Yoga and Pregnancy: Let's Get Down Dog!

Strength:

Whether you are a few weeks or a few months pregnant, you are going to want to keep building your strength, because whether you're ready or not you are growing another human being throughout this pregnancy, which along with labor takes energy and strength. Prenatal Yoga helps to build strength and stability in your upper and lower body, legs, and back. Building strength in these areas helps tremendously in carrying that added weight, in preventing back pain in pregnancy, and will help compensate for the balance changes that will quickly be headed your way!

Balance:

Have you been feeling a bit clumsy lately? Welcome to pregnancy!

Between the extra pounds and surging hormones, you may have been feeling a little wobbly. Yoga will help tremendously during these changes; from your weight, to body shape, to recovery after birth. There are many different poses to help with balance and strength. One of the more celebrated poses is Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Savanasa). This pose uses every muscle in your body as it stretches and tones. It also helps your baby move in to a head-down position with the aid of gravity. It takes pressure off the pelvic floor and lower back as you support your own body weight with your arms, legs, and core muscles.

Back Pains:

If you're newly pregnant you may not have any complaints about back pain in pregnancy yet, but in no time it will make an ugly appearance. Most moms will attest to this.

Back pain in pregnancy usually increases as your uterus and baby grow, which causes more forward pull on your back, known as "Lordosis". If you are experiencing this, I am sure that exercise is the last thing you think you want to do, but prenatal yoga can actually prevent this pain and make it go away altogether with regular practice. If you do only one thing, try the Cow and Cat Stretch sequence (Bitilasana). Get on your hands and knees and arch your back as you inhale, and round your back on the exhale. It feels great!

Labor:

It's only natural to get nervous or have anxiety about labor, especially for a first baby. It doesn't help that everyone and their moms have some drama-filled birth story to tell you. Believe it or not, yoga's practice of deep abdominal breathing helps you relax, and relieve anxiety. It causes your body to produce endorphins and reduce your perception of pain.

You will learn to be in tune with your breathing, recognizing every breath you take, in and out. The calm atmosphere with peaceful music playing sets the stage. All of your worries will soon disappear as you learn to enjoy the moment. This serenity actually leads to a deeper bond with your baby, knowing every breath you take, every beat of your heart nourish and nurture both you and your baby.

Not only can yoga increase your strength, it can also help you to have an easier birth.

Prenatal yoga is amazing for helping to open your hips. There are many positions and stretches you will learn throughout your classes that will prepare you and your baby for birth, helping your baby drop into the right position for labor and help with the pushing phase of labor and birth.

What Have You Got To Lose?

Here's a short list: anxiety, back pain, sciatica pain, pregnancy discomfort. You will gain confidence in yourself and your body as you prepare for labor. Maybe you'll make new friends when you will meet a handful of pregnant moms who are experiencing all the same things you are. So, mamas, get going. You are going to love it! "Let's Get Down Dog!"


Download your Free Healthy Birth Guide-6 steps to a safer birth at http://www.birthclassathome.com While you're there check out the Free Prenatal Yoga Class from Liza Janda

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Liza_D_Janda

5 Key Factors of Green Pond Water Posted By : Cliff Woods

5 Key Factors of Green Pond Water - By: Cliff Woods5 Key Factors of Green Pond Water
By Clifford Woods

Algae overgrowth can have disastrous consequences on the well-being of our ponds. Below are five factors that contribute the algae development and how it can be stopped.

#1: Excessive Fish
If this sounds like your situation, then immediately limit the volume of fish or add to the size of your organic filtration system. Keep in mind that fish grow in size and in quantity, therefore the scale your organic purification system which you believed might be the right size in the beginning, may not be the proper size for your pond now.

#2: Seasonal Changes
It is the start of the springtime or the later part of the fall when the pond encounters its largest change in the temperature of the water and biological bacteria development. If this is the situation, try to be calm and give your pond a few additional weeks.

Every single pond takes around four to six weeks in the beginning of the season to discover its new environmental equilibrium. When this occurs, the pond water will likely be green in appearance. In fact, you can count on it. At any time you increase the water level of your pond during the year, your pond is likely to turn green as well.

Simply add the most appropriate beneficial microorganism

Understanding Physical Anatomy of a Dog Posted By : David Coax

Understanding Physical Anatomy of a Dog - By: David CoaxTo effectively understand dog training, a dog trainer must understand the physical anatomy of a dog.

Bone structure

Bone is a continually changing and actively metabolising tissue in the living animal. It is composed primarily of the minerals calcium and phosphorus, in an organic connective tissue framework which is mainly protein. The physical function of bone is to provide a skeleton structure which supports and protects the soft tissue, and to provide levers against which the various skeletal muscles move.

Other functions of bone are mineral storage - in the hard bone itself; fat storage and the formation of blood cells occur in the marrow. The dog has 319 bones in its skeletal structure

Digestive system

The digestive system consists of all the organs needed to ingest food and transform it by mechanical and chemical means into energy. The system comprises the digestive tract proper, beginning with the mouth (buccal cavity) and the glands linked to it.

The dog, a meat-eating mammal, uses its mouth - specifically, its 4-canine teeth - to seize prey. The flesh of the prey is then masticated through the movements of the lower jaw, or mandible. The premolar and the carnassial (the last upper idremolar and first lower molar, which are particularly developed) tear the meat to pieces, and the molars crush the bones. All of the dog's teeth become worn with age. Examining the incisors and canines can sometimes give a good idea of how old a dog is. However, the food given to domestic animals, and consequently the wear on their teeth, varies a great deal. Saliva is secreted by means of glands in the mouth. The saliva