Alexa Lane | Motivational Speaker and Author
Spirituality and Natural Healing
Kale and Cacao Smoothie
- 1 ½ cup Water or Almond Milk
- 1 ½ cups Kale
- 1 tablespoon Chia Seeds or Hemp Seeds
- 1 Banana
- 2 Tablespoons Cacao Powder or Cacao Nibs
Blend all ingredients and Enjoy!
Side Plank for Scoliosis
According to a recent study published in “Global Advances in Health and Medicine” practicing the Side Plank Pose can reduce scoliotic spinal curvature. The study states that participants who held the pose for 1.5 minutes per day, 6 days per week, for approximately six to eight months significantly improved their scoliotic curve by 32%.
Practice Side Plank Pose/Vasisthasana:
- Begin in Plank
- Transfer your body weight to your left arm and left foot
- Rotate your body open to the right until your hips and shoulders are square
- Raise your right arm up and place your right foot on top of your left
- Modify by dropping your left knee to the floor
- Contract the abdominals, arms, and legs
Link to study: http://www.gahmj.com/doi/abs/10.7453/gahmj.2013.064
5 WAYS PILATES AND YOGA HELPS BOYS WITH SPORTS AND ATHLETIC TRAINING
Pilates and yoga exercises are highly beneficial cross training tools for boys who play a variety of sports. Specifically, pilates and yoga are examples of neuromotor exercise (proprioceptive training) and functional fitness that develops balance, coordination, gait, and agility. Adding pilates and yoga to a sport specific program can help young athletes gain balanced muscular development, flexibility and stability about joints, and reduce injury.
Below are 5 ways pilates and yoga can help boys increase their athletic skills:
- Reduces injuries due to repetitive motion. Pilates and yoga can help by strength training both sides of the body equally to prevent misalignments and to develop joints that have both stability and mobility.
- Improves precision and coordination needed to execute intricate movements in dance, tennis or baseball. Pilates and yoga focuses on the mind/body connection which enhances proprioceptive skills creating precise movement patterns.
- Increases flexibility essential to all sports. Flexibility training is necessary in sports, especially for dance and golf when the spine needs to rotate, flex, and extend.
- Increases abdominal/torso strength which will limit compensatory movements that can lead to wear and tear on the spine.
- Improvement with ADHD symptoms. Studies suggest that boys who practice mind/body exercises have greater concentration and show a reduction in ADHD symptoms.
Resource: http://jad.sagepub.com/content/7/4/205.abstract
VEGAN AND GLUTEN FREE COSMETICS
If you are vegan like me or have gluten sensitivity you may not want to use personal care products or cosmetics that contain ingredients of animal origin or gluten. Finding cosmetics can be difficult because many companies use wheat, animal products, and an ingredient called carmine which is obtained from the carminic acid of scale insects and is often used in lipstick.
I wanted to recommend some of my favorite natural lines that carry vegan and gluten free cosmetics. Of course, always make sure you read all ingredients when shopping.
• Gabriel Cosmetics
• Neal’s Yard Remedies
• Jane Iredale