Healthy Forever Fitness Motivation

  Yin and Yang What is the difference between Yin and Yang yoga? Yang yoga is your dynamic, fast flow yoga's such as Ashtanga and Vinyasa where students can flow through 30-50 asanas (yoga poses). Yang yoga is a combined high energy, strength and stamina style of yoga which physically targets the superficial muscles or muscles close to the surface of the skin. Yin Yoga is a slow and passive form of yoga where the poses are held for longer periods of time, anywhere between 3 to 10 minutes. These longer holds invite greater health and wellness into the body allowing the deeper, connective tissue within the body to stretch and release. There may only be 6 to 10 asanas in a Yin yoga flow and the long holds prepare the students for a meditative state of mind allowing for self exploration in a peaceful and calm environment. I love both Yin and Yang yoga . I like the strength poses of Yang yoga such as plank pose, lunge pose, chaturanga and downward facing dog pose. But equally I love the...

  New Year's Resolution - What Happened? New Year's Resolutions - we all make them but how are they going for you now that we are almost into month two of the New Year? We mean well when we make them, but the lack of clarity makes our resolutions very vague. For example "I want to get fit" or "I want to eat a healthy diet and lose weight" or maybe "I want to be happy". This only makes it harder to track your progress and stay committed.  We set big and overwhelming New Year's resolutions thus setting up the expectations that we are going to turn over a new leaf on the first day of a new year. But a new goal in life requires gradual changes so we can make ourselves comfortable with our new habits to ensure the change becomes habitual. This is a slower process than we imagine, but it is a worthwhile investment of our time. If you haven't done it already - try my Free Course . This course will help you keep on track to the pathway of your new,...

  Life Can be Simple not Complicated Life doesn't have to be complicated. The acceptance that life isn't easy will help us a great deal to re-establish a healthier mindset towards an uncomplicated life. The acceptance that we cannot change the things we can't control. All the analysis and worrying in the world will never change anything that is uncontrollable. At times we are in pursuit of unobtainable things making our lives more complex. Acceptance is the key to simplicity by acknowledgement of life as it happens without a fixation on how you want it to be or how you think it shouldn't be. We have to remember too that not everything will work out as planned and we will make mistakes. From this point we learn and we grow. We do not complicate matters by over-reacting or dwelling on negative thoughts such as " life is so unfair".  We move on, understanding that such is life and not overthinking and judging ourselves or anyone else. Nurture peace and simplicity...

Let's do nothing today January 16th - International 'Do Nothing' Day. This day is to celebrate doing nothing ..... yes to do well....nothing!!! So put the date in your diary and do just that. Clearly, this is not always possible as we do have to work, pay the bills, do the food shop and the rest of it. This celebration day started back in 1973 by Harold Pullman Coffin, a newspaper columnist with the intention to provide everyone with a day where they can sit without celebrating, observing or honouring anything. However, perhaps we should think about a day where we can literally do nothing, or do something that feels like nothing. When we do get some spare time, we always feel we need to fill it with something productive or catch up on what we should have done yesterday or last week. In this fast paced world we always feel that we need to keep busy. So why not spend a day doing nothing related to busyness. Try some mindful activities. Mindfulness involves paying attention to...

  Chair Based Exercises  As a Personal Trainer and Class Instructor, most people are surprised to hear me say how much I love chair based exercise. You can get a really good whole body workout for both cardio and strength as well as enjoying yoga poses, meditation and full body stretching. Yes it's true, you can accomplish all this from a chair based workout. I have achieved weight loss and muscle growth from chair exercise alone and so have those who have joined my chair classes. I am preparing to go onboard a cruise ship for a 30 day Christmas cruise and putting together some classes at the moment. It has been a while since I have worked on the cruises and I have forgotten how much fun these classes are. It's not all about slow movements for seniors or those with limited mobility. It is about making exercise fun with a huge amount of benefits to go with it. What are Chair Based Workouts Chair based workouts are physical and mental forms of exercise performed whilst seated an...

The Benefits of Regular Exercise Regular exercise boosts your moods, helps to control your appetite and can improve your sleep patterns. Regular weight training will improve your muscle strength and endurance, increase your metabolism and improve your energy levels. In the long term, exercise will reduce your risk of heart disease, strokes, diabetes, dementia, depression and many cancers. Resistance bands are very easy  to use. They are not as complicated as some of the equipment in today's "highly technical" gyms that can feel very  intimidating  to those who are new to exercise workouts. It's hard to believe that these bands can increase your strength when you place them next to a dumbbell or kettlebell, but the power they hold will surprise you. Resistance bands are very like free weights (dumbbells, kettlebells) in that they give external resistance so you have to engage your muscles to oppose the tensity. The  fitness  industry is forever changing. There a...

  My New Life Adventure After the decision to make a new life  and not being a novice to working overseas, I prepared myself to ' be thrown in the deep end ' with this being the normal working procedure and the way things tend to happen. There is never too much training or contracts to sign or time to settle in, it's just straight into the job. I had brought a few sequences with me as I am not a ' fast flow ' yoga teacher, I am more of a gentle pace and meditation teacher.  My first practice was thankfully, a slow flow class and I did just that. Gentle poses with meditation to finish. The most amazing part of this practice was the studio (being outside and close to the sea) with the sound of the ocean and the warmth of the sun's rays during the practice. Being UK based, my classes are normally studio based so this was an extra special moment for me. However, what I was not expecting was meditation to the sunset. I am not exaggerating when I say I felt quite emot...