When you hear the word “yoga” what do you think of? You may think you know all there is to know about yoga, but there is a good chance that you don’t. Let’s take a look at some of what women are blogging on the topic of yoga.

Have you heard of Hot Yoga?

From Fat Fighter TV – Hot Yoga

Benefits of Bikram Yoga are said to include:

• toning, strengthening, and lengthening your muscles
• strengthening your spine
• increasing flexibility
• improving circulation
• flushing toxins from your body
• improving digestion
• reducing stress
• improving cardiovascular health
• helping with weight management

READ FULL POST AT CATHERINE-MORGAN.COM

The BlogHer 2009 Good Health-A-Thon is coming to an end, but your good health choices can still continue. I hope we’ve been able to help you get on the right track to better health in 2009, I would love to hear how you’ve been doing in comments.

I thought I would take this opportunity to do a little wrap-up of our Good Health-A-Thon…

We started off talking about setting goals. Did you set any? Have you stuck to any of them?

Zandria posted on fitness goals. Mir had goals for getting healthier with the kids, skeeterbess tackled good health in midlife, and sassymonkey took a couples approach to better health.

Then there was nutrition…

Suzanne looked at how nutrition and diet affects relationships, Maria had tips for singles eating healthy, and Melissa covered the importance of families taking the time to eat together.

Let’s not forget how important exercise is to good health…

We had Debra blog about exercise and the middle age woman, Zandria covered getting motivated, Denise addressed couples and exercise, and Mir blogged about exercising with the kids.

I asked if you are getting enough sleep?

Suzanne wondered if sharing a bed with a partner affected sleep, Melanie addressed insomnia, and we also heard from a Midlife Insomniac.

Then we talked about stress reduction and positive affirmations…

Denise talked about good stress vs. bad stress, Suzanne about stress and relationships, and I wondered if the economy was stressing you out.

We also covered bad habits and addictions…

I blogged about addictions like sugar, coffee, and Facebook, Suzanne wanted to know about your partner’s bad habits, Super Jive talked about how our kids are watching our bad habits, and Laurie wondered if we should be trying to break our bad habits.

We talked about yoga and yoga with a partner.

And we just finished up talking about annual checkups…

Suzanne covered couples and how to get your partner to go for a checkup, and Melissa blogged about the family checkup.

But that’s not everything. Here are a few other posts you might have missed…

The Tao of Healthy Living and Weight Loss

Do You Know Your Resting Heart Rate?

Mashing The Internet Potato and Tales of an Internet Potato

Getting Off The Couch

What is Heart Healthy Eating?

Heart Health

Memory Loss

So that’s a quick roundup of BlogHer’s 2009 Good Health A-Thon, you can check out all of the Good Health-A-Thon posts here. Did you have a favorite topic? Did you blog about good health? Are you on your way to better health? Let us know in comments.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
at Catherine-Morgan.com and Women4Hope

A few weeks ago I was flipping through the million channels on my TV trying to find just one thing worth watching (which isn’t an easy task).  Luckily I found Dr. Wayne Dyer on PBS.

I read my first book by Dr. Wayne Dyer (Real Magic) about twelve years ago, and I’ve been hooked ever since.  So when I watched his seminar on PBS that was based on his latest book, of course I had to run out the next day and buy it.  This one is called Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life, and it’s his interpretation of the 81 verses of the Tao.

[The Tao Te Ching was written five hundred years before the birth of Jesus, and offers advice and guidance for living a balanced life.]

As I read, I came across aspects of this wisdom that are helpful in my quest for better health and weight loss.  So, even though I’m no philosopher (obviously), I thought I would share some verses that stood out for me.  They offer guidance for healthy living and even weight loss.  Here are three.

[Keep in mind that I am only pulling the parts of these verses that I find most relevant to good health, this is by no means a complete look at any of these verses.]

Verse 9 – Living Humility – To keep on filling is not as good as stopping.

This verse is interesting in how it relates to healthy eating and weight loss.  It’s telling us to eat, but to stop when we’re full.  Eat until your hunger is satisfied, and no more.  That’s pretty good advice, I wonder how many of us actually follow it?

It also tells us that we should seek joy and pleasure in the activities we are doing.  In order to do this, we need to slow down and enjoy our lives (and our meals).

Here is a way you can begin to practice this idea during your next meal.  Enjoy each bite of your meal.  After a couple of bites take a moment to reflect on how you are feeling and determine if you are full.  Once your hunger is satisfied, stop eating.

Verse 63 – Living Without Difficulties - Take on difficulties while they are still easy.

This verse can relate to how most of us see weight loss as being difficult or a struggle.  It encourages us to see the simplicity in the things we perceive to be hard.  You can do this by taking one day at a time, or one meal at a time, or one moment at a time.  Break down your biggest challenges into smaller, more manageable ones.

It also reminds us to tackle problems in our life before they become big problems.  In my case, it would have been better to begin eating healthy when I was only 10-20 pounds overweight.  Rather than waiting until I was 40+ pounds overweight and my blood pressure was so high that I required medication.

You can practice this idea by taking time to recognize whether your weight or eating habits are suffering because you fear the problem is too difficult to address.  If this is the case, believe in your ability to tackle the problem one day (or one meal) at a time…It need not be difficult.

Verse 71 – Living Without Sickness – Only when we are sick of our sickness shall we cease to be sick.

As someone who suffers with chronic illness, the notion of healing ourselves implies that we make a choice to be sick or to be well.  And I just don’t believe that.  But this verse isn’t about blame.  It’s about being aware.  Basically, our symptoms are our body’s way of talking to us, and we need to take the time to listen.

Could fatigue be a message to slow down and get more rest?  Could high blood pressure be a message to make healthier food choices and lose some weight?  Could a headache be a message that we are allowing stress and worry to steal moments of our life that we can never get back?

Possibly.

Each symptom may mean something different to each person.  The goal is simply awareness.

I think with chronic illness, it’s also about how we “perceive” it.  We may need to accept our illness, while still listening to our symptoms and striving to be the healthiest version of ourselves that we can be.  Remember that we are not our body, so we can stop seeing ourselves as our illness.

Practice this idea by taking some time to listen to what your symptoms may be trying to tell you.

So…What do you think?  Could the Tao help you find your way to better health?  Can changing your thoughts change your life? Let me know in comments.

Also See:

From The Goddess’s Daily Groove: Gratitude List

From My Life Coach Tara: The Tao of Inner Peace

Power of Focused Attention

This is the time of year that many of us are setting goals in hopes of achieving success with our New Year Resolutions. And setting realistic goals can be what makes or breaks a good resolution.

Have you set your goals yet?

There are many theories about how to set realistic and achievable goals. But it’s not always as cut and dry as all that.  As with everything in life, something that works for one of us may not work for all of us.

Here are some ideas that may help you find success.

Monica Olivas from Run, Eat, Repeat writes about a popular method for setting goals called SMART…

Specific – Check that your 2009 resolutions/goals are clear and understandable to someone else in 1 or 2 sentences.

Measurable – Have a way to verify your success. This will make achieving the goal much more satisfying if you can measure how far you’ve come to hitting it.

Attainable – Make sure that it is a goal you can really accomplish based on your current ability/situation/time/resources.

Realistic – Don’t just pick the biggest mountain to climb just to see how far you can get. You are trying to improve some aspect of your life and you deserve a self pat on the back for it. Make sure your goal is challenging, but not impossible. This has 2 benefits – 1. Achieving your goal and 2. Feeling good about your accomplishment.

Time Sensitive – Give yourself a specific time frame in which to check on this goal and another date when you want it complete.

These are all important and tangible ideas for goal setting, but I think there is one thing missing.

The intangible.

We need to be able to envision ourselves already succeeding in our goals.  This is less about being realistic, and more about visualization and manifestation.  It’s about believing in ourselves, and believing that anything is possible.

A great example would be Vision Boards – Contributing Editor Debra Roby wrote about them the other day…

Vision boards, on the other hand, seem like an adaptable method of planning the future.

Anne-Marie Faiola, blogging as the Soap Queen describes how her mastermind group has been using vision boards to plan their years:

1. Write your goals down
2. Look for visual representations of your goals in magazines or online
3. Make a collage with the visual representations
4. Put this in a frequently viewed area
5. Extra: put your written goals in the middle, so that the visuals are flowing outward from the actual original ideas.

This is also known as Creative Visualization…

Shakti Gawain, author of “Creative Visualization”, suggests the following:

A treasure map is an actual, physical picture of your desired reality. It is valuable because it forms an especially clear, sharp image which can then attract and focus energy into your goal. It works along the same lines as a blueprint for a building.
You can make a treasure map by drawing or painting it, or by making a collage using pictures and words cut from magazines, books or cards, photographs, drawings, and so on. Don’t worry if you’re not artistically accomplished. Simple, childlike treasure maps are just as effective as great works of art!
Basically the treasure map should show you in your ideal scene, with your goal fully realized.

I have said before that creative visualization appeals to me…that by imaging a possible future we create the psychic room inside us for it to arrive. So I am going to think of mine as not just a treasure map, but a prayer. I want to claim what I want, and ask God to help me get whatever is on there into my life (I’ll add a disclaimer at the bottom….”Either this or something better, for the greatest good of all concerned”.)

When it comes to creating goals, I think it’s best to be some combination of realistic and visionary.  Most importantly, it’s about finding what works best for you.

cross-posted at BlogHer’s Good Health-A-Thon

Are you drinking enough water?   Are you sure about that?  Believe it or not, most people are not drinking enough water.  Do you get headaches, suffer from fatigue, or sometimes feel a little weak or dizzy?  If so, you may just need to start drinking more water.  So, before you reach for the pain medicine for a headache, try drinking a tall glass of water, it may be all you need.

But remember, not all hydration is created equal. For example; one cup of coffee is not equal to one cup of water. That’s because coffee is a diuretic – so are many other beverages, such as tea and soda.

How do you know if you are drinking enough water? And how much water do you need to drink.

Use this Hydration Calculator from About.com to help figure out how much is right for you.

Obviously, staying hydrated is essential to any good exercise program…I found an interesting recipe for making your own sports drinks at WebMD. It’s as easy as mixing one can of frozen concentrated juice with nine cans of water (instead of three).

READ FULL POST HERE AT CAPESSA HEALTH AND FITNESS

Can a good movie reduce stress? I’ve always believed that smiling and laughing is healing in some way. And, there is a lot of evidence that supports that theory. I also know that for me, music can deeply affect my mood. Some songs are sad reminders of the past, and others are happy reminders of experiences I never want to forget. Seeing the movie Mamma Mia with my daughter, and listening to all the music, is definitely going to be a lasting and happy memory for me.

This is what happened. My daughter has been wanting to see the movie Journey To The Center Of The Earth in 3-D, and we’ve also both wanted to see Mamma Mia. So, on Thursday, we decided to see Journey To The Center Of The Earth. But, when we got to the theater we found out it was only in 3-D at “selected” theaters, and we weren’t at one of those. Mamma Mia was showing in the same theater about 15 minutes later, so we decided to see that instead.

To tell you the truth, I really didn’t think that either one of the movies was going to have much of an impact on me. I was feeling quite depressed, and was only taking my daughter to the movies because I thought that was what a good mother would do.

So, since I was feeling like a failure as a mother when it came to my son, I thought I shouldn’t let my anxiety affect my daughter. However, I didn’t think anything, much less a movie, would be able to take my mind off of my troubles.

Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised.