Go on, be positive!

The state of your mental health says a lot about your life. Experts say that people who focus more on positive thinking and have positive attitudes not only enjoy life more but also lead healthier lives. Optimists are said to deal with pain and hardship better than their pessimistic counterparts. Remember your body reacts to your thoughts, feelings and actions. So if you're in a bad mood, your body will respond in a similar manner. While keeping yourself fit by eating right and managing stress is alright, positive thinking goes a long way in ensuring good health. 

If you're feeling unwell and tell yourself that you're coming down with a bug, chances are that it will come true. Your mind is more powerful than you think. Stop thinking that you are going to fall sick or will take time to recover from a sickness. Experts call this the placebo effect - a placebo is treatment that provides whatsoever no medical gain except making the patient believe that it is helping them get better. Several patients report relief from their problems although they haven't actually received any medicine. 


Thinking positive may not come naturally to everyone. To make that change you need to make a conscious effort. Whenever you find yourself getting negative thoughts, stop them. Start thinking of a happy event or memory that will cheer you. 


Make positive statements. Instead of thinking or saying, "I can't do this or this is impossible", state positive affirmations - I will give this my best shot or I have so many things to be grateful about," sends out positive vibes. 


Down in the dumps or feeling out of sorts with an illness? Visualisation is a great technique that will actually help you feel better. Imagine yourself healthy and happy. When you visualise your thoughts, they send out positive signals to your brain making you feel better. 


Positive emotions like humour, friendship and love are known to supercharge your health. Experts have long since asserted that laughter is great for you. Life is full of humour if you stop and experience it. Watch funny movies or TV shows, read books and jokes that make you smile, meet people who make you laugh. Laughter increases creativity, reduces pain, and even accelerates healing. 


Catch up with friends. With the hectic lives we lead, we often forget how relaxing and calming meeting a friend can be. Good friendships are important so make sure you surround yourself with genuine ones. Having close buddies help you recuperate faster from sickness. 


Social service and volunteering boosts feelings of compassion, which in turn make you a better person. When you help someone, you also help yourself. There are several orphanages, old age homes, mentally and physically challenged centres and animal shelters that need you to spend time with people and animals living there. You don't need to go there every week. Go once in a while and notice the difference. 


When you spend a certain amount of time in prayer, and spiritual beliefs, you send positive vibrations your side. Have faith and it will go a long way in being a faithful companion. Prayer and meditation are good ways to connect to your spiritual side. 

10-Week Walking Regimen

WEEK 1

• Walk for 15 – 30 minutes at a comfortable pace, depending on your ability. Warm up for 5 minutes at an easy walking pace before doing a 5-minute easy stretching routine. Resume walking at a comfortable pace, then end up with another 5 minutes of gentle stretching routine. 

• Take a rest on the 7th day. Your body needs to rest and rebuild itself. 



WEEK 2

• Increase your walking time by 5 - 10 minutes for this week. Do the same routine. 

• Rest on the 7th day. 


WEEK 3 – WEEK 10

• Increase your walking time by 5 - 10 minutes every week until you are now capable of walking for an hour each time. The health benefits of walking can be maximized if you sustain a 30 – 60 minute walk a day. 

• Remember to rest on the 7th day of each week. 

7 Common Walking Mistakes You Should Avoid




Walking is one of the important milestones which come by the first birthday and since then various changes and modifications take place on the gait pattern (the way you walk). Other than being a means of locomotion, walking is also a good form of low impact, less intense aerobic exercise. Most of us make certain mistakes while walking, which can have an unwanted impact on our health. It is very important to opt for correct techniques of walking to get the maximum benefits without any injury.


Here are the most common walking mistakes to be avoided:


Over-striding: Stride length, in simple words, refers to the length of each step taken while walking, running or jogging. We all have our own characteristic stride length. When you try to walk faster than your standard speed, you might try to increase your stride length because of which you might develop poor posture and hurt your back. Therefore instead of taking bigger steps, go for shorter and quicker ones!


Wrong Foot Gear: Choosing the wrong footwear will not only make your walk uncomfortable, but it will also make you prone to injury. Your walking shoes should be lightweight and should have a flexible sole to allow good freedom of motion by permitting your foot to roll through each step from heel to toe. Choose those shoes that fit you! If you walk for 30 minutes or more, then choose shoes larger than your dress shoes as your feet may swell when you walk for a long period of time. Prolonged walking with tight shoes can cause pain and cramping while loose shoes can make "push-off" (application of pressure for the purpose of moving) difficult.


Wrong Clothing: Improper clothing can interfere with your thermoregulation (the ability of your body to keep its temperature within certain boundaries even if the temperature of the surrounding environment is pretty different) and can eventually affect your walking efficiency. Choose clothing according to environmental conditions. For example, in a hot climate, wear fabrics like climacool or coolmax which will allow the sweat to evaporate away from the body. Wearing dark clothing while walking at night can make you susceptible to accidents. For safety purpose, wear reflector stripes or night glow badges.


Foot Slap: Foot slap occurs when at heel strike (i.e., when the heel makes contact with the floor), the forefoot slaps the ground (which means that you land flat footed) instead of rolling through from heel to toe. This can lead to pain in your shins. Foot slap can be due to weak dorsiflexors i.e. weak shins, heavy shoes, stiff shoes (inflexible sole) etc. In order to avoid foot slap, wear lightweight shoes with a flexible sole and low heel. Strengthen your shin by performing toe raises. To perform toe raises, stand on the ledge of a step with your heels hanging over the edge. Now, dip the heels down, then raise them high. Repeat 10 times. This is a simple, yet an effective way of strengthening your shins. You can also do heel walking (walking slowing, with small stride length, on your heels with your toes raised as high as possible) for 20 to 30 seconds to strengthen your shins.


Lack of Arm Swing: Normally while walking, arm swinging occurs in order to counterbalance the leg motion. Arm swinging can also aid in gaining the momentum, thereby helping you to walk at a faster speed. Lack of arm swing can put a lot of stress on your back. So, make sure to swing your arms back and forth opposite to the direction of leg motion.


Incorrect Posture: Improper postures like head down, leaning forward etc. are very commonly observed and these can lead to problems like neck pain, back pain, shoulder pain and breathing difficulty. So whenever you intend to walk, stand straight and feel like being tall! Do not arch your back. Pull your stomach in, keep your buttocks tight and maintain the natural curves of the spine to prevent undue stress.


Over-training: The zeal to burn calories in order to lose weight makes many people to walk beyond their capacity. They soon begin to feel tired and irritable, and pains and aches start popping up their ugly heads. Under such a situation, it is better to take a break and to refresh yourself. You must listen to your body and wait for it to recover. This is the best possible way to get ready for the next walking session!


Walking is a fun and it is a form of recreation during moments of leisure. You might take a great deal of interest in this form of physical activity, but wrong postures and incorrect walking techniques can nullify your efforts. You might also suffer from injuries which can act as obstacles for your fitness routine. So, adopting the correct techniques of walking is very essential in order to continue with your regular walks!

How to Walk Properly?

It is very important in life to do things in the right manner. An ineffective attempt made, takes you nowhere, except for causing frustration, due to not having achieved the desired result. Health fitness cannot be achieved magically and this fact applies to every smallest aspect associated with fitness. Like, for weight loss, say if you choose walking as your main workout type, then it becomes vital to ensure that you are following a proper walking style.




Walking is one of the best things you can do for your health. It's good for your heart, blood pressure and weight management. When you're walking to get or stay fit, your form, pace, and breathing is especially important. Mastering a good walking technique takes some time. But with practice, it will become second nature and will help you increase and maintain your pace comfortably. Here are some tips to get you started:


Keep your eyes focused forward, not up or down. Don't look down when walking; look ahead (especially when walking up hills).


Chin should be pointed down and pulled in slightly to maintain a neutral neck position, which will prevent neck pain by properly supporting your head.


Keep your shoulders back, down and relaxed. Bend your arms at the elbow at a 90-degree angle and swing them toward the center of your body. Be careful not to cross the center line of your body or bend your arms at more than 90 degrees. Swinging your arms properly will give you a better aerobic workout, burn more calories, and engage more muscles throughout your torso.


The back should be straight as you walk, allowing for its natural curves. You shouldn't be leaning backwards or forwards. But, a slight forward lean on hill climbs is acceptable.


Your chest should be slightly lifted. Breathe deeply, expanding your stomach, and try to breathe in rhythm with your steps.


Keep your belly button gently sucked in toward your spine. This will keep your abdominal muscles activated, which is a great workout for your tummy and it helps to protect your lower back from injury.


Your heel should hit the ground first. Take shorter, rather than longer, steps. More frequent short steps will give you a better workout and be easier on your joints.


By closely following the technique and form described, you can significantly improve your performance. It can help enhance the benefits you receive from walking. These benefits are:

• Increased efficiency
• Better use of energy supplies
• Decreased risk of injury
• Increased comfort
• Faster times
• Increased calorie burn
• Increased muscle conditioning
• Body shaping

Following fitness walking tips goes a long way in ensuring that you'll not fall prey to chronic body pains, poor posture problem, beauty related issues like double chin and potbelly. When you'll be away from the clutches of the above-mentioned problems, you'll tend to feel more active and enthusiastic about carrying out your day-to-day routine activities.

12 Tips to Motivate Yourself to Walk

Key to any walking program or for that matter any fitness program is Motivation. It is a fuel for weight loss. And just like any other program, maintaining a regular walking routine can be difficult once the initial newness wears off. Putting one foot after another, day in and day out, can get a bit monotonous. The monotony can have an adverse result on your fitness program.


So what do you do when your pace starts to slacken and boredom sets in? You motivate yourself! And here is how:


Choose different routes: The same old route can get a bit dreary. Explore a new route every now and then. If the environment is enjoyable, miles just fly by. By focusing on your surroundings you may even forget that you're exercising.


Count your steps: Ever heard of 10,000 steps per day plan? You can actually start counting the number of steps that you take and you will probably forget the exercising boredom. Sure you can use a pedometer, but you can also engross yourself in the activity while you are out walking. You can then compare the steps counted with the steps recorded in your pedometer.


Wear a pedometer: Several studies show that wearing a pedometer and having a daily step goal can boost your activity level. It can be a powerful reminder that every step counts, and soon you will be finding ways to add steps to your day.


Get a partner: Find a walking buddy to keep you motivated. Having a friend waiting for you to take a walk gets you out there day after day. Even the discussions, jokes, and tea afterward are great for relaxing. You can even walk with your dog.


Remind yourself of the benefits: Nothing will charge you more than reminding the benefits of walking. And there are so many of them.

• Helps in weight loss
• Lowers your blood pressure
• Strengthens your bones and joints
• Reduces the risk of heart disease
• Reduces risk of diabetes, & the list just goes on!

Maintain a walking journal: Bring a bit of professionalism in your walking routine. Set a goal and plan a strategy to achieve it. Track your walking minutes, steps, or kilometers in a journal or even in an online log and analyze it every month. You will find yourself out walking just to make those numbers add up.


Choose the best time: Choosing the time that works best for you is an important step to ensure a successful walking program and stay motivated. Some people walk in the morning to get ready for the day. Some people walk during lunch hour because they hate mornings. Others walk in the evening or after dinner to relieve tension and relax. If you don't have full 30 to 40 minutes to walk, then break the 30 minutes down into several shorter walks.


Reward yourself: If you achieve your goals, reward yourself with something interesting. New clothes, new walking shoes or even a movie; whatever works best for you.


Walk on the treadmill: When you are absolutely bored to walk outside, jump on the treadmill. You can watch TV or talk to your buddies on the phone and the miles would just add up.


Establish your motivation in your walking activity and you will stay persistent in walking toward a healthy body. The important thing is to set the goals, keep walking and keep shedding those pounds!

Improve Your Photos 60 Seconds at a Time

Light

Dancing with light

• Light from the side brings out shapes, textures and structures. That’s why early morning and evening are rich times to photograph.
• With the sun behind your subject, you get some of the most dramatic visual effects … but exposure could be tricky to get right. Try it anyway!
• When the sun is high and the light is hard, don’t fight it to try to get it all. Concentrate on exposing the bright parts properly and work with the shapes of shadows.
• For light and shadow effects you need the sun, of course, but colours are often more intense on half-sunny or overcast days.

The color of color

• Natural light is white, while artificial light is often shades of yellow, orange or green.
• Our eyes naturally adjust to colored or tinted light sources to make them appear white and so will your digital camera but only within certain limits
• If you want warm-colored pictures work earlier or later in the day when natural light tends to be more orange.
• This image shows warm light from an evening sun but bluish shadows from the cloudless sky

Mastering flash

• Balance the flash with day light for stunning results. Your camera may offer a ’slow flash’ or ’synchro flash’ or ‘daylight synchro’ setting.
• Direct flash on groups of people produces better-looking images than direct flash on a single person.
• The latest cameras allow you to set high ISO speeds e.g. ISO 800 which can help avoid using flash altogether.
• Avoid red-eye by turning up or providing more light in the room.
• If you use your camera’s red-eye reduction setting when taking flash photographs of people you avoid red-eye, but there’s a delay in taking the shot which may cause you to miss the moment.

Choosing your time

• Low or cross lighting at dawn or dusk produces wonderful lighting and colors.
• At dawn and dusk there are natural shadows to help give depth and form to your subject.
• For early evening shots, you will need longer shutter times i.e. longer exposure to make up for the low light. This makes it likely your photographs could be blurry due to camera shake, so lean your camera on something - anything steady - to keep still during exposure.
• Don’t be afraid to point the lens at a setting sun , but whatever you do avoid looking at the sun directly, especially through the viewfinder of your camera.

Landscaping your photos

Composition essentials

• It’s best to keep your horizons level in your photographs, otherwise your shots will appear crooked (unless that’s what you want!).
• Keep the main points of interest away from the centre, and from the extreme edges - better, still, try placing them in different parts of the image and see which works best.
• Don’t shoot everything from a standing position. Look for unusual angles by changing yours (and the camera’s position).
• Better to avoid completely empty space in your photos.

Framing the lines

• Don’t be afraid to use take portrait photographs - that is, with the camera on its side.
• Use natural features in the environment to create a frame for your subject or to lead the eye through the image.
• Zoom in to create a sense of intimacy. Remove from your shots elements like the sun or the sky, which give a feeling of open space.
• Experiment with framing. Try framing your shots with lots of foreground and very little sky, or lots of sky and very little land.

Zooming around

• Zooming-out allows you to capture more of the view.
• A wide-angle lens will keep everything in focus while helping to maximise the ‘depth of field’, or feeling of depth in your shots.
• Zooming-in will flatten the sense of perspective and make distant objects appear closer together.
• Zooming-in will also affect the amount of your picture that is in focus allowing you to isolate details against an out-of-focus foreground and/or background.
• Be careful to avoid camera shake when zoomed right in, as tiny movements in your hands become magnified.

Prospecting the perspective

• Create perspective by using the lines and shapes within the shot to draw the eye.
• Tall buildings can appear to ‘lean back’ when photographed. Getting something in the foreground of your shot helps balance this.
• Increase the sense of perspective by using a wide-angle lens and adding foreground interest.
• A low viewpoint and wide-angle setting helps to contrast the size and shape of objects in interesting ways.

Foregrounding

• Foreground is the area that is closest to the camera: the stronger it is, the stronger the rest of the image.
• An object in the foreground first invites the eye, then lead the viewer deeper into the photo.
• Include foreground objects to add a sense of scale and perspective
• Experiment with allowing the foreground to totally dominate the photo

Cool proportions

• The central part of your scene usually draws the camera like a magnet so it ends up in the centre - try resisting that tendency
• Place the main point of interest towards the sides of your photographs for more dynamic compositions
• Place your horizon near the top or bottom of your shots to add emphasis to the ground or to the sky
• In this picture you can see there is a smallish amount of sky while the rocks have been placed high in the image to allow the silhouette of the trees to be significant.

People with you

Lighting faces

• The soft light you get on overcast days is especially good for photographing people, as it delivers the best skin tones
• Side or ‘cross’ lighting is more interesting because it gives depth and form to your portrait sitter
• Keep backgrounds and other distractions to the minimum so that the viewer can concentrate on the face
• In this picture, soft light from a window lights the faces of the girls from the side, while a zoomed-in setting throws the foreground face out of focus.

Depth of feeling

• Use your zoom lens to shorten the ‘depth of field’ (depth sharpness) in your photograph, and throw the background out of focus. This adds emphasis to your subject.
• Use your zoom lens to fill your photograph, rather than leaving your main point of interest floating in space.
• Zooming in will flatten perspective, which generally produces a more flattering shot of your subject.
• In this picture, a zoomed-in setting focuses on the girl, throwing the foreground objects out of focus.

Natural frames

• Use a person’s surroundings to be a natural picture frame the photo
• People will often smile and pose stiffly for their portrait: if you don’t want a smile take two or more pictures - a second or two after a smile, the pose relaxes and you have a more natural shot.
• Look for the natural junctions of the human body (where it seems natural to ‘cut-off’) if you are not including the whole person in the shot.
• Soft light is easiest to work with: try sitting your subject near a window.

Childish tricks

• Get the children used to you and the camera by firing off lots of shots first.
• For small children , pre-focus the camera. This is done on most digital cameras by pressing down halfway on the shutter button. Then move yourself backwards and forwards with the child to keep the shot in focus.
• Get down on your hands and knees to stay level with your subject and appear less intimidating.
• Use something to draw the child’s attention away from the fact that they are having their photograph taken.

Coloring the essentials

Bolder colors

• Redder colors will create a warmer feel for your shots than blues or greens.
• color affects the way we look at pictures, so try to use color creatively in your shots.
• Look for images that contain contrasting colors, such as red and green or yellow and purple, to add tension or drama.
• Using shades of the same colors will create a sense of harmony.

The best light is free

• Bright sunlight gives colors a more intense or ’saturated’ feel.
• Midday light has a bluer quality, which can give photos a harsher feel.
• Try to place strong colors against large areas of even tone or color - this helps bring out their intensity
• Look for color contrasts - red with blues and greens, for example.
• Photographs taken at the beginning or end of the day will have a warmer tone due to the natural orangeness of the light.

Emotional colors

• Different dominant colors lead your viewer towards different emotions which impacts on the way your shot is experienced
• Yellow is associated with happiness, but orange may moves us toward concern - hence the use of amber as a warning light.
• Red is the universal color of warning. Use it with caution - a little bit of red in your shot goes a long way!
• Greens and blues usually have a calming effect, hence their association with landscape
• The many colors in this shot are held together by the large areas of yellows, giving it an unmistakeable sunny Mediterranean mood.

Composition

Lines of force

• You can create a sense of direction using naturally occurring lines.
• Slanting or ‘oblique’ lines imply movement, action and change.
• Curved lines or S-shaped lines imply quiet, calm and sensual feelings.
• Lines that converge imply depth, scale and distance, for example, the outer edges of a road converge as it disappears into the distance, giving a two-dimension image three-dimensional depth.
• Repetitive elements create a sense of rhythm, which is often more interesting if the rhythm is broken by a missed element.

Thirds

• Imagine two horizontal and two vertical lines equally dividing your shot, then place subjects on the lines or where they intersect with each other: this can be a help in deciding on compositions
• Place your horizon on the top or bottom line to add emphasis to the ground or to the sky respectively.
• In this picture, the composition combines color contrasts with proportions closer to another principle, the Golden Section, which gives pleasing proportions.
• Just pushing your composition slightly to one side so it feels a little uncomfortable can give your photos a dynamic it wouldn’t otherwise have.

Focusing away

• The human eye is drawn to elements that are in focus, and this will influence how your photo is seen.
• Auto-focus (standard on most digital cameras) will focus on what is in the centre of the frame. Use pre-focus to move your subject away from the centre of the frame. (This is done on most digital cameras by pressing down halfway on the shutter button.)
• Use your zoom lens to reduce the ‘depth of field’ (sense of depth) and throw the background out of focus. This will emphasise any in-focus element in the foreground.
  Photo © Wendy Ang

Being ready

Drive your motor

• Take lots of pictures. With digital cameras shots cost you hardly anything at all.
• Move around as you photograph to experiment and give yourself plenty of choice later.
• Stay alert for that chance-of-a-lifetime shot: keep your camera turned ON, keep your mind switched to ON.
• In this picture, the golden eagle put its wing on the falconer for only a few very short seconds, and the falconer grinned for even less time!

Vantage points

• It is almost always worth clambering up a wall or steps to get a little higher - but don’t get yourself into trouble with authorities.
• You may also have to wait for the best light.
• And you might have to wait for a composition of passing people to arrange itself
• The best position may depend on the zoom setting that you choose.
• In this picture, I had to wait nearly thirty minutes for everyone to get themselves into position.

Shutter lag

• Shutter lag is the time a digital camera needs to capture a picture after you have pressed the shutter button.
• Reduce shutter lag by focusing beforehand, hold the shutter button down half-way or half-pressure and wait for the moment.
• Reduce shutter lag by turning off any unnecessary automatic features such as red-eye reduction.
• In this picture, the only way to catch the air force jets at the right instant was to release the shutter just before they reached their ideal positions.

Always ready

• If you see a good picture you may be early: an even better one may come in a few seconds
• Get your exposure and focusing and framing set up while you wait for the perfect shot
• Hold the camera to your eye all the time; in the half-second it takes lift the camera you could miss the shot
• In this picture, I spotted the shepherd from a car, screeched/skidded to a halt, got the car to disappear and waited for the flock to approach me - using the time to work out the best viewpoint to meet them.