Yoga is a holistic and gentle approach to improving your muscle strength and improving your core strength and stability. Doing yoga regularly can also improve your overall general health and longevity. Most local health clubs offer a yoga class for beginners. Here are some suggestions to think about.

1. The Warrior Pose is a great pose to strengthen your legs and upper arms.
2. The Cobra Pose helps to strengthen the precious muscles supporting your spine.
3. The Bridge Pose can assist you to strengthen and lengthen your core muscles.
4. The Hero Pose helps to mobilise and strengthen your ankles and calves.
5. The Plank Pose gradually strengthens your arms, abdominals and the muscles around your spine.

Patience and time are also vital elements of achieving your ideal degree of flexibility, because over-exerting your muscles will damage them, rather than stretch them. Improving your flexibility will inspire you to try more physical challenges. You can start your journey to flexibility with these simple suggestions.

Before you commence a set of stretching exercises, take a brisk but gentle walk to get your blood flowing and your muscles warmed up. If you are stretching in a group, set your own ‘stretching limits’ and don’t feel pressured to match other people’s flexibility. Gently contract and relax your muscles for a set amount of time (you could start with six seconds of contracting, and then build up to 15 seconds). Enrol in a yoga or Body Balance class, and inform your instructor that your goal is to become more flexible. The key is to push yourself little by little so that you gradually build up to your desired flexibility.

While some people experience neck pain, some have jaw pain, while others experience visual disturbances and some people suffer from upper back pain. In order to try to manage headaches, it is important to distinguish what type of headache it is. Here are a few types of headaches explained.

The Common Headache: Pain across the face or a pounding ache. Often caused by sinus, eye or dental problems.
Tension Headache: A dull pain, associated with tension or pressure across the scalp, or base of the neck. Often caused by stress.
Migraine Headache: These can be severe and are often associated with sensitivity to light and sound. Migraines affect some people’s vision.

Headaches can be caused by a myriad of triggers and factors, including allergies, diet and posture. It is important to ask your doctor or naturopath for advice if you suffer from repetitive headaches.

The good news is that depression can be cured without drugs and by alternative therapies and lifestyle changes. Here are some great ways to incorporate into your lifestyle if you’re feeling down or suffering from depression.

• Massage: This is a fantastic way of relaxing and letting go of your troubles. Massage is extremely relaxing and great way to stimulate the energy channels in your body.
• Meditation: Resting your mind is just as important as resting your body. You can put your mind to rest without sleeping through meditation. By learning different meditation techniques, you can improve your outlook and learn to take yourself out of stressful situations.
• Chiropractic and osteopathy: This involves a professionally trained chiropractor or osteopath manipulating your back and body so that you feel balanced. These therapies are known to boost energy levels so that you can cope with life’s ups and downs.
• Reflexology: This ancient techniques works on the acupressure points in your feet. There are trigger points on your feet, which correspond to emotional and physical ailments.
• Herbs and supplements: A well-rounded diet is essential to a good mood, but with busy lifestyles it’s often hard to get all the nutrients we need. A naturopath can prescribe you various herbs to help your body and mind function well. 

Long working hours and a decrease in the amount of people taking their annual leave has resulted in many workers developing all sorts of aches and pains. A one-minute workout every few hours might help your body’s sedentary muscles.

Here are a few activities you can do for one minute each, several times a day. If you feel embarrassed by the activities, simply go to a meeting room or the photocopying room, for example, and do your one-minute workout in silence.

• Simply stand up at your desk and bend forward and touch your toes. Hold for 30 seconds, come up and then go down for another 30 seconds. This will make blood rush to your head to help you feel energised.
• Stand up and jog on the spot for a minute or go to your nearest flight of stairs and run up and down them for a minute.
• Stretch your shoulders and chest area, particularly if you frequently work with a computer.
• Do a yoga pose, such as The Warrior pose, for one minute.
• Stand up and do some star jumps and get your heart racing.
• Stretch your hands high up above your head for one minute.

Over-washing can cause dry, brittle and frizzy hair and under-washing can cause your hair to look oily and dirty. The best way to know how often you should wash your hair is to ask your hair stylist what they recommend. Here are some general tips regarding hair care and what’s suitable for the various different types of hair.

• Very dry and chemically treated hair should be washed one to two times a week. This type of hair should be conditioned as well to give it extra nutrients. A conditioning treatment is recommended at least once a month.
• Long, thick and curly hair should also be washed two to three times a week. In general, skip a day in between shampoos. Use a moisturising shampoo and conditioner.
• Fine or thin hair as well as short styles should be washed every one to two days. Fine and short hair becomes flat and greasy quickly so use a gentle shampoo and follow with a light conditioner or no conditioner.