Follow your heart

Consistent yoga practice, combined with healthy habits, provide countless benefits to your overall health. A synopsis of yoga and cardiovascular disease, published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology, proposes that yoga can help lower heart disease. A study showed that people who took yoga classes found improvements to their overall heart health. In fact, participants lost an average of five pounds, took five points off their blood pressure and lowered their levels of LDL cholesterol by 12 points. Combine your practice with these healthy tips and you’ll be on your way to living a stronger, more heart-healthy life.

The Om Factor
Along with its many health benefits, yoga can help open your heart physically and emotionally. By adding these heart-opening poses to your weekly yoga practice, you can help your heart stay strong.

Bow Pose or Dhanurasana
Begin this pose by lying on your belly with your hands alongside your torso, palms facing upward. Exhale and bend your knees, bringing your heels towards your buttocks. Reach back with your hands and hold your ankles. Inhale and strongly lift your heels away from your buttocks while lifting your thighs away from the floor. As you continue to lift your heels and thighs higher, press your shoulder blades firmly against your back to give a nice heart-opener.

Cow Pose or Bitilasana
Start on your hands and knees in a tabletop position. Keep your knees directly below your hips and your wrists, elbows and shoulders perpendicular to the floor. On an inhale, lift your sitting bones and chest toward the ceiling, letting your belly sink toward the floor. Lift your head and look straight forward. On an exhale, come back to the neutral tabletop position on your hands and knees.

Ways to Keep You and Your Family Heart-Healthy
Take care of yourself and encourage your family to join you in making heart-healthy decisions! Here are a few easy lifestyle changes to make.