Posts Tagged yoga

Lately, I have become obsessed. Obsessed with living well, eating right and yoga. I live, breathe and eat yoga and you will find me every morning at the yoga studio holding a challenging pose.

Some people ask me if this mindset is a conflict of interest to my work which extols aesthetic procedures to the masses. I beg to differ. To me, they go hand-in-hand as doing aesthetic procedures is all part of looking after yourself – maintaining your looks as much as you can, and giving yourself a boost in areas that Mother Nature forgot or Father Time took away.

In this issue, we offer a more holistic approach to looking good with a special feature on spas as well as a blow-by-blow account of what happens at a detox resort – something I’d highly recommend everyone to do once in their lives. You emerge so much lighter, energetic and with a glow to boot!

You’d also not want to miss our Feel Good, Look Great section which showcases the latest technology that can hold the effects of gravity at bay! As if that is not enough, we reveal the treatments that beauty insiders use to keep themselves svelte and line-free – best of all, they are all within reach!

Also inside this issue:

1. Mane Event – Treatments for fuller, healthier locks
2. The Truth About Cosmetic Surgery Abroad – You’d want to read this before booking your appointment
3. Sexify Yourself – Bootylicious treatments to kick bedroom antics up a notch
4. Beauty Chat with Andrea De Cruz – Find out how this TV personality turned hair guru keeps herself looking great
5. Fillers For Asian Faces – How to correctly enhance your looks with fillers suitable for you

Look out for the magazine at the end of January 2012! In the meantime, ommmm….

For the last 2 weeks, I’ve been starting my Sundays with 108 sun salutations. The first time I did it, I nearly left the yoga studio halfway and felt wobbly and weak after (could also be due to a particularly tough yoga class the day before). Surprisingly, I sailed through the poses the second time, feeling strong and enjoying every minute of it. My yoga teacher informs (or tried to motivate) us that 70-year-old yogis in India do 108 sun salutations every day. In India, it is a method of self-improvement used to harness the full potential of the mind, body and breath for a variety of benefits, including reversing the effects of aging.

Over your lifespan, the physiology of your body begins to change. One effect of aging is decreased elasticity of the lungs, which diminishes your body’s ability to use oxygen, resulting in fatigue and poor immunity. Also, you will lose muscle tone and experience an increase in fatty tissues. Your bones will begin to lose their density, making them more fragile. The activity of your thyroid will decrease, your metabolism will slow down, and the strength of your digestive system will weaken.

Surya namaskara, or sun salutations, is a sequence of yoga poses that are said to be almost universally beneficial, with benefits that counter many of the effects of aging. Use sun salutations to maintain muscle tissue and flexibility throughout your life, to boost your metabolism by stimulating the thyroid, pancreas and pituitary glands, to alleviate indigestion and ailments of the liver and the pancreas, and to strengthen the spinal cord and cells of the nervous system. Practicing sun salutations regularly will give you more energy and more focus throughout the day.

The late Swami Vivekananda, a prominent yogi in India, had once said: “The result of this branch of Yoga is to make men live long; health is the chief idea, the one goal of the Hatha-Yogi. He is determined not to fall sick, and he never does. He lives long; a hundred years is nothing to him.”

Yoga has become my new boyfriend. I’m constantly thinking and talking about it, I buy nice outfits to wear for it and downward dog is my favourite position. If I had a choice, I’d do yoga everyday as it has so many facets that I’d never tire of it – there’s yin yoga if I want a relaxing stretch, pranamed for some solace and vinyasa if I want to get my heart racing. My favourite is hatha and I always get butterflies in my tummy when I go on my Saturday date with hatha 3.

Very few people retain their strength and vitality till the middle age. More people are looking much older than they actually are, thanks to the highly-stressed, sedentary and polluted lifestyles we lead.  However, you would be happy to know that our body has the unique ability to renew or regenerate at the cellular level. One way to do that is to practise yoga. Here’s how yoga can help you reclaim your vitality:

Yoga Keeps the Spine Young: According to Indian philosophy and Indian sages, age is measured not by the number of candles on your birthday cake, but by the flexibility of your spine.  Yoga works to improve the elasticity of the spine through its thousands of postures or asanas. These myriad postures, done in conjunction with deep and rhythmic breathing, work the spine and muscles of the body through a dual action of push and pull.

Yoga Makes Skin More Youthful: A German study of a group of women showed that yoga can reduce stress, thereby reducing the appearance of wrinkles and smoothing over the lines in the forehead. Yoga may work its magic by reducing oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is linked to a host of aging conditions and illnesses from wrinkles to heart disease to Alzheimer’s. Apparently, by practicing inverted yoga postures, you can turn back gray hair to its natural color (upside down class here I come!).

Yoga Eases Aches and Pains: As we get older, our joints and muscles lose their elasticity. Yoga helps to restore the dryness and tightness that is associated with debilitating conditions like arthritis and back pain by its ability to stretch and improve the circulation and mobility of these restricted regions.  Any cardiovascular exercise promotes optimal levels of oxygen, but this dual action that yoga demands forces oxygen into tight areas of the body thereby improving oxygenation throughout the entire body.

Yoga Keeps You Happy: Chronic pain, constant stress or loneliness is strongly correlated with depression and decreased energy. As people with a chronic ailment adopt a consistent yoga practice, not only do their physical symptoms start to improve, but their mood does as well. The better we feel, the better we look as our outer appearance starts to reflect the vitality we feel inside.

Yoga Keeps Your Mind Agile: Research is revealing that keeping your mind active is just as important to reducing the effects of aging as eating a healthy diet.  Since many of the asanas in yoga require concentration as we not only focus on the movements themselves, but also how the breath corresponds to each movement, our minds are continually being challenged (try doing a standing mermaid and you’ll know what I’m talking about!). These subtle but powerful brain exercises are like feeding our minds heaping bowls of Superfoods, keeping them young, alert, healthy and alive.

Ommmmm…

Cardio exercises

Just came back from a great run up Mt Faber with my puppy. Doing cardio not only keeps your body strong and young, it can also improve your complexion.  Blood starts pumping in your face, drawing oxygen to your skin, giving you an instant radiant complexion. And, it’s free!

Even though I am a big believer in laser treatments, I also believe in being holistic. Doing thousand-dollar caviar facials and laser treatments every month will not help you if you smoke, are stressed and eat rubbish. Your skin is your body’s largest organ. When your internal organs are working well,  your skin glows and is taut.

Yoga for relaxation

I started looking after myself better in my late 20s. I quit smoking and began an exercise regime –  pilates and yoga to relax and running for cardio, ate more fruits and vegetables – choosing food with high omega like salmon for its skin loving properties. I cut back on sugar as too much of it ages skin. I also tried to relax more – to be more aware of the present, less worrying and being content. Having a balanced nervous system not only does wonders for your skin, but also makes you a more fun person to be around!

I think that all my efforts have paid well (on top of the laser treatments I try for my work) as I often get mistaken for my younger sister

How about you? Do you have any skin care tips to share?