Stretching The Mind, Body, and Soul

Should Pilates Classes Use Music?

2010-06-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

Should Pilates Classes Use Music?

Pilates classes are very popular these days. Most gyms and fitness centers offer regular Pilates sessions that are guided and facilitated by fitness professionals. In reality, it is very different from all other fitness sessions. But many individuals do not readily identify that difference especially when their Pilates sessions use music. Some Pilates experts do not use music while others make it a point to feature facilitative tunes to make participants more inclined to do the tasks.

Should Pilates classes use music? It is considered a matter or preference whether a facilitator/ instructor would use music or not in every Pilates class. There are specific times when music would help in making the session more effective, though there would also be instances when it would just serve as a form of unnecessary distraction. Professionals should know when music should be used in their Pilates sessions.

For classes that involve mostly beginners, music could be used sparingly. This is because when people are relatively new to the program, it could help them attain and maintain interest if there is an appropriate music or tune that comes with the basic Pilates movements. However, in some instances, music is omitted especially when the instructor wants to make sure participants would listen to and understand specific Pilates movement instructions.

A competent and effective Pilates instructor would ensure that participants focus on keeping proper posture alignment, breath control, and stability. S/He should also make sure the students maintain a neutral spine or lying position. In this regard, it would help if music used would not use catchy tunes and interesting lyrics. Thus, most instructors prefer to use meditative music to prevent the participants from focusing instead on the lyrics.

For advanced Pilates students/participants, music could be used as an effective strategy to attain and support smooth movement. The right choice of music to be used is important as it could be significant and vital to ensuring a smoother flow of movements. The good flow of sound could also help keep the movements become more targeted.

However, when using music during Pilates classes, make sure you avoid using heavily rhythmic music. This is because such tunes could only encourage and prompt the class to unnecessarily choreograph Pilates movements just to keep up a tempo. In general, the Pilates class members should be able to move more naturally so they could be enabled to move at a strategic pace that would suit their bodies with their individual variations.

Overall, music could surely enhance any Pilates session or class. For people who have become very familiar to Pilates movements, music could be a form of further enhancement to achieve more harmony between movements and breathing. For beginners, music should definitely take a back-step because such participants could only be unnecessarily distracted.

Doing Pilates without music could also be effective especially if you do the movements on your own. But for classes, meditative or strategic music could certainly be of great help. Instructors should take their choice of music to be used as another challenge.

What Pilates Is

2010-06-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

What Pilates Is

There are many forms of exercise programs. Pilates is among the most popular. In the United States alone, there are about 5 million people who are regularly participating in various Pilates sessions and classes. It is estimated that more individuals are doing Pilates tasks on their own, right at the comfort of their own homes during their free time. What is Pilates? Why should you be doing it?

To begin with, Pilates is an exercise system that focuses strategically on improving the body’s strength, flexibility, and posture without building up any bulk. The method involves a series of highly controlled movements that are performed using specially and specifically designed spring-resistant apparatus. Pilates could also be performed on the floor (a method known as mat work) without the need to use any tool or equipment. The sessions should be supervised by no less than specially trained instructors.

You should understand that Pilates is a form of a resistance exercise. It is not actually aerobic or cardiovascular although through doing Pilates movements, you would observe that your heart rate would surely increase. In comparison, it is more identical to weight lifting than to biking, jogging, and many other forms of popular aerobic activities.

The two key elements are spinal alignment and core muscle strength. Pilates targets the core musculature, which is loosely defined as the abdomen, the spine, the pelvis, the hips, and all other muscles that support such structures. Included in the main core muscles are the external and internal obliques (sides of the abdomen), the erector spinae (those at the back along the spine), the rectus abdominis (‘six-pack’), the hip flexors (those in the upper legs and the pelvis), and the transverse abdominis (situated deep into the gut).

During any Pilates session, the instructor would continuously prompt you to focus deeply into your core muscles. You should also pay attention to your breath as well as to the quality of movements and appropriate contraction of the muscles. The key elements of the program would be emphasized in every session. The main objective is to establish coordination among the body, the mind, and even the spirit. Developer Joseph Pilates called this coordination ‘contrology.’

Pilates was developed and created during the 1920s. Joseph Pilates was a physical trainer (died in 1967) who was active in developing targeted exercise routines. The program was originally created for physical rehabilitation purposes. Several of the first few people who were required to perform Pilates were American soldiers who returned injured from the war. It was also required for dancers who injured themselves during rehearsals and performances.

Since the early part of the 20th century, the basic tenets of Pilates have been purposely preserved. Even today, despite evident modifications and variations, Pilates still remains very truthful to its origins. It is not surprising that it is currently one of the most popular forms of exercise programs. There are classes and group sessions that are held regularly in gyms and fitness centers for people who aim to perform Pilates exercise routines. Numerous health and fitness experts keep on recommending it to people.

P90X: Why Yoga Is Important To The Workout Program

2009-09-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

By Kevin Trent

Sometimes yoga gets a bad name in the strength training and fitness world. There are some people that see no need for this type of workout when trying to lose weight or reshape their bodies. What those people don't realize is that yoga is an important aspect of a fitness program like P90X.
The P90X fitness program comes with 12 different workouts that are designed to transform your body. Some of the workouts focus on a specific part of the body such as Legs and Back while other workouts are different genres such as yoga. At first glance to the 12 P90X workouts, it may seem like this type of workout is out of place, but if you understand how beneficial yoga is to your body, then you will see why Tony Horton included it in the P90X system.
This P90X workout combines strength, flexibility, balance, coordination, and breathing techniques that all work together to enhance your body and your mind. Yoga adds the perfect balance to the extreme workout that P90X has to offer. It can help a person not only reshape their body but also come away with a mind-body balance.
Despite what some strength training devotees think, yoga is not that easy to do. It takes plenty of strength and power to be able to hold some of the poses. Some people who think that they are in excellent shape or have excellent strength find that they are unable to hold the poses for the desired amount of time. Yoga is one of those workouts that you have to start off slow with and then evolve into it as you gain more strength and flexibility.
Yoga is a perfect compliment to the P90X system because if offers the an enlightenment to your mind and body as well as provides you with a chance to increase your flexibility and strength. Lifting weights is not the only way to develop strength. This workout can easily provide you with the toned muscles that you are looking for. It also provides you with terrific balance and coordination which is needed for the other P90X workouts. It can also help you improve your posture and athleticism for any sports or competitions that you may be involved in.

This workout also offers a little break from the high-intensity workouts that come in the P90X program. It offers some relaxation during the program and offers a way to clear your mind and get ready for your amazing journey on the system. When you use this workout in your P90X regiment you will find that you feel invigorated and that you are just well-connected on so many levels.
Yoga is beneficial for both the body and the mind. Tony Horton knew very well what he was doing when he included it in the P90X workout program. He knew just how beneficial a type of workout could be for people who are looking to improve their overall health and achieve their best body.
Tiffany Brunskole is a writer for Surfer Body Fitness, an Online retailer who specializes in workout products and supplies from Beachbody fitness such as P90X. P90X can help you burn more calories and achieve weight loss faster.

A sound

2009-09-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

We are a energy, a vibration, a spirit that gives off sound a sound that gives off movement. My sound has to be a good sound a loving sound, giving out that type of energy

Relaxation Meditation Healing Music For The Soul By Gulan by SERGEI ROMANOV

2009-08-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

Relaxation Meditation Healing Music For The Soul By Gulan by SERGEI ROMANOV

In this stressful world where every moment is rushing by, one good way to get relaxation is music. Yoga is good and mediation is even better, but meditation music is the best. You can be on the go, yet listen to some soothing tunes that touch your heart and stimulate your senses. Yoga and meditation require time and space, but music can enjoyed at anytime, anywhere, even while doing work.

And if it’s Gulan music, your entire time can get transformed into a spiritual odyssey. Gulan is a renowned musician of electronic music, which is also known as ambient music, space music, or new age music. This is fusion music, which penetrates the senses of the listener and awakens his innermost feelings. Due to its soothing nature, this music is often played as background music in centers teaching yoga and meditation. As the tunes hit your ears, it creates a vibration that’s out-of-the-world. You find yourself relaxed, with increased your mental power and concentration. Yoga combined with healing music by Gulan is the perfect food for the mind.

“Spirit Of The Sound”

Ah! This album is a journey into your consciousness! An amazing blend of meditative, healing, and ambient music, Gulan has created an excellent “mind tool” for people who practice meditation and spiritualism.

The album consists of four tracks. Each is a distinct stage that leads the mind into the meditative state and keeps it there. The four tracks are:

• “Transcendentia” – it triggers concentration • “Spirit of the Sound” – it brings relaxation, and makes you travel deep into your inner space • “Awakening” – it purifies the mind, and induces self realization • “Altai 2” – this is the completion stage. It pulls you out of your meditative state and maintains balance of mind achieved during the previous stages

The uniqueness of this album is that there are no peaks or falls in the music. It’s soft, calm, and flows at the same level, piercing into the innermost corners of your consciousness.

“Antigravitation”

This again is an excellent effort By Gulan to create relaxation music for the spiritual souls. The album consists of four tracks:

• “Aqua 1” • “Aqua 2” • “Sphere 3” • “Antigravitation” • “Sphere2”

Each track helps you unearth your innermost feelings and seeks divine peace. You begin to question your purpose of life on earth. Is rushing to the office, toiling hard on the job you hate, and returning home with the world’s frustration bottled up in your mind, your life’s purpose? Somewhere, amidst the chaos of life, your real self gets lost. This is when healing music comes to the rescue.

The best results of Gulan music can be achieved by sitting or lying in a relaxed position. But, that doesn’t mean you cannot listen to it when on your toes. Listen to Gulan and feel the vibes of cosmic energy activate your brain and soothe your senses. This is music for the soul!

http://www.gulanmusic.com/

What Causes Cancer?

2009-06-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

What Causes Cancer?

Repetiton of Words

2009-04-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

Repetition of words creates repetition of thoughts.

Repetition of thoughts creates reality.

By intentionally choosing the words that wallpaper your mind, you change the tone of the room in which you live and you change the life you are living.

Finding Love 2

2009-04-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

that this love is always there. It is intrinsic to your nature. It is native to your being.
You don’t have to put it there or develop it. It is the canvas of your life. Love is what
you are made of.
Expand your awareness to include your whole body and an egg-shaped energy field all
around you. Let love’s quiet presence ease into your awareness, permeating your entire
field. With each gentle breath, allow yourself to become so soft and peaceful that the
love that resides within you can shine through your situation and your thoughts,
through your pains and your losses. Become so quiet that you can sense the slightest
presence of this beautiful love as it glows through your physical body.
You may want to regularly spend some time revealing the love that you are in this type
of meditative process. The benefits of this practice may surprise you. Love heals a
scraped elbow as well as a broken heart. And it does something more. It attracts more
love. I wish you a Valentine’s Day of essence and healing. I wish you love.
By Rebbie Straubing

Finding Love

2009-04-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

Finding love is different from finding your keys or your eyeglasses when they
disappear. And yet, we tend to think of it in the same way. We think love is hiding
somewhere. We left it with that person or in that old town or in that dear friend. We
tend to think love is located in the person we love and when we lose that person we
have lost love. Love is very different from that. Love lives in every moment in every
particle of existence. Finding love is more like looking through the paint to the canvas,
looking through the situation to the essence.
Here is an exercise for accessing love regardless of conditions. In order to reap the full
benefit from this exercise, first take a moment to look around you at the condition of
your life. Notice what kind of presence love occupies in your awareness. Take a neutral
glance at your entire situation as if through a wide-angle lens. Without judging or
defending, free from praise or blame, simply appreciate the contrasting landscape of
your incarnation.
Once you have perused your lifescape, close your eyes and gently settle your
awareness on your heart center right in the middle of your chest. Allow your breathing
to become soft and relaxed. With each breath imagine your heart center infused with
the gentle presence of love. Imagine this love soothing all hurts, filling all spaces of loss
and brightening all gloom. As the light of love becomes more established in you, realize
phenomeNEWS - This Month's Article

by Rebbie Straubing

Always Enough

2009-04-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it seems that love is the problem. It can appear that love caused the pain.
People we love reject us or they die or they become so important to us that we
encounter endless types of hurt. It seems that love is scarce and can be taken away at
the whim of the beloved. This illusion of the scarcity of love comes closer to describing
the cause of the pain. It is the sense of lack that hurts, not the love. The lack is an
illusion.
There is always enough love. It is behind every great creation. Love is the canvas that
holds up the paint. Love is the page that hosts the words. Love is the day you live into.
It is every background, hidden behind every story, colored by every circumstance.
Underneath every experience there is a field of love upon which that moment was built.
There is always enough love. We simply must find it.

by Rebbie Straubing

Dr. Rebbie Straubing

2009-04-03T13:22:00.000-07:00

Dr. Rebbie Straubing, spiritual writer, workshop leader and Abraham coach
http://www.VirtualWorkshops.net, has also developed The Yoga of Alignment, an inner system of
alignment based on the principles of meditation and a compassionate approach to daily
life. She offers telephone consultations through her website at
www.TheYogaofAlignment.com.

- Robert Collier

2009-04-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

“One comes to believe whatever one repeats to oneself sufficiently often, whether the statement be true or false. It comes to be dominating thought in one's mind.”

-- Robert Collier

Physical Exercise That Yoga Provides,

2009-03-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

In addition to the physical exercise that yoga provides, letting go of the thinking mind by focusing on the breath and the body is also absolutely fundamental. Imagine how this can improve sexuality. Click Here to learn more

Great Yoga

2009-03-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

You don't have to on the spiritual part of yoga but the stretching is good for your body and mind.
We should be in a good mind at all times.

http://www.greatyoga.com
http://www.yogaclasssearch.com
http://www.mpSportsClub.com

There are much more places of yoga and stretching on the internet where you can learn more.

Yoga refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India. The word is associated with meditative practices in both Buddism and Hinduism .In Hinduism, it also refers to one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy , and to the goal toward which that school directs its practices. Some of us know that meditation didn't come from India, the world didn't start in India. We believe that meditation comes from Africa.

Energy

2009-03-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

We are energy a vibration on earth and when we give out negative energy that's what we can expect back, when we give out contentment in our lives we can expect to move in better places in our lives. God pushes play and pauses, but never stop. Stopping only brings complacent in our lives having us not able to fulfill the purpose in our lives. We must get in position to receive our possession. We are energy, from with-in we heal ourselves, with prayer, meditation, healthy eating, good exercise, and giving out good energy. Good energy consist as love, peace, great deeds and the good news. You can pray on these things; Yeah, but with out action your prayer is void. You don't walk into a bank expecting the bank to put up some money with out your signing something. TIP: exercise 5 days a week but stretch everyday.

A Great Way To Relieve Stress

2009-03-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

Yoga is a great way to keeping the body from getting tight, you don't necessary have to pray or be spiritual when doing Yoga, its a exercise that have been around for 1000's of years. Yoga heals the body from dangerous diseases, this is a great practice to enter.

Yoga

2009-03-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana

Shannon Brophy, Yoga.com Staff

Eka Pada Dandasana is a strong backbend. In the pose the head is nestled in the hands as in Sirsasana (the headstand), and the torso is gracefully arched into the air. One foot remains on the floor while the other leg is raised and extended with the foot pointing towards the sky.

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