Category: Uncategorized

I decided to write another post on yoga this week in order to go a bit deeper into the various poses and their benefits. All yoga poses have varying effects on the body and can either be relaxing or turn your session into more of an intense workout. Here’s a bit more on some specific poses you can try!

The Bridge (Bandha Sarvangasanda)

The bridge pose engages muscles all over the body. Start by laying on the floor and placing your hands on the ground, then using your arms and legs to hoist your hips in the air. This pose opens the chest and stretches the spine, as well as stimulates the thyroid.

Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

This pose is one of the most popular poses in yoga. If you’re looking for a deep stretch in your hamstrings and calf muscles, I recommend trying this. From your hands and knees, curl your toes under your feet and shift your weight back with your butt in the air. This pose is said to improve digestion, relieve menstrual cramps, energize the body and calm the brain.

Cat (Marjaryasana) Cow (Bitilasana)

I put these two together because I always do them with each other. Like much of the population, I hold all of my stress in my back. Doing cat-cows really works the muscles of the back, especially lower back, and helps alleviate some of the tension. I alternate the two, holding each position for a second before transitioning into the next, so it is more of a fluid motion.

Sphinx Pose (Salamba Bhujangasana)

Sphinx pose is a fairly simple pose and so good for beginners. It lifts the heart and strengthens the abdominal organs while engaging the spine. Be especially aware of your lower belly to keep yourself in the same position while holding the pose.

Half Moon Pose (Ardha Chandrasana)

The half moon pose is a balance pose. It is definitely one of the more tricky items on this list, especially if you’re like me and have no balance. However, it can still be fun to give it a try! All of your strength must come from the leg that remains on the floor– your hand is only there to provide a bit of support for balance. This pose relieves backaches, anxiety, menstrual pain and indigestion.

Upward-Facing Dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana)

I usually transition to this pose before or after upward dog. It opens the chest and stretches the spine. Lift your legs a bit off the floor when performing this pose. Upward-facing dogs is said to have numerous benefits, such as improving posture, stimulating abdominal organs, and relieving depression and fatigue.

Go forward with your newly learned poses and have fun with them! Remember: practice makes perfect and it takes some work to position your body just right for any pose, so don’t get discouraged with it. This is all to help improve your body and relax your mind.

Sources

http://www.yogamagazine.com/bridge-wheel-pose/

https://www.yogajournal.com/poses/

Yoga is a practice that I view to be very similar to meditation, even a form of it, because it allows us to become more aware of ourselves. However, yoga focuses more on the awareness of the physical and spiritual rather than the mental. Yoga helps us control our breaths as well as be mindful of our muscles, form, and any pains we may have.

Downward Dog

 

Origins of Yoga 

Though it is thought to be thousands of years older, yoga can be traced back to 5,00 years ago in India. The Indus-Sarasvati civilization first mentioned yoga in its sacred texts known as the Rig-Veda. Yoga was eventually taken up by various groups of people and became a sort of religious or spiritual thought that involved sacrifice and overcoming the ego. Centuries later, yoga masters began to incorporate ways to work the body to prolong life, believing that the means to achieve enlightenment were physical and rejecting much of the thought of the Veda. The physical-spiritual connection that is sought after eventually grew to become a more influential part of modern yoga practices (Yoga Basics).

Child’s Pose (My Favorite Relaxation Pose)

Practice in Life 

You may or may not be shocked to find out that it is totally unnecessary to spend a lot of money to take yoga lessons at a studio. This is why we have the internet. Many people get discouraged from taking up new practices to improve their bodies and minds because they think that they need to meet with a professional for guidance, which is certainly helpful but by no means a must. I bought a yoga mat at Target for about $5 and practice in my dorm room, and by the end I feel well-stretched and relaxed. If you’re not a broke college student like me, then there are usually options for studios in your town or nearby– Lila Yoga is a studio in State College on Beaver Ave. But, if you’re strapped for cash and want to become more aware of your body, YouTube tutorials are free, available, and often just as good as a real-life instructor.

Warrior I Pose

 

Some of the Basics

There are some basic components to remember throughout your entire yoga session, no matter what pose you are in. For one, focus on breathing. Take deep breaths and steady your breathing- it will help relax your muscles and calm your head even when the poses might be a bit difficult. Next is to find strength in your core. For many positions, you may find yourself putting too much strain on your wrists, ankles, or back. It is important to balance the forces of all your muscles to hold a pose, and I find I often tend to neglect my core, but actively working it helps to reduce the stress on one area of my body. Lastly, I recommend to to be mindful of elongating the spine.For certain poses, like the cat pose, elongating the spine is not the point of the stretch, but throughout much of the stretches it is important to keep the spine straight and the head forward. This helps with proper breathing technique and encourages good posture over slouching, which will lead to a more thorough stretch.

If you are interested in yoga, don’t be afraid to try it out! No one can do the poses perfectly the first few times and it’s definitely a skill that needs a lot of time to develop. However, don’t let this discourage you! What’s important about practicing yoga is that you are becoming more aware of your body and doing what you can physically to improve the spirit.

Corpse Pose (How I Always End a Session)

Sources

http://www.yogabasics.com/learn/history-of-yoga/

Must-Know Yoga Pose: Downward-Facing Dog

https://www.gaia.com/article/child-pose-balasana

https://www.artofliving.org/us-en/corpse-pose-shavasana

https://www.ekhartyoga.com/articles/why-we-practise-the-warrior-poses

In high school, my best friend Dan put an image as his cell phone background that said “DO NOT OPEN WITHOUT INTENTION”. I thought this was really odd, that he had to have a signal to tell him not to be on his phone. Unfortunately, I now totally understand why Dan did this. I, too, have allowed myself to become too invested in my phone. I see everyone around me also on their phones, and I silently judge them for it, but upon examining myself, I know I am the same way.

Since coming to college the problem has gotten worse because I have more free time. I used to have school or work or play practice constantly, so I was unable to be on my phone. Now, I just use it as a time filler. I tried to get to the root of the problem. Is it really that I am bored? Do I have FOMO and actually want to see what other people are doing on Instagram? Are there people who I genuinely want to talk to and have enriching conversations with over Snapchat? Frankly, no. It’s not any of these. The only reason I’m on my phone so much is because it has become a habit. I think this is the case for most of us millennials and Gen Z, and even older generations. We have a constant distraction that we’ve become so used to looking at on a regular basis that it has become a compulsion to do a quick scroll through our feed when not preoccupied with something else. We are not mindful about using our phones and typically have no intentions when we unlock them.

Not being mindful about phone use is harmful for many reasons. First of all, overuse of your phone leads to battery damage, so charges do not last as long and you may find yourself prematurely needing a new phone. According to Gizmodo, using your battery so much that it gets really low, especially down to zero percent, will cause your phone to lose much of its charge ability. Constantly staring at a phone is also terrible for the eyes, because mobile screens are small and cause you to strain your eyes to read the smaller print or look at the pictures. Being addicted to a phone brings up obvious risk factors, like texting and driving, but surprisingly, 42% of people who walked into traffic during a “Don’t Walk” sign were talking on the phone, looking down at a phone, or wearing headphones, according to CNN. Hunching over to look at a mobile device or text causes poor posture and the blue light from screens disrupts the production of melatonin, leading to difficulty falling and staying asleep.

I recently made it my goal to be more mindful about using my phone. I want to open my phone when I have reason to, not thoughtlessly scroll. Over Spring break, I became so frustrated with my inability to get anything done because I was so distracted by my phone. I told my sister about this, and she simply told me to just turn it off, something that I never felt compelled enough to do. I took her advice, and then I read about 200 pages of my book. It’s often surprising what you can accomplish if you only have the willpower to get away from the screen.

Sources

https://gizmodo.com/how-to-take-care-of-your-smartphone-battery-the-right-w-513217256

https://www.medicaldaily.com/5-reasons-why-cellphones-are-bad-your-health-247624

https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/30/health/smartphone-addiction-study/index.html

As someone who is nearly constantly anxious, I know how important it is to take a bit of time to yourself to chill out. I also know that there is no foolproof way to get rid of all of the stress that drags us down throughout our lives. However, not keeping our stress and anxious thoughts in check can lead to health problems like high blood pressure and muscle pains. Even worse, it takes on a snowball effect and can continue to build more stress and anxiety or lead to other mental health concerns like depression. While many different stress-relieving tools exist, I have found one of the most helpful to be meditation.

It is important to note that there is no one right way of meditating and it comes in different types. For example, there is mindfulness meditation, which includes taking notice of your thoughts that occur or what you feel, and just being observant. There is also concentration meditation, which involves focusing all of your energy on a particular thought or idea.

Personally, I prefer the mindfulness meditation because it makes me feel more in tune with myself and the world around me. Perhaps it is summer and I am sitting outside to meditate. I want to take notice of the warmth from the sun, or the faint smell of cut grass, or maybe the thought of what I’ll have for breakfast will pop up in my head. I will consider all of these things as I notice them occurring in my brain, but I don’t try to push any of them out of my head. It’s the most relaxing to me because I do not feel stressed about having to focus on certain tasks or worrying about what I’ll have to do the next day. I can simply notice only what is happening in the present.

Like I said, there is no right way to meditate, but if you’re a beginner and not sure where to start, I suggest at least 20 minute sessions at first. This way there is really enough time to allow your brain to settle for a bit, but if it doesn’t, don’t worry and try again later. If I have the time and feel the desire to, I will meditate once before breakfast and once before dinner. I would at least suggest meditating before breakfast because it sets up a positive and relaxed tone for the rest of your day. Sit in a relaxed position (I prefer loosely crossing my legs) and place your palms either on your knees our facing the sky. If I meditate for a bit after doing yoga, I often end up in “corpse pose”, which is just lying comfortably on your back. Some like to use sounds when meditating, like om, but I always feel more relaxed being silent.

Meditation may seem frustrating to some at first, as it can be difficult to quiet one’s brain, but it’s important to keep telling yourself that you are calm, and to not put any pressure on yourself to relax, because that would just be counterproductive. Also important- keep breathing! Breath can be a great focal point to start out and get you into a more eased or concentrated state of mind.

Happy meditating and stay green!

A new goal that I set for myself is to change my showering habits to be more environmentally friendly. Admittedly, my showers have been way too long, up to twenty minutes. To make matters worse, I use hot water the entire time. It’s excessive, I know, but I find long, hot showers to be so comforting. So I say sadly, it is time to give them up.

One of the main problems with long, hot showers is how much energy they use, as on average water heating accounts for 17 percent of a home’s electricity usage according to the Washington Post. Using up extra energy is bad because it is expensive and contributes to pollution. I calculated the approximate cost for what my hot 20 minute showers would take using this site: http://www.paystolivegreen.com/shower-water-and-energy-use-calculator/ It turns out each shower i take costs $1, which doesn’t sound like much, but that means it is $366 per year and could be cut down by half if I switched to 10 minute showers, which are still above the average of 8.2 minutes.

Both natural gas and electric appliances cause air pollution, but the process of creating electricity is significantly worse. Most of the U.S. electricity generation uses the process of burning fossil fuels, which is not sustainable since coal and natural gas reserves are predicted to run out in around 60 years. The burning of coal is especially bad because of the amount of greenhouse gases it releases, like CO2, which contributes to global warming.

If environmental and financial concerns aren’t a problem for you, then consider that long hot showers are also bad for your skin and hair. The heat causes the natural oils on your skin to breakdown,  leading to dry, itchy, and possibly red skin. Also, hot water makes hair more frizzy as opposed to cold water, which makes the cuticles close thus giving it a shiny appearance. I heard about this about a year ago and since then have always rinsed my hair with cool water, but only at the end of my hot shower. Personally, I do think this tip is useful in combating frizz.

All of these facts combined were enough to make me want to make a change and be more conscious of my showers. Some of the things I have been doing to make my showers healthier for me and the environment have been:

1. Turning off the water when not using it to rinse off. This sucks and I get cold as soon as the water is not pouring over me, but I tell myself that it’s for the environment and get over it.
2. Cut back on the minutes you are in the shower. Rather than standing and letting the water run over me, I make sure I am productive the entire shower so I can get out sooner. I can get to around 10 minutes as long as I remain mindful of what I am doing. It may help to set a timer to let you know when it’s time to get out.
3. Using lukewarm instead of hot water. While hot showers feel great, they definitely do irritate my skin, which is very sensitive and gets red and itchy. I’ve even been able to stop putting moisturizer on my legs and arms after a shower by doing this.

I won’t lie, I miss my hot showers and taking my time, but for the sake of my own body and my environment, I have decided to be more mindful of how I take my showers, and I recommend that everyone else does, too.

Sources

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/03/04/your-shower-is-wasting-huge-amounts-of-energy-and-water-heres-what-to-do-about-it/?utm_term=.462eb9fdb85e

https://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/cleansing/myths/hot-showers-bad.htm

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=electricity_in_the_united_states

Since coming to Penn State, I have tried very hard to decrease my impact upon the environment, especially the amount of trash I throw away. In many ways it was more difficult to reduce my waste at school, because I found myself buying more packaged food for eating on the go, but in many ways it became easier. I found that I had much more control over my waste because there were so many options for recycling and composting. I began to wonder if I could keep better track of what I was throwing away. I then remembered watching a video on YouTube probably a year ago about a woman who hadn’t thrown anything away in four years. By collecting all of her trash in a mason jar and recycling, composting, and not buying what she couldn’t, Lauren Singer was able to live a zero-waste lifestyle. Here is the video in which she goes through the contents of her jar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuABgFsv5pw

I figured that I might as well try the same thing, if not permanently then as a sort of experiment. I had two small glass jars that I got from my mom and was determined to try my hardest to throw nothing into the landfill-bound trash can. In reality, attempting to go zero-waste was more of a challenge than simply an experiment.

I found some of the biggest challenges to be centered around food. It was easy to buy items and use a reusable bag to carry them, but some of the food I bought was not packaged in recyclable materials. This was both good and bad. Bad, because I would have to take up room in my jar to dispose of the packaging, but good because I was less inclined to eat the packaged food, which was usually heavily processed. I found myself eating more and more at the dining hall too, rather than taking my food to-go, in which case it would come packaged in Styrofoam which is not recyclable. Eating out was also difficult because not finishing my food meant that it was likely going in the trash, not the compost. However, most of the trash I did have that was unable to be recycled was small enough to fit in my jar.

I made it an entire month. For one month I obsessed over what I consumed and what I got rid of, and I learned a lot from it. One negative outcome of my experiment was that afterwards, though I was letting myself throw away trash, I felt really bad about it. It often gave me anxiety to actually throw something away for a while. It did, however, teach me how to be mindful of what I bought, used, and threw away. Though I am no longer restricting my waste as much as I did, I have been able to reduce my waste just from paying attention to it. I highly recommend challenging yourself to being zero-waste for awhile to see your own impact on the earth.Here is my jar!

Today I am focusing on mindful eating. I am not here to tell you that you’re not allowed to eat processed food, or that you’re cruel for eating steaks and hamburgers. I simply want to share how making healthy dietary decisions and clean eating can help your own body as well as the environment. Clean eating involves being mindful about the processes your food goes through prior to ingestion. Many people who are mindful about what they eat follow diets that include mostly fruits and vegetables, no processed food, no added sugar, coloring or preservatives, fewer animal products, as well as non-gmo and organically grown options.

Dangers to the Body

I became a vegetarian seven years ago, and due to my dietary change, I decided to do more research on how eating better could help my body. I read articles and watched documentaries and discovered how amazing the human body is, and how it needs to be cared for. Our bodies need fuel to keep going, which comes in the form of calories and more precisely calories from complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates take longer to breakdown in the body, therefore providing us with more energy, however, in today’s society too many carbohydrates come in the form of simple sugars which are added in abundance to processed food. This would be all of the high fructose corn syrup you see on your food labels. According to Medical News Today, processed food and drink are the biggest sources of added sugar, which can increase the risk of heart disease, obesity, and cancer. They additionally are high in bad fats, like trans-fat and saturated fats (that come primarily from animal products), which clog arteries and increase risk of various diseases and high cholesterol and blood pressure as well. Processed foods also have negative effects on the mind, as the high sugar and fat contents can become addictive. Processed foods are a source of instant gratification. The quick rush of happiness that comes with a bite of a food that tastes good has created a nation of junk food addicts, and guarantees that consumers will be back to buy that product again.

Environmental Concerns and the Food Industry

Why do you think the United States is one of the most obese nations? Well, there are many reasons that factor into this, but most importantly, I think it is the ease of which we can get foods that aren’t good for us. Companies in the food industry use cheap products in their processed food, which are usually very low in nutrients and fiber, but people will buy them because they taste good and are easy on the wallet. Unfortunately, buying a hamburger from a fast food joint is usually more filling and cost effective than buying a head of lettuce. This is because the hamburger will contain numerous preservatives that will increase its shelf life, meat that was factory farmed and pumped full of hormones to get more out of it, and a lot of fat to make it taste good, covering up the fact that its ingredients are actually foul. However, it’s cheap to make and cheap to buy, so it is popular. This hamburger brings up the issue of factory farming, which is cruel to animals as well as people. Animals in factory farms are raised in dirty, crowded conditions and given hormones to make them grow in unnatural ways. And yes, when you consume the meat from that animal, you will consume everything that they did. Factory farming is also a huge contributor to air pollution, with over 37 percent of methane emissions coming from it according to onegreenplanet.org.  Therefore, our diets do have an impact on something even so big as global warming.

An End Note

I’m not encouraging anyone to do a 360 turn in their diet, because that’s just not sustainable. Gradual changes have to be implemented in order to create a lasting dietary change. Turning to cleaner eating is a process that may start out simply by trying to fill half your plate up with vegetables, or eating fruit for breakfast instead of a processed granola bar. It might be helpful to only eat meat 3 days a week instead of all seven, or to only get meat raised on local, grass-fed farms. The biggest part of clean eating that I want to emphasize is to simply be mindful about what you consume, and really consider each bite you take. I, personally, do not eat 100 percent clean food. I still eat pizza and cake and enjoy in foods I know aren’t the absolute best for myself, but I have created a diet for myself that I can work with. I have incorporated some fish into my otherwise vegetarian diet, because I researched it and found it might be a good change for my body. Mindful eating is about eating clean foods that improve health and have little environmental impact, but it’s also a journey to a diet that makes your brain and body feel good. Never let the food industry or society tell you that you are wrong for eating what makes you feel good about yourself and your environmental footprint.

Sources

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318630.php

5 Ways Factory Farming Is Killing the Environment

I’m starting off the second semester with a fresh new passion blog! This blog will be about mindful living, which includes being conscious of yourself as well as the world around you. Here I will be sharing posts on creating a healthy headspace and a peaceful mind, as well as keeping the environment healthy. I believe that everything in the world is connected, so in order to take care of ourselves we must also take care of the things, animals and people around us. This also goes the other way. To take care of the environment around us, we must first be taking care of ourselves, our bodies, minds, and spirits. Each post will feature a different way to practice and partake in mindful living.

Stay green, friends

Markie