The holidays are known to be stressful, but there are many ways to channel that stress…yoga offers great benefits that are welcome any time of the year, but especially during the Winter holiday season.  We all know it, but how many of us actually heed our own inner voice.  From the never-ending lines at the department stores, to high prices on everything from gas to airfare, what’s a girl to do?  It’s tough to find the time, but god knows it’s worth it…yoga offers stress busters in the form of: meditation, sakshin , pratyahara and pranayama.

As you get ready for that holiday party, think about giving yourself a moment to regroup, to meditate. Meditation helps us prepare for potential stressful situations and is invaluable even when you are not under a great deal of stress.  A detached state of being that allows you to better understand the realities around you is referred to as sakshin.  While pratyahara is a state of peace obtained by reducing to all outside interferences to a minumum.  The mind gets calm and relaxed, focused inwards. By using pranayama, one is able to calm one’s self in almost any difficult situation by regulating the breathing and thus harmonizing the energies in the body.  Being prepared for any stress factors that may creep up is paramount for a successful holiday. We always get much better results by addressing an issue with a clear and calm head, rather then acting on an impulse.

Breathing techniques are also of great help when it comes to relaxing a restless spirit and bringing calm to a particular situation.  Remember that most holidays are short and you can’t afford to spend half of your stay in a negative mood.  After all, you are there to recharge your energy, not to try to waste it on meaningless tensions.  When all else fails, remember these eight words:  Life is too short to hold a grudge.

Interested in giving back this holiday season?  How about donating to World Bicycle Relief .   This unique organization has partnered with a USAID-funded, World Vision-led coalition of relief organizations to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in Zambia. With the goal of providing 23,000 bicycles to community home-based care volunteers, disease prevention educators and vulnerable households, they are also training and equipping more than 400 bicycle mechanics in the field. The program will reach more than 500,000 adults, orphans and vulnerable children.

As we approach this holiday season, consider making a contribution to World Bicycle Relief by purchasing a bicycle. Each bicycle costs just $134, and will help up to 20 people.  What could be better than knowing you’ve helped those in need?

For the first time in 30 years, on October 16, 2008 , the U.S. EPA strengthened the nation’s air quality standards for lead, a pollutant that can cause organ, brain and nerve damage, lower intelligence, suppress the immune system, cause high blood pressure and increase heart disease.

The new standards reduce the allowable lead level 10 times to 0.15 micrograms of lead per cubic meter (ug/m3) of air from the previous standards, set in 1978.

EPA’s action sets two standards: a primary standard at 0.15 ug/m3 to protect health and a secondary standard at the same level to protect the public welfare, including the environment.
The primary sources of lead emissions have been motor vehicles and lead smelters, waste incinerators, utilities, and lead-acid battery manufacturers.

The EPA action results from a lawsuit filed four years ago by Leslie and Jack Warden, Missouri residents who sought to get the federal government to consider tougher standards for lead in the air.
The Wardens’ lawsuit alleged, and a federal judge agreed, that the Clean Air Act requires the air quality standard for lead to be reviewed every five years.

As many as 16,000 industrial facilities in the United States have been operating under the old standard, pumping hundreds of thousands of pounds of lead into the air every year. The smelters that melt old batteries are among the worst lead polluters.

Children are particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning.

‘Amma’ as she is known all over the world, has inspired and started various humanitarian services. Earning international acclaim and recognition for her outstanding contributions to the world community, she is revered as an extraordinary spiritual leader by the UN and by people throughout the world.
Amma Ji will be in NYC July 8th through July 10th, 2008. [Read more →]

Many of us find that we are not performing our best at certain sports, sports that come easier to others, may present quite a challenge for us.  One thing to make note of here is your dosha.
Dosha refers to three basic metabolic principles connecting the mind, the body and biological humour.  These three doshas are often described as the manifestations of natural forces at work in the body. Each dosha is defined by two of the five natural elements: space, air, fire, water and earth.

• Vata is the space and air principle and is embodied by ether. It resides in the spaces of your body, filling empty airspaces and channels, helping to govern the function of the nervous system.
• Pitta is the fire and water principle and exists within your body mainly as bile and acid, and is most closely associated with the digestive and elimination systems.
• Kapha refers to the water and earth principle, relating to the respiratory system and mucous membranes, governing the majority of our physical composition.

Take the quiz and find out your dosha.  Once you know this key bit of information, start thinking about what type of exercise routine serves you best: [Read more →]

Yoga has benefits that are both preventive and therapeutic. Proven to offer both mental and physical benefits to the mind and body, there’s no time like the present to get started. Yoga is very different from other forms of exercise, as it generates motion, without straining your body.When done with focus, hatha yoga can be an extremely rewarding exercise. Involving almost every muscle in your body, hatha yoga stresses quality of movement, over quantity.Yoga done routinely works to quiet the mind and refresh the body. Bringing you better health, relaxation, and happiness.

Looking to get started? Come to the free yoga festival in NYC to celebrate the Summer Solstice.

Where: Times Square
When: Saturday, June 21st, 2008
Time: 8 am - 9 pm

Details

In the nonstop, hectic world we live in, meditation can often simplify our lives and help us be more in the flow. But it’s not always that easy to get started. When you begin to meditate, don’t give up, with time and practice, you will experience a real sense of peace and joy.

There is many ways people meditate, but we’ve gone ahead and listed our Top 10 Tips here:

1. Breathing: Slow down and become conscious of your breathing. Focus on carefully regulating your breathing, as this greatly benefits your meditation. I’ve heard many yoga masters say that when we meditate, our breath should be so gentle that if someone placed a feather by our mouth it would barely move.
2. Stop Your Mind and all its Thoughts: Easier said than done, I know. But this is truly the essence of meditation. If we can learn to stop our mind from pursuing endless thoughts, as Sri Chinmoy says, then we will be able to enter into real meditation.
3. Mantra: Using a mantra can be of great help in quieteing the noise of the mind. A mantra is simply a sacred word or phrase repeated many times. By repeating a mantra we calm the mind and also make it single focused. After chanting a mantra, meditation will be easie
4. Meditation Shrine: Create a sacred space for meditation. It can be a small corner of a room we use only for meditation. Over time we will find this space builds up a meditative consciousness helpful to our meditation.
5. Regularity: Like many other activities, the more we practice meditation, the better we will become. If we meditate sincerely everyday, then we will find that our capacity to meditate increases. The key is consistency!
6. Spiritual Heart: As we calm the mind, we should try to feel our whole sense of awareness is leaving the mind and entering the heart. If we are able to meditate in the heart this way, we will identify with the expansive and divine qualities the spiritual heart embodies.
7. Concentration: In order to meditate, we need to master the art of concentration — focusing on only one thing at a time.
8. Inspiration: Meditation should be viewed as a lifelong process of self–discovery. It is important to try and maintain our enthusiasm and inspiration for meditation.
9. Keep the Faith: Stay with it, making progress is not always immediately obvious.
10. Intensity. Meditation doesn’t just mean sitting down quietly for a few minutes. If we have real eagerness to experience the inner rewards of meditation, we will be rewarded with Peace of Mind.

GIVE IT A GO

…Open your eyes after you feel more relax and centered

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Starting Saturday, March 15th thru the 24th , forty- six galleries and museums across New York City will be particStarting Saturday, March 15th thru the 24th , forty- six galleries and museums across New York City will be participeting in the Fifth Annual

Asian Contemporary Art Week.

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Aiming to tackle global warming by changing the way products are designed, made, distributed and recycled, Sony has developed a hand-powered digital camera that never needs recharging. [Read more →]