Yoga: The Most Effective Exercise for Back Pain

Scoliosis is a condition in which a person has side-to-side spinal curves in addition to the normal curves through which the lower portion of the human back curves inwards. The most effective remedy for such a condition is Scoliosis exercises. Although many exercises help in reducing the Scoliosis-related problems, yoga is considered the best Scoliosis exercise. Yoga postures are helpful since they enable us to stretch our body.

The most effective yoga exercises for the treatment of Scoliosis-related problems include the Crocodile twist, the Supine knee chest twist, the passive back arch and the one leg up-one leg out posture. These exercises are very helpful in raising one’s lowered shoulder and reducing the back pain.

The Passive back arch scoliosis exercise has been found to be helpful in not only reducing scoliosis-related pain, but also the problems related to condition called pectus excavatum (sunken chest). Pectus excavatum is generally caused due to tight muscles across one’s chest and back and soft bones in the rib cage and spine.
The One leg up and one leg out scoliosis exercise have been found to be very effective in reducing muscular tension in legs. The Seated twist is a good remedy for the treatment of thoracic twist. This exercise also helps to rectify the alignment of the body and is simple to perform.

The Joint freeing series of scoliosis exercises are particularly helpful for people suffering from scoliosis with tight shoulder muscles. The Head to Knee pose helps in maintaining the alignment of the body and straightening of the spine. The spinal and the abdominal twists result in the stretching of muscles in the shoulder.

Yoga is "Unity"

Experienced Yoga practitioners often feel discouraged when a naturally gifted dancer, gymnast, or martial artist, performs an advanced asana with little effort. As I have mentioned before, there are people with elongated joint capsules and their extraordinary range of motion is a gift. You and I may have to work at it, but the many rewards of Yoga practice are still there.

Yoga consists of many facets, and Asanas, are just one of the many parts of Yoga. Many students who have extraordinary flexibility admit they struggle with another part of Yoga - such as: The student who just can't calm down to meditate, balancing in asanas, Pranayama, Yogic Philosophy, and so on.

Unfortunately, I have seen many promising Yoga practitioners quit practicing Yoga, due to a competitive mind-set.  Within their own minds - they were in competition with every student in the class and, possibly, their Yoga teacher too.

Remember that Yoga means "union." In simple terms, we can say union of mind, body, and spirit.  There are many more explanations about union, but that could be a separate article. There are also many branches of Yoga and, therefore, many types of union, but competition is far from union.

Competition enhances the ego, and the ego is just a part of your personality. The ego resists union for its own survival. The ego is our social mask and does not want to share anything.

Remember, the next time you start to feel envious of another student or teacher - that is not union. If anything, it will hold you back from union and many more valuable contributions that Yoga can make to your life.

Feel free to visit our "brand new" forum that will be open to the public in July 2005. You can find it at: http://yoga-teacher-training.org/forum

You will find a variety of Yoga and related topics to learn about. The moderators are Yoga teachers from various locations worldwide. Please feel free to visit and participate.

You And Your Cholesterol

Are you aware that nearly 107 million Americans have total cholesterol of 200 mg/dL or higher, a level at which cardiovascular risk begins to rise.

Mike Flowers  of you-and-your-cholesterol.com states that "High Cholesterol and Triglyceride (blood fat) can easily be controlled by following a few simple rules and without giving up some of the pleasures you enjoy most!"

Mr. Flowers also added that ten years ago his doctor wanted to place him on medication due to his high cholesterol levels.

"I was totally shocked because I felt fine, and was going to see him for something unrelated.

At that point, I started thinking about my dad and the Quadruple Bypass he had a couple years earlier.

I convinced my doctor to give me 30 days to reduce my Cholesterol, and get it under control.  If not, I would be more than happy to start taking the medication.

When I returned to his office 30 days later, he was completely amazed at how low my levels were and told me to continue doing what I was doing.

To be honest with you, I was more amazed than he was.  I was thrilled...not expecting such good results.

It has been ten years since that visit, and each time I visit his office for a check up my levels are consistently good!


A lot of people can lower their levels by incorporating the right diet plan, knowing what foods to stay away from, educating themselves on the benefits of natural herbs and having a simple exercise regiment.

Unfortunately for some, no matter what they do - they will not be able to get their levels under control and will have to seek the advice of their medical professional.

You Get A Full Body Workout And A Toned Torso With A Rowing Machine.

One of the most complete cardiovascular exercises around has to be rowing. A proper workout on a rowing machine will tone all of the major muscle groups
such as your legs, back and arms.

The beauty of using a concept 2 rowing machine is first of all it doesn't involve water.
This rower doesn't get you wet and there are no early morning trips to get your machine
out of the boat shed. No cold changing rooms and gale force winds for your training session. And there is definately no need to find the nearest river to row your machine on. All you have to do is set it up in an adequately spacious area and away you go.

There are lots of different machines available on the market. Although they generally fall into 2 categories:

-Water rowers

-Air rowers

The water rower, which contrary to their namesake, does not end up in you getting wet after a vigorous workout. The machines are very beautifully designed and use enclosed water and paddles for resistance as opposed to air. These rowers tend to be quieter than air rowers and are just as much works of art as they are exercise machines.

Then we have the concept 2 air rower. There are many other brands available but this piece of machinery is commonly accepted to be one of the best, if not the best. They
are engineering masterpieces and are all calibrated to the same standard. So, if you do a certain time on a concept 2 rower, you can rest assured that, that time will be
replicated exactly on another concept 2 machine. This is the reason why the world indoor rowing championships use the concept 2.

The information that the display monitors show on the concept 2 is extensive, with the new monitors even being able to be plugged into a PC, so you can race
with other rowers from all around the world.

Your Tongue's Dirty Little Secret--Bad Breath

While you may know that the bacteria in your mouth is the cause of 90 percent of bad breath, you may not realize the majority of smell-generating bacteria are sitting on the back of your tongue.

What's more, the majority of the over 60 million people diagnosed with oral malodor are not aware of the single best method to improve their breath--the simple act of scraping the tongue.

Tongue cleaning has been practiced for centuries and recent literature has shown it leads to a healthy oral environment. Clinical research has created a renewed interest in tongue cleaning, since evidence has shown that infection-causing bacteria-the primary cause of bad breath-increased tenfold after a week of not cleaning the tongue.

A recent scientific study on the effectiveness of scraping the tongue found that scraping it twice daily for seven days had a significant effect on the levels of bacteria in the mouth and also decreased bad breath.

The subjects in the study added tongue scraping as part of their normal daily oral care routine of brushing their teeth and using a mouth rinse.

"Since most people brush their teeth and use a mouth rinse, it is clear the missing link for truly clean breath is scraping your tongue," explained Kristy Menage Bernie, Registered Dental Hygienist. "Some people mistakenly believe that brushing your tongue will have the same effect as scraping but the reality is to have a clean mouth and fresh breath, you need to brush, floss, scrape and rinse, in that order, and make sure you use a well-designed tongue scraper that is safe and effective, such as the one available from BreathRx."

Zoey asthma: teaching kids to care for themselves. Is it a good asthma treatment control?

This article is about the advantages of the Zoey asthma kit - Is it a good asthma treatment control?

It is most unpleasant to have to watch your child develop and then try to cope with asthma. They are just too little to understand what it means and why they have problems breathing. The feeling of being useless in helping a child understand their illness better is common in all patients whose children suffer from asthma. This is precisely why Zoey asthma has been developed, it is

The Zoey asthma kit is literally packed with good ideas to help both child and parent understand asthma. First of all there is a parent's workbook. This 112 page guide explains how they should manage their son or daughter's asthma, minimizing the complexity involved.

The child's workbook follows the same format and is full of activities to keep the kids interested and informed. Children are taught what triggers to look out for and how to minimize them. This is also great for parents who wouldn't normally have a clue as to what a trigger is. The two books also cover the correct use of the peak flow meter, the spacer, and inhalers.

What would you do if your child had an asthma attack? How would you avoid him or her (or yourself for that matter) from panicking? With the Zoey asthma parent's workbook you are shown in a clear, easy to follow manner which will really put your mind at ease.

Zoey asthma makes your child learn about their condition in a colorful, easy to follow and fun educational trip. Also included in the kit is a coloring book for your child to complete and a peak flow meter, which monitors how well your child's lungs are working to give an indication of when the next asthma attack will take place.

All in all, this Zoey asthma kit provides valuable information for all the family, and takes some of the unpleasantness out of an unpleasant illness.

Zone Diet - Criticism

One diet may not work or suit on everyone. The Zone Diet Plan is a moderate plan to be followed.

The Zone Diet does not only calculate fat and protein match but relates calorie burn as well. It considers the significance of other ingredients as well to maintain a balanced diet. The Zone Diet will highlight the use and side effects of fats proteins, and unlike others, of carbohydrates as well. Carbohydrates affect the hormonal activities and the level of insulin in a human body. A disturbance in these internal systems leads to heart diseases and cancers. This is what the Zone Diet takes concern of.

A Zone Diet will suit every being as it keeps a balance between fats, proteins, carbohydrates and all other healthy ingredients. This balancing gives a healthy development of hormonal activities along with a loss in weight.

Despite the fact that The Zone Diet stresses on the consequence of carbohydrates for affective hormonal activities involving the hormones like Eicosanoids that relates to different metabolic courses but its shortage is also related to chubbiness and many other diseases. Nevertheless, there is no scientific confirmation for the remarks suggested by the Zone Diet plan.