Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

When doing tree, it is where you put your focus. Get your foot on your leg in a spot you like (I like my knee, but I get yelled at by my teachers because it can hurt my knee. So I just put it low on my calf. I am not flexible enough (or my quads/hams are too big!) to get my foot in my groin!). Once in this position, put your hands together at your heart center. Now establish a balance. Think that from you foot to the top of your head is a pole. Hug your body's muscles to this pole on an inhale, then breath a release on the exhale. Also put some emphasis on the big toe and the inside of your food (the part closes to the invisible pole), maybe by pressing harder at this part. With this established concentration to the Earth, see if you can "root" and grow your branches up to the sky (hands go up when you have a good balance). Hope this helps.

Inhale hug and root, exhale and extend the organic energy out

Firm foundations lets you give, give, give, without giving your Self away (falling over).

Great advice & visualizations, Gaia; as it is said, let the pose conform to you as opposed to you conforming to the pose... and also wherever you are today, is fine.

i especially dig (pun intended) your "...give give give...", reminds me of that timeless classic, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein which blurs the distinction between wants & needs, selfishness & selflessness, and may be the ultimate metaphor for humans and the planet.

Namaste paulcats!

I am blessed to have such super teachers. They are always instilling in us visualization and alot of workshopping advice during the classes. They love visualizations, themes, and proper alignment.

yeah, teachers rock!

i prefer to take class with the interactivity of a teacher and the collective energy of the yogis & yoginis present but that doesn't always work out due to time & schedule.

still with technology today, it's amazing; one can "study" and "practice" with teachers worldwide both past & present via books, tapes, DVDs, and the internet (ie just do a youtube or yahoo video search).

just this morning i took a wonderful "Zen in Your Den" class with Jennifer Galardi via cable TV (http://exercisetv.tv/studio/videos/play ... =688081363) and she said some really profound things that, on one hand, were obvious but, on the other hand, i quite often forget (like the most important thing in yoga is breathing... to connect breath with movement... how whatever you're doing today is fine for today... and the great thing about yoga is it's never perfect...".

namaste to all and happy trails

Thank you all! I believe with your help I'm performing better and becoming more aware of how my body works.

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Eating Out Vegan Restaurants

you know that's where it's at: awareness... of how the body works, how we breathe, how we move, how we eat, how we rest... in a nutshell, how we live

Namaste

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roZtUzW_TYw
Yoga vs. Bodybuilding

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"Go vegan and no body gets hurt"
HEALTHY PEOPLE ROCK
"milk is for babies"

Wow, that is a cool video ; i didn't know what to expect, the music was funny but perfect for it. It really shows the similarities and differences between the two bodytypes commonly built (big diesel bodybuilder and lean shredded fitness type).

Maybe they will do a side by side one next time, but then they'd need someone to run the camera?

Personally, I like his build better than his bodybuilder friend but that's a matter of preference; big or lean, functional vs aesthetics, etc...

Is Michael-Paul a friend of yours?

I checked out his site http://www.timelesshealth.net , it is very interesting.

What is his eating plan currently cos it seems like he was raw or vegan for a while but that didn't work out long term?

He has additional videos on a "Yoga Diet" which I'd guess is Vegetarian if not Vegan, maybe it is lacto-ovo or just lacto?

Thanks for sharing.

Fun stuff . . . I found the BB lacking movement ability, thus making him harder to watch. Way too much effort shown for simple poses . . . but that's the ex-dancer in me talking. Although thin, the yoga guy had better overall symetry.

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http://www.agastar.com/h+l.wmv
(Hilary in 1994)
http://www.agastar.com/samples.html

the question is, does the dance ever end?

metaphorically speaking, that is.

but actually you bring up an excellent good point, movement ability is an oft overlooked part of our physical being; with all the focus on strength, speed, and flexibility. Yet we continue moving all day and all of the night in one way or another, after we leave the gym or step off the yoga mat... movement is something that we can all work on and benefit from.

The bodybuilder is big in that video, but he is not in competition mode. He is flat, with more bodyfat than one who is just ready for a show (was he two weeks out before his show?). So don't compare shredded-ness of the yoga guy to the bodybuilder. And some bodybuilders do dance! Their posing routines are very creative (as some of the women bbers were dancers at one time).

I've also met some yoga guys who have the low bodyfat like he has, but have more muscle on them (most of them are ex-football players who hurt themselves and then found their way to yoga - http://www.rolfgates.com/pages/meditations/index.html). So this video is a nice slice of what is out there to view, but do not think that it is the whole pie. This video of Yoga vs Bodybuilding is just one interpretation. A nice interpretation. I was waiting for the bodybuilder to try and do some yoga poses though! I know from experience that when muscles get so big, that some poses are impossible because the muscle mass gets in the way!!!! And it is interesting, at least for me, to come to a compromise on the pose! Interesting sometimes translates into humorous

I am studying Yoga now, I don't know all the name of the poses but thought it might help with my frozen shoulder. So far so good, I love it. Also my son has a Wii and we like the sports package, the boxing is a good indoor cardio workout, but I love the bowling lol

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If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.

I am not making any generalization about yoga people or bodybuilders . . . my comments were specific to this video. I have seen BB who move well and are very smooth/creative in their routines and seen some (as in this video), who couldn't move well at all. I have also seen flabby yoga people who can't move. In this video, IMO the yoga was much nicer to watch because of better symetry and movement quality. The BB was a clunk.

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http://www.agastar.com/h+l.wmv
(Hilary in 1994)
http://www.agastar.com/samples.html

I don't know him, I just watched his videos, he is not raw vegan, he tried raw foods diet but he felt always hungry he said, and he is not vegan because he eats kefir, but that's all I think, he is vegetarian, and from dairy he consumes kefir

_________________
"Go vegan and no body gets hurt"
HEALTHY PEOPLE ROCK
"milk is for babies"

My kids got the Wii last week, and my husband has been bowling and boxing. The other day he was exclaiming with the kids, as they were playing boxing, that he hit him in crotch! And everybody was laughing! The next day, my husband asked me why his upper back was hurting him so much today. Well, could it be because of all the boxing you have been doing? He laughed and said "yeah, who would of thought that throwing a little device around can really use your muscles so much!" I've taken time out of my hectic schedule to bowl a few games (apparently I bowl very slowly! as everybody takes a nap by the time the ball gets down to the pins!). The kids did not get the yoga fit for the Wii. I don't expect them too. Maybe for Christmas I can put that on my list .

HW - I live in both worlds - yoga and BB. There is alot of bashing in these groups about the other. It just gets to me some times when I see generalizations being made. It is like comparing apples and oranges. They each have a certain body that comes with the sport they follow, and each are grand in their striving for excellence in that field. Now there are a few that mismatch the apples and oranges into a relish! Which is just as delish (delicious). Didn't mean to criticize your comments about the video, and if it sounded like that, well at least you know where I am coming from, and sorry if it did.