10 Healthy Living Places in Boston

healthy living tips
People are luckier these days because of the emergence of fitness centers all over the world.  In any area, there are a lot of options you could choose from like bowling alleys, golf courses, skating rinks and dance studios.  You will always have a time to feel great about yourself by visiting such places. In Boston, Massachusetts, you will always get some health tips from the following sights:

1. Wachusett Mountain Ski Area.  This is a complete experience for both skiing and snowboarding.  It is known to have 18 trails which could cater both to amateurs and pros.  It also has the latest technology when it comes to snowmaking.

2. William Devine Golf Course.  This is a public golf course consisting of 18 holes.  You have to register at the professional shop before your game and enjoy other amenities such as the snack bars and the club house. 

3. Moosehill Wildlife Sanctuary.  Exploring the sights of nature could be a recommended exercise for the eyes and the feet as well.  While you take time out to see what Moosehill Wildlife Sanctuary could offer, you may walk through the park. 

4. Monument Mountain.  Take a glimpse of Southern Berkshire County while tracking your way on top of the mountain.  You may walk, jog, hike or run all you like as long as you do not get into some obstructions. 

5. Blue Hills Ski Area.  This place is strategically located at Canton, a nearby town from Boston.  You can walk along the eight trails in the morning and enjoy 4 ski lifts in the afternoon.

6. Urban AdvenTours.  This place will certainly provide you with your biking needs.  Composed by biking enthusiasts, they will give you the right to choose to bike along the streets of Boston where traffic is known to be a rampant problem.  While you take a pleasant view around the city, you will have the chance to exercise your feet as you ride on the bicycle.

7. Charles River Reservation.  All-year round, Charles River Reservation offers you a wide array of choices for leisure.  Being around this area you have options from fishing, hiking, canoeing and even cross-country skiing.   All these health activities will surely define your body and exercise your muscles.

8. Boston Minuteman Campground.  Camping is not just mere bonfire lighting.  It is also focused on a series of activities that are healthy for your mind, soul and your physique.  It is actually an ideal preparation for more challenges you could face afterwards.  Boston Minuteman Campground is a recommended place for such activities.

9. Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area.  Though this area should be reached through a 45-mintue ferry ride from downtown, you will still find time to begin your health practices afterwards. 

10. Bridge Island Meadows.  Reaching this sight through paddling from the Charles River is possible.  You will definitely have a choice to enjoy the surrounding flood plains.  Kayaking is a good adventure supported by the Bridge Island Meadows.

(0) Comments

Hatha Yoga For Training the Mind

health tips

We often see pictures of Hatha Yoga practitioners performing physical feats, but we cannot see pictures of a trained mind. There is a Chinese proverb, which states, “A picture’s meaning can express ten thousand words.” It seems to have been loosely translated into English as: “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Nevertheless, we are moved by pictures and movies that stimulate thoughts with incredible feats, action, and special effects. Meanwhile, training the mind through meditation, Yoga, or self-study is often ignored because it does not sell as many copies.

Yet, we live in the real world. After we are released from the virtual world, when a game or movie is over, we must use our minds for work and studies. The power of the mind can be wasted when we fail to take action on our own behalf. A good example of this is health prevention and awareness of what we can control.

How often do you see someone carry a child, purse, package, or laptop out of balance? Do you realize what will happen to the spine over time? This person will likely be in chronic pain, if he or she carries anything out of balance over an extended period of time.

We see the same thing happen with eating habits. Unconscious eating has already caught up to less active young adults. Take a look at the size of graduates at a local university near you. This is a bad omen, because these young people are in their physical prime.

The window of opportunity for good health is not equal for all of us. You can be born into poverty, with a genetic defect, or three months too early. What a shame it is for young people, in the best years of their lives, to take their good health for granted. Luckily, all is not lost - Yoga has grown in popularity.

Yoga, in its many forms, allows one to become aware of daily habits in posture, eating, and breathing, by constantly training the mind. All forms of Yoga require self-discipline. We become aware of many situations that can throw the body out of balance.

How do we sit, stand, walk, eat, and drink, during the course of a day? While some may say: “Who cares?” It is wise to observe oneself and make corrections. It is easy to criticize others, but we have more control over our own health. To ridicule others, over bad habits, is usually a waste of energy and time.

To become an example of a trained mind, and good health habits, is the best a Yoga practitioner can do. If we are successful, others will follow.

(2) Comments

How Meditation Is A Great Recipe for Healthy Living

healthy living tips
Traditional forms of medicine from China, Japan, Indian, and many First Nations groups, have always had a place for meditation, as a constant in their lives, although North Americans are just touching the tip of the iceberg with the information and just how meditation can be the best recipe for healthy living.

Meditation has received recognition for being beneficial for psychological issues for many years, and is now recommended for conditions such as insomnia, depression, anxiety, inability to “focus” and “mental fog.” Some therapists are even using it for conditions such as cancer, HIV, and cardiovascular disease. Just how does this work?

We have two autonomic nervous systems; one is the “sympathetic”, where we go when we are really stressed out, and our blood vessels get constricted, pumping blood to all the extremities so the muscles can work faster and harder; this is know as the “fight or flight” response.

Our respiration and heart rate tend to overwork themselves, and it appears that most of us live in a state of stress; therefore, a fair amount of our time is spent in the sympathetic mode, which is not a good thing.

The other part of our nervous system is our “parasympathetic” nervous system, know as our “digest and rest” response, at which time, our body is allowing the blood vessels to dilate; therefore allowing our circulation improve throughout the body, and more specifically, to our organs and digestive system.

Unfortunately, when we are in the “fight or flight mode”,which is most of the time, our immune system does not function well. One stress simply compounds another, and no end appears in sight. In addition, we have careers, families, other interests that consume our days; just when do we have time to sit and think about nothing? We must commit ourselves to a healthy, easy, no cost practice like meditation, to keep our minds on the right track.

Meditation, by bringing someone out of a sympathetic state into a parasympathetic state, gives the immune system a break and a chance to recover from the “fight or flight” mode, allowing one’s immune system a chance to recover before it becomes totally overwhelmed. Meditation allows our digestive system to perform naturally, and improves the air flow to our lungs, helps to balance our hormones, which means it has a good affect on PMS, menopause and fertility.

According to First Holistic, meditation lowers cholesterol, reduces blood pressure, reduces production of free radicals, which has been linked to many different illnesses and chronic conditions.

Kate Marchesiello, director of Kripaulu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachussets, who has been hired by many large corporations to bring meditation to the executives, told her new learners that they will find that if you begin to practice meditation for even 5 to 10 minutes a day, a lot of the chaos and calamity begins to settle. The body uses oxygen more efficiently, the blood pressure drops and at the end of the day, you have a more calm and still mind.

Walking in nature, sitting quietly, painting (art), singing can all be forms of meditation. Focus on what inspires you whether it be a piece of music, a reading from a book, or even dreaming of being on a beach where no one else is; total peace of mind. You can meditate anywhere, and the great thing about meditation for healthy living is that you do not need to put on a pair of tights or be in any special position. Just sit in a comfy position, close your eyes and breathe in and out, until you notice the sensation of the air coming in and out of your nose.

Make up a “mantra”; a simple sound, such as “um..um..um..” As you breathe in, mentally repeat the sound; relax and as you exhale, hear the words “let go. At first, you will think of all the things you have to do; then, as you repeat your mantra, breathe in; breath out, you will notice a release of the tension in the belly, jaws and forehead.

Start meditation slowly. Kate Marchesiello suggests that even the most enthusiastic beginner need only set aside 5 to 10 minutes per day, in the first few weeks. Once you meditate, you will eventually enjoy this mode of relaxation and you are much more likely to increase the time meditation.

Many people meditate in the morning, to start their day off right. Stretch in bed, take a few moments to practice your breathing. Once you are out of bed, start your meditation, with your eyes closed and practice your breathing and your mantra over and over. Once you practice your meditation, when you go for a walk, you will notice the beauty of nature; breath in the fresh air. This has to be the healthiest recipe for healthy living ever.

(0) Comments