Maintaining Mindfulness and Balance with a New Career

Starting a new job is exciting – embarking on a new career path can be even more riddled with anxiety. It’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind and push everything else to the back burner including your health (mental, physical, emotional and spiritual), relationships (with yourself, others and the earth) and pretty much anything else that doesn’t have to do with punching the clock. The whole “nine to five” thing is now more nostalgic than anything else. When people are connected around the clock to work via their smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, is it even possible to punch out?

The answer has to be yes, no matter how easy or feasible it may be to stay on duty. Whether you live to work or work to live, every person will suffer if they don’t live mindfully and strike balance. Very few people live to an old age and look back wishing they had worked more. However, there are plenty of people who wished they had lived more, loved more, and done more outside the office–period. Here are a few things to keep in mind even as you’re climbing the corporate ladder.

Re-learn how to prioritize…

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Basic Singing Techniques: Correct Breathing

A guide detailing the proper way to breathe for singing. Often described incorrectly; I hope this guide will help a new generation of young vocalists.

So if we are breathing into our lungs, why does our stomach push out? The reason for this is the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a muscle below the lungs. When we breathe air into our lungs, they expand. Ideally, they should be expanding downwards which will press down on your diaphragm and push out your stomach. Don’t worry, this won’t hurt. In fact, you’ve done it naturally all of your life.

A good way to notice this feeling occurring in your body is to lay flat on the floor and breathe in gently whilst resting a hand on your stomach. Do you notice it raise and lower? Another way to indirectly notice this is to observe a baby whilst they are asleep. Their stomachs move up and down with their breathing. N’awwww!

Expanding the chest

Or more accurately, the rib cage. To ensure the correct passage of air flow the ribs must be expanded at all times. This will also give you’re singing more resonance and power. How do we do this? Firstly, stand up …

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Daily Mindfulness Exercises

Are you just coasting through your life? Each day passes yet you feel like you accomplish nothing, like you’re just waiting for something to happen?
Sometimes we get so focused on the future we forget about the present! Doing these exercises each day will help bring your mind into the present moment and allow you to truly appreciate each and every day.

Drink Tea: Something so simple as drinking tea can be used to bring yourself. Cultures have used this exercise for hundreds of years as a tool to connect with the present. Take time to prepare your tea carefully. Use a teapot instead of a microwave. As your tea steeps take the time to appreciate it’s aroma. Sip it slowly and appreciate the delicate flavors.

Listen to music: Music is such an amazing invention of the human being. We hear it every day on the radio on the way to work, or as we exercise in the evening but do you really listen? Take some time now to lie back,  close your eyes and just listen to a song. Appreciate the melody of the human voice, and really FEEL the music throughout your whole body.

Go for a walk:…

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Singing with Confidence: Breathing Steadily on Stage!

Why does breathing make a difference in the way you sound when you sing?  First, you cannot produce sound without air.  It’s humanly impossible. When you speak, even one word or sound, it is because air strikes the vocal bands (folds) which causes them to vibrate. With vibration, sound is produced.

When we speak, we “let go” of the word quickly which doesn’t require a lot of air.  So, just by inhaling and exhaling, using the upper chest cavity, we can carry on a conversation. No big deal. And it is so easy, we seldom ever think about breath at all.

However, when we sing, the very act of singing requires the word to be held (sustained), which demands more air. As hard as we try, breathing for speech, will not supply us with enough air for singing.  As a result, we run out of air too soon, fail to project our singing, find that we can’t reach the high notes and even may strain our voice.

 

 

 

Our tone (singing sound) suffers the most when there is not enough air for the tone to “ride on”.  Air, is what supports the tone. It acts as a cushion …

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Benefits of Deep Breathing

 

Benefits of Deep Breathing

In daily life, the process of breathing goes on naturally and automatically. We are mostly unaware of our breathing until a problem comes along. Every organism and every process in the body requires oxygen to sustain its life and activities. There is a great amount of medicinal value to our breathing, if only we can become aware of it and take care of it.

The best way to do this is to become totally and keenly aware of our natural breathing cycle. This awareness helps us to inhale larger amounts of air and oxygen. Such an inhalation process also enables us to exhale the air intake, slowly and gradually .This process of the real awareness of our breath, its slow and gradual inhalation and exhalation is called deep breathing.

 

 

Deep breathing has several benefits in maintaining good health. Some of these are

  1. It gives more energy,
  2. Reduces fatigue and stress of the body and mind,
  3. Reduces chest pain caused by muscular stresses and strains,
  4. Reduces the intensity in suffering from chronic illnesses such as Asthma and Bronchitis,
  5. Help in reducing the intake of prescription drugs and medicines,
  6. Accelerates the process of eliminating impurities from the body,
  7. Improves
…
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Admiration and Gratitude

Admiration and gratitude, I walk in the sun
You are unknown to me, yet in the world we are one
I am beholding to you, I offer you these things
My thanks as I hear the sweet tune a bird sings
Concern and thoughts I have a few
I sit and listen and share a view.
Allowing me that gift, giving my life chance
Is a stranger and never will we share a glance
I have never suffered but owe you my life
You allow me to live as mother and wife
Each day you are in my mind
Unknown Soldier I hope peace you find.
I hope that soon you are on homeland shores
And you are with loved ones, free from wars
Please know this stranger prays
For those who allow me perfect days
To you I give thanks for my daily chores
My gratitude and admiration are all yours

I tend to be an anxious person that tends to dwell on the past and do the “what ifs” for the future, so I needed a way to break this vicious cycle and took an instant liking to the practice of mindfulness when introduced to me by a …

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Fitness Instructor Qualifications: Yoga RYT and ACE Instructor Certifications Defined

 

Fitness Instructor Qualifications: Yoga RYT and ACE Instructor Certifications Defined

You can find out from the instructors themselves, or you can inquire about the qualifications preferred by the studio where you practice. Often studios will list this information in their biographical information online, or in their studio flyers or pamphlets.

RYT: The Yoga Alliance “Registered Yoga Teacher”

When an instructor has the letters “RYT” following his or her name, this stands for any one of various levels of certification through the Yoga Alliance. The internationally recognized entity standardizes and regulates the basic education and training that Yoga instructors must obtain in order to be certified. Yoga Alliance also requires instructors to maintain a certain amount of continuing education and regular practice in order to stay certified.

The Yoga Alliance also offers a free, searchable database online, if you would like to check your yoga instructor’s qualifications, or if you would like to search for a yoga instructor of a particular style or type of yoga in your area.

“Certified Yoga Instructor”

There are any number of reputable schools and organizations that will train and certify group fitness instructors. You may need to research other kinds of certifications to determine whether or not your instructor is truly qualified to meet …

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Stress Management Techniques – Part Five of Five: Mindfulness

Part five of this five-part series on easy stress management has to do with the practice of mindfulness. This is another simple technique you can easily incorporate into your emotional responses, easing yourself away from conflicting emotions toward peaceful emotions. Mindfulness practice has been validated in numerous studies as actually reducing anxiety, depression, and symptoms of chronic pain with just eight weeks of consistent practice. Mindfulness or mindfulness meditation is based on the Buddhist vipassana meditation. Vipassana practice is allowing yourself to see the world as it really is, shedding the foggy cloud of judgment and emotion.

Another way to practice mindfulness is to eat a raisin or a piece of chocolate very slowly, savoring the texture, taste, and smell as you slowly chew. If other thoughts or emotions come into play, then just note them and go back to your sensory experience in the moment. Let this be an oasis of calm and peace for you.

Start mindfulness practice slowly, maybe for ten minutes at first and then build up to twenty minutes a day of calm time. Studies show that meditation actually increases activity in parts of the brain associated with positive feelings and also actually encourages healthy …

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Kids’ Yoga in the Dallas Metroplex

Dallas students are getting fit thanks to school and after school yoga programs. Find out where area kids can build strength and get their Om on.

Adults in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have access to a vibrant and continuously expanding yoga community. Recently, the enthusiasm for the mind-body practice has spread to the younger generation through an increasing number of yoga programs available for children.

Growth of Kids Yoga in Dallas

According to Ginger Newberg, 200-Hour (HR) Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT), the demand for kids’ yoga is growing at studios, gyms and in less traditional locations, such as schools and museums. Says Newberg, “Yoga is now being offered in schools and camps across the city.” Newberg credits much of the growth in children’s yoga programs to Taylor Yoss, owner of Yogees: Yoga 4 Kids. Yoss, a 200HR RYT, is one of the pioneers of yoga for kids ages 4-8 in the Dallas Metroplex. She travels to schools, studios and homes teaching her fun but disciplined style of yoga to children. She believes one reason its appeal has spread is that more people recognize that yoga is something that can help everyone especially over-scheduled, stressed-out young people. “Yoga is about the …

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Sukhasana: Easy Pose – Simple Cross-Legged Yoga Pose for Meditation

 

Sukhasana: Easy Pose - Simple Cross-Legged Yoga Pose for Meditation

Schoolchildren call it “criss-cross applesauce”. Sukhasana is the simple seated position frequently used at the beginning of class to center.

This pose is comfortable, grounding, centering, and easy enough for most people to be able to draw their attention inward. It can be modified to be made more comfortable for those unable to sit comfortably on the floor.

In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 2:46 – translations of the ancient Sanskrit include “the posture of yoga should be gentle and easy”, “firm and without strain”, or “steady and pleasant”. Many yogis apply this to every asana used in Hatha Yoga, while others contend that this statement is referring only to the meditative posture assumed for hours or days at a time.

Regardless of Patanjali’s original meaning, it is absolutely without question that Sukhasana is meant to be easy!

Benefits of Sukhasana

Comfortable Sukhasana reminds us how to relax. Taking advantage of the intrinsic equilibrium of the spinal cord, Easy Pose forms the solid foundation necessary for a present and meditative mind.

How to practice Sukhasana

  • Find a comfortable seated position on your mat, with your legs crossed however you like
  • Reach around with your hands, and pull the skin out from
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