Know Magic

Copyright 2005 Wendy Owen

There are many things that can affect your sleep, but probably
the worst of them is worry. Worry about your job, your
relationship, your finances and of course worry about not being
able to go to sleep.

People say to me “I can’t stop worrying! As soon as my head
touches the pillow I start to worry.”

If you can relate to this, you may think that there’s nothing
you can do to stop this destructive and unhealthy state of mind.
Well there are many things you can do, worry is a habit and like
all habits it can be broken with a bit of persistence.

Here’s 5 tips to stop yourself worrying in bed.

1 - Allocate another time for worry - If you really must worry,
schedule yourself 30 minutes (or whatever time you need) and do
nothing but worry! Write you worries down in a piece of paper
and then go to bed.

If you find yourself starting to worry when you turn out the
light, gently remind yourself, “I’ve worried about that already,
I’ll handle it again tomorrow.”

2 - Thought switching - This may take a bit of practice but it’s
one of the most valuable thing to learn. To do this effectively
you must be aware of when you are starting to worry or think
negative thoughts. Simply stop the worry in its tracks by
switching to a positive or neutral thought straight away.

This works because the conscious mind can only focus on one
dominant thought at a time. Write a list of pleasant (but not
too exciting!) thoughts you can switch your mind to.

3 - Relaxation - Yes I know you’ve heard it before, but it’s so
effective it bears mentioning again. A relaxation exercise also
gives your mind something else to think about. A great one is to
concentrate on different muscle groups one by one and tense and
relax them going down the whole body. There are details in the
website mentioned below.

Relaxation exercises done during the day can also help you sleep
better at night and will let you stress less and become much
more relaxed over time.

4 - Realize it’s quite normal to wake up during the night.
Because sleep cycles occur regularly during the night, it’s not
unusual for people to wake, sometimes a few times depending on
what stage of sleep you’re experiencing. If this happens to you
don’t think “Oh no! I’m awake again, I’ll never go back to
sleep…..” Instead put a positive spin on things. Think “Great!
It’s not time to get up yet. I’ve still got some time to sleep
or just to rest.”

This is a good time to listen to a sleep CD, do some positive
affirmations or a quick relaxation exercise. You’ll be asleep in
no time.

5 - Keep pen & paper by the bed. If you have a very active mind,
you may find it hard to let go of thoughts that occur to you at
night. Not all thoughts are bad and you may have a great idea
that you’re afraid of forgetting. This may be enough to keep you
awake.

If you write those thoughts down without turning on the light
(yes it’s possible, I’ve done it!) Your mind is free to relax
knowing you can pick these thoughts up again in the morning.

So declare was on worry with these tips. You’ll enjoy more
restful sleep and your physical and mental health will improve
as a result!

When you practice yoga, it is, of course, not necessary to have
a full understanding of yoga history in order to fully benefit
from your practice. A brief understanding of the history behind
yoga, however, may increase your spiritual practice and inspire
you to find out more about the tradition behind the discipline.

The first writings about yoga were written in Sanskrit in early
religious manuscripts in India called the Vedas. The word ‘yoga’
has many meanings. The root of the word is ‘yug’ which means ‘to
hitch up’, referring to fastening horse bridles to a carriage.
But yoga also means ‘to actively put to use’ or ‘yoke’ or
‘join’. Today, it is agreed upon that yoga is a method of
joining or a discipline. Men who practice yoga are called yogi
or yogin and women who practice yoga are called yogini.

Yoga was first passed from generation to generation by word of
mouth. It wasn’t until about 2000 years ago when an Indian named
Patanjali wrote ‘The Yoga Sutra’ that the philosophy of yoga was
committed to paper. Yoga is not just about stretching and
breathing and holding poses. Yoga is a philosophy on how to live
life and deal with the challenges that human beings face daily.
The Yoga Sutra defined this philosophy in 195 statements.

Sutra can be defined as ‘thread’ or ‘aphorism’, which means ‘a
short declaration of truth’. It also means ‘the concentration of
a large quantity of information into a simple definition’. It is
a way of looking at truths that apply to everyone despite
culture in the clearest way possible.

Hatha yoga, or the yoga that you do when you take a yoga class
or perform yogic poses, was begun as a physical form of
meditation. The physical act of yoga calms your body and allows
your mind to become calm. It also gives you the physical
strength to sustain long periods of meditation.

When you perform the physical practice of yoga, you are only
engaging in half of the discipline as it has been practiced for
thousands of years. Yoga is an incredible form of exercise and
calming for the body, but it can also be used as a spiritual
practice and a way to calm the mind and will as well.

This NYT article discusses some of the cultural and business
issues related to alcohol consumption. It states that:
“Americans have often regarded drinking with a kind of unease
that gives rise to contradictions and dissonance and boomerang
shifts in attitudes.” Consumption of hard alcohol sagged by
roughly 40 percent between 1980 and 2002, but in the last few
years distillers have geared up to advertise on cable TV, even
though television advertising of hard liquor had long been
taboo. The article’s summarizes Americans’ relationship thusly:
“Policies regarding alcohol have been shaped by sometimes
clashing beliefs. Personal freedom is valued, but a puritanical
streak lingers. There is trust in free markets but also a
wariness of treating alcohol as just any product.” The NYT
article does a great job of recapping the wary relationship that
America maintains with alcohol. However from a health point of
view there isn’t much controversy. Anyone who has a tendency to
abuse or overuse alcohol should stop drinking. period and the
minor health benefits claimed by very moderate drinking are far
overshadowed by the dramatic health problems caused by alcohol
abuse. You will lead a far more productive and healthful life if
it is free from frequent use of alcohol. Zero alcohol usage is
the right answer for many.

A treadmill, although one of the best pieces of indoor fitness
equipment that it is possible to buy, is not cheap. A good one
will set you back thousands. And discount treadmills are not
easy to find. “Discount treadmills” is very often searched on
the net. What options are there for these people who are
searching for discount treadmills, and what is it that they are
actually looking for?

A “discount treadmill” can be any one of a number of things. And
discount treadmills means different things to different people.

To some people it can just mean cheap treadmills. These are
people who just want a treadmill, but don’t want to pay a lot.
As long as it does the job that’s fine. Nothing flash, just a
cheap treadmill.

What are the best ways to get a cheap treadmill? Well there’s a
few and we’ll look at them in a minute.

To other people a discount treadmill is a new treadmill at a
significantly reduced new price. It doesn’t have to be cheap, in
fact they may well be looking for expensive treadmills, as long
as they find them at discount prices.

Discount prices for treadmills are not easy to find, either for
new expensive treadmills, or new cheap ones. The best place to
find the best prices for treadmills in on the net. No doubt.

Why are there more discount treadmills on the net? Think about
this. A regular treadmill store needs to sell treadmills to
someone who walks in the door. So it needs to be close to the
customers. To be close to lots of customers it needs lots of
stores close to lots of people. That means a lot of expensive
buildings situated on lots of expensive real estate. That leads
to high overheads.

An online store, on the other hand, can have one large building
to service it’s entire market. And where can it locate it? Cheap
real estate. One building and cheap real estate add up to lower
overheads. Hence that store can compete higher on price than a
local store.

Many discount treadmills are sold direct by the manufacturer to
the end user. This also cuts out one or more layers of profit
between the manufacturer and the customer so the manufacturer
can compete even more on price, although if they also have other
stores selling their products they need to be careful not to put
their own distributors out of business.

So, if you’re looking for discount treadmills, then do it on the
net. How do you find the best prices? Well of course that is the
age old question, and one incapable of complete answer. Because
of course online business is business none the less and all the
stores need to compete. On price as well as other factors.

However like regular business, there are opportunities to pick
up a discount treadmill. Online stores have sales too. So if
you’re prepared to wait and bide your time then you can pick up
a good deal if you catch a sale.

And you can pick up a good discount treadmill at an end of stock
sale or run out. Where they are selling them out just to clear
them for the new model. If you are prepared to keep your ear to
the ground and wait until new models are about to appear, then
contact the merchant and enquire about the model about to be
superceded then you may get a great discount treadmill.

Of course, all this takes some work and time.

What about someone who just wants a cheap treadmill? There’s a
few options. Firstly work out exactly what features you need and
which ones you don’t. If you are prepared to accept a lower
level of features and buy the most basic models you can get some
great treadmills for well under $1000. There are well known
brands such as Proform which offer very good models for these
prices without all the features of the upmarket models, but
which work well.

If you are looking for really cheap treadmills then why not
consider a manual treadmill? Undoubtedly they are not the best
treadmills, you have to power them yourself and there are
disadvantages to this. On the upside, there is no motor to break
down!

Other sources of discount treadmills, or just plain cheap
treadmills, also exist. Why not consider a refurbished
treadmill, or a remanufactured treadmill? These are second hand
treadmills which have been stripped down to a certain degree and
rebuilt. There are some things to know about before buying one
of these, and we can’t go into all that here, however
remanufactured treadmills are well worth considering.

These can also be sourced on the internet.

Alternatively there are second hand treadmills. These are, of
course, just used treadmills that someone is trying to sell.
There can be traps for the unwary with second hand or used
treadmills. So if you are intending to go this way then do your
homework and know exactly what to look for before you start
looking. Buyer beware!

Another source of very cheap treadmills can be your local gym.
Gyms have large numbrs of treadmills and get rid of them from
time to time to make way for new ones. Again though, all the
warnings about second hand treadmills apply to these too.

So, if you are looking for discount treadmills, there are some
things to think about. First decide on your basic needs. What
features do you need (not want) and what don’t you need.
Research the lower end of the market for treadmills which offer
the features you need, and no more.

Decide if you want new or second hand. New discount treadmills
require some time following the market, researching the prices,
and using your head. It takes time.

Used discount treadmills offer other choices. Are you
sufficiently experience to buy second hand with the attendant
risks? Would you prefer a machine that has been refurbished,
with a warranty? There is still lots to think about.

So, if you are in the market for discount treadmills, get your
pen and paper out, and start writing. Work out exactly what it
is you are after!