When you practice Downward Dog in class, you might feel as if everyone has their heels on the ground except you. In this version you don’t have to worry about that at all—in fact, you intentionally keep your heels lifted. This will give you more play in your pelvis so you can begin to understand its alignment in the pose.

Come back to the first version of the pose. This time, lift your heels as far away from the floor as you can. Straighten your knees, engage the muscles in your thighs, and lift your pelvis toward the ceiling. Your pelvis will shift forward as you do this and your body will look like a capital “A.”

From this position, roll your sitting bones up toward the ceiling. Observe how this rotation of your pelvis lifts your heels further from the floor. Also, notice how the top of your sacrum tilts forward and into your back. Unless you are very mobile in your spine, this is a healthy position for your lower back. Without these fundamental shifts, you might end up looking like a sad, hesitant dog—back rounded, buttocks curled under. This is dangerous and can lead to injuries in your lower back or hamstrings.

So, with your pelvis tilted forward in its proper alignment, firm the very tops of your thighs and lift them toward your hip creases. Draw your thighbones up into your pelvis, and roll your sitting bones even higher, forming a taller, more acutely angled “A” shape. To keep your legs straight, don’t jam or force your knees back; use the strength of your thighs to lift them. Feel how the strength of your legs supports the lift of your pelvis.

Now, one more time, press the tops of your thighs (not your knees) back toward the wall behind you. As you do this, your pelvis will move away from your hands, which will take some of the burden off your arms. Stay here for three to five smooth rounds of breath.

Do the Full Dog

The challenge in the full expression of Downward Dog is to fully extend your upper body and the backs of your legs while keeping from rounding your lower back. If your shoulders hunch forward or your lower back bulges toward the ceiling, continue to practice versions 1 and 2 for a few more weeks. Also, add Supta Padangusthasana (Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose) to your practice, which will open your hamstrings and calves safely.

Come into the full pose by moving through versions 1 and 2 first. Rotate your upper arms away from your ears until your elbow creases face their respective thumbs. Keeping your heels lifted, press your hands evenly into the mat and straighten your arms. Draw your kneecaps up and take your thighs back to take some of the weight off your arms. Inch your pelvis further up and back and feel how the sides of your body lengthen. Roll your sitting bones up so your lower back arches into its natural curve.

Now that your body is fully engaged and working to create space, slowly reach your heels toward the mat. Imagine your heels filled with lead. Breathe deeply and allow the intensity of the stretch to peel away all those layers of tension from the back of your legs. Release your neck and soften your gaze.

Stay for three to five smooth, even breaths in this version of Downward Dog, then release into Child’s Pose. Notice any sensations throughout your body, recognizing that this feeling of space, harmony, and ease is your body’s true nature.

Arms reaching, hips lifting, spine stretching: Downward Dog creates a symphony of sweet sensations all through your body.

By Jason Crandell

Downward-Facing Dog is the salt of hatha yoga, sprinkled intermittently throughout class from beginning to end. Just as pinches of salt enliven a dish, so Downward Dog enlivens your body—from your hips to your spine to your fingers and toes—making you feel more vibrant and alive, even spicier. As you discover the nuances of the pose, you’ll find it gets deeper and more flavorful, so you savor it more.

Downward-Facing Dog looks so easy and so beautiful, but looks can be deceiving. This pose is actually quite complex, and its benefits far-reaching. It both strengthens and stretches your entire body and requires you to balance the effort in your arms, torso, and legs so you don’t overburden any one area. Hold it for a few breaths and you’ll see what I mean.

In flow classes, Downward Dog is a lot like home base—you do it over and over again to neutralize your spine, to bring it back into its natural alignment. It’s also an inversion, preparing beginners for the feeling of going upside down. A pose with so many benefits is worth learning in detail. So even if you’ve done more Down Dogs than you can count, these first two versions will help you rediscover it, refine it, and feel it in all its glory.

When you first try Down Dog, you may feel tight in areas you never knew existed. Your lower back might round and your elbows may bend and bow. But with daily practice, you’ll love the sensation of unfurling your body into the pose, feeling long and lithe like a dog stretching after a good nap.

Bend Your Knees

In the first version of the pose, you bend your knees, which removes the hamstrings from the equation and allows you to fully extend through your upper body. With your knees straight you might feel bunched and crunched. With your knees bent you’ll find a long, juicy stretch through your spine, shoulders, and arms.

To start, lie face-down on your mat and place your hands on the floor by your shoulders. Keeping your hands and feet where they are, shift onto your hands and knees. Your knees should be as far apart as your hips, and your hands as far apart as your shoulders. This is the correct placement for your hands and feet in these two versions of the pose.

Your hands and feet are the foundation of the pose, so they should be solid and grounded. Bring your awareness to your hands: Feel where they’re in full contact with the mat and where they’re not anchored. Spread your fingers wide and press firmly and evenly through your hands into the mat. By dispersing your weight evenly across your hand, your wrists will be more stable and less vulnerable to injury.

With your hands rooted to the mat, tuck your toes under so your heels come off the floor. Lift your knees off the mat and shift your pelvis up toward the ceiling and back toward the wall behind you, keeping your knees bent. Instead of lifting up in a pushup position, press back. Imagine pressing the floor down and away from your pelvis.

For the next few breaths, begin to refine the pose, starting with your hands. If your thumb and index fingers are off the ground, you’re bearing too much weight in your outer hands. To counter this, try to create a perfect palm print on the mat: Spread your fingers, reach through your arms, and press down with both hands.

Now try to straighten your elbows. This can feel demanding either because you have tight shoulders or you lack strength, so be compassionate and patient as you try this. Next, rotate your arms externally (away from your ears) until your elbow creases face your thumbs. Feel the broadness of your upper back and the charge in your arms and shoulders.

With your arms awake and aligned, shift your chest toward your legs. Feel your armpit area lengthen and your chest open. As you continue to reach your arms, your pelvis will lift further up and shift back, and your spine will lengthen, unravel, and decompress.

Last but not least, release the tension in your neck; let your head hang naturally between your arms. After three to five breaths, exhale and bring your knees to the floor. Rest in Balasana (Child’s Pose) for a few breaths before coming into version 2 of the pose.

To have a healthy meal recipe does not seem so boring you can combine any kind of healthy food that will be consumed by your family, and do not be afraid to do the creativity of the food types you want to make, you can also get the idea of healthy eating menus by seeking information from various sources such as magazines, television, radio, websites and so on, even you can also ask for your friends or other families about their family favorite recipes that may just be your family favorite as well.

The progress of technology has helped so anyone can prepare a healthy meal menu better, because the refrigerator or freezer as a result of technology products have been providing to prepare a place big enough to be able to store vegetables and fruits to survive longer and fresh fruits and vegetables that can be consumed for days, and in addition there are some frozen vegetables and frozen meat that you can also store in the freezer where most of the minerals and vitamins in it can still be maintained through the freezing point.

Healthy eating menu is something that is not hard to do, especially if you can make it more predictable, so if you want to start making healthy eating menus for the family, then feel free to start and do not be afraid to make mistakes because of the constant practice you will know how to cook healthy foods and delicious for you and your family.

Organic Vitamins

People need vitamins in the body where a person needs vitamins among others differ depending on many things e.g. age, type of work, genetics, environmental stress load, and lifestyle and so on.

Vitamin deficiency in the long term in the human body can cause many diseases coming within the body e.g. vitamin D deficiency in a person’s body can cause the body to the person susceptible to the flue, colds, heart disease and so on.

Vitamins can be obtained by consuming a variety of healthy foods that directly contain a variety of nutrients and vitamins, and vitamins can be obtained also by taking some vitamin supplements are widely available in the market, and one vitamin supplement is good for the body is organic vitamins

Organic vitamins are vitamins made from natural materials that do not use chemicals in their manufacture, and therefore organic vitamins are vitamins that are high quality and purest form of concentrates of various essential nutrients that are beneficial to human body. Organic vitamins are supplements that have the power to prevent the body exposed to various types of diseases or help cure existing disease in the body.

Organic Vitamins have also been shown to save the natural release of energy in the body and has been shown to help people stay more active and have energy to do any kind of events in their lives everyday.

Non-organic vitamins also have health benefits on the body but the results of research related to how they are made and processed, often the body will not use all the minerals and nutrients in non-organic types of vitamins, and the unused part of the non-organic vitamin will go wasted on when someone does a bowel movement or urine, while the organic vitamins and mineral nutrients of these vitamins can be utilized more fully in the benefits to the body so the body can also get more leverage than non-organic vitamins

There are various types of organic vitamins sold on the market, there are special organic vitamins contain specific nutrients aimed at a particular body part such sports nutrition organic vitamins intended for joint or muscle fibers that allows faster recovery and more energy in the body, or organic vitamins for weight control and so on. And there are also organic vitamins containing various types of vitamin such as organic multivitamin that have benefits various types of health within the body.

With a variety of choices for organic vitamins available on the market then it makes it easier for anyone who wants to get a more healthy body and fresh quickly and easily by consuming organic vitamins regularly.

Persimmon fruit tree is multi-trunked or single-stemmed deciduous tree that grows to 25 feet tall. They grow best in areas that are winter and summers are relatively mild

Persimmon fruit in terms of taste is divided by a 2 types: astringent and non-astringent. The most common persimmon various substances is heart-shaped hachiya persimmon that contain very quality substance soluble tannins and good if eaten before softening. Non-substance persimmon is most often sold as Fuyu persimmons with type, round shape. Persimmon non-substances are not truly free than tannins as the term suggests, but rather far less substance before cooking.

In persimmon fruit contained many nutrients that are beneficial to the health of human body  such as vitamins A, B complex, C, E, and K, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, and dietary fiber is high enough where in 100 g persimmon contains 3.6 g dietary fiber (USDA Nutrient database source)

Health Benefits Persimmon Fruit

Persimmon rich in fiber, it implies two times more than apples, because it was suitable for the lead consumed a weight-loss program. And also can be used to prevent constipation

Vitamin C in persimmon as antioxidant could serve the body being able to counteract the free radicals so if regularly consume foods rich in vitamin C will helps the body become resistant against various infections and diseases

According to Drs. Shela Gorinstein of The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, is well worth the persimmon recommended for consumption. “Eat a persimmon-sized, about 100 grams, a day, enough to prevent clogging of the arteries,”

Vitamins B complex in persimmon fruit like folic acid, Pyridoxine, thiamin and so useful as a co-factor for various metabolic enzymes in the body functions.

Copper in persimmon fruit serves to assist the production of red blood cells. Copper is also an important cofactor for many enzymes in the body

It is recommend that you consume during pear skin eaten pear fruit because in a pear contains chlorogenic acid that is derived from hydroxy cinnamic acid. And this type of acid tends to accumulate a lot of skin on the pears. Therefore, to get the best benefits of pears, pears should be consumed along with the skin, but make sure the pears are washed thoroughly before consumption.

Health benefits of pears

healthy Fruits

In 100 grams of pear fruit contains 4.2 mg of vitamin C and vitamin C is known as one of the main compounds that the body needs in a variety of important processes in the body such as helping making collagen (fibrous protein that forms connective tissue in the bone), regulate cholesterol levels, transporting fat, improve immunity in the body helps the healing of wounds and improve brain function in order to work more optimally, and so on

Pear fruit is rich in antioxidant flavonoids, phyto-nutrients such as  These compounds together with beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, vitamin C and A help protect the body from harmful free radicals.

Vitamin K is contained in pear fruit helps blood clotting process. And because the effects that can reduce hardening of the arteries by calcium plaque deposits factor, so vitamin K has the potential to prevent the body from a case of serious diseases such as stroke, and heart disease

Pears fruit useful for those who are allergic to foods or food intolerance due Pears also become one of the fruits that can withstand an allergic reaction to a food.

Fiber in a pear can serve to lower cholesterol, and besides food fiber in pear fruits are also very useful in the digestive system and overcome constipation and are also safe for sensitive stomach or intestinal inflammation. Fiber and copper on pears fruit can also prevent colon cancer. High in fiber pears also make good for diabetics.

The definition of obesity, according to the doctors, is a condition in which body fat is in abundance. This condition is known as a chronic disease that can be overcome. Obesity is also associated with diseases that may reduce the quality of life.

Meanwhile, overweight or being overweight is a condition in which body weight (BW) BW than the normal person. Of the estimated 210 million Indonesian population in 2000, the number of overweight people who have reached 76.7 million (17.5 percent) and that obesity reached 9.8 million (4.7 percent).

The term “normal”, “overweight”, and “obese” can vary in each country and culture. Therefore, WHO established a measurement or classification of obesity that is not dependent on cultural bias.

The most widely used method for measuring the level of obesity is the body mass index (BMI), which is obtained by dividing weight (kg) by square of height (meters). BMI can be used to determine how much a person can be exposed to the risk of certain diseases. Asian normal BMI values from 18.5 to 22.9. Values from 23 to 24.9 is overweight (overweight). Someone said to her obesity when BMI over 30 or in other words the person has excess body weight as much as 20 percent.

There are many diseases are closely associated with being overweight. Call it high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, arthritis, back pain, and even sexual dysfunction.

From the aspect of nutrition, fasting at least will reduce the intake of nutrients, especially energy, about 20-30 percent. However, from the health aspect, it gives the health benefits of fasting on the body of the perpetrator. Even in developed countries, fasting made as part of efforts to therapy (Fasting therapy) to cure some degenerative diseases.

Although research on the effects of fasting for health has not been done, some results of research showing the health benefits of fasting, among others, can reduce the risk of stroke. Fasting also improves blood cholesterol profile, lowering total cholesterol and bad cholesterol (LDL cholesterol).

High blood cholesterol levels in the long term will be clogging the blood vessels in the form of atherosclerosis (calcification or hardening of the arteries). Atherosclerosis is a forerunner of cardiovascular disease (PKV), a disease associated with heart and blood vessels. When a blockage occurs in the brain will cause a stroke and when there are at the heart area causing coronary heart disease (CHD).

The study shows that fasting can increase good cholesterol (HDL) cholesterol and lower fat (LDL). This may be caused by changes in meal frequency from three times to two times a day, so that fat intake would decrease.

Trigger PKV
Cholesterol is synthesized in the liver (approximately 1500 mg / day) and the rest is absorbed from food daily. As many as 75-80 percent of cholesterol in the human body metabolized to cholic acid formation, which is important for digestion and absorption of fat.

Raw animal foods such as lean meat, viscera, brain, eggs (especially the yolk), shellfish, and dairy products (cream, whole milk, cheese, butter) contain high amounts of cholesterol per 100 gram, while the cholesterol content contained relatively low in fish.

Cholesterol is transported in the bloodstream in large molecules form a combined fat and protein called lipoproteins. There are several types of lipoprotein, but the most popular is the low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL).

LDL and HDL work opposite in the body. High LDL cholesterol levels can increase the risk of fatty deposits piled them in the blood vessels, causing blockages, which in turn increases heart attack risk. That’s why LDL cholesterol is called bad cholesterol (bad cholesterol). Conversely, increased levels of HDL cholesterol has a protective effect against heart disease. For this reason, HDL is called good cholesterol (good cholesterol).

In the United States, approximately one of 500 people aged under 18 years old have high cholesterol, known as familial hyperlipidemia. Cholesterol levels can be increased to 300 mg/100 ml of blood or more.

This is what causes them prone to heart attack or stroke at the age of 20 years. Approximately 10 percent of children in the U.S. have total cholesterol levels exceeding 190 mg/100 ml of blood, a figure which is high for children.

Year-round

In the menu open and the meal, do not forget to eat dates. Because, besides supplying energy, dates are also rich in nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, niacin, and dietary fiber (dietary fiber), which is useful in a healthy heart and blood vessels.

Mineral potassium can contribute to make the heart beat regularly, activate muscle contraction, control of water balance in tissues and cells, and helps regulate blood pressure. Some research suggests that foods rich in potassium (potassium intake of at least 400 mg per day) can reduce the risk of stroke.

According to research, healthy food for the heart and blood vessels are containing potassium ratio (K) and sodium (Na) of at least 5 to 1. In 100 grams of dates contain about 666 mg of potassium and sodium content of only 1 mg, so the ratio is 666:1.

Mineral magnesium helps muscle and nerve function, including the arrangements to keep a normal heart rhythm. In 100 grams of dates, there are around 34 mg of magnesium. Nutrient niacin (2.2 mg/100 g dates) function helps release energy from food and keep the function of the skin, nerves, and digestive system in order to remain normal.

Niacin suspected role in preventing and fighting heart disease. Dietary fiber (2.2 grams gram/100 dates) reported decreases your blood cholesterol by inhibiting absorption of fat or cholesterol in the large intestine, so the levels of cholesterol in the blood did not increase.

Dietary fiber has specific qualities that can cause physiological effects and influence on metabolism in the body. The properties in question are in the water solubility, water binding capacity (water holding capacity), and viscosity (ability to absorb organic matter and non-organic), and the degree of fermentation by intestinal microflora.

Dietary fiber is generally slows gastric emptying, increase residence time (transit time) of food in the gut so prolong satiety, and reduce the absorption of nutrients. Water-soluble nature of this contact also with the high water binding capacity and viscosity of the fiber.

Because it has high water holding capacity, water-soluble fiber (soluble dietary fiber) capable of forming a viscous mass in the stomach. This viscous mass digestive enzymes and absorb or reduce contact between meals with these enzymes. Viscous mass was also detected by the stomach as food is not digested and therefore slowly removed from the stomach.

The same thing happened in the small intestine, the large mass of fibers was slow out of the small intestine. However, the duration of the transit time did not increase the absorption of nutrients by intestinal cells, instead they decreased absorption. It happened because it meets most of the mass volume of the small intestine, thus reducing the surface area of contact between the nutrients in the intestinal wall and cause a low level of diffusion of nutrients. Given the size of the palm nutrient, palm consumption should at any time of year, not just during Ramadan.