Page 2 - RVO What Women Want Nov2016

2VV • What Women Want • An Advertising Supplement to the River Valley & Ozark Edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette • Sunday, November 20, 2016
Festive holiday brunch page 4
cover story page 6
Bundle up page 8
Last- minute gift ideas page 10
whatwomenwant staff
EDITORIAL
Staci Miller Franklin, niche publications director
Wendy Miller, special sections manager
Emily Edmisten, section coordinator/writer/ designer
Linda Garner-Bunch, writer
Cody Graves, writer
Leanne Hunter, designer
Tammy Keith, writer
Karen Laskey, copy editor
Arshia Khan, photographer
ADVERTISING
Michelle Cothern, director of zones advertising
Michelle Baldridge, account executive
Peggy Morris, account executive
Kaitlyn Reidmuller, graphic artist
Cover photo by Eilish Palmer
The majority of yoga practitioners are women, many of whom may be benefiting from yoga in ways they never imagined such as reduced stress levels, increased range of motion and more.
Yoga EUPHORIA Experience the many benefits of yoga
In its 2012 “Yoga in America” study, Yoga Journal found that more than 20 million Americans practiced yoga, a nearly 30 percent increase
from 2008, when the magazine conducted its previous study.
Among the millions of yoga practitioners surveyed, roughly 82 percent were women. While those statistics figure to change as more and more people, men and women alike, turn to yoga, it’s clear that women, at least in the Western Hemisphere, are blazing the yoga trail.
Many women turn to yo- ga because they recognize the value of strength train- ing but are uncomfortable with or nervous about lift- ing weights.
The various poses performed in yoga can increase muscle strength and tone, providing similar benefits to weightlifting without requiring women to spend time among men in a weight room. But yoga does more than improve strength and muscle tone. The following are a few additional benefits of yoga, some of which may surprise even the most devoted of practitioners.
• Improved flexibility: Some people are intim- idated by yoga because they feel their bodies sim- ply aren’t flexible enough to perform many of the poses typical of an average yoga class.
While beginners may find the poses difficult, they are designed to safely stretch muscles. Over time, the poses may release lactic acid that builds up
in muscles, and that lactic acid often contributes to fatigue, pain, stiffness and tension. This release leads to improved flexibility, and like many physical activities, yoga poses become easier to perform as practitioners’ bodies become more accustomed to them.
Amanda Castillo, certified personal trainer with the Conway Regional Health System, said many people are wary to step foot in a yoga class because of their lack of flexibility, but that should not deter them.
“The big thing people say is, ‘Oh, I can’t touch my toes. I’m not coming to your yoga.’ That’s totally not the case. I always say I saw this quote, and I always remember it, ‘Just because you’re not dirty does not mean you don’t need to take a shower,’” she said.
• Increased range of motion: Joint pain does not discriminate based on age or gender, and many who experience joint pain find it debilitating at times and at least mildly painful most of the time. But yoga can improve lubrication in the joints, increasing one’s range of motion as a result. That makes it easier for some people to live with joint pain, which may even subside among practitioners who fully commit to yoga.
• Improved posture: The stronger, more flex- ible body that yoga often creates also contributes to better posture. Many yoga poses rely on the deep ab- dominal muscles to help
this anytime you need to during the day, whether it’s in your car or going to a quiet room.”
• Heart health: People with a personal or family history of heart disease may be surprised to learn that yoga has been shown to have a positive effect on those dealing with heart disease. Yoga slows the rate at which the heart beats, which helps alleviate high blood pressure and helps those people with heart disease and lowers their risk of stroke. Yoga has also been linked to lower cholesterol and a healthier immune system.
Castillo said heart health goes hand in hand with the stress relief yoga provides, in that lowering stress through yoga in turn lowers one’s blood pressure through the breathing techniques.
She also said yoga is a beneficial exercise for every- one because of the endless opportunities it provides.
“Yoga truly is for everyone. Whether you need really relaxing, gentle yoga — and that would be for someone maybe who’s sore or just wants to reduce stress — and then there’s all the way up to power yoga, which can improve your fitness levels,” she said. “My thing is, there’s yoga for everybody, and yoga helps us be aware of our bodies, and it also helps us to be in the now and just to calm down.”
— Courtesy of Metro Creative with contributions by Spencer Griffin, special sections writer
maintain each pose, and this strengthens the body’s core.
A stronger core increas- es the likelihood that a person will stand straight and tall, an improvement in posture that many non- practitioners would enthu- siastically embrace.
Castillo said that as a re- sult of working with joints and strengthening the back, yoga has a big impact on posture and mobility in that it reduces tightness and soreness while enhanc- ing one’s mobility.
• Reduced stress levels: Yoga practitioners often tout the effect that yoga has on their stress levels. Certain styles of yoga em- ploy deep-breathing tech- niques that force the mind to focus on breathing, and that focus has a calming effect, reducing stress as a result. Other yoga styles may employ meditative practices that aim to clear the mind of distractions that contribute to stress. Novices may be skeptical and question the efficacy of such techniques, but longtime practitioners of yoga find its effect on stress levels to be a hidden benefit of the practice. In addition, research has sug- gested that yoga may result in an increase of hormones associated with relaxation.
Castillo agreed that the breathing aspect of yoga has much to do with the stress relief the activity offers.
“We always say you can learn to deal with people better,” she said. “You learn to control your breathing. We always say deep inhales and exhales. You can do
QA
with Daniel Clark, radiologist and medical director, Conway Regional Mammography Services, Conway
Q. Why is 3-D mammography preferred over traditional (2-D) mammography?
A. Identifying cancer in women who have dense breast tissue can be especially challenging because the tissue can mask suspicious lumps or masses. Three-dimensional imaging provides twice as much clarity. The use of 3-D mammography can increase detection rates of breast cancer by 41 percent, compared to two-dimensional imaging, and the number of patient recalls as a result of false-positive reports is also significantly reduced. Three-dimensional mammography will be available at Conway Regional in January.