Thursday 9 November 2017

What Does It Take to Live Your Dreams?

by 

Each and every day, people are living their dreams. Millionaires are created. Families form and create tremendous relationships. Individuals get healthier day by day. Life-long learners grow intellectually and improve their lives daily. Let it be you!
The fact is, living the life of your dreams is possible. People prove that every day.
Have you ever looked at someone who has money and wished that it could be you? People think about getting wealthy all of the time, when only a small percentage actually does. But any of the masses could. Someone is going to start a business. Someone is going to make a great investment. Why not let it be you?
Someone is going to decide to improve their relationships. Someone is going to enjoy love with their family. Someone is going to schedule some meaningful time with their friends. Why not let it be you?
Someone is going to become a life-long learner. Someone is going to go back to school. Someone is going to set a goal to read a book each week for the next year. Why not let it be you?
Someone is going to make the decision to become healthy. Someone will run their first marathon. Someone will join an aerobics class. Someone will start eating better. Why not let it be you?
You get the point. Everyday people are improving their lives. It is simply a matter of a decision being made. Let it be you!
But how? By following these very simple actions:

1. Commit to working on yourself.

Are you going to improve or stay the same? No matter what you have achieved, you are at a certain point right now. What you have achieved in the past is fine, but it doesn’t make a difference for the future. The decision about what you will become is made each day and every day.
Each day someone is making the decision to better him or herself. Let it be you.

2. Make a plan.

Once you have decided to become better, you will have to have a plan. It doesn’t have to be a long, intricate plan. It can be simple. Save a dollar a day. Walk a mile a day. Read an article a day. That is a simple plan with achievable goals.
Someone is going to develop a plan that will take them into the future of their dreams. Let it be you.

3. Begin to act.

All of the great ideas, without action, become stale and useless. The key to turning dreams into reality is action. People who have great ideas are a dime a dozen. People who act on their dreams and ideas are the select few, but they are the ones who gain the wealth, health and wisdom that is available.
Someone will act today. Let it be you.
Stop looking at others who live the good life, wishing that you were as well, and instead begin to commit to your improvement, develop a plan and act on it. Someone is going to. Let it be you!

This post originally appeared on SUCCESS.com.

Wednesday 8 November 2017

Yoga for Complete Beginners - Yoga Class 20 Minutes



As a complete beginner, I've been following this simple video for 6 days - my body feels so much more relaxed.  Try it - and the others in the series!

Tuesday 7 November 2017

It Only Takes 5 Minutes a Day to Keep Your Brain Healthy


Starting in your 20s, your brain starts to wither—but you can change that. Here’s how to breathe your way to a healthier brain.

With so much to do in so little time, it’s hard, seeming next to impossible sometimes, to squeeze in some TLC. But, especially for the on-the-go types, creating Zen space is not only good for de-stressing, it’s also good for maintaining good brain health.
A recent study shows that starting from the mid- to late 20s, the brain begins to wither and starts losing some of its functionality. “The brain starts to get smaller from the mid-20s onward,” says Dr. Florian Kurth of UCLA’s Department of Neurology. “It’s probably not something that we notice for a long time. People start to notice this later in life when they start to forget things.”

Meditation changes the brain after eight weeks; a scan image showed increased thickening of four brain regions.


His team, headed by Dr. Eileen Luders, ran a test between 50 meditators against a control group of 50 non-meditators. The meditators beat out the non-meditators in keeping their brain mass, whereas the non-meditators showed less brain mass in the scanned images.
Harvard Medical School neuroscientist Dr. Sara Lazur and her team also did a longitudinal study on meditation. It showed that meditation changes the brain after eight weeks. A scan image showed increased thickening of four brain regions in the non-meditators after just eight weeks of participating in the meditation program.
A healthier brain is good reason to start a meditation practice if you haven’t begun already. So what first steps can you take?

1. Find a meditation style and make it a habit.

“Meditation has been associated with improved cognitive abilities and reduced stress levels,” Kurth says. “While we may not immediately notice the long-term protective effects of meditation on normal brain atrophy, one may still get these quicker benefits from meditating.”
He suggests finding a style that works for you (whether that be something like Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction [MBSR] or yoga) and keep up the practice rather than find a perfect style and not keep it up. Lazur mentions doing even a little every day is a good thing, and some studies suggest 5-10 minutes a day.

2. Schedule time for it.

As busy as we are, who has time to meditate? Think of it like brushing your teeth—you take five minutes to brush every day so your teeth won’t decay. In the same way, think of it as a way to preserve your brain’s health. You can spare a few minutes either at your desk, in your car, on quick walk outside or sitting on a park bench. Think of spaces in your schedule where you can take a few minutes off.

3. Start with these simple exercises.

Certified Yoga and Meditation Instructor Alexis Pierce suggests breath awareness helps focus the mind and concentration over time. “It's incredibly effective to gently bring the mind back to the breath and the body. It connects you to this moment, which allows you to release the stressand anxiety of the past and future. You may discover calmness, feelings of lightness and elation, and a quieter mind.”
Ready to get started? These calm meditative techniques can be done in five minutes or less:

V-Shaped Breath Exercise

Close your eyes. Focus on the point between your eyes and imagine air coming in and out in the shape of a wide “V.” Bring it above the forehead, and as you’re inhaling the breath in, have it come wide across the forehead as a “V.” Then exhale it down across the forehead to that point between the eyes.
By starting and ending at this point between the eyes you’re activating the command center calming along the frontal lobe, which is responsible for decision-making. You’re getting oxygen to that area and helping it feel calmer by focusing on the point between the eyes.

3-Part Breath

Close your eyes. Start inhaling deep in the belly, air rising to the chest then upper chest near your upper collar bone. Hold briefly, then exhale three counts out the upper chest, chest and belly.
Feel the air moving into the belly, chest and upper chest as you’re breathing in and out through the nose. Relax and feel all the movements. Do this for a few minutes, feeling the breath pass throughout the body, similar to an ocean wave moving then receding as the body softens. (Watch how to do it.)