Get Into Alamo Half And Experience A Sound Challenge

By Mary Meyer

Keeping your body healthy is really a great challenge nowadays. The food serve on the table can be less nutritious due to the huge manufacturers of ready to eat ones. These are all available in wide array of choices to suit the demand of the busy life of everyone. But, when you have a determination to do so the task can be easily done and the goal can be reached immediately.

To join in this kind of race needs a lot of training. A huge amount of time is needed here in order to make your body tuned to all the challenges. The Alamo Half appears to be easy but it is hard in the real sense. There is not a time to waste in here and you must start conditioning yourself if you really want to qualify. Only those who meet the standards will be permitted to go on.

It keeps you eyeing for a healthy lifestyle. If you want to join here, you should be able to keep a healthy routine. Your lifestyle has to be sound because no one can finish the challenges if the practices are not for the goodness. It includes eating the right amount and kind of food. Drink plenty of nutritious liquid and not the concentrated ones.

You need to have the right endurance. The very reason why those people who always join the race finish it is their strong endurance. This can only be achieved through a lot of hard work and determination. Always do your training and never miss a day or even an hour. Your time is important here.

Always bear in mind the goal you must achieve. Keep the goal with you. Have a record of what kind of activities you want to finish in a particular day. If you think you already master one routine double it up. The tougher your routines are the higher the chances that you are going to beat the finish line.

Take a look at those successful ones and how did they do it. It is okay to feel inferior. All the successful ones felt the same way. But, you must fight that negative emotion and continue what you have started. Look at those people who get the success. They did all of it because of their undying determination.

This activity can offer you a lot of success. This is not about having yourself in the pedestal. This will give you a whole identity that you will surely love the most. If you eye on success, you know how to rise up.

A trainer can give your best shot. This professional can help you get through your day. He or she is responsible for recording the activities and pushing you beyond what you can do. This person will be with you in all training.

Your mind is always directed towards healthy routines. The more you think of this challenge the more you get inspired to perform best. Ask yourself if ever you have the willingness and if you have, exert much effort.

About the Author:

If you are looking for the facts about The Alamo Half, pay a visit to our web pages today. More details are available at http://alamocityrunfest.com now.

Yoga Pain Management and Sound Therapy

by Ram

Ann Dyer, Yoga Teacher and Musician, by Melina Meza

Yoga stress management practices, including meditation, focused relaxation, and relaxing asanas, help manage stress, which can have a feedback effect on improving pain. In my post How and Why Yoga Helps with Pain, I highlighted the benefits of yoga in curbing pain. Yoga (asanas, meditation, and pranayama) helps in the following ways: 

• Triggers increased flow of oxygen to the brain and muscle tissues that improves energy levels and sense of wellbeing.
• Helps to release muscle tension and stretch the muscles thereby reducing the intensity of the pain
• Creates more mental clarity thereby decreasing the level of perceived suffering
• Helps manage stress that can have a feedback effect on improving pain.
• In animal models and in humans, studies show that the practice of yoga reduces pain perception. 

In today’s article, I present yet another evidence-based study that describes the benefit of another Yoga relaxation technique, the effect of sound therapy in reducing the pain response. In several yoga studios, the practice of asans is accompanied by soft sounds of music. The sounds could be from an audio setting or it could be a live music. Several Bay Area yoga studios also feature soft music/kirtans/mantra recordings/or live chanting while the asana class is in progress. In some cases, teachers start and end their practice with the chanting of Aum, an invocation to Patanjali or Ganesh, a Peace (shanti) mantra, etc. For a moment, keep aside your religious affiliation and recall just what those sounds did to your body, mind, and intellect. If you are unable to recall, the next time you are in a class where the asana practice is accompanied by some sound, be more attentive and notice what it does to you before and after the class. 

In my own home practice, I always like to play some soft music as I go through my Yoga routine. When I hear the mantras or sounds of Aum or some musical sounds of nature, a sense of calmness prevails, the chattering in my mind stops, and I feel more attentive and motivated. This state of the body and mind helps as I go through my asana practice. Did you know that since time immemorial, sound was used as a healing tool in almost all of the spiritual traditions? Be it the soft temple bells, chants of Aum, notes from various musical instruments, resonance from the tuning forks, crystal bowls, or Tibetan bowls, among others, sounds have been an integral part of the healing power of not just Hindu or shamanic culture but other traditions as well. My grandfather and his colleagues practiced Sandhya-vandhana (salutations at dawn and dusk that included asanas, mudras, meditation, and pranayama), either at the temple courtyard, in the farm, or by the riverside so they could tune in to the gentle sounds. 

The basic principle of sound/music therapy is that the tune, articulation, pitch, and the arrangement of the musical notes have a major impact on a person’s body, mind, and intellect. Pleasant and relaxing sounds shift the predominant beta brain waves (which keeps us aroused, alert, but also stressed) to alpha waves that puts the individual in the state of “Zone/Flow,” characterized by a state of improved focus, concentration and performance (see Positive Psychology vs. Yoga Philosophy). This is also the state characterized by the release of feel-good brain chemicals, such as endorphins, noradrenaline, and dopamine. Sounds alter the energy patterns in the body and mind, facilitate the connection between mind-body-intellect, and transform the individual into a high state of consciousness. This is why sound therapy is highly recommended for panic attacks and anxiety. Sound therapy serves as a tonic to the brain and is used frequently in the treatment of depression and pain as well.

In a recent study entitled “Complimentary effect of yogic sound resonance relaxation technique in patients with common neck pain," a group of scientists decided to investigate the role of a yogic relaxation technique called mind sound resonance technique (MSRT) as a form of non-surgical management for chronic neck pain. MSRT involves paying attention to the vibrations and resonance from chanting the syllables A, U, M, (Aum/Om) and the Mahamrityunjaya mantra sounds, with the eyes closed. It can be practiced in a supine or sitting posture. The chants are an alternate combination of loud chants and mental sounds repeated three times.

The sample size consisted of 60 literate patients in the age group of 20–70 years with no previous exposure to yoga. All of them suffered from chronic neck pain due to spasm (myalgia), strain of the neck muscles, ligament strain, or cervical spondylosis. Patients were randomized into two groups of 30 each using a computer-generated algorithm. The group included 28 females and 32 males. Both groups received conventional physiotherapy for 10 minutes and ultrasound massage for 10 minutes. Following these procedures, the control group had a non-guided supine rest for 20 minutes. The Yoga group received the mind sound resonance technique (MSRT) through a prerecorded audio tape played with head phones for a period of 20 minutes. The chants alternated from loud notes (Ahata) to unheard sounds (Anahata-mental notes). Instructions were provided to relax, focus, and concentrate on the sounds. The sessions lasted for 10 days. 

Data was collected before the onset of the study and on the final day. Several parameters for pain were measured. Improvements in neck muscle tenderness, neck disability, and movements of the neck were observed in both groups. The MSRT-yoga group showed significant reduction in pain (by 95.5%), tenderness (by 92.82%), and neck disability (91.32%). The cervical spinal flexibility, movements of the neck, (flexion, extension, lateral flexion—to right and left—and lateral rotation—right and left) all improved significantly in the MSRT group compared to the control group. 

This study reminded me of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s impressive articles on mindfulness and pain management all of which point out to the fact that mindfulness strategies including but not limited to relaxing and meditative sounds serve as an appropriate adjunctive treatment for chronic pain by lowering stress, reducing pain response, improving mental emotions, and physical flexibility. So if you wish to see health benefits from your yoga practice, you could complement your practice by  listening to or chanting  soothing/relaxing sounds.

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Pratyahara the Sense of Sound and Hearing

by Ram 

In a Tunnel by Melina Meza

"Deafness separates us from people" —Helen Keller

In my last post Pratyahara and Healthy Aging, I introduced the topic of pratyahara and defined the term as “Using our our senses with total/complete awareness.” It is through the five senses that we bring in impressions into our mind and body thereby absorbing the world around us. Thus, we are what we eat, smell, see, hear and touch. Since our five senses serve as portals or gateways into our body, mind and consciousness, it becomes very important to be aware of what we are drawing in through the five senses. If we absorb harmonious impressions, we will in turn be healthier. If we take in that which is unhealthy, the mind and body suffer. Thus, physical and mental instability can arise if we bring on low-quality sensory impressions.

The sense of sound is perceived by the ears and through these sense organs we bring in the sounds of the environment. Sounds can have profound effects on our physiology. Ask a person who is living in a war zone and being exposed continuously to high decibel sounds of machine guns or bombers flying overhead. Compare that to the sounds of your breath during a yoga session or to soft sounds of nature. While the former can result in a pathological condition including profound hearing loss, the latter uplifts our mind and spirits.

Hearing loss is a major public health issue and is the third most common physical condition after arthritis and heart disease. Approximately 20 percent of adults in the United States experience some degree of hearing loss, with aging and chronic exposure to loud noise being the two most common causes. There exists a strong relationship between age and hearing loss. Age-associated hearing loss (aka presbycusis) is characterized by changes in the inner ear, which deteriorates as the individual gets older. While the loss may be mild or severe, it is permanent and irreversible.

Other causes of hearing loss include ear-trauma, damage/injury to the ear, infection, common cold, or earwax buildup. Furthermore, hearing loss is often accompanied with severe ringing in the ears (tinnitus) that in itself is very discomforting. In addition, degeneration or loss of function in the vestibular system (the part of the inner ear that is responsible for movement and sense of balance) can lead to balance deficits. Abnormalities in balance function can result in vertigo (sensation of spinning) or disequilibrium (sensation of being off balance and resulting in frequent falls). When balance is impaired, an individual has difficulty maintaining an upright orientation.

Since sound is a form of energy wave and we are all affected by what we hear, we need to be aware of the nature and kind of sounds and create a harmonious auditory environment around us. Other preventative measures to keep the ears healthy include yoga and pranayama, which provide immense benefit to the ears and sense of hearing.

Many traditional yoga poses are focused on balancing the body and the mind. When looking for beneficial yoga poses for the ears, we need to focus on asanas designed to increase balance, including but not limited to standing balancing poses like Tree pose (Vrkshasana), Extended Hand-To-Big-Toe pose (Utthita Hasta Padangustasana), and the Warrior poses, especially Warrior 3 (Virabhadrasana 3). If you have a hearing loss that is associated with spells of dizziness, you need to modify your yoga practice and also avoid holding the poses very long.

In his recent post Dizziness and Yoga Baxter provided tips regarding do’s and don’ts of specific poses to relieve vertigo. If the hearing loss is due to an acute infection, poses such as Downward-Facing Dog offer relief by releasing pressure from the ears. Plow pose (Halasana) aslo offers a host of health benefits, including potentially relieving sinus pressure. Notice that in these poses the heart is higher than the head; as a result these poses increase the blood flow to the head which can help restore ear health. For beginners or for people with existing ear issues like pain or pressure, I would suggest doing the above with suitable props. Check Nina’s extremely informative post All About Supported Inverted Poses on supported inversions where she discussed the above-mentioned asanas and other poses using suitable support .

Additionally, pranayama (deep breathing exercises) can help alleviate pain or ringing in the ears associated with tinnitus. In his recent posts Tim McCall described Bhramari pranayama and  Anuloma-Viloma/Aternate nostril breathing. In addition to its immense benefits on the heart and toning down the agitated mind, the role of these pranayama techniques is described in classical texts for in relieving problems associated with the ear and the sense of hearing. Pranayama can be done in conjunction with the yoga poses mentioned above., however, I prefer doing pranyama at the end of a yoga session to achieve greater benefits and relaxation.

Whatever options you choose to keep your ears and sense of sound intact, remember that the power of choice and the power to control our environment that surrounds us lies within us. Let us use this power and surround ourselves with a healthy auditory environment. I am reminded of notable German physicist G.C. Lichtenberg’s famous quote:

"What a blessing it would be if we could open and shut our ears...."

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