Yoga for Better Health

It's more than just good exercise - yoga may help improve both your physical and emotional health.

What Is Yoga?

   According to the American Yoga Association, yoga unites physical activity, meditation, and controlled breathing. The word "yoga" comes from an ancient phrase meaning "to join," which refers to the mind and body coming together. The first written instructions regarding yoga poses date back to more than 2,000 years ago, but yoga is thought to have been practiced centuries before then.

Lifelong Spirituality

    Margo Johnson was at the top of her profession. A 36-year-old managing editor for a national college textbook publisher, she had achieved many of her goals. From her corner office, she supervised a 60-person staff, which kept her both busy and challenged. But her career had taken her two time zones away from her family on the West Coast and her dating life had evaporated. It was time for a change. She gave two weeks notice, rented a moving van, packed up her belongings, and drove from Texas to Los Angeles to start a new chapter of her life.

A Prayer for Good Health

Nearly half of all Americans say they pray for health-related reasons, and about a quarter believe they benefit from other people praying for them.

    Watching a parent, child, sibling, or any other loved one suffer from a serious illness or go under the knife can be frightening. Perhaps you've said a silent prayer for them before they headed into surgery or started another round of chemotherapy. In fact, many hospitals have chapels for prayer and meditation. But is there really a link between prayer and health?

Tai Chi: Balance in Motion

This ancient alternative medicine may offer many health benefits, including improved coordination and more restful sleep.

When you think of martial arts, images of experts breaking boards or perhaps Chuck Norris teaching bad guys a lesson may come to mind.

The Benefits of Meditation

Daily stresses and distractions can frazzle your brain. With meditation, you shut the world out and concentrate on calm.

    This is how Kimberly Montgomery, 52, a clinical psychologist from Indianapolis, describes the experience of meditation:

Picture yourself in a room in a huge castle. You find the door that allows you to walk out of the castle, and you do so. As you cross to the other side of the moat and keep walking, the massive castle dwindles in size behind you, and you can now see the forest around it, and then a distant village.