Yoga For Your Looks & Remembering To Take Care Of Yourself.

                   You know those women who wear yoga pants like its their job and their skin is glowing and their hair is shiny and silky and you can't help but try and find a million reasons not to like them out of envy, but you can't because they are so f***ing friendly and sweet? Well, turns out those women are onto to something pretty great. Yoga has always been known for it's whole body benefits. However, most women turn to yoga when they simply want to increase flexibility or go down a dress size or two. Seldom does anyone ever thinks of yoga as a way to enhance the look of your hair, skin and nails. When was the last time you looked at your dandruff and were like, "Oh man, I gotta do some yoga stat!"? Probably never. Well it's time to start!

               Really, any exercise that gets your heart pumping and you blood flowing is great for your looks, but Yoga works more extensively to stimulate and massage certain organs that help your body eliminate toxins. In addition to that, yoga relaxes you. We live in such a frantic world. We are constantly in multiple places at once. The world doesn't grant breaks. Most of the time, unless tragedy strikes (knock on wood), we are all running around in a way that makes the energizer bunny look pathetic. We have to take time for ourselves. We have to demand it. In contrast to the aforementioned yoga-fairies, have you ever met a person who made you think to yourself, "Wow! They have gone their entire life without ever smiling once?" The kind of person that yells at the cashier for 20min. for accidentally wringing up celery instead of carrots.

             Vanity is one of those great motivators that I find to be a necessary evil. If we truly didn't care about the way we looked, we'd never get out of bed, we wouldn't get new clothes, we might not shower. If you begin to take better care of yourself because you are motivated to look better, it hardly matters because regardless you will feel better.

So here's to you, and your looks, and remembering to smile, and to give the poor cashiers a break.

This article below was pretty neat and the inspiration for this post:

Stylecraze.com wrote about 8 poses that can ward of hair loss (I copied it below, but you can view it at their site here:

Souce: gettyimages

Hair is a woman’s pride. It is something to flaunt! But when the thickness of your ponytail starts decreasing it is time to pay some serious attention. It is heart breaking and stressful to comb your hair and find a whole clump of your hair sticking to the comb. This is where yoga can come in handy! Yoga helps immensely to grow back your lost hair. Adopting asanas in yoga to prevent hair loss is one of the most effective solutions in the long run.

Reasons for hair loss:

• Too much stress
• Ageing
• Unhealthy eating habits
• Medication
• Hormonal problems
• Using too many hair products
• Heat treatments on hair
• Genetics

It is good to know that hair loss due hereditary is curable. If you can control your unhealthy lifestyle habits and practice pranayama and meditation, you can deal with hair loss issues a lot more easily. Here are some exercises from the ancient books of yoga for hair loss prevention.

Asanas of Yoga for Hair Loss

As far as yoga poses for hair loss control go, a few are exceptionally effective! They are listed below.1. Balayam Yoga (Rubbing nails):

This yoga asana was made famous by Baba Ramdev. It is simple and highly affective.

• You can do this asana either sitting or standing.
• Curl the fingers of both hands inwards towards your palm.
• Bring the nails of both your hands in contact with each other and start rubbing them vigorously ensure leaving out the thumbnails.
• Keep rubbing your nails continuously for 5-7 minutes at a stretch.

Besides hair loss, Balayam yoga can also cure dandruff and premature graying of hair.
By doing this, the roots of the hair follicles connected to the fingernails pump energy to the scalp needed for hair growth.

[ Read: 5 Baba Ramdev Yoga Asanas for Better Hair ]

2. Uttanasana (Stand forward bend pose): 

Image: shutterstock

• Stand straight with your legs close to one another touching your knees, heels, feet and toes.
• Inhale deeply.
• Now while exhaling, lift up your hands and bend forward, until your fingers and then your hands touch the floor.
• If possible, you can also bring your hands behind your heels.
• Hold on this position with some normal breathing.
• When you want to come out of this pose, inhale in deeply and stand back straight.
• For beginners, if you are not able to touch the ground with your hands, then fold your hands and hold your right elbow with left hand and left elbow with right hand.

This asana it helps better hair growth because of two reasons:

• If you have noticed, your head is hanging below your heart allowing allows blood to circulate properly in your scalp leading to proper hair growth.
• Another reason is that Uttanasana de-stresses you and relieves you of all anxiety and tensions which is a primary reason for hair loss.

3. Sasangasana (Rabbit pose):

Image: shutterstock

• Sit with your knees on the floor, hips on your heels in Balasana pose (child pose).
• Now put both your hands at the back and hold your heels.
• Place the crown of your head on the floor and slowly inhale and lift up your hips.
• Hold this position until five breaths.
• Exhale as you slowly unroll yourself back to child pose.
• Relax and repeat again.

This asana is again beneficial because while the crown is on the ground, the blood flows to the head. Proper circulation of blood to scalp means good and healthy hair growth.

4. Ustrasana (Camel Pose):

Image: shutterstock

• Sit straight on the floor with your knees in a way that the calves of your knees form right angle.
• Keep hands on your waist, fingers in the front and thumb behind.
• Now bend your spine backward and hold the heels of your feet with your hands or you may also touch the soles of your feet.
• As you bend your spine, also move your face upwards and try looking at the ceiling.
• Hold on this pose for a few seconds and keep your breathing normal.
• Exhale while exiting from this pose.
• Sit in baby pose or Balasana and relax.

Follow some precautions while doing this yoga for good hair:

• For beginners, do not bend backwards too much as it may cause injury to your lower back.
• You need Flexibility for this asana, if your body is stiff, you’ll never be able to complete this asana until the end.

[ Read: Top 10 Yoga Poses For Faster Hair Growth ]

5. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Dog pose):

Image: shutterstock

• Place yourself with your knees and hands on the ground. Your hands perpendicular to your shoulders and your knees perpendicular with your hips.
• Next push your hips up and alongside straighten your legs too, standing on your toes.
• Pressing your palms to the ground, straighten your spine more.
• To exit from this pose, pull down your hips gently and come back to the first step.

6. Vajrasana (Diamond pose):

Image: shutterstock

• Sit on the floor keeping your spine erect and with stretched legs. Your heels should be together.
• Place your hands by your side palms facing the ground.
• Now you have to fold both your legs, keeping them under your thighs; first the left leg and then the right.
• Place your hands on your upper thighs.
• Sit in a relaxed position and breathe in and out deeply.
• When done, return back to your original posture of sitting with stretched legs.

7. Matsyasana (Fish pose):

Image: shutterstock

• Lie down straight on the floor with your legs together, both your hands should go at the back of your thighs with palms facing downwards.
• Now with pressure on your elbows, pull the mid portion of your upper torso dropping your head a bit more backwards such that the crown of your head touches the ground.
• Your body position will be such that an arch will be formed between your hips and crown. Breathe in deeply and try filling in as much oxygen possible to your respiratory organs.

8. Uttanpadasana (Raised feet pose):

Image: Shutterstock

• Lie on the yoga mat with arms by your side and palms facing the floor.
• Stretch your body and slowly raise your legs at a 45-60 degrees angle from the ground.
• Keep your legs raised for a minute or even more if you can hold it.

This asana allows blood circulation to the scalp and thereby hair follicles allowing it to regrow.

Some other poses that help growth of long and beautiful hair are Sarvangasana (Shoulder stand pose) and Sirshasana (headstand pose). Beginners may have a problem doing these two poses. But as your body becomes flexible with yoga, you’ll find the difficulties fading away gradually. Other than these yoga asana, also practice Anuloma Viloma (alternate nostril breathing) and kapalbhati. They help you become stress-free which mean less hair loss.

Yoga is a natural treatment preventing hair loss and help growth of new hair. Practice yoga for long hair every day in the morning with an empty stomach for best results.