Relaxation Techniques

Drift Away from Stress with Relaxation Techniques
By Cathryn D'Imperio

High-stress jobs, multiple roles and endless personal obligations may leave just about anyone torn and tattered. Renew body mind and spirit with simple relaxation techniques that require only minimal time and energy investment.

In addition to relieving a degree of one's current stress load, practicing relaxation techniques on a regular basis has also been shown to promote overall healthier living, better mental condition and fewer incidences of heart attacks, strokes and repeat heart attacks.

Yoga

With strong focus on deep, rhythmic breathing, yoga has become a popular form of alternative healing. Allowing participants to clear their minds and focus on personal goals and calming energies, yoga also aids in the body's flexibility and overall tone. Deep breaths coupled with yoga stretches and poses assist in renewal of the body, mind and soul. Even if practiced for only a few moments, yoga can positively impact a person's outlook, guiding him or her effectively toward goals and aspirations.

As an extremely popular activity in recent times, yoga classes are offered at many colleges, health and fitness centers and gyms. For those wishing to learn yoga on their own, countless books and videos are available for that very purpose. Gathering with a group of friends may motivate a first-time yoga participant to make a regular routine of yoga, even if only for a few moments every couple of days.

Meditation

By exercising and harnessing the power of the mind, one can truly find mental freedom and escape from stress. Meditation combines a quiet location with a comfortable position, a focus item or idea and a perfect equilibrium between awareness and relaxation. Different posture and positions may be used for those who wish to become more experienced in meditation. When practiced regularly, meditation can positively merge one's mental, physical and emotional worlds.

Meditation practice does not have to be anything fancy or highly technical. By simply sitting in a comfortable position in a private location, one can use visualization with positive imagery. Repetition of a calming word, phrase or sound, such as peace,may aid in one's ability to focus. Participants may choose whether they wish to meditate with open or closed eyes.

Massage

Yoga, meditation and massage are all wonderful techniques to restore peace and balance within the body, mind and spirit. The power of the mind can be a truly amazing things allowing us to dream, believe, conquer and become those things we most desire. Practice relaxation techniques on a regular basis in order to maintain a healthy spirit and calm, tranquil mood.

The Truth Behind beauty Myths

By Anna Lynn C. Sibal

When we were struggling through those awkward teenage years, when our hormones were wreaking havoc on our bodies and our skin, we were most likely inundated by advice from our mothers and grandmothers, and even our girlfriends, on what we should do to keep ourselves beautiful despite the storm of changes upon us and upon our bodies. Some of them sound sensible, while some sound totally absurd.

But even if these pieces of advice sound really silly, there are some of them that we could not easily shake off. They seem to work for us, and why let go of a good thing if it is working somewhat?

Nonetheless, for curiositys sake, sometimes there is a need to ask. Do the beauty practices handed down to us by our mothers, grandmothers and girlfriends that we have religiously observed through the years hold a grain of scientific truth in them, or are they merely beauty myths spun by old wives? Lets find out.

Beauty Myth #1: Plucking white hairs yields more white hairs. This is definitely just a beauty myth. Our hair whitens as part of the natural process of aging, and some of us see our hair start turning white earlier than usual compared to others. It only seems to us that we are having more and more gray hair after we see our first strand of white because our mind is now trained to look for the grays in our mane, and so we are now more likely to notice.

Beauty Myth #2: Shaving the hair makes it grow back thicker. This is definitely another beauty myth as well. Shaved hair seems to grow back thicker only because when we shave, the razor cuts the hair off only on the skins surface. They were not plucked off directly from the follicle. Therefore, when the hair grows back, the wide part of the strand grows out, making the hair appear thicker.

Beauty Myth #3: Mayonnaise makes for a great conditioner.No, this one is not a myth. Mayonnaise, as long as it is real, does make for a great hair conditioner. The oil and eggs that can be found in real mayonnaise is rich in fatty acids and protein that nourishes the hair.

Beauty Myth #4: Applying ice to the skin makes the pores smaller.Nothing can make the pores smaller. The size of our pores is the result of genetics, not of temperature applied on the skin, so some people just have smaller pores than others.

Beauty Myth #5: Toothpaste can cure pimples Well, yes. Toothpaste has menthol and other active ingredients that can dry up a pimple and make it heal much quickly than if left alone. However, the same active ingredients in toothpaste that can heal a pimple can also dry up and irritate the skin of your face, so it is better to use a pimple cream rather than toothpaste for your pimple.

Beauty Myth #6: Applying beer on the skin before going for a sun tan results in a golden glow. No, not true. In fact, you should avoid sun tanning altogether, unless you are going to use a self-tanner. Applying beer before going for a tan does not do anything for the skin. Some people are just prone to getting a golden tan, while others naturally turn red as a lobster under the sun. It is, again, a matter of genetics.

Beauty Myth #7: Crossing the legs leads to varicose veins. Not really. The true causes of varicose veins are yet unknown, but again, some people are more prone to having them because of factors like heredity, age and weight. Crossing the legs will not cause you to have varicose veins, but if you already have them, it can make the condition worse.

Beauty Myth #8: Washing the feet when tired will make the veins swell. The veins in the feet really swell when the feet are tired. It is the bodys own automatic attempt to soothe the tiredness of the feet. In fact, it is indeed best to soak the feet in warm water to further increase the blood circulation to your lower extremities, so as to take the tiredness away.