Table of Contents Introduction 5 Why You Need Vitamin D 7 Causes of Vitamin D Deficiency 10 Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency 16 How a Deficiency Affects You 20 Foods that Contain Vitamin D 24 How Much Do You Need? 27 Diagnosis and Treatment 29 Final Words 33 Resources 37 Sample Content Preview Causes of Vitamin D Deficiency There are several reasons why you may be struggling with a Vitamin D deficiency. In fact, as mentioned in that the start of this report, over 1-billion people are Vitamin D deficient. Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy to detect, especially if you aren’t familiar with the symptoms. Let’s take a quick look at some of the reasons why this can happen: You don’t eat the kind of foods that support the development of Vitamin D. Most of these foods are animal-based, like fish and fish oils, beef liver, egg yolks, and fortified milk products. If you’re vegan, of course you don’t eat these foods, so you’re likely to suffer from a Vitamin D deficiency unless you consume supplements to make up for it. Your skin color is very dark. The pigment (melanin) that makes your skin tan or dark reduces your skin’s ability to form Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. So, the darker your skin, the less likely it is to make Vitamin D even if you sunbathe. Your sunlight exposure is limited. Since your skin only makes Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight, you may be likely to have a deficiency if you don’t frequently go outside. If you’re homebound, for example, or work in a job that prevents sun exposure, you are at greater risk. Living in northern latitudes can also do it, as can wearing long robes and head coverings for religious reasons. Smog or pollution can prevent you from getting enough sunlight. Even the season and time of day matters. Sunlight is strongest between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm. And if you like somewhere like Cleveland, Ohio, you’re not getting UV-B light for six months out of the year due to the ozone layer and position of the sun. Your digestive tract is unable to absorb Vitamin D or dietary fat. Some medical conditions, like Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, and cystic fibrosis, can limit your intestine’s ability to actually absorb the Vitamin D you’ve consumed. Since it’s a fat-soluble vitamin, this holds true for absorbing dietary fat as well. Your kidneys cannot convert Vitamin D to its active form. As we age, our kidneys slow down, reducing your ability to convert Vitamin D into the active form your body needs. Kidney disease or damage can do the same thing, leading to Vitamin D deficiency. You are obese. Fat cells extract Vitamin D from the blood, changing its release into circulation. If your body mass index is 30 or greater, you may be at serious risk for Vitamin D deficiency. You’ve had weight loss surgery. Surgeries that reduce the size of the stomach or bypass sections of the digestive system can make it very hard to consume adequate amounts of Vitamin D, along with other vitamins and minerals. You’ll need to be carefully monitored by your doctor and will probably need to take Vitamin supplements for the rest of your life. You take certain medications. There are several medications that can cause Vitamin D deficiency. These include laxatives, which (obviously) result in Vitamin D and other nutrients being flushed out of the digestive system before they are absorbed and steroids, which reduce calcium absorption and impair Vitamin D metabolism. Cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins and colestipol (and oral cholesterol-lowering drug) can reduce Vitamin D synthesis because Vitamin D is derived from cholesterol. Seizure control drugs like phenytoin and phenobarbital and rifampin (a tuberculosis drug) have also been known to affect Vitamin D levels. And orlistat (a weight-loss drug), can reduce Vitamin D absorption. Additionally, thiazide diuretics like hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) and indapamide decrease urinary calcium excretion, so combining these drugs with Vitamin D supplements might cause hypercalcemia. You’re an older adult. As we age, our skin’s ability to make Vitamin D from sunlight is lessened. Our kidneys also slow down, so you may have enough Vitamin D in your blood, but your kidneys just can’t change it into an active form your body can use. Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency There aren’t a whole lot of reliable symptoms of this deficiency, which is why you should have your doctor do a blood test yearly as you age, or if you fit into one of the above categories. Here are some things you can look for: Fatigue. Chronic exhaustion, especially if you fit into one of the above categories, is one of the first symptoms of vitamin D deficiency. If you’re tired all day, have your doctor check your blood levels (there are also other conditions that cause fatigue, though). Muscle aches, weakness, or cramps. In one scientific study, 71% of patients with chronic pain were found to have vitamin D deficiency. The vitamin D receptor is found in certain cells called nociceptors, which sense pain. One study in rats showed that a deficiency in vitamin D led to pain and sensitivity. And a few human studies have shown that taking vitamin D supplements have helped people with chronic pain. Remember that aches and pains are your body’s way of signaling there’s something wrong.

Sample Content Preview Using Twitter, members can keep people updated, as well as follow updates from other members. Today, tweets are used for more than just updates; they are also used to discuss hot topics, videos, music, and events happening in the daily news. One of the bonus features of Twitter is the ability to “Retweet”. This enables users to share things like tweets, links, and other little gems that they pick up from others who also use Twitter. New users often do not understand the benefit of retweets, but after a little time on Twitter they soon learn the value of retweets and set out to share as much as possible. To retweet the user has a special set of tools available that make it easier to do. Some of those tools include copy and paste so you can share tweets themselves with others. When users do this, because they are using someone else’s information, the retweet is usually followed by an “RT”, short for retweet, as well as the original creator’s name. So, if you were to retweet the following sentence from “Sue-Smith”, your retweet would look like this: The ipod I bought was great and I would recommend it RT@SueSmith AS A RULE PEOPLE TRACK, or follow, the most popular retweets on Twitter by using one of the following methods: RETWEETRADAR – a tool for tracking and bringing to the forefront the most popular content on Twitter – right now, today, or yesterday. RETWEETLIST – this tool lets you track the most popular links that are being retweeted by other users on Twitter. You will note that it also keeps track of the accounts that are retweeted the most. TWEETNMEME – this is a tool that records and keeps score on the number of retweeted Urls and stories on Twitter and then places the ones that receive the most retweets on the front page of Tweetmeme, which if selected can be broken down into categories – i.e.: business, sports, etc. ANOTHER GREAT THING about Twitter is that all your friends and tweets can appear on your desktop and retweets only take two simple clicks – one to create the retweet and one to post it. HOW TO CUSTOMIZE YOUR TWITTER EXPERIENCE As a Twitter member you will notice that the site has some great user friendly tools that will help in making your experience on Twitter a completely customized one. However there are some steps you should initially take when creating your profile that will further enhance your customized experience. First to ensure that you get the best possible results on the site, starting by creating your Twitter log in using your real name or company name this makes it easier for people to search for and find you. Also, using your real name makes it easier for fellow tweeters to follow and recognize you or your brand. Including a personal photo or company logo on your profile page is always the best way to give your customized notability. Your photo should be a good quality one; the picture should be clear, well lighted and you should have a friendly appearance the more approachable you appear the more people will follow you. If you are using a company logo make sure it is professional looking and represents your company’s brand you will want a pleasing image that people will remember and associate with your specific product or service. Next you should work on customizing the settings on your profile page using the settings tool. Twitter does have built in themes that have predesigned backgrounds that use preset color schemes which is fine if you prefer it but you can also use the theming tools offered on the site to create your own theme and use your own personally designed color schemes. Another customization tool available is language preference you can customize your profile to appear in your preferred language; there are several global languages to choose from. You can also change your privacy settings from public where anyone can view your tweets to private where only your followers can share your tweets. Another way to customize your Twitter page is to share your personal media whether it is photos, videos, music or documents there is a tool available to help share your personal media. Groove-shark seems to be the most popular and user friendly music sharing application. You can tweet about a song you are listening to it. Feature wise the most popular, free and easy to use file sharing application for sharing documents and videos is FileTwt. If interested you can find out more about this application by visiting https://mash-able.com/2009/05/25/filetwt/. A newer file sharing application available is Twitgram; It is a file sharing application that offers some great features such as : file send-ing, sending and sharing messages over Twitter in complete privacy, create chat rooms, organize your chats and the 140 character limit for tweets is not an issue with this application. This application however, costs to use. To find out more about Twitgram you can visit https://techcocktail.com/twitgram-share-files-sendprivate- messages-https://techcocktail.com/twitgram-share-files-sendprivate- messages-Twitter-2011-08#.TkbuGWvlx5w Also, Tweeters now have mobile access to Twitter. Now you can Twitter using most currently used mobile devices. Now Twitter is a mobile companion for the tweeters. HOW TO BUILD A PERSONAL BRAND ON TWITTER On Twitter the Twitter handles have become an important aspect of being a part of the community. Your handle represents you who you are and what you represent. As a matter of fact the Twitter handles have actually become a commodity on the site; there has been a need for an aftermarket to be created for the handles. The aftermarket is where Twitter handles are constantly bought and sold. It has become a necessity for any member of the community whether business related or otherwise to claim their Twitter handle for their full name or full business name. If another member claims the name first it could lead to confusion when people are looking to contact you or your business on the site. It is very advisable to also employ this action for future business or personal prospects. To gain followers a good way to attract people to you is to have your profile completely filled out and do so accurately. A word of warning, don’t claim expertise at something when you are not - create your brand based on your interests and your skills. Your Twitter profile page should have a background that is related to your particular brand. When someone looks at your profile they should see an extension of who you are and what your brand repre sents. You should use the same logos, themes and color schemes as on your company website. Furthermore, there are three different methods that can be used to brand you or your business on Twitter: Leading with your company - Use your company as the beginning part of your account name and use your personal picture as your avatar. Mutual branding – using your employees to subtly advertise by having their photos accompanied by the business logo as their profile avatar. Personal branding- create everything completely about you. Using Twitter to establish that you are an expert in a particular field works very well to create an expert image for your brand and garner followers by constantly tweeting about the subject. Also, If you have a blog you can use Twitterfeed to create an affiliation between your blog and Twitter. You can also host question and answer forums on Twitter with your followers about your field of expertise. By creating a marketing scheme you can also build up your brand. Some elements that can be employed as a marketing plan are: Adding your Twitter handle to your email signature. Promote your Twitter address on your company website. Promote your Twitter in you blog or articles Use your Twitter address in your company newsletter. Mention your Twitter address in company presentations. Place your Twitter handle on your business cards. Using the @ symbol referencing someone specifically in your tweets possibly engaging a response. Use promotional items to advertise your Twitter handle. You can additionally use third party applications to stay connected to your industry.

Sample Content Preview Search Engine Optimization in Minutes a Day One of the aspects of internet marketing you’ve probably heard the most about, is ‘search engine optimization’. But what does this term mean precisely? More importantly, how can you implement an effective social media strategy in a few minutes a week? Search engine optimization essentially means that you are optimizing a site or a page for search engines. More specifically, it usually means that you are optimizing said site or page for Google (seeing as Google is the search engine that pretty much everyone uses…). So how does this work? What is Google looking for? This is defined by Google’s ‘algorithm’, which in turn is its calculation for deciding which content is ‘relevant’ for which searches. Too many people get bogged down by the details of Google’s algorithms and by trying to work out precisely how many links they need and what the best ‘anchor text’ is. In short, people try to second guess the nature of Google in order to ‘game the system’. In fact, this is what a lot of people think that SEO actually means. But this is not SEO. Or at least it’s not good SEO. Because if you try and guess what Google wants you to do and then fill your site with that specific type of content and build those kinds of links, that means that anyone can get their way to the top of Google by using the same techniques – even if the site that they are promoting is not high quality! In other words, as soon as someone finds a loophole to get to the top of Google, Google is going to plug it. Google does not want there to be a simple formula that bloggers and business owners can follow to get to the top. Google does not care about you! What Google cares about is its users and it wants to make sure that only the genuinely popular and genuinely high quality content gets to the top. That’s why Google has become increasingly good at assessing quality content – by looking at things like vocabulary and use of synonyms. It’s also why you see fewer and fewer of those pidgin English sites at the top of Google’s results pages. So, what is good SEO? Simple: it is focussing on delivering high quality content for your users. If you do that, then your goals are aligned with Google’s own goals. If it doesn’t promote your site already, then future updates will make it more effective at identifying the genuinely high quality nature of your content. So, write posts that are the right length for the topic you’re writing. Write posts that are filled with genuinely interesting tips. And write posts that are entertaining and well written. This will also mean that more people spend longer on your site (you will ‘reduce bounce rates’) and this is another very important sign for Google. Better yet, if your content is genuinely good and interesting, then people will want to share it with other people, resulting in links being added to your site! Now, writing high quality content does not take ‘a few minutes a day’ and this is going to be the most time consuming aspect of internet marketing. But if you want to get around that issue, then consider outsourcing the writing to a professional. Just make sure that you pay enough (you get what you pay for) and that you pick someone who is an expert in the given topic and who is genuinely passionate about it. Link Building The other part of SEO is link building. That means getting other sites to link to yours. This is also really important because it is actually the way that Google finds new content online – by following trails of links around the net! What’s also important about link building is that Google treats each link like a testimonial. The underlying assumption here is that if thousands of people are linking to your site, then your site must be at least fairly good! What’s more, is that a link tells Google about the subject matter – because normally sites will link to other sites that are on the same subject. Again though, the important tip here is not to try and game the system. The main way that people are guilty of doing this, is by trying to build as many links as they possibly can by buying them and trading them and while giving no thought to the quality of the site linking to them. Google does not like this. As far as link building goes, Google’s stance has always been that quality trumps quantity. The aim should be to get links on sites that Google trusts as authority resources, not to build them on sites that no one has heard of! So how do you know if Google trusts a site? Well, if a site has a .edu or.gov domain, then there is a higher-than-average chance that Google will trust it. Google also likes brands and Google likes the sites that have inbound links from these sites. In other words, it acts like a game of ‘degrees of separation’. If you can’t get a link from Harvard but you get a link from a site that has a link from Harvard, then this will be almost as good. Another tip is to look for the links that are in Google’s news section – as all these are sites that Google trusts. If you can get a link from any of those, then it will be worth a lot. So instead of wasting time sending unsolicited emails begging for links or offering to buy them, the best way to build links by far is simply to focus on getting links from the very highest quality sites. The good news for you is that this is quicker. Focus on keeping your site top quality and then send an email a day to the best sites in your niche asking if they’d like to publish a guest post or work together in some way. You only need a couple of positive responses to completely change the game. Social Media Marketing in Minutes a Day Another aspect of internet marketing is social media. This is the process of building up a massive online following of fans and friends on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. and then being able to let them know about your new products, services or blog posts as a result. It also means gaining their trust and letting them feel like they’re getting to know you, which will make them considerably more likely to buy from you! Problem is that many businesses have no idea how to go about social media marketing and they simply waste time spinning their wheels. The problem is once again that many businesses forget to offer the value from their social media. They think that they can treat Twitter or Facebook like an advertising platform by using messages like ‘Our new contact management platform will transform your business!’. The problem with this is that it gives no one any good reason to follow their page! The more successful brands are the ones that offer something interesting or entertaining while keeping it just somewhat connected to their industry or niche. This might mean posting about running a business, or about contact management and sales. Or if you have a fitness brand, then instead of promoting your protein shakes, you instead Tweet with tips and ideas for how to train. Better yet is when a company lets people ‘get to know them’. This works particularly well for small businesses, as well as ‘personal brands’ (bloggers that use their own names in their branding). People love living vicariously and this is actually one of the big positives of the internet to begin with – it allows people a window into the lives of their favourite content creators and lets them be voyeurs into the lives of others. If you post about running your business, then people who are interested in business will enjoy getting to see that personal angle and the honesty of what your ‘day to day’ is like. Likewise, if you have a fitness brand, then posting about your own training will inspire and motivate others. And this is where social media marketing can actually end up being a much less time consuming process. Because now, instead of focussing on writing several posts for a few hours each evening, you are instead going to integrate social media into your own lifestyle. This of course means that you need to live the lifestyle you promote through your business, but hopefully if you’re passionate about what you’re selling and what you’re doing, then you already will be. In fact, if you don’t go to the gym regularly, then you should maybe have second thoughts about whether a fitness brand is even right for you! So now, posting to social media is something that you can do as part of your routine. Cooked a healthy breakfast that’s high in protein? Take a snapshot for Instagram! Reading an interesting article on fitness on your commute into work? Then share it through your Facebook page!

Sample Content Preview WHAT IS A TURNKEY ONLINE BUSINESS? ATurnkey Business is one which you can operate, part time if desired, online from the comfort of your own home. After researching hundreds of different opportunities, companies and Franchises, we can say with certainty that a successful Turnkey Online Business will contain the following six ingredients: 1. You have to have a product that everybody wants and needs. This doesn't have to be fancy or particularly fashionable, just something that is in demand that everybody can benefit from in the short and long term. 2. You have to have a compensation plan that will guarantee you a good immediate income with the potential for residual income down the road. The idea of building a turnkey online business is that, as the business grows, you'll have more time to spend with your friends and family and let the business run on auto-pilot. 3. You need a comprehensive system that can be easily duplicated that does the telling and selling for you. Many people have product ideas but don't want to pick up the phone to talk to people and are scared of the marketing side of their venture. Your system, therefore, needs to do all of this. 4. You need a system that provides the necessary training, via webinars and conference calls, so that you can feel confident about doing what you are doing. 5. You need to be able to mentor with people, who are already successful, doing what you want to do, who are already making the kind of money that you want to make and who already have the kind of lifestyle that you want to have. That is important because they are going to share with you how they did it and the mistakes they made along the way so you can avoid doing the same. 6. Finally, you need yourself. You are the most important piece of the process. You have to understand that, in order to be successful, you are going to have to learn new skills and put in some work initially to get your business up and running. Do not believe the nonsense that often gets peddled online about instant riches. Making a success of business on the internet is possible, but it will not happen overnight. Condition yourself to be flexible and dynamic and adopt a long term view with your strategy. Getting your expectations in check from the outset is half the battle for most newcomers. You are reading this Ebook because you are looking for ways to generate an income from home either on a part time or a full time basis. If you are fed up worrying about whether you are going to have a job in six months or whether you are going to get that pay rise (which probably won't happen). Or, if you are just fed up working 80 hours per week for a measly wage, then keep on reading because, with the right knowledge, the internet can literally transform your life. Google AdSense was the very first major contextual advertising program. Most of Google's earnings originate from its share of the contextual ads served on the incredible number of web-pages that run the AdSense program. Site owners can subscribe to AdSense to make it possible for text, image as well as video ads to be shown on their websites. Revenue is generated on either a per click or a per impression basis. Per click is where the advertiser pays the Search Engine (SE) along with other Internet publishers for just one click of its' adver-tisement that brings one visitor to its' web site. And an on line adver-tisement impression is just a single appearance of an advertisement on a web site. AdSense has turned into a popular approach to placing adver-tising online since the adverts aren't as intrusive as banners and the content of the adverts is usually highly relevant to the web site. The primary reason Webmasters have for using AdSense would be to help their website's content generate revenue because they usually don't have the ability to develop advertising sales programs or employ sales agents. AdSense works by providing webmasters with a Java-Script code which, once entered in to web-pages, displays relevant adverts from Google's inventory of advertisers. Since the ads tend to be more focussed, they will often be clicked, and this generates profit for the person who owns the web site, as well as the server of the ad itself. For contextual adverts, Google's servers make use of a cache (i.e. a sizeable storage of relevant data) of the page to find out some high-value key words. If key words have already been cached, adverts can be found for all those key words predicated on the AdWords bidding system. For site-targeted adverts, the advertiser selects the webpage(s) to exhibit the adverts on, and then pays predicated on a Cost Per Mile, or CPM (the publisher only needs to load the advertising on his web site and show it to his visitors to be able to receive the commission), or the cost the advertisers decide to cover for each thousand adverts shown. AdSense has received a fair amount of criticism in the past. The primary section of complaint involves its vulnerability to click fraud. Google claims that, to prevent invalid clicks, they remove publishers from their partner network on a daily basis. AdSense publishers can select from a number of click-tracking programs available that display step by step details about the visitors who click the AdSense adverts. Publishers may use this to find out whether they've been a victim of click fraud. Google will withhold payment until a merchant account reaches US $100.00. However, Google can pay all earned revenue of more than US $10.00 when an AdSense account is closed. CLICKBANK PRODUCTS - HOW THEY WORK Clickbank is the world's largest internet provider of digital products. Every day, many products are put into Click-bank's marketplace for Online marketers to judge whether they would like to promote that product or not. Those who are newcomer's to affiliate marketing visit Clickbank, examine all of the products and then put up campaigns and internet sites to advertise them. Expectations are usually huge and all of the hype that the 'pitch pages' of these products create often leads Online Marketers down a path of self destruction. Only a small number of individuals promoting products on Click-bank ever make the 'big bucks'. Those who do not belong to the 'in-crowd' have no idea what they've done wrong and normally, after expending much effort, they quit. To help those just getting started, there are some things that will help in determining whether an item on Clickbank may be worth promoting and whether it has the potential to create money. The points covered in this chapter can help you evaluate a great quality pitch page versus one which will not convert. Does the headline stick out? Does it capture your attention? Does it produce a desire for you yourself to wish to read more? If it does not, it is time to search for yet another product to advertise. In the event that you are not thinking about reading the entire pitch page, neither are your visitors going to be. Again, put your self in your customer's shoes. Take into account the benefits and options that come with what the merchandise is promoting. Does it complement your key words well for relevance and does it produce a desire for more information? Try to understand exactly how it benefits your customer. Products that are distinctive will sell a lot better than other things. What's unique relating to this product that other products aren't offering? How could you capitalize with this to achieve a distinct market share that other people will lose out on? Are testimonials featured? They are vital in showing the credibility of the merchandise for sale. Featuring a few of these is good but too many can be overwhelming and they may not be read. Clickbank requires all products sold to have a fifty six day refund policy. So, if the guarantee is for longer than fifty six days, it should catch your attention.

Sample Content Preview There are two takeaways to pay attention to in that scenario. First, that you already know that you have to go to the toy store because that’s where they sell what you are looking for, preferably the one you are already familiar with, and second, that you are aware that you will need a little help with your purchase, even when you are already in purchase mode. The same thing happens when you decide that you want to purchase a new car, or a new kitchen, or the newest high definition TV. You need a little help from an informed sales representative to make an informed purchase that you are not likely to regret later. That is the exact same process of the affiliate marketer, who builds a website which serves as an informed middleman for people looking for information about products that they want to buy. When the affiliate website successfully talks people into buying a product through its content, it earns the affiliate money. And just like an electronics store would only sell electronics and hire someone who knows how to talk and sell electronics, an affiliate website needs to focus on a specific niche. An affiliate website promoting video games and bathtubs would look as bad as an electronics store selling novelty items. The idea behind creating an affiliate website is, like we said, to talk people into buying products through affiliate links, but that doesn’t mean that you have to populate your affiliate website with all kinds of affiliate links spread throughout random content in the hopes that people will click through by chance. The truth is that this strategy is doomed from the beginning because websites that talk about everything are exhausting to navigate. The best approach is to simply pick a product niche that you either like or have no problem writing about and then go from there. Remember that you have to act as middleman between a buyer and the amazon marketplace, and as such you will need to make their purchasing decisions easier, so liking or knowing the products that you promote on your affiliate website will make it easier for you to recommend the products. Once you have picked up a niche, go to Amazon.com and search for products in that niche that meet the following criteria: products that are low priced but that sell like hot cakes, and high priced items that are popular even when they don’t sell as much as lower priced products. This is because you have to promote products that sell well enough as to leave you with a healthy amount of revenue at the end of the month. Try not to narrow down your offers too much because you will end up slowing down your profits. To give you an example, let’s say that you decided to promote trendy, entertainment centric electronics. In that case, you will have to promote products that are lower priced but sell constantly such as newly released video games and higher priced equipment such as thousanddollar TV sets. Yet if you decide to promote rare collector stuff only, you’ll be narrowing down your niche too much, so don’t do it unless you dedicate a separate section for that stuff on your website, or if you have an affiliate website that makes you enough money as to allow you to create a separate micro website dedicated to rare collector stuff. Improving Your Affiliate Website (For Success) Having a significantly functional and cool looking website is a must when it comes to any online affiliate website venture, and it is especially true for Amazon affiliates because having a nice, clean online presence is a requirement of the Amazon Associates program. And having a functional, cool looking affiliate website doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive, at least not at the beginning. Because in the beginning you will ideally work with a cheap alternative that will allow you to focus on turning a profit while you grow your website without you having to drain your budget from day one. This will give you plenty of room to save up money to invest in the future of your affiliate website as you grow, which can take you from one to five months. That said, there are two stages involved creating the ultimate Amazon Affiliate website. The first stage is to simply create your Amazon Affiliate website without worrying about getting every bell and whistle. You need to simply have a website where you can insert your niche content and your affiliate links. This first stage requires you to invest in two elements: hosting and domain. The cheapest alternative to web hosting is shared hosting. We recommend you to buy a shared hosting plan that you can pay on a monthly basis to a hosting service provider such as HostGator. Shared hosting plans can go as cheap as $4 a month, and they will work well enough in the beginning. You will also have to buy a domain name for your website. Your domain name is simply your website address, and you can also buy your domain name from HostGator. Now, acquiring a domain name looks as simple as coming up with a name and selecting the cheapest domain extension available, but there are some rules to follow. First, don’t be tempted to use “exact match” domains for your domain name. Exact match domains are domain names that are made up from a combination of the exact niche keywords that you will target on your website, such as selecting the “cheapelectronicreviews.com” as your domain name. It doesn't only look lazy on your part, but it won’t help you to reach a top placement on search engine results. Lots of marketers use exact match domains for that reason, but the truth is that Google and other search engines caught on to that trend a few years ago and updated their search engine algorithms to ignore exact match domains for SEO. So the best approach is to come up with a brandable name that isn’t an exact match of your target keywords. After you make up your mind about your domain name, you will have to select a domain name extension. Selecting the .com extension for your domain name is the way to go hands down, but it can happen that your domain name is not available as a .com. In that case, select the .net extension. If it isn’t available as either extension, we recommend you to come up with a variation of your domain name until you find it available as either .com or .net. That is because those two top level extensions are the most recognizable ones, and because newer extensions such as .club don’t look attractive to any audience. Many websites get passed by as novelty websites when they sport such domain extensions, so stay away from them. Now, once your website starts growing and getting more and more traffic, you will have to start making some changes to it. This second stage of the process will require you to invest in a hosting plan that can make your affiliate website faster, to invest in a premium theme for your website and to invest in an SSL certificate. Now, most hosting service vendors will allow you to do such upgrades easily, and our recommendations are as follows: ✓ Upgrade your shared hosting plan to a dedicated hosting plan. Ideally, you should upgrade to a WordPress dedicated hosting plan, as WordPress is the best content management system available for affiliates. ✓ Buy a nice looking theme for your affiliate such as “Kingdom by Woocommerce” WordPress theme for Amazon Affiliates. ✓ Buying an SSL certificate is recommended, but not mandatory. This will add an extra layer of security for your website, and it looks good on the address bar! ✓ We recommend you to also use WordPress plugins to supercharge your Amazon Affiliate efforts. So far the best one available is the “EasyAzon” plugin, which will allow you to search for Amazon products to post on your website right from your website’s editor and to redirect region specific visitors to their respective international Amazon marketplaces on autopilot.

Sample Content Preview A morning ritual is a task that you perform in the morning every day. This can range from taking a walk to making a to-do list. Your morning rituals should be tailored for what works best for you. Benefits of Morning Rituals These benefits of morning rituals are backed by scientific studies. More Productive Days Taking a few moments at the beginning of the day to organize your thoughts and plan your day can go a long way when it comes to productivity. Going into work groggy, grumpy, and unprepared can leave you feeling unfulfilled and unaccomplished. Having a productive day is not just about making a to-do list either. Having a morning ritual that makes you feel good about yourself and start the day off in a relaxed mood will also help you be more productive. Instead of rushing into all of the tasks you have to complete with a scrambled mind. Less Stress Stress is a normal human reaction to having too much to do in too little time. There are a lot of physical and mental ways that stress can affect you over time. This includes increased anxiety, developing depression, fatigue, headaches, and even body pains from tension. One of the ways that having a morning ritual benefits you is that you know what to expect every morning and so your brain has less to worry about. Self-care rituals like exercise, journaling, or meditation can reduce your stress levels throughout the day because you can approach challenges from a clear mindset. Live Healthier If your morning rituals currently include things like pressing the snooze button multiple times, scrolling on social media while chugging a boiling cup of coffee, skipping breakfast, and violating several traffic laws as you speed to work...well that’s not great, but you are not alone. Many people get into bad habits and do not know how to break them. Having a morning ritual is a great way to implement healthy habits into your life. Having a schedule in the morning can help you make time in your day for working out and eating a healthy breakfast. These healthy habits will make you feel more energized and productive throughout the day and benefit your long term health. It is tempting to hit the snooze button (we have all been there), but once you get into a routine your body will adjust to waking up at a specific time. Having morning rituals that you enjoy to look forward to will motivate you to get out of bed in the mornings. Better Memory Have you ever taken a long commute to work and settled into your work when you suddenly groan and realize you forgot to complete an important task at home? Having a morning routine can help to prevent you from forgetting important things. Imagine working all night on writing a paper just to forget it at home on the day it is due. Instances like that are avoidable by using morning rituals to take time to reflect on the day ahead of you and prepare. Getting into a regular morning routine means that you do the same tasks every morning which makes it harder to forget things. Creating a to-do list is a morning ritual that will have a huge benefit in helping you to remember all of the important things you have to get done that day. Being clear-headed in the morning helps to improve memory. Make More Time For Yourself Morning routines save time because you do not have to waste time thinking about what to do next. This means that you can get more sleep or get more things done in the morning. Having time for yourself in the morning means that you can spend more time getting ready for the day. You can plan out your outfits and spend more time on your appearance which will make you feel confident and look more put together. For many people, the morning hours are a sacred time. Families with children will appreciate the quiet and calm before the kids wake up. Take time for yourself in the morning to walk outside and smell the fresh air. Write in your journal, burn a candle, meditate, take a bath, and pamper yourself and you will feel better all day. There are many ways that you can pamper yourself in the morning. Why Morning Routines Are Important All of the benefits that we listed have one thing in common: they will help you be a more successful person with a more positive attitude. Both your career and personal life can benefit from morning rituals. For Your Career People who work in sales or management know how far a positive attitude can go. Being in a leadership position is a lot of responsibility and coming into work every morning in “pre-coffee mode” can be off-putting for your future career prospects. ● Better leadership skills ● Better decision making ● Look better by spending more time on your appearance ● Inspire others to be like you ● Positive mood ● Increased productivity ● More confidence Having a confident attitude can go a long way in the professional world. If you can’t manage to brush your hair or lint roll the cat hair from your slacks before work, then why should you be trusted to manage important clients and projects? Appearance is less important than your work ethic and performance, but they both play a role in how successful you can be in your career field. For Your Relationships Having a lot of stress and a rushed schedule can lead to less fulfilling relationships in your life. Morning rituals allow you to take time for yourself so that you can make time for them. Spending quality time with your significant other or spouse in the morning instead of just silently bumping shoulders in the kitchen as you get ready for work in a frenzy can help your relationship be more loving and healthy. ● Less morning grumpiness ● Spend more quality time ● Talk about your plans for the future ● Less stress means fewer arguments ● Get more done as a couple or a family The same thing goes for spending time with your children. Having an organized routine for the morning allows you to spend extra time with the kids by cooking them breakfast, going over their homework assignments, or simply seeing them off to school with a smile. Being grumpy in the morning because of stress and lack of sleep can affect the people that you love. Some people get snappy or distant when they are under stress which can make significant others and children avoid you completely in the morning. If this sounds familiar then you need to start using morning rituals right away to get control of your time. Even if you are completely single and childless, your relationships can benefit from a morning ritual. You could check up on an older relative or parent, text a friend, or meet up with a coworker for coffee and a morning stroll with the extra time you make in the mornings. For Your Mental Health The importance of mental health has become more obvious to society in recent times. In the past, a lot of people neglected to take care of their mental health when trying to be more productive or handle a heavy workload/responsibilities. We know now that mental health plays an important role in how productive and successful we can be. Morning rituals make time for you to do things that improve your mental health.

Sample Content Preview WEB CONTENT The content that you put up on your website is the most critical thing that you need to think of. In the same way that a store will do well only if they sell things that people need, you will get people visiting your website only if you give some-thing that people are looking for. Of course it also means that you are entering a crowded market because genuinely unique niches are hard to come by. If you do find one, you are on to a good thing, but even if not, as long as you make the content appealing, you are sure to find takers. Do something that others don't do. For example, selling products or services online is catching on really fast, and you will find a number of sites with products that link back to the larger online retailers like Amazon or eBay. If you want to do the same, it is not that difficult, except that there is something that you will have to give that other websites do not offer. For example, if you offer a personal review of the product that you are selling you are sure to develop a certain number of loyal customers and as long as the reviews are informative and helpful you will only get more customers with time. There are other websites that offer the same thing, but most of them will have only a couple of lines that they probably found in other websites and copied. If you give information that is more detailed and specific, things that only a user would know, you are sure to make a hit. KEEP PEOPLE COMING BACK for more! This does take more work and time, but unless you are willing to invest in good content, there is really no point in proceeding further. Make sure that you do your research. Even if you are only selling dog collars, as long as you give the pros and cons of each one honestly people will appreciate it. The goal should be to make the content such that people who even casually visit your site once will book-mark it and keep coming back. KEEP it short and simple While writing your content, remember that just because you want to be informative you should not have long winded articles. Statistics show that between 400 and 600 words is the best length for most online articles. If you want to fill space in your site use other interac-tive content. Not only will this make the whole thing nicer to see and read it will also relieve the monotony of just plain text. Even if you do not have the expertise to create interactive content, just using bullet points and charts in-between text will break it up into smaller more easily read pieces. STAY who you are Lastly, while writing, never lose your human voice. While writing it is easy to lose the personal touch that you give when talking and instead go for a more professional voice. The only thing that this will serve to do is to make visitors feel unwanted. This becomes more of a problem as you grow, because as you see more money come in you will start to streamline the content. You need to walk a tight rope here because it is very easy to lose what brought people to your site in the first place while doing this. The risk of changing anything is that just as there is potential for success, there is an equally good chance for failure too. One more thing that you should keep in mind when developing web content is that the more graphics you have, the more time it takes to load the page. While this may not be a problem with many people because they have a broadband connection, a number of people access the net through their phones and palmtops, and heavy websites really slow down these machines. DON'T SEND NEWSLETTERS Newsletters are a big thing in many websites nowadays. Websites ask people to subscribe to their free newsletters and keep sending out information every week or some- times more frequently depending on the strategy that they follow. Whether this was a good idea in the first place or not, it really is a waste of time nowadays. Most email applications offer anti spam filters and most newsletters only end up in the junk mail folders. You may think that even if a very small percentage of people to whom you send out the newsletters read them it is good because the cost of sending them out is low, you are only shooting yourself in the foot here. You will only be classifying your website as another pusher who is trying to push something, in everyone's minds and will there-fore lose out on your brand image. GIVE them the option A better idea is to give the option to people to subscribe to an RSS feed. This gives them the option to either choose to subscribe or not which means that only genuinely interested people will. It will also give you a much more accurate idea of how popular your site is because most of those who subscribe will actually read what you have to say. GIVE VALUE One of the best ways of generating interest in these posts is to give insider information. Don't just write rehashed information that is easily found in other places online. If you are recommending a particular software for a specific purpose give honest impressions that are not found elsewhere. You may think that this is too much to give away freely, but look at it this way. Open Source is catching on like blazes now, and there is a free alternative to almost everything, including Operating Systems. If you want to charge for your opinions as well as for the product that you sell, you will find that someone else is only charging for the product and is offering their opinions freely resulting in a movement away from your site. BECOME A COMMUNITY MEMBER I f you are starting a website, chances are that there is already an online community on the niche that you want to start yours in. Make sure that you become involved and join them. Don't get so high and mighty that you think that everything that you write online should get you money. Write on other people's blogs and websites too. Just make sure that you link back to your site. Usually this is done in the signature and is one of the most effective ways of generating traffic to your site as long as what you write is worth read-ing. If the posting was good, people will come to your site just to read other articles written by you which is what you want. QUOTE, but link Another way is to quote from an article written elsewhere on the net. Usually nobody minds you quoting as long as you give them credit for it and link back to their site as well. Not only is this good etiquette, it will also improve your standing within the community which means that slowly, other more established people will start to link to your site. Apart from the traffic that this linking generates, there is another Web Traffic Simplified 9 more valuable reason for doing this. Most search engines do not index a website as soon as it is hosted. There are a number of people who create sites on free to use communities and then do not follow it up. Obviously no search engine wants any site like this in their results. One way that they identify if a site is in use and is genuine is by the number of links back to it. If these links are from sites in good standing with the search engines, the chances of your site getting indexer faster are greater. USE ARTICLE DIRECTORIES Another very popular way of getting these links back is by posting articles on article directories and then linking it to your site. There are many such article directories that allow you to upload content free although they have certain criteria about the kind of articles that you can upload. Ezine is only one among them and there are a number of others that you can post to.

Sample Content Preview 1. Consume Anti-Oxidants Okay, let’s start with a simple one: consuming antioxidants. An antioxidant is essentially a substance that is able to neutralize the effects of free radicals. Free radicals meanwhile are reactive molecules that roam the body and which cause damage to the cell walls whenever they come into contact with them. This is called ‘oxidation’ and while it is microscopic, it can add up over time in order to result in macroscopic (visible) changes. In other words, the cells become lined and wrinkled and this is actually enough to cause visible wrinkles on the skin when you’re older. Not good! Worse is that these free radicals can eventually penetrate through the cell walls all the way deep into the nucleus. This is bad news because it can result in damage to the DNA, which in turn prevents that cell from operating as it should. When cells reproduce, they do so via a process called mitosis which means that the cell actually splits in half to create an exact equal copy. In other words, the DNA damage now becomes repeated as well and that in turn can result in the growth and spread of cancerous tumors. In other words, antioxidants don’t just extend your youthful looks – they also extend your lifespan. So how can you make sure you are getting enough antioxidants? One option is to consider the best sources of antioxidants – and that means berries in particular. Blueberries, raspberries etc. are all incredibly high in antioxidants and the best way to get these in your diet conveniently is with a smoothie. Swap your morning coffee at Starbucks for an Innocent smoothie and you’ll immediately extent your lifespan. Another tip is to consider using ionized water. You can ionize your water using a water filter and what this will do is to increase the ORP or ‘Oxidation Reduction Potential’. All you need to know about that, is that the water is ionized via an electric current in order togain new electrons. This in turn alters the pH value of that water and reduces acidity. This increases hydration as well and many people say they can feel the beneficial effects in as little as 30 days. Another useful tip is to look out for the ‘master antioxidant’, which is glutathione. Glutathione is a tripeptide made from three amino acids called cysteine, glutaminic acid and glycine. It is more powerful than any other antioxidant and has numerous important roles throughout the body – including the maintenance of other antioxidants like vitamin C and E. You can’t get glutathione from your diet directly but you can consume more of those three amino acids to encourage its production. Unfortunately cysteine is toxic when taken in supplement form, so instead try to get it by eating more dairy, fish, meat and cheese. For vegetarians, soybeans, spinach, pumpkin and kale will do the job. 2. Protect Yourself From the Sun One of the best-known ways to hold onto those youthful looks for longer is to avoid the harmful rays of the sun which will damage the surface of the cells through radiation and can likewise cause damage to the DNA. The sun is responsible for many of your wrinkles, not to mention sunspots and other issues. The best way to protect yourself from the sun is to wear sunblock on your face all the time. If you aren’t willing to go that far though, then you can get a similar benefit by wearing a moisturiser – which will also be good for hydrating and nourishing your skin – that contains sunblock in it. Another consideration is that you need to be aware of windows. Go and take a look at your face in a mirror right now and you may notice that you have more freckles on the left side of your face. What’s causing this? That would be driving and being near the window on your left side. Problem is that while windows can block out UVB rays, UVA rays will still penetrate through and can actually get even deeper into the skin. That’s just one more reason to wear sunblock permanently: even when you are indoors! 3. Do Mobility Work One of the symptoms of aging that makes us feel so tired and lethargic is the fact that we lose mobility. As we get older we start to experience knee pain, back pain, neck pain and shoulder pain. We end up crouched over and struggling to stand up straight and this eventually results in us spending more time indoors and less time doing new things – which as we’ll see in a moment is responsible for much of the mental deterioration we see in old age. In other words, a lack of mobility will often cause something of a downward spiral of deterioration. First you experience pain in your knees. Then you end up walking strangely to compensate and reducing exercise. This causes pain in your back and a reduction in energy. You end up housebound and thus your mind starts to deteriorate too. And we accept this as ‘normal’. This is simply ‘part of aging’. Except many thinkers now suggest that this is not the case: or should not be. It is not inevitable that we should start to experience poor mobility and pain as we get older. In fact, the body is designed to last us until we are well into old age and if it doesn’t, then this suggests that you are doing something wrong. Specifically, what you are doing wrong is not engaging in mobility exercises. Problem is, we spend much too long sitting in one place at work, with our neck craning, back hunched and glutes being squashed. Our legs are bent too – often for nearly 8 hours a day – while we rapidly type and use our hands. This causes RSI (repetitive strain injury) in the fingers, it causes the quadriceps to become elongated and the hamstrings to become shortened and tighter. The glutes become weakened and the back develops a hunch. Your pecs shorten too. And then you wonder why you have pain at 60! Not only do all these issues cause strain on the body but they also cause compensation and change the way you move. These things cause you to walk awkwardly and make you more likely to have accidents and injuries. So what is the solution? The solution is to use mobility work and functional training to reduce tightness and to restore normal range of motion. You should be able to squat, to reach your hands straight up over your head and to run at any age. Look for functional fitness classes, gymnastics or even yoga to help restore flexibility and normal movement. 4. Engage in HIIT Want another form of exercise that can drastically improve your health as you age? Then consider HIIT. HIIT stands for ‘High Intensity Interval Training’. This is all the rage right now, so if you’re at all interested in fitness then you might well have heard of it already. If not, HIIT basically involves alternating between periods of rapid, intense activity and periods of slower, more deliberate recovery. So, you might spring for 1 minute and then jog for 2 minutes. Or sprint for 30 seconds and jog for 1 second. Either way, this forces the body to work in a way that it is not used to. When sprinting, you are engaging in what is called ‘anaerobic exercise’. This means that you are moving too fast for the body to rely on oxygen and fat stores for fuel. Instead, it is forced to get ATP immediately that is stored in the cells and in the muscles.

Sample Content Preview Google is all about quality these days and if you can demonstrate that your site is a source for high quality information, then you’ll be much more likely to start gaining visibility in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). At the same time, content is also going to help you a great deal to promote yourself on social media. People will follow you on social media because they want to be informed and entertained. Thus, if you share interesting content on your site, you’ll be able to promote those posts on Facebook and Twitter and thereby give your users a reason to keep following you. But true content marketing doesn’t mean using content as a way to boost your SEO and social media. Rather, true content marketing means thinking of content as an ends in itself rather than a means. After all, the whole reason that content can boost your SEO and social media is that content has inherent value. Content is what people go online for in the first place! Therefore, if you add content to your site, you are adding value to your site. And when you add value to your site, you give your visitors more reason to keep coming back. More to the point though, you also demonstrate to your readers that you have the ability to entertain and inform them and that way you build trust. Thinking about your content in this way is the best way to ensure that you make the very most from it. But in this report, you’re going to discover how to take it ever further… How Does Content Marketing Work Psychologically? Content marketing – when done correctly – should work over time to gradually convince visitors to your site to become long-term fans who are loyal to your brand and who are excited to buy pretty much anything that you recommend. But how do they make this journey and what is the precise role that content has to play in the transition? At first, your content is going to work simply to increase your visibility and to help you get discovered on Google and on social media. As mentioned already, content is what people search for and the more of it you have on your site, the more likely you are to get visitors. So, someone might search for a topic related to the subject that you write about and then they might see one of your links in the SERPs. Perhaps they click this link and get taken to your page. What do they find here? Hopefully, they will read your blog post or article and they will enjoy it. But don’t think that you’ve made a fan overnight. In all likelihood, they won’t even look at the name of your site or remember where they were when they read your post. After all, most of us are in a hurry and the thing that your audience wants most of all is to get the information they need and then leave. But over time, there’s a good chance that they might discover your page again – especially if they regularly read about the niche that you are writing in. If they are impressed again, then they might be more likely to start recognizing your page next time. And if this happens a couple of times, they’ll probably make a note of your brand and they’ll remember that this is a site they can trust and that shares information in way that they find entertaining and engaging. Now, if that user does a Google search and they see a selection of sites offering the information they’re looking for, they might actually gravitate towards your blog. In fact, if this keeps happening and you are able to build enough trust and authority, then your visitors may actually start to type in your site and to search for the content they want. Eventually, they might bookmark the page. And eventually they might decide to check it regularly to see what new content is there! Suddenly, you have a fan. You have someone who really enjoys what you have to offer and who trusts you as a creator. Now, if you promote a product to them or mention something you’re working on, there’s a good chance they’ll be interested. All that free content demonstrated just how much knowledge you have and how much you care about providing value. As a result, when you charge for something, the reader will think that it must be good. Let’s imagine for a moment that you have a site all about website design. You provide lots of useful information here about visual hierarchy, about using Illustrator and Photoshop, about coding and about security. All these things are written so well and in such an engaging manner that even people with no interest in web design become regular readers. Now imagine you have a fan who reads that site every day and one day they need a web designed for them. Where are they going to look first? Who would be their ideal choice for a well-designed website? You guessed it! Earning the Right to Sell Providing free content is not just the way you are going to offer value and build trust though: it is also how you earn the right to sell to your audience. This is the entire notion behind a sales funnel. A sales funnel is a sequence of interactions with a visitor that has been meticulously set up by a creator. The aim is to take that visitor from being a stranger (a cold lead) to being someone who is ready to spend lots of money. And while you might not like it, Thai Lopez is a perfect example of this! If you’ve ever been on YouTube in the past year, then there’s a good chance you’ve encountered Thai Lopez. He is an internet marketer who has spent copious amounts on advertising on YouTube and who therefore manages to appear at the start of hundreds of videos. The most famous of these videos was the ‘Here in my garage video’. For those who haven’t seen it, Thai begins the video by showing off his fancy cars, then goes on to say how he loves books and then talks about the three tips he learned from his five gurus (two of those gurus presumably weren’t pulling their weight) which will share with you for free from his website. So, what is happening here? Everything has been meticulously planned and meticulously staged. Did you know for instance that the human brain prefers lists of three and five? How convenient then that Thai had five gurus and learned three tips… More importantly, Thai starts out by immediately trying to establish some authority. He does this through his cars and by mentioning a TED talk he did. This gives him credibility but we’ve never encountered him before and it’s still not enough for us to consider buying from him. If his call to action at the end of the video was to buy his ebook, then his ads would have been a bust and he wouldn’t be everywhere today… Instead, Thai smartly recommends going to his website where you can watch a 50 minute+ diatribe on marketing. This is his chance to demonstrate the value he is capable of building and to create more familiarity, trust and authority. It’s this crucial step that will prepare us to buy from him at the end of the video when he starts promoting paid services and products. He could only do this after he built that relationship with the viewer. And that’s precisely what you do with content marketing on your website or blog. You familiarize the viewer with who you are, with what your values are and with how you can help them. You demonstrate value and essentially you show what your brand is all about. Now your audience will know whether or not they want to buy from you. Compare this to a site that launched straight into a sales pitch. If you clicked a link on Google and it immediately tried to sell you an ebook, would you buy it? Or would you write it off as spam and just leave to look elsewhere? We don’t like cold sales and we don’t like buying from people and brands we don’t know. I liken this to the dating game. You can’t just go up to a woman or a man in the street and ask them to come home with you: you’ll get slapped! Instead, you first need to build that familiarity and show that you are fun, sexy and trustworthy. Only once you’ve put in the ground work can you ask for a number and then invite them to your place for some Netflix ‘n chill. The same thing applies with your website. You are going to use content to build that relationship and to show what you’re all about and then you will be able to earn the right to invite the reader to buy from you or to sign up to your course or your mailing list etc. This is why content marketing is so powerful. Whereas SEO and advertising focus on getting people to your site and making them aware of you, content marketing focusses on creating real relationships, brand integrity and more. A Note on How to Get People Behind Your Brand There is an awful lot of work and technique that goes into creating the right kind of content that will allow you to get people invested in your brand. It is certainly not enough to just create any kind of content and then hope that people will fall in love with what you have to offer!

Table of Contents Chapter 01 – What is the Science of Yoga? Relief from Stress Yoga and Pain Relief Yoga and Breathing Yoga and Flexibility Yoga and Weight Management Yoga and Circulation Yoga and Cardio Health There’s No Hurry – Take Your Time Chapter 02 – The Ancient History of Yoga Modern Yoga Chapter 03 – Establishing the Mind/Body Connection with Yoga Chapter 04 – Yoga – Strength and Flexibility Chapter 05 - Managing Weight with Yoga Yoga and Weight Management Chapter 06 – Different Types of Yoga Hatha Yoga Vinyasa Yoga Iyengar Yoga Ashtanga Yoga Bikram Yoga Hot Yoga Kundalini Yoga Yin Yoga Restorative Yoga Chapter 07 – Attaining Better Immunity with Yoga Poses Chapter 08 - How to Get Started Doing Yoga Rid Yourself of Expectations Find the Right Teacher It’s the Yoga, Not the Outfit Yoga Classes The Best Time to Practice Yoga Yoga Intentions Before You Begin, Talk to Your Doctor Slow and Easy Does It Begin at Your Own Starting Point Chapter 09 - Preventing Injuries Chapter 10 – Yoga and Meditation Benefits of Meditation How Does Meditation Work? How to Start Meditating Finding Time to Meditate Mindful Meditation How to Meditate Mindfully Conclusion Sample Content Preview Chapter 01 – What is the Science of Yoga? People have been practicing yoga for thousands of years. While the original purpose was to elevate to a greater spiritual level, it became clear that yoga benefits the person as a whole. Modern scientific research has shown that the tremendous overall health benefits of a yoga lifestyle. Yes, yoga does improve the body, but surprising scientific research has shown that it changes the brain, as well. It’s about becoming a better version of yourself and getting in touch with the real, authentic you as the brain becomes more uncluttered. It keeps us focused on the present. While yoga begins on the mat, it extends to our entire day as greater compassion and awareness becomes a part of our life. Yoga won’t provide untold riches, although the physical benefits are remarkable. The world is already filled with abundance, much of which we ignore. The real beauty of yoga is that it grounds us to the present, connecting us to the abundance that is within our grasp. A better, more fulfilled life is within our reach when we let go and simply accept what is there. Each yoga pose, which usually involves stretches, has its own purpose and benefit. The practitioner becomes aware of tension and learns to release it. Yoga poses are very specific, and perfection comes with practice, but it is not the ultimate goal. Yoga involves a lot of stretching, but, more importantly, it creates balance by increasing flexibility and strength. Whatever type of yoga you practice, your body and mind simply improve. Yoga is extremely diverse and individual, which makes it important to work at your own level of comfort. Don’t use the person next to you in class as a guide, or even the teacher. Work the poses in the best way for you. This isn’t a speed contest, and you have nothing to prove. Yoga is a lifetime commitment, not a competition. Even if you are not used to exercising, you can practice yoga. You may not be as flexible as the next person, but you will get there. Yoga is always a work in progress and never a competition. While it is a physical practice, yoga will inevitably touch on your spiritual side. It unifies mind and body to become one. Research conducted throughout the 20th century has found a myriad of physical benefits to practicing yoga. Relief from Stress Our lives are filled with daily stressors, and we know that stress can cause tremendous damage to the body and mind. The boss wants to talk, your spouse is upset, the mortgage is overdue, and the kids want the keys to the car. Just another typical day. Holding yoga poses, stretching muscles, being focused on the presents, and breathing deeply and slowly helps us achieve a state of greater relaxation and harmony. We are able to consciously choose our response to stress instead of being at its mercy. Remaining calm under difficult circumstances is a choice, and yoga can provide the tools. Yoga and Pain Relief Studies have proven that practicing yoga can provide tremendous relief for people suffering from multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and other chronic conditions. We’ll discuss its amazing effect on the auto-immune system and cardio system at greater length in other chapters. Yoga and Breathing Yoga combines physical movements with breathing. Slower, deeper breathing can alleviate stress. Yoga and Flexibility Yoga involves a lot a stretching, which strengthens muscles. Since yoga impacts the entire body, flexibility and elasticity from head to toe. It also loosens tight, tense muscles and helps us become more relaxed. Yoga and Weight Management Yoga does not burn up as many calories as some other exercise regimes. However, it does increase body awareness. People who practice yoga become more aware of what they eat and the effect such food has upon their health. This usually leads to better, healthier eating habits and a natural loss of unwanted weight. Yoga and Circulation If your blood isn’t supplying your body and brain properly with oxygen, your health will suffer. You need proper circulation for the brain to function, energy, and the growth of cells. Sluggish circulation can cause nerve and tissue damage, blood clots, dizziness, among other problems. The thorough stretching in most yoga poses will improve circulation. The Camel Pose described in this book is an excellent way to improve circulation. Yoga and Cardio Health For patients who have experienced heart surgery, depression and anxiety can be a natural result. Yoga can be helpful in managing this type of post-operative stress. It can also lower blood pressure, serving as a preventive heart-healthy measure. The specific heart benefits will be discussed in a separate chapter. There’s No Hurry – Take Your Time These benefits will take time to achieve. Yoga is not a two-week miracle program. So, as you begin with your yoga sessions, allow sufficient time for the results to manifest themselves. You should see a huge difference in approximately two months. Whatever your reason for practicing yoga, you should notice an improvement in all aspects of your being.