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Eating a
cupfull of blueberries once a day may help spice up your love life, says
an expert.
According to
nutritionist Dora Walsh, the berries contain proanthocyanidins, a plant
chemicals that is believed to keep blood vessels flexible and blood flowing
around the body that could work wonders in your romantic life, reports
contactmusic.com.
"Blueberries
can easily be incorporated into what we eat every week. Blueberries are a great
source of the nutrient manganese which helps us get energy from food - all
important for Valentine's night.
"Blueberries
not only make you feel great, many of my clients eat them for healthy skin and their nutrient content could hold the key to giving our skin a
Valentine's glow, which makes us more attractive to the opposite sex,"
said Walsh.
Blueberries are
also packed full of soluble fibre which many people consume to help push excess
cholesterol through the digestive system before it can be broken down, and
deposited along the walls of the arteries.
Clear arteries are important for a healthy heart.
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Sun Salutation
is considered a complete body workout. Yoga experts say
that doing 12 sets of Surya Namaskar translates into doing 288 powerful yoga poses in
a span of 12 to 15 minutes.
A workout for 'busy bees'
Facing a time crunch? Want to feel fit but
don't know how? Welcome to the world of Surya Namaskar. Literally translated as
sun salutation, Surya Namaskar comprises a sequence of 12 yoga postures. The
best part about Sun Salutation is that it works well for those 'super busy'
people who often complain about not being able to do yoga because of a time
crunch. Doing at least 12 sets of Sun Salutation, preferably at sunrise, at a
fast pace provides a good cardiovascular workout. If done at a slower pace,
these postures help tone the muscles and can be relaxing and meditative.
Moreover, it allows you to enjoy the stretch and makes the body more flexible.
Though pretty much an exercise in itself,
Sun Salutation forms an excellent link between warm-ups and intense yoga
postures. Start your early morning yoga routine with some warm-up stretches to
ease out body stiffness. You can then do a few rounds of Sun Salutation to help
increase body flexibility and also prepare the body to stretch more during the
intense yoga posture sequence.
Sun Salutation is considered a complete body
workout. Yoga experts say that doing 12 sets of Surya Namaskar translates into
doing 288 powerful yoga poses in a span of 12 to 15 minutes.
Why Sun Salutation is good for you?
But that's not all. Regular practice of Sun
Salutation offers a lot of interesting benefits for every part of the body.
These powerful yoga poses have a great impact on the heart, liver,
intestine, stomach, chest, throat, and legs - the whole body from top to
bottom. It purifies the blood and improves blood circulation throughout the
body and ensures proper functioning of the stomach, bowel, and nerve centres.
Practicing Sun Salutation daily helps balance the three constitutions - Vata,
Pitta and Kapha - that the body is made up of.
Your guide to Sun Salutations
Step #1: Pranamasana (Prayer pose)
Stand at the edge of your mat, keep your
feet together and balance your weight equally on both the feet.
Expand your chest and relax your shoulders.
As you breathe in, lift both your arms up
from the sides and as you exhale, bring your palms together in front of the
chest in a prayer position.
Step #2: Hastauttanasana (Raised arms pose)
Breathing in, lift the arms up and back,
keeping the biceps close to the ears. In this pose, the effort is to stretch
the whole body up from the heels to the tips of the fingers.
How to deepen this yoga stretch?
You may push the pelvis forward a little
bit. Ensure you're reaching up with the fingers rather than trying to bend
backwards.
Step #3: Hasta Padasana (Hand to foot pose)
Breathing out, bend forward from the waist,
keeping the spine erect. As you exhale completely, bring the hands down to the
floor, beside the feet.
How to deepen this yoga stretch?
You may bend the knees, if necessary, to
bring the palms down to the floor. Now make a gentle effort to straighten the
knees.
It's a good idea to keep the hands fixed in
this position and not move them until you finish the sequence.
Step #4: Ashwa Sanchalanasana (Equestrian pose)
Breathing in, push your right leg back, as
far back as possible. Bring the right knee to the floor and look up.
How to deepen this yoga stretch?
Ensure that the left foot is exactly in
between the palms.
Step #5: Dandasana (Stick pose)
As you breathe in, take the left leg back
and bring the whole body in a straight line.
How to deepen this yoga stretch?
Keep your arms perpendicular to the floor.
Step #6: Ashtanga Namaskara (Salute with eight parts or
points)
Gently bring your knees down to the floor
and exhale. Take the hips back slightly, slide forward, rest your chest and
chin on the floor. Raise your posterior a little bit.
The two hands, two feet, two knees, chest
and chin (eight parts of the body touch the floor).
Step #7: Bhujangasana (Cobra pose)
Slide forward and raise the chest up into
the Cobra posture.You may keep your elbows bent in this pose, the shoulders
away from the ears. Look up.
How to deepen this yoga stretch?
As you inhale, make a gentle effort to push
the chest forward; as you exhale, make a gentle effort to push the navel down.
Tuck the toes under. Ensure you're stretching just as much as you can; do not
force your body.
Step #8: Parvatasana (Mountain pose)
Breathing out, lift the hips and the tail
bone up, chest downwards in an 'inverted V' (/) posture.
How to deepen this yoga stretch?
If possible, try and keep the heels on the
ground and make a gentle effort to lift the tailbone up, going deeper into the
stretch.
Step #9: Ashwa Sanchalanasana (Equestrian pose)
Breathing in, bring the right foot forward
in between the two hands, left knee down to the floor, press the hips down and
look up.
How to deepen this yoga stretch?
Place the right foot exactly between the two
hands and the right calf perpendicular to the floor. In this position, make a
gentle effort to push the hips down towards the floor, to deepen the stretch.
Step #10: Hasta Padasana (Hand to foot pose)
Breathing out, bring the left foot forward.
Keep the palms on the floor. You may bend the knees, if necessary.
How to deepen this yoga stretch?
Gently straighten the knees and if you can,
try and touch your nose to the knees. Keep breathing.
Step #11: Hastauttanasana (Raised arms pose)
Breathing in, roll the spine up, hands go up
and bend backwards a little bit, pushing the hips slightly outward.
How to deepen this yoga stretch?
Ensure that your biceps are beside your
ears. The idea is to stretch up more rather than stretch backwards.
Step #12: Tadasana
As you exhale, first straighten the body,
then bring the arms down. Relax in this position, observe the sensations in
your body.
288 yoga poses in 12 minutes!
One round of Sun Salutation consists of 12
yoga poses. One set consists of two rounds of Sun Salutation:first stretching
the right side of your body and then the left side. So, when you do 12 sets of
Sun Salutation, you are completing 12 sets x 2 rounds in each set x 12 yoga
poses in each = 288 yoga poses within 12 to 15 minutes.
Surya Namaskar calorie calculation:
One round of Surya Namaskar burns upto 13.90
calories for an average weighing person. You can now set a target for yourself.
You can slowly increase the number of rounds of surya namaskar to 108. By the
time you reach this number, you will become more toned and fitter.
30-minutes workout calorie meter: How many calories are you
burning in your 30 minute workout?
Weight lifting = 199 calories
Tennis = 232 calories
Basketball = 265 calories
Beach volleyball = 265
calories
Football = 298 calories
Bicycling (14 - 15.9 mph) = 331
calories
Rock climbing = 364
calories
Running (7.5mph) = 414 calories
Surya Namaskar = 417 calories
