Tips and Poses to Feel Your Best
A yoga practice provides countless benefits to your overall health. By dedicating a few hours a week to your practice, you will feel calmer and more balanced both physically and mentally. A synopsis of yoga and cardiovascular disease, published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology, proposes that yoga can help lower heart disease. A study showed that people who took yoga classes found improvements to their heart health. Participants lost an average of five pounds, took five points off their blood pressure and lowered their levels of LDL cholesterol by 12 points.
The Om Factor
Along with its many health benefits, yoga can help open your heart physically and emotionally. By adding these heart-opening poses to your weekly yoga practice, you can help your heart stay healthy and strong.
Bow Pose or Dhanurasana
Begin this pose by lying on your belly with your hands alongside your torso, palms facing upward. Exhale and bend your knees, bringing your heels towards your buttocks. Reach back with your hands and hold your ankles. Inhale and strongly lift your heels away from your buttocks while lifting your thighs away from the floor. As you continue to lift your heels and thighs higher, press your shoulder blades firmly against your back to give a nice heart-opener.
Cobra Pose or Bhujangasana
Lie flat and stretch your legs back with tops of the feet on the floor. Spread your hands on the floor under your shoulders. Inhale and straighten your arms to lift the chest off the floor. Firm your shoulder blades against your back and press your thighs into the floor.
Cow Pose or Bitilasana
Start on your hands and knees in a tabletop position. Keep your knees directly below your hips and your wrists, elbows and shoulders perpendicular to the floor. On an inhale, lift your sitting bones and chest toward the ceiling, letting your belly sink toward the floor. Lift your head and look straight forward. On an exhale, come back to the neutral tabletop position on your hands and knees.
Ways to Keep You and Your Family Heart Healthy
February is American Heart Month and the perfect time to encourage your family to join you in making heart-healthy decisions. Here are a few lifestyle changes you can incorporate to create long-lasting habits.
Exercise Together
It is so much more fun to move as a family! Make time in your schedule for exercise that is all-inclusive. Maybe that is a yoga class in the afternoon or a nice walk after dinner.
Plan Healthy Meals for the Week
Making time to plan out healthy food options is a great way to save time, monitor your habits and stay on a healthy track.
We hope that these tips have been helpful for you and will be beneficial in promoting daily heart-healthy habits in your life.
Open your heart with a yoga class! View our full class schedule here.
