The Thoughts of An Angel Awakened

How To Look Good, Feel Better and Love Life

Starting a yoga practice

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For me, Yoga is a practice of connecting body, mind, and spirit. I am so grateful for this practice in my life. Some people ask if yoga is a religion. They are concerned that yoga will conflict with their beliefs. Here is my favorite response to that question: 

“To answer this question, I look to the roots of yoga. Traditionally, yoga is the science of the Self. Yoga seeks to help us understand our inner world through various techniques that include med­itation, asanas, breathing, focused awareness, and certain rules of behavior and conduct. If by religion we mean the religious experience of transcendence, the loss of fear of death, and the emergence of platonic qualities such as truth, beauty, goodness, harmony, and evolution, then yes, yoga can give us a religious experience. It is not religion in the form of ideology, dogma, belief systems, or compliance; it’s a spiritual experience that gives us access to a universal domain of reality.” —Deepak Chopra

If you want to try yoga, there are a million ways to get started. I love taking classes. If you have never done yoga, start slowly.  You can easily head over to Pinterest to find simple poses. You can type in a search for “beginning yoga” on  Google. Of course, Youtube is a great resource. Here is an amazing and FREE, 30-day video playlist that I have used:

  

Yoga is not a competition, it’s a journey. Listen to your body. Connect.

Namaste.

30 Day Yoga Challenge

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I had to share this. +DoYouYoga.com totally ROCKS.

A few of the great things about these vids are:

  1. Short (under 20 minutes, most are under 15)
  2. Good variety of easy/challenge
  3. Good full body (she focuses on on body part per video)
  4. She is easy to understand and adorable…

I had really dropped off the planet as far as working out. In this post about Walking Away the Pounds, I mention how important it is to find a work out you can win (or feel successful in) and this series was easy enough for me to jump back in and feel great.  I highly recommend it as a way to kick start a movement routine.

SAVE FACE

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Once again have to thank my mom, the brilliant Carmen Reyes Aviles, for showing me the way to stay young looking! Facial muscles are involuntary muscles, they’re reflective of whatever we’re feeling, so get conscious about where you hold tension in your face, what your most common expressions are, and work on counter muscles to tone up the one area that cannot be hidden behind clothes!
Yoga, aerobics, weight training and stretching are not for our bodies alone. Through a series of contracting and relaxing muscles on our necks and faces, we can boost circulation, improve muscle tone and release excess tension. Oh and if you give a hoot, try the following exercises to soften wrinkles, lines and creases that already exist and preventing new ones from forming.

You may feel ridiculous at first, BUT the results may keep you from looking your “age.”

Fishy/kissy Face
Purse your lips. Open and close like a fish eating food.
‘Eyes-Wide-Open’ Aerobics
Raise your upper lids and eyebrows to open your eyes as wide as possible at a rate of once a second. A variation on this was to do circles. Looking as far in all directions around the rim of the eye. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
Neck Aerobics
AKA, the underbiter! Have you ever seen how a bulldogs underbite looks? That’s our goal too. Look up at a 45 degree angle. Take the bottom row of your teeth and stretch them up over your top lip. Repeat 15 to 20 times.
Cheek ‘Weight Training’
Sit at a table or desk, or stand by the kitchen work-surface. Put your elbows on the surface and cup your head with your hands so the fleshy parts of your cheeks rest on the ‘heels’ of your hands, your fingers on your temples and, most important, let your hands take the weight of your head. If this doesn’t happen, adjust your position, perhaps by raising the height of your chair with a cushion. Smile and feel your cheek muscles tighten against the heels of your hands; if you can’t feel this, adjust the position of your hands. Repeat 20 times.
Yoga Lion Variation
The lion is a yoga position that uses the entire body. Carmen would just do the face part. Open your mouth wide and let out an audible sigh. Stretch your tongue out as far as possible. Repeat this three times, then relax.
Finally, mom encouraged me to just be expressive. Laughing, smiling, gasping, all utilize the face muscles. So let your next workout be about FACE! 🙂

Stress Reducer & Peace Inducer Video

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A little something different. A meditative moment to get to our core dreamer; the person we may have forgotten, in our exchange for who we are today.

Social Media Tip:
I made th onis video in seconds using Auphonic.
I had previously created the audio  and Auphonic was able to easily access the source file on Soundcloud and export to Youtube. This is an easy to use multimedia app and an AWESOME tool for podcasters.

The Five Tibetans

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This week I had the great pleasure of meeting a new person at work. He not only brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in our field, he is also a practicioner of The Five Tibetans.

The Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth is a book that outlines an exercise program called the “Five Tibetan Rites,” used by Tibetan monks to live long, vibrant and healthy lives.

This is a simple exercise series but it is not it easy for everyone, so watch the video and check out this great article The Five Tibetan Rites: Exercises for Healing, Rejuvenation, and Longevity By Mary Kurus and am pasting an excerpt here: Beginning the “Five Rites” Exercise Program

1. For the first week, and only if your are relatively healthy and fit, do each exercise three times. 
2. If you are inactive, overweight, or have health problems begin these exercises doing one of the first three each day, and only if you feel totally comfortable doing this. Later in this article I will describe exercises you can do to help yourself strengthen so you can begin to do the “Five Rites”. If you have any concerns whatsoever, please consult with your physician. Individuals on serious medications should consult with their physicians. 
3. If you are overweight do not do Rites #4 and #5 until you have developed some strength and endurance. Do the substitutes for #4 and #5 until you yourself feel ready to begin doing #4 and #5 of the “Five Rites”. 
4. Do only what you feel comfortable doing. That may be only one of each exercise for the first week. Build up to two of each exercise the second week, three of each exercise the third week, etc. or at a faster pace only if your body does not hurt when you do these exercises. 
5. 21 is the maximum of each exercise you should ever do. If you want to enhance your program, do the exercises at a faster pace, but do not so more than 21 of each exercise each day. Doing more than 21 repetitions of each exercise in any day will affect your chakras negatively and can create imbalances in your body. 
 6. The “Five Rites” may stimulate detoxification and often creates many unpleasant physical symptoms. This is why it’s recommended to increase the number of each exercise gradually on a weekly basis. I also recommend a vibrational detoxification with Choming Essences. For more information on vibrational detoxification with Choming Essences please visit my website www.mkprojects.com. 
 7. If you have not exercised for some time, prepare to begin your “Five Rites” exercise program by walking daily, for a half hour each day if possible. Another alternative in preparation for the Five Rites is a stretching program with a gradual increase in the types of stretching exercises and the duration of this program. 
8. A sugar free and low fat diet is an important support when integrating the “Five Rites” exercise program into your life. Also check for Digestive Food Sensitivities and eliminate all foods you do not digest easily. 
9. Do the Five Rites exercises every day. The maximum you should skip is one day each week. If the exercises are done less than six days each week, the results will be greatly reduced. 
10. If on certain days your time is limited, do 3 repetitions of each exercise. This takes less than five minutes. 

11. For maximum benefit, do the exercises before breakfast in the morning, if at all possible. If this is not possible do them anytime during the day. 

Please read the full article or grab the original book The Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth written by Peter Kelder to find out more.

To your health!
Peace and blessings my friends, ~angel~

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Social Yoga Media Pin

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An Easy 90 minute workout. Also, my first Pinterest embed… oooo la la!

I’ve taken yoga classes in real life and love them. Online, I’ve watched videos (on Youtube) and now have a collection of images (on Pinterest) to help me remember how beneficial it is for me to practice. Regular stretching is so good for body, mind and spirit. This is designed as a 90 minute workout but if you hold each pose for 65 seconds and do the routine once through, you are moving that blood through for a half hour workout that will have you sweating!

Social media should enhance real life, use time wisely and LIVE well.