Whether you might be staying home with a new baby or working too many hours at the office, anytime is a good time for yoga. You can do yoga stretches and postures in bed or even while driving to work.
Hundreds of fitness seekers use their lunch hour to squeeze in exercise and take off extra pounds.
I occasionally use my lunch hour for Yoga, said John Ray White, 35, who works at the Arkansas attorney general's office. Downward facing dog and sun salutation are two of the postures she practices every day.
Practicing yoga in the middle of day some people think is the break that they need to face the afternoon, said Ray.
Lunch-hour fitness routines become more popular in warm weather.
Kick Back Log-on Pose
Interlace your fingers behind your head. Relax your elbows and shoulders. Smile, breathe and stretch your elbows back. Let the tightness release slowly.
E-mail Meditation
While reading your e-mail, remember to breathe slowly and focus your attention on your breath. Make the out-breath two times longer than the in-breath. This will immediately calm you.
Photocopier Stretch
Place your hands on the edge of the copier. Stand back with feet apart. Drop your head and chest. Breathe and relax your shoulders.
Close-the-deal Warrior Pose
Raise your arms to the side with fingers pointed. Take a big step to the side, with your right foot out and knee bent, your left foot planted, left leg straight. Keep the upper body straight and strong, shoulders relaxed. Relax into the stretch -- don't hold your breath. Return to a standing position, switch sides and repeat.
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Strict changes in diet and lifestyle can not only prevent heart attacks, but can reverse the clogging of the arteries, according to a small but pioneering study.
The study showed that a vegetarian diet, moderate exercise and an hour a day of yoga and meditation could produce a reversal of atherosclerosis, a blockage of the arteries that can lead to a heart attack, in men and women who were strict in following the daily regimen.
Experts say this is the first study to report that such blockage can be reversed without using cholesterol-lowering drugs or surgery.
The study, which was conducted by Dr. Dean Ornish, director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, Calif., was presented at the meeting of the American Heart Association in New Orleans.
This is a tremendously important study in the control of heart disease. It's the very first study indicating regression of coronary heart disease without pharmaceutical intervention. The results also suggest that the current medical guidelines for changes in the habits of people with severe heart disease do not go far enough.
Previous studies have shown that exercise and diet changes can slow the progression of heart disease, but not reverse it.
While the study did not determine what percentage of improvement could be attributed to the lifestyle changes alone, the researchers noted that stress-control methods have been shown to ease recovery from a variety of disorders, including hypertension.
But some experts are skeptical of the need for stress-management methods, which are not currently among standard recommendations for those with severe heart disease.
Some experts on cardiac rehabilitation question whether most people with heart disease could follow such strict changes in their habits.
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