Stress Relief

Yoga, Meditation, and Other Relaxation Techniques

The body’s natural relaxation response is a powerful antidote to stress. Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, visualization, progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, and yoga can help you activate this relaxation response. When practiced regularly, these activities lead to a reduction in your everyday stress levels. What’s more, they also serve a protective quality by teaching you how to stay calm and collected in the face of life’s कर्वेबल

The relaxation response
Whenever we encounter a stressful event, our bodies undergo a series of involuntary hormonal and biochemical changes. This automatic stress response, also called the fight-or-flight reaction, puts our bodies in alarm mode: heart rate speeds up, breath becomes shallow, muscles tense, and our digestive and immune systems temporarily shut down. The stress response is helpful in true emergency situations, but when it’s activated on a frequent basis it puts strain on both mind and body.
No one can avoid all stress, but you can counteract it by learning how to evoke the relaxation response, a state of deep rest that is the polar opposite of the stress response. The relaxation response brings your system back into balance, reducing stress hormones, slowing down your muscles and organs, and increasing blood flow to the brain

Ayurveda

Ayurveda” is not only a form of medication – it is a total way of life know to generations of Sri Lankan for over 3000 years. It is a gentle method of treating the root causes of illness in both mind and body.The health conscious today are searching for effective alternatives to the spiraling costs and side effects that at times result from the use of modern medicine.
In Sri Lanka, we have had for the last couple of millennia a “user-friendly “ traditional medicine – Ayurveda” which over 75% of the island’s population depend on because of its reliance on natural plants, herbs and oils. Nature’s way to good health, the efficacy of “Ayurveda” has been proved by 3,000 years of successful caring and curing…
What is Ayurveda? It is an ancient system of medicine developed in our part of the world, long before the “father of medicine”, Hippocrates, was even born. The name comes from two conjoined Sanskrit words “Ayuh” (life) and “Veda” (science or knowledge). Basically a science of healthy living, Ayurveda has two aims – to preserve health and to cure a body afflicted by disease.
One of the fundamentals beliefs of Ayurveda is the doctrine of “Tri Dosha” or the Three Vital Forces – Vayu, Pita and Kapha. Generally translated into Wind, Bile and Phlegm, a more accurate interpretation of Vayu is the transmission of energy within the body; in modern medical terms, nerve impulses, muscle contraction and hormonal activity. Pita may not be confined to bile but signifies the whole scope of metabolism and internal heat production while Kapha means mucus, often described as “The Protective Fluid”. The modern concept of mucus as an antibody containing liquid which coats and protects internal linings of the body, seems to fit in with Ayurvedic thinking.
When the three, “Doshas” are balanced, the body is in good health. When this equilibrium is disturbed and the balance of these complementary forces become unbalanced and upset, then illness results.
Ayurvedic practitioners study the patient as a whole with the object of restoring balance, getting to the root of the problem and treating it. Local folk have been known to say that while western medicine classifieds germs and attempts to destroy them, Ayurveda classifies human beings and attempts to save them.
The dive-pronged evacuative therapy – “Pancha Karma” is designed to rid the body of toxins and is achieved by special diets and herbal decoctions. The five elements of medical herbs: leaves, flowers, barks, roots and berries are used to cleanse the blood and the body of impurities.
The preparation of Ayurvedic medications is usually a long process with ingredients being ground in a pestle for a prescribed period of time. Juices and extracts of plants are simmered until they are reduced to a fraction of their original volume. Besides decoctions, wines, pills and powders for internal use, Ayurveda also uses poultices, pastes, ointments and oils for external application.
Massage with herbal oils, steam baths and bathing in herbal waters are said to be particularly beneficial to patients with migraine, insomnia and arthritis.
Methods of treatment vary – while one might have herbal oil dripping from a suspended clay pot onto a patient’s head, another would place the patient in a steam bath like an ancient wooden chest with perforations, in which he or she lies relaxed, benefiting from the vapours of various steamed herbs wafting up from underneath.
Herbal teas are now available and gaining in popularity worldwide. Their ingredients vary. While some might invigorate and energize, others would relax and calm both mind and body.
The preventative aspects of Ayurveda recommend codes for healthy living which include dietary and social-cultural norms. Certain foods are considered good while partaking of others such as red meat is discouraged. Vegetarianism and the consumption of dairy products such as milk and curd are smiled upon while drinking alcohol and smoking are frowned on.
“Ayurveda” is a cure for a lifetime and a way of life; after all, generations of Sri Lankan have been using these age-old remedies, and obtaining relief from their illness, living to a ripe old age in excellent physical condition.
It is a gentle and relaxed treatment for both mind and body, one that leaves you feeling light, tranquil, yet filled with the zest and energy that our ancestors experienced and benefited from.
“Ayurveda” is nature’s way of caring and curing for a lifetime

Health Resorts of Sri Lanka

Ayurveda derived from two sanskrit words - Ayur (life) and Veda (knowledge) is a form of indigenous medical treatment known to Sri Lanka and India for over 3000 years. Modern day C21st. ayurvedic treatment or alternative medicine based on natural healing has 2 aims: to preserve health - wellbeing and cure a body afflicted by disease or stress.
Ayurvedic practice is different to western medicine using pharmaceutical medicines with side effects. Westerners visiting Sri Lanka use gentle alternative medicine nature treatments at ayurveda health resorts designed for foreign tourists to restore their general well being.
The basic concept of ayurveda and ayurvedic medical treatment is just as animal and plant life has to live in harmony with the Laws of Nature to remain healthy and balanced so too do human beings despite industrialization.
Ayurveda is a gentle method of maintaining health in a person by treating the root causes of illness in both mind and body. Ayurveda and ayurvedic treatments return patients to health by using the inherent principles of nature.



Regain your well being in the tranquil relaxing environment of a choice of luxurious ayurveda resorts in the paradise tropical island of Sri Lanka with its all year round summer weather. Ayurveda brings the stressed individual back into health equilibrium with their true self. "ayu" or "self" is comprised of four essential parts - the combination of mind, body, senses and the soul. Health is improved by harmonising the relationship between mind and body. In ayurveda the energetic forces that influence nature and human beings are called the Tridoshas.
Although India is more closely associated in Western minds with Ayurvedic Treatment, 40% of medical practice in Sri Lanka is ayurvedic in origin. Sri Lanka enjoys amongst the highest life expectancy in developing countries. Numerous resorts have been started in recent years to offer Ayurvedic treatment to foreign visitors to Sri Lanka. This Ayurveda-Health-Resorts website has been designed for them and opens the world of Sri Lankan ayurvedic treatment and alternative medicine to westerners.

Woman gives birth to own grandchildren

SAO PAULO, Brazil - A 51-year-old surrogate mother for her daughter has given birth to her own twin grandchildren in northeastern Brazil, the delivery hospital said

Rosinete Palmeira Serrao, a government health worker, gave birth to twin boys by Caesarean section on Thursday at the Santa Joana Hospital in the city of Recife, the hospital said in a statement on its Web site.
Hospital officials were not available for comment on Sunday, but press reports said the grandmother and twins were discharged on Saturday in excellent health. The Caesarean section was performed about two weeks ahead of time because Serrao was having trouble sleeping, the statement said.
Serrao decided to serve as a surrogate mother after four years of failed attempts at pregnancy by her 27-year-old daughter, Claudia Michelle de Brito.
Brazilian law stipulates that only close relatives can serve as surrogate mothers. De Brito is an only child and none of her cousins volunteered, so Serrao agreed to receive four embryos from her daughter.

World Tallest Man Vs Shortest Man

Tallest man in the world, Bao Xishun met up with He Pingping who claims to be the world’s shortest man and they both hail from the same region of Inner Mongolia. They shook their hands in the photoshoot and He Pingping looked drastically tiny when in comparison with Bao Xishun. Bao Xishun was recently married to a 28 year old saleswoman from his hometown and was confirmed last year as the world’s tallest man while He Pingping seeks to be registered as the world’s shortest man although he could be disappointed by the current holder of the title Lin yih Chin who was measured at 67.5cm opposed to He Pingping’s 73cm. 2 more pics after the jump

Miss Arab World

Miss Arab World 2007

Congratulations to Miss Bahrain who has just won the Miss Arab World beauty contest in Cairo.
It's wonderful to see how a modest glimpse of flesh can instantly bridge the East-West divide, as evidenced by the comment from Daily Mail reader Ken from Suffolk

Cairo, July 28 (Xinhua) The title of Miss Arab World 2007 went to Miss Bahrain here Saturday after nearly six hours of contest.Wafaa Yaakoub, a 23-year-old teacher from the Law Faculty of Bahrain University, won the title, while the first runner-up was 25-year-old Miss Egypt Shaimma Mansour and Miss Lebanon Abeer Layous, 23, became the second runner-up.After being crowned by Miss Arab World 2006 Claudia Hanna from Iraq, Yaakoub said she was very happy to win the title.

Asked whether she would continue her teaching career after winning, Yaakoub hesitantly nodded in affirmation.Earlier, Miss Egypt, Mansour, who is a football referee, said she was attending the contest to promote Egypt's tourism and sports.Seventeen women from 15 countries attended the final competition at the closing ceremony of the second Miss Arab World Contest.The competition is one of the major attractions of the second Arab Tourism Festival, which opened here Wednesday.The jury consisted of fashion, beauty and tourism experts as well as academies, and the finalists were chosen from more than 10,000 participants who registered through the Internet, according to the contest's organising committee.The first Miss Arab World Contest was held in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh from July 26 to 29 last year.