Getting fit is a resolution for your life. Not just the new year.

Get fit for life. Couple doing yoga

New year resolutions. They work brilliantly at building the pressure and getting us going. We are all charged up at the start of the year. We push ourselves the first week and drag ourselves the next, and then some piled up work or unplanned evenings take over. Before you know it, it’s June and you are already planning your resolutions for the next year.

The statistics for success with new year resolutions are bleak. Only 8% of people who make New Year’s resolutions stick to them. If you feel you are one amongst the 92% who end up abandoning them after one week, then this blog is for you. YogaHive is all for healthy habits and fitness goals. We live by our mantra to ‘Keep moving’. But we look at fitness as a way of life, as life itself. It’s not just something you hold on to for the new year. Here’s why this year, you should ditch the resolutions about getting fit and adapt the idea of getting fit for life.

1. Slow and steady wins the race, remember?

Yogis should know this the best. Your 45 minutes of yoga might seem slow and boring to someone who is used to 45 minutes of mixed martial arts. You’d think MMA is more strenuous and will probably get you to your goals quicker. But no, yoga heals you slowly. It builds your muscles and enhances your core. In the long term, you will have the body of an MMA expert, the soul of a yogi and the wealth of great health.

Giving yourself a tough goal in the start of the new year and then punishing yourself mentally for not achieving it is the worst way to begin. Don’t plan for the year. Plan for life and start small and slow. Give yourself smaller goals that together give you a great lifestyle.

2. New year resolutions often force us to take up fad diets.

When we miss our first goal, we are still optimistic and believe that we can get to our second one. In the rush, we often succumb to quick fixes, like 10 days to power-abs, or 7 days of the GM diet. We become vulnerable to anything that can help us get to our missed goals. Do you remember Googling ‘magic pills’ that you can pop to get fit? These fad diets to gain muscle or lose weight, might just work if you are resilient and crazy enough (for instance, crazy enough to eat 10 bananas every day!) But as soon as you will be off the diet and on to your normal routine habits, you will undo all the good. Not only will the fad diets harm your health, whatever benefit you got from them, will also vanish.

Which is why we believe, getting fit is not a quick fix. Think of it as a life-term relationship. Just resolve to yourself, to exercise every day, 5 days a week for 45 minutes. To not eat unhealthy foods for 5 days a week. To switch from soda to juice, for life! To remove carbs from your dinner, for life! To excel in yoga alignment and all those complicated asanas, for life! If you set for yourself such goals, you will notice a healthy change inside you. You will not stress about them but accept them as a part of your healthy lifestyle.

3. It’s a new year. But what about a new day, every day?

Come to think of it, we get a new day every day. A new year begins every new day. We are blessed to wake up and witness the beauty of this new day. If we start living life, one day a time, we will notice how our worries cease to exist and how every day is like a super-packed year which needs us to be fit. Get fit. Every new day.

yoga-morning

Get fit for life.

If you have given yourself unrealistic goals this new year, look at them again from a larger perspective and try to give yourself a goal for life. Then break down your goal for life into smaller doable actions every day. If you have given yourself realistic goals and are determined to get to them this year, no matter what? Then we sincerely wish you fall in that 8% which is successful.

Keep us posted on your fitness stories on Facebook and Instagram by following our hashtag #GetFitForLife. And remember, goals or no goals, just keep moving. Feel alive and feel grateful. If you are having trouble with that, our yoga pants will surely help. 🙂

Anti Aging Yoga Poses: How To Stay Young And Healthy With Yoga

yoga-benefits-anti-aging

It’s easy to believe that yoga keeps our body strong and healthy. We are living the benefits of yoga every day. One asana at a time. The anti aging yoga poses are some of the first ones that yoga teachers often teach beginners. You are probably already practicing them. But the benefits of yoga extend beyond our body, to our mind and soul.

A recent U.S. based study proves that yoga can help improve memory and the ability to focus, which people often lose as they age. In the experiment, over a period of 12 weeks, one group of adults with mild cognitive impairment were asked to do a series of proven memory-enhancing brain-training exercises, while another group was asked to practice Kundalini yoga and meditation. It was found that both the groups showed the same signs of development, but the group of yogis should a better ability to stay focused, de-stressed and sharp. Isn’t that amazing? So yoga not only keeps our body young, it even works its magic inwards.

What makes yoga anti-aging?

It’s easy to make a list of the benefits of yoga. Nobody will know them better than us yogis who practice yoga every day. A lot of people start doing yoga to stay fit and slim. But the world over, and especially in the east, where yoga originated, the reasons to practice yoga are often health related. Cancer patients, thyroid patients, diabetics, people with vascular diseases, depression, anxiety, the list of people who look towards yoga as the answer to their troubles is long. Making one look younger or live longer, is simply the “by-product” of all these other benefits. Those rhythmic inhales and exhales and those calm mantras that we chant while practicing yoga go deep inside. They purify us from inside, making us stronger, healthier and as a result, immune to common illnesses and troubles.

Which yoga poses are anti-aging?

anti aging yoga poses

1. Equal standing

This pose helps you develop awareness of postural tendencies.  Imagine that a string is pulling you up from the crown of your head. Notice if you’re slouching and stand up straighter, without over engaging any muscles.

2. Tree pose

Tree pose is a simple balancing posture that helps you keep your body strong enough to hold your weight as you age. Make sure you practice the tree pose on both your legs. It is important to maintain blood circulation equally in both.

anti aging yoga poses benefits

3. Squat

Strong thigh muscles will help protect the knees from pain and injury. Knee-injury is one of the most common signs of growing old. Healthy thighs will protect your knees and support your active lifestyle for a longer period than usual.

4. Downward dog

A classic and well-known yoga pose, downward dog improves upper-body strength, promotes a healthy spine and stretches the back body. It keeps fat from accumulating on common spots like the tummy, arms and chin. Keeping these areas firm is step 1 towards looking young and feeling healthy.

5. Sun Salutations with rhythmic breathing

anti aging yoga poses

Sun salutations have a long list of benefits. They keep your body in shape and work differently for everyone. If your body type is lean, they will help you stay lean. If your body type is curvy, they will help you stay curvy. At the same time, they will keep wrinkles away. When you inhale and exhale as you make those poses, your lungs purify and pump clean blood. This keeps your skin healthy and glowing. Sun salutations performed in the morning at sunrise have an even greater impact on keeping you looking 5 years younger.

What habits can be added to our lifestyle, to make our yoga more effective?

If its anti-aging benefits are the chief reason behind your yoga sessions, then you will be glad to know that you can couple your yoga asanas with some healthy habits to increase its impact.

How to make yoga more effective?

drinking water benefits

1. Drink 4 cups of hot water every day
2. Eat a bowl of fresh veggies at least once a day
3. Start your day with two glasses of water
4. Have an apple for breakfast instead of coffee or tea
5. Practice Pranayama breathing exercises daily for a minimum period of 15 minutes

Add these simple tricks to the anti-aging yoga poses and you have for yourself a true mantra for longevity and youthfulness. The benefits will start showing immediately for most, and gradually for others. But irrespectively, don’t give up. Adopt these as your regular lifestyle and keep living every day, healthier and happier. You know what else can make you happier, our yoga pants! The perfect leggings for a healthy yogi who has set out to find the secret to staying young and healthy are right here. Take a look.