African Americans and Yoga

When I look around me, I see many people embarking on the journey of yoga.  Yoga is a great way to reduce stress, lower blood pressure and stay fit.  In the back of mind however, always remains the thought "how come more African Americans do not practice yoga"?  In our African American culture many times we confuse yoga with religion, and indeed yoga can be a spiritual experience practiced by some religions, but yoga in and of itself is not a religion.  The work yoga comes from the Sankrit meaning to yoke, to unite, to join. 

Yoga truly helps the individual to unite the mind, body and spirit together in ways that increase overall mindfulness and well being.  When many people think of yoga, they think of India, but actually yoga was practiced in Ancient  Egypt, North East Africa  as well, it was called Kemetic yoga and was practiced for about 10,000 years. Kemet means black, or black land and was called this because of the early inundation of the Nile River which caused the rich silt to overflow its banks.

  According to the Kemetic yoga association:  There is universal consciousness that is beyond the scope of the normal realm of consciousness, or individual reality of people. Hence, the practice of yoga is a personality integration method that allows human beings to bind their individual transitory reality with the universal consciousness. The universal consciousness is stable and unchanging, unmoving, therefore, it is the substantial reality while human beings are existing in transitory phenomenon. When this process is accomplished one can say that they have experienced the way things really are or have experienced reality; universal consciousness.

Yoga is the practice of binding individual consciousness with universal consciousness. This individual reality that you are experiencing is actually only a small reflection of your true nature and yoga is the practice of how to achieve the knowledge of one's abiding and immortal aspect.

 

I enjoy teaching yoga, and sharing it with others.  I hope that everyone who reads this post, will at least explore yoga in some detail and allow it to bring peace, clarity and healing.  Watch my short yoga video below!  Enjoy.

 

 

 

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRvBt-IYoVU

Walking Into Holistic Wellness

Today I was thinking about what it means to be fit and well. Mosby’s Medical Dictionary defines physical fitness as the ability to carry out daily tasks with alertness and vigor, without undue fatigue and with enough energy reserves to meet emergencies or to enjoy leisure pursuits. The same dictionary defines wellness as a dynamic state of health in which an individual progresses toward a higher level of functioning, achieving an optimum balance between internal and external environments. I like both of those definitions because being fit and well truly means integrating all of who we are and having enough vital energy to function physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The title of this short article is walking into holistic wellness and I choose this title because I wanted to point out the benefits of something as simple as a daily walking ritual. According to a recent study conducted by the Ochsner foundation in New Orleans, African Americans are at particularly high risk of disease from lack of physical activity.


The major findings:

• On average, African-American men in the study were three years younger than the white men, yet African-American men's fitness capacity was 7% lower than that of white men. The difference is considered significant.

• On average, African-American women in the study were four years younger than the white women. Yet African-American women's fitness capacity was 3% lower than that of white women. This difference is not considered significant.

• African-American men were more likely to be obese than white men: 44% vs. 33%.

• African-American women were more likely to be obese than white women: 37% vs. 27%.

• African-American women were also more likely than white women to be severely obese: 19% vs. 11%.

The study notes that the best predictor for premature death is poor physical fitness. Developing a walking routine takes about 20- 30 minutes of your day and is a great way to start developing overall physical fitness. We must banish the myth that in order to be physical fit you must join the gym or work out with the latest equipment. Walking into holistic wellness is free but the rewards are worth much.

Let me take the time to point out a few of the benefits according to recent research. According to Active.com walking will tone your body, put you on an emotional high and melt away pounds. All you need is the correct technique, walk faster and longer and you will definitely see and feel results. Researchers at the University Of Massachusetts found that people who walked everyday had 25% fewer colds. According to Johns Hopkins University, walking will reduce high blood pressure; the reason for this is that exercise produces weight loss and increased sensitivity to insulin (a hormone involved in the control of blood sugar) which in turn decrease blood pressure. Unfortunately, hypertension in African Americans is quite common, it is something we have come to accept and I say that it does not have to be so. African Americans have a higher rate of death from stroke and kidney disease. My mother died from kidney failure at the young age of 57, but she also suffered from hypertension as well, she never drank alcohol, she never smoked, but she also never exercised and  ate the wrong types of food. Studies are now revealing that hypertension treatment can begin with a lifestyle change and for many that will be the only treatment that will ever be needed. Take the time today to walk into holistic wellness. It will definitely impact your body,mind, emotions and spirit.

Fateria Johnson M.A. CMBFS

Fateria is a NESTA certified Lifestyle And Weight Management Specialist and Holistic Wellness Educator. She welcomes any questions you may have on getting well holistically. She can be reached at naturalhealth@its4yourwellness.com

www.its4yourwellness.com

Taking The Wholistic Path To Wellness

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I am sitting here thinking about wellness and our communities. I often get concerned at how people would rather be fixed, instead of just taking preventive measures to maintaining wellness. If we are going to be truly well as a community of people, we must become educated in the Wholistic Path To Wellness. The Barnhart Concise dictionary of etymology defines holistic as the theory that nature produces whole organisms from small units, the term holism and holistic were coined from the Greek word holos meaning whole.

Taking the Wholistic path to our wellness involves looking at our whole self, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. It is important to understand how our thoughts influence our actions and the way that we feel in general. When we began to understand the journey to Wholistic wellness we will experience the freedom that comes from making wellness choices that impact our life and the lives of those around us. As we become educated about proper food choices, the benefits of fresh clean air, the effects of spiritual practice and physical exercise, we will become empowered and through this empowerment we enact change. The day has come for us to take charge and to not stand by helpless as diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cancer and other lifestyle diseases plague our communities.

I remember when my mother was dying, I was not fully educated in ways to help her overcome her illness. I have made a promise to myself and to God that I will share the education that I have gained with others so that they can be prepared in the many battles that we face in life and at least have a fighting chance. One thing that I have learned is that regular herbal detoxification is very important, because it helps to clean out our liver and kidneys and these organs help to filter out the toxins in our body. Toxins are a major cause of disease, as the toxins in our body accumulate in our body we become sluggish and are prone to sickness and disease. In order for us to function properly, we must have clean blood, and detoxifying helps to ensure that this happens.

Medical science tells us that disease can be cured by drugs, when in actuality in most cases what is happening is that you are suppressing the symptoms. Unless you get to the root of a condition (cause and effect) You will most likely suffer from that condition again or a similar condition like it, to truly be healed means not having to rely on an outside substance to maintain homeostasis. To be well is to be free . It is important to take the Wholistic path to wellness and to understand why you are sick in the first place and to trace the cause of the problem and work to eliminate that cause so that the effect will be complete wellness. Always remember these important points (Naturopathy For The 21st Century;Thiel)

1. The body under the normal natural conditions, is a self sustaining organism

2. The theory of health and disease is based on nature itself.

3. The body is governed by definite natural laws with regard to the physical, chemical, biological and physiological basis

4. Ill health, is therefore, as a result of a departure, from healthful living out of harmony with Natures laws.

5. To the degree that man adheres to and applies Natures beneficial laws, to that degree will the body, through its natural inherent powers restore itself to normal.

I hope that something mentioned here will encourage you to take the path to Wholistic Wellness, and to living a life full of vigor and joy that was intended for you from the beginning.

Fateria Johnson M.A. CSMC, CMBFS

http://www.its4yourwellness.com/