Pilates is more than simply physical changes; it also focuses on improving the mind, spirit, and body. It’s a terrific way of getting into shape, but overall the Pilates experience is far more rewarding.

When someone signs up for Pilates exercises, it’s mostly because they want to tone their bodies and physically get in better shape. Without a doubt, Pilates can get you there, but Pilates is also about mental and spiritual well-being, which isn’t usually obvious to a first-time studio visitor. You won’t capture the true experience in an Instagram post.

Read more: Here are 5 amazing benefits you can get from doing Pilates.

Shift in Mindset

Consider Pilates to be a carefully prepared dancing routine. It necessitates mental agility and cognitive suppleness in addition to physical agility. It’s just as much a mental and spiritual workout as a physical workout. But is it beneficial to mental health? It is! Pilates has been shown to help maintain and build mental components, boost focus and be a pleasant yet demanding physical workout.

This mental fortitude and calmness can help people in their professional and personal lives. Pilates exercises demand concentration and focus on body motions and reactivity, which works your muscles and your mind.

Positive Energy

Pilates exercises focus on improving muscular stimulation, flexibility, and circulation, among other things. As a result, you’ll gain a rare burst of energy to see you through the body. Since Pilates provides a natural boost of energy, many devotees for a fast ten or so minutes practice every morning as a healthy dose of energy instead of something artificial like caffeine.

You’ll be fatigued after the first few Pilates classes or at least until you’ve become used to the workout. But it’s not the same as the weariness that comes with a cross-fit or boxing session. Pilates is challenging, but it focuses on the entire body rather than just one side at a time.

Customizable For You

A   Pilates workout is suitable for everyone. Your Pilates journey can be tailored to your needs and skill level to guarantee that you’ll get the most out of these classes. By modifying the routine and technique, your trainers can start you on the challenging levels that are ideal for you.

It’s fine if your challenge level differs from the person next to you. It’s not a contest. Healthy energy is at the heart of Pilates. These workouts are meant to push your physical and mental boundaries. You may feel fatigued initially, but as you become more accustomed to the routines and the environment, you’ll find yourself leaving the studio confident, happier, and stronger.

Excited about starting Pilates? FitEngine can help you figure out the best Pilates classes in NYC. We post reviews about classes such as dance workout routines, stretching exercises for flexibility, flexibility workout, and Pilates workout in NYC. Read our blogs to learn more!

The post Health of Mind and Body: Pilates Before and After appeared first on Fitengine.

Physically active people are happier with their life when it comes to exercising. They’re more grateful, loving, and hopeful. They also feel like they have a stronger sense of purpose. They have a stronger sense of belonging in their societies and are less prone to be lonely and depressed. Here are some positive effects that you can get when you incorporate a daily exercise routine at home.

Happier Than Before

Exercise, whether Pilates exercises or a dance workout, has been demonstrated to increase mood and reduce sadness, anxiety, and stress symptoms. It causes alternations in the brain regions that control anxiety and stress. It can also improve brain sensitivity to neurotransmitters (norepinephrine and serotonin) which help alleviate depressive symptoms.

Exercising can also boost endorphin production, which can promote happy feelings and lower pain perception. It doesn’t depend on how strenuous your workout is. Regardless of the severity of the physical activity, it appears that exercise can improve your mood. In a study, exercise of any level dramatically reduced feelings of depression in 24 women who were struggling with the condition. Movement has such a profound effect on mood that whether you exercise can create a change in a short amount of time.

Better Memory and Brain Health

It can help preserve memory and thinking ability while also improving brain function. It starts with raising heart rate, allowing more blood and oxygen to reach your brain. It can also increase hormone production that promotes brain cell growth.

Furthermore, because chronic disease can influence your brain’s functioning, exercise’s ability to prevent chronic illness could turn into benefits for your brain. Aging, coupled with inflammation, causes alterations in brain structure and performance. Regular exercise is crucial in senior citizens. It has been proven to increase the size of the hippocampus, a brain region important for memory and learning, which may enhance mental performance in seniors.

Tip: Here are the 3 best exercises to help you get back in shape quickly.

Improved Sleep Quality

Regular exercise might assist you in unwinding and sleeping better. The energy lost while you’re working out, whether a flexibility workout or a mobility workout, activates restorative processes, improving sleep quality. Many studies on exercise’s effects on sleep have reached the same conclusion.

According to a study, engaging in an exercise session lowered sleep latency and improved sleep quality. After resistance training and stretching, resuming sleep after getting up, sleep length and sleep quality all improved. Also, regular exercise appears beneficial to older persons who are frequently impacted by sleep disturbances.

FitEngine can assist you in finding the best Pilates classes, stretching classes, tips to lose weight with exercise, yoga stretching classes, flexibility workout, and dance classes in NYC as we provide reviews on them. We are online service providers who deliver high-quality wellness and fitness content to our readers. Read our blogs to learn more!

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Five Things You Can Do Every Day For Your Internal Self

When it’s difficult to control our external environment, sometimes the best we can do is focus on our internal selves. Now more than ever, it’s important to give our bodies everything it needs to boost the immune system.

Move 30-60 Minutes Each Day

Whether you walk, ride a bike, run stairs or attend a virtual fitness class, the benefits of movement and exercise include improved mood, reduced insulin sensitivity, increased energy and better cardiovascular health. So make movement a daily priority.

Stay Hydrated

Water is found in every cell, tissue and organ of our bodies. Proper hydration improves brain function, helps deliver oxygen to the body and lubricates joints. Aim to drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water each day.

Sleep

Inadequate sleep can negatively impact your immune system. Try turning off your electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime to help quiet your mind and create healthy sleep habits. If you need a soothing sound but want to avoid using your phone, try a sound machine with a sleep timer.

Eat Your Veggies

Vegetables (and fruits) are loaded with vitamins and minerals that help support immunity. If possible, eat your vegetables raw or lightly cooked to help retain valuable nutrients.

 Consume Essential Fatty Acids

The benefits of essential fatty acids include improved cardiovascular health, muscle tissue maintenance, mental and cognitive improvement and reduced inflammation. Fish and seafood are a great source of essential fatty acids.

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Have you heard of the phrase, ‘You are what you eat’? Meant as a motivational message to inspire people trying to lose or gain weight in a healthy way, this phrase actually resonates much more deeply and addresses hidden truths about us in relation to the choices we make.

This phrase can also be taken in a different context, with yoga as the primary. Getting right to the point, we are what we yoga! Let’s explore how this advice applies when we step onto our yoga mats;

You Are What You Yoga

This means: slow down and take life as it comes. Yoga is all about self exploration and peacefulness in this chaotic world.

Don’t Be Fast

You have all day to ride in the fast lane. Take time out and spend it on yoga. Try to decelerate when on the mat. Remember; the yoga mat can be your safety bubble and a place where you can appreciate the wonders of life.

Take your mat outside on a lovely day and practice slow breathing techniques. Stop after every sun salutation; take a breather and savor them.

Don’t Be Easy

Don’t be like all the other yogis, who stop practicing this art and life form once everything is know by them. Think what the founding father of yoga will say! Don’t think it’s alright to stop trying, either in life or yoga once you have been given the heart’s true desires.

Find another cause, another purpose, and fight for it. Just as on the yoga mat, find new ways to perfect your pose, to quiet your mind.

Don’t Be Fake

Your life, just like your yoga should belong to you, and only you. Stop trying to impress that person next to you. Don’t focus on the bigger, more challenging, aspects of yoga; instead, on the little things. Be strong in your own mind and body, just like when practicing yoga. Do remember to let it go easy after accomplishing a particularly pose or task. Assume a resting pose when you need a break and believe that yes, you deserved it.

You are what you yoga but learning from the best also helps. Get in contact with FitEngine and see what they can do for you. Achieve your fitness goal and Zen with them.

The post Want To See How A Person Is? See Their Yoga appeared first on Fitengine.

While it most cases it is necessary to take anti-parasitic or antibiotic treatment prescribed by a doctor, there are a series of natural treatments that can help reduce your risk for getting an intestinal infection and relieve the very uncomfortable symptoms you might experience when you have been diagnosed.

In this article, I will give you an overview of intestinal infections – what they are, the most common types, the risk factors, and the symptoms. I will also share my own recent experience with intestinal parasites with you, and tell you how I was able to relieve symptoms and discomfort through natural means.

What are Intestinal Infections?

Gastro-Intestinal infections, often misnamed stomach infections (except for a few strains of bacteria and parasites, infections rarely occur in the stomach due to its acidic environment), occur when bacteria, a virus, or a parasite colonize part of the digestive tract. These don’t allow your natural bacteria or intestinal walls do their job properly. While they can live in many parts of the body, they usually prefer the walls of the intestine because of the pH and rich source of nutrients.

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, the following elements may raise your risk for intestinal infections:

• Living in or visiting an area known to have parasites
• International travel
• Poor sanitation (for both food and water)
• Poor hygiene
• Children and the elderly are more likely to get infected.
• Exposure to child and institutional care centers
• Having a weakened immune system
• HIV or AIDS

What are the Symptoms of Intestinal Infections?

While there are symptoms specific to each type of infection, there tend to be a series of common symptoms. Symptoms may include:

• Fever
• Abdominal pain
• Diarrhea and dysentery (loose stool with blood or mucus)
• Nausea or vomiting
• Rashes in the genital or anal area
• Feeling tired
• Weight loss
• Tenderness
• Muscle and bone aches
• Dehydration

When I first became ill, I felt an extreme sense of tiredness and achiness about a day before I experienced any of the other symptoms. The next day, when I started feeling sore muscles, abdominal pain, nausea, and frequent bowel movements, I knew that something was wrong. I experienced every single one of the symptoms above for three days until I finally realized that it wasn’t a the flu, or a simple stomach ache that was affecting me. By this time, I was very dehydrated and had to be put on a wide-spectrum antibiotic/anti-parasitic treatment.

How Can You Treat Intestinal Infections Naturally?

Even after beginning pharmaceutical treatment, I wasn’t happy with how I was feeling, even when some of the most uncomfortable symptoms started to subside. This was when I did my own research and started asking steadfast followers of natural health treatment for tips on how to feel like my old self again. Here are the three most effective natural infection aides.

Pericon tea:

The scientific name for this plant is Tagates lucida, and it is native to Mexico and Central America. As my mother in law is Guatemalan, it is no wonder why this was a go-to natural treatment recommended to me. It was used by Aztecs to flavor cocoa, and it has a tarragon-like flavor. Its medicinal properties include alleviating feverish illnesses, indigestion, nausea and diarrhea – many of the symptoms of intestinal infections. Scientific studies show that it does, indeed, have antibacterial and antifungal properties.

To prepare the tea, you can use dried pericon leaves, or purchase pericon tea bags. Steep in almost-boiling water for 4-5 minutes, and sip.

Wild Basil Tea (Cinnamon Basil)

During the tail end of the illness as my body tried to compensate for the imbalance experienced in the several days prior, I found that I felt extremely bloated, and started to experience constipation. This is often a side-effect of the pharmaceutical treatment that kills off the parasites. When I asked elders in my community, they recommended I drink wild basil tea, often known as purple basil or cinnamon basil. The leaves are smaller than the basil found in supermarkets, and the plants produce small purple flowers (thus the name purple basil). If you don’t have this sort of basil available, conventional basil will do.

Basil does, indeed, have anti-microbial properties, which could have assisted with any residual bacterial issues I may have had. Basil also contains a compound called beta-caryophyllene, which helps to treat bowel inflammation, and other compounds help to alleviate gas, spasms, and lack of appetite.

To prepare the basil tea, boil two springs, with the flower and stems, in two cups of water for about 10 minutes. Run the water through a sieve, and you can mix it with a teaspoon of honey, for taste. Drink in the morning and at night, or when uncomfortable from bloating.

Fermented Foods

Once the infection was cured, I still didn’t feel quite myself. The multiple pharmaceutical and natural anti-bacterial substances I put in my body most likely also killed off all the good bacteria that kept my bowel and immune system functioning properly. To get my bowel back in balance, I started eating and drinking fermented foods, like natural (non-flavored) yogurt, kombucha, and miso soup. These foods have probiotic properties, which help to recolonize my gut with healthy bacteria to prevent a resurgence of the infection, and get me feeling normal again.

The beneficial properties of fermented foods aren’t just hearsay. Plenty of scientific evidence shows that they are beneficial for your health, especially if you are recuperating from anti-bacterial treatment.

—

These three natural substances helped me get back on the road to recovery and and helped me to feel like myself again in only a weeks’ time. It is important to know that all treatment should be discussed with your doctor, and you should never self-medicate. However, effective natural substances can help to accelerate the recuperation process, and may even help to prevent infection if taken when you know your body is most vulnerable to illness.

If you are an athlete, making sure your immune system is consistently in tip-top shape is key to staying at the top of your game, so preventing and being quick to treat your body at the first sign of infection should be a regular part of your daily routine.

The post Natural Treatments for Intestinal Infections appeared first on Fitengine.

1. Load up your plate with veggies

While the bird is usually center stage, take advantage of a variety of vegetable sides you can add to your meal. Look for nutrient-dense veggies like Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, kale, asparagus, carrots, cabbage, green beans, mushrooms, onions and winter squash. Just be aware of how they’re cooked: if it’s smothered in cheese or soggy with butter, take a small amount of those and load up on steamed or roasted veggies instead.

2. Think outside the box

While we come to expect the usual turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing this time of year, consider mixing it up this year! Maybe try making a Moroccan-spiced turkey, or a stuffing made with quinoa. Seek out recipes from all kinds of cuisines, or experiment with vegetarian or vegan options. Get creative in the kitchen and make your own Thanksgiving classics!

3. Slow your roll

When confronted with so much deliciousness, it can be tempting to shovel it in as fast as possible. If you have a big family and you’re worried about not getting your share, I understand, but if you’re stuffing your face out of habit, consider a more conscious approach. Slowing down and savoring each bite will not only help you enjoy what you’re eating, but it will also send the message to your brain that you’re satisfied before you reach your limit, not after. This way, you’ll be able to keep your pants buttoned, at least while you’re still at the table! Taking your time at the dinner table will also give you more time to share and chat with those around you, allowing you to appreciate the company you’re with and create memories that will last long after you’ve eaten that pumpkin pie.

4. Take care of you

When your Aunt Tessie tries pushing that third helping of her famous mashed potatoes, don’t be afraid to (kindly) refuse. If you’ve had enough, if you’re sensitive to that particular food, or if it’s simply something you don’t want, don’t bend to peer pressure and stand your ground. You have total control over what you put into your body, and with all the tasty choices you’ll have at the meal, save up your calories for those you’ll enjoy the most.

5. Take it easy on the booze

While a little wine can be a helpful for keeping your cool around stressful family situations, beware of overdoing it. While it’s great for relaxing and can pair beautifully with certain foods at the table, too much can leave you dehydrated, sluggish and cranky at the end of the night. What’s more, if you fill up on wine, you won’t be able to savor those decadent desserts you’ve been eyeing the whole meal. Sip slowly and keep track of how much you have, or skip it altogether and enjoy a light mocktail to help you finish the holiday feeling satisfied and happy.

See more article by Ashleigh Gurtler over at AG Core Health!

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 A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. (Unknown)

Hopefully, that will not happen in your case.

According to USA.gov, below are the most common New Year’s Resolutions:

• Drink Less Alcohol
• Eat Healthy Food
• Get a Better Education
• Get a Better Job
• Get Fit
• Lose Weight
• Manage Debt
• Manage Stress
• Quit Smoking
• Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
• Save Money
• Take a Trip
• Volunteer to Help Others

Four of the best ways to actually keep those resolutions are:

– Be specific. Instead of saying lose weight- resolve to lose 30 pounds by 11-30-14 or I will have $10,000 in savings in the bank on or by 12-31-14. You are more likely to stick with them if the resolutions are specific.

–  Make them attainable. Decide on a something that is truly in your grasp to achieve as opposed to a goal that may be unrealistic for your situation.

–  Write them down. It’s kind of interesting to write down the resolutions year after year and review them to see how you did. Even if you make some progress, it’s good. For example, let’s say you lose 15 pounds instead of 30—that’s progress! And if you don’t make it, there’s always next year.

–   Review periodically. Set a calendar reminder to check where you are at in attaining the goals. It could spur you on to right your course.

Resolve Away!

FitEngine is the premier provider of fitness information and workout classes in NYC.

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Tomorrow- actual resolutions and their results-

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