Lifestyle Choices

Every woman has two kinds of energy, male and female. Male energy is like the sun—invigorating, stimulating, creative, and powerful. The male postures in yoga call forth this dynamic energy and release it.

Female energy is recuperative, calming, nurturing, and gentle. The female postures are restoring to body, mind, and spirit. Yoga attempts to release male and female energies and ultimately to fuse them in union—to integrate the person.

The first four postures are male. They are done standing and they revitalize you. The last four are female and calming. In order to achieve the best balance and effect, it is best to do them in the order in which Geoffrey recommends them. (more…)

The Decanter

This exercise stimulates the nervous system and at the same time stills a restless or anxious mind. I like doing it after I have been working in an immobile position for a long time—for instance, when I have been at my desk writing for several hours. I do it just before I get up to move about.

Sitting comfortably in a chair with a straight back or cross-legged on the floor, imagine that your body is like a decanter, the bottom of the decanter being your pelvis and hips and the top of it your head. Pretend that you are going to fill it with energy in the form of air. (more…)

One of the best things you can do for your feet is to walk barefoot. Wearing exercise sandals is the next best thing. When your feet are free of shoes and hose they relax and stretch; exercise sandals are designed to let the feet do this. They follow the natural contour of the foot, imitating and slightly exaggerating the effect of walking barefoot. This is great for toes as they grip and then relax from the gripper bar with every step. But exercise sandals are just that—meant for exercise, not all-day wearing. You can tire yourself and develop bulky muscles in the calves if you wear them too much. (more…)

These are not very good for your skin. Soaps are made of fatty acids taken from animals and treated with caustic soda. Many of them are also full of antiseptics that can cause irritations to the skin and be very drying. If you bathe every day, you don’t need soap to get clean. If you do use it, choose a neutral soap (one that is not alkaline) or one of the pH balanced detergent bars that are mild on the skin and don’t remove the natural acid mantle from it. Even then you probably only need it under the arms, around the genitals, and on the feet unless you have been out in the mud and genuinely need to wash away grime. Bath foams and other detergent-based products can contribute to vaginal infections such as trichomoniasis and candidiasis. (more…)

EYES

This exercise is excellent for the eye area, which usually goes slack faster than any other part of the face. It is particularly designed to prevent or eliminate crow’s-feet. It is in two parts.

Part one Looking into a mirror, lower your chin to your chest and open your eyes looking straight ahead. Then, slowly and in eight definite steps, close your eyes by bringing the lower lids up to the upper, all the while looking into the mirror until the very last moment. Hold this position with your eyes tightly shut for four counts, then release in the same eight definite steps. Repeat four times. Once you can control these movements in definite steps, you are ready to go on to the toughy that really does the work. (more…)