I've been eating a lot of sugar.  At Holiday time, I love to bake Christmas cookies, and this year I really overdid it.  After a while, I began to notice my teeth hurting, my bones aching.  Sugar is known to leach calcium out of teeth and bones, and I certainly don't want to run the risk of having osteoporosis, so I've been taking my calcium tablets and hoping for the best.

If you're a woman "of a certain age", you may also be concerned about bone health.  But before you are told by your doctor to start taking a pharmaceutical--Fosamax or Boniva--here's what the latest research is proving:

​YOGA IS BETTER THAN DRUGS FOR BONE HEALTH!

    Some of the side effects of taking these drugs are:

• Gastric discomfort
• Weaker bones
• Skin rash
• Eye problems
• Low blood calcium
• Joint pain
• Jawbone deterioration
• Stress Fractures
• Esophageal inflammation

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On the other hand, Yoga has been proven to improve

• Better posture
• Better balance
• Better coordination
• Better range of motion
• Core Strength
• Better bone mineral content
• Lower anxiety
• Better proprioception
• Neuromuscular integration

My mom was prescribed Fosamax when she was about 80 years old.  Over time, her jaw definitely shrank, to the degree that she couldn't wear her dentures anymore, they were way too big.  And she developed compression fractures that were extremely painful.  She also complained about losing her appetite, from upset stomach.  Finally, she fell, breaking her hip.  Did she fall and then break her hip?  Or did her hip break and then she fell as a result of a compression fracture in her weakened bones?  She never recovered her ability to walk again, yet, because of her great constitution, she lived another 2 years, in misery.  It broke my heart to see my once vibrant, feisty  mom turn into a helpless, depressed vegetable.  

​So do your Yoga!  Stay vibrant and feisty! 

This is the time of year we are more likely to overeat, which can bring on the hiccups.  And once they start--even if we can stop them, they often come back shortly.  It's caused by an involuntary contraction of the diaphragm that repeats several times a minute.  It can be very unpleasant, and not a little embarrassing.

You can look up hiccups on Wikipedia and find out lots of  theories about how we get them, but if you have hiccups, you probably just want them to stop. Being a yogi and especially fond of the breathing practices we call pranayama , I stumbled upon a cure that has never failed me, though I admit I occasionally have had to do it twice to get rid of the dreaded hiccups.  Here's how:

     Inhale deeply

•      Exhale strongly, leaving the lungs empty
•      Perform stomach lift, Uddiyana Bhanda 
•      Hold for as long as comfortable     
  

     Slowly inhale, from bottom to top
                                                                         Resume normal breathing
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That's basically all there is to it.  Try again if it doesn't work the first time.  I never had much luck with the "startling" technique, although my brothers tried like to devil to scare the hiccups out of me.  Drinking water from the back of the glass never worked for me either.  

Let me know if this technique works for you!  You can make a comment under the post.

UPDATE!  
 I got a comment from a friend of mine in Yogaville that doing the stomach lift when you're really full from overindulging is not comfortable or even do-able.  So, it doesn't have to be a full stomach lift, rather a gentle lift of the belly.  The main thing is the exhale.  Begin by exhaling all the air out of the body, then gently lift the low belly--as if you're doing Uddiyana Bhanda,  but without straining.  Then hold the breath  as long as you can, and gently inhale slowly, using ujjai.   I hope this clarifies this.

You are invited to my studio at the G-Raj for a sacred evening of chanting, restorative yoga, guided relaxation, singing bowl sound bath, and cookies and hot cocoa.  We'll also do an arati to the Light as we celebrate the shortening of the long nights of winter.  Please RSVP at my facbook page, Meera's Big Yoga.

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   Well, yes, I am getting older.  You can see it in my eyes.  But, that means I'm getting wiser too.  I'm getting smarter about what I spend my time doing.  Someone I admired once told me "Whatever you say 'yes' to, you're saying 'no' to something else.  And recently I decided to say "yes" to writing a new book.

My publisher, Rudy Shur at Square One Publishers, approached me about writing a book about breathing techniques to help people with breathing challenges.  I hesitated initially, because I didn't have any first hand experience with the various lung diseases.  I spent some time reading about COPD, asthma, emphysema and other challenges, and realized I needed a co-author to help me with the medical information that I wanted--and--needed to include in the new book.  Enter.  Dr. McLanahan!