Body Confidence:
How to like what you see in the mirror
From childhood we are sold on an ideal image of beauty, one few of us ever see reflected when we look in the mirror.
This article will show you how you can look in the mirror and despite the ideal, see only a beautiful you.
When you look in the mirror, what’s the first thing you notice, and how does it make you feel?
If you’re like most people, the first thing that catches your eye is probably your least favorite asset. If so, don’t worry you’re not alone. Here’s why.
Can you guess how much money is spent in just one year by advertisers to sell us on the concept of the “ideal” image of beauty?
Well, I can’t either but I do know this—it’s a lot of money, certainly somewhere in the billions of dollars!
So, technically, you can consider yourself brainwashed.
From your earliest childhood days—whether you played with Action Man or Barbie—you’ve been receiving constant, consistent images telling you what beauty is supposed to look like.
Never mind that these images are for the most part, anatomically impossible!
And, would you really want to look like Fabio anyway? Or Pam Anderson? Honestly?
I’m guessing probably not.
So, here’s how you can build your confidence with the body God gave you:
1. Look in the mirror
2. This time, really look at yourself.
Reflect on the compliments you have received.
Do people tell you how great your hair is?
How beautiful your eyes are?
That you have a nice smile? Try to see what they see.
3. Stand far enough away from the mirror so that you can take it all in. What do you see? Find at least three positive things.
4. Now, get up close.
Really close.
Look at your eyes—the irises.
What colour are they?
Are they all one colour or are there flecks of various colours?
How would you describe them using positive analogies or adjectives?
5. Now, smile. What does your smile convey? Warmth? Happiness?
6. Find at least three characteristics you like best about yourself, and then accentuate them as you dress to go out.
§ If you love your eyes, make sure your hair doesn’t cover them up
§ Love your lips? Make sure to keep them soft and moisturized
§ Your hair? Get a flattering cut and condition it regularly to keep it shiny and healthy
In short, amplify what you like, and don’t worry about the parts you don’t.
Here are some ways to do just that:
§ Go shopping and bring a good friend. Ask them to help you pick out colours and clothes they think flatter you. Don’t worry if your first reaction is “that’s not me!” Experiment!
§ Feel better about whatever it is you don’t like about yourself by picturing the absolute worst-case scenario. Exaggerate whatever it is you’re hung up on and blow it up in you mind until it’s comical. Then look in the mirror—not so bad anymore is it?
Accept yourself for who you are, how you look, and focus on what really matters—the things about you that can’t be seen—your heart, mind and soul!
§ What do you want people to praise you for? Is it really how you look? Probably not. You probably want people to think you’re funny, smart, nice, or generous—something along those lines right?
§ Make a list of your positive personal qualities and characteristics. Then ask yourself, what’s more important? Get involved in activities that build on your personal characteristics—volunteer, join a club, take a class to sharpen a talent. These will help you emphasize and focus more on the more important qualities that get you through life successfully and with more fun.
Live life, love fully and laugh often!
About The Author: Mark Edwards is a certified Success/ Life Coach who specializes in helping people achieve significant change in their lives. If you'd like to learn step by step how to become more successful in life or how to set yourself financially free please visit: The New You, Give Yourself A Life Makeover.
If you'd like to learn how to be successful in life and would like your own personal Life Coach to teach and guide you on how to be super successful click here.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
De-clutter your life and improve your confidence
De-clutter your life and improve your confidence
A lot of people carry around with them a lot of “baggage” or “clutter” in their minds.
When I say this I mean that they are still holding onto things that they say they should do but don’t, the person who they had a row with but both are not speaking to each other – but both want to, the coulds and shoulds in your life that hold you back – you need to let go, but you don’t.
These people carry around with them a lot of emotional attention that you could be doing without and focussing on something more productive instead!
Are you like this?
If you are, I bet it had a negative influence on your confidence and self esteem.
The approach
Take a look at your life and get rid of this baggage by asking yourself a series of questions and by completing the following exercise.
In effect, what we are doing is making certain tasks “complete”, drawing a line under them and moving on.
Another term for this is “psychological completion” or just “completion”
The following set of questions can be taken at one sitting or over a number of hours/days.
By writing the answers down they become more formal.
Get to it and watch your confidence soar!
1. Putting up with!
· Make a list of 10 things that you are putting up with at home
· Make a list of 10 things that you are putting up with at work
· Make a list of 10 things that you are putting up with in any other area of your life
· Make an action plan to get rid of/communicate these things that you have been putting up with
2. Unfinished matters!
· Make a list of things that are unresolved/unfinished in your life
· Make an action plan of how to reduce this number!
· Do you need to clear the air with anyone? If so, just do it! Life is too short!
· Did you ever say that you were going to call someone or keep in touch with someone yet have done nothing about it? If yes, call them or send an email to them today
· Let go of as many coulds, woulds, shoulds, maybe, oughts as you can. Write these down.
3. Your standards!
· Write down the standards that you have been saying to yourself that you should have; let go of these and write down a list of the standards that you are going to have in your life from this day forward.
· List 5 people who you admire the most. Identify their greatest qualities, behaviour and how they lead their life. What standards so they have? What standards could you raise starting today to be more like them?
· Respect that other’s standards will be different from your own. Think of 5 close colleagues or friends – what are their standards and how are they different to yours?
By completing these exercises you will be able to focus more on the here the now and the future.
You will now be able to let go of some of the things that have been taking up your valuable attention units – those things that knock your self esteem.
About The Author: Mark Edwards is a certified Success/ Life Coach who specializes in helping people achieve significant change in their lives. If you'd like to learn step by step how to become more successful in life or how to set yourself financially free please visit: The New You, Give Yourself A Life Makeover.
If you'd like to learn how to be successful in life and would like your own personal Life Coach to teach and guide you on how to be super successful click here.
A lot of people carry around with them a lot of “baggage” or “clutter” in their minds.
When I say this I mean that they are still holding onto things that they say they should do but don’t, the person who they had a row with but both are not speaking to each other – but both want to, the coulds and shoulds in your life that hold you back – you need to let go, but you don’t.
These people carry around with them a lot of emotional attention that you could be doing without and focussing on something more productive instead!
Are you like this?
If you are, I bet it had a negative influence on your confidence and self esteem.
The approach
Take a look at your life and get rid of this baggage by asking yourself a series of questions and by completing the following exercise.
In effect, what we are doing is making certain tasks “complete”, drawing a line under them and moving on.
Another term for this is “psychological completion” or just “completion”
The following set of questions can be taken at one sitting or over a number of hours/days.
By writing the answers down they become more formal.
Get to it and watch your confidence soar!
1. Putting up with!
· Make a list of 10 things that you are putting up with at home
· Make a list of 10 things that you are putting up with at work
· Make a list of 10 things that you are putting up with in any other area of your life
· Make an action plan to get rid of/communicate these things that you have been putting up with
2. Unfinished matters!
· Make a list of things that are unresolved/unfinished in your life
· Make an action plan of how to reduce this number!
· Do you need to clear the air with anyone? If so, just do it! Life is too short!
· Did you ever say that you were going to call someone or keep in touch with someone yet have done nothing about it? If yes, call them or send an email to them today
· Let go of as many coulds, woulds, shoulds, maybe, oughts as you can. Write these down.
3. Your standards!
· Write down the standards that you have been saying to yourself that you should have; let go of these and write down a list of the standards that you are going to have in your life from this day forward.
· List 5 people who you admire the most. Identify their greatest qualities, behaviour and how they lead their life. What standards so they have? What standards could you raise starting today to be more like them?
· Respect that other’s standards will be different from your own. Think of 5 close colleagues or friends – what are their standards and how are they different to yours?
By completing these exercises you will be able to focus more on the here the now and the future.
You will now be able to let go of some of the things that have been taking up your valuable attention units – those things that knock your self esteem.
About The Author: Mark Edwards is a certified Success/ Life Coach who specializes in helping people achieve significant change in their lives. If you'd like to learn step by step how to become more successful in life or how to set yourself financially free please visit: The New You, Give Yourself A Life Makeover.
If you'd like to learn how to be successful in life and would like your own personal Life Coach to teach and guide you on how to be super successful click here.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
What Coaching really is.
Today I called a woman back who had inquired about coaching and she said: "Thanks for calling me back so quickly. It helps to keep the momentum going". And what coaching REALLY is became crystal clear to me!Impulses for Change From time to time, we get impulses for change. It might be because we get inspired. We might see someone else with what we want.
A new possibility might occur to you. A flash of insight? A friend or colleague challenges you. Most often it's because something has gotten worse than we're willing to tolerate, and we say: "I've had enough!"Whatever the reason, this impulse for change comes along at certainintervals in our life. However, we all know the impulse rarely lasts.
Last week I had an impulse to exercise (again).However, it's not particularly consistent, and doesn't always come at times when it's convenient for me to exercise.You may have thought: "You know - my relationship really could be better. Surely this isn't as good as it gets?" And the next day the impulse is gone. Or "What would it take to double my profits? I'm really going to make some changes in this business when I get less busy".
A few days later your focus is on something else.OR, are you the kind of person who takes on new projects with gusto, to find out that a few weeks or months later it feels old hat, and you follow a familiar pattern of switching to something else?
So IMPULSES FOR CHANGE DO NOT LAST.
This is why we human beings do not make so many of the changes that are possible in our lives.Without coaching - without a STRUCTURE - our natural tendency is to keep our patterns. Go to work. Make money. Keep the same relationships. Keep the same barriers. Want the same things to change.But don't change them.
Feel an impulse for change - lose the impulse for change. Staying the same is the natural outcome. But Do We Need to Change? No. But wouldn't it be wise? These impulses for change are the signals telling you what is next for you in life. They are your intuition letting you know that you are missing opportunities.
They are messages (sometimes subtle) about what you would ~really~ like to do in your life, what your business needs, the perfect job, who you should be with right now.If I may get a little deep for just a moment - they are not only the signals that will help us achieve the goals we are striving for, but the signals that are telling us how to evolve as people.
If we ignore these impulses, we'll feel restless at a very deep level - knowing something is wrong, but not sure what. Not understanding this restlessness, we must seek ways to quieten it - TV, movies, alcohol, smoking, over-reading etc.OK - I'm getting a little off track but I think you get my point.
It's important that these impulses do not get left by the way side. You want the secret to achieving your goals and having an amazing life?
FIND A WAY TO HARNESS THESE IMPULSES.
The Coaching StructureAt it's simplest, coaching may be described as a structure. Coaching harnesses the energy for change; those impulses that last from a moment to a few weeks. If you feel an impulse to exercise more you may exercise once - until the next impulse.But if you join a gym for a year and hire a personal trainer, you ~will~ be fit! In fact it would be very hard to avoid it havingset up this structure.
Coaching is a similar structure, for any goal that's important to you. You make a commitment to your goals, and to working for a certain time frame with a coach. This is often 3 months or 6 months, usually with one or more review points to assess progress.Normally once a week you have a conversation with your coach, and you commit to specific actions to move you forward.
Within a coaching structure, your natural tendency is to pursue your goals and achieve them. It's ~hard~, in fact very hard to keep your patterns and your life the same when you focus so much consistent attention on what you really want, and make promises to a third party.
With a coach, the man who feels an impulse to change careers isn't still thinking about it in three months time. He's hired a coach, he's found a new career possibility which inspires him, he's got a new resume and ten interviews lined up.
With a coach, the woman who wants to organise her business so that she has time for herself isn't still complaining about it in six months time. She's hired a coach, created an empowering time allocation, set her boundaries, hired an assistant, looks obviously happier and is therefore attracting more clients.
So here's the key: Without a coach, the path of least resistance is to keep your life the same. Impulses for change often do not last long enough to act upon.With a coach, the path of least resistance is to achieve your goals! Impulses for change are converted to momentum.
Summary
So would coaching be a smart investment for you right now? Are you the kind of person who could benefit?You decide. I say it's for people who recognize that coaching is a powerful structure for harnessing your energy for change, and to help you move forward.
If you're content for the next five years to be similar to the last five years, then you don't need any input or help from anyone.
However, aren't you curious to know what your life could be like in five years time if you harnessed your impulses for change, carried them through, and had fun while doing it?
If you'd like to find out more about having a life coach copy and paste this URL into your web browser:
http://www.mytruelifecoaching.com/
or you could simply call 07934 453930
With much warmth
Mark Edwards, Certified New Insights
Life CoachLiving Your Dream Life Coaching
P.S. Claim £473 in free bonuses as my gift to you when you reserve your free trial session today.
http://www.mytruelifecoaching.com/
A new possibility might occur to you. A flash of insight? A friend or colleague challenges you. Most often it's because something has gotten worse than we're willing to tolerate, and we say: "I've had enough!"Whatever the reason, this impulse for change comes along at certainintervals in our life. However, we all know the impulse rarely lasts.
Last week I had an impulse to exercise (again).However, it's not particularly consistent, and doesn't always come at times when it's convenient for me to exercise.You may have thought: "You know - my relationship really could be better. Surely this isn't as good as it gets?" And the next day the impulse is gone. Or "What would it take to double my profits? I'm really going to make some changes in this business when I get less busy".
A few days later your focus is on something else.OR, are you the kind of person who takes on new projects with gusto, to find out that a few weeks or months later it feels old hat, and you follow a familiar pattern of switching to something else?
So IMPULSES FOR CHANGE DO NOT LAST.
This is why we human beings do not make so many of the changes that are possible in our lives.Without coaching - without a STRUCTURE - our natural tendency is to keep our patterns. Go to work. Make money. Keep the same relationships. Keep the same barriers. Want the same things to change.But don't change them.
Feel an impulse for change - lose the impulse for change. Staying the same is the natural outcome. But Do We Need to Change? No. But wouldn't it be wise? These impulses for change are the signals telling you what is next for you in life. They are your intuition letting you know that you are missing opportunities.
They are messages (sometimes subtle) about what you would ~really~ like to do in your life, what your business needs, the perfect job, who you should be with right now.If I may get a little deep for just a moment - they are not only the signals that will help us achieve the goals we are striving for, but the signals that are telling us how to evolve as people.
If we ignore these impulses, we'll feel restless at a very deep level - knowing something is wrong, but not sure what. Not understanding this restlessness, we must seek ways to quieten it - TV, movies, alcohol, smoking, over-reading etc.OK - I'm getting a little off track but I think you get my point.
It's important that these impulses do not get left by the way side. You want the secret to achieving your goals and having an amazing life?
FIND A WAY TO HARNESS THESE IMPULSES.
The Coaching StructureAt it's simplest, coaching may be described as a structure. Coaching harnesses the energy for change; those impulses that last from a moment to a few weeks. If you feel an impulse to exercise more you may exercise once - until the next impulse.But if you join a gym for a year and hire a personal trainer, you ~will~ be fit! In fact it would be very hard to avoid it havingset up this structure.
Coaching is a similar structure, for any goal that's important to you. You make a commitment to your goals, and to working for a certain time frame with a coach. This is often 3 months or 6 months, usually with one or more review points to assess progress.Normally once a week you have a conversation with your coach, and you commit to specific actions to move you forward.
Within a coaching structure, your natural tendency is to pursue your goals and achieve them. It's ~hard~, in fact very hard to keep your patterns and your life the same when you focus so much consistent attention on what you really want, and make promises to a third party.
With a coach, the man who feels an impulse to change careers isn't still thinking about it in three months time. He's hired a coach, he's found a new career possibility which inspires him, he's got a new resume and ten interviews lined up.
With a coach, the woman who wants to organise her business so that she has time for herself isn't still complaining about it in six months time. She's hired a coach, created an empowering time allocation, set her boundaries, hired an assistant, looks obviously happier and is therefore attracting more clients.
So here's the key: Without a coach, the path of least resistance is to keep your life the same. Impulses for change often do not last long enough to act upon.With a coach, the path of least resistance is to achieve your goals! Impulses for change are converted to momentum.
Summary
So would coaching be a smart investment for you right now? Are you the kind of person who could benefit?You decide. I say it's for people who recognize that coaching is a powerful structure for harnessing your energy for change, and to help you move forward.
If you're content for the next five years to be similar to the last five years, then you don't need any input or help from anyone.
However, aren't you curious to know what your life could be like in five years time if you harnessed your impulses for change, carried them through, and had fun while doing it?
If you'd like to find out more about having a life coach copy and paste this URL into your web browser:
http://www.mytruelifecoaching.com/
or you could simply call 07934 453930
With much warmth
Mark Edwards, Certified New Insights
Life CoachLiving Your Dream Life Coaching
P.S. Claim £473 in free bonuses as my gift to you when you reserve your free trial session today.
http://www.mytruelifecoaching.com/
Saturday, November 03, 2007
What Is Cholestrol?
WHAT IS CHOLESTROL?
As mentioned above, cholesterol in and of itself, is a natural function of the human body. Every living being requires a certain amount of fat to exist. Like everything in nature, it only becomes a problem when there is an imbalance.
The processing of fat begins when it gets absorbed in the intestines. From there it heads to the liver. The fat requires a delivery system to the rest of the body to be used immediately but also to be stored in fat cells for future use.
In order for the fat to enter the delivery system, while it is in the liver it is split into two different types of fat, cholesterol and triglycerides.
Once this transformation takes place, the two types of fat (cholesterol and triglycerides) are packed into vehicles for carrying the fat to the fat cells throughout the body using the bloodstream. These vehicles are called lipoproteins.
There are three types of lipoproteins:
1. Very Low Density Lipoproteins (VLDL)
2. Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL)
3. High Density Lipoproteins (HDL)
Under normal circumstances, the bloodstream does a very efficient job of carrying the LDL and HDL Lipoproteins throughout the body.
Cholesterol is a waxy, fat like substance that presents itself naturally in cell walls and membranes everywhere in your body. Your body uses cholesterol to produce many hormones. It also uses it to produce vitamin D and the bile acids that help to digest fat.
Where problems arise is when there is an over abundance of cholesterol in your bloodstream. The cholesterol deposited by the LDL leads to a narrowing of the blood vessels.
If this occurs, the excess can be deposited in the arteries of the heart which could result in stroke or heart disease. This is called atherosclerosis. This is why LDL is known as “bad cholesterol.”
HDL usually collects the bad cholesterol and takes it back to the liver. That’s why HDL is known as “good cholesterol.”
Cholesterol is not the only cause of heart disease, but it is a contributing factor. Here’s how it works.
Cholesterol can only attach to the inner lining of the artery if it has been damaged.
Once the lining of the artery is damaged, white blood cells rush to the site followed by cholesterol, calcium and cellular debris. The muscle cells around the artery are altered and also accumulate cholesterol.
The fatty streaks in the arteries continue to develop and bulge into the arteries. This cholesterol “bulge” is then covered by a scar that produces a hard coat or shell over the cholesterol and cell mixture. It is this collection of cholesterol that is then covered by a scar that is called “plaque.”
The buildup of plaque narrows the space in the arteries through which blood can flow, decreasing the supply of oxygen and nutrients. This cuts down the supply of blood and oxygen to the tissues that are fed by that blood vessel.
The elasticity of the blood vessel is reduced and the arteries’ ability to control blood pressure is compromised. If there is not enough oxygen carrying blood passing through the narrowed arteries, the heart may give you a pain that is called angina.
The pain usually happens when you exercise because at that time your heart requires more oxygen. Usually it is felt in the chest or the left arm and shoulder, although it can happen without any symptoms at all.
Plaque can vary in size as well as shape. All through the coronary arteries you can find many small plaques that cover less than half of an artery opening. Some of these plaques are completely invisible in the tests that doctors use to identify heart disease.
The medical community used to think that the primary concern was the larger plaques. They thought these posed a greater threat because of their size and that they were more likely to cause a complete blockage of the coronary arteries.
While it is true that the larger plaques are more likely to cause angina, it is the smaller plaques that are packed with cholesterol and covered by scars that are more dangerous. They are considered unstable and prone to ruptures or bursting releasing their load of cholesterol into the bloodstream. This causes immediate clotting within the artery. If the blood clot blocks the artery totally, it will stop the blood flow and a heart attack occurs.
The muscle on the farter side of the occurring clot fails to get the oxygen it needs and begins to die. This kind of damage can be permanent.
DIAGNOSING CHOLESTEROL
Unfortunately, most people aren’t even aware they have atherosclerosis until they have a heart attack or stroke. It is possible to have up to 80 percent closure of the arteries without ever feeling a single symptom!
Most people begin to develop cholesterol driven atherosclerosis as children and it’s unusual if you find an adult in the United States who does not have some degree of atherosclerosis.
Diagnosing cholesterol levels require a simple blood test to determine the levels of LDL and HDL. Cholesterol tests can be tricky, however. Simple screening that is done without “fasting,” measures only the total cholesterol and the HDL, the “good” cholesterol. It will give you a ballpark figure, but far from accurate.
The complete test is called a “lipid profile,” and even that can vary from test to test. This test will measure total cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglycerides.
For truly accurate numbers, you should not eat, or drink anything other than water for 12 hours before testing. Vigorous exercise should be avoided for 24 hours before testing and you need to make certain that whoever tests you is made aware of any medications you may be taking as they will also affect the results.
Okay, now that you have accurate numbers, what do they mean? Before we discuss the numbers and their meanings, we need to clarify some terminology.
Dietary cholesterol means the cholesterol that you eat. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 300 milligram per day. Most food labels in the United States list cholesterol. The three terms, blood cholesterol, serum cholesterol and total cholesterol mean the same thing – the total cholesterol in your body.
This is what is measured when you have a cholesterol test. Your test results will come in with three numbers:
1. HDL Cholesterol
2. LDL Cholesterol
3. Total Cholesterol
For total cholesterol the National Cholesterol Education Program classifies levels below 200 milligrams/dl (milligrams per deciliter) as “desirable.” A level between 200 and 239 is “borderline high.” Anything over 240 is “high.”
Triglyceride levels over 400 milligrams/dl are considered “high” and levels over 1,000 milligrams/dl are considered “very high.”
For LDL, the desirable level is less than 130 milligrams/dl. The “borderline high” level is 130 to 159. the “high risk” level is 160 and above.
Higher is better for HDL. For HDL, the numbers are lower because there is less HDL in the blood. Anything lower than 35 milligrams/dl is considered “high risk.” If your HDL is very high, say over 60, your risk of heart disease is reduced.
The LDL, however, is the “bad” cholesterol and the most important factor in predicting heart attack. For LDL, lower is better preferably less than 160. It’s best to keep the level around 130.
CAUSES
If you recall, we mentioned that cholesterol can only attach to the inner lining of the artery if it has been damaged. How does that damage occur?
Evidence points to “free radical” damage as being one of the culprits of arterial wall damage. Free radicals are found all around us. They are highly reactive substances like polluted air, radiation, tobacco smoke, herbicides, and naturally within our own bodies as an offshoot of regular metabolic processes.
Free radicals attack and damage cells altering normal cell activity. You see it around you every day causing metal to rust and fruit to spoil. This is why we take anti-oxidants like vitamins C, E, beta-carotene and selenium, to combat the attack of free radicals.
Heredity plays a role in high cholesterol. Your genes can influence your LDL by affecting how fast it is made and removed from your blood. There is one particular form of inherited high cholesterol that will often lead to early heart disease. It is called familial “hypercholesterolemia” and can play a role in 1 of 500 people.
Weight is a factor in determining your LDL. If you have a high LDL level and are overweight, losing those pounds may help you to lower it. Additionally, losing weight also helps to lower triglycerides and raise your HDL.
Age and sex should be considered as well. Women, before menopause, usually have total cholesterol levels that are lower than men. This changes as men and women age. Levels will rise until reaching age 60 to 65. For women, menopause can cause an increase in LDL and a decrease in HDL. After the age of 50 women often have higher total cholesterol levels than men of the same age.
Alcohol plays an odd role in cholesterol levels. It increases HDL but at the same time it does not lower LDL. The medical community does not know for certain whether alcohol reduces the risk of heart disease. We know that too much alcohol can damage the liver and heart muscle, lead to high blood pressure and raise triglycerides. There are just too many other risks to even consider the use of alcoholic beverages used as a way to prevent heart disease just because it increased the HDL.
Stress and personality may contribute to heart disease. Associating a certain type of personality and heart disease has been suggested for many years. This goes back to the “Type A” and “Type B” personality study conducted in 1959.
Type A behavior generally manifests in a chronic sense of time, urgency, aggressiveness and striving for achievement. Type A people will drive themselves to meet specific deadlines which are most often self-imposed.
They have feelings of being constantly under pressure and often multi-task to the point of doing two or three things at one time. To say that Type A people are “driven” is an understatement. They consider themselves indispensable. All of these traits add up to a state of constant stress
Over the long term, stress has shown to raise blood cholesterol levels. The way it does this is by affecting habits. An example is over indulging in fatty foods as a way of consoling themselves when people are under stress. The saturated fat and cholesterol in these foods contribute to high levels of blood cholesterol. We will explore dietary factors in a later chapter.
Type B behavior is characterized by just the opposite set of traits. Type B people are less preoccupied with achievement, less rushed and generally more easygoing people.
They don’t allow themselves to be rushed nor have any particular pressure regarding deadlines. They are less prone to angry outbursts and seem to be better equipped to making distinctions between work and play.
Studies completed over a period of eighteen months to two years with a group of both Type A and Type B people, indicated that Type A participants had a 31 percent increased risk of developing heart disease.
This was further substantiated by the discovery of more deposits of plaque in the coronary arteries of Type A people. Type A behavior also appears to show an association with other risk factors like smoking, higher fat levels, increased secretion of adrenaline.
All of which increases the oxygen requirement of the heart muscles and releasing fatty acids from the body fat.It is important to note that there are not two different types of people. Each person is an individual and sorting them into specific categories do not properly identify them.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Arthritis Relief & Prevention
Arthritis is a big issue. Look at some introductory facts. Referred to as America’s
number one crippling disease and the most common chronic disease in people over 40,
arthritis affects more than 40 million Americans. And this figure is expected to rise
to 60 million by 2020, according to the Center for Disease Control. Arthritis generally afflicts people between the ages of 20 and 50, but can affect all ages, even infants. The average age of onset is 47 and about three out of every five people with arthritis are under 65 years of age.
Arthritic expenditures for just one person due to lost wages, medical treatment and
other related expenses can come to more than $150,000 in his or her lifetime.
And doctors believe there are over 100 different forms of arthritis, all sharing one
main characteristic: all forms cause joint inflammation.
What can be done for arthritis relief? Many things. For example, weight and nutrition
are only a couple of factors that play a role in arthritic pain. And yet shedding
even 10 pounds to relieve weight from knees and finding the right nutritional strategy can help relieve pain a lot.
ARTHRITIC BASICS
Arthritis signals people in a variety of ways. Joints might crack suddenly, like
knees upon standing. Other joints may be stiff and creak. Maybe pain occurs, like
when trying to open a jar. What’s it all about? Let’s look at the basics and learn
more.
Arthritis actually means “joint inflammation” and has over 100 related conditions or
type / forms of disease. Left untreated, it can advance, resulting in joint damage
that cannot be undone or reversed. So early detection and treatment are important.
The two most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid
arthritis (RA). Although both have similar symptoms, both happen for different
reasons. When joints are overused and misused, the results can be OA.
What happens is that the cushioning cartilage that protects the joint breaks down, resulting in the bones rubbing together. This generally happens in the knees, but can be found in the
hips, spine and hands often, too. And only in later stages will a person most often
feel pain, after quite a bit of cartilage is lost.
The second type, RA, refers to the body’s immune system attacking joint tissue.
Still not fully understood in the medical community, this condition most often starts
in a person’s hands, wrists and feet. Then it advances to shoulders, elbows and hips.
Similar symptoms include pain, stiffness, fatigue, weakness, slight fever and
inflamed tissue lumps under the skin. And both OA and RA generally develop
symmetrically, i.e. affecting the same joints on both the left and right sides of the
body.
A difference in OA and RA to note is with swelling. With RA, people report “soft and
squishy” swelling. While with OA, people report “hard and bony” swelling.
Another difference is that a person is more likely to develop RA if a sibling or
parent had it. While a person with a history of joint damage, either an injury or
chronic strain, runs a higher risk for developing OA.
There is no specific age for arthritis sufferers. While it can affect every age
group, it seems to focus on those over 45 years of age.
And while neither gender is immune, a reported 74 percent of OA cases (or just over
15 million) occur with women and a slightly lower percentage of RA cases occur with
women.
People with excess weight tend to develop OA, especially in the knees when reaching
over 45 years of age. However, losing weight can turn the odds around almost by half.
Regular activity combined with exercise also reduces risk, strengthening joint
muscles and reducing joint wear.
Although there are no cure-alls for arthritis, there are a variety of pain relief
treatment strategies. Aside from medications, remedies, replacement alternatives and
other helpful treatment options and alternatives, the four main arthritis relief aids
are gentle exercise, good nutrition, a positive attitude and rest.
And each will be discussed further in subsequent sections, because education can play a huge role to dispel “old wives tales” and myths that “nothing can be done about arthritis.”
Notable is that today, only a small percentage of those afflicted with arthritis
become crippled. And most never need canes, wheelchairs, or other ambulatory devices.
Also note if you suspect you may have arthritis, it is advisable to seek medical
advice. Because healthcare providers can help to determine if the symptoms are not
something else like a virus or tendonitis or other similar problem that could
potentially worsen if left untreated.
There are many ways to effectively manage arthritic pain today to find relief.
Available are arthritic diets, exercise programs, over-the-counter and prescription
medications, relaxation and positive emotion coping techniques. Also available are
surgeries, supplements, home remedies, natural and other alternative therapies. When
arthritis is first suspected, it would be wise to seek a medical opinion first. Then
as time and resources allow, check out the other options.
Arthritis is a big issue. Look at some introductory facts. Referred to as America’s
number one crippling disease and the most common chronic disease in people over 40,
arthritis affects more than 40 million Americans. And this figure is expected to rise
to 60 million by 2020, according to the Center for Disease Control. Arthritis generally afflicts people between the ages of 20 and 50, but can affect all ages, even infants. The average age of onset is 47 and about three out of every five people with arthritis are under 65 years of age.
Arthritic expenditures for just one person due to lost wages, medical treatment and
other related expenses can come to more than $150,000 in his or her lifetime.
And doctors believe there are over 100 different forms of arthritis, all sharing one
main characteristic: all forms cause joint inflammation.
What can be done for arthritis relief? Many things. For example, weight and nutrition
are only a couple of factors that play a role in arthritic pain. And yet shedding
even 10 pounds to relieve weight from knees and finding the right nutritional strategy can help relieve pain a lot.
ARTHRITIC BASICS
Arthritis signals people in a variety of ways. Joints might crack suddenly, like
knees upon standing. Other joints may be stiff and creak. Maybe pain occurs, like
when trying to open a jar. What’s it all about? Let’s look at the basics and learn
more.
Arthritis actually means “joint inflammation” and has over 100 related conditions or
type / forms of disease. Left untreated, it can advance, resulting in joint damage
that cannot be undone or reversed. So early detection and treatment are important.
The two most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid
arthritis (RA). Although both have similar symptoms, both happen for different
reasons. When joints are overused and misused, the results can be OA.
What happens is that the cushioning cartilage that protects the joint breaks down, resulting in the bones rubbing together. This generally happens in the knees, but can be found in the
hips, spine and hands often, too. And only in later stages will a person most often
feel pain, after quite a bit of cartilage is lost.
The second type, RA, refers to the body’s immune system attacking joint tissue.
Still not fully understood in the medical community, this condition most often starts
in a person’s hands, wrists and feet. Then it advances to shoulders, elbows and hips.
Similar symptoms include pain, stiffness, fatigue, weakness, slight fever and
inflamed tissue lumps under the skin. And both OA and RA generally develop
symmetrically, i.e. affecting the same joints on both the left and right sides of the
body.
A difference in OA and RA to note is with swelling. With RA, people report “soft and
squishy” swelling. While with OA, people report “hard and bony” swelling.
Another difference is that a person is more likely to develop RA if a sibling or
parent had it. While a person with a history of joint damage, either an injury or
chronic strain, runs a higher risk for developing OA.
There is no specific age for arthritis sufferers. While it can affect every age
group, it seems to focus on those over 45 years of age.
And while neither gender is immune, a reported 74 percent of OA cases (or just over
15 million) occur with women and a slightly lower percentage of RA cases occur with
women.
People with excess weight tend to develop OA, especially in the knees when reaching
over 45 years of age. However, losing weight can turn the odds around almost by half.
Regular activity combined with exercise also reduces risk, strengthening joint
muscles and reducing joint wear.
Although there are no cure-alls for arthritis, there are a variety of pain relief
treatment strategies. Aside from medications, remedies, replacement alternatives and
other helpful treatment options and alternatives, the four main arthritis relief aids
are gentle exercise, good nutrition, a positive attitude and rest.
And each will be discussed further in subsequent sections, because education can play a huge role to dispel “old wives tales” and myths that “nothing can be done about arthritis.”
Notable is that today, only a small percentage of those afflicted with arthritis
become crippled. And most never need canes, wheelchairs, or other ambulatory devices.
Also note if you suspect you may have arthritis, it is advisable to seek medical
advice. Because healthcare providers can help to determine if the symptoms are not
something else like a virus or tendonitis or other similar problem that could
potentially worsen if left untreated.
There are many ways to effectively manage arthritic pain today to find relief.
Available are arthritic diets, exercise programs, over-the-counter and prescription
medications, relaxation and positive emotion coping techniques. Also available are
surgeries, supplements, home remedies, natural and other alternative therapies. When
arthritis is first suspected, it would be wise to seek a medical opinion first. Then
as time and resources allow, check out the other options.
- The Health And Fitness Journal
- I Cured My Arthritis You Can Too
E.V.A Youthfull Recommends
Monday, September 24, 2007
Coping With Diabetes
When you hear the word epidemic, you may likely think of diseases that plague thousands of people in less developed countries far away. However, epidemics are not exclusive to such places. In fact, the world’s most widespread epidemics strike a lot closer to home than what you may think.
An epidemic defined is a disease that has come to affect a large portion of a given population. The exact parameters differ among experts but a good estimation puts the number at around 3% of a population. If the number of people affected by the disease reaches this number, it can be considered an epidemic.
Given this definition, people living in developed countries of the world are not exempt from a growing global epidemic – one that has seen little attention until recently.
Diabetes is now considered an epidemic that is affecting not just a select number of countries but the entire globe. It joins a short, but unfortunately, growing list of diseases of which, HIV/AIDS is part of.
Projections for the disease’s spread are alarming. The World Health Organization (WHO) pegs the number of diabetes patients to reach 240 million people worldwide by the year 2010.
The disease comes in two forms: Type I and Type II. Both, however, are similar in that both types involve the hormone insulin in the body and its ability to process sugar in the bloodstream. Too much or too little sugar in the body has adverse effects ranging from kidney failure, eyesight loss, and in extreme cases, coma.
Type I diabetes occurs when the immune system attacks the insulin-forming cells in the body, misled into thinking that these cells are harmful. The pancreas therefore fail to produce insulin leading to a heightened level of sugar in the body, which puts stresses the kidneys, leading to further complications.
Most of the patients demonstrate the disease’s symptoms at around 15 years of age, although the disease may have already been contracted years before. It is because of this that experts have interchanged the term Type I diabetes with “juvenile onset diabetes”.
However, recently, this practice has been set aside in light of the alarmingly increasing number of young people contracting Type II diabetes.
Type II diabetes (also known as “adult onset diabetes”) is characterized by the body’s failure to process sugar in the bloodstream despite the fact that insulin is produced by the pancreas. This could be because not enough insulin is produced or that the body simply does not respond to it. This form of diabetes accounts for 90 percent of the estimated 300 million cases of the disease worldwide.
There is a huge correlation between Type II diabetes and obesity. Most obese individuals lead a sedentary lifestyle, while consuming food high in carbohydrates, sugars and fat. These poor eating habits coupled with the lack / absence of physical activity increases the volume of sugar in the bloodstream. The pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to meet the demands of processing so much sugar and therefore diabetes sets in.
If left unchecked, the complications arising from diabetes are many and adverse.
- Retinopathy is the degeneration of the retina of the eye, leading to loss of sight.
- Kidney diseases / failure sets in when the organ finally breaks down due to the excessive stress from filtering too much sugar in the blood.
- Nervous system disorders are experienced by around half of diabetes sufferers. Symptoms such as impaired sensation in the limbs, carpal tunnel syndrome, and even impotence have been recorded among diabetics. When sensation is impaired in the limbs, infection from injuries may progress without being noticed, leading to no other resort but amputation.
- Diabetic coma (diabetic ketoacidosis) occurs when a patient becomes severely dehydrated and metabolism is greatly imbalanced. Since the cells in the body are starved of energy, the entire body shuts down leading to a coma.
These complications, however, pale in comparison to the number of lives that are lost every year due to diabetes. As of now, the number of deaths related to the disease is placed at around 4 million annually.
But perhaps the greater tragedy is the fact that the adverse effect of diabetes (particularly with Type II) could have been prevented. But seen from a different point of view, that is also part of the good news. By observing a healthy lifestyle of eating and exercising right, the chances of leading a full and productive life despite the disease are very possible.
An epidemic defined is a disease that has come to affect a large portion of a given population. The exact parameters differ among experts but a good estimation puts the number at around 3% of a population. If the number of people affected by the disease reaches this number, it can be considered an epidemic.
Given this definition, people living in developed countries of the world are not exempt from a growing global epidemic – one that has seen little attention until recently.
Diabetes is now considered an epidemic that is affecting not just a select number of countries but the entire globe. It joins a short, but unfortunately, growing list of diseases of which, HIV/AIDS is part of.
Projections for the disease’s spread are alarming. The World Health Organization (WHO) pegs the number of diabetes patients to reach 240 million people worldwide by the year 2010.
The disease comes in two forms: Type I and Type II. Both, however, are similar in that both types involve the hormone insulin in the body and its ability to process sugar in the bloodstream. Too much or too little sugar in the body has adverse effects ranging from kidney failure, eyesight loss, and in extreme cases, coma.
Type I diabetes occurs when the immune system attacks the insulin-forming cells in the body, misled into thinking that these cells are harmful. The pancreas therefore fail to produce insulin leading to a heightened level of sugar in the body, which puts stresses the kidneys, leading to further complications.
Most of the patients demonstrate the disease’s symptoms at around 15 years of age, although the disease may have already been contracted years before. It is because of this that experts have interchanged the term Type I diabetes with “juvenile onset diabetes”.
However, recently, this practice has been set aside in light of the alarmingly increasing number of young people contracting Type II diabetes.
Type II diabetes (also known as “adult onset diabetes”) is characterized by the body’s failure to process sugar in the bloodstream despite the fact that insulin is produced by the pancreas. This could be because not enough insulin is produced or that the body simply does not respond to it. This form of diabetes accounts for 90 percent of the estimated 300 million cases of the disease worldwide.
There is a huge correlation between Type II diabetes and obesity. Most obese individuals lead a sedentary lifestyle, while consuming food high in carbohydrates, sugars and fat. These poor eating habits coupled with the lack / absence of physical activity increases the volume of sugar in the bloodstream. The pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to meet the demands of processing so much sugar and therefore diabetes sets in.
If left unchecked, the complications arising from diabetes are many and adverse.
- Retinopathy is the degeneration of the retina of the eye, leading to loss of sight.
- Kidney diseases / failure sets in when the organ finally breaks down due to the excessive stress from filtering too much sugar in the blood.
- Nervous system disorders are experienced by around half of diabetes sufferers. Symptoms such as impaired sensation in the limbs, carpal tunnel syndrome, and even impotence have been recorded among diabetics. When sensation is impaired in the limbs, infection from injuries may progress without being noticed, leading to no other resort but amputation.
- Diabetic coma (diabetic ketoacidosis) occurs when a patient becomes severely dehydrated and metabolism is greatly imbalanced. Since the cells in the body are starved of energy, the entire body shuts down leading to a coma.
These complications, however, pale in comparison to the number of lives that are lost every year due to diabetes. As of now, the number of deaths related to the disease is placed at around 4 million annually.
But perhaps the greater tragedy is the fact that the adverse effect of diabetes (particularly with Type II) could have been prevented. But seen from a different point of view, that is also part of the good news. By observing a healthy lifestyle of eating and exercising right, the chances of leading a full and productive life despite the disease are very possible.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
What You Dont Know About Your Prostate May Be Harming You!
Sadly, men die every day from prostate cancer because they just didn’t know there was a problem. How would you answer these questions:
When was your last checkup?
Do you have any idea of the early warning signs?
Have you had trouble recently with urination?
Have bowel movements become painful?
Any problems with ejaculation?
If you answer yes to any of the above questions then read on and:
Discover why early diagnosis is so important.
Learn how to detect the symptoms
Explore the anatomy of the male organs and really understand how they are inter-related.
Find out what treatment options are available There was a time in history when there was no awareness of the prostate, let alone diagnosis and treatment.
Countless numbers of men throughout the ages have suffered and died as a result of this ignorance.Through the miracles of modern medicine, today prostate disease is well defined and is no longer necessarily considered a death sentence.
The most effective methods for handling prostate disease are knowledge and prevention. In our guide we will help you understand prostate disease, various diagnostic tools and provide recommendations for treatment.
What Is The Prostate?
The first step toward understanding how the prostate affects your health is to is to learn what the prostate is and how it functions. Get the full ebook here. It is surprising how little many men know about such an important part of their anatomy. The prostate is an important segment of the male reproductive system.
It is a gland that is located in the lower abdominal cavity, just below the bladder, in front of the rectum and behind the pubic bone. It partially surrounds the urethra. The urethra is the channel that carries urine to the penis from the bladder and it runs right through the prostate.A healthy prostate is about the size of a walnut, weighs approximately 1 ounce and is shaped similar to a donut.
There are “seminal vesicles” that are attached to the prostate. They produce a protein that mixes with prostatic fluid which forms semen. How this works is that tubes from the testicles carry sperm up to the prostate where sperm is mixed with the seminal vesicle and prostatic fluids.
This fluid is ejaculated during orgasm through ejaculatory ducts that connect to the urethra. In addition, the prostate helps to control the flow of urine. Nearly every man will experience some type of prostate problem during his lifetime. Men who are over forty-five may experience an enlargement of the prostate.
While this is not a problem in itself, it is uncomfortable and can be a forerunner to other more serious maladies which we will discuss further.The prostate actually continues to grow throughout life, but grows very slowly after the age of twenty-five. Enlargement of the prostate is part of the normal aging process due to hormonal changes and usually does not become a serious problem until a man reaches sixty years of age.
Symptoms of Prostate Problems
Enlargement of the prostate is called benign prostate hypertrophy, or BPH. While this growth is usually considered a nuisance, if a man experiences problems with burning, or difficult urination at any time, the prudent course of action is consulting a urologist.Other symptoms may be:
A feeling of having to push out urine
A sensation that the bladder is not emptying
Increased urinating, especially at night
Intermittent starting and stopping of the urinary stream After a diagnosis of BPH, many men will just continue to live with the symptoms and subsequent discomfort. It is not a life threatening condition, and there are treatments.
In some cases surgery might be considered if the enlargement is significant.Ignoring BPH can be extremely dangerous and lead to other disease such as kidney infections or damage as the urine can back up into the kidneys because of the blockage of an enlarged prostate.
There can also be an occurrence of bladder infections.There is a huge difference between BPH and prostate cancer. BPH is a normal part of aging. Prostate cancer is a condition where prostate cells grow exponentially and out of control. These cells create tumors that may spread to any part of the body.Numerous health organizations report that 1 in 6 men will experience prostate cancer.
However, if the condition is diagnosed early, approximately 99.3% of them will survive. The key is early detection.
Diagnostic Testing
Prostate cancer can occur in any man, but there are certain “risk groups.” Younger African American men appear to have twice the risk and fatalities of Caucasians. Sadly, many are diagnosed before they reach the age of 50.Another risk group is men who have a family history of prostate cancer, placing them in the same group who may contract the disease before the age of 50.
The only method to determine whether you are at risk for prostate cancer is diagnostic testing. The earlier you are screened the higher your chances of survival. Let’s explore some of the diagnostic options.
Digital Rectal Exam (DRE)
Testing begins with a digital rectal exam (DRE). This examination has been the benchmark for discovering cancer as well as BPH. Your doctor can determine the condition and size of the prostate by inserting a gloved finger into the rectum.
Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA)
In the mid-1980s’ the FDA approved the use of monitoring blood levels for prostate specific antigen (PSA). At that time, this was considered a major breakthrough in the diagnosis and treatment for prostate cancer.
Here’s why. PSA readings specifically target prostate cells. A healthy prostate gland produces a constant level, usually 4 nanograms per milliliter which is considered as a PSA reading of “4” or less. Cancer cells produce growing amounts that escalate. They correlate with the severity of cancer.
A PSA level greater than 4 will give the doctor some cause for investigation. If the level reaches 10 he will have cause to consider the presence of prostate cancer. An amount over 50 may indicate that the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. PSA test usually measures the total amount that is attached to blood proteins.
However, later research gained an FDA approval for a test called the Tandem R test. This test also gives a measure of the total PSA and reads another component called free PSA. Free PSA floats unbound in blood. Have these two tests to compare helps to rule out prostate cancer in men whose PSA is just mildly elevated due to other causes.
A 1995 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that a free PSA test reduces unnecessary prostate biopsies by 20% in certain patients whose PSA is between 4 and 10. find out the results of other prostate studies.
As newer sophisticated methods are made available, it is creating a controversy among the healthcare community regarding “when” men should be screened, how often and whether to screen men under 50 with no symptoms. Some are saying that mass screening is expensive while others point out reductions in mortality rates when early screening diagnoses prostate cancer.
The jury is still somewhat “out” on that debate, but it never hurts to err on the side of caution. It is your body, after all! It should be noted that both The American Urological Association and The American Cancer Society recommend annual PSA test for all men over 50 and for those at high risk over 40.
Take the case of Joe. A healthy, 36 year old, robust father of two was required to take a routine physical exam for his work-related insurance. During this exam, his doctor noted that his prostate was enlarged. Unfortunately, the resulting tests proved that he did indeed have prostate cancer.
Further investigation revealed that he was “at risk” based on family history.Why take chances? Get yourself screened so you have a benchmark, then having annual screening. Remember, prostate cancer is slow growing so the odds are in your favor when detected early.
Urine TestA standard urine test can also help to diagnose prostate problems by screening for blood or infection.
The chemical tests will also check for liver, diabetes or kidney disease.
Hyperplasia Intravenouspyelogram (IVP) .This test is actually an X-ray. Dye is injected into one of the major veins. While the dye is circulating, pictures of vital organs are taken. This test will record the progress of the dye through the kidneys, bladder and ureter tubes (the tubes that drain the kidneys).
This test is more or less optional since most men who have enlargement of the prostate usually have no abnormalities of the ureter tubes or kidneys in a normal urinalysis.
Bladder UltrasoundThis is a simple procedure that can be conducted right in the doctors’ office.
It is non-invasive and determines if there is urine left in the bladder after urination. If a large amount of urine remains, it could be an indicator of enlarged prostate that is not allowing the bladder to be completely emptied.
Prostate Ultrasound. This is a test to estimate the size of the prostate by using state of the art software that helps guide the physician. The prostate ultrasound is also important if a biopsy is called for which we will discuss later.
UroflowThis is a simple test that entails the patient urinating into a container and measuring how strong the stream of urine is.
Radionuclide Bone Scan. A test that can be used if staging (see below) indicates that cancer has spread into the lymph nodes. If the tumor has spread to the lymph nodes, bone commonly follows. However, if PSA levels are under 10ng and there is no indication of bone pain, physicians find that the presence is so unlikely that this procedure is skipped.
Cystoscopy.This test allows the physician to visually examine the bladder and prostate. This is done by inserting an instrument through the urethra.
Computed Axial Tomography (CAT). This is another test that could identify cancer in remote areas of the body. Without probable cause, like the Radionuclide Bone Scan above, it is probably unnecessary.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). This test may be unnecessary, especially if the prostate cancer is localized.
Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection. Considered to be the “final check” to determine if cancer has spread, this procedure can be completed through normal open surgery but more often is conducted using a fiber optic probe that is inserted through a small incision in your abdomen.
All of these diagnostic tests are tools to determine whether there is a possibility of cancer present in the prostate and if so, just how invasive it may be.However, there is only one way certain method to determine the presence of cancer cells and that is by examining the tissue itself.
Bsed on the findings of the tests we have discussed, if a physician determines that there may be cancer cells he will recommend a biopsy.A biopsy is conducted by a urologist and the procedure is normally done right in his office. Here is where the ultrasound we discussed previously comes into play.
Using a transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), the doctor will image the prostate by using sound waves by inserting an instrument into your rectum. This allows the doctor to “image” the prostate. He will use biopsy needles that are hollow into any area of the prostate that looks or feels suspicious. Small bits of tissue are extracted through the needle. You may feel a stinging sensation.
Depending on the reasons for the biopsy, the doctor may take samples randomly. For instance, if the biopsy is conducted due to elevated PSA instead of a suspected abnormality in the prostate gland, as many as a half dozen or more samples may be taken.
This is considered a “pattern biopsy” and is done to help determine the size and invasiveness of any cancer. Even though you may have multiple samples, a biopsy can still miss some cancers.Once the biopsy is complete, the tissue samples are taken to a pathologist to determine the presence of cancer cells.Normal prostate cells are usually uniform in size and are neatly patterned when viewed under a microscope.
They appear similar to one another in an orderly manner.Abnormal cells change their appearance and are not well defined. They will usually appear as misshapen and irregular.As they deteriorate, a tumor can appear.
Tumors can be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous).If the pathologist determines the presence of prostate cancer, he will “grade” each of the tissue samples. This will determine how advanced beyond normal the cancerous tissue has developed.
This grading system gives the physician a good idea as to how the tumor is behaving. Tumors with a low grade are most likely to be slow-growing. Tumors with a high grade are more apt to spread aggressively or may have already spread outside of the prostate. If the latter is true, it is said to be “metastasized.”The actual grading system most widely used by pathologists is the Gleason Grading System, developed in 1977 by Pathologist Donald Gleason.
You will find the Gleason Scores in numerous places on and off the internet as it is a standard method, but we have provided them for you here.
Gleason Scores. The Gleason grading system assigns a grade to each of the two largest areas of cancer in the tissue samples. Grades range from 1 to 5, with 1 being the least aggressive and 5 the most aggressive. Grade 3 tumors, for example, seldom have metastases, but metastases are common with grade 4 or grade 5.
The two grades are then added together to produce a Gleason score. A score of 2 to 4 is considered low grade; 5 through 7, intermediate grade; and 8 through 10, high grade. A tumor with a low Gleason score typically grows slowly enough that it may not pose a significant threat to the patient in his lifetime.
Once the grade is established, your physician will need to have additional information before determining a course of treatment. He will need to “stage” your tumor which is dependent upon the size and how far it has spread.There are two systems used for “staging” the tumor. One of them is TNM and the other is ABCD Rating.
They both evaluate the size of the tumor and the spread in reference to nearby lymph nodes and if the cancer has spread beyond those parameters. The staging system determines whether the tumor is “Localized,” “Regional” or Metastatic. Within each of these categories are divided into categories that are more precise.
LocalizedUsing the TNM method, you have Stage I (could also be referred to as T1.) These are tumors that cannot be felt. Using the ABCD method the staging is considered “A.” TNM Stage II or B or T2 are tumors that you can feel but are still confined to the prostate gland.
RegionalIn Stage III or C or T3 tumors have broken through the prostate capsule. They may have invaded the seminal vesicles.T4 indicates that tumors are growing into muscles and organs that are nearby.
MetastaticStage IV, D or N+ or M+. This staging refers to tumors that have invaded either the pelvic lymph nodes (N+) or into other distant areas of the body (M+).If you receive a diagnosis of cancer and different treatment options from your doctor, it would be prudent to get a second opinion.
This is a normal practice and one which can help you make intelligent decisions about the most important step you may take in your life.Getting that second opinion may confirm the diagnosis but help you to adjust the staging and your treatment options.
A second opinion may also lead you to a special clinical trial of new cancer treatments that your current physician is not aware of.Try and locate a prostate cancer support group in your area. Speaking to other men who have experienced prostate disease can do wonders in learning how to deal with your diagnosis and treatment options. You can get your full ebook here
When was your last checkup?
Do you have any idea of the early warning signs?
Have you had trouble recently with urination?
Have bowel movements become painful?
Any problems with ejaculation?
If you answer yes to any of the above questions then read on and:
Discover why early diagnosis is so important.
Learn how to detect the symptoms
Explore the anatomy of the male organs and really understand how they are inter-related.
Find out what treatment options are available There was a time in history when there was no awareness of the prostate, let alone diagnosis and treatment.
Countless numbers of men throughout the ages have suffered and died as a result of this ignorance.Through the miracles of modern medicine, today prostate disease is well defined and is no longer necessarily considered a death sentence.
The most effective methods for handling prostate disease are knowledge and prevention. In our guide we will help you understand prostate disease, various diagnostic tools and provide recommendations for treatment.
What Is The Prostate?
The first step toward understanding how the prostate affects your health is to is to learn what the prostate is and how it functions. Get the full ebook here. It is surprising how little many men know about such an important part of their anatomy. The prostate is an important segment of the male reproductive system.
It is a gland that is located in the lower abdominal cavity, just below the bladder, in front of the rectum and behind the pubic bone. It partially surrounds the urethra. The urethra is the channel that carries urine to the penis from the bladder and it runs right through the prostate.A healthy prostate is about the size of a walnut, weighs approximately 1 ounce and is shaped similar to a donut.
There are “seminal vesicles” that are attached to the prostate. They produce a protein that mixes with prostatic fluid which forms semen. How this works is that tubes from the testicles carry sperm up to the prostate where sperm is mixed with the seminal vesicle and prostatic fluids.
This fluid is ejaculated during orgasm through ejaculatory ducts that connect to the urethra. In addition, the prostate helps to control the flow of urine. Nearly every man will experience some type of prostate problem during his lifetime. Men who are over forty-five may experience an enlargement of the prostate.
While this is not a problem in itself, it is uncomfortable and can be a forerunner to other more serious maladies which we will discuss further.The prostate actually continues to grow throughout life, but grows very slowly after the age of twenty-five. Enlargement of the prostate is part of the normal aging process due to hormonal changes and usually does not become a serious problem until a man reaches sixty years of age.
Symptoms of Prostate Problems
Enlargement of the prostate is called benign prostate hypertrophy, or BPH. While this growth is usually considered a nuisance, if a man experiences problems with burning, or difficult urination at any time, the prudent course of action is consulting a urologist.Other symptoms may be:
A feeling of having to push out urine
A sensation that the bladder is not emptying
Increased urinating, especially at night
Intermittent starting and stopping of the urinary stream After a diagnosis of BPH, many men will just continue to live with the symptoms and subsequent discomfort. It is not a life threatening condition, and there are treatments.
In some cases surgery might be considered if the enlargement is significant.Ignoring BPH can be extremely dangerous and lead to other disease such as kidney infections or damage as the urine can back up into the kidneys because of the blockage of an enlarged prostate.
There can also be an occurrence of bladder infections.There is a huge difference between BPH and prostate cancer. BPH is a normal part of aging. Prostate cancer is a condition where prostate cells grow exponentially and out of control. These cells create tumors that may spread to any part of the body.Numerous health organizations report that 1 in 6 men will experience prostate cancer.
However, if the condition is diagnosed early, approximately 99.3% of them will survive. The key is early detection.
Diagnostic Testing
Prostate cancer can occur in any man, but there are certain “risk groups.” Younger African American men appear to have twice the risk and fatalities of Caucasians. Sadly, many are diagnosed before they reach the age of 50.Another risk group is men who have a family history of prostate cancer, placing them in the same group who may contract the disease before the age of 50.
The only method to determine whether you are at risk for prostate cancer is diagnostic testing. The earlier you are screened the higher your chances of survival. Let’s explore some of the diagnostic options.
Digital Rectal Exam (DRE)
Testing begins with a digital rectal exam (DRE). This examination has been the benchmark for discovering cancer as well as BPH. Your doctor can determine the condition and size of the prostate by inserting a gloved finger into the rectum.
Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA)
In the mid-1980s’ the FDA approved the use of monitoring blood levels for prostate specific antigen (PSA). At that time, this was considered a major breakthrough in the diagnosis and treatment for prostate cancer.
Here’s why. PSA readings specifically target prostate cells. A healthy prostate gland produces a constant level, usually 4 nanograms per milliliter which is considered as a PSA reading of “4” or less. Cancer cells produce growing amounts that escalate. They correlate with the severity of cancer.
A PSA level greater than 4 will give the doctor some cause for investigation. If the level reaches 10 he will have cause to consider the presence of prostate cancer. An amount over 50 may indicate that the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. PSA test usually measures the total amount that is attached to blood proteins.
However, later research gained an FDA approval for a test called the Tandem R test. This test also gives a measure of the total PSA and reads another component called free PSA. Free PSA floats unbound in blood. Have these two tests to compare helps to rule out prostate cancer in men whose PSA is just mildly elevated due to other causes.
A 1995 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that a free PSA test reduces unnecessary prostate biopsies by 20% in certain patients whose PSA is between 4 and 10. find out the results of other prostate studies.
As newer sophisticated methods are made available, it is creating a controversy among the healthcare community regarding “when” men should be screened, how often and whether to screen men under 50 with no symptoms. Some are saying that mass screening is expensive while others point out reductions in mortality rates when early screening diagnoses prostate cancer.
The jury is still somewhat “out” on that debate, but it never hurts to err on the side of caution. It is your body, after all! It should be noted that both The American Urological Association and The American Cancer Society recommend annual PSA test for all men over 50 and for those at high risk over 40.
Take the case of Joe. A healthy, 36 year old, robust father of two was required to take a routine physical exam for his work-related insurance. During this exam, his doctor noted that his prostate was enlarged. Unfortunately, the resulting tests proved that he did indeed have prostate cancer.
Further investigation revealed that he was “at risk” based on family history.Why take chances? Get yourself screened so you have a benchmark, then having annual screening. Remember, prostate cancer is slow growing so the odds are in your favor when detected early.
Urine TestA standard urine test can also help to diagnose prostate problems by screening for blood or infection.
The chemical tests will also check for liver, diabetes or kidney disease.
Hyperplasia Intravenouspyelogram (IVP) .This test is actually an X-ray. Dye is injected into one of the major veins. While the dye is circulating, pictures of vital organs are taken. This test will record the progress of the dye through the kidneys, bladder and ureter tubes (the tubes that drain the kidneys).
This test is more or less optional since most men who have enlargement of the prostate usually have no abnormalities of the ureter tubes or kidneys in a normal urinalysis.
Bladder UltrasoundThis is a simple procedure that can be conducted right in the doctors’ office.
It is non-invasive and determines if there is urine left in the bladder after urination. If a large amount of urine remains, it could be an indicator of enlarged prostate that is not allowing the bladder to be completely emptied.
Prostate Ultrasound. This is a test to estimate the size of the prostate by using state of the art software that helps guide the physician. The prostate ultrasound is also important if a biopsy is called for which we will discuss later.
UroflowThis is a simple test that entails the patient urinating into a container and measuring how strong the stream of urine is.
Radionuclide Bone Scan. A test that can be used if staging (see below) indicates that cancer has spread into the lymph nodes. If the tumor has spread to the lymph nodes, bone commonly follows. However, if PSA levels are under 10ng and there is no indication of bone pain, physicians find that the presence is so unlikely that this procedure is skipped.
Cystoscopy.This test allows the physician to visually examine the bladder and prostate. This is done by inserting an instrument through the urethra.
Computed Axial Tomography (CAT). This is another test that could identify cancer in remote areas of the body. Without probable cause, like the Radionuclide Bone Scan above, it is probably unnecessary.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). This test may be unnecessary, especially if the prostate cancer is localized.
Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection. Considered to be the “final check” to determine if cancer has spread, this procedure can be completed through normal open surgery but more often is conducted using a fiber optic probe that is inserted through a small incision in your abdomen.
All of these diagnostic tests are tools to determine whether there is a possibility of cancer present in the prostate and if so, just how invasive it may be.However, there is only one way certain method to determine the presence of cancer cells and that is by examining the tissue itself.
Bsed on the findings of the tests we have discussed, if a physician determines that there may be cancer cells he will recommend a biopsy.A biopsy is conducted by a urologist and the procedure is normally done right in his office. Here is where the ultrasound we discussed previously comes into play.
Using a transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), the doctor will image the prostate by using sound waves by inserting an instrument into your rectum. This allows the doctor to “image” the prostate. He will use biopsy needles that are hollow into any area of the prostate that looks or feels suspicious. Small bits of tissue are extracted through the needle. You may feel a stinging sensation.
Depending on the reasons for the biopsy, the doctor may take samples randomly. For instance, if the biopsy is conducted due to elevated PSA instead of a suspected abnormality in the prostate gland, as many as a half dozen or more samples may be taken.
This is considered a “pattern biopsy” and is done to help determine the size and invasiveness of any cancer. Even though you may have multiple samples, a biopsy can still miss some cancers.Once the biopsy is complete, the tissue samples are taken to a pathologist to determine the presence of cancer cells.Normal prostate cells are usually uniform in size and are neatly patterned when viewed under a microscope.
They appear similar to one another in an orderly manner.Abnormal cells change their appearance and are not well defined. They will usually appear as misshapen and irregular.As they deteriorate, a tumor can appear.
Tumors can be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous).If the pathologist determines the presence of prostate cancer, he will “grade” each of the tissue samples. This will determine how advanced beyond normal the cancerous tissue has developed.
This grading system gives the physician a good idea as to how the tumor is behaving. Tumors with a low grade are most likely to be slow-growing. Tumors with a high grade are more apt to spread aggressively or may have already spread outside of the prostate. If the latter is true, it is said to be “metastasized.”The actual grading system most widely used by pathologists is the Gleason Grading System, developed in 1977 by Pathologist Donald Gleason.
You will find the Gleason Scores in numerous places on and off the internet as it is a standard method, but we have provided them for you here.
Gleason Scores. The Gleason grading system assigns a grade to each of the two largest areas of cancer in the tissue samples. Grades range from 1 to 5, with 1 being the least aggressive and 5 the most aggressive. Grade 3 tumors, for example, seldom have metastases, but metastases are common with grade 4 or grade 5.
The two grades are then added together to produce a Gleason score. A score of 2 to 4 is considered low grade; 5 through 7, intermediate grade; and 8 through 10, high grade. A tumor with a low Gleason score typically grows slowly enough that it may not pose a significant threat to the patient in his lifetime.
Once the grade is established, your physician will need to have additional information before determining a course of treatment. He will need to “stage” your tumor which is dependent upon the size and how far it has spread.There are two systems used for “staging” the tumor. One of them is TNM and the other is ABCD Rating.
They both evaluate the size of the tumor and the spread in reference to nearby lymph nodes and if the cancer has spread beyond those parameters. The staging system determines whether the tumor is “Localized,” “Regional” or Metastatic. Within each of these categories are divided into categories that are more precise.
LocalizedUsing the TNM method, you have Stage I (could also be referred to as T1.) These are tumors that cannot be felt. Using the ABCD method the staging is considered “A.” TNM Stage II or B or T2 are tumors that you can feel but are still confined to the prostate gland.
RegionalIn Stage III or C or T3 tumors have broken through the prostate capsule. They may have invaded the seminal vesicles.T4 indicates that tumors are growing into muscles and organs that are nearby.
MetastaticStage IV, D or N+ or M+. This staging refers to tumors that have invaded either the pelvic lymph nodes (N+) or into other distant areas of the body (M+).If you receive a diagnosis of cancer and different treatment options from your doctor, it would be prudent to get a second opinion.
This is a normal practice and one which can help you make intelligent decisions about the most important step you may take in your life.Getting that second opinion may confirm the diagnosis but help you to adjust the staging and your treatment options.
A second opinion may also lead you to a special clinical trial of new cancer treatments that your current physician is not aware of.Try and locate a prostate cancer support group in your area. Speaking to other men who have experienced prostate disease can do wonders in learning how to deal with your diagnosis and treatment options. You can get your full ebook here
HowYou Can Benifit From Daily Use Of Yoga
This report, including extracts from "Yoga Made Easy" includes information based upon research about YogaYoga is an ancient health-art developed and perfected over the centuries by the Sages and Wise Men of ancient India.
Yoga is not a religion, a metaphysical doctrine, or a philosophy. Yoga can take years off your face and years from your body--and add years to your life.Not only does Yoga make you look and feel years younger, years healthier, but it lends your body superb healthiness.
This system of Yoga does not demand difficult positions and postures, uncomfortable exercises or strenuous diets. It works like magic because it enables the body to realize its full potential of good health.You know that Nature built into your body certain natural safeguards against disease, certain "defense mechanisms" for self-repair. Well, modern Yoga helps the body's machinery function smoothly, efficiently, at peak performance.
Yoga assists all your muscles and bones and organs to operate at top masculine or female vigor. Yoga stimulates into peak performance the latent abilities of your body to throw off the attacks of disease, the psychosomatic "nervous illnesses" that nag and plague millions.
Yoga has the amazing power to refresh and relax you, soothe your nerves, calm your mind, give you the serenity and strength and inner stamina that is part of the "Magic of the East."Yoga prevents the premature grey in your hair, the ugly wrinkles in your face.
For far too long the secret wisdom and lore of this ancient art has been denied to men and women of the Western world. In so doing, I have taken full cognizance of modern advances in nutrition, vitamin-therapy, health foods, and the new systems of diet and exercise, as well as the most recent medical knowledge and research into methods of revitalizing the human body and halting the "aging process."You want a full life. You want to feel well.
You want energy, vitality, staying power. This system of Yoga applies age-old secrets to everyday life at the modern tempoWhy Yoga?As recently as a century ago, when the average life expectancy throughout the Western world was less than forty years, people gave little thought to keeping fit.
Life was simply not long enough. Surgery is capable of life-saving magic. Even as the years of our lives stretch out longer, existence becomes infinitely more complex. The Atomic Age is hardly a relaxed age. As for our physical conditions, as fast as the human body is enabled, through technical advances, to last longer, it falls prey to a new, totally different roster of ills.
It is possible for anyone who will only take the trouble to learn to live serenely in our Age of Anxiety. The key to such well-being is Yoga.Yoga, you say? The misconceptions about Yoga are many, and naturally what sticks in the minds of most people is the flamboyant, or what we might call the circus approach.
True Yoga philosophy and Yoga health practices are sane, serious, utilitarian and easily applicable to our own daily lives.If you are an average man or women coping with just average problems, here is what you are doubtless up against: Your day is too short.
Heaven help you if, on top of all this, a major crisis looms. Next come the perpetual frowns, the wrinkles, the graying hair, a general sense of defeat and of growing old before one's time.Think of Yoga as a tool that will help you banish fear, and the fear of fear.
For instance, proper breathing and relaxation, the very cornerstone of allYoga teachings, result in deeper, more beneficial sleep and a general sense of restfulness and well-being; and these in turn enable one to function at the very optimum of one's abilities.
So starts an entire beneficial cycle: a healthy body means a better-functioning body, it means added tone, improved functioning of the glands; and that in turn means better metabolism, muscle tone, skin tone, elimination and general vitality and vigor.It means eyes that sparkle, hair that shines and appetites time will not dull.
As for the spiritual and mental results of Yoga practice, these soon become manifest in a fresh ability to make the most of one's inner resources. As one's powers of relaxation increase, there follows an enormous improvement in concentration.
The prize, if found, was to be a promise of physical perfection without end: beauty that did not fade, an ever-supple, lovely body, a face without lines. For in reality it isn't _eternal _ life that man longs for, but rather a long, good, useful life lived to the full and without fear-- fear of pain, of dependence, of invalidism and weakness and all the other miseries which can make old age a burden and an indignity.
Once you learn to live without tensions, you discover your own optimum potential and are on the way, though without urgency, to live up to it; in short, once you begin to achieve that inner harmony which will allow you to stop living at odds with yourself, you will find your entire viewpoint changing.
People often ask, understandably enough, whether there aren't some limitations as to the time of life when the study of Yoga may begin. Old people may take it up as well as the young, and even children have benefited by it.
On the other hand the very young, who with their wonderfully elastic limbs and limber joints are often able to approach the most difficult Yoga postures in the spirit of play, will gain little from such practices if permitted to perform them like acrobatic stunts.
The prime purpose of Yoga is a reeducation of one's mental processes along with the physical. Therefore, encouraging children to participate will only serve a purpose if it will teach them the habit of relaxing, help them grow up relaxed. Above all, always keep in mind that success is a relative matter--a matter of degree.
What IsYoga Let us begin with a working definition: Yoga is a method by which to obtain control of one's latent powers. It offers the means to reach complete Self-realization.This the Yogis achieve by turning their thoughts inward, away from the objective world. The literal meaning of the Sanskrit word Yoga is yoke.
Yoga is very definitely not a religion: some Yogis are deeply religious, others are not.The name, derived from the Sanskrit Ha, which stands for the female principle and Tha, the male principle, implies that this Yoga may be practiced by both men and women with the object of achieving complete control of the body.
The second important feature of Hatha Yoga is the practice of asanas or postures. In short, we make exercise hard work.Bear in mind that the body is always first slowly prepared for each pose and that the limbering-up process, which each student pursues at his own pace, is geared in such a way as not to overtax his capacities.
By the time he is ready to practice an asana, certainly by the time he has mastered it, really is relaxing as well as beneficial. Then the profound balance achieved by the body makes it possible for the mind to soar.Yoga teaches that it is essential never to overdo, never to strain and tire. Rhythmic deep breathing is an essential part of all exercises.
Much more emphasis is put on breathing than is true of any of the Western schools of physical culture, since the Yogis understand that for purely physiological reasons deep breathing is a sure way to calm the nerves, and this in turn reduces tensions and improves concentration.One might say that the overall reason for combining deep breathing with asanas and mudras is that the Yogi, while purifying and disciplining his body, aims to bring his mind, too, under similar control.
Many Western students are content with the sheer physical well-being they are able to achieve, with no concern at all for the second aim, which is for mental and spiritual discipline.Hatha Yoga, in common with other Yoga schools, teaches certain rules of conduct, or yamas.
This chanting is done in conjunction with deep breathing, which admittedly does arrest mind-wandering so that the practitioner becomes drawn into himself in spiritual contemplation. There is hardly a place for it in our Western world.In Laya Yoga the student remains perfectly still, in a profound state of trance.
As we have already mentioned, this form of Yoga is not safe for anyone to practice who has not gained complete control over his emotions as well as over his mental processes.Essentially practical, Karma Yoga teaches helping others as a means of helping one's self. Still another school is Jnana Yoga, the Yoga of Knowledge as against that of Action.
Jnana educates the mind to perceive Self and so free itself from all forms of delusion.Bhakti Yoga is a system of intense devotion, with emphasis on faith. Finally we come to Raja Yoga which, translated literally, means "King of Yogas."
By then the Yogi has learned to stop his thinking processes so completely that his consciousness is absorbed into the Infinite. Raja Yoga may be thought of as the synthesis of all the systems of Yoga as a whole.Now to recapitulate: The gaining of a healthy body and a mind calm and passive under all circumstances is common to all Yogas. Control of one's mental processes as well as of the emotions is a basic common goal.
In our own Occidental utilitarian terms, then, Yoga techniques, translated into Yogism, offer us the means for better Self-realization in the realm of the physical, the mental, the emotional and the spiritual.
Yoga is not a religion, a metaphysical doctrine, or a philosophy. Yoga can take years off your face and years from your body--and add years to your life.Not only does Yoga make you look and feel years younger, years healthier, but it lends your body superb healthiness.
This system of Yoga does not demand difficult positions and postures, uncomfortable exercises or strenuous diets. It works like magic because it enables the body to realize its full potential of good health.You know that Nature built into your body certain natural safeguards against disease, certain "defense mechanisms" for self-repair. Well, modern Yoga helps the body's machinery function smoothly, efficiently, at peak performance.
Yoga assists all your muscles and bones and organs to operate at top masculine or female vigor. Yoga stimulates into peak performance the latent abilities of your body to throw off the attacks of disease, the psychosomatic "nervous illnesses" that nag and plague millions.
Yoga has the amazing power to refresh and relax you, soothe your nerves, calm your mind, give you the serenity and strength and inner stamina that is part of the "Magic of the East."Yoga prevents the premature grey in your hair, the ugly wrinkles in your face.
For far too long the secret wisdom and lore of this ancient art has been denied to men and women of the Western world. In so doing, I have taken full cognizance of modern advances in nutrition, vitamin-therapy, health foods, and the new systems of diet and exercise, as well as the most recent medical knowledge and research into methods of revitalizing the human body and halting the "aging process."You want a full life. You want to feel well.
You want energy, vitality, staying power. This system of Yoga applies age-old secrets to everyday life at the modern tempoWhy Yoga?As recently as a century ago, when the average life expectancy throughout the Western world was less than forty years, people gave little thought to keeping fit.
Life was simply not long enough. Surgery is capable of life-saving magic. Even as the years of our lives stretch out longer, existence becomes infinitely more complex. The Atomic Age is hardly a relaxed age. As for our physical conditions, as fast as the human body is enabled, through technical advances, to last longer, it falls prey to a new, totally different roster of ills.
It is possible for anyone who will only take the trouble to learn to live serenely in our Age of Anxiety. The key to such well-being is Yoga.Yoga, you say? The misconceptions about Yoga are many, and naturally what sticks in the minds of most people is the flamboyant, or what we might call the circus approach.
True Yoga philosophy and Yoga health practices are sane, serious, utilitarian and easily applicable to our own daily lives.If you are an average man or women coping with just average problems, here is what you are doubtless up against: Your day is too short.
Heaven help you if, on top of all this, a major crisis looms. Next come the perpetual frowns, the wrinkles, the graying hair, a general sense of defeat and of growing old before one's time.Think of Yoga as a tool that will help you banish fear, and the fear of fear.
For instance, proper breathing and relaxation, the very cornerstone of allYoga teachings, result in deeper, more beneficial sleep and a general sense of restfulness and well-being; and these in turn enable one to function at the very optimum of one's abilities.
So starts an entire beneficial cycle: a healthy body means a better-functioning body, it means added tone, improved functioning of the glands; and that in turn means better metabolism, muscle tone, skin tone, elimination and general vitality and vigor.It means eyes that sparkle, hair that shines and appetites time will not dull.
As for the spiritual and mental results of Yoga practice, these soon become manifest in a fresh ability to make the most of one's inner resources. As one's powers of relaxation increase, there follows an enormous improvement in concentration.
The prize, if found, was to be a promise of physical perfection without end: beauty that did not fade, an ever-supple, lovely body, a face without lines. For in reality it isn't _eternal _ life that man longs for, but rather a long, good, useful life lived to the full and without fear-- fear of pain, of dependence, of invalidism and weakness and all the other miseries which can make old age a burden and an indignity.
Once you learn to live without tensions, you discover your own optimum potential and are on the way, though without urgency, to live up to it; in short, once you begin to achieve that inner harmony which will allow you to stop living at odds with yourself, you will find your entire viewpoint changing.
People often ask, understandably enough, whether there aren't some limitations as to the time of life when the study of Yoga may begin. Old people may take it up as well as the young, and even children have benefited by it.
On the other hand the very young, who with their wonderfully elastic limbs and limber joints are often able to approach the most difficult Yoga postures in the spirit of play, will gain little from such practices if permitted to perform them like acrobatic stunts.
The prime purpose of Yoga is a reeducation of one's mental processes along with the physical. Therefore, encouraging children to participate will only serve a purpose if it will teach them the habit of relaxing, help them grow up relaxed. Above all, always keep in mind that success is a relative matter--a matter of degree.
What IsYoga Let us begin with a working definition: Yoga is a method by which to obtain control of one's latent powers. It offers the means to reach complete Self-realization.This the Yogis achieve by turning their thoughts inward, away from the objective world. The literal meaning of the Sanskrit word Yoga is yoke.
Yoga is very definitely not a religion: some Yogis are deeply religious, others are not.The name, derived from the Sanskrit Ha, which stands for the female principle and Tha, the male principle, implies that this Yoga may be practiced by both men and women with the object of achieving complete control of the body.
The second important feature of Hatha Yoga is the practice of asanas or postures. In short, we make exercise hard work.Bear in mind that the body is always first slowly prepared for each pose and that the limbering-up process, which each student pursues at his own pace, is geared in such a way as not to overtax his capacities.
By the time he is ready to practice an asana, certainly by the time he has mastered it, really is relaxing as well as beneficial. Then the profound balance achieved by the body makes it possible for the mind to soar.Yoga teaches that it is essential never to overdo, never to strain and tire. Rhythmic deep breathing is an essential part of all exercises.
Much more emphasis is put on breathing than is true of any of the Western schools of physical culture, since the Yogis understand that for purely physiological reasons deep breathing is a sure way to calm the nerves, and this in turn reduces tensions and improves concentration.One might say that the overall reason for combining deep breathing with asanas and mudras is that the Yogi, while purifying and disciplining his body, aims to bring his mind, too, under similar control.
Many Western students are content with the sheer physical well-being they are able to achieve, with no concern at all for the second aim, which is for mental and spiritual discipline.Hatha Yoga, in common with other Yoga schools, teaches certain rules of conduct, or yamas.
This chanting is done in conjunction with deep breathing, which admittedly does arrest mind-wandering so that the practitioner becomes drawn into himself in spiritual contemplation. There is hardly a place for it in our Western world.In Laya Yoga the student remains perfectly still, in a profound state of trance.
As we have already mentioned, this form of Yoga is not safe for anyone to practice who has not gained complete control over his emotions as well as over his mental processes.Essentially practical, Karma Yoga teaches helping others as a means of helping one's self. Still another school is Jnana Yoga, the Yoga of Knowledge as against that of Action.
Jnana educates the mind to perceive Self and so free itself from all forms of delusion.Bhakti Yoga is a system of intense devotion, with emphasis on faith. Finally we come to Raja Yoga which, translated literally, means "King of Yogas."
By then the Yogi has learned to stop his thinking processes so completely that his consciousness is absorbed into the Infinite. Raja Yoga may be thought of as the synthesis of all the systems of Yoga as a whole.Now to recapitulate: The gaining of a healthy body and a mind calm and passive under all circumstances is common to all Yogas. Control of one's mental processes as well as of the emotions is a basic common goal.
In our own Occidental utilitarian terms, then, Yoga techniques, translated into Yogism, offer us the means for better Self-realization in the realm of the physical, the mental, the emotional and the spiritual.
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