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SANO Editorial

Yoga has penetrated our society. Millions of Americans have pressed their heels into mats doing downward dog poses to reap the broad, highly-touted health benefits of yoga. Yoga is for everyone targeting mindfulness, detoxification, strength, agility, flexibility, stamina, balance, core and overall strength. To learn more about how yoga could benefit you, continue reading the article below. 

Relieve Stress.  Yoga is not only an effective stress reliever, but also effective to ease symptoms of anxiety. We all have stress around us, but there are various different ways to deal with it. Some chose to go for a 10 mile run while others may choose to lift weights. However, some ways of exiting stress from the body can make us more tired or even more aggressive.   The mind-body practice of yoga leaves you feeling calm, restful and in an improved mood. Plus being in a yoga studio allows us to escape from the daily grind of texts, emails and calls (at least for 90 minutes!).

Build Lean Muscle. Yoga is an exceptional workout to build lean muscle because it leaves no muscle untouched while practicing. Most other workouts target specific muscle groups providing an imbalance to the body’s other muscle groups, while yoga develops muscle mass throughout the body. Not all yoga classes are created equal, so if your goal is to build lean muscle mass, check out Vinyasa or Hatha classes which should provide your muscle groups well-worked and fatigued.

Added Flexibility. Yoga builds muscle by stretching and elongating your muscle groups. By doing so, your fascia—the band of protective tissues that line your muscles—becomes lengthened providing room for expansion. Further increased flexibility also protects and lubricates joints, tendons and tissues. Most series of yoga asanas or poses include gentle twists of the spine to loosen the joints that make up the spine. In addition to promoting better digestion and detoxification, yoga has also been known to improve your golf swing, tennis game, equestrian game or even laying on the beach.

Prevent Injuries. Our body is only as strong as its weakest link and yoga can help scan and identify those areas of deficiencies. When you have a meditative, positive attitude during yoga practices you have a deeper understanding of your stamina, freedom in your body and suppleness reducing the incidence of injury when playing other sports or completing other workouts. Staying mindful during practice causes you really to listen to your body so you can be sensitive to tightness or strains.

Improve Sex. When we carry stress home from work, this can create problems in relationships. When we can extract the root of the cause, we become more peaceful within and are able to communicate to our partners better. Further, we can channel all of those relaxation and breathing techniques from class into the better room to perform longer sex. By improving and strengthening one’s ability to concentrate you can better channel your sexual passion, energy and endurance to enhance orgasms or prevent premature ejaculation.

Increase Confidence. Adding to the many benefits of yoga, it can also increase your self-esteem and self-confidence. Our insecurities are generated by the lack of self-confidence. Without self-confidence, we let fear take over our mind and conquer us. By performing a set of yoga breathing exercises, postures and meditation, you can maintain the balance of both physical as well as mental health.  Yoga makes your body fit with sculpted muscle, strengthens your mind, improves posture and flexibility and more aware of personal limitations and capabilities.

So what are you waiting for? Incorporate yoga into your workout routine to reap the benefits, and refuel and recover afterwards with raw organic vegan protein. Of course the more regular you practice, the faster you will see results.

SANO Editorial

We all want glowing, radiant, clear skin. Aside from genetics, there are so many major factors which make your skin dull and dry: stressful lifestyles, hectic work schedules, inadequate sleep, lack of nutritional diet, city pollution, and harmful sun rays. Here are some simple and effective remedies so your skin will reflect more light providing you daily confidence.

You Are What You Eat. One can start by removing or cutting back on breads, pasta, sugars and any processed food and adding in lots of lean protein, greens and healthy fats into their diet. Not only will you notice an improvement in your complexion, but your energy levels will be increased naturally. Consuming fresh greens, such as kale, arugula, spinach and cucumbers provide oxygen to your body that is second to none and better than topical creams. As we have discussed before, protein provides the building blocks for skin cells that are needed to retain hydration. 

Put Down the iPad in Bed. Sleep plays a significant role in anti-aging. Let’s be honest we are all guilty of neglecting shuteye. Without the proper amount of sleep, fresh cells can’t repair yesterday's damage leading to the accelerating of aging. While asleep, the skin rejuvenates the cells including the production of collagen and elastin, which is the connective tissue responsible for tone, firmness and elasticity. Reading from a tablet or PDA before bed not only makes it harder to fall asleep, but also impacts your mood, energy and alertness the following day. Instead, try reading a printed book or magazine before bed.

Eyes Wide Open. How many times have you heard your eyes are the windows to your age? As we approach 40 our skin begins to lose its elasticity and thins, which can provide a tired appearance. A great at-home beauty treatment to perk up puffy, tired looking eyes is using tea bags. The caffeine removes some of the puffiness by shrinking underlying dark blood vessels and forces out some of the liquid. Begin by soaking the tea bags in hot water for 90 seconds and then dip them into ice water for a few seconds to cool them off. Lie down and apply them directly to your eyes, and you’ll begin to look younger in just 12-15 minutes.

Ice, Ice Baby. Have you ever tried icing? No, not that kind!! A little known (and practically free) DIY tip to keep your skin looking radiant is icing. Ice has the benefit of reducing swelling, inflammation and redness, so put it on a breakout if one occurs. Icing also eases the signs of wrinkles and slows the creation of new wrinkles. This type of cold therapy sends the nerves into temporary hibernation allowing muscles to relax and wrinkles to disappear. Believe it or not, but ice can also be used as a natural exfoliate. Expert tip: when making your ice cubes add a little aloe vera or coconut oil into the water for added benefits.

Use Protection. Summer is almost here and we have plans to enjoy the nice weather at the beach or pool. The sun gives off ultraviolet (UV) light that can cause damage to the skin, including abnormal discoloration, wrinkling or skin cancer. In the morning, apply antioxidant serum followed by broad-spectrum of SPF 30 or higher sunscreen. Sunscreen needs to be applied 30 minutes before going outside and reapplied every two hours. And if you plan to swim, make sure to use water-resistant sunscreen and reapply when getting out of the water. Wearing a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, and seeking shade under an umbrella—especially during 10 am and 2 pm when the sun’s rays are the strongest—are wonderful ways to protect yourself from the sun’s harmful UV rays.