Relieve Your Neck Pain with Yoga

Everyone gets a little stiff neck once in a while, and yoga can wipe away the pain with a few concentrated exercises. First, though, you must be certain the pain isn't related to something more serious than a simple stiff neck. Instead of yoga, see a doctor if any one of the following is true:

- You neck pain has persisted for more than three days, or it keeps coming back.

- Your neck pain is accompanied by dizziness or nausea.

- The pain seems to radiate down into your arms or legs.

- The pain began with a fall or accident.

If your stiff neck does NOT meet any of the above conditions, these simple yoga exercises can help increase your neck's flexibility and strengthen the neck muscles. By exercising you speed blood and needed nutrients to the area, easing the neck pain gradually. Try these:

Neck stretches

sitting cross-legged, tall and straight, and inhale eyes forward. Exhale, moving chin to chest. Repeat this breath five times, the fifth time holding chin to chest breathing three times through the nose. Inhale, raising the head to center again. This time drop your right ear to your right shoulder during the exhale. Repeat this breath five times, the fifth time holding ear to shoulder for three breaths. Repeat this sequence with the left ear to left shoulder.

Half-Circle Rolls

Drop your chin to your chest. Slowly roll it up to your right shoulder, down to center, up to the left shoulder and down to center. Repeat this three to five times. Never roll the head in a full circle, as this can cause damage.

Shoulder Hunches

Hunch your shoulders up as high as you can, then relax them completely. Repeat five to six times. Next roll your shoulders in forward circles five to six times, then backward circles five to six times. Notice how relaxed your shoulders feel. Try this quick relaxation exercise any time you feel tension building.

Chest Expander

stand with your feet together and your fingers interlaced behind your back. Inhale while raising your hands behind your back, squeezing your shoulder blades together and tucking your tailbone under to keep from over-arching your back. Hold this position for three to four breaths, then lower your arms slowly during the next exhale.

Arm Lifts

Hold your arms straight out in front of you, parallel to the ground with palms facing each other but not touching. Inhale while bringing them up next to your head. Exhale while you bring them down again. Repeat this four to eight times.

Press It

Place either palm on the back of your head. Simultaneously press the head and hand against each other for a count of ten. Move the palm to the forehead and repeat the pressing for another count of ten. Now place the right palm against the right side of your head and press head and hand together for a count of ten. Repeat with the left palm and left side of the head.

These yoga exercises are designed to relieve physical stress and related pain. The best pain relief is pain prevention, so be sure to watch your posture and set your workspace to avoid slouching.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Yoga

Yoga Teacher Training 2005 Spain

Using Yoga and Meditation To Discover Your Hidden Talents

Do you feel as though there is something missing from your life?

How about the nagging feeling that you have been just floating through life so far, yet to make the sort of difference you envisioned as a child?

It's common to have the "gut" feeling that we are capable of much greater things in our lives, but to lack clarity on how we can realize such accomplishments.

Now is the time to change all of that by using yoga and meditation to become directed by inner strength and passion rather that external influences.

Face it, the vast majority of decisions in our lives are directed by others. You would be correct in arguing that we don't have someone else telling us what to do every single hour of each and every day, but through leaving our lives to chance and by following a short-term, tactically driven lifestyle, we really control very little about the direction of our life.

No wonder that as each year passes we seem to drift further and further away from the key characteristics of someone in control of their life: happiness, health, meaningful relationships and a fulfillment that can only be achieved through alignment with your inner passions.

LOOKING WITHIN TO FIND OUR GREATNESS

As we move through life we become better and better at "tactical living". We get better at making short-term decisions related to short-term goals, fooling ourselves into thinking we are making giant leaps of progress when in fact, we are moving further away from inner-directed greatness.

We chase job after job, business after business with the hope of gaining more money - but for what?

We deal with health problems with an ever-growing list of substances from alcohol and drugs to painkillers and sleeping pills, yet we fail to recognize the underlying cause of such ailments.

Relationship seeking becomes an essential part of our life, each subsequent relationship is designed to overcome the limitations of the first and satisfy our ego giving us that short-term fix that eventually leads to the very thing we hope to prevent - loneliness, unhappiness and unfulfilling relationships.

through all of this "tactical living", we become lost, adopting outward beliefs, impressions and values to help make the many decisions we must make each day.

What if we could harness the power of strength, passion and inner spirit that exists today, deep inside of us?

With yoga and meditation you can open up your inner resources to work in your favor, overcome the conflict that often exists between your decisions and your inner values.

I first started yoga and meditation to relax, to simply re-capture a portion of the day for myself and I have to admit, the insight gained into my own strengths and passions is a powerful effect I had not earlier planned.

After just a few months of practicing yoga and meditation, two important things happened:

1. It became easier to relax and let my sub-conscious thoughts make their way to the surface. We all have a powerful sub-conscious that is capable of directing your life, the key is to understand what the messages are.

2. through the process, many people soon begin to experience new feelings of self-respect, a like for themselves achieved through greater understanding and self-awareness. Quite simply, you can't like someone you don't know, and most of us go through life not really knowing who we really are. In fact, this lack of knowing what is deep inside us scares us enough to cover it up entirely.

Success in relationships, health, social situations, career, finances are all embedded within us, by choosing to understand and leverage our internal strengths and talents, we can live the lives and impact society as we secretly know is possible.

Adopting just 15-20-minutes of yoga and meditation each day will open your conscious mind to your sub-conscious strengths and talents making you virtually unstoppable.

Join The World's Top Achievers Reach Inner strength, Happiness, Fulfillment and Live their True potential by Discovering The Secrets of Yoga and Meditation.

Absolute Pilates Yoga

Golf Vacations

Where are you going on vacation with your family this year? There are many places that you could go - beaches, resorts, theme parks, big cities, tourist traps - but one option that you may not have considered is a golf vacation. This type of vacation can offer a lot for families - and not just golf!

Of course, one of the main reasons to go on a golf vacation is play golf - and we all know why you like to do that - great courses, the great outdoors, and most of all a great game. A secondary reason to go on golf vacation is to learn to play (or existing players can improve their standard of play) - as many golf resorts offer coaching or facilities for beginners. If you love to play golf, but your spouse is not into the game, you may find that a golf vacation is in fact a perfect opportunity to introduce them to the game, and involve them in your hobby.

one thing to remember though is that even if you are a family of golf fanatics, you are unlikely to spend every second of your vacation on the golf course. Much as you might love golf, you will need some other activities to be available. And this is especially true if your spouse or kids are not quite as keen on golf as you are. Fortunately, most golf vacation resorts are very accommodating, and many provide a lot more than just golf!

The United States of America is fortunate in being blessed with many beautiful golf vacation resorts with truly excellent facilities and accommodation for families. There are in fact golf resorts all over the country, including in Hawaii, so you and your family can enjoy a fabulous golf vacation in whichever part of the country you choose. So why not get thinking, discuss it with your spouse, and before too long, you and your family could be enjoying a fabulous golf vacation.

For a guide to family-friendly golf vacations in the USA, please visit http://www.guide2golfvacations.com/

For a guide to improving your golf fitness, please visit http://www.guide2golffitness.com/

If you have a golf web site, click the "Affiliates" link at the bottom of the page to earn great commissions promoting either of these guides.

Yoga Camel Toes