AARP: 3-D...Discover, Decide & Delight

Orlando is proud to be hosting the AARP @50 National Event! With a full line up of celebrity speakers, live entertainment and an exhibit hall flourishing with products and services geared to the 50+ group,you will want to tell all your 50+ friends, neighbors and family! Join them September 30 to October 2, 2010.
There are more than 100 sessions to choose from including: Whoopi Goldberg!
A feature session with Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz and Robin Roberts
Best selling author and medical expert Dean Ornish, M.D.
A panel discussion with travel industry leaders; Kevin Sheehan, CEO Norwegian Cruise Line, Ron Nelson CEO of Avis Budget Group and Mark Hoplamaizan CEO of Hyatt Hotels.
The concert list includes: Crosby, Stills and Nash, Judy Collins, Richie Havens and numerous entertainers.
Register online today! www.AARP.org

Enjoy a Hike

    After your mouthwatering turkey, dressing and all the delicious accompaniments, including the pies, enjoy the outdoors. Visit a park in your area, or a little further away. Take a hike at a local state or county preserve, you'll be amazed at what you will find. Enjoy geocaching, learning about habitats and animals. My local parks offer eco-saturdays. I love stopping in to learn about bats, or plants, counting the various birds they can spot and just watching the kids as they learn how to use a gps. Go online to find parks you might enjoy, some offer swimming, canoe or kayak rentals. Breath real fresh air, revitalize your body and mind. You'll come away refreshed! This is a great way to spend quality time together, or alone and its also inexpensive. Don't forget sunscreen and water. Take your camera to shoot a few great photos to send to friends, post them (flickr and other great outlets), print them! Remember, leave only footprints.  Visit: http://www.floridahikes.com

OH, YOGA!

    I started learning yoga about two years ago. Unfortunately I wasn't very consistent due to my travel schedule and then the yoga moving to a different location that I didn't like. Finally, after joining the YMCA, I started going once in a while, in addition to other classes and cardio. A few more interruptions of skin cancer surgery (stitches in 3 different places), prohibited me from working out and then in June of this year I was involved in a car accident. Unfortunately this only compounded everything. The accident exacerbated my injuries. I started going regularly to the chiropractor and added massage therapy. Never quit feeling right. Well, not to languish, I'm getting back into yoga.

    I attended a hatha yoga class today at YogaMatrix Studio in the Dr. Phillips are (if you live in Central Florida, you'll know). I spoke with the owner and head instructor (Edely) on the phone a few days before my class. I could tell she was/is very experienced. She's been practicing yoga for more than 20 years, she didnt even want to be a teacher. but she is phenomenal. Her classes are full, men and women of various ages give up a few hours on a saturday morning to breath and stretch their way to health and happiness. I could write for a while on the various classes she offers and the benefits, but I just wanted to share a few things in this blog and will have more on yoga.

    Top 10 Reasons to Try Yoga (from yogamatrixstudio)

1. Stress Relief - reduces the physical effects of stress on the body by encouraging relaxation and lowering the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Related benefits include: lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system as well as  easing symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma and insomnia.

2. Pain Relief - yoga can ease pain. Studies have demonstrated that practicing yoga asanas (postures), meditation or a combination, reduced pain for people with conditions such as cancer, m.s., auto-immune diseases and hypertension as well as arthritis, back and neck pain and other chronic conditions.

3. Better Breathing - teaches people to take slower, deeper breaths. It improves lung function and triggers body's relaxation response.

4. Flexibility - helps improve flexibility and mobility, increasing range of motion and reducing aches and pains. 

5. Increased Strength - yoga asanas uses every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength literally from head to toe. Yoga also helps to relieve muscular tension.

6. Weight management - can aid in weight control efforts by reducing the cortisol levels as well as by burning calories Yoga also encourage healthy eating habits and provides a heightened sense of well being and self esteem.

7. Improved Circulation - improves circulation and as a result of various poses, more efficiently move oxygenated blood to the body's cells.

8. Cardiovascular Conditioning - even gentle yoga practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance and improving oxygen intake.

9. Better Body Alignment - helps to improve alignment, helping relieve back, neck, joint and muscle problems. 

10. Focus on the Present - helps to focus on the present, to become more aware and to help created mind-body health. I opens the way to improved coordination, reaction time ad memory. 

Opening Ceremony-Olympics

 A dazzling display of imagery, a rainbow of colors and elegant dance. The choreography was spectacular. The symbolism; ethnicity, cultures and environmentalism is welcoming an breathtaking. The elegant moving scroll on the floor, flanked by ships of open trade to the scrim of hospitality s awesome. More than 10,500 elite athletes, some for the first time, others returning for another opportunity to earn the title, "Best Athlete in the World".

Tremendous pride is in one country, around the globe. Hope. Faith. Trust, Friendships, Ethos.

 Eight months of training for the opening night, men dancing and doing flip on an elegant globe as it personifies coming together, individuals who can become one.

Images of the world, dancers, singers bringing us together; One World, One Dream! a stunning opening for the Parade of Nations at the Birds Nest stadium.

A beautiful tapestry of countries, represented by dedicated, appreciative citizens who are outstanding athletes. The countries were actually entering the stadium, not by size or alphabetically, but by the number of stroke i Chinese each countries' name took. The announcers did a wonderful job with the geography for those of us watching the Olympics at home. We were given some interesting tips about the participating countries; the average income for some, notes about some of the athlete and their history, Vanuata (where a soldier wrote, Tales of the South Pacific) Japan's delegate will ride again this year, 44 years after his first event, in 1964, his horse, Whisper, is a chestnut mare in the equestrian event. 

Sometimes I root for the underdog. I'd love to see a country who has yet to win a medal in the Olympics bring one home for their deserving country. Especially those in turmoil. Some countries have only one or two athletes and others have several hundred representing their home country.

The athletes, as they walk through the arena are leaving their footprints on the scroll, adding detail. Eligibility of athletes in different countries in order to make the Olympic team, is interesting in which the athlete can shop around sometimes for another country to represent. 

many countries have turmoil, political issues, threats and clans being disruptive prior to the Olympic Games, causing more unease on the government as well as the athlete. 

Some countries are offering cash for medals as an incentive for their athletes.