by Valerie Brooks

Detox Yoga

The holidays have passed…but there are always more around the corner. Post-celebrations can wreak havoc on your metabolism and leave you bloated, clogged, and sluggish. Yoga blogger, Sadie Nardini, has created a step-by-step holiday detox yoga sequence to address the issues of over-indulgence. She has chosen specific poses to help eliminate water weight, burn calories, oxygenate the body, tone the muscles, and release tightness due to stress. Her detailed instructions and photos will help make that extra glass of eggnog go down with a little less guilt. See Gaiam Blog.

The Mystery of Yantra Yoga

Yantra Yoga is an ancient Tibetan practice that is not widely known. Also called “the yoga of movement,” this is an unusual form of the art we are typically accustomed to. Watching someone perform the “asanas” is quite the spectacle, and includes such things as smacking, shaking, seated jumps, and torso and head twisting. The practice was designed to open the energy passages that relate to breathing. This video shows a devotee practicing yantra yoga, but warns the viewer not to copy him. He advises the curious yogi to train under a seasoned yantra yogi. Go to Youtube.com.

Trading Corporate for Fitness

This recent New York Times article sheds light on an interesting trend that shows many high-paid office executives trading in their business suits for fitness outfits or yoga gear for a more satisfying and health-promoting career. And they’re doing it at huge financial losses—happily. One such person, 30-year-old Chrissy Carter, is a former equity sales trader turned yoga instructor, who actually brings some of the skills she learned in her high-pressure Wall Street job to the mat. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that fitness workers will grow approximately twenty-seven percent between 2006 and 2016. In this challenging economy, where nobody’s job is secure anymore, it’s comforting to know that fitness will never go out of style. See The New York Times.