All entries tagged with “strengthen”
Live Balanced. Life is Edgy.
Change Creates Balance.
Find balance through change. Reinvent yourself. Do something new. Stand on one foot while brushing your teeth, combing your hair, talking on the phone. Stretch out your arms. Move your hips. Bend forward. Get your head below your heart. Reverse the blood flow and revitalize your brain. Mix it up. In our car-driven, quick-fix, technologically-oriented society, we have endangered the mobility and muscularity of the human species. To avoid stagnation, building balance into your life is necessary. When you move in unconventional ways, your body understands balance better. When you work-out and become “weak” from the challenge, your muscles and endurance grow stronger. Without temporary break-down, there is no build-up. Without movement, atrophy occurs. Without motivation, achievement wanes. Without inspiration, spirits drop. Without challenge, there can be no change. Without change, imbalances exist. Move it, stimulate it, challenge it or lose it. This is true of our lung tissue, our ability to balance our bodies, our flexibility, muscle strength, brain function, heart health and emotional equanimity. In order to be well, we must provoke and arouse all of these areas with activity. If given the choice, would you choose diminished lung function or full capacity of the wind bags you’ve been given? Every day this choice is ours to make. Underutilizing our lung capacity by not fully inflating and deflating our lungs on a regular basis causes atrophy in our lung tissues. BREATHE people! We are fully equipped to revitalize our bodies simply by taking some time to breathe, with awareness, deeply into our lungs by expanding and contracting our ribcages, like fireplace billows. By doing so, we ignite the internal flame of revitalization within us. This is one way to create balance in our lives. Breathing deeply calms our minds, as well as rejuvenates our bodies with greater oxygenated blood flow. We all understand the idea of “balance” to be necessary to live stable lives. Do we practice this? Balance doesn’t just happen. Our bodies seek equilibrium physically, mentally, and spiritually. One area may be satisfied at the expense of another until we find it. I propose by building balance physically into your body one foot at a time, you will create balance, energetically, in your life as well. The physical practice of building balance into your body keeps your central nervous system stimulated, and maintains clear lines of communication between the tendons and ligaments regarding muscle tension and joint position to your brain. Stand on one foot, and produce color in the gray matter between your ears! I daresay, get smarter, calmer, and become more focused by lifting one foot off the ground! Let your body calibrate and generate balance by the communication of your spinal column to your brain. Then calmly, deeply breathe. Standing on one foot, focusing on one point, known as a drishte in yoga, for a minute or so, neurologically creates a baseline for your center of balance. This evokes a parasympathetic relaxation response - meeting challenge with ease in your body, It strengthens your core, creates equanimity in your spirit and acuity in your mind. Build balance into your body. Gain stability in your life. All of creation, both in nature and in the human body, shows us that balance is a force to be reckoned with. Change disrupts balance, but change creates the quest for it as well. Sometimes we integrate something into our lives by managing its opposite. We become better at maintaing balance for having fallen over and over again. Balance is achieved though constant challenge, that produces change, that allows for calibration and recalibration to become centered. Life is dynamic. Life is edgy. Balance is our sure-footed response to it. Live a balanced life, and take yours to the edge. Be happy. Live healthy - one foot at a time. Karen Cutrona Underwood, Owner of Blue Moon Yoga and Fitness, Inc. Studio and Training Center, Ormond Beach, FL 
Let's Get to The CORE of Our Beings
We’re hearing the words Core and Strength a lot these days throughout the fitness world. What, exactly is our core and what exactly, are we strengthening? I like the way Thomas C. Weiss describes it in an article he published: http://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/exercise/core-muscles.php#ixzz1lWz52j3J “A person's functional movements are greatly dependent upon their core. People who lack core development may experience a predisposition to injury. The major muscles of a person's core reside in their belly area and in their mid and lower back, to include their hips, neck, and shoulders. The major muscles involved include the pelvic floor muscles, multifidus, transverse abdominus, rectus abdominus, internal and external obliques, erector spinae – particularly the longissimus thoracis, as well as the diaphragm. The minor core muscles involved include the gluteus maximus, latissimus dorsi, and trapezius. The function of the core is to stabilize the person's thorax and pelvis during dynamic movement, as well as to provide internal pressure in order to expel substances.” That’s quite an impressive description, and well it should be, regarding the CORE unit of our bodies. There’s a lot of interaction within the musculature of our core simply to move our arms and legs, let alone when we challenge our bodies through more intense physical activity. Let’s appreciate the core of your beings. Not only is it the powerhouse from which all movement is established and made in our bodies, but it also houses our internal organs. We focus on knitting together the musculature of the abdominus, and obliques to create that carved-out six-pack, eight-pack, and v-cut through the hip flexor area. Sexy, yes? Think, organ prolapse… Sexy, no! A tighter, toner core keeps our organs in place! In yoga, an ancient pose called “Pavanamuktasana” or Wind Removing Pose - smile, it's okay - does the job of tightening and toning your core muscles while in an anatomically safe and supported position. When practiced to create an opposing force within the upper and lower musculature of your core, you’ve got one static strengthening “exercise,” tightening the unit supporting your heart and lungs, as well as, toning your shoulders, abs, back and glutes, making you look fABulous on the beach! Let me also mention that practicing this pose will massage your digestive organs as you engage and breathe deeply…
With your back lying upon a firm surface, tuck your knees tightly to your chest. Keep your feet side-by-side to one another. With your head remaining on the ground, dip your chin downward toward your throat. Press your shoulders away from your ears and lock down your wings. Reach for your opposite elbows and draw your arms inward. Engage your upper-body strength and roll your knees in tightly to your chest. Engage your lower-body strength and press your tailbone down toward the ground. You create an opposing force within your core unit toning and tightening even the intercostal muscles between your back ribs. This engagement also helps to hold your spine firm and straight. Breathe as deeply as you can with your mouth closed in this position, and gain the revitalizing massaging effect for your digestive organs at the front of your belly. In Pavanamuktasana, the core of your being is engaged, your organs beomce stimulated, your back strengthened, spine straightened. It's a one-stop, core-plus-more, yoga pose. Enjoy your body. Get to know the CORE of your being. Infuse it with goodness and gratitude for being able to move and breathe, and to feel the opposing forces you create within your musculature. LIVE in your body better, today. Be happy. Live healthy. Karen Cutrona Underwood, Better-Body-Inhabiter, and Owner of Blue Moon Yoga and Fitness, Inc.
Inhabit Your Body Better
Who doesn’t want to be happier, healthier, sexier…? It’s a new year. That’s a tall order. Here's a standing challenge to help make it happen: Start by slimming up. Yes, up! When you stand tall, you inhabit your body better. The very act of stacking your shoulders over your hips, your hips over your knees, your knees over your ankles, makes you consciously aware that you are taking ownership of all of the space God gave you within your skin and bones. You become longer and leaner. You’ll feel sexier. If you want to look thinner, stand straighter and taller and you’ll appear to have dropped 5 pounds instantly. In yoga, standing tall is called Tadasana or Mountain Pose:
Our daily activities such as driving our cars, working at our desks, using our technological devices, lifting and holding young children, carrying items, preparing meals, washing dishes, reading, etc., all create a forward-reaching, head-tilting downward lifestyle. Before we know it, even standing is not all the way up any longer. Re-claim your body territory! Here’s a pose to help strengthen, lengthen, and straighten your spine to counteract the forward-reaching lifestyle we live, called Salabhasana or Locust Pose:
Lying on your belly, exhale all of the air in your lungs, then inhale lifting your shoulders and your heels. Keeping your head in line with your spine. Press your arms back. Fingers are ignited reaching toward your heels. Your legs are engaged and your pointed toes are reaching in opposition of your collar bone. This pose is a great one to practice to allow you to press into your spine and open your chest cavity. You strengthen all of your back-side muscles in the process. Stretching and strengthening in Locust pose also allows for better heart and lung function by creating space in the ribcage area. Building this pose into your body will allow you to stand taller and firmer as well. Take your stand, firm and tall like a mountain, for a new you in 2012, and then breathe. Fill your lungs fully, and empty your lungs completely. With your mouth closed, draw the air down your windpipe, filling your ribcage area with your lungs. Squeeze the air out using your diaphragm and ribs to empty your lungs. You should feel your upper abdominal muscles press together on your exhale. Your lungs help support your spine, easing tension and also massaging internal organs when fully inflating and deflating. Let them fully inhabit the space they’re allotted within the boney walls that house all of your internal organs. When fully extended, they can take up the space from your collar bone to your hip bone. Breathing this way allows your body to “memorize” your long, lean, straight posture. Let even your breathing become an exercise for your body. Practicing Mountain Pose will build integrity to your posture. Stand up for yourself, fully. Be all “in” to your body and you will create a firm foundation for a happier, healthier sexier you. You’re more approachable, more confident, and you’ll be “on” when you’re all “in.” Inhabit your body better simply by standing taller. You’ll even look smarter! Happy New You everyone! Be happy. Live Healthy. ~ Karen Cutrona Underwood, E-RYT, RYS Director, and Owner, Blue Moon Yoga and Fitness, Inc.
Work Your Asana and Get the LSD EffectConfucius said, “Wherever you go, there you are.” What a profoundly simplistic concept worthy of a big, “DUH!” Nonetheless, this is truly one of the fundamental tenants of... More »
LSD for the Holidays!Downward Facing Dog is perhaps THE BEST pose in all of yoga to stretch and tighten every muscle to the bone. Everyone could benefit from a few deep breaths in and out of their lungs in this total-body... More »
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Your body is engaged and active. Your feet are rooted into the ground, your leg muscles are fixed to the bones, your fingertips are pressing downward tightening triceps, chest and back muscles, and with your head in line with your spine, the crown of your head is reaching for the sky. Grow yourself an inch by creating vertical tension this way. And, who doesn’t want another inch, especially when it’s already yours to claim?
