Fit for Life

No fitness or weight loss goals can do full good unless they enhance your total enjoyment of life. Loss of fitness implies a loss of many enjoyments which are denied us when we are not at proper fitness levels. We cannot wear just any dress most of the time for few possess panache with extra pounds. As levels of movement decrease, we become slower, our reflexes are slower and we are no longer those who used to climb trees, have endless energy and want to play all day.
To work within the framework of making life fun again will make all your fitness and weight loss goals easy to reach and maintain.
All human beings need balance. As we age we tend to totter more often and slowly retreat into a comfortable hunch to avoid having to do vigorous things as we feel we have learned that they bring us grief.
They bring us grief because we jump in like fools without caution-we are no longer young and elastic and have slid into that state little by little. To come back to the youthful state we need to take it slowly as well. Besides for cardio, adjust the pace of your life by re-evaluating what you do-no body needs to be in the Rat Race! We are not hamsters but we need to stretch our hamstrings!
It is wiser to begin with a certified Yoga class, free or paid, at home or in a gym. In no time you will be able to make decisions on behalf of your body like an expert. Yoga, while gentler on the aging or otherwise novice body can provide safe challenges while and because of focussing more on being aware of the body and breath throughout the workout.
Other ways to be mindful which is what we want to effortlessly be so that we may enjoy our food rather than shovelling it in are to indulge the inner child and do drawing or colouring activities or dance/sing, to go on simple outings in the neighbourhood -all these will make activity so appealing that the right things will be done painlessly.
If you increase the daily ambit you cover on foot in time and variety of location you will burn calories and be alert and see the world around you -you will cease to pedal the cycle of empty calories and empty lives

Simple exercises maintain knee health

Please consult your doctor before taking up any exercise if you have not been trained to pay attention to body signals and even otherwise. I would also stress that, should you be having any health condition which requires specific care, please learn all about it. Today we have the Internet where, if we can allow ourselves some time for research, we can find a lot of information. Remember that in today’s world where money plays too big a role, medical care may not be guided solely by the desire to cure. Many procedures are expensive and not necessarily the best solution. You have to be the one to decide what needs to be done.
I had quite a lot of pain in my right knee last winter and, luckily, almost everyday, I had to pass a clinic which offered physiotherapy. Dr. Sheenu Jha   (Consultant physiotherapist at Kingdom of Dreams) worked on my knee and taught me simple exercises which have made it so much more easy for me to carry on a normal life.
The exercises are basically leg raises, performed both standing and lying. 
Here are some of the moves I do to strengthen other muscles of my leg so that my knee is not compromised.

I. Standing Straight Leg Raises

1. Straight Leg Raises, Standing 

Repeat 10 times.Support yourself, if necessary, and slowly lift your leg forward keeping your knee straight. Return to the starting position.

2. Same thing but with the leg going backwards  

This exercise strengthens balance, buttocks, lower back and hips. Keeping back straight, slowly lift one leg to the back, hold for about a second and then lower. Keep the standing leg slightly bent at all times to protect the back, and do not raise the working leg higher than you are comfortable with. Repeat 10 to 15 times with each leg, working toward two sets. You may choose to do eight reps in the beginning.

3. The same thing but with the leg going sideways 

II. Lying Straight Leg Raises

1. Do 10 reps/3 sets 
2. Still lying down, move your leg sideways and bring it back. Repeat 10 times with each leg. Perform 3 sets.
3. Cycling movements while lying down. Lie flat on your back and cycle. Ordinarily we do it upwards but here we are doing it so that the legs go forwards and backwards –not upwards and downwards. For this and the below exercise, 15 reps, 3 sets.
4. Reverse cycling. Perform the above movements in the reverse.

There was one more exercise with a rolled up towel or small ball: dandasana. 

Sketch for a nascent Graphic Novel

Anandamine is pouring down for the past few days. It is a fierce Energy. If you do not keep your Inner Shrine scrupulously pure in the days to come you will not be ready for the coming Storm. Horrific though the external manifestations might be, wars and other acts of physical violence will be nothing to the Inner Kurukshetra-fools will fight for their petty Truths while Truth will laugh naked on corpses. What does Titan Kala care for your maggoty beliefs?!
Inner purity is never difficult -keep your inner puppies and kittens and children alive and be not as Kamsa, stiffling Joy at every turn to build fearsome Temples of Illusions.