Open your second chakra!

The first chakra (base of the spine) is a grounding chakra, but the second chakra (two inches below the navel) allows us to be free and mobile!  The second chakra also houses our sexual energy, and is our connection to others.  To open and balance your second chakra try meditating with your hands placed in front of the second chakra in Yoni Mudra (which can be seen here).  Visualize orange energy, or water, flowing in and out of the second chakra.  Notice any physical, emotional, or energetic changes that happen in your body!

Having knee pain??

If you are having knee pain (that is not associated with an injury) consider stretching your quads (thigh muscles) and hip flexors to release tension from the knees. Try these simple yoga stretches to lengthen your muscles.

Dancer pose: Stand on the right leg, bend the left leg at the knee, grab the foot or ankle. Push the left foot into the hand to stretch the quad. To intensify the stretch raise the right arm overhead and begin to lean forward. Repeat on opposite side.

Low lunge: Place the right foot forward, lower the left knee to the ground, lean into the right leg while pushing the tailbone down and forward to lengthen the left hip flexor. To intensify this stretch grab the left ankle in the left hand and extend the right arm forward. Repeat on opposite side.

For an at home yoga routine read here…www.examiner.com/home-fitness-in-boston/gentle-yoga-at-home

Warm up this winter with heated yoga!

Looking for motivation to workout this winter? Consider going to a heated yoga class. While standard yoga classes are between 72 and 74 degrees, heated yoga classes are between 90 and 110 degrees. The extra heat will not only lengthen the muscles, raise the metabolism, and detox the body, but it is a great way to warm up during the cold weather!

If the heat is not for you, consider a standard yoga class. Check out my schedule here: www.vareikapersonaltraining.com

Upper Body Strength

Not feeling as strong as you would like? Most people who do not participate in balanced training programs (especially women) have more strength in their lower bodies due to the type of activities they choose for exercise. For example, walking, jogging, biking, or using the elliptical machine. These types of exercises use mainly lower body muscles, so the upper body muscles are not being strengthened equally.
To balance out your body strength try incorporating weights, bands, military training (i.e., push-ups and pull-ups), or even yoga into your routine to engage the upper body muscles.
If you choose to use weights or bands be sure to hit all the major muscle groups of the upper body – shoulders, biceps, triceps, back, chest, and perhaps rotator cuffs.
Push-ups, pull-ups, and many yoga poses, such as plank or crow, engage all of the upper body muscles.
Balance out your workout and begin to notice your increased strength!

Trouble sleeping??

Many, many people have insomnia, difficulty staying asleep, or interrupted sleep. While sometimes these problems can be physical (breathing difficulties, physical pain, etc.), they are more often mental, meaning a racing mind. When a thought comes into the mind, especially a stressful or unpleasant thought, it can be processed over and over until it becomes something completely different from the original thought. Usually it is turned into the worst possible scenario.
How do you prevent or stop this? Completely quieting the mind is difficult even for advanced meditators, however, distracting the mind from these unpleasant thoughts, or creating periods of quietness in the mind is much more simple. To start, focus on your breathing. Placing your attention on your breath will prevent thoughts from creeping into the mind. If a thought is to arise in the mind, try to acknowledge it and let it pass. Try not to hold onto the thought, and not to allow the mind to carry it away. Return your attention to your breathing or perhaps to a word that can be your ‘mantra’, a word that you can repeat over and over in your mind. This process can be repeated (and will need to be repeated) to keep the mind clear. Over time this practice will become easier, and the periods of quiet in the mind will become longer. Try this technique next time you are having difficulty falling asleep!

Stress reduction through meditation!

Stress is a necessary evil of living life, which cannot be eliminated, but can be better dealt with through meditation. As noted in ‘Stress and Meditation’ on the Wildmind Buddhist Meditation site, meditation can benefit mental health in many ways. This includes heightening mindfulness, decreasing proneness to depression, and promoting positive mental states.

Read here…http://www.wildmind.org/applied/stress

Summertime workouts

Although everyone wants a beach body in the summer, sometimes it’s tough to get motivated to workout in the heat (and even worse the humidity!).  Fortunately there are several ways around this obstacle!  One way is to workout in the morning.  The temperature will not be at it’s peak yet if you are exercising outside, and even the gym will be cooler in the morning.  Another trick is to take up swimming or water aerobics.  Both of these burn tons of calories while keeping you cool!  A final idea is to embrace the heat and invest in a sweatband.  If you are able to surrender to the idea that you are going to sweat, then it can become a goal or challenge rather than an obstacle.  Consider that sweating is a good way of cleansing the body of toxins while burning fat and calories!

Accept that you’re going to sweat during your summer workouts and sport your sweatband with pride!  (Vareika Personal Training sweatbands coming soon!!) 

Protein!

Are you vegetarian or vegan? Perhaps you are just looking for a new way to add protein into your diet. There are a wide variety of sources, other than meat, that can help you to achieve your daily protein intake goals. As noted on the Vegetarian Resource Group website, this includes legumes, whole grains, vegetables, and more!

Read here…http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.htm

Is your mind racing??

Does your train of thought never stop? Perhaps you have tried meditation to quiet your mind, but can’t seem to stop new thoughts from creeping in. Try this the next time you meditate….
Get into a comfortable seated position that you can maintain for ten to twenty minutes. Take a few deep breaths and allow the entire physical body to completely relax. Then, rather than trying to clear the mind, focus on a single word or phrase that can be repeated over and over. For example, peace, love, or ‘om ah hum’. Focusing on this word or phrase will prevent the mind from filling up with extraneous thoughts. The mind may still try to wander. If it does, gently bring the attention back to the chosen word or phrase.
Using this method, try to build up your meditation practice to ten or twenty minutes. Notice the clearing effect it has on the mind!!

Lose 2lbs this week!!

Are you gearing up to get in shape for summer? Or perhaps you are preparing for a summer getaway. You can absolutely lose a healthy 1-2lbs per week, starting immediately, by shifting your balance of calories in vs. calories out. To lose 2lbs per week you need to burn or eliminate 7000 calories from your overall calorie total for the week. (Having said this, the calories taken in must be QUALITY calories.)
Eliminating 7000 calories from your weekly calorie total can be done by cutting out 500 calories from your diet each day and burning an additional 500 calories through exercise each day. For example, having a small bagel and coffee with skim milk for breakfast instead of a large bagel and juice can eliminate 500 calories. Jogging for 30 min and lifting weights for 30 min can burn over 500 calories.
Consider cutting excess calories and exercising more to begin burning fat and losing excess weight today!