Family Health

If you’re trying to add more activity and movement to your life, one place to look for inspiration is your children. When we were kids, we never said, “I have to go exercise.” We just wanted to play and move. Here are four things about being active and healthy that you can learn from kids:

My main goal at 12 years of age was to own a pair of plastic mouse ears, a salute to Mickey Mouse. Of course, this would require a vacation to Disney World, something every kid in my neighborhood had achieved. Getting there was possible … but sure looked unlikely. My parents, you see, saw no point in traveling to a fantasy world when the real world was so fantastical. I never did acquire that mouse-ear crown.

I dream of a meditation retreat. But, with three high-energy children, three dogs, three cats, a rabbit, an absent-minded husband and a career guiding others to mindful living and travel, that dream remains a long way off. Peace, for now, often comes in the form of clean sheets and a soft pillow each night. I’ve learned, however, that in order to be my best, I need to seek out those Zen moments. Those all-too-fleeting times in my busy day when I get filled from within. When all else falls away and there’s only me. In the moment.

Back in my college years, along with practicing Iyengar and Sivananda yoga, I studied dance, including modern, ballet, jazz, African, Butoh and more. The part of class I loved the most was doing the warm-ups. I totally sucked at the combinations and the jumps, so once the warm-ups ended, I often dashed out of class without being noticed. Those first 20 minutes just felt so good! They melted away my stress and chipped through my body frozen from my winter-logged Chicago campus.

Valentine’s Day is this weekend, which means many of you are probably planning a “date night” with your significant other, some friends or maybe even your kids.  Planning and scheduling time with those you love is obviously crucial to maintaining a healthy and happy relationship.  We are all so busy these days that it’s always a good idea to schedule time to reconnect.

Being a yogini and very health-conscious individual, I have trusted the natural resilience of my immune system for years. Despite the annual suggestion of my doctor­-father to get a seasonal flu shot, I’ve never had one, and I’m happy to report that I have not been sick for over 4 years. In fact, while my anti-flu-shot husband suffered through a week-long bout with the flu a couple of years ago, I slept soundly next to him with no problem.

Could pesto be a prescription for swine flu? When I heard that some people are using basil as a treatment for H1N1, I had to know more. Here’s what I discovered…

It turns out that a variety of basil known as holy basil or tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum), which has long been used as a medicinal herb in Ayurveda, is now being used in India and elsewhere to treat H1N1. According to WebMD, “chemicals in holy basil are thought to decrease pain and swelling (inflammation).”

Confused about what good nutrition is?

You shouldn’t be — we know what works and what doesn’t.

In a moment, I will share five simple tips to help you optimize your nutrition and achieve vibrant health, but first let me clear up a few misconceptions.

By The FIRM Master Instructor Kelly Branning

When I lived in Alaska, I went from my heated house to my heated car to my heated exercise room. Now, in South Carolina, there are days that I go from my air-conditioned house to my air-conditioned car to my air-conditioned exercise room. If you find yourself gazing out the window mid-workout, lingering just a little longer when you retrieve your morning paper or volunteering to walk the dog … don’t fight it! It’s time to get outside.

Ah, summer — longer days, a less structured lifestyle … NOT. If you’re stressed out by your kids’ summer activities, friends, meals, constant messes and late night hours (I have three teens; I can relate!), you know it’s easy to feel you can’t fit in workouts on top of everything else. But study after study has shown that regular exercise is one of the best things you can do when you’re stressed.