Three Things Thursday: Heart Health, Choice, New Yoga Book

#1 Hearth Health - Today's  Daily Challenge is to Review the warnings signs of a heart attack. This one really hit home because when my dad had a heart attack a few years ago it was the scariest time of my life. I read all about the symptoms then, but this was a good reminder to review them again. It is scary to know that women can have a heart attack and not even know it because there are often no symptoms or the symptoms may be dismissed as something else. Please take a moment today to review these links. It may save your life or that of someone you love someday.

The most common symptom of a heart attack in both men and women is chest pain or discomfort that can be mild or strong, though not ALL attacks start with chest pain. Women may experience different warning signs and symptoms. Look over these signs of heart attack: http://bit.ly/HeartSigns (If you're a woman--or have loved ones who are women--read this page also: http://bit.ly/WomensHearts) 

#2 Choices - The other day before we headed to my sister's baby shower, Jason and I were talking about how there would probably be all this tasty but unhealthy food and candy there, and I probably would not be able to resist. I jokingly said to him, "I have plenty of self control; I may just choose not to exercise it!" This made us laugh, but it is a very powerful statement and realization. I AM in control of my body and my actions. If I make a bad decisions about what to eat or skipping a workout because I am lazy, it is by choice, not compulsion. It may seem like a force outside myself is making, but that is a cop-out and I do not accept it. I will take responsibility for my actions and suffer the consequences. The good thing is that making the right choices more often has become way easier because I feel awful (physically, and mentally) when I don't and the feeling is so much greater when I eat right and exercise. 

#3 New Yoga Book - I've been doing yoga with DVDs and YOGAmazing podcasts, but by now I know most of the poses that work for me, so now I can do it from memory and hold each pose for as long or as little as I'd like. I feel like my yoga practice is reaching a new level where I can start stringing together poses to make my own routines, so I bought The Athlete's Pocket Guide to Yoga. One thing that I liked about this book is that it lists a series of short routines with how long to hold the pose in terms of breaths and it says this "The breath guideline is merely a suggestion; hold the poses until you feel even side to side." I love this and I feel is what I've been doing when I do yoga for runners on my own from memory. I try to hold everything for a minimum of 3 breaths, but the poses I really like or that are really beneficial I hold for as long as it feels good. It's awesome!