start your day early

There are several benefits to rising in the early hours and soaking in the ambience. Here are the top few:




Best time to exercise: Did you know yoga exponents always advocate exercising with the rising sun? Doing asanas or even a jog or brisk walk can increase productivity for the rest of the day as it can jumpstart your metabolism levels.

You soak in the quietude: Early mornings are relatively peaceful. You won't have the honking of cars, kids yelling around or the drone of the TV. Experts advocate opening yourself to that kind of peace on a daily basis.

Connect with yourself: It's serene and thus it can be a good time to think, sort out your priorities for the day, use the moment to clear the mind, plan your work ahead and just breathe peacefully.

reasons for meditation

Sitting in total silence, eyes closed, palms facing upward and mouthing Om, may seem a practice for sadhus. But this very mindful meditation technique can fit perfectly into the mundane lives of nine-to-five working professionals. And you'll be more than enlightened. Here are seven benefits ti lure you to trying it.

1. Reduces the pain
Certain studies suggest that the pain you experience in your body is suppressed rage. Meditation helps you cool down. Also, though your back or other body areas may be feeling the ache, part of that pain may actually be in your head. In fact, a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience suggested just 80 minutes of meditation training could cut pain perception nearly in half. In the study, volunteers were given a pain test before and after the meditation training; brain scans using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of pain-reception regions revealed significant changes before and after meditation, too.

people who meditated regularly found pain less unpleasant. Apparently their brains were busy focusing on the present and anticipated the pain less, blunting its emotional impact.

2. Charges up your sex life 
That's right. A little mindfulness can go a long way in bed. A recent research suggested that mindful meditation training (in which a person learns how to bring thoughts into the present moment) can enhance a woman's sexual experience. Turns out, self-judgmental chatter often fills a woman's mind during sex, keeping her from the full sexual experience. In another study, college girls who meditated were quicker to become aroused when viewing erotic photos compared with non-meditating women.

3. Steer clear of mental blocks 
Whether you are trying to get out of a bout of depression or solve a dispute with a friend, doing the same thing in the same way doesn't always work. Meditation can help a person avoid mental traps that drag out problem solving. After just a few weeks of mindfulness training, volunteers were better at switching strategies for problem-solving than volunteers who were not taught the technique.

This difficulty of letting go of old, habitual and non-adaptive ways of responding for the sake of better ones may underlie many of our everyday difficulties. A married couple that repeatedly gets into the same quarrels and arguments may be able to break the cycle and look at things in a fresh perspective. Clinicians may be better able to offer new ways of looking at a clinical situation. Negotiators may be better at finding novel ways to settle disputes. Managers may be better able to think 'out of the box' and replace existing non-adaptive procedures with new and improved ones.

4. Makes you mentally tough 
Meditation can protect a person from the debilitating effects of some emotional events. In a study, US marines preparing for deployment spent two hours each week practising mindfulness meditation training for eight weeks. Compared with the marines who didn't meditate, those who did showed improved moods and working memory (allows for short-term retrieval and storage of information). The training seems to allow individuals to stay alert and in the moment without becoming emotional, equipping them with a mental armour.

5. Helps you keep cool
Both novice and experienced mediators in the study practised compassion meditation (widely practised by Tibetan leaders), which involves focusing on loved ones and directing loving-kindness toward them, and then extending that goodwill to all beings indiscriminately. When participants heard emotional sounds, such as a distressed woman crying or a baby laughing, they showed more brain activity in brain regions linked to empathy while meditating than when not meditating.

6. Helps you focus 
City denizens tend to suffer from mild ADHD. And smart phones, laptops, wi-fi and the opportunity to essentially contact anyone at any time, compounds the problem of distraction. Then how does one stay focused? The Zen practice of 'thinking about not thinking' boosts your attention span by freeing the mind of distractions. A brain-scan study results showed that Zenmeditation training, in which a person stays alert and aware of their breathing and posture while dismissing wandering thoughts, led to different activity in a set of brain regions known as the default network, which is linked with spontaneous bursts of thought and wandering minds. Their brains were also quicker to return to this Zen mode after being distracted compared with those who had no meditation training.

7. Bulks up the brain 
A few Om chants may make you smarter, suggests research on the effects of meditation on the brain. A study found that long-term meditators  have larger amounts of folding, of the brain's cortex than people who don't meditate. The extra folds may allow the meditators to process information faster than others.

people who meditate also have stronger connections between brain regions and show less agerelated brain shrinkage. The bulking-up in white matter was seen throughout the brain, the researchers said.

acceptances power

Happiness lies in the unconditional acceptance of everyday situations, which generally make us sad or angry. Do you know how to cultivate acceptance in your life?

Are you always trying to change things that seem to be out of control? Do fights in your personal relationships affect your day-today functioning? Stop for a moment and try to accept things as they are. According to Psychologist, adopting an attitude of acceptance can neutralise unpleasant experiences and transform them into pleasant ones.
  "When we oppose, we resist reality, and life becomes an endless series of disappointments, frustrations and sorrows. Once we learn to accept and embrace, we find real happiness," 

Train your mind

Your inability to drag yourself to the gym is only in your head. Here's how to overcome it and train your brain. Exercise not only makes you feel fitter, happier and sexier, it also increases your tendency of living to see your next meal. At least that's how your brain's `pleasure means reward centres' (the frontal cortex and nucleus accumbens) view the situation. In fact, the brain is wired to allow the body to rest. When we push ourselves, it wonders why.

The hardwiring that promotes voluntary movement or exercising -is tied to the same neurocircuits involved in searching and feeding. So if our bodies have evolved to conserve energy and resist things like fat loss, then it makes perfect sense that our brains will actually defend against moving too much. The solution is to correct your brain's hardwiring to trick those pleasure-reward centres into perceiving exercise as necessary to your survival. In other words, you need to make your workouts desirable.

staying young

While ageing is a natural process, one you cannot stop, there are lifestyle habits you can adopt, which will help you look, as well as feel youthful!  listing a few down.

One of the most popular cliches — drinking lots of water — is the easiest and most affordable way to staying fit and young! If you consume a good deal of water throughout the day, it will be beneficial for your skin, as it will keep it hydrated and prevent wrinkles and break-outs.

Simply eating right or having a balanced diet is not enough to keep yourself youthful. You need to keep your body active by doing cardio exercises. Running, walking, dancing are good and entertaining forms of exercises.

Smoking is one of those dangerous habits, which rapidly ages your body and appearance. So if you want to look younger and live a longer life, stay away from cigarettes.

Your face and neck are parts that age faster than the rest of your body. If you take good care of your skin, it can take away years from your appearance. Always wash your face twice a day and follow it up with a moisturiser.

Just like your body, even your brain needs exercise, so that it remains active. To do this, get into the habit of reading. Keep challenging your brain by learning a new language or solving crossword puzzles.

Are your exercise is crossing the limit ?

We all are aware of the saying that anything when done in excess is more bad than good, and the same can be rightly said for exercising as well. 



Though getting motivated to start exercising is a challenge for many, the bigger challenge is to take a day off from your exercising schedule, for those who are addicted to it. Our body needs a good amount of rest to combat several challenges and to be ready for daily wear and tear. There's a thin line of difference between exercising and over exercising, you have to take the right steps for a better and a healthy future.

You feel more tired than rejuvenated: One of the main reasons for working out apart from keeping you fit, is that it leaves you energized to tackle the twists and turns of a hectic schedule. However, if after exercising you feel extremely tired all day long, then maybe you need to reassess and redesign your exercising schedule to suit your body needs. Also if you are always in an irritable mood then there are chances that your body is worn out by over exercising and needs some rest.

Less or no sleep at all: If you feel like a sleepy head throughout the day, or do not get any sleep if even after a hectic and tiring schedule, chances are that it is due to you over exercising.

Hormonal imbalances: Hormonal imbalances are one of the major side-effects of over exercising. If you are falling sick often or if your periods are becoming irregular, then take a note of your exercise routine. While exercising in a healthy manner helps you to maintain a healthy and strong immune system, over exercising disrupts it all, leading to excess fatigue and weakened immune system.

Feeling 'blue': Although exercises are known to release hormones that makes you feel, good, fresh and energized throughout the day, over doing it weakens you leaving you moody, blue and completely unmotivated.

Slow recovery: If on a regular basis you are doing a high intensity workout without giving your body the much need break then, your body will recover on a slow pace if and when your body encounters an injury or when the internal immune system slows down. If you don't allow your body to fully recuperate and rebuild, your efforts will not pay any good deeds, especially if you're exercising to get healthy and a toned body.

While is it important to exercise on a regular basis to get a healthy body, it is also equally important to give our body enough rest and listen to the instincts and signals of your body.

sit right at your computer

The right posture while sitting at the desk for long hours can save you from backache. Here's how:

1. Push your hips as far back as they can go in the chair.

2. Sit straight, but make sure the small of your back gets some support.

3. Adjust the seat height so that your eyes are at level with your screen and your knees equal to, or slightly lower than, your hips.

4. Let your wrists rest on your desk and don't extend your hand too far while operating the mouse.

5. Ensure your feet are supported either by the floor or a footstool.