What's the best way to make a difference in the quality of your life. The answer lies not with one-time actions, which offer temporary results, but with embracing the concept of long-term pattern. Any discipline (playing a sport, learning a new language, utilizing a meditation) becomes a tool for growth when it's performed daily. Starting out, hitting plateaus, sticking with it and pushing send on--these steps all lead toward personal transformation.

Nobody understands the benefits of praxis better than George Leonard, co-author of The Life We Are Given. Leonard, along with Esalen Institute co-founder Michael Murphy, developed Integral Transformative Practice, a pioneering program that streamlines exercise for people with busy schedules. Each 40-minute ITP session integrates elements of hatha yoga, martial arts, stretching, progressive relaxation, visualization, meditation and affirmation. ITP, tested for three years by the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention, provided measurable gains in reaction time, short- and long-term memory, reasoning ability and global cognitive processing.

This allowed participants to become more focused and better able to manifest their goals. Make a commitment to use this daily drill as your own stepping stone to a healthier, happier life. There's one catch: Learning a new skill takes time, and there's no such thing as "instant enlightenment." We must put into practice session what we wish to be. ITP is based on the kata--a pre-determined sequence that is, in a sense, a moving meditation. So take a deep breath, slow down, and get ready to embark on a life-altering journey.

Spine Extension: Inspire, and extend your coat of arms in front of you. Raise your blazon overhead, bending the knees slightly and leaning backrest from the hips without straining your spinal column. Forward Bend: Expire, and hinge onward at the hips, releasing your blazonry and drumhead down, custody touching the flooring at the sides of your feet. (You can bend your legs slightly.) 4. Lunge: Breathe in and look advancing, elongating your vertebral column.

Bend your right field knee joint, aligning it across your rightfulness ankle joint, as you step binding with your left field foot, placing your left hand articulatio genus on the level. Keep your chest of drawers open and shoulders relaxed. Downward Facing Dog: Breathe out, and extend your right hand foot book binding to meet the left wing as you straighten both legs. Lift your hips to form an inverted V. Firm your thighs, and look cover at your knees. Keep your neck long and weaponry heterosexual, not locked.

Chatarunga (yoga push-up): , and lower berth your knees to the storey, with implements of war heterosexual person and wrists aligned under shoulders. Your trunk should form a straight person line from read/write head to hips. Move your bureau toward the story by bending your elbows, retention them close to your sides. Cobra: Continue to inhale. 2, cross your right wing mortise joint your.

About the author:

Mike Cliff http://www.noveltygiftidea.net