By Mercedes

Complete Guide to Pilates, Yoga, Meditation Stress Relief

Parragon Publishing

ISBN 1-4542-216-5

Amazon link

This guide has four main sections: pilates, yoga, meditation and stress relief. Following are an excerpt from each section:

1) Pilates: “Pilates exercises have been designed to work the muscles of the body as efficiency as possible in the minimum time. These low-impact exercises treat the body as a whole and are very effective. There is therefore no need to spend hours each day at the gym: you need to practice only two to three times a week, and can start with 10-minute sessions and build up to longer ones slowly.”

Included in the pilates section are guidance in correct breathing, how pilates works, what to wear, learning how to center the body, the importance of good posture, getting into motion exercises, standing and sitting exercises, and exercises on a mat.

2) Yoga: “By allocating time every day to a sequence of yoga postures, you can help to purge the mind and body, and achieve a state of deep relaxation. This can result in greater self-esteem, because you will have a sense of achievement and an inner calm that will help to dispel the worries of the day. The deep breathing and physical exercise required for yoga will help you to deal with a raft of complaints, such as pain of the joints and muscles, anxiety, stress, postural problesm, and bowel tone and function problems.”

Included in the yoga section are the five principles of yoga (relaxation, exercise, breath control, a nourishing diet, and positive thinking and meditation). Also added are guidelines for practicing yoga, the seven chakras of the astral body, yogic breathing, warming up exercises, the standing postures, seated exercises, improving focus with the balancing postures, opening the heart and strengthening the back, and the inverted postures.

3) Meditation: “There is no doubt that the mind’s ability to analyze, discriminate, plan and communicate has helped us reach where we are today. Yet it can be a double-edged sword. Although the brain may help us to reason, to think creatively, and to relate to others, if we don not learn to switch it off it can overwhelm us. It can persecute us with fears about failure, our appearance, or the opinions others may have of us. Meditation can bring relief from those anxieties by helping us to silence inner chatter, to recognize and dismiss negative thoughts, and to create a feeling of peace and serenity.”

Included in the meditation section are suggestions for finding time to meditate, preparing to meditate, postures and breathing, relaxation, affirmations, mantras, standing and walking meditation, the chakras, visualization, meditation for healing, color and light, the power of sound, and meditations for stressful situations.

4) Stress relief: “For long-term stress relief and optimum well-being you need periods of mental and physical relaxation throughout the day. Relaxation is a set of easily learned skills that will teach you how to combat the effects of stress and restore the balance between body and mind to enable healthy, happy living.”

Included in the stress relief section are a strategy for relaxation, relaxing your body, breathing, reducing muscle tension, massage, restoring vital energy, relaxing mind and spirit, meditation, visualization, hypnotherapy, self-hypnosis, autogenic training, biofeedback, improving self-worth, setting goals, going with the flow, living for the moment, positive commuting, freedom from fear, relationships, diet, exercise, the world of work, relaxing at home, the world around you, getting a good night’s sleep, and natural remedies for relaxation.

By Hamed Saber

Serenity in Motion: Inner Peace: Anytime, Anywhere

Mary O’Hara

ISBN 0-446-69085-6

Amazon link

Mary O’Hara says that

“When we stop resisting and struggling against the parts of our life that we believe we can’t abide, and instead investigate our reactions, attachments, thoughts and feelings, we have a greater chance of achieving and living in serenity. Whenever you are confronted with something that bothers you, practice not shrinking from it. Engage the curiosity that brought you to pick up this book and others like it, to look inside yourself and see what’s there. Anytime you become aware that you are searching outside yourself for answers, turn your focus around and look within.”

“There are a few main themes or threads running through Serenity in Motion. They are:

1) Embrace whatever it is that pains you

2) Lessen the tight hold you have on people, places, and things; good and bad

3) Just breathe

4) Expect nothing

5) Keep a positive attitude

6) Cultivate a sense of gratitude

7) Pay attention and

Practice, practice practice

“In the end it is up to you to meet each moment as it arrives—

with honesty, integrity, and an open and willing heart. This is the key to serenity. This is about accepting that each new moment is just that—new. And that no one moment can be duplicated exactly. This will give you a fresh start, a new opportunity to reinvent yourself every moment and live fully and completely, aware and awake, present in the magnanimous now.”

Serenity in Motion is a primer for learning how to approach the world without reservation, fear, or self-imposed impediments. It is a tool to use while you train yourself to rely on yourself. Carry it with you, refer to it, and take the suggestions. Try new ways of looking at situations, of communicating with others, of seeing the world.”