It seems that more people than ever feel the need to be perfect. Striving to be the best version of yourself seems to be connected to a growing concern of the mental health problems. A lot of people look at other people’s lives and compare them to their own. As a individual this can lead to questioning yourself whether you are smart, fit or happy enough? We all can feel a bit off sometimes, but it’s get dangerous when we tend to ignore our body signals. When we desire to aim for the perfect and happy live we tend to ignore our body signals because we think that ‘pain’ is part of the process. This pain could be stress, exhaustion or headaches for example that we feel as a result of too many hours of work and not enough time to rest. “Work hard, play hard” may sound as if you’re a successful person but think about the long term health risks.

Does life always have to be fun?

Dirk de Wachter is a Belgium psychiatrist who treats a lot of patients who suffer from the pressure of having a ‘perfect life’. He thinks that our society is obsessed about feeling perfectly happy all the time and striving of a perfect outcome in life. Nowadays we don’t want to feel sadness. We want good and fun times. Social media shows us that you can ‘choose’ to have that perfect life. We ignore the hard parts of life and therefore we tend to be more individualistic and just aim for our personal goals. Unfortunately striving for perfection and ignoring the bad moments of life leads to feeling more alone in a world full of people. De Wachter pleads to be more open about our daily struggle with our loved ones because that’s what makes us feel connected to our community. Let there be some sadness or some heartbreak and try to share it with your friends and family. When you feel supported by them you feel more loved. That’s what can help us deal with life!

Seek the ordinary things in life

Stop looking at other people’s lives and  stop comparing your life to theirs. Try to seek the ordinary things in life that you may enjoy as well. This way you can give yourself more time to feel connected to yourself and your inner circle. Listen to your body signals instead of ignoring them to reach perfection. Your body signals are telling you something about your needs. Try not to listen to what society tells you. You know what’s good for you.

The summer is in full swing and who doesn’t want well-shaped buttocks in his or her beach outfit? The most effective way to do that is to practice yoga regularly. Yoga has been scientifically proven to be the most effective sport to train the body! It makes muscles stronger, more flexible and improves overall body posture. In this blog more about the yoga posture the Tabletop (also called Table) that provides well-shaped buttocks. Regularly doing this asana has a positive effect on the muscles of the buttocks.

What is the Table pose?

This is a starting pose; backward bend with arm support. In yoga jargon this pose is called “Chatus pada pitham”. Chartus stands for four, Pada for foot and Pitham for bench, seat or chair. The focus in this asana are the legs, arms and torso. To bring the body up, the buttocks, thigh muscles and hamstrings are active.

What is the effect of the Table?

By raising the body and keeping the shoulders and knees at the same height, the muscles in the legs, arms and corse are immediately activated. The triceps ensure that the arms can support the body weight. Just like the buttocks, thigh muscles and hamstrings. In order to stay in this position for a few breaths, the back muscles jump in, so these muscles will also get trained. In order to keep the shoulders and knees at the same height, the buttocks must be tightened. As soon as they tighten, the knees tend to pull together and the hips are lowered towards the ground. The challenge is to keep the knees about hip width apart, without lowering the hips. This requires an active effort of the hamstrings

This is how you do the Table pose

Sit down on the mat and put your feet hip width apart in front of you. The arms go backwards and the fingers point to the body. Make sure that the arms are behind your back, your chest is automatically a little forward when the arms are placed behind the back. There is approximately a hand-length distance between the fingers and the body. At an inhalation you raise the hips and the shoulders and knees at the same height. Arms are stretched and the shoulder blades are pushed towards each other. Let the head hang backwards. Tighten the glutes, keep knees at hip width apart and breathe easy. Stay in the posture for a few breaths.

Alternatives

Are the (lower) back, wrists or hamstrings sensitive areas for you? These alternatives help you to do the Table pose with more ease.

(lower) Back

In case of a sensitive lower back, it is nice to have a good warming-up by, for example, the cross-legged sitting or the cat posture before you do the Table asana. By tilting the pelvis, the pressure on the lower back is reduced; pull the navel inwards and push the tailbone towards the feet.

Wrists

When it does not feel comfortable with the wrists, it can help to make two fists and to rest on them instead of the hands.

Hamstrings

With stiff hamstrings it is nice to stretch these first before you do the Table posture. The Plow is a good asana to prepare the hamstrings. Listen to the limits that your body indicates. When the pressure feels too high for the hamstrings to hold the straight line between the shoulders and knees in the Table asana, keep the buttocks a little lower; this will immediately reduce the pressure on the hamstrings. By practicing the Table regularly, the body comes a little further up each time and you will get that bootylicious booty.

The cross-legged pose is a common posture which is called asana in official yoga jargon. But sitting in this posture for a while can sometimes be a challenge. You can get cramp or feel stiffness in your joints making you want to do something else than stay in this position. When I first started yoga, I could not do this asana. It felt like the blood supply in my legs was pinched and I even got sleeping feet (really annoying). Sitting upright was difficult because of my hollow back and instead of relaxing my shoulders, I pulled them up very high towards my ears. No, I did not like the cross-legged pose nor was it relaxing. I therefore looked for alternatives to make it easier and, even more important, to practice yoga with more joy to keep an healthy lifestyle. I have been practicing for a while and the cross-legged pose is a relaxed posture which I can do  with ease. I did use alternatives to get there. With these tips I hope to increase your joy and help you do the cross-legged asana with more ease.

What is a cross-legged pose?
In almost every yoga class, the cross-legged asana occurs. The class can start or end with it and it may  be used inbetween to make the transition to a different posture. The purpose of the cross-legged asana is to keep feet, ankles, knees, hip joint, pelvis, spine and skull flexible. The cross-legged pose is the most natural way of sitting for your body. When you practice this posture for a while you can increase your natural flexibility. But where does the cramp or stiffness come from?

How do you sit?
Many of us have a sedentary profession. Like shoes are for the feet, so is a chair or car seat for the lower back and pelvic joint. By sitting on a piece of furniture for a long time, your natural flexibility decreases. And what the effect is, you feel immediately in the cross-legged position. If you have been sitting for a long time, your muscles may feel stiff or your lower back even painful, which means that you will not be able sit cross-legged for long. How do you prevent that and how can you sit (more) relaxed in this asana?

Make sure that the (car) chair you use during work supports your body well and you regularly take a break by stretching your legs. That is really half the work! Did you know that there are 20 points that your workplace needs to meet if you want to be able to adopt a good body posture and be productive? One of those points is to regularly take a break and take a walk, for example during the lunch or get coffee / tea more often for your colleagues. You not only stimulate teamwork, but also the blood circulation in the body which keeps your muscles and joints more flexible making it possible to sit cross-legged with more ease.

The five phase of the cross-legged asana
There are five phases of the cross-legged pose; from a beginner’s posture to an advanced one. The more flexible your body, the greater the easier by going through the stages. Practicing regularly is important. Just as you can’t complete the marathon untrained, you can’t do the five phases of the cross-legged pose untrained.

1. Starting pose; also called the easy pose. In yoga jargon this asana is called “sukhasana”. You sit on the floor with your legs crossed, hands resting on your knees.
2. Basic sitting pose; When the starting position is easy, you can proceed to phase two or the “siddhasana”. Your legs are crossed and one foot is under your leg and the other foot folds between your upper leg and calf. Hands rest on your knees.
3. Sitting pose for advanced: called “svastikasana” and also known as the “half lotus pose”. Both legs are crossed and one foot is placed on your thigh, the other foot you cross under your leg.
4. Sitting pose for advanced: “padmasana” and also known as the lotus posture where you cross both legs and let both feet rest on the upper leg.
5. Sitting pose for very advanced: “mulabandhasana” in this asana are the legs crossed, the soles of the feet pressed against each other and the feet turn the hip joint turned.

Alternatives
These alternatives helped me during the cross-legged asana. By using these alternatives you make this posture more comfortable for yourself and thus increase the effect. I started at phase one and progressed slowly to phase three. I can’t do the four or five. Maybe one day; it will come naturally. My principle is always doing that what feels right. Experience where your boundaries are and do not push yourself (too much). Take your time, listen carefully to your body and do not forget: everything you do more often, will become easier.

• Alternatively, you can stretch your legs when crossed legs does not feel nice.
• If you have a hollow back, push your tailbone towards the ground. This makes the back straight and relieve (painful) tension from the lower back.
• Push aside your buttocks and make sure you feel the sit bones. This helps you to sit up more straight. Sit on a pillow if that is more comfortable.
• Draw your belly inwards to your spine. As a result, you tilt the pelvis slightly and you can sit more relaxed.
• Let your chin slightly rest in the direction of your chest, push the tip of your tongue against the back of your front teeth and do not put your teeth together. This relaxes the jaw and neck.
• And breathe easy. If we exert ourselves, we tend to hold our breath. That will not help. Breathe gently towards your stomach, which will help your body relax making this asana feel (more) comfortable.

As a running therapist I focus on listening to the body. Most of my clients suffer from a lot of stress, burnout complaints or depression. Listening to your body is difficult, but very important. If you do not listen to your body, chances are that you cross your boundaries without being aware of it. But why do we find this so hard and what can we do to improve?

Why is listening to your body so difficult?

Of course, this is different for everybody but there are a number of factors a lot of my clients experience. For example that we are always available and continuously checking our phones. While waiting for the bus, on the toilet or just before going to sleep: you scroll through your phone. This distracts you from your feelings and causes you to be less ‘connected’ with your body. In addition, we often live from appointment to appointment, from deadline to deadline. We do not think about whether we still enjoy what we do and whether something generates energy or costs too much energy. We also find it extremely important to be busy, ‘being busy’ is often equivalent to success Sleeping is also an important factor: if you slept too little, then you automatically get more sensitive to eat and drink substances high in sugars, fats and caffeine, because these give you a kick to feel energetic. It is also more difficult to listen to your body if you sleep too little, because your thoughts shoot in all directions, you feel down and you can not keep your focus. What is the reason for you not to feel in touch with your body anymore?

What can you do?

The solution is to reflect on yourself, but this is can be challenging. 6 tips:

1. Do nothing for 10 minutes every day next week.

All screens off and no people around you. Then try to become aware of what you feel. You could call it meditation. Difficult? Sure! It will probably take a while to learn this, but give it a chance and do not be too strict for yourself: you fail today? Tomorrow is another day! I myself always take a moment to stop and take a breath after running, to you check in with my body.

2. Take your body seriously:

Headache, abdominal pain, a high heartbeat, pain in your neck? Pain in your ankle during exercise? Stop! And consider how this pain is caused.

3. Eat healthy, varied and with attention

Take time for preparing your meals and take time for consuming them. Do not eat your lunch at your desk. Eating healthy is important and it provides energy.

4. Move regularly and take the time

Go running, walking, cycling! It does not have to take hours, go out for half an hour and be aware of your surroundings and your own body. Preferably leave your music and watch at home. Consider how you feel at the end of the training.

5. Sleep well and at fixed times

Try to figure out what works for you, keep in mind that you need more sleep in the winter and try to sleep between 7 and 9 hours a night. Try to maintain a fixed sleep rhythm.

6. Evaluate and reflect

Occasionally look at your lifestyle, what feels good and what does not feel good? Also discuss this with your friends or family, you may come to interesting insights. Or: write it down!

In short: take good care of yourself and take your body seriously. Do you have any tips yourself? Share them below!

Where would we be without water? Nowhere of course! Water is the most important substance to survive, without it you can’t live. This is, of course, an important reason to drink water. Even one week without it, you can’t survive. However, water is important for more processes in your body. Every human has to drink at least 1,5 or 2 liter a day. It doesn’t have to be just water, it also can be other drinks. I’ll discuss four reasons why drinking enough water is important.

What a sparkly skin

By drinking enough, your skin will be more beautiful. Certain toxins in your body causes a blemished skin. By drinking a lot of water, you’ll get rid of the toxins in your body. Drinking water can reduce having spots and imperfect skin.  

Drink better, live better

Drinking a lot of water has as benefit that it can transfer oxygen and nutrients. Oxygen and nutrients get transferred by blood. Blood consist of 92% of water, because of this it’s important that your brain contains enough water. When your brain doesn’t get enough water, your blood gets treacly. This can cause clumps in your veins. The clumps in your veins can have a terrible influences on your well being. The oxygen and nutrients can’t transfer well anymore. For your joints it’s important that the oxygen and nutrients are transferring well. Altogether, water is important to transfer the oxygen and your nutrients.

You’re not thinking, if you’re not drinking

Get a quicker response by drinking water! By drinking water, the oxygen transport to the brain becomes better. The brain needs a lot of oxygen to operate. Also your brain consist out a lot of water, so water is an important element for the brain. If your concentration is reducing, or you’ve trouble with remembering. Drink a glass of water! Your brain might really need it.

Losing weight while drinking water

Everyone needs water everyday! One of the benefits of water is: it doesn’t have calories, it isn’t bad for your teeth, it’s cheap and you can find it everywhere. Also water ensures that you’re having a full feeling: How strange that might sound because clearly water doesn’t have any calories inside it. So whenever you’re feeling hungry, first drink two glasses of water. It can stop your hungry feeling, which might mean that you were thirsty instead of hungry.