Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

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Posts Tagged ‘stress relief’

Liquid Mind Is Great Music

Posted by terrepruitt on June 27, 2018

Once upon a time, when I first got my phone I had Pandora on it. I actually still have the app on it, but I no longer use it because it requires a log in and I just can’t remember it. I don’t even know if it always required a log in and I forgot it or if I stopped using it once it required a log in. I just don’t bother. I have so many log ins to so many things, I rather would not since I don’t have to. BUT . . . we have a Roku and we can use Pandora through it. My husband has a Pandora account. He probably has as many things to log into as I do, but he actually remembers his passwords. Or at least he does a better job than I do. On Pandora you can set up “Radios” or “channels”. He has a few already set up. And he set up one for me for Christmas, which I used through out last year’s entire Christmas season. He also was kind enough to let me set up a “Yoga Radio”.

When I do yoga in the living room I turn on Pandora and scroll over to my Yoga Radio. It is so nice . . . except when I am laying in Shavasana completely relaxed and a commercial starts to blare. Oh well. Otherwise it is great. There are so many great songs out there and Pandora is an awesome way to get exposed to them.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise ClassesWhen listen to my Yoga Radio, I find that whenever I really love a particular song and look up it is pretty much always Liquid Mind. Well, at least when I first started playing my Yoga Radio and I would look up it would be Liquid Mind. Now I don’t even bother looking up because I know it will be Liquid Mind. Liquid Mind has about 15 albums out. Liquid Mind is comprised of composer, producer, and Emmy®-nominated songwriter, Chuck Wild.

Mr. Wild has worked with so many famous people it is amazing. He originally wrote Liquid Mind music as a form of therapy as he and his family and friends — like so many of us — were suffering from anxiety and stress. When he found it to be helpful and healing, he released an album to the public in 1993.

His music is very slow and calming. His website Liquid Mind Music actually urges people to NOT listen to it while driving or operating dangerous machinery as some people may become drowsy and “slow music may cause slower reaction times in some listeners”.

Well, I think it is perfect for yoga, perhaps not Power Yoga or one that is really high energy. But when I am listening to Pandora and doing yoga there are other artists besides Liquid Mind so it works out perfect.

I do love it so much that I have purchased two of his albums. Even though I can listen to it on Pandora, I like to have it on my devices. I will probably end up getting more, perhaps all 15 of his albums.

You can go to his site and listen for yourself. Come back after you do to tell me what you think?

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Some Benefits Of Doing Back Bends

Posted by terrepruitt on April 24, 2014

In one of the sessions I taught for the City of San Jose at the Willow Glen Community Center I taught a progression of back bends over the course of the sessions.  We started with a very gentle standing back bend, Upward Salute.  Then in our next meeting our next step in the back bend lesson plan was a back bend on our bellies, it was a Locusts Pose.  With this one it can be a very gentle progression as it can be done in mini forward steps.  It is an easy pose to modify.  It can be broken down into three separate components all which can be modified.  Then we moved onto the Sphinx Pose, which is more of a bend.  Then the next pose we moved on to was the Cobra Pose.  This is a bigger back bend and while it can be modified it is not as obvious in its modifications as the Locusts Pose.  The last one we did in the series was Upward Facing Dog, which is a hanging pose which allows for a big bend in the back.  In my posts regarding each pose I talked about how to do them, but I didn’t really explain the benefits of them.

Here are some of the benefits of each pose:


Upward Salute
(Urdhva Hastasana)

Good for relief from symptoms of:
Fatigue, asthma, congestion, indigestion.  Also, like all of the back bends, it helps relieve back ache.
It helps Improves digestion, relieve mild anxiety and create space in the chest and lungs.


Locust Pose
(Salabhasana)      (11/17/21: Click Gate, Locust – Pictures May Help for a picture.)

Is an invigorating pose so it can help alleviate fatigue.  It also helps with relieving flatulence and constipation.  It can assist in relieving indigestion.

Sphinx Pose  (Salamba Bhujangasana)      (11/17/21: Click Picture The Great Sphinx for a picture.)

Helps calms nerves and relieve fatigue and stimulates abdominal organs. It also helps relieve stress.

Some say Traditional texts say that Bhujangasana increases body heat, destroys disease, and awakens kundalini.  (According to the Yoga Journal’s website.)

Cobra (Bhujangasana)      (11/17/21: Click Picturing Cobra And Updog for a picture.)

This pose also helps relieve stress.

Soothes sciatica along with the same as the sphinx (some believe that Bhujangasana increases body heat, destroys disease, and awakens kundalini.)

Upward dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana)      (11/17/21: Click Picturing Cobra And Updog for a picture.)

Is similar to the other back bends as it stimulates abdominal organs, and helps relieve fatigue and sciatica. It is also therapeutic for asthma. It also helps with mild depression.

 

Many yoga poses separately boast stress relief.  I believe, however that yoga in general helps relieve stress.  I understand though that some poses target stress specifically.  All the back bends open up the chest and bend the back so ailments associated with those areas are often made better by doing back bends.  The benefits stated here are benefits that can be found after engaging in a yoga practice and doing the poses properly.  This page is not to be used to diagnose or treat any issue you may be having.  Please make sure you are seeing a medical professional for your serious health issues.

In addition to know how to do the pose, I always think it is nice to know how poses can help you.  Back bends are a good way to reduce stress.  Please take caution in doing them.

Do you include back bends in your practice?

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