Yoga at Home for Absolute Beginners!

Ageless Yoga: Knee to Chest Press for the Beginner

 

The yoga knee to chest press shown above is great for beginners- no matter what your age! It is simple and feels s o o o good!

I spent this past weekend in Cleveland, OH to support my beau, Robert, who competed in swimming meets as part of a bi-annual "Senior Games" event.  (In all candor, I disdain labeling anything as being "senior" unless you are at least 80 plus years or more.  In this case, "senior" referred to anyone over 50 and like me, Rob is in his 50s.)

What was most impressive and moving about the weekend events was the variety of people, over 11,000 of them, who had decided to compete in various athletic events, regardless of their ages which ranged from 50 to way up there.

Some people wore braces.  Some were blind.  But all were there to have a good time and challenge themselves physically. Some had been super athletes in their teens and twenties.  Others began a sport like swimming much later in life.  But, all were there to "move" in some way - whether in a pool, on a baseball field, on a bicycle, or on a court.

More and more scientific studies are revealing the immense value of physical exercise to stay healthy and vibrant both mentally an physically through your later years.

In watching the swimming competitions this past weekend, I recalled the myriad benefits that a gentle home yoga practice offers.  Unless you have some particular limiting physical condition or specific illness that limits your movements, you can begin yoga at any age.  

Years ago, the late yoga instructor and author Richard Hittleman said.  "The benefits of physical yoga are very great.  Not only do they far surpass those of any other system of self-improvement for the body (calisthenics, jogging, isometrics, competitive sports), but they extend also to the emotional and mental aspects of the individual."

The key is to start slowly and ease into a daily yoga practice.  And if you consider yourself to be a "senior" or past your prime (although I certainly hate to admit that myself!!), the follow knee to chest press is a wonderful warm-up and a great pose for the yoga beginner.  Enjoy! 

 

Knee to Chest Press 

Type of pose: Active, supine

Body parts targeted: Back, abdominal muscles, and neck

How to do this pose (please refer to photo above) - Photo 1

1. Lie on your back on your mat in a relaxed position; legs together and arms limp at your sides.

2. Inhale and bring your left knee up to your chest, press your knee firmly against your chest with both hands intertwined.

3. While continuing to press your knee firmly against your chest, move your foot gently in a clockwise circular direction three times while holding the knee in place pressed against your chest.

4. Exhale slowly and gently extend left leg back fully onto the mat.

5. Inhale and repeat same movements with your right knee. Exhale.

Key benefits of this pose:

1. Warms up and prepares the body for more challenging poses.

2. Relaxes and unwinds leg muscles.

3. Helps relieve stomach gas and constipation.

4. Eliminates tension in the back. 

    

   Yours for easing into yoga regardless of your age,

   Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Yoga at Home Coach for Beginners

   

     ^TM
   Also see:  http://www.DoYogaAtHomeNow.com

    

Can You Lose Weight with Yoga?

Yes -yoga can help you lose weight - but not on its own!

As much as I love to tout yoga's benefits, I dislike hyperbole!  I believe yoga poses can indeed help you lose weight. However, the other day I was outraged when I came across an article that claimed,

"If the party next month is making you whine and cringe because you cannot fit into a pretty black dress, here is your best friend in disguise, that is, yoga...It cannot only help you lose weight almost magically but also make you feel good about your body. Find below yoga exercises that will help you lose weight like the swirl of a magic wand."

Yoga can help you lose weight "like the swirl of a magic wand?"

Really?  Not quite!

Granted yoga poses such as the shoulder stand and the plough do stimulate the thyroid and pituitary glands which regulate your metabolism-accelerating it if it has been too slow and slowing it down if it has been too fast.  Also poses such as the side bends and the cobra can help you trim and firm up the areas around your abdominal core that tend to get flabby and fatty as the years pass by.

But, you cannot do yoga poses in a vacuum!  

If you practice the slower type of gentle yoga that I present in this blog and my book, you can lose weight if you also engage in other healthy practices.  I have been able to maintain my college weight and physique because I combine a gentle slow yoga practice with daily aerobics (jumping on a mini-trampoline while pumping 3-pound weights) and healthy eating that is centered around whole grains (brown rice, quinoa, oats), lots of greens and colorful veggies and salads, fish, and no dairy, red meat, or poultry and a minimal intake of sugar and processed foods.

Unfortunately, I have seen a number of people who have practiced yoga for years, but who are still overweight because they haven't changed their eating habits.  I indulge once in a while in some sweet treats or other foods that are for taste only - but it is once in a while.  

In my book, Yoga at Home:  Gain Energy, Flexibility, and Serenity in 20-30 Minutes a Day, I share a couple of amazing weight loss stories of individuals several hundred pounds each.  Yoga was just one part of these individuals' life style changes, not the only one!  They also engaged in regular fast-paced aerobic exercise and changed their eating habits.

I love what Timothy McCall, MD says in his book, Yoga as Medicine:  The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing, "Although people somtimes don't realize it, proper diet is an integral part of yoga."

McCall also explains that "From a yogic perspective, you are not just what you eat but how you eat. Yoga encourages you to be aware of every bite you put in your mouth, oticing its taste, texture, and temperature.  Yogis suggest you think about where your food came from and feel gratitude toward those who grew it and prepared it."

McCall adds that it is important to make eating a form of meditation.  When you do this, you will savor your food more, eat less, and then lose weight.

So can you lose weight with yoga - yes indeed! Especially if you practice daily. But, it's not a magic wand that you can wave over your body and have the pounds melt away without out combining other healthy practices to create an overall healthy lifestyle!  

 

Yours for combining gentle yoga with an overall healthy lifestyle to lose or maintain your weight,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginner's At Home Yoga Coach

  ^TM

Also see:  http://www.DoYogaAtHomeNow.com

 

 

 

 

Yoga Home Practice: Patience IS the Answer-Results Can Take Time!

 

 

"When you make an investment in wellness and prevention, you shouldn't expect an immediate return." Steven Lipstein, President BJC Healthcare, a major St. Louis hospital system.

The above comment was a response to the results of a recent study that evaluated the return on investment BJC Healthcare, a large hospital system, gained from investment in employee wellnesss programs.  Independent researchers assessed the effectivneness of the programs and reportedly found mixed results. Although the system's hospitalizations for six major conditions for its participating employees and their families plummeted by 41 percent, these savings were offset by increased expenditures on outpatient costs. 

However, the final "verdict" has yet to be determined, in my view.  And,I agree with Mr. Lipstein. 

Although the wellness programs launched by BJC Healthcare begin in 2005, they were tracked only for 2 years.  Granted, people can substantially improve their health in a 2-year period if they engage in regular healthy exercise and eating habits. However, for companies to make definitive conclusions about the programs' effectiveness in saving on healthcare costs, a longer time frame is needed.

Health conditions like chronic heart disease, cancer, and other serious conditions take years to develop. Likewise, it may take more than a couple of years to see dramatic, long-term improvements in health resulting from wellness programs.  Corporations need to transcend the historical short-term mentality that measures changes based on quarter-year terms and focus on results seen in 5 and even 10-year periods.

As author Darren Hardy says in The Compound Effect, an inspiring book about the value of small, incremental steps taken daily, "In order for the compound effect to work, you need to be patient. Most of these daily changes won’t provide immediate results. If you reduce your calories by 150 today, you won’t see a difference today or even this week. The same is true with working out. You can go bust your butt at the gym and you won’t see results today or this week. These daily disciplines must be given time to produce results."

And, you should apply the same approach to your home yoga practice, especially if you are a beginner!  That is my point in sharing this story.

I have reaped enormous benefits from yoga because I practice it day and day out and as Hardy says, "it's the daily practice over time that reaps profound results."  If you have exercised little in 5 or more years, your ability to stretch and bend your body into even the simplest yoga poses will likely be limited.  And, it may take you weeks or even months before you notice any discernible increases in your energy, flexibility, and serenity. 

But, patience is the answer!  Just continue doing as much as you can daily and eventually your body is going to respond.  Be present in the moment as you practice.  Don't look anxiously for results.  Just do and trust and- "rinse and repeat daily."   You will see wonderful results over time - I can virtually guarantee it.

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginner's Yoga at Home Coach

  ^TM

Also see:  http://www.DoYogaAtHomeNow.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yoga at Home: Feel Revitalized and Uplifted, not Drained, with Gentle Yoga!

Here is a yoga side bend - never strain!  Move in and out of a yoga pose slowly and with feeling to unleash your energy and to uplift your spirit.

In recent years, the practice of yoga has exploded in the United States with an estimated 20 million Americans now practicing yoga as I shared in a recent blog post.

Yes, in urban areas such as metropolitan Washington DC where I live, you can find yoga studios and classes on practically every street corner. And, articles about yoga's benefits and who practices yoga appear weekly in the mainstream press.  As such, you would think that we would be seeing numerous people walking around feeling energized, flexible, and serene.

Yet, I have observed that people in my social circles who attend yoga classes do not seem to be gaining the maximum benefits from their yoga practice.  And, it's not uncommon to hear about yoga injuries. Why?  In my not always humble opinion, I believe that more people have adopted the intense forms of yoga such as Power Yoga, Hot Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, rather than the gentle form of Hatha Yoga that I recommend and practice myself.  

Many people who practice rigorous forms of yoga often push  themselves hard to feel they are getting a "workout." They practice yoga practice more like a form of old school calisthenics consisting of rapid repetitions which tend to leave a person drained rather than energized and refreshed and, also more prone to injury.

Basic to basics, I say!  In his classic yoga book, Yoga:  28 Day Exercise Plan which was first published in the late 1960s, the late yoga author Richard Hittleman touts the myriad benefits of a gentle and slow yoga practice.  

He explains that yoga is a "highly plesasurable experience" and that its "movements are performed in relaxing, slow motion with very few repetitions, no strain should ever be felt...Throughout the Yoga practice session we attempt to fix the consciousness fully on all movements of the exercises and not allow it to wander.  We become totally involved in what we are doing.  You must feel what is happening in your organism, especially during the holidng periods; learn to feel the stretching; become the stretch and do not run away from it; feel the stimulation; feel the release of energy within you, feel the relaxation..."

When you practice gentle, slow hatha yoga in the way Hittleman suggests, you will notice feeling revitalized and uplifted with at the end of your session.  As I have said repeatedly in past blog posts, I truly believe that "slo focused mo' is the way to yoga!  Hittleman's yoga philosophy is classic and beneficial to all would-be yogis.  You can read Amazon reviews written several months ago that share the benefits of greater energy experienced by people who practice yoga the slow yet powerful Hittleman way.

Yours for feeling refreshed and revitalized with a slow, gentle yet powerful yoga practice.

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginner's At Home Yoga Coach

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Yoga at Home: Loosen Up Your Body and Attitude in the New Year!

  

When I attended an all-women's college (oh, so many years ago...!), the principal way to meet men was to attend weekend mixers and dances on campus and at nearby MIT and Harvard.  Back then, one of my closest friends, who was from Hawaii, used many funny phrases to discuss interactions with men and how to play it safe in the dating world.  

She warned that we must avoid coming off as a being a "loose-hipped chick."  I think you can gather what that means!  This phrase made me laugh then and it makes me laugh now because the irony is that you DO literally want to be a "loose-hipped" female or a "loose-hipped male!"  

The yoga knee and thigh stretch described below is excellent for opening and loosening the hips and connecting muscles and tendons in your thighs.  Regular practice eliminates tension in these areas and enhances your overall limberness, leaving you feeling great!  

I provided instructions for this pose in a previous post i 2011, but I repeat them here since opening the hips is so important.  As Dr. Timothy McCall says in his book, Yoga as Medicine:  The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing, "A lack of flexibility in the hips can put strain on the knee joint, due to improper alignment of the thigh and shin bones.  Back pain can be caused by tightness in the hamstrings-muscles in the back of the thighs-that leads to a flattening of the lumbar spine."

Speaking of "loosening up," it is New Year's Eve day!   This is the time when many people create (or should we say "recreate") their "New Year's resolutions."  Ahh - how that terms sounds so stilted!  This does not mean that I am criticizing making a commitment to a change to more positive habits, practices, and so forth in the New Year - no at all!  In fact, if you haven't yet started yoga, I can't think of a better way to begin the new year than with a gentle yoga practice.

However, given that so many people fail to keep their New Year's "resolutions," I suggest an alternative way of keeping your commitments - that is by "loosening up" your attitude toward them.  I love spiritual writer Emmet Fox's guidance about succeeding in any endeavor.  And you can apply this to beginning or continuing a yoga at home practice in the new year.

"Loosen up.  As a certain character on the air used to say, "unlax."  Do not be tense. To be tense is the surest way to fail in any undertaking great or small...The carefree attitude of approach in any endeavor is a short-cut to success.  In music, in sport, in study, in business life, many people fail, or advance very slowly, because they make work of it.  They would succeed beyond their wildest expectations if they would treat it as fun...Take it easy.  Loosen up!"

In conclusion, yoga can loosen and open you up so that you enjoy greater energy, flexibility, and serenity. Just make sure your also treat your yoga practice as fun in 2013.

Yours for loosening up your body and attitude in 2013!  (see instructiosn below for the knee and thigh stretch)

Knee and Thigh Stretch or Bound Angle Pose (Sanskrit name is Baddha Konasana; baddha means bound; kona means angle) - Copyright 2011

Type of yoga pose:  Active, seated 

Body parts targeted:  Thighs and legs

How to do the pose:  

1. Sit erect on your mat with your legs straight out in front of you, knees straight, toes and heels together.

2. Bend both legs at the knees and slowly bring your feet toward you, heels together, until the soles of your feet are as close to your groin as is comfortable.

 

 

3. Intertwine your fingers and grasp both feet with your hands. Continue to sit tall.

4. Sitting erect and continuing to hold your feet with your hands, slowly press down as far as you can toward the floor without straining or experiencing pain. 

 

5. Hold the pose motionless for 10 seconds.  

6. Slowly and gently ease the pressure from your legs and allow them to rise and return to their original, relaxed position.

7. Inhale and exhale slowly for up to 5 seconds and repeat the pose if desired.

 

Special hints and Laura’s experience with this pose:

  

Always sit tall and erect; avoid slumping or you won’t reap the maximum benefits!  Do not bob your legs up and down to try to maximize your stretch. Never push or strain.

When I began this pose my legs stuck almost straight up in the air! Being able to reach the floor with my legs bent seemed impossible.  Nevertheless, patience and persistence prevail.  It may take you a few weeks or even a couple of months before your legs can reach the floor.  Don’t be discouraged. Your thighs benefit even if you can stretch your legs only a bit in the beginning. Over time, gravity and daily downward gentle pressure on your legs will do the trick!

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginner's Yoga at Home Coach

 

 

Yoga at Home: Can You Benefit from Yoga?

Since I have been doing yoga for years, I believe that virtually everyone can benefit from yoga. However, if you are completely new to yoga and are considering beginning a yoga practice, I think you will find it fairly easy to determine if you could benefit from it.

Just ask yourself and reflect on the following questions that I include in the beginning of my book, Yoga at Home:  Gain Energy, Flexibility, and Serenity in 20-30 Minutes a Day.  And, I do mean REFLECT on these questions - take your time to answer them honestly.

If you answer "no" to even one, I would argue that you could benefit from a home yoga practice or a yoga class (of course, I am biased  toward home practice...!)

*  Do you feel wonderful almost every day?

*  Are you comfortable with your physique?

*  Do you manage stress well?  Do you feel relaxed and serene most of the time?

*  Do you walk and move with grace and ease?  Do you sit and stand tall?

*  Do you engage in strategic (note the term "STRATEGIC") physical activity, attend fitness classes, or go      to the gym at least 5 times a week?

*  Do you consider yourself flexible and toned?

*  Do you feel as energetic and youthful now as you did 10, 20, or 30 years ago?

Barring sudden crises or emergencies or too little sleep because of circumstances beyond my control, I can truthfully say that I can still answer "yes" to all of these questions.  And I have been practicing yoga for 42 years.  Yep, I started in my mother's womb!  Just kidding. I started yoga as a teen. I don't feel that ancient, I believe in large part because of my yoga practice and healthy lifestyle. To date, my gentle home yoga practice has allowed me to maintain feel as energetic as I did 30 years ago. 

Yours for beginning a yoga practice right away to gain myriad benefits in your mind, body, and spirit.

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginner's At Home Yoga Coach

 

 

 

 

 

Yoga at Home: Yoga IS Good for Your Bones!

 

In September 2010, I wrote a blog post explaining that yoga IS a weight-bearing regime.  My intention was to counter misinformation that appeared in a 2007 Time Magazine about yoga's limitations.  The author of the article had the ignorance and audacity to claim that yoga was not weight-bearing nor could it help alleviate osteoporis!

Well, research presented in the article, "Good to the Bone" by Catherine Guthrie in the May 2011 issue of the Yoga Journal (alas - I admit, somehow I didn't read all my issues from a year ago!) further reinforces and provides more support for yoga's value in helping to build strong bones and even to reverse bone loss in people suffering from osteoporosis. Aah - vindicated once again from silly misinformation promulgated in the mass media!

I expanded my knowledge of yoga and our bones by reading this informative article.  Some of the key points Ms. Guthrie made included:

1) "Yoga is a weight-bearing exercise because you hold the weight of your body up against gravity.  Resisting gravity puts a mild stress on the bones.  That stress forces bones into laying down new growth.  In this way, yoga is no different from jogging, walking, or playing tennis."

2) However, yoga's advantage over other weight-bearing exercise is that it doesn't "damage cartilage or stress the joints.  Instead, it lengthens muscles and holds them there, creating tension in the bone." 

3) In standing poses like Warrior II, "you're also adding force to the shoulder joint.  Because you're holding your arms out away from your body, you're putting a lot more stress on the head of your humeras (that's the long bone in the arm or forelimb that runs from the shoulder to the elbow) than you would if they were hanging at your sides."

From Ms. Guthrie's article I also learned the results of a small pilot study conducted by Dr. Loren Fishman on the effect of yoga on building bone density.  He gathered a group of 18 people with osteoporosis or osteopina and an average age of 68 years. Everyone received a baseline bone density test and two groups were created - a control group of 7 individuals and a test group of the remaining 11 individuals.  The people in the test group learned a sequence of 10 yoga poses (including upward and downward facing dog, bridge pose, triangle pose, etc.), each of which were each held for 20-30 seconds.  The daily (hey - note that it was d-a-i-l-y ! ) yoga routine lasted about 10 minutes.

After two years of charting the groups' progress, Dr. Fishman had everyone get a new bone scan. The members of the control group either maintained or lost bone.  However. Fishman was shocked to observe that nearly every individual who had practiced yoga gained bone in the spine and the hip.  Dr. Fishman admitted his surprise and stated, "By putting tremendous pressure on the bones without harming the joings, yoga may be the answer to osteoporosis."

Granted, I am a bit late in sharing these wonderful results- but, better late than never in discovering more evidence that yoga does a body good, especially your bones!

One other important point the article made is that good nutrition , a diet RICH in fresh fruits, veggies - especially broccoli, cabbage, kale, and zucchini and LOW in cheese, meat, eggs, fish) goes hand in hand with yoga for building strong bones. Despite the propaganda and conventional "wisdom" in the media, you don't need to eat a lot (or any) dairy to build strong bones.

Yours for building strong bones with daily yoga!

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginners' Yoga at Home Coach

Doing the Eagle puts weight on the knees and ankles

Doing the Bow places weight on the bones in the hips and thighs

Yoga at Home: How Does Home Yoga Relate to July 4? - Freedom!

Tomorrow is July 4, the day that we in the United States celebrate our country's gaining independence more than 200 years ago.  It's a time of fireworks and barbecues for many Americans.  It should also be a day to do yoga and celebrate the freedoms you gain from a home yoga home practice! 

Just as the United States gained its freedom and status as an independent nation over two centuries ago, a home yoga practice also makes you independent and free in many ways. Here's how:

*  Consistent (especially daily) yoga practice gives you "freedom of movement" through enhanced flexibility

*  A home yoga practice gives you the "freedom" to practice yoga at the time that best suits YOUR schedule, not the instructor's or studio's schedule

*  Doing yoga at home gives you the freedom to take as long as YOU need to do a pose or to repeat poses  on any given day

*  Doing yoga at home frees you from the financial cost of taking a yoga class at a gym or a yoga studio

*  Doing yoga at home frees you from the burden of commuting to and from a yoga class - so you have more free time!

*  Doing yoga at home gives you the freedom to focus totally on yourself - no distractions from fellow classmates

So, if you are an American, have fun tomorrow.  And, as you do your home yoga practice, remember all the freedoms you are gaining from it!

Yours for practicing yoga freely in the privacy and comfort of your home,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginners' at Home Yoga Coach

 

 

 

Yoga at Home: Yoga can "Restore" You at Any Age!

The other day I was reading a career book by author Laurie Beth Jones.  In her chapter about "restoring," she says that she learned the value of the word "restore" (to put or bring back into existence or use or to bring back or put back into a former or original state.) when her eighty-something mother began having hip problems. Her mother's hip would "go out causing her excruciating pain."  She couldn't tolerate her physician's pain medication and although physical therapy helped her a bit, her hip would pop out again. After a year of this distress, Laurie's mother discovered a local yoga studio and was encouraged to take regular classes to alleviate her hip pain. One year later after combining yoga with massages, Laurie's mother wasa able to throw away her cane and her hip stayed in place and was restored to functioning properly. 

Although the physical therapist was able to put Laurie's mother's hip back in place, it was the yoga poses that helped "restore" the muscle tone essential for keeping her hip working.  When Laurie's mother reached 88 years old she was attending yoga six classes a week!

So what does this mean for you?  You can begin yoga at ANY age and enjoy its restorative effects!

Yours for beginning yoga at any age to RESTORE your energy, flexibility, and serenity.

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginners' Yoga at Home Coach

 

Yoga at Home Can Help Mesothelioma Patients

Laura Venecia Rodriguez in the child pose

GUEST POST

Today I am sharing a post written by Faith Franz, writer for the Mesothelioma Center at http://www.Asbestos.com.  Thank you, Faith!

Yoga Practice at Home for Someone with Mesothelioma 

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer primarily caused by asbestos exposure. This cancer affects the thin, protective membrane surrounding the heart, lungs and abdominal cavity.  There are three locations that mesothelioma commonly originates, and these locations are used to classify the cancer into three subtypes:

• Pleural mesothelioma (develops in the lining of the lungs)
• Peritoneal mesothelioma (develops in the lining of the stomach)
• Pericardial mesothelioma (develops in the lining of the heart)

Yoga’s benefits are physical, mental, emotional and even spiritual for some practitioners who wish to connect with their personal faith during practice. Yoga can help patients sleep better and feel more energetic when treatments such as radiation therapy cause fatigue. Additionally it is a great way for individuals going through treatments to exercise and increase their appetite. 

While yoga can be practiced in a studio with a trained instructor, yoga can also be practiced in the comfort of a home.

For mesothelioma patients, at-home yoga may be more convenient. Instead of worrying about driving across town and meeting a studio’s schedule, patients can enjoy their practice on their own time, whenever they have a burst of energy. Practicing yoga at home is also cheaper than attending a studio. Individual yoga classes at a studio can cost between $10 and $20 each (depending on where you live), while materials to practice at home can be purchased once and reused as long as desired.

The only things required to set up an at-home yoga space are:

• A space at least two feet wide by six feet long (outside works well!)
• A yoga mat
• Optional: candles, instructional yoga DVDs and/or a CD of relaxing music

Once they have created a space for their practice, yoga students can flow through their favorite poses at their own pace or follow along with an instructional material. Countless yoga DVDs, podcasts, YouTube videos and instructional books are available for those wishing to take their practice to their home.

People who are just beginning their yoga practice may wish to take a few introductory classes at a yoga studio before practicing at home, or ask a yoga teacher for a private session at the patient’s home. This allows patients to learn some of the traditional poses and ensure they are practicing safely. After their initial sessions, patients may feel more comfortable flowing through the postures at home.

Simple Yoga Routine for an At-Home Yoga Practice

Several simple yoga postures can be practiced at home for a balanced practice. These include:

• Child’s pose
• Mountain pose
• Cat/Cow stretches
• Downward dog
• Forward bend
• Warrior I and II

Yogis can end their sessions with a few minutes in Savasana (lying down) for quiet reflection. Using this time for meditation can help mesothelioma patients leave their practice feeling less anxious and stressed about their medical condition.

Author bio: Faith Franz is a writer for the Mesothelioma Center. She combines her interests in whole-body health and medical research to educate the mesothelioma community about the newest developments in cancer care.

Yours for improving your health with yoga,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginners' Yoga at Home Coach