The feeling of stress is a combination of our perception of events or situations and our body’s physiological reaction. Work issues, difficulties, challenges, obstacles, deadlines, papers, tests, athletic events, performances, family problems, and tragic events are only a few of the situations that can instigate stress. Even joyous events like holidays, weddings and new additions to a family can also exacerbate stress. Natural disasters, world conflicts, tragedies, and stories of suffering and heartbreak, even those occurring on the other side of the world, can have wide ranging impacts, affecting people’s mental health.

to continue, see http://yogaalliance.org/documents/StressReduction07-06.pdf

Comprehensive lifestyle changes including a better diet and more exercise can lead not only to a better physique, but also to swift and dramatic changes at the genetic level, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

In a small study, the researchers tracked 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who decided against conventional medical treatment such as surgery and radiation or hormone therapy.

…continue reading the article called Healthy Lifestyle Triggers Genetic Changes

The system in which you invest yourself is the system in which you believe or in which you come to believe.

Because investing into a system of thought, or paradigm, challenges an identity and forms a future identity, some personal narrative could be beneficial. My father is a somewhat of a holistic dentist in the suburbs of Atlanta whose free-thinking mind and spirit has been one of his greatest gifts. I grew up on a ten-acre lake with 16 acres of woods and pasture land with cows along with a vegetable garden. My parent’s house, built on the cusp of the energy crisis in 1980, had passive solar heat and light. My mom made clothes and fresh-milled bread for our family. Daily wholesome nutrition and supplements were also important items in our household.

…continue reading the article called Investments

It’s perhaps best to talk about parallel theology as parallel spirituality. This mild distinction is perhaps necessary because “parallel theology,” in some people’s minds, often gets relegated to comparative religions about how some cultures have similar creation stories or flood stories or sacrifices or pantheistic deities or One Deity. This kind of information can be helpful, but there may be something more applicable to us in the parallel spirituality field, particularly in regards to healing.  For example, spiritual parallels in the healing field include that the fact that “life force,” pranayama, and ki all denote very similar energies while their names come from separate cultures or philosophical traditions. This almost universally-known primal energy empowers many healing arts, martial arts, and spiritual practices across the traditions.  (It is interesting to note that modern medical science and biology overlooks this simple and powerful primal life force).

…continue reading the article called Parallel Theology, Parallel Spirituality

Weight Management
Preoccupation with weight control is reaching new heights as the obesity crisis is approaching epidemic proportions. The prevalence of adults who are officially considered to be overweight is at an all-time high. Approximately 65% of American adults are overweight, and around 30% are officially obese. The danger in being overweight comes from the complications of carrying excess weight, which include increased risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. People often look toward fad diets or quick solutions in order to lose weight, but it is often longterm lifestyle changes involving sensible dietary changes and exercise that help to support lifelong weight management. As weight control becomes an ever-larger concern, more attention is being directed toward the effects of yoga on long-term weight management. When people begin taking up yoga, they often notice that they are able to lose weight through a regular practice….

for more, see http://yogaalliance.org/documents/WeightManagement07-06.pdf