Articles

You took a spill, and now your ankle hurts and looks like it ate a softball. How can you tell if it’s strained, sprained or broken? Well, with both a sprain and a strain, something has been either stretched or partially or completely torn. The difference between the two lies in which body part has...

Taking a bath can do your body a whole lot of good, especially if you incorporate a key ingredient: essential oils. “Baths are an effective way to deliver their healing power,” says Joie Power, Ph.D., director of The Aromatherapy School in Fairview, North Carolina, and a clinical consultant for the essential-oil company Artisan Aromatics. “The oils...

A lot of us spend a big chunk of our waking hours stuffed into cubicles that would give a veal calf claustrophobia. We slump over keyboards and stare at computer screens two feet from our faces — and we can feel the toll this takes on our bodies (which is why an after-work trip to the gym...

The history of yoga — a practice that focuses on conscious movement, breathing and meditation — dates back more than 5,000 years. It was initially used by those who wanted to achieve greater personal freedom, health and longevity. The practice has evolved over the millennia — and today, physicians, yoga instructors and practitioners alike herald its...

If you could spend 90 minutes today doing anything, what would it be? I’d choose shopping, lounging beachside with a cold drink in hand or watching bad (yet so good) reality TV. Was “sitting on the floor in a hot room with a bunch of other sweaty people” on your list? Maybe not, but it’s...

Yoga is one of the best workouts out there. From building strength and increasing flexibility to improving your mind-body connection, yoga is one of those workouts that just leaves you feeling good. But, like any exercise, proper form and instruction are important. So going to a yoga class with an educated and experienced instructor is...

The Rumor: Pilates gives you a better workout than yoga (or vice versa) In mind-body wellness there are two primary camps: People who are devoted to Pilates and people who swear by yoga. Advocates of both say the workouts do basically the same thing (lengthen and strengthen the body). Yet most people are convinced that...

A 5,000-year-old practice, yoga is basically a series of moves or poses (asanas, in yogi speak) that you assume for a few seconds to a few minutes. Designed to build strength and flexibility, yoga unites the mind, body and spirit through these movements and their accompanying meditations and breath control. Yoga counts as a workout,...

Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean you can’t stay warm inside — your body, that is. Certain yoga postures are specifically designed to build strength and boost circulation, and as a result, they generate some serious heat. It might sound questionable that after holding still in these postures for only a minute or so,...

Of all the well-known styles of yoga, none have quite achieved the notoriety of Bikram. A style of hot yoga that isn’t a good fit for casual yogis or heat-haters, Bikram was developed about 40 years ago in the belief that extreme heat can have positive effects on the body. To me, trying Bikram for the first time was like...