energy | pg.3

Tossing and turning when you should be snoozing? You aren’t alone. More than twenty million Americans suffer from a lack of sleep. In fact, insomnia, defined simply as a “difficulty falling or staying asleep,” is one of the fastest growing epidemics in our society.

From time to time, we highlight the best articles, blogs, news, videos and interesting Web tidbits to help you live fit, live healthy, live green and live happy. Here are this week’s finds.

Health & Wellness

Hula Hooping and Self-Love

We are still early into 2011, so talking about recharging our batteries and taking a rest might sound crazy. However, it’s important to remember that sufficient rest and recovery periods are necessary to avoid burnout and injuries, as well as to get the best results possible from our exercise routines.

Check out this list of signs to see if you may need a little recharging:

Although this may seem an incredible concept, as far as I am concerned, so are diets. If diets and diet books worked, there would not be a multi-multibillion–dollar diet industry. You can and will experience how you can address your body in a new and effective way. If weight is an issue for you, it is a symptom of how you want to change your life. By changing your weight you will change your life.

Anyone who has ever watched a brown bear fish, or an elephant wallow in a water hole, or a curious sea lion come face to face with a snorkeler, knows that one of the highlights of eco-travel is close encounters with wildlife in natural settings.

Buying a kayak qualifies as a “big purchase” for my family, and my husband and I recently took that huge step. Although we’ve had a canoe for a long time, this is our first acquisition of this type of silent-sports, aquatic craft.

Are you tired and worn out? Do you have sore muscles, fatigue and brain fog?

If so, you might have metabolic burnout!

Imagine if you could find a way to tune up your metabolism, increase your energy levels, think clearly and feel less achy. Imagine if you could prevent diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and dementia. Imagine if you could heal fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Imagine if you could get to the roots of aging, slow the whole process and eliminate most age-related diseases.

Happy Chinese New Year and the year of the Golden Tiger, which represents protection, courage and idealism. This passionate and honest creature is a radical (and welcome) change from that worrisome Ox of last year. We can all tap into the tiger’s vigorous hardworking energy to create a better world.

My student Mary came to me nearly in tears one day after class. She’d been working for years to get into a headstand, yet continually watched newer students lift up with ease before her. She asked, “What am I doing wrong?”

Since Mary had come into my yoga classes only the week before, I asked her if she was using her bandhas to help her attain headstand. “What’s a bandha?” she asked, looking puzzled.

Yes, you can have it all, really!

How you eat, think and exercise dramatically affects your mood. You can break the cycle of unhealthy habits and learn to have it all.