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For those who have been going on a diet, you all know that the most difficult part to trim down is the belly. We all dream of having a flat belly. But it seems to be the most stubborn part of our body and is usually the last part to lose fat. Aside from avoiding food with high carbs and sugar, exercise is a necessary part of the regimen. However, I find doing numerous crunches and other exercises a big strain.

Yoga and Pilates, on the other hand, has been known to have exercises or poses that help a lot in trimming the abs. Here are some yoga poses that concentrates on strengthening the abs and trimming down excess fat. I will add more in futures posts, including pilates workouts that will give you a flat belly.

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My favorite yoga asanas are those that strengthen and lengthen the spine. I’ve had scoliosis since I was a kid, and back pains and discomfort have been part of my life. Yoga twisting poses usually does a good job of flexing the spine. One that I do on a daily basis, even when I am at home, is the Belly Twist or the Jathara Parivartanasana. It’s a supine twist that stretches the back muscles, realigns and lengthens the spine, and hydrates the spinal discs.

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Probably the most basic balancing pose in Yoga is the Tree Pose or the Vrikshasana. It is a core yoga position that is practiced even in advanced yoga. It is the perfect pose to develop physical balance and agility. Aside from balance, it also strengthens the legs and improves the flexibility of the hips and shoulders. However, due to the pressure on the knees and the hips, it is not recommended for those who have undergone chronic knee or hip injuries.

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I miss yoga.  It has been over 2 months since my last session.  I can already feel the aches and pains in my joints.  I have to start with my sessions again soon.  I don’t want my joints to start becoming stiff again.  Before our family emergency, I was planning to get a new yoga mat.  My yoga mat isn’t bad.  However, there are certain postures that are uncomfortable because it is thinner than usual with very minimal insulation.

To maximize your yoga sessions, accessories should be appropriate.  Yoga does not require much accessories.  Just comfortable clothes, towel, and a yoga mat.  The rest are optional.  The yoga mat I was looking for is one that provides enough support and insulation but not too much that it will affect balance.  I was a bit curious about those sticky mats and if they are really any good for balance.  I feel like it would be cheating if the mat has additional features that aid you in your postures.  Good yoga mats are bit pricey.  So, I browsed through ShopWiki to get a good deal.  I also thought that it was about time I got a yoga mat bag to match.  I had to stop envying my instructor’s yoga bag and get one on for myself.

What I love about ShopWiki is the ability to find the best deals in the entire web.  Unlike other online shopping guides, your search is not limited to merchants who have placed advertising on the site.  ShopWiki crawls the whole cyberspace to get the best deal and savings for the product that you require.  ShopWiki is my trusty online shopping assistant.  And as always, it never lets me down.

Doing yoga has now become more than just exercise for me. It has become a passion. I love the effects that it has on my body. Not only has it made me more flexible, it has given unusual strength to my muscles and my immune system. Now, aside from attending my regular yoga class, I also do it at home with my kids’ Wii Fit.

I got a very good deal for my Wii Fit. I bought it online through QuickShop.co.uk at a very competitive price. Unlike other online comparative shopping sites, QuickShop provides over 30,000 online stores to choose from. While other similar sites provide only shops that have paid for placement, QuickShop will find every store in the internet that offers the product you require. With more stores to choose from, you can avail of more savings since you can find the one that offers the lowest price or the best deal in the internet.

I discovered QuickShop a few months ago while looking for PS3 games for my kids. Buying the games off the rack in regular is a bit much for my budget. So, I scoured the internet looking for good deals and discounts. Since then, I do most of my shopping online and use QuickShop to find out what the best deal in cyberspace is before I make my final purchase. With our budget getting tighter lately because of the economic crisis, QuickShop has been a blessing since the family is able to get the best savings in most of its online purchases.

Following meditation, breathing exercises, and eye exercises, a yoga session then starts to accelerate into yoga warm ups or stretches. These usually involve the stretching or lubrication of the neck, shoulders, wrists, knees, ankles, and toes.

After eye exercises, we proceed to exercises that still maintain the Siddhasana or Accomplished Pose. An exercise that I do even when I am not in my yoga session is the neck roll. When I feel tension on my neck or shoulders, I do this while on my desk. As a matter of fact, even before I practiced yoga, it has been a habit that I do. I am sure many people do it also. I believe it’s an instinctive exercise that everyone does when they feel any neck discomfort.

While still relaxed in the Siddhasana, we close our eyes and continue breathing properly. Then we start by lowering our neck, touching the chin to the chest. We rotate our neck slowly clockwise, moving toward the position where we touch our right ear to the right shoulder, then move our head in a position where we drop our head back, then to the position where the left ear touches the left shoulder, and back to the position where our chin is touching the chest. Remember to do this slowly while still breathing in a relaxed manner. We usually do 2 rotations clockwise then proceed doing another 2 rotations in the opposite direction or counterclockwise.

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Yoga starts with exercises that would relax the mind and the body. Following breathing exercises, the yogi maintains the Accomplished Pose or the Siddhasana with eye exercises. Eye strain has always been a problem for me because I stare at the computer monitor for hours everyday. Sometimes I also drag on through the rest of the night working on my computer when I get home. And if I don’t stare at the monitor, I would watch TV or DVDs or even read a book before I sleep. For most of my activities, my eyes have taken the beating. As such, working on my eyes have become an essential part of my yoga exercise.

There are five yoga exercises that can be performed before starting with more difficult poses. These strengthen the eye muscles, help prevent eyestrain, and improve eyesight. These involve moving the eyes in different directions while keeping the neck and head steady. Sometimes, we do all 5 exercises, while other times we just alternate doing 2 or 3 on the list below. Each set is usually performed 2 times.

1. Look up then look down

2. Look left then look right

3. Look to the upper right then look to the bottom left

4. Look to the upper left then look to the bottom right

5. Look up then roll your eyes clockwise, then roll your eyes counterclockwise

After these exercises, these can be followed with another where you hold your thumb about a foot from your face. Then move your eyes from the thumb to the wall beyond the thumb. Finally, you need to soothe the eyes following these stretches. Rub your palms together till you feel that both have become warm. Then close your eyes and cover each with a warm palm — there is no need touch your eyelids with your palm. Just make sure the the sides of your hands touch the outer areas around the eye to keep the heat over your eyes. These can be done 2 or 3 times.

By the way, I want to make it clear that I am not the lady in the picture above. I am much younger than her, and I intend to keep looking younger as I continue practicing yoga regularly ).

As I mentioned in my last post regarding yoga, the session starts with breathing exercises to soothe and relax the yogi. Breathing exercises are usually done while in seated yoga poses, specifically, the Siddhasana or the Accomplished Pose. In the Siddhasana, buttocks are on the floor with your legs crossed in front. One foot closes on the inner thigh while the other is close to the ankle of the other foot. Hands are rested on each knee with palms facing up or down. It is unnecessary, but it is better that each hand uses a hand Mudra (hand postures) while in the pose. I will make a separate discussion on the benefits of hand Mudras in another post. The Mudra that is commonly practiced for the Siddhasana is the Gyan Mudra — thumb and index finger touch each other gently while the rest of the fingers are upright. Hips should be pressed gently on the floor, and the spine is straight but relaxed. Shoulders should also be relaxed and dropped back while the chest is pushed forward. In this pose, every part of the body should be relaxed, especially the face, jaw, tongue, and the tummy. With eyes closed, the yogi starts the breathing exercises.

The Siddhasana is the pose that is taken for meditation. It also opens the hips and lengthens the spine. It also induces relaxation and calm. This is similar to the Easy Pose or the Sukhasana, except that in the Sukhasana the feet are crossed, both under the knees. Both poses are under basic yoga for beginners. Variations are done in intermediate or advanced yoga with the half lotus or the full lotus. Half lotus is where one foot rests on top of the opposite thigh while in the full lotus, the legs are crossed with each foot resting on the opposite thighs. I will go into more complicated poses in the future. This series will follow the same progression one normally goes through in yoga. Next post on yoga will discuss eye exercises.

Breathing exercises are an integral part of yoga practice. Proper breathing is essential to perform most of the yoga poses or asanas. A yoga session starts out with breathing exercises to calm the body and the mind. In yoga, the first thing that practitioners are taught is proper breathing. We were taught to breath the same way an innocent baby breathes — inhale deeply and expand your stomach, exhale slowly which should contract the stomach. As we progress, you will note that some poses are similar to what we usually see babies and children do — proof that some yoga poses were intrinsically known by the human body to be beneficial to its well being. While the body ages and we begin to experience stress, we forget that instinctive exercise and develop other habits that become less beneficial to us.

We usually start out with the 3-part breath (Dirga Pranayama) where the exercises teach the filling and emptying of the lungs. This is followed by the Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Sodhana). In Nadi Sodhana, the nostrils are alternately closed off from air, allowing only the other nostril to inhale and exhale. This brings balance by clearing the energy channels on both sides of the body and is known to be beneficial for those suffering from different forms of allergies such as asthma. As a matter of fact, apart from my scoliosis, it is my asthma that I look to find relief for by doing regular yoga exercises.

Once you have mastered the art of breathing with yoga, you will find that proper breathing will become a habit and will help in minimizing stress levels. There are other more complicated breathing exercises that I have not mastered such as the Ocean Breath and the Skull Shining Breath. These will require more guidance from a yoga teacher since they may sometimes cause you to become lightheaded if done incorrectly. Both these exercises provide benefits for respiratory ailments and give the lungs more strength.

My next yoga post will now focus on asanas and their benefits. Watch out for it.

I started of with a brief description on yoga in my previous post. Every now and then, I will post information on yoga touching on specific topics of the practice. For now, I will cover the basics and start with the specific benefits that practicing yoga can provide. Yoga provides both physical and mental benefits that improves the overall health of those who practice it on a regular basis.

The physical benefits of yoga includes flexibility, strength, improved posture, and better blood circulation. The stretching exercises gives specific muscles and joints flexibility which further leads to toned muscles and better posture. Balancing poses, on the other hand, gives strength to legs and arms. The push-ups also gives strength to the upper body. Better blood circulation is one of the major benefits of yoga. This translates to improved brain function and better immunity. Toxins are likewise efficiently flushed out which keeps the liver, kidneys, and other organs healthy.

Meanwhile, the physical activities of yoga combined with the breathing and balancing poses provides stress reduction, mental calmness, improved focus, and body awareness. Regular yoga practice will make you aware of which parts of the body is stronger, which ones are weaker, and which parts of the body improves alignment and balance.

Specifically, yoga has been known to help people with allergies, asthma, back pains, migraines, and even heart problems. There is also prenatal yoga which helps pregnant women with the discomforts that come with having a baby. Pregnant women who practice yoga during their pregnancy are also known to have easy labor and delivery. Some even claim that labor and delivery were virtually pain-free.

For me, the best benefit I get from yoga is the improvement of my scoliosis. My allergy attacks has been minimal also since I started yoga. I will start researching a little more to help with some of my other health problems. I have trouble sleeping sometimes and I believe there are exercises that can help with insomnia. Watch out for the rest of my yoga series.