Strategize Your Meals for Effective Energy & Weight Management

My Yoga Online - Most people view nutrition and body weight management primarily from the point of quantity. How much am I eating? How does the caloric input balance with the caloric output? Having our focus solely on the 'how much' of eating grossly limits one's capacity to effectively nourish the body without generating a positive caloric balance and weight gain. Many people unnecessarily over-restrict the amount of food they eat instead of taking advantage of the 'when and how' strategies of nutritional plans.

Understanding the timing of when we eat along with how we eat can greatly improve our ability to management body weight and to sustain optimal energy levels throughout the day. With these strategies, we often find that we can consume more food without enduring sudden or gradual weight gain.

Looking first at the 'when' strategy of eating, we want to acknowledge the function of food. Food has a basic purpose of providing nutrients and acting as energy sources for cellular maintenance and function. We want to consume food just prior to or during periods when cells are requiring more fuel. When the cells shift into a lower state of energy consumption, our nutritional intake should be greatly reduced or eliminated.

Our society has grown accustomed to eating the largest meal (dinner) at the end of day which is also when most people begin to decrease physical activity. By flooding the body with a large meal (and a series of late night snacks), our cellular systems become overly saturated with nutrients and calories. This overflow of calories remains in the blood stream as broken down blood sugars and results in a cascade of hormonal releases. To bring the blood sugar levels back into a more balance state, the pancreas releases insulin that shunts these sugars into fat cells. An enzyme-lead chemical reaction occurs that converts these unused sugars into stored fat.

From the 'when' perspective, we want to consume our more calorie dense meals at the beginning and middle of the day to take advantage of daily physical activities that will consume these blood sugars and reduce the conversion of excess calories into stored fat. Many people do a major disservice to themselves by skipping or not eating enough breakfast. One's day starts off with improper fueling of the systems and limits one's energetic capacity to perform, interact and enjoy life. Make a point of nourishing your body first thing in the day and continue to fuel the body throughout the midday.

As the late afternoon and evening approaches, consumption should taper off with the last meal (and any snacks) ending well before bedtime. This can prove to being challenging at first as cravings and habits tend to tempt one. You can curb these cravings with herbal teas and by changing lifestyle patterns. One common factor in generating late night cravings is television. Television ads bombard us with nonstop food commercials. It becomes very easy to shift into unnecessary eating patterns when relaxing in front of the television. If your body weight management needs extra addition, consider reducing or replacing television watching with other more-productive activities like reading, crafts, walking, or meditation.

As you modify the timing of eating schedules, also consider the 'how' factor of your diet. By modifying your food combinations, you can also dramatically reduce the occurance of blood sugars being turned into fat. So now, you are eating a dense breakfast every morning consisting of oatmeal, fresh fruit, and whole grain toast. This meal appears to offer an abundance of nutrients and fiber, but is it acting as the most effective strategy of energy management. The answer is 'no'!

Even though this new pattern of eating breakfast provides a great source of energy, nutrients, and fiber, it is imbalanced by offering a very high proportion of carbohydrates and little protein or fat. Yes, these carbohydrates are considered 'complex' and are received better by the body (compared to simple sugars), but they are still readily absorbed into the blood stream. A meal that is predominantly carbohydrates (complex or simple) passes relatively quick through the disgetive system and does not keep one feeling 'full' for long.

Therefore, consider adding a 'slowing agent' to your meals. This 'slowing agent' should be in the form of clean proteins like raw nuts, seeds (ie sunflower), beans, legumes, and quinoa. Proteins are initially digested in the stomach. When we add a modest amount of clean proteins to our meals, the food is held a little longer in the stomach for processing. This increased processing slows down the passage of food into the small intestines and therefore the absorption into the blood stream. The overall effect is that our complex carbohydrates are received by the body more slowly resulting in less climbs in blood sugar levels and insulin releases. By holding food longer in the stomach, our appetite is more effectively satiated and we can enjoy more time between meals.

Some additional nutrition strategies:

*Break tradition and eat more meals. Instead of the classic 3 large meals a day, plan to eat 4 to 5 smaller nutrient-balanced meals and a few light snacks. Keep your energy levels consistent throughout the day. Having large periods of time between meals causes blood sugar and hormone levels to roller coaster.

*Always bring food with you. Avoid getting trapped without food by carrying a healthy snack like raw nuts, fresh fruit, or a salad. Just as we know that thirst is a sign of dehydration, hunger is a sign that we are passing into low blood sugar levels. Prevent hunger from setting in will insure that you are maintaining energy levels.

*Prepare meals in advance. When you prepare a meal, make enough to freeze extra for those busy days in the future. Plan ahead to avoid eating fast food or commercially processed meals .

*Appreciate your food. Make eating an event. Turn off the TV and computer, and eat mindfully. Taste and meditate on all the sensations. Be aware of satiety. Respect your food and what goes into your body. With this awareness, we develop greater discipline in making proper eating choices and patterns.

*Dieting does not work. Starving your body of food, starves your body of nutrients. The body reacts by holding in calories and shuts down metabolic processes. This collapse of metabolism results in future body weight management problems.

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Yoga and Weight Loss

Power of Movement Yoga Event

My Yoga Online is proud to be supporting the Power of Movement Yoga Event. Be part of the worlds largest yoga challenge in support of arthritis research.

On Sunday, February 22, 2009, thousands of participants and volunteers will take part in Power of Movement - a yoga fundraiser in locations across Canada. Register today to improve the lives of millions of Canadians by being proactive about your own mobility.

The Power of Movement supports the growing efforts of the AARC. The Arthritis & Autoimmunity Research Centre (AARC) Foundation is one of the three foundations at University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, with offices at Toronto General Hospital.



The Foundation raises, manages and invests funds for arthritis and related autoimmune disease research taking place in labs and clinics across UHN. They strive to increase awareness of this large family of diseases, which affects over 4.5 million Canadians. Through leading-edge research and a greater awareness of the realities of arthritis-related diseases, we hope for a brighter future for those suffering from these debilitating conditions, and for better musculoskeletal health in Canada.

Learn more about the AARC Foundation.

Energy of Positive Thinking: Empower Your Mental Wellness

My Yoga Online - The concept of positive thinking and affirmations is a popular topic throughout the media and mainstream self-improvement channels. We will discuss how intentional modifications of thought processes actually help us to improve quality of living.

Thoughts can be viewed as a system of processing information and extracting neural data from our memory stores. For most people, very few thoughts actually coincide with the action that is occurring in the present. The mind is wandering and distracted by thoughts of the past or the future. These waves of irrelevant thoughts can be easily tainted with negative attributes fueled by the Ego: anger or resentment from past interactions, jealousy or envy from unfulfilled desires, worry or anxiety from future events.

By addressing these negative thought patterns and modifying the resulting manifestations, we can avert a cascade of negative energy on the body and mind.

When the mind is saturated with negative thinking, these thoughts gradually manifest into the physical as dysfunction. Negative thoughts are often accompanied by stress. The brain releases specific stress-response hormones to facilitate reactions in body necessary to react to this stress. If the negative thoughts and stress remain constant, these hormonal reactions generate chronic strain on the organs and physical systems.

By tuning into our response systems, we can clearly recognize the signs of this harmful cascade of negative energy. We can experience many health conditions like muscle tension, headaches, poor sleep and fatigue, poor digestion, weight gain, high blood pressure and circulatory problems, poor breathing patterns, and organ dysfunction like diabetes.

Instead of waiting for these negative health conditions to arise, we can monitor our thought patterns through the other path of manifestation-our emotions. Our inner and outer emotions immediately reflect our current thought patterns and are an indication of eventual physical manifestations.

When our emotions turn negative, heavy, and burdensome, we can stop, take a deep breath and simply reflect. What has generated this emotion? What thought has taken hold to create this toxic mental state? By just reflecting, we often observe this thought (and emotion) dissipate and loose its’ hold on the mind and body. Through practice and discipline, we can more readily remain in a sattvic state (one of harmony, calm, and presence).

Here are some suggestions in supporting the practice of positive thought generation:

*Address your environment and the stimuli that are entering the mind. Avoid places and interactions that are filled with negative energy. Newspapers, gossip columns, and radio/TV news thrive on negativity. Surround yourself by a network of positive-minded people. Reduce your interaction with relationships that foster thoughts and actions that flow against your positive intentions.

*Start and end your day with a simple pause allowing time to reflect on appreciation. Take note of several things you are truly thankful for. Sincere expression of appreciation is a powerful tool to facilitate positive thought processes and generate a sense of fulfillment in the moment.

*Speak only when it improves upon silence. This subtle, yet powerful Buddhist phrase says it all. Speech is another physical manifestation on thought. Controlling our words trains our thought processes. If a conversation can not be steered to a positive tone, end the conversation.

*It is what it is. See the world with less judgment. Judgment is another toxic element of negative thinking. Practice finding the ‘good’ in everything. Experience the freedom of releasing established biases and expectations. Often when we judge, we too have issues with being judged. A non-judging mind becomes free of the ‘eyes’ of the outside world and we begin to live within ourselves and not through others.

*Engage in lifestyle habits that support healthy thinking. Regular exercise, proper rest, meditation, proper nutrition plans, and uplifting activities help keep the mind fresh and expressive with positive energy. Also consider how you can modify your work environment with changes like taking more consistent breaks to proper work ergonomics.

*Get things done and organized. Just as thoughts manifest into the physical, the physical environment manifests back into the mind. Finish incomplete projects. Organize your home and workspace. An environment that is unorganized or filled with incomplete tasks has a burdening effect on the nervous system. Declutter and make your environment flow with spacious, positive energy. Clean out closets and cupboards so the first and last thing you see in the day is organization and order. This physical order supports mental calmness and control of emotions.

Rather than trying of purge negative thoughts, focus more on generating positive interactions and expressions. This aspect of sankulpa (the practice of establishing an intention) attracts further positive thoughts and experiences. With this shift into harmonious thinking, the physical manifestations are seen and experienced by others. We begin to attract more people with like minds and intentions. Again, the key element is reflection and observation. What are our emotions saying about our thoughts? Use your emotions as a tool. Breathe new life in your thinking and experience the freedom of positive thought energy.

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Subtle Rooting in Warrior Yoga Poses

My Yoga Online - Our Warrior Yoga poses bring warmth, strength, and expansion into our yoga flows. These standing asanas offer higher levels of physicality, thus requiring fine-tuning and continuous attention to detail in order for these poses to deliver maximum benefits. Besides our requirement for proper alignment and energy locks, we can also apply subtle rooting effects to further improve the reception of benefits from Warrior poses.

Once we have properly aligned our lower limbs and have positioned the front knee over the heel (perpendicular line to act harmoniously with gravity), we can explore light variations of what can be termed rajastic rooting. In Ayurvedic philosophy, we strive to move into a sattvic state-an existence of calmness and harmony. Rajastic states are typically considered to be disturbing one from the existence of harmony-unfocussed states of creating heat. In the context of our subtle rooting, this rajastic rooting will be done so with mindful control, which will facilitate a sattvic state in later stages of the yoga practice.

As our heel floats over the knee in our Warrior pose, we can discernibly feel the effects of gravity. The quadriceps (thigh) and gluteal (buttock) muscles contract to hold the lower limbs in place. The longer we hold the pose, the more we develop our endurance in the muscle tissues. When the knee is taken into this flexed position against gravity, sheer forces act directly on the knee joint. If we start off the pose or collapse the pose so that knee drifts over the heel, the angle of knee flexion increases and the sheer forces increase in the joint structure. Over repeated applications of misalignment, the sheer forces may generate chronic injuries in the knee.

Rajastic rooting through the foot can help reduce the effects of sheer forces on the knee. We can feel the various pressure points coming into our feet-the toes, toes mounds, and heel. With controlled rajastic rooting, we wish to lightly feed down through the contact points with the intention of lightly pressing the earth away from us. As with the laws of physics, the earth reciprocates and presses back. This energetic pressure can be received up the body through to the crown. This energetic lift helps emphasis expansion in the pose, creates lightness, shifts us away from collapse and increases our endurance capacity.

More importantly, the rajastic rooting protects the knee. But in order for the knee to receive the full benefits of the rooting, we should be aware of exactly how and what the foot should be experiencing. It is very common for yoga practitioners to allow Warrior poses to ground into the toes-generally manifested as grabbing of the toes into the mat. This effect of grabbing creates tension in the arches of the foot and can often encourage the knee to collapse forward. Therefore, we strive to relax the toes, bring lightness into the arches, and to avoid rajastic rooting with the toes.

The ideal contact point to explore rajastic rooting is in the heel. With subtle pressure, we can ground down through the heel point while visualizing the knee floating back over the heel line. Many often feel a shift of energy out of the knee joint and into the quadriceps (thigh) muscle. The muscle takes better control of the standing pose and we experience less sheer forces in the joint. As we work through the heel, we continue to emphasis expansion in the foot, right down through the toe mounds and toes. This lightness, again, flows up through the vertebrae and often is received into face.

As we increase the depth of our Warrior poses, we continue to apply this rooting principle along with our protective core locks. The posture retains integrity and purpose. We can also appreciate how this rajastic rooting can be taken into other standing yoga poses like Chair Pose (utkatasana) and Crescent Moon Pose. Exploring and enjoying new techniques like rajastic rooting brings growth to our practice and encourages holistic progression.

Read Related Articles:
Knee Integrity in Warrior Poses
Exploring Virabhadrasana 1 (Warrior 1 Yoga pose)
Standing Yoga Poses and Knee Locks

Yoga: Benefits Come with Consistency

My Yoga Online - Recognizing that yoga is a life-long practice, the benefits and changes achieved with yoga require patience, respectful observance, and consistency. Without these basic elements, one’s yoga practice often strays, losses focus, and lacks holistic results. This article discusses some of principles behind these basic elements and offers tips in creating a fulfilling yoga program.

Principle of Progressive Overload

In any physical activity or exercise program, the general concept of ‘progressive overload’ should be observed. The body is highly adaptable and settles into the dominant state it is placed in. If one is sedentary and pursuing unhealthy lifestyle habits, the body readily collapses into blockages, loses healthy tissues, and shifts into states of disease.

Likewise, when one introduces yoga or other forms of healthy exercise into the body, the body (muscles, bones, organs, nervous system) will adapt to this conditioning. Progressive overload is where one mindfully introduces holistic ‘stressors’ on the musculoskeletal system. To define ‘stressors’, this is where one would apply gradual increases in intensity or duration of an exercise to encourage the musculoskeletal system to adapt and improve. These adaptations occur at the microscopic level, so one can then imagine that only slight increases are needed and should be applied to avoid over stressing the body’s systems.

How is progressive overload applied to yoga?

In our yoga practice, we aim to heal the body with our practice and not stress it to points of injury and overwhelming fatigue. We can, however, gently add slight increases in depth or holding of postures. We can incorporate slightly more challenging variations of poses or transitions. Whenever we apply this overload principle, one must shed the Ego and listen fully. Am I able to retain postural integrity, control, and fullness of breath with this increase? How does my body feel the next day-no discernable soreness, fatigue, or decrease range of motion due to stiffness?

Here are some tips to generating a consistent yoga practice that follows the progressive overload principle:

*Know your appropriate level. Starting off (or returning to) with high level practice without prior experience can shock the musculoskeletal system by going past the desired overload effects and into injury. Begin easy and move forward gradually. Many high level yoga programs are marketed as "suitable for everyone". This is not true. One would not go from being sedentary to suddenly running a marathon. If you are a beginner, practice like one-learn the fundamentals through introductory programs and monitor how your systems receive the gradual increases in practice depth.

*Apply the concept of cross training. By doing on type of yoga practice/style, the body develops memory and adapts often to a point where progression slows or ceases. With traditional exercise, one is encouraged to ‘mix up’ their program placing different exercises in one’s routine or changing the order of exercises. This systematic reorganizing does not allow the body to settle into a stagnant state and can be beneficial in preventing overuse injuries. In yoga, consider reordering the postures and flows and try different styles. Adding changes and variety will also offer inspiration and motivation that will promote better consistency.

*Modification and Rest days. When we continuously stress the body with holistic overload, we need to also schedule consistent rest periods or modify the yoga practice routines so key muscle groups and joints receive recovery time. When one stresses a particular muscle group, it is commonly accepted that this muscle group requires at least 24 hours of rest. The adaptations at the microscopic level need time to set in. Without this rest period, the tissues can develop overuse/chronic injuries, prolonged fatigue, and atrophy (muscle loss). With yoga, consider how you can schedule your daily/weekly classes so they target key structures while also giving proper rest.

*Be purposeful with your practice. Make a set schedule of your practice on a calendar. Make your yoga practice a true priority. Invite your family or friends to participate with you as this will create a great support system for consistency and growth.

*Get inspired. Look for workshops and other available programs that will introduce new, interesting concepts to your yoga practice. Yoga is about learning and growing. If your practice has been primarily hatha/physically based, consider trying more meditation and/or breathing (pranayama) programs. One is often amazed at how a simple, new technique or application can readily transform one’s motivation and exploration.

Consistency is key in one’s yoga program. Through this consistency, embrace the moment and how the whole system exists immediately. It is perfect to have stiffness and limitations. One can work around injuries and health conditions-wellness can be pursued by everyone at some level. But positive change requires regular application and patience. Time is on your side when holistic intention and harmony are brought into your yoga practice.

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Breathe Right - 3 Lessons in Breathing Properly

My Yoga Online - My Yoga Online is proud to introduce a 3 part series by Vijai Sharma PhD, RYT titled "Breathe Right". This series of articles addresses signs of incorrect breathing, provides structured tips on correct therapeutic breathing exercises, and presents concepts on Diaphragmatic and Pursed Lip Breathing. These articles offers beneficial information for everyone learning to bring more breath and vitality into their yoga practice and daily living.

Part 1: Do You Need Breathing Retraining?

Usually we breathe in the automatic mode and are not conscious of our breathing. We become conscious of it only when we experience a breathing problem such as shortness of breath, chest tightness or a feeling of suffocation. Eastern societies in the ancient times emphasized conscious breathing for physical, mental and spiritual benefits. Importance of deeper, fuller and relaxed breathing for health and wellness cannot be overstated. Everyone healthy or otherwise should learn and make sure they breathe correctly. They should receive breathing retraining if they identify any signs of incorrect breathing in themselves. Read more...

Part 2: Breathe Correctly, Consciously and Relaxed

Chronic mental and emotional stress or a medical/structural problem can create tension in the muscles and nerves in the entire body including the muscles of respiration. When you are physically, mentally and emotionally relaxed, your breathing is naturally slow, deep and relaxed. You can change your breathing if it is tense or incorrect by putting yourself in a state of relaxation and practicing relaxed breathing. Read more...

Part 3: Diaphragmatic and Pursed Lip Breathing

Set a goal to breathe consciously, diaphragmatically for most part of your waking hours. If you experience any breathing problem or irregularity in your breathing, start practicing PLB. Your continued breath awareness and monitoring will prompt you at the earliest sign of irregular breathing. The moment you notice the first sign, start practicing PLB to regulate your breathing. Read more...