EXERCISES TO HEAL.

Exercises to Heal.

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Locust (Salabhasana).

Lie on your stomach with your arms alongside your body, palms down, forehead resting on the floor. Legs together (legs apart for beginners or if you have lower back discomfort, avoid if you have serious injuries).

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Exhale as you lift chin, shoulders and upper torso off floor. Gaze at the floor don't tilt the head back. Rotate your thighs inwards and firm your buttocks so your coccyx presses toward your pubis (draw the pelvis into the floor), firm the glutes and actively lift straight legs towards the ceiling as you lengthen your spine.
Use lower ribs, stomach and pelvis to distribute the weight and use the lower back to lift not the glutes. *Beginners can rest forehead on floor and lift legs only.
Hold pose for about 10 to 15 seconds breathing steadily, exhale slowly release to the floor. Repeat a few times.
Strengthens spine, glutes, legs. Stretches shoulders and chest. Improves posture.

Inner Thigh Lifts.

Whatever your fashion choices, with nice toned inner thighs you can feel confident and rock any look.
This exercise works the inner thighs, hip flexors, hamstrings and the glutes, which we all want to tone up.
Lie on your side on a mat. Lift your left foot up and place it behind your right knee. Lift that left leg and lower for 3 sets of 15 repetitions. You can do this 3 times a week if you want.

Let's hit those abs!

Apart from a clean healthy diet, we have to work on our core as well. The basically crunch is the abdominal exercise in a strength training program. Pay special attention to your form when doing crunches, especially if you have lower back or neck problems.
Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
Place your hands either behind your neck or parallel to your quadriceps (as shown in the picture).
Tilt your chin slightly and gently pull your abdominals inward.
Curl up and forward so that your head, neck and shoulder blades are off the floor.
Hold for a moment and lower slowly.
Slow and controlled and go for 3 sets of 12 reps.

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Side Plank Lifts.

Side plank lifts is an amazing exercise that targets your core muscles, especially your obliques, while building strength in your shoulder and upper back. It will give you a tighter waistline and a stronger mid-section. Our core is made of many muscles and your obliques is what really makes your core strong. It is important to work all sides of your midsection so these are a great tool to add to your routine.

Work on those obliques.

Lie straight on your side with forearm below shoulder, body lifted and legs long and feet stacked. Keep your body straight and abs tight.
Dip your hips down towards the mat and back up using only your obliques.

5 Tips for improving gut health.

Gut health is an issue becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society. Toxins in medications, snacks, carbonated drinks and even our food are entering our bodies and our body sometimes may not know what to do with them.
In your gut, there’s bacteria: good bacteria and bad bacteria. In this case bad bacteria isn’t necessarily something negative, it’s actually needed to help your gut function properly, some are; it helps the immune system, releases serotonin to the brain and even helps fight the bad toxins that may enter our bodies.
Though good and bad bacteria work together most of the time, sometimes the bad bacteria may get the upper hand. Bacterial imbalance in your get can be a leading cause of many heart conditions, according to Lisa Fischer, MS, RDN, LDN, registered dietitian at the UltraWellness centre in Lennox, Massachusetts. Here are some signs that your gut may not be healthy:

. Your stomach doesn’t feel right.
. You’re craving certain foods.
. You’re experiencing ‘brain fog’.
. The scale is going up or down rapidly.

Some tips to improve gut health:

. Eat foods high in probiotics and prebiotics.
. Exercise regularly.
. Eat fibre.
. Incorporate less meat into your diet.
. Laugh often.