might as well check out and numb themselves with food. They hide behind a care free exterior. Think of the jolly, round image of someone you know, and they are likely permissive eaters. Both types of overeaters are attempting to control their environment and use food to distract themselves from their real feelings, and even deeper levels of figuring out why they feel the way they do.
Despite what many believe – that eating intuitively means eating whatever you want when you want to – Intuitive Eating really means loving yourself enough to want to honor your body with nourishing, healthy food. It means eating when you are hungry and then stopping when you are satisfied. This is where some of my best clients get tripped up. They are okay with allowing themselves to eat when they are hungry and to chose a food that they really want to eat, but they end up binging because they can’t or don’t know how to really tune in, listen and care for their bodies. Going through a “honeymoon” phase is normal with IE, but if you find yourself struggling with getting past the honeymoon phase, then it is time to look within to see if you can find the reason for not being able to care for yourself and respect yourself enough to not want to binge anymore. Often, a long history of traditional dieting is partially to blame.
Sometimes, nourishing yourself means eating a hot fudge sundae, but if you find yourself wanting 2 or 3 hot fudge sundaes every day for weeks, then something else is going on. It’s time to do some inquiring and ask yourself what is the real reason you want a hot fudge sundae every day? If you take this important step you will be able to break out of the honeymoon phase and will begin to lose weight (if you have extra weight to lose).
I wish I had the answer to my clients struggles with food, I wish I had the magic pill or the right words, or even the perfect meal plan, but the bottom line is that the answer lies within them, lies within you. All I can do is help my clients to find their answer. If you drop the dieting mentality and question the voices in your head that tell you that a particular food is bad, (whose voices are they, by the way?) you will be able to tune in and when you tune in, your body will tell you what, when and where to eat. Sometimes your body may say chocolate and sometimes it may say a fresh berries, but whatever your body says, listen, because it is the right choice for you at that moment.
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Heather Rudalavage RD LDN
www.Intuitive-Nutrition.com
Twitter@IntuitiveRD
Facebook.com/Intuit.Nutrition
Connecting mind, body and spirit.
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by Jasmine | Nov 29, 2015 | vitality health, Weight loss, Yoga For Weight Loss
Do you feel frenetic about getting things done in your life?
Are you working crazy hours?
Do you feel rested when you get up in the morning?
Sleep is a time of intense cellular renewal. If you are not getting the rest you need, then your internal organs are depleted.
What can you do to improve the amount and quality of your rest?
Does that mean not letting the ping of your cell phone wake you up?
Does it mean going to bed an hour earlier?
Does it mean no coffee late in the day so you can get to sleep earlier?
Sleep is more important than we actually think, it can really change the way you look….and not just by getting rid of those baggy eyes! By getting enough sleep we can actually lose a higher percentage of body fat than if we didn’t sleep that much.
A recent study looked at people who slept 8-8.5 hours a night vs people who slept for about 5 hours a night. The participants had the exact same diet, calories, carbs, protein, and fats. The participants were studied for 3 months and the results were staggering! During the study ALL participants lost 6.6lbs!
Out of the 6.6lbs lost the group who slept 8 hours a night lost 50% fat and 50% lean mass (body fat weight from total body weight) the participants who slept 5 hours a night lost 20% fat and 80% lean mass!
Let me break this down for you, the group who didn’t sleep as long lost 80% lean mass which means they lost the majority of their weight muscle tissue!
When we lose muscle we in turn lower our metabolism, that’s NOT a good thing! The more muscle we have the higher our metabolism will be and the higher percentage of fat we are able to burn and utilize as energy!
Now with any study we need to take this with a grain of salt, you can still lose “good” weight by not sleeping 8 hours a night, and you can also gain weight by sleeping a lot.
Smiles, Jasmine
by Jasmine | Oct 27, 2014 | Beginner Yoga, Reviews, Weight loss, Yoga For Weight Loss
Losing your muffin top without ommmming. A few years ago one of my co-workers said she can’t stand going to yoga class because she hates chanting om.
She loved the poses but just hated that aspect of the class. It made her feel uncomfortable. It made me think about why some people don’t feel yoga is right for them even if they know there are so many benefits to yoga.
I turned to yoga over 15 years ago and it has been part of my lifestyle and life journey ever since. I order and review all kinds of yoga products, DVDs, books, clothes (about 50% of what I wear is yoga apparel even if I am not doing yoga that day) mats, blocks, eye pillow, CDs, music, essential oils, gluten-free products, yoga-lifestyle cookbooks, cards ( I could open a small gift shop of all my yoga related products) as well as attending various yoga classes, workshops, retreats, kirtans etc.
I recently came across Shapeshifters Yoga Program which is described as helping you feel younger, stress-free, flexible and even SLIMMER. I wanted to see if it would be a good fit for the om-hating crowd that wanted a scientific based program that would help them lose flabby butts and guts and also maintain that toned sculpted look. With all the images of yogis contorting themselves into Russian Circus kind of poses, yoga can be scary. I was also looking for a program that would demystify some of the more exotic aspects of yoga. Starting yoga does not mean you start wearing a loin-cloth or wear a turban. In my classes, I just find folks that want to soothe their nerves along with toning and trimming.
Are you yoga-curious or thought about losing weight through yoga but feel weirded out but some of the more exotic aspects of the practice? Are you looking for a scientific based exercise practice that has the power to transform and sculpt your body if you are ready to commit to it?
There is a focus on overall flexibility, core-conditioning, body awareness and muscle-conditioning before you move on to master the more advanced part of the practice. There are some basic traditional stretches and yoga poses that all body types and sizes can do.
There is no oooming, no talk of your crown-chakras so you won’t feel like you have to wear a turban and a loincloth to do this program. It’s all scientific based, practical and utilitarian in how they explain the benefits with no woo-woo.
There is no extra equipment like a weight machine. The most extra equipment you need is a yoga mat.
You can do the practice almost anywhere any anytime.
I’ve done yoga poses in all kinds of weird places from the airport lounge area, toilets, waiting for a subway in NYC, in the car, on the beach, at the park, watching TV on the couch and even on the airplane – both in my seat and in the back of the plane where the flight attendants gather.
I used to live in a tiny match-box size apartment in NYC and the only space to practice in was in front of the front door.
When I stay in hotel with small rooms, I move all the furniture around so I have enough space to practice in.
The workouts are very compact – You can do most of the sequences in about 20-30 minutes. Being consistent and doing a little bit everyday is more important than doing 1-2 practices that are 90 minutes long every week.
It’s a comprehensive fitness program – There is a cardio component, a strengthening component, a stretching component and a recovery component. The methods are based on ancient wellness and fitness principles so they have been thoroughly tested, practiced and vetted.
There is an explanation of the benefits of the poses in the down-loadable Yoga Manual so you know why you are doing knee-bending and cranking (to prepare your body for the weight bearing movements.)
It’s a step-by-step plan that is also customizable. Shapeshifters is very structured but there are also some modifications based on your body type and athletic ability.
Ideal for Couch Potatoes or Seasoned Athletes. If you don’t know squat about diet, wellness, fitness or strength-training then this is a suitable program. If you do have some prior experience and knowledge with these, then it will build upon and complement your prior training and experience.
Very Professionally Presented – You’ll feel like you are at a Yoga Journal Video shoot with the quality of the video and the voice. I’ve listened to other videos before and some of them sound all muffled and the lightening and angles make it harder to follow the sequence.
Wallet-Friendly – You could get a personal yoga session for more than the cost of this video and wouldn’t get nearly the amount of tips, instruction, alignment cues that this has. It’s a lot of yoga for the buck.
I think the strongest part of the Shapeshifters programs is the kind of feedback, support and community that you get with their online forum. One user wrote that she couldn’t do a certain type of pose because of knee pain and the teacher wrote back and gave her some modifications. The teacher even checked back in a week later to see how the modifications was working for her.
Feeling supported and part of a community is a critical part of any weight loss program. As much as possible with an online program there is a strong sense of support so you don’t feel abandoned after you bought the product. When people post comments or questions, it looks like they get a response within an hour or two.
The Yoga Instructor, Kristine Fondran, has a background in exercise physiology, which is not required of most yoga teachers but really should be to prevent injuries. In 2008, as a part of her Master Degree in Exercise Science at Cleveland State University she conducted a research study on the benefits of a 10 minute, twice daily, Sun Salutation practice. So you know you are in expert training hands with her educational background.
There are videos for those of us that need to see how to get in the pose and there is also a written manual with descriptions and modifications for each pose.
What I didn’t like about Shape-Shifters…
Some of the materials is recycled- If you have bought any of Adam Murdock or Ryan Steer’s previous materials, then you might not feel like you are getting a completely new fitness program. If you are just being introduced to them for the first time, then this won’t bother you.
It’s not all entirely new practices and poses. I thought maybe I would come across completely original poses and yoga practices. If you are a seasoned yogi, like me, you might want something completely unseen. If you are not as familiar with yoga and yoga lifestyle concepts, then this information will be fresh.
There is no mention of diet, food in the online program. In their blog, there is lots of tips about what to eat, when to eat and there are also a lot of what I assume to be ads for weight loss products such as protein powders. In the blog there is a lot of commentary on the psychological , social and emotional rewards of food. If you buy this program, make sure to read their newsletter and blog for tips and advice about food and diet, otherwise you will miss a crucial component of this program.
She calls some of the poses in English unfamiliar names, such as Equestrian pose ( for Lounge). If you haven’t done much yoga before, this won’t bother you, but if you have it will be confusing. Also Half-Moon pose, a pose I often teach and have been taught is a completely different pose.
Are you wondering if this is a program that can really help you to transform your body and way of being?
If you are looking for a quick-fix, then yoga is not for you.
If you are looking for magical, instantaneous results then yoga is not for you.
If you enjoy feeling sluggish and edge, yoga is not for you.
If you want an easy, non-challenging workout, then yoga is not for you.
If you would rather make a permanent butt imprint in your couch and watch DWTS, Two and a Half Men, then this is not for you.
If you you are committed to your excuse that you aren’t flexible, don’t have time, don’t have the money to do any fitness program then this is not for you.
If you want to stay the same, yoga is not for you.
But it will take discipline,
It will take commitment on your part.
It won’t be a light endeavor.
It is not about going to a class once and never again. You will find all kinds of excuses and limitations that get in the way of you going to class.
You will have to show up. You will have to be on your mat. Even if you body is on the mat but your head is somewhere else, you will have to re-committ to being present.
You won’t always enjoy it.
You will resist.
You will complain.
You will have all kinds of reasons that you can’t or shouldn’t go.
Sometimes, you just won’t want to go.
Just examine your resistance.
What are you committed to?
Are you committed to having your life being the same or are you committed to it substantially transforming?
Why are you committed to transforming?
What is so comfortable about the way life is now that you don’t want to change.
For more info on Shapeshifters, click here.
by Jasmine | May 9, 2014 | Iyengar Yoga, Yoga For Weight Loss, Yoga Health, Yoga Teacher training
I’ve been doing yoga for over 15 years but I only recently discovered Iyengar yoga. After getting familiar with William Broad’s, Science of Yoga book and hearing all the ire it got for it’s chapter about injuries I wanted to learn more about this not-very well known kind of yoga. Many yoga teacher training programs do not have rigorous standards for anatomy or bio-mechanics or how to work with students that have injuries or other limiting conditions. I often did quite a bit of research on my own on how to address working with students safely.
Iyengar Yoga Poses and Classes in Philadelphia and on the Main Line
Iyengar teachers have the most rigorous standards in order to pass their certification. In order to become an Iyengar teacher, you have to be practicing Iyengar yoga for at least 3 years which means you should be attending at least 3 classes as well as have your own home practice. There are also over 5 levels of teacher training which range from introductory knowledge to Senior teacher. There are also exams and theory papers that are due at each level. Just signing up for an Iyengar training is no guarantee that you will become one. You can expect rigorous tests on poses, anatomy and other tenets about yoga philosophy.
What can you expect from an Iyengar yoga class? What are the poses like?
Going to an Iyengar class is unlike the flow-iness that you find in a typical hatha or vinyasa class. I have only been to two studios here in the Philadelphia area but both of them are rather austere. There is no music, no aromatherapy and no candles. The teachers will want to know about what physical limitations or injuries you have. Do you have a herniated disc, torn rotator cuff or arthritis in your knee? Are you scared that going to a typical yoga class will be painful or you’ll hurt yourself more? If yes, get your bum body to an Iyengar class. The teachers will work with you on a fairly customized level ( depending on how many people show up in the class)
Because most Iyengar classes assume a certain amount of knowledge about the poses and yoga in general it is not a great option if you are a brand new beginner. They will often say the names of the Iyengar poses in Sanskrit. They also assume you have a certain level of bodily awareness and propioception which most beginner yoga students don’t have . If you are a yoga beginner, you would either want to talk to the teacher first or attend a more basic yoga introduction course. Avoid going to an advanced, power yoga , hot yoga, or “all-levels class” since you will feel intimidated and overwhelmed with the poses there.
You often spend a long time dissecting and breaking down a pose. First you might see the teacher model the pose first, then instruct you how to get in it with some very technical anatomy cues to pay attention to in your own body. After being in the pose, the teacher might model it again or have another student go into and point out certain ways the student is holding their body in the pose. Often you will go into the pose again with these further anatomical refinements. Since the poses requires a lot of props, you spend some time getting and putting away props as well as building your pose with the props.
One of the teachers I go to is Donna Debs who has a home studio out in the Philadelphia Suburbs on the Main Line. Her home studio is on a beautiful private street and the studio itself is clean with all of the requisite props required for an Iyengar practice such as blocks, chair, wall-straps, bolster, blankets and eye pillows. I’m not sure how old she is but I suspect she is about my mom’s age with Jennifer Aniston’s toned, cut and sleek body. ( One thing about Iyengar teachers, they have the most defined, toned muscles which shows how much they are fully and completely engaging their body to do their practice) Donna teaches about 5 classes a week, a few in the morning and a few in the evenings but no weekend classes. Donna also cuts back on classes from the end of November and starts up again in January and there are no classes during the summer.
The other Iyengar teacher I take classes with is Robin Lowry who has a home studio in Germantown. Robin is a full-time high school teacher so only teaches about two classes a week in the evenings so it’s been tough for me to be able to attend her classes. Her studio is in an older style Philadelphia twin on the 3rd floor My only complaint about Robin is that I wish she had more classes or maybe a Saturday class .Robin only teaches classes during the regular school year and not on Mondays when there are school holidays. There is no AC in the studio which is why there are no classes from the end of May to the end of September.
