Yoga teachers: should you join Yoga Alliance?

should you register as a 200 hour yoga alliance teacher

When you graduate from a 200-hour teacher training that has been approved by Yoga Alliance (YA), you have the opportunity to join the Alliance and become a “registered yoga teacher” or “RYT.” Should you?

Well, until very recently, my answer to this would have been, “No.” Don’t waste your money. Aside from getting to put the letters “RYT” after your name, there wasn’t much benefit to paying your dues. However, Yoga Alliance has been trying to step up their game the last few years, and now it may be more of a toss up.

The History

Yoga Alliance formed in 1997, when a group of yogis came together at the San Francisco Yoga Journal Conference. Seeing the growing popularity of yoga in the United States, they took on the responsibility of creating the yoga teacher training standards, which are now the benchmark for trainings over the world. Since 2013, Yoga Alliance has been focused on offering more tangible member benefits, such as discounts on products and services and online workshops.

Pro’s of Joining

  • Discounts with a wide variety of partners for products (like clothing and props) and services (like legal advice and liability insurance). Partners include companies like Manduka, Half Moon, Gaiam, Jade, YogaU, and MINDBODY). So if you want a discount on your new mat, this could be a good deal.
  • Free Online Workshops (about 90 and counting) on a wide variety of yoga and business subjects. The quality of these workshops isn’t technically high, but it’s content rich.
  • Scholarships (20 scholarships were given out in 2016).
  • You get to add “RYT” after your name, which looks fancy.
  • You get listed on their site as a registered yoga teacher (in case anyone is looking).
  • If you have long terms goals of participating as faculty in registered teacher trainings or offering yoga continuing educational credits, you will have to become a registered teacher eventually.

Con’s of Joining

  • Cost: $115 to join up front, then $65/ year thereafter.
  • People who hire yoga teachers generally don’t care if you are a member (though they may care that your program was registered as a school, they won’t care if you are a current member. I’ve been hiring teachers for about ten years now and never asked if someone was registered).
  • If you want to be faculty or a CEC provider, you don’t have to join now. You can join later when you want to actually start offering course credits. (I didn’t join YA until after I’d been teaching for six years and was creating a teacher training program.)

Recommendations

  • Check out Yoga Alliance’s list of discounts and workshops. If you feel like you will get $115 of value from these offerings, then join now. If you think you can get the same information and value through other channels, then save your money.
  • Whether you join or not, keep an accurate and thorough log of the classes that you have been teaching. If you want to eventually register or upgrade to a 500 hour or E-RYT status, then you will have to provide an accounting for your teaching. Better to proactively track now than to try to backtrack later.
  • If you aren’t a teacher yet, but are looking at teacher trainings, do choose a training that is registered with Yoga Alliance (unless you plan on doing another 200 hour or unless you are focused exclusively on a niche style like Iyengar or Ashtanga). While hiring managers won’t necessarily care if you yourself are a member of YA, we often care that your School is registered.

Questions or comments?

Email me or join the conversation below!

 

Does fasting prolong your life?

is fasting good for you?

Traditional religious practices in Christianity, Buddhism, Islam have all included fasting (Karras et al., 2016). In yoga, fasting is a pillar of the philosophical principle of sauca, or purity. While abstaining from worldly delights (sex, food, alcohol) is certainly a test of mental fortitude, research has shown that caloric reduction through intermittent and periodic fasting can promote longevity and cellular health.

Fasting and Disease Prevention

Researchers have known for years that caloric reduction in mice promotes longevity. In fact, in experimental models, fasting has improved disease outcomes for a wide range of age-related challenges, including “diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancers and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and stroke” (Harvie et al., 2016). Dr. Valter Longo, the Director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California, has done substantial (and remarkable) research into the correlation between caloric control and disease prevention and longevity and has shown a correlation between fasting mimicking diets and cancer prevention and treatment.

Why Does Fasting Work?

Basically, humans evolved to cope with food scarcity. When we fast, the stress on our cells activates a cellular response that improves “mitochondrial health, DNA repair and autophagy…[and] promotes stem cell-based regeneration as well as long-lasting metabolic effects” (Harvie et al., 2016). Autophagy is where our body “eats” itself (starting with stuff that is damaged, diseased and non-essential). When we fast, the body starts to get rid of bad stuff, then when we eat again, our body uses stem cells to rebuild our body afresh.

My 50-year old brother-in-law (a very curious cat about longevity practices) has been exploring fasting techniques in his own life for several years, and is not back to his “fighting weight” from college. My sister, who joined on with him, is now fitting into clothes that have been in the back of her closet for years. However, while fasting can help you lose weight, the less visible benefits (promoting the immune system, cellular regeneration, reduction of inflammation) are far more profound.

Types of Common Fast-Mimicking Diets

  • 5:2 Diet: participants restrict calories by 60% for two days of the week, then eat regularly for five.
  • Time Restricted Feeding: participants restrict food intake to a 6-hour window of time each day in order to prolong the natural fasting period of the body.
  • Intermittent Fasting: fasting for 16 hours to 2 days
  • Periodic Fasting: fasting for 2-21 days

I have played with Time Restricted Feeding and Intermittent Fasting. I find that Time Restricted Feeding (restricting food intake to a 6-hour window) is fairly accessible once you get used to pushing breakfast til past 3 pm. And culturally, it’s a bit easier to not eat breakfast or lunch than to forgo all dinner invitations.

As my anatomy teacher Gil Hedley says, “we are the species that plays with itself.” Just as yoga and meditation practices can deeply impacts your nervous system, your dietary choices will impact some of your deepest cellular processes. If you are interested in exploring these diets, arm yourself with some research. Not only is it fascinating, it will motivate you to last through the initial hunger pangs. Fasting strategies are not appropriate for everyone: pregnant women and children should eat regularly.

Happy and healthy exploring.

Resources

Ted Talk with Dr. Valter Longo (20 minutes)

Ted Talk with Mark Mattson, the current Chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging and professor of Neuroscience at The Johns Hopkins University (17 minutes).

Video Interview with Dr. Valter Longo, Director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California, describing his work in research with fasting (1 hour)

 

Web MD (the cautionary tale)

Great blog from the folks at Nerd Fitness.

References

D, A. P. R., D, S. K. M. D. P., & D, C. P. M. D. P. (2017). Unraveling the metabolic health benefits of fasting related to religious beliefs: A narrative review. Nutrition, 35, 14–20. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2016.10.005

Mattson, M. P., Longo, V. D., & Harvie, M. (2017). Impact of intermittent fasting on health and disease processes.

Ageing Research Reviews, 39, 46–58. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2016.10.005

PhD, R. E. P., PhD, G. A. L., PhD, D. D. S., PhD, A. Z. L., Marinac, C., PhD, L. C. G., et al. (2015). Intermittent Fasting and

Human Metabolic Health. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 115(8), 1203–1212. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2015.02.018

Schübel, R., Graf, M. E., Nattenmüller, J., Nabers, D., Sookthai, D., Gruner, L. F., et al. (2016). The effects of intermittent calorie restriction on metabolic health: Rationale and study design of the HELENA Trial. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 51(C), 28–33. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cct.2016.09.004

Seimon, R. V., Roekenes, J. A., Zibellini, J., Zhu, B., Gibson, A. A., Hills, A. P., et al. (2015). Do intermittent diets provide physiological benefits over continuous diets for weight loss? A systematic review of clinical trials. Molecular and

Cellular Endocrinology, 418(Part 2), 153–172. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.mce.2015.09.014

How to stay healthy while travelling

I love travelling. But I don’t always like its impact on my body.

While travelling can create novel opportunities for exercise (ie: sightseeing a new city, doing a vacation sport like skiing), the fact is that travel will often disrupt our cherished wellness regimes. When we are away from our habitual classes and teachers, it can be easy to fall off of our health wagon. (And I don’t know about you, but I’ve been guilty of treating vacation as an opportunity to “take time off, ” and then found out that I felt worse rather than better!)

However, with a little ingenuity and planning, we can not only feel great on our vacations, but feel better, more healthy, and better rested. 

Here are some of my personal tips.

Cultivate irrepressibility.

Are you embarrassed to do a little warrior two on the plane? Sheepish about whipping out a sun salutation near

your gate at the airport? Yes, thats normal! Most of us are a little self-conscious when we buck the norms in a public place. But as someone who has done the full Ashtanga primary series at Heathrow Airport, let me tell you that my body’s sigh of

relief was well-worth my pangs of mortification. While you may not need to do your HIIT routine in public, embrace a little social awkwardness and run yourself through some stretches and lunges. Your body will thank you. Even better, some airports are now developing DIY yoga and stretch stations. Do a little research before you travel and find out if you can work a practice into your layover.

Celebrate Small Daily Acts.

When we go on vacation, we may not need to do our usual workout routine. But doing a little will go a remarkably long way towards keeping your baseline strong. Even if you don’t have time for a class, do twenty sit-ups, twenty lunges, and hold plank for a minute. Do little end of the day yoga stretch. Even five-ten minutes will help you feel better.

Go local.

Travelling brings fun opportunities to participate in the local scene, and walking can be a great way to take in a new town. See if there is a local bike or walking tour so that you can learn about local history as you go. Maybe there’s a local 5K to run. And if your travel involves physical activity (scuba, skiing, snowshoeing), so much the better!

Bring your balls.

I take my Roll Model® Massage Therapy Balls everywhere. Rolling around on them for ten minutes makes me feel like I had a spa treatment. You can get great little sequences online with Jill Miller to target grumpy body areas. (I LOVE her, she’s a pro.) But you can even just bring a tennis ball. That’s right. A tennis ball. Just seeing it in your luggage will remind you to give yourself a little TLC.

Drink water.

Okay, I love coffee. Love it, love it love it. But when I travel, I guzzle water. Water helps you to stay hydrated, flushes out your system, and will help you arrive at your destination feeling cleaner and clearer from the inside out. Take your own travel bottle so that you don’t have to buy water (unless you’re in a non-potable water zone). Let’s try to keep disposable plastic out of the picture.

I got this handy little infographic to the right from De Vere Hotels UK.

They offer some actionable and common sense ways that you can use to minimize the effects of your travel on your body. If you have some favorite tips and tricks, share ’em below. Happy trails!

How to beat insomnia

sleeping woman after meditation

Did you know that an estimated 10% of Americans suffer from chronic insomnia, which can greatly impact the quality life?  Benefits of a good night’s rest include having a better mood, better health, eating less compulsively, and (yay!) an improved sex life. While medical practitioners may prefer to prescribe pills to address the problem (after all, pills usually work), patients often prefer behavioural options that keep the pharmaceuticals and side effects out of the picture.

Good news: meditation can help.

Research confirms that Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) can support sleepless souls to reduce their anxiety, decrease rumination, and improve their rest. And even better news: there are a ton of great apps on the market that can guide you to do a mindfulness practice before bed.

Here are a few apps you may want to check out to get you started:

  • 10% happier (I love this app. Use this link to get one month free of their premium version.) Practical, down to earth, accessible, no mumbo jumbo stuff. Lots of really great teachers to choose from, even with the free version.
  • Insight Timer. I’ve been using this since it came out to set up customized meditation and yin practice. You can design your own timings using a variety of pleasing bell tones. And now it has lots of guided meditations to choose from. And it’s FREE!
  • Calm.  I’ll be honest. The narrator’s voice drove me nuts to begin with, but people have told me how much they love it. Lots of free resources, including a 7 and 21 day guide.

One of the biggest mistakes that we make is thinking that we “don’t have time.” I get it, I’ve been there. But think about your day. What is five minutes? Your mind may resist you sitting (have to answer that email!), but I promise you that your brain and nervous system will thank you heartily.

I have a bunch of 5-minute meditations on my site as companion materials to Yogi’s Guide to Dating, but you can absolutely practice them on their own. Try one now. Go ahead. It’s just five minutes. And you’re worth it.

References

Chiesa, A., Calati, R., & Serretti, A. (2011). Does mindfulness training improve cognitive abilities? A systematic review of neuropsychological findings. Clinical Psychology Review, 31(3), 449–464. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.11.003

Garland, S. N., Campbell, T., Samuels, C., & Carlson, L. E. (2013). Dispositional mindfulness, insomnia, sleep quality and dysfunctional sleep beliefs in post-treatment cancer patients. Personality and Individual Differences, 55(3), 306–311. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.03.003

Gross, C. R., Kreitzer, M. J., Reilly-Spong, M., Wall, M., Winbush, N. Y., Patterson, R., et al. (2011). Mindfulness-Base Stress Reduction Versus Pharmacotherapy for Chronic Primary Insomnia: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial. Jsch, 7(2), 76–87. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2010.12.003

Larouche, M., Côté, G., Bélisle, D., & Lorrain, D. (2014). Kind attention and non-judgment in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy applied to the treatment of insomnia: State of knowledge. Pathologie Biologie, 62(5), 284–291. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.patbio.2014.07.002

Larouche, M., Lorrain, D., Côté, G., & Bélisle, D. (2015). Evaluation of the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy to treat chronic insomnia. Revue Europeenne De Psychologie Appliquee, 65(3), 115–123. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.erap.2015.03.002

Ong, J. C., Shapiro, S. L., & Manber, R. (2009). Mindfulness Meditation and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia. A Naturalistic 12-Month Follow-up. Jsch, 5(1), 30–36. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2008.10.004

Ong, J. C., Ulmer, C. S., & Manber, R. (2012). Improving sleep with mindfulness and acceptance: A metacognitive model of insomnia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50(11), 651–660. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2012.08.001

Zhang, J.-X., Liu, X.-H., Xie, X.-H., Zhao, D., Shan, M.-S., Zhang, X.-L., et al. (2015). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Chronic Insomnia in Adults Older than 75 Years_ A Randomized, Controlled, Single-Blind Clinical Trial. Jsch, 11(3), 180–185. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2015.02.005

Five poses to practice on Thanksgiving

It’s US Thanksgiving, time for turkey and thankfulness! But you don’t have to be slurping stuffing (or even be celebrating the holiday, oh my Canadian brethren) to take this as an opportunity for a moment of appreciation. Here are five poses to celebrate the day and connect more deeply to a sense of gratitude and well-being.

1. Cat / Cow

Start on all fours and slowly start to arch and round your spine. Go beyond the usual cat/ cow and move your spine in all directions. Use these simple movements to reconnect to your appreciation for your body. Enjoy the feeling of stretching your shoulders, spine and low back. Take some deep appreciative breaths and relish your body.

2. Surya Namaskar A (Sun Salutation)

Has it been a couch potato kind of day? Never fear. Do three rounds of sun salutations to get your circulation going and mobilize your joints. Sun salutations are a great way to increase your energy and connect to your breath. Sun Salutations were practiced facing east in the early morning. As you move, enjoy this opportunity to appreciate how the sun has lit our world and given energy to everything in it. From the brussel sprouts to the turkey, everything owes its existence on earth to that star.

3. High lunge with a backbend

Ahhh, time to stretch! Not only will high lunge stretch out your hip flexors (just in case you’ve been spending the day watching football), taking the arms up helps stimulate lymphatic drainage and create a welcome opening through your chest. Daily posture often encourages us to collapse the chest and close the front body, which can restrict breathing and diminish a sense of emotional openness. As you take your arms above your head, stretch your heart forward and up as you root strongly through your feet. Bring your upper arms back behind your ears and fully stretch through all your fingers. I call this pose the “full body yawn.” Enjoy it.

4. Seated Twist

If you’re going to be eating like a champion, then twisting is a must. When we twist, we give the internal organs a squeeze and massage, which can aid in digestion and elimination. As you twist, take some deep breaths to allow the diaphragm to move downwards into the abdominal cavity and move your viscera. Breathe deeply, and know that you’re giving your body some serious love.

5. Gratitude Meditation

Developing a practice of gratitude has been shown through research to enhance a personal sense of well-being. Come into a comfortable cross legged seat or sit on the edge of a chair. Place your hands on your thighs and let your shoulders relax. Relax your face and your jaw. Take a few, slow deep breaths to settle into your body. When you’re ready, bring to mind one simple thing for which you are very grateful. It could be a person, a pet, a place…or anything that you feel really brings value to you. Let yourself contemplate this source of gratitude for at least ten slow breaths, feeling any changes in your body. Take your time. Feel free to repeat the gratitude exercise with something else that comes to mind. When you’re ready, take a few breaths and transition back into your body. As you open your eyes, bring your gratitude practice with you off the mat and into the rest of your day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bonus:

A Thanksgiving present for you. I often say that my mind that has a lot of “hamsters.” (These hamsters are relentless thoughts that race through my brain like crazed furry creatures, including on holidays.)  If you need a moment of levity today, check this out. Watch for at least 20 seconds.

Steps for a recovering perfectionist

Are you a recovering perfectionist?

Here are some clues that you may be in this camp (with me, I might add):

  • you need (NEED) to make all the fonts match in your writing
  • you have to clean your desk before you work
  • projects are never really finished
  • there’s always one last email to send
  • you are working on one more advanced degrees because you like those cute letters that go after your name
  • yes, you need details! Who wouldn’t need more details?
  • life is never quiiiiiiiite right, and…
  • no, it’s never really good enough.

Perfectionism, or the relentless quest to turn life into a series of never-ending checkboxes, is driven by our desire to control the universe. Understandable! And clearly impossible. Ask a perfectionist, “Say, there fella, are you trying to control the universe?” and they will scoff and you and say, “Don’t be ridiculous, I’m just trying to do this right/ correctly / appropriately.” However, the truth is that underneath our cute scoffing, part of us does actually believe that if we just get it right, that the skies will open, heaven will pour down upon us,  and we will finally have that wonderful feeling of satisfaction happiness for which we have worked so hard.

But the problem with our strategy is that the world (and certainly other people) are beyond our control. Just look at your three-year old having a tantrum and you will be reminded that other people are remarkably resistant to behaving according to our wishes. But if we did manage to check all our checkboxes (the kids are behaving! my boss recognizes me! my partner talks about his feelings!), life itself will slip the noose. Without telling us, life changes the list.  Our checkboxes are suddenly obsolete! We start to feel narrow and squinty-eyed. We get frustrated, or scared, and we spend a lot of time scurrying to finish off the new list. Until life does it’s thing once more and all of our tasks are all changed. Again.

So here’s the thing: checking the boxes might make you temporarily happy (and it will certainly keep you busy), but it won’t actually give you what you want. Because no matter how many boxes we check, we will not get the “the heavens have opened and I am free and joyful” feeling.

So, my fellow perfectionists, I suggest we change the game. Rather than figuring out what “better” boxes we should be checking, or increasing our productivity so that we can check them off so much faster, let’s change our assumptions. Let’s unearth and air out our old belief that perfectionism can lead to happiness in the first place.

Here are five tips to get you going.

    1. Dance. Yes, dance. You may think you can’t, but you can. But don’t dance in order to look good. In fact, I want you to dance in your room with the door closed where no one else can see you. No looking in the mirror either. It doesn’t matter how you look, it matters how you feel. And yeah, you have to play the music that you love, even if it’s Aerosmith’s, I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing. Dance until you’re out of breath and your checkboxing happy brain is too giddy to care about the messy kitchen.
    2. “Done is better than perfect.” This is your new mantra. Try it.
    3. Practice messy. You have the choice: you can clean up the “thing” (whatever the thing is…your kitchen, your manuscript, your email box) or you can spend time doing something that puts you in the present moment, into your body, and gets you out of your busy head. You can clean it up after, I promise it’ll still be there.
    4. Contemplate death. Everyone you know is going to be dead in 120 years. Okay, I know that’s a bummer to drop as #4 on a list, but it’s true. Remembering that we are all here for just a little while will start to shake up your priorities and make those niggly details seem less important.
    5. Be wild. Go outside and hug a tree. Nature is perfect, as it is. Observe its spirals, its moss, its chaotic, fractal beauty. It’s not neat, tidy or in a box. It’s wild. And so are the people in your life. And so are you.

Give it a week. Try it out. See how you feel.

And then, yes. Use your capacity to be a perfectionist on tasks that can benefit from a steely eyed, detail oriented mind. Like correcting grammatical errors and correctly calculating tips. But keep your perfectionism out of your happy.

7 Signs you Should Start Practicing Yoga

Yoga is a low-impact form of exercise that still  gives you an excellent workout. It helps you to relieve tension, build strength and relax your mind. Wondering whether to take up a yoga class? Here are seven signs you should get on the mat:

You’re Feeling Stressed All the Time

We all feel stressed from time to time. Demanding jobs, busy social lives and constant connectivity can all take their toll. If you regularly feel your stress levels rising, yoga could help to calm you down. During a yoga class, you will focus carefully on your movements and your breathing, leaving you with less time to ponder your worries. And wherever you find yourself, the breathing techniques you learn in yoga will serve you well next time you feel stressed. Deep, concentrated breathing can help you to feel much calmer in stressful situations.

You Have Back Pain

Many of us experience recurring back pain. While back pain is sometimes caused by an injury or strain, often it can be attributed to a sedentary lifestyle; we spend far too much time sitting at our desks and driving our cars. Yoga can help with this type of back pain. In fact, it’s something that many physiotherapists would recommend. Yoga movements help to release tension you may be carrying throughout your back. They also help to develop muscles in and around your back to provide greater support and promote a better posture.

You Struggle to Focus

How would you rate your concentration? If you can’t watch TV without glancing at your smartphone and struggle to read anything longer than a couple of pages, your focus could use a boost. In yoga, you focus on different parts of the body, encouraging them to move independently, and work to regulate your breathing. The more time you spend concentrating, the better you get at it.

You Regularly Injure Your Body

Pulled muscles? Achy joints? Troublesome tendons? If you feel you injure your body regularly, there are some reasons why yoga could do you some good. Increased flexibility puts less strain on your body as you move. Yoga also improves your balance and stability meaning clumsy accidents are less likely too.

You Struggle to Get to Sleep

Insomnia is a common problem. If you have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep despite a regular bedtime routine, yoga could teach you some useful techniques. By focusing on your body, your mind won’t be able to ruminate over the day’s events or worry about tomorrow. And by practising yogic breathing, your body and mind will relax, making a drift into sleep much easier.

You Get Uncomfortable Standing or Sitting

If, when standing or sitting in the same spot for an hour or so, you begin to experience pain or discomfort, it could be that your posture is to blame. Poor posture puts unnecessary strain on certain parts of the body. Yoga helps to improve your posture and encourages you to spread weight evenly throughout the body.

You Want to Improve Your Performance in Other Sports

Yoga provides you with the basics that can improve your performance in another sport, be it football, gymnastics or skiing. Through yoga, you build strength, particularly in your core. You also develop your focus, your balance and your flexibility. Whatever other sports you like to practice, yoga could help you reach new levels.

Yoga is a great full body workout. It boosts your physical and mental wellbeing. It can also help conquer a variety of common niggles and ailments. If you suffer from any of the above, give yoga a try. You could be amazed at how much benefit you will feel.

Three Tips for Effective Learning

Learning is one of the most important activities in life. We don’t just learn when we cram before the exams, but each day we should aim to gather new knowledge that will deepen our understanding of the world around us. Many students feel that they spend days and days just mindlessly fulfilling their to-do lists, without being enriched by those activities – even if they include studying. I find this quite understandable for today’s modern times, where our to-do lists often include more tasks than one can healthily handle – we exhaust our body and mind to the point where they cannot function beyond the mechanical. Have you recognized yourself in this description? You are not alone.

Below, I written a list of the three most important factors for effective learning. Still, I’d like to mention that this is a long journey. Healthy living is not like a shot of caffeine, it won’t make you more alert in matter of minutes. It will take weeks before you can feel a difference, probably longer before the improvement in your performance becomes noticeable. But it is honestly worth it – and much, much longer lasting than that cup of Red Bull. So, without further ado: the top three tips for effective learning!

Exercise

It can be running in the fresh air, it can be lifting in the gym, or a yoga class – whatever physical activity you enjoy the most. Exercise affects your body in more ways than you can imagine. It is far more reaching than just your body weight and strength. Physical activity is a very important factor in studying: it was shown to increase the number of neurons in the brain and make the connections between neurons much more complex. In an experiment by Justin S. Rhodes from the University of Illinois, the results strongly suggested the importance physical activity has in learning. The research found out that mice who had regular exercise performed significantly better on cognitive tasks such as completing the maze. Interestingly, it did not matter how enriched mice’s environment was. Mice who did not have any extra toys in their cages but had a running wheel allowing them regular exercise out performed mice living in an enriched environment. These findings perfectly illustrate how in today’s world, where we our lives are full of tasks and toys – the so-called enriched environment – our brains seem to function less and less due to increasing inactivity. It is good to keep this research in mind: no matter how many hours you spend studying/working a day, if you are constantly inactive, your brain will not intake the information up to its full potential. A little bit of physical activity on a daily basis could help you with memory retention and concentration, and allow you to obtain more information with less time invested.

Finally, exercise is a mood booster, meaning that it can help you approach your work as happier and more energetic self. This can be a life-saver when you really, really need to do that all-nighter.

Eat well

Eating heathy is another well-known tip, but unfortunately people rarely follow through with it. Many manage to pay attention for a week or two, but then life happens and they opt for ordering pizza instead of cooking a soup rich in vegetables. Of course, I won’t argue against the fact that ordering pizza is easier. But food is crucial for human being to function, never forget that. The primary reason for consuming it is to provide us with nutrients and energy, which highly processed junk food does very poorly. Studies have shown again and again that the latter, especially foods high in trans and saturated fats, negatively affects students’ performance and attendance. And while an egg for breakfast can certainly help a little bit with your exam, keeping a healthy nutrition only on special days really won’t revert all the negative impacts of your regular sugar-fuelled diet. It would actually work much better if after an exam you treat yourself to a cake, breaking your otherwise super healthy streak.  

Healthy eating does have to mean extreme eating: only raw foods, exclusively vegan or very low on carbs – nor my favourite: colour coded eating. Healthy can simply mean that you eat mostly vegetables and lean meat and fish, fruits and complex carbs, while leaving out added simple sugars and heavy red meat. With these, you can make many dishes that are simple to carry: salads, pasta with a healthy sauce, and meat with veggies and grains on the side fit easily into a Tupperware.  If you are very sure of your Tupperware, you can even carry some wholesome soup to uni. To help you save time, you can cook more food in one go and have it for a couple of days, halving the weekly time spent in the kitchen. This can be a life saver if your university life is as hectic as mine. Here are some healthy student-friendly recipes!

Some superfood for studying:
  • Blueberries – good for memory, learning capacity and motor skills
  • Eggs – good for memory and brain functioning
  • Pumpkin seeds – good for memory, thinking skills and mood
  • Sage – good for memory and concentration
  • Oily fish – important for proper brain functioning
  • Whole grains – good for concentration

Dedicate a couple of hours, but fully concentrated

If you take care of your diet and exercise regularly, your concentration should improve noticeably. With better concentration, we can learn more in a shorter period of time. However, even before the healthy habits kick in, try to reorganise your studying so that you do a bit each day, rather than cramming a week before the exam. Studies have shown that we retain information better if we divide studying over some time. For example, if you schedule a class with your online tutor, it would be best to do the lecture with them one day and then revise the next, instead of revising immediately afterwards. If you really have to spend the whole day studying, it is much better to do different subjects during that day rather than focusing on only one for hours on end. Still, you should honestly stay away from cramming because being all alone for a week without a break can make students tired and moody, which in turn impairs their academic performance, and if done too often can have serious consequences on their mental health. It might seem like a waste of time, but going out with friends for an hour can have an amazing impact on study session, and if you manage to incorporate that in your daily life, it can help your overall academic performance. We are social beings and we need interaction with friends and family to be healthy and do our best.

Hopefully, this list did not disappoint you, even though it gives advice you’ve probably been given many times over. The reason why these tips keep reoccurring is because they are truly useful and in your best interest. In order to strive, we have to take care of our physical and mental health. Don’t forget that.

Giveaway: Win a 5-day Spirit Pass to BaliSpirit Festival!

What is  BaliSpirit Festival?

BaliSpirit Festival is an international yoga and music festival, celebrating community and well-being in Ubud, Bali, April 2-8, 2018. 
Now in its 11th year and moving from strength to strength, the BaliSpirit Festival has become increasingly global, attracting international leaders and a surging audience of empowered attendees from across the globe. Growing number of Yoga-Dance-Culture lovers, Music, and Wellness fanatics are joining us every year from over 50 nations for this 6-day and 7-night event on the idyllic tropical island of Bali.

The Festival Vision

  • To awaken and nourish each individual’s potential for positive change within, leading to positive change in our homes, in our communities, and around the world.
  • Through beneficial and inspirational traditions of Yoga, Dance, and Music, the Festival illustrates the Balinese Hindu concept of Tri Hita Karana: living in harmony with our spiritual, social, and natural environments.
  • To nourishing our own home in Bali, the founders pledge to provide financial, logistical, and organizational support to local charities, with a special emphasis on children’s programs, multicultural education and performance, healthcare, HIV&AIDS awareness, and environmental conservation in Bali and greater Indonesia.

Giveaway Details

  • 5-DAY SPIRIT PASS
  • $650 USD value
  • The pass valid for April 2-7, 2018 – 5 days & 6 nights
  • Enter by November 20 (winner chosen by December 1)

Includes:

  • Pre-festival opening party – April 2
  • Unlimited access to all daytime workshops – April 3-7
  • Unlimited access to all music nights – April 3-7

By donation:

  • Access to Community Day & Closing Ceremony – April 8

Does NOT Include:

  •  Special Events & Shuttle Service
However, you can still get a $75 discount on the Festival by using the promocode RachelYoga!
Check it out.

Product Review: BDirty

Who doesn’t want to get a little dirty?

I discovered these products through the founder (and my friend) Kate. What began as a hobby to share with her friends has evolved into a thriving small business because people love what she is creating.

And so do I.

BDirty is all natural honey deodorant. Hand crafted in British Columbia on her farmstead, this stuff is simple, pure, organic, and chemical free. I’ve tried lots of different kinds of natural deodorants and slathered many a crystal rock into my pits, but BDirty is the best I’ve tried. And I love their ethics.

Some of its key points:

  • handmade
  • organic
  • aluminum, paraben and phthalates free
  • recyclable glass packaging (not plastic!)
  • gmo-free
  • tested on people – not furry friends

The jars are little, but they last. A little jar lasted me a month (you really don’t need much of this stuff!). I love the size because they’re easy to carry around in my bag and great for travel.

I like this product so much that I became an ambassador for them so that I can toot their horn – and offer you, dear readers, a discount to try it out. You can grab some online or you can find it at your local BC dealers (YYoga and Nectar to name a few).

 

Check out their site and see if you like what you see.

My readers get a special 15% off! Use the promo code RACHEL15.