Ten keys to happier living

Ten keys to happier living

The Ten Keys are explained in more detail below. Ea

ch has a related question to help us think about

how our activities and attitudes affect our well-be

ing and the well-being of the others around us.

GIVING

Do things for others

Caring about others is fundamental to our happiness

. Helping other people is not only

good for them and a great thing to do, it also make

s us happier and healthier too. Giving

also creates stronger connections between people an

d helps to build a happier society for

everyone. And it's not all about money - we can als

o give our time, ideas and energy.

So if you want to feel good, do good!

Q: What do you do to help others?

 

 

RELATING

Connect with people

Relationships are the most important overall contri

butor to happiness. People with

strong and broad social relationships are happier,

healthier and live longer. Close

relationships with family and friends provide love,

meaning, support and increase our

feelings of self worth. Broader networks bring a se

nse of belonging. So taking action to

strengthen our relationships and create new connect

ions is essential for happiness.

Q: Who matters most to you?

 

 

 

EXERCISING

Take care of your body

Our body and our mind are connected. Being active m

akes us happier as well as being

good for our physical health. It instantly improves

our mood and can even lift us out of a

depression. We don't all need to run marathons - th

ere are simple things we can all do to

be more active each day. We can also boost our well

-being by unplugging from

technology, getting outside and making sure we get

enough sleep!

Q: How do you stay active and healthy?

APPRECIATING

Notice the world around

Ever felt there must be more to life? Well good new

s, there is! And it's right here in front

of us. We just need to stop and take notice. Learni

ng to be more mindful and aware can

do wonders for our well-being in all areas of life

- like our walk to work, the way we eat

or our relationships. It helps us get in tune with

our feelings and stops us dwelling on the

past or worrying about the future - so we get more

out of the day-to-day.

Q: When do you stop and take notice?

TRYING OUT

Keep learning new things

Learning affects our well-being in lots of positive

ways. It exposes us to new ideas and

helps us stay curious and engaged. It also gives us

a sense of accomplishment and helps

boost our self-confidence and resilience. There are

many ways to learn new things - not

just through formal qualifications. We can share a

skill with friends, join a club, learn to

sing, play a new sport and so much more.

Q: What new things have you tried recently? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIRECTION

Have goals to look forward to

Feeling good about the future is important for our

happiness. We all need goals to

motivate us and these need to be challenging enough

to excite us, but also achievable. If

we try to attempt the impossible this brings unnece

ssary stress. Choosing ambitious but

realistic goals gives our lives direction and bring

s a sense of accomplishment and

satisfaction when we achieve them.

Q: What are your most important goals?

RESILIENCE

Find ways to bounce back

All of us have times of stress, loss, failure or tr

auma in our lives. But how we respond to

these has a big impact on our well-being. We often

cannot choose what happens to us,

but we can choose our own attitude to what happens.

In practice it’s not always easy, but

one of the most exciting findings from recent resea

rch is that resilience, like many other

life skills, can be learned.

Q: How do you bounce back in tough times?

EMOTION

Take a positive approach

Positive emotions – like joy, gratitude, contentmen

t, inspiration, and pride – are not just

great at the time. Recent research shows that regul

arly experiencing them creates an

'upward spiral', helping to build our resources. So

although we need to be realistic about

life's ups and downs, it helps to focus on the good

aspects of any situation – the glass

half full rather than the glass half empty.

Q: What are you feeling good about?

ACCEPTANCE

Be comfortable with who you are

No-one's perfect. But so often we compare our insid

es to other people's outsides.

Dwelling on our flaws - what we're not rather than

what we've got - makes it much

harder to be happy. Learning to accept ourselves, w

arts and all, and being kinder to

ourselves when things go wrong, increases our enjoy

ment of life, our resilience and our

well-being. It also helps us accept others as they

are.

Q: What is the real you like?

Meaning

Be part of something bigger

People who have meaning and purpose in their lives

are happier, feel more in control

and get more out of what they do. They also experience

less stress, anxiety and

depression. But where do we find 'meaning and purpo

se'? It might be our religious faith,

being a parent or doing a job that makes a differen

ce. The answers vary for each of us

but they all involve being connected to something b

igger than ourselves.

Q: What gives your life meaning?

Kapalbhati Yoga | How to do Kapalbhati Yoga

Kapalbhati is one of the best yoga techniques that have been given to us by sages of India. It is a gift to humanity.

Bud Bruce

Kapalbhati is one of the best yoga techniques that have been given to us by sages of India. It is a gift to humanity. The idea is simple, breathe in normally and exhale forcibly allowing the stomach to collapse. Do it for 10 minutes and feel the difference within days.
Kapalbhati is one of my favorite pranayamas. Kapalbhati is a subcategory of Pranayama that comes in the 3rd chapter of "Pantajali Yogdarshan". Amongst the several Pranayamic exercises and techniques; Kapalbhati is noteworthy as Kapalbhati is an exercise the practice of which imparts glow to the skull; a cleansing process which brightens the forehead. Kapalbhati is a pranayama technique which invigorates the entire brain and awakens the dormant centers that are responsible for subtle perception.
Although performing kapalbhati is basically quite straight forward, it is important that it is performed correctly in order to obtain the best results. It includes breathing slowly as usual and then forcing the breath outside. A major effect of kapalbhati is to increase air pressure in short bursts in the nasal pharynx and sinuses, which stimulates the forward part of the brain. However, if both nostrils are blocked, Kapalbhati cannot be done. The technique uses short and strong forceful exhalations while inhalation happens automatically.
Kapalbhati is theretofore a highly energizing abdominal breathing exercise as it causes the stomach to collapse as the exhalations are forced. Kapalbhati is a highly energizing abdominal breathing exercise. Kapalbhati could be done as fast as two strokes in a second. Kapalbhati is the one major yogic breathing technique capable of expelling toxins from the lungs. Though kapalbhati is usually done sitting down, it can be practiced standing up.
This pranayama technique actually invigorates the brain and cleanses the mind. I think Kapalbhati is the one that helps me most. Baba Ramdev is a great proponent of the Kapalbhati and suggests at least 10-15 minutes a day to get rewards.
Benefits of Kapalabhati:
1) Kapalabhati cleanses the lungs and entire respiratory system.
2) The blood is purified and body gets an increased supply of oxygen to all cells.
3) Digestion is improved.
4) Abdominal muscles are strengthened.
5) Prepare the mind for meditation.
6) Energize the mind for mental work.
How to do Kapalbhati Pranayama:
1) Sit in comfortable crossed leg position with Back straight. Hands resting on knees in either chin or gyana mudra. Face to be relaxed.
2) Inhale deeply through nostril, expanding abdomen and exhale with the forceful contraction of abdominal muscles. (Pull the abdomen in by quickly contracting the abdominal muscles and exhale through the nose). The air is pushed out of lungs by contraction of the diaphragm.
3) After exhalation again inhalation but inhalation should not involve any effort. To inhale just relax and the lungs will automatically expand and filled with air.
One can begin with 15 respirations. After completing 15 quick exhalation and natural inhalation inhale and exhale deeply. This is one round. One can start the practice of Kapalbhati pranayama with 3 such rounds for practice.

Simple Rules to Develop Your Exercise Routine

Staying fit takes hard work, sweat and determination. For many people trying to break through and start a regular schedule of healthy exercise, the task is difficult without some guiding principles. Beginners can benefit a great deal from implementing the FITT principle. The FITT principle is a very simple, yet complete set of directions for resistance training. It can be applied to anaerobic and aerobic strength, but also to increasing limit speed and limit strength.

Frequency

Determining the frequency of work-outs begins with an assessment of your physical state. Beginners need more work, so if you are in that category, be prepared to participate in a program 3 times a week. If you have been working out for a whole and are only looking to maintain your strength, then the number of routines can be reduced to two times a week. Building strength with a serious regimen requires at least 5 individual sessions. If you are a long time trainer, in an upper level class of athletes, you may require up to 14 or more routines a week.

Intensity

The intensity of your work-out should vary according to the number of times you work out in a given week. This is necessary to maximize results. If your program calls for 2-3 work-outs a week, then you should be incorporating high intensity sessions. In any situation that calls for training more than 5 times a week, be sure to divide your regimen into multiple macrocycles or microcycles. Exercises should vary in both method and intensity.

Type

The first rule of thumb when deciding on the types of exercise to implement in a routine is to again review your physical status. If you are a beginner, your focus will be to try and reverse the effects of muscles and body system degradation due to disuse. Beginners should start by training 2 to 3 times weekly. The exercises should incorporate a large array of moves and methods.

Established Athletes should also follow a similar plan during the off-season. During the season, and even in a pre-season, athletes should refine the included exercises according to the demands of their sport.

Time

The length of your session depends on the objectives. For anaerobic training, limit time to less than an hour per work-out. Aerobic training has a higher threshold - you can exercise for up to 2 hours each session.

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Creating Health and Fitness Goals Year Round

You don't have to wait until New Year's Day to implement resolutions to improve your health and fitness. Regardless of the month or day, you can take action now to achieve your health and fitness goals. Here are some tips to get you started: * Select one area to work on: Many people make the mistake of trying to make himself or herself into a new person overnight. It's unreasonable to expect yourself to, at the snap of a finger, change habits that you have spent years cultivating. Instead, select one health and fitness area to work on.

* Select a specific goal: Saying that you "want to lose weight" or "get in shape" is too vague. You need to come up with a concrete goal in order to measure your progress and celebrate your success.

* Select a realistic goal: If you've been a sugar junkie for 20 years, you can't expect to go cold turkey overnight. You may be able to cut sugar out for a few days or even a few weeks, but you won't be able to keep it up for the rest of your life.

* Opt for incremental change: In the sugar scenario, outline a series of steps you can take over time to achieve your goal. The first step might be to switch from regular soda to sugar-free soda. After successfully doing that for a month, tackle the next step - maybe a switch from regular to sugar-free ice cream, or restricting desserts to weekends only. Incorporating small changes over time dramatically increases the chance that you'll make it a permanent lifestyle change.

* Get some support: In a society that supersizes everything, it's never easy to stick with your health and fitness goals. Enlist the help of a friend, family member, or co-worker - someone who will help you stay with the program. If your goal is to go to the gym three times a week, for example, knowing that your friend is waiting there for you might be just the incentive you need to make sure you follow through. For extra motivation, put a dollar in a jar every time you go to the gym, then treat yourself to something special at the end of each month.

* Celebrate your success: We're quick to beat ourselves up when we don't reach our health and fitness goals, but we rarely celebrate our successes. When you've achieved one of your goals, give yourself a pat on the back. Treat yourself to a massage, a new pair of shoes, or a night out with your friends.

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