Will a Midnight Snack Ruin Your Diet plan?

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When hunger strikes in the middle of the night, your very first impulse is likely to grab a midnight snack. There are even worse things you might do to your diet plan than consume a midnight snack, so it's finest to grab a little something and eliminate cravings pangs. All things thought about, a midnight snack will certainly not ruin your diet. Nevertheless, more than any other meal you eat during the day hours, you need to be additional mindful about the dietary content of foods you eat late in the evening.

Understand Why You Need to Consume a Low Calorie Midnight Snack

Although your body remains to burn calories while you sleep, you don't have to take in any added late night calories if you have actually consumed well throughout the day. Anything you consume in the middle of the night goes above and beyond your day-to-day caloric requirements. The extra will certainly equal weight gain if it how to becomes a practice. Like a dessert or treat you 'd enable yourself to delight in sometimes, a midnight snack need to be treated with the same sort of cautious attitude. You should not beat yourself up after eating a midnight snack, however you ought to try to watch your calories the next day.

Know What Sort of Snacks to Consume

So we know a midnight snack isn't really damaging to your diet if you stick to healthy options, however too often it's simple to want to offer into late night yearnings for ice cream or left over Chinese food. Remember, you're making a huge mistake if you do. If you're consuming around 1800 calories a day and after that indulge in a 500 calorie bowl of ice cream or carton of lo mein, you've outdone all of your good work.

If you find yourself hungry, get hold of a low-fat yogurt, a single serving size of plain popcorn or a piece of fruit. Other choices are a glass of skim milk, a handful of almonds or a couple of cheese cubes. A midnight snack is not a free pass to indulge in any sort of treat you prefer. Stick to the very same healthy foods you would consume throughout the day. If you find yourself continuously choosing calorie-laden goodies, keep them from your residence till you have the determination to say no.

Modification Your Consuming Behaviors

A midnight snack is not going to ruin your diet if its an occasional event. If you find yourself hungry practically every night of the week, though, you need to alter your eating practices throughout the day. Attempt to get in the pattern of consuming 6 little dishes throughout your day. Be sure you're consuming the right amount of protein, carbs and fats. In other words, make certain you're consuming a well-balanced diet. Attempt to consume a more filling lunch or dinner-- or both. If you satisfy your cravings at night, you'll have no need to eat a snack late in the evening.

Don't stress if you find yourself consuming midnight snacks frequently. Instead, choose healthy options while you make changes to your diet during the day. Ultimately your brand-new eating patterns will become habit and you won't find yourself starving in the middle of the night.

Healthy Late Night Treats

Imagine you're surfing through your favorite late night talk shows when the apparent rumble of a starving tummy fills the space. There are lots of reasons why we may get a food craving in the middle of the night. While it could come from through dullness, things like dehydration, an absence of protein and real hunger after an early supper are likewise to blame.

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A common misconception is that eating after a particular point in the day is "bad" and that late night snacking is one perpetrator that can result in weight gain. After all, we burn less calories when we sleep. So instead of being used for energy, those late night calories are simply going to get kept as fat, right? Not always.

The reality is, your body burns calories around the clock. While it's true that you burn more calories while awake, the main focus is on the overall quantity of calories you take in throughout the day, not necessarily the timing of them. If you delight in a bowl of ice cream one day, whether it's at 7 a.m., 2 p.m. or 11 p.m.-- it doesn't matter the time. What matters is if those calories are in extra of what you have to take in each day. So, while late night treats might not be as bad for your midsection as you might have believed, all junk food are not developed equivalent.

Regrettably, later on in the evening and in the wee hours of the early morning, we are frequently at the mercy of convenience. Although there may be healthy choices available, we tend to make poor choices when we are overtired and overly starving. Often times, these "benefit" snacks are high in fat and sugar and low in nutrition. In order to prevent derailing a healthy consuming strategy during the night, focus on making some of these much healthier options.

Making Healthy Choices
First things initially, your late-night eating ought to be more of a "mini-meal" with a definite beginning and finish, rather than mindless grazing. Meal foods also have the tendency to have greater quantities of protein than traditional junk food. Protein is going to be much more filling than sugary or starchy foods, leaving you less most likely to rob the kitchen area once again an hour later on.

Also, because dehydration is one of the primary offenders for good food cravings, start off by drinking some water when you get the cravings pains in the middle of the night. If you are dehydrated, the water will satisfy the hunger you are feeling. Prevent drinking coffee or other caffeinated beverages. If drinking water still leaves you starving, visit the kitchen area and prepare yourself some healthy treats.

Midnight Mini-Meal Concepts

Little dish of low-fat cottage cheese and canned or fresh fruit
One string cheese and a piece of fresh fruit or entire grain crackers
A little cup of edamame
A handful nuts
A small entire wheat pita with hummus
Half of a turkey sandwich
Celery sticks or apple slices with peanut butter
A little 3oz can of tuna with a couple of whole grain crackers
A little bowl of whole grain cereal with fat complimentary or 1 % low-fat milk

If you are a consistent late night snacker, devote a small area in your fridge to late night snacks and keep some pre-prepared healthy choices on hand. That way, when hunger strikes you will be ready and less lured to delight in the less healthy snack options.

Pilates: The best ways to Tone Your Body Fast

When you're planning to discover ways to tone your body effectively and effectively, look no further than Pilates. Pilates is a remarkable toning and strength training method that benefits people of all fitness levels and capabilities. With the number of Pilates classes and house exercise videos offered, it's fairly easy to get started on a routine. If you do Pilates a number of times a week, you're bound to see results within a number of months.

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Discover the Type of Pilates You Like Best

The most typical kind of Pilates you will certainly experience is mat-based, implying a set an activities that can be done making use of only an easy mat on the floor. Other kinds of Pilates, like Stott Pilates and Reformer Pilates, utilize devices and devices and are not as typical in old-fashioned fitness centers. You might need to look for a Pilates studio for these type of classes, whereas mat-based Pilates classes can easily be discovered at nearly any gym.

One approach isn't necessarily more than the others. For functions of toning your body quickly, you'll want to do Pilates a minimum of three times a week. If you prefer the personal interest and machine-based exercises discovered in Reformer Pilates, you'll want to register for a 6 to 8 week session of classes. If you want the versatility of doing Pilates through both classes at the gym and at-home video exercises, you'll want to stick with mat-based Pilates.
More About Mat-Based Pilates

Pilates concentrates on enhancing your core or "powerhouse," your deep abdominal and back muscles. By strengthening these muscles, your posture will improve. As you strengthen your core, you'll also do a series of exercises focusing on your limbs. Not just will you tone your muscles through Pilates, you'll lengthen them. Offered time, you'll observe your body becoming more svelte and lean. As a matter of fact, numerous dancers do a Pilates workout regularly. While it isn't reasonable to anticipate to resemble a dancer, including numerous routine Pilates routines into your weekly exercise program can help you to attain a more muscular and lean body.

As stated earlier, to tone your body quick, you'll need to do mat-based Pilates at least 3 times a week. To keep from ending up being burnt out, differ your routine by taking a class one or two times week as well as doing a video at home. Pilates is one of those exercises where quality is far more crucial than quantity. Concentrate on doing the activities slowly and properly, not quickly without focus to form, for best results.
Pilates Alone Isn't Enough

A Pilates exercise will certainly target your whole body, making it one of the most reliable uses of time in relation to your strength training routine. However, you'll see the very best outcomes if you're likewise doing cardiovascular activity a minimum of 3 times a week in addition. Moreover, eating a healthy and well-balanced diet will just assist to shed the fat and show off the long and lean muscle you're forming through your Pilates program.

Give yourself an excellent six to nine weeks prior to you expect to see outcomes. Be disciplined and inspired with your routine and Pilates can transform your body.

Add Cardio to Pilates for a Fat Burning Workout

A cardio pilates exercise is one of the very best ways to lose fat and build muscles. This new form of workout involves combining cardio with a pilates exercise. With cardio pilates, you can burn calories and establish your muscles at the same time.

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Pilates highlights on accuracy and quality of activity. This makes it exceptionally vital to focus on getting the activities right. Pilates helps to develop lean and long muscles. Nevertheless, before developing these muscles, it is necessary to burn excess fat in the body. You can accomplish this by combining cardio with pilates.

Cardio Assists to Burn Calories Faster

Numerous scientific reports and researches have shown that routine cardio workouts are very important for a healthy way of living. This is because cardio workouts can decrease body weight, high cholesterol and blood pressure. Most people tend to burn fat at a faster rate by burning calories through cardio workouts. It is much easier to tone the muscles after losing excess body fat. Specialists recommend a 20 minute cardio exercise before you begin with pilates.

Pilates Tones Your Body

Pilates is suitable for everybody. You can begin with pilates for novices and then move on to sophisticated levels. Pilates is totally different from cardio. It focuses on developing balance throughout the body. It likewise assists to increase endurance and train various muscle groups at the same time.

Pilates works by focusing on the 'powerhouse' of the body i.e. the abdominal area, hips, butts and lower body. You can burn calories and tone your body by working out on mats and other pilates devices. Pilates helps you develop flexibility and strength, without adding muscle bulk.
Using Cardio in a Pilates Workout

There are various methods to include cardio in a pilates regimen. It generally includes including some cardio works out to pilates mats and devices like jump boards and rebounders. Cardio workouts must be done before pilates. Cardio exercises start the process of burning calories and enhance the heart rate. This makes it possible to produce calorie shortage. The calorie deficiency produced in this manner is much higher than in any other routine work out. Combining cardio and pilates together helps to burn more calories and develop longer, leaner muscles.

A cardio pilates workout helps in enhancing cardio vascular fitness, and it tones the body at the same time. Cardio Pilates assists you to improve your flexibility. The combined workout will likewise help you enhance your posture.

Fundamental cardio Pilates exercises can be done by everybody. You can work on your abs, back, thighs and essentially every significant muscle of your body with the help of cardio Pilates. You can even think about purchasing a cardio pilates board for regular workouts.

Whether you are an athlete or simply starting off with workout, you can benefit from a combined cardio pilates workout.

Attain Total Body Fitness With These 3 Techniques

Incorporating different approaches of workout is the very best method to attain overall body physical fitness. Using strength training, stretching and cardiovascular exercises, you will work different muscle groups and efficiently tone and strengthen your body to prevent sports and stress relevant injuries. Achieving total body fitness must be focused on achieving a great lung capacity, a healthy heart, a perfect BMI and strong, lean muscles.


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The very best way to acquire total body fitness is to deal with one type of workout daily. By alternating your workouts, you can provide your muscles and tendons the opportunity to recover and recover before the next exercise. This will certainly enable you to have more strength and much better work your muscles when you do exercise. Right here is how to achieve overall body fitness:

Strategy 1: Cardiovascular Workouts

Begin one day one with a cardiovascular workout. This can be any cardio activity that gets your heart pumping, increases your air consumption and gets your blood moving. Ideal options are:

brisk walking
running
biking
sports
aerobics
exercise machines

You ought to try and vary your cardio exercises for the best results so that you workout and tone different locations of the body. If you are new to cardio exercises, look into various alternatives at your local gym, recreation center or community college. Lots of locations provide fun cardio classes like dance, water aerobics and other group sports and physical fitness classes that might be interesting to you and help to obtain you included and interested in cardio workouts.

Method 2: Strength Training Exercises

On day two, you will wish to focus on strength training. Create a weight lifting program that you can stick with by incorporating a number of exercises that work different locations of your body. One common misconception is that raising weights will certainly trigger you to bulk up, nevertheless, by lifting weights and increasing your lean muscle mass, you will certainly burn more fat, increase your bone density and create a more shapely, toned body.

Enhancing your muscle strength is a key element to creating overall body physical fitness. Utilize weight, body resistance exercises or perhaps home items like cans of soup to obtain you begun on strength training and work your way up.

Technique 3: Toning and Stretching Workouts

On the 3rd day of your exercise regimen, you should spend at least one hour committed to stretching, yoga or Pilates. This will help you to avoid injury by increasing your balance, unwinding your muscles and organs, and enhancing your tendons and joints. Try different stretching routines (and yoga or Pilates workouts) till you find one that fits you.

Repeat the Process

After three days rotating in between these 3 workouts, start at the beginning again with cardio and work your method though all 3 again. When you begin to reinforce and tone your body, you will certainly start to recognize the results of all your effort. For the best outcomes, you will wish to vary your exercises within each group, choosing various strength training and cardio exercises to continuously strengthen and build your muscles.

Follow these steps to be on the path to total body physical fitness now and enjoy your new, well-sculpted body and improved health in no time!

Mind and Body Physical fitness for Lifelong Good Health

Body and mind physical fitness? Many people who wish to get into shape don't realize there is more to fitness than well-toned muscles. There's no lack of exercise regimes that just promote the excellence of the body, or the idea of fitness as a part of a weight loss strategy.

Centuries ago, Western culture lost its focus on the interconnectedness in between the body and the mind or spirit, and how each has the power to impact the other. Cultivating a love of motion can help you get beyond the principle of fitness as different from mental fitness-- and towards a long-lasting program of good health through mind and body physical fitness.

Whether you choose yoga or another kind of activity for exercise, remember that our bodies are made to move to feel good. So when you integrate routine activity in your life, you're moving closer to general body and mind fitness. But if you are overweight, this can be more difficult. You can improve your mind-body connection for better mind and body fitness-- it's simply vital to choose reasonable physical fitness alternatives.

You may consider redefining workout as any activity that joins your mind and body and decreases your stress level. In fact, high levels of stress have been linked to weight gain, and certainly can result in emotional consuming. Discovering activities that are both satisfying and easy to do is essential when developing any type of exercise plan.
It's important to be sensible about exactly what we expect from ourselves. Consider your objectives. Is 30 to 60 minutes on a treadmill an affordable amount of time at this point in your life? Are you setting yourself up for failure or success when you produce this expectation on your own? Would it be more pleasurable to you to do some stretching and a shorter period of time on the treadmill?

Developing an exercise plan that fits your way of living and your desires is crucial. Surprisingly, long-term weight reduction is linked more closely to whether a person adheres to their fitness regular than to exactly what that routine in fact consists of. A routine that is gentle and satisfying is more likely to cause the long-term gains you are seeking.

Mindfulness Practice Builds and Strengthens Your Brain

Just like a workout, a person can train their brain, improving regions associated with learning, memory, regulating emotions, perspective and more.

A study by the Harvard Medical School investigated what happens to the grey matter of the brain before and after a person takes part in a mindfulness-based stress reduction course (MSBR). MBSR is a rigorous program involving focused attention and awareness training achieved through a variety of seated and laying down exercises and the mindfulness of everyday activities.

 

Participants spent eight weeks training their brain, and practicing mindfulness throughout their day for an average of 30 minutes. The results are impressive.

 

This study joins an extensive body of research that shows a person can train their brain to increase their psychological health and well-being. Just like a muscle, repeatedly activating areas of the brain through focused attention training increases grey matter and improves the networks of neural systems. It doesn’t just grow your brain, it strengthens it too.

 

Researchers found that completing these focused attention and awareness exercises significantly impacted the hippocampus, the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and the cerebellum.

 

What do these parts of the brain do?

 

The hippocampus improves regulating emotional responses, the consolidation of information for short- and long-term memory, and spatial navigation. Meanwhile, a decrease in the density or volume of the hippocampus is linked to pathological conditions like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

 

The TPJ involves social cognition, the awareness of the desires, intentions and goals of other people. So training the TPJ increased feelings of compassion.

 

The PCC plays an important role in reference your self, like remembering the past and thinking about the future, as well as conceiving the viewpoint of others.

 

The cerebellum affects sensory perception, coordination, and motor control. But it also plays a crucial role regulating behaviours. The cerebellum influences the speed, capacity, and consistency of emotion and cognition as well as their social appropriateness. A hindered cerebellum often leads to a host of behavioural abnormalities including anxiety, depression and sleep dysfunction.

 

All these areas saw improved density and structural changes. What’s more, it seems to stay that way. Structural changes in the hippocampus were detectable eight weeks following the end of the study. So the improvements last even after the training ends.

 

The study builds on a large body of research that shows attention training, meditation and other mindfulness-based interventions benefit the mind. Mindfulness improves a person’s well-being while reducing the symptoms of disorders like anxiety, depression, and more.

 

Want to Maximize Your Mindfulness?

 

Meet Muse and take your meditation and yoga practice to the next level. Muse is a brain sensing headband, a tool  used to enhance your wellness by helping you train your brain.

A Right to Bare Arms: 3 Yoga Poses for Beautiful Biceps

Summer is just around the corner. Are you ready to wear those T-shirts and spaghetti straps? Whether you’re already studying yoga or want to begin a practice, this discipline is arguably one of the best for sculpting your upper body into tank-top material.

 

Unlike weight lifting, which tends to contract and shorten muscles, creating a bulkier look, yoga develops a long, defined and fluid physique through isometric poses that activate muscles while maintaining their length. This kind of resistance work encourages lean, toned arms — the kind you want to show off all year long.

 

Graceful, defined muscles are simply a byproduct of any well-rounded yoga practice, says renowned yoga master Rodney Yee, who has studied the discipline for 30 years. “Moving your body in space is lifting weights. When you load the arms with your natural body weight, you are essentially lifting weights.”

 

He suggests that lifting free weights, for example, to sculpt the upper body may be too specific. Practicing yoga, on the other hand, helps the arms work in coordination — and therefore look more in proportion — with the rest of the body. “What you’re talking about is the whole look: the arms in relationship with the rest of the body.”

 

While a holistic yoga practice is integral to helping build proportional strength and definition, there are a number of ways that you can focus additional attention on yoga poses that strengthen and tone the arms, or modify certain movements to challenge and build strength in the upper body.

How yoga can sculpt & strengthen the arms

The triceps, biceps and deltoids are the most visual muscles in the arms. Biceps run along the front of the upper arms and help you bend your elbow; triceps run along the back of the upper arms and help extend the elbow; and deltoids, the outer layer of the upper arms, allow you to lift your arms to the side, front and back, as well as rotate them inward and outward. Focusing on poses that engage these “defining” muscles will help create a more chiseled, beach-ready look.

 

“The benefits of yoga are very profound and efficient in toning the whole upper body,” says Glenda Twining, an Austin-based Vinyasa yoga instructor and author of Yoga Turns Back the Clock and Yoga Fights Flab. “You are incorporating the shoulder and the back as well, and therefore the results are even more accentuated, in a short time.”

 

For example, in a Vinyasa flow practice (where you perform Sun Salutations), you will work the full capacity of the arms. “Almost every yoga pose where you are lifting or keeping your body off the floor strengthens and shapes your arms, shoulders and back for a lean, strong and beautifully sculptured look,” says Twining.

 

Colleen Saidman, co-owner of the celebrity yoga studio Yoga Shanti in New York, considers Chaturanga (Pushup Pose) the quintessential move for strengthening the arms, while Downward Dog creates an ideal weight-bearing position to build upper body strength, she says. 

 

Even standing poses, such as Warrior II, where you are resisting the pull of gravity and reaching the arms outward, firm and straight, will help with sculpting toned arms.

 

For those more advanced in their yoga discipline, Shoulder Stand Pose, when performed properly with the shoulders on a blanket and the head on a mat so the spine retains its curve, will engage the biceps in a dynamic way to build strength. Rodney Yee’s Advanced Yoga is one program that teaches these more challenging poses.

3 yoga poses for toned arms

Whether you are a veteran or newbie yogi, here are a few poses and sequences to help you transition peacefully to tank-top season. Hold each pose for five breaths.

1. Pushup Pose (Chaturanga Dandasana)

 

Start in Downward Dog. Then move into Plank Pose — bring your shoulders forward so they’re directly above your hands. Keep your body in a straight line parallel to the floor, from your torso through your legs. Look forward and feel the strength of your arms, legs and core.

 

Bend at the elbows and lower your body down toward the floor as far as you can go without touching your body to the floor. Keep your elbows hugging to your torso and aiming straight back, not angling out to the sides. Hover here and breathe deeply for several breaths. With regular practice you’ll build up your strength in this pose very quickly. “Yes, really,” says Rodney.

 

To transition into Challenge Chaturanga:

• Lower your upper body by bending your elbows, tucking them in, and hugging your ribcage. Continue to keep your body firm and supported — don’t let it sag to the floor.
• Lengthen your spine and keep your thighs activated as you tighten your tummy muscles and gaze toward the floor.

2. Downward Dog to Side Plank

 

Starting on your hands and knees, turn your toes under and straighten your legs as you raise the hips and straighten the arms. Shift your weight to the back of your legs, pressing down on the heels.

 

To transition to Side Plank Pose:

• Roll to your left side, balancing on your feet, so your inner thighs are touching.
• Bring your right hand up, pointing toward the ceiling. Your lower hand should be directly under your shoulder. Look to the ceiling or in front of you.
• Your upper hip should be directly in line with your lower hip, and your heels, hips and shoulders should also be in one line.
• If your supporting arm wobbles intensely, modify the pose by bringing your knee to the floor until you build up more strength in your upper body.

3. Inclined Plane

Start this pose by sitting with your legs stretched in front of you. Place the palms of your hands on the floor on either side of your body, just behind your buttocks, fingers facing toward your toes.

 

Lift your body upward, raising your buttocks, pushing your hips up and making your body as straight as possible. Let your head hang back and down gently, and keep the soles of your feet flat on the ground, keeping your arms and legs as straight as possible.

Yoga for Vets

Yoga has established a sure foot in the military. Today, VA hospitals across the country provide classes, and a growing body of research attests to yoga’s ability to facilitate recovery from the physical and emotional effects of trauma. Some soldiers returning from war report profound healing mentally, physically and socially, including army veteran Lee Rodrigues.
When Rodrigues returned from Bosnia in 1999, he did not find yoga in the veteran’s hospital in Marin County, California, or several other places he lived. But he came across a class at his gym and embarked on a journey that led him to classes with other veterans, and later to the program Warriors at Ease. Strongly effected by his burgeoning yoga practice, he became a teacher and board member in the organization.
Rodrigues says he had back, sleep and mood problems including depression, and he sought help from the VA. Doctors prescribed some 10 to 15 pills, he said, but taking them led to a bleeding ulcer and other side effects. “The side effects were becoming much worse than just being depressed,” he found. When a friend suggested yoga, he tried it.
The asana practice felt good, he says, and it complemented his established meditation practice. Rodrigues found that a central and unexpected benefit of his yoga practice was that it taught him to take care of himself. When he encountered yoga nidra, a mindfulness practice, he experienced healing on an even deeper level. “I’m not going to say it was mind-blowing because it was more than that . . . this experience was mind-body-spirit blowing.”
Yoga relaxed him and helped him sleep better. He particularly responded to the fact that that “it's just right here, right now, let’s give an hour to ourselves and disengage whatever the mind is thinking.” 
“We’re understanding more these days what trauma is and how it gets stored in the body,” says Karen Soltes, director of Clinical Services and Supervision and a yoga teacher with Warriors at Ease. “It’s adaptive in the midst of a crisis to be able to split off emotion so that you can respond in a way that helps keep you alive, or the people around you alive, or meet whatever the emergency in front of you is, but oftentimes those emotions get pushed to the side in a way that they never get processed, sometimes for decades.” 
She notes that many body-oriented therapies are effective in addressing trauma because they help to process those emotions and reactions. “Oftentimes,” says Soltes, “it’s coming back to that felt sense of experience in the body and being able to meet that whole realm of reaction and emotion in a way that couldn’t be met in the event because it was too overwhelming.”
Rodrigues has found the focus on the body invaluable. Experiencing the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he says his sympathetic nervous system is on guard all day scanning for threats. And yet practicing yoga nidra, he says, has helped him learn to engage the parasympathetic system, the resting-relaxing-calming part of the body, thereby alleviating the symptoms of PTSD.
“[Veterans] have survival skills nobody else has,” he notes. “It's just not positive if they run your life.”

Yoga’s Role in Helping Veterans Adjust to Civilian Life

Wrapped up in this experience of PTSD, says Rodrigues, is anger and frustration many vets experience upon returning to civilian life. An active-duty chaplain once told him he had won the second war, he says. “The second war is the war you fight when you get out,” he says. “Most people are not ready for that war. They are not ready for the fact that there is a massive stigma against veterans.
“People are afraid you're going to go crazy and shoot them,” adds Rodrigues. “No one will tell you that, but you can see the judgment in people's eyes. You know that when they find out you were in the military they think you're a little crazy. You won't get jobs because people are intimidated by you because you've seen people die, therefore one day you may go crazy and stab people or something.” 
Adding to the stress of returning vets, he adds, is the fact that all the skills they learned in the military don't translate to college credit or job skills. “All that work you did and you still can't find a damn job.”
In his case, most of his friends had finished college during the time he served in the military. When he returned, they had jobs, were making money, and he was starting from scratch. “I felt like I had a total disadvantage. And it was difficult . . . You have a little trouble being Mr. Happy Positive with everybody. It takes a while to figure that part out.”
Yet yoga nidra and finding patience helps, he says. “And the only way you really do it is gratitude,” he adds, the gratitude of surviving and the desire to contribute.

Helping Yoga Teachers Work Effectively with Vets

In Warriors at Ease trainings, faculty educate yoga teachers on potential triggers for people in the military and ways to create what they call a “safe container” for their students. For example, Soltes says, if someone has been exposed to IEDs [improvised explosive devices], they want to examine the room when they enter. They may not like dim lighting.
“We try to create a way for people to move more gently into these practices so they’re also not overwhelmed by their effect if it does come up. We help people create a sense of an inner resource, so we bring up memories of times when they felt safe, or comfortable, or at ease, and then there’s this anchor point that they can go back to if they need to.”
Warriors at Ease trainings stress introducing breathing practices and forward bends as a way to begin to settle the nervous system. They teach veterans practices they can easily do on their own.
Trainers also try to debunk some of the preconceived notions of what yoga is, says Soltes. She asks new students to tell her their associations with yoga. “Some people say it’s gay, some say it’s sissy. I say ‘put it all out on the table. There’s not much you’re going to say to me that’s going to hurt my feelings or I haven’t heard before.’
“I tell them it’s not about putting your leg behind your head, and it’s not about standing on your head, it’s really about helping people to be more flexible human beings,” says Soltes. She seeks to present yoga in way that makes it relevant to vets’ lives, and she shares research that may be important to them.
For many people with PTSD, says Soltes, sleep is a major difficulty, often because of anxiety and hyper-vigilance. “If people think that I can help them sleep better, they’re willing to try it and that’s one of the places we feel the most impact with what we’re doing.” Often they do begin to sleep better when practicing yoga, she says, which leads to greater dedication to practice. Irritability and anxiety decrease and they become better able to process strong emotion.

Results of Yoga Practice

Yoga can play a vital role in restoring an ability to connect socially and re-enter civilian life, say both Soltes and Rodrigues. One of the effects of PTSD is that people feel disconnected from the world around them, and attending a class with others begins to restore a sense of safety with other people and consequently within themselves. Group yoga practice, Soltes says, connects them back to that part of themselves that is whole, complete, untouched by trauma.
In addition, says Soltes, yoga and yoga nidra help veterans reengage in daily life and work. PTSD affects the ability to function effectively in the world, she notes, and it impacts veterans economically as well as socially. “It’s no secret that the veteran population is way over-represented in the homeless population as well as in the prison population.” Addressing the PTSD can assist in the ability to function and to make one’s way in the world.
Both Soltes and Rodrigues underscore the fact that iRest yoga nidra can be a very powerful practice for people. People develop the ability to fully meet and actually feel into emotions they were pushing away, she says. They learn about the nature of their anger, allow it to be there, and develop the ability to respond differently even as they experience such strong emotion.
One Vietnam vet who had been through some extreme combat told Soltes he was driving home from the VA and was cut off by an 18-wheeler.  He said, “I can feel my anger igniting, and I know what I want to do to this guy.”
Says Soltes, “I call it the zero-to-60 response.” He thinks he is going to have it out with that guy, but realizes that never goes anywhere good, she says. And instead he just drove home. He realized in the moment that he had a choice.
“There’s some neurological/physiological/cognitive shift that happens, notes Soltes, “and people start responding in different ways. It’s not necessarily a conscious decision, but their whole body starts to settle down, and they're not in fight/flight reaction mode. The frontal cortex of the brain comes back online, and they're making better judgments and better decisions.”
Rodrigues concurs. “I learned this technique in Zen meditation but yoga nidra brought it to a whole new level, and I call it the mental reset. When I recognize my mind is just kind of getting ahead of itself, it’s jumping around and getting very excited, then I can take a few deep breaths and go into the body and clear the mind, and I use this probably five times a day, every day.
“I believe that iRest is a proactive way to address the issues everybody has,” he continues. “I think we all have some traumas, and I think iRest provides a vehicle to invite those traumas in for tea. Let’s have a little chat.”

Tips from a vet for veterans or other people with PTSD beginning yoga:

1. Approach it with an open mind.
2. Even though your tendency may be to choose an aggressive workout instead of a gentle yoga practice, “give yourself a break and let yourself relax” (Lee Rodrigues).
3.  Realize you are learning a new skill, one that involves taking care of oneself and learning to respond instead of react.

Tips for yoga teachers:

1.   Make sure the room and environment feel as safe as possible (not too many cabinets, lights not too low, etc.).
2. Avoid hands on adjustments unless someone is really at risk of hurting him- or herself.
3. Don’t use Sanskrit or jargon that’s not relevant. Use secular terms so the practice doesn’t compete with students’ religious beliefs.
 Have experience with yoga for vets? Leave your comments below.

How to Do Ab Crunches on a Balance Ball for 40% Better Results

How to Do Ab Crunches on a Balance Ball for 40% Better Results

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Can adding a Balance Ball to your abs workout net you that six-pack with less sweat? A study by 
researchers at the Department of Kinesiology at Occidental College in Los Angeles says yes.

The study found that crunches performed on a stability ball (a.k.a. fitness ball or Balance Ball) boosted activation, or flexing, of abdominal muscles by 24 to 38 percent over crunches done without a ball. Participants in the study were fitted with electromyographic equipment that registered heightened activity in upper and lower abs as well as in obliques.

The new research may help explain why stability ball workouts continue to rank among the top 10 bestselling fitness DVDs, according to Nielsen VideoScan — and why you'd be hard pressed to find a gym that doesn't offer them.

But there's another way a stability ball can help you get strong, sexy abs.
"Abs workouts using a stability ball engage smaller core muscles that more traditional forms of exercise don’t," says certified yoga and fitness ball trainer Suzanne Deason. "Those smaller muscles help you keep your balance on the ball. You'll sculpt all the muscle groups in the abdominals — particularly the transverses for a flat stomach; they're sometimes missed in regular sit-ups — as well as the obliques for a whittled-down, small waist; and the outermost muscle, the rectus."
If crunches and their ilk still sound about as fun as moving a half-ton of rock with a shovel, give the ball a chance for one other reason, says Deason.
Because of the ball’s soft surface," she points out, "you don’t feel pain on your spine as you might when doing lying-down exercises. The support gives you the sense that you’re not working as hard as you actually are; you can probably do many more sit-ups on the ball than you’d be able to do on the floor."
Deason says yoga-based movements on a ball can also help improve digestion and help prevent back pain and injury. Pilates-style exercises use the ball as a counterbalance to help equalize the muscles of the front and back torso for better posture and poise.
Even if you only have time for a quick five- to 10-minute workout, try these three exercises to tone your abs and better define your waist.

1. Abs Crunch

This is one of the most effective ways to strengthen, flatten and tone the abs. Doing the exercise using a Balance Ball or stability ball eliminates the impact of a hard surface on the spine, which helps you perform the movement more precisely.It also helps increase lower back strength, support the spine, promote better posture and prevent lower back injury.

• Begin in Positive Seated Posture; roll out until lower back is resting comfortably on ball.
• Place feet flat on floor, shoulder-width apart.
• Position hands behind head to support its weight, elbows pointing directly out to sides.
• Raise head even with torso and gaze straight up.

• Inhale deeply; on exhale, contract lower abs.
• Hold the flex and inhale; on exhale, slowly curl torso forward, flexing middle and upper abs to raise chest up and toward pelvis. Allow head to follow chest. Do not force or pull head forward. Allow abs to do the work.
• Raise chest until you feel abs completely contracted; hold for 3 to 5 comfortable, deep breaths.
• Release slowly, allowing head and chest to drop back down to torso level. Breathe.
• Repeat 10 to 12 times. Add more repetitions as you become stronger.

2. Donkey Kicks
This exercise can appear more challenging than it really is. Designed to strengthen and tone the entire torso, this movement helps to tone the waistline, flatten the abs, and strengthen the lower back and spine to help prevent injury. This super-efficient exercise packs a lot of punch — it’s really a total-body move that also shapes and defines the muscles in the arms and legs.

• Begin by kneeling in front of ball.
• Lean forward, placing chest on ball and hands out in front of you.
• Push forward with feet and walk hands out until shins and tops of your feet rest on ball.
• Keep body in a flat position, head in line with torso. Focus gaze on floor.
• Flex abs to prevent back from sagging.

• Flex abs and slowly pull knees toward chest.
• Pull forward until hips and knees are aligned vertically. Press firmly through hands and arms for support and balance.
• Hold for 2 to 3 even breaths; release by extending legs back into starting position.
• Repeat 6 to 8 times. Add more repetitions as you gain strength in arms and abs.

3. Pushups

Think pushups are only for arms and pecs? Think again. Using a BalanceBall or stability ball boosts this move’s abs sculpting benefits by activating the core (the abs and torso) to help you maintain balance during the movement.

• Begin by lying over ball on chest, hands on floor in front of you.
• Walk hands forward until knees are resting on top of ball.
• Keep head level; focus on floor.
• Flex abs to stabilize torso.
• Position feet together, hands shoulder-width apart.

• Inhale; on exhale, slowly lower head and chest as far as is comfortable, keeping elbows tight alongside body.
• Hold for one breath and press back up to starting position.
• As a variation, when releasing chest to floor, extend elbows out to sides. This will help work chest more deeply.