New R-DMT Paperwork and Anti-Aging Yoga

If you are a dance/movement therapy alternate route student, or plan to become one in the future, you should definitely check out the ADTA's new website to become familiar with the R-DMT packet. There is a bunch of downloadable paperwork as well, which is newly added since the website makeover. Make sure you're organized!

Also, I came across the Gaiam blog this weekend, and thought I'd share the "anti-aging" yoga slideshow with you. Although I'm not a fan of gimmicky incentives as the only motivation for movement and health, this one is at least interesting enough to pass along. Let me know what you think.


Anti-Aging Yoga: How-to Slideshow
by Sadie Nardini

What yogis have known for centuries, science now backs up: When it comes to looking and feeling young, skin creams and injections ain’t got nothing on the practice of yoga. Yoga changes the body’s system as a whole, so the glow on your more youthful face actually comes from an inner transformation and slowing down of the aging process. This means fewer wrinkles, less stress, more immunity, increased brain power and yes, a body that stays healthy and beautiful for a lifetime. So forget botox. Try yoga!

I’m not talking about face yoga here — though that’s fine to do, too.

More and more research is finding that people who practice a vigorous form of yoga just three hours a week are investing in maintaining a youthful glow by switching on the anti-aging hormones that slow down the process from the inside out. In fact, some studies show that on average, these three hourly sessions make practitioners biologically nine years younger than their non-yogi counterparts. Now that’s change we can believe in! Yoga does this by stimulating the endocrine system to produce balanced amounts of hormones, and helps switch on and off genes that we need (or don’t!) to keep us running smoothly. It’s been shown, among other things, to reduce stress hormones like cortisol, a major factor in disease and aging.

Make this practice part of your regular routine, and reap the benefits of invigorated health and beauty that will have people asking you what your secret is. You’ll just smile slyly (with fewer wrinkles) and say, “It’s the yoga.”

THE PRACTICE

The following 6 power poses work specifically to trigger the main endocrine glands: reproductive, adrenals, thymus, thyroid, hypothalamus, pituitary and pineal, and the major organs, which all work together to regulate stress, metabolism, aging, sleep and immunity.


1. Seated Cat/Cow

Regulates: reproductive and stress hormones

Come into an Easy Seat. Place your hands on knees, and with each inhale, arch your back, drawing shoulder blades closer. Exhale, and round in, shoulder blades move apart, chin towards chest.

Repeat for one minute or more.

2. Metabolic Spark

Regulates: metabolism and weight management, immunity

Return to Easy Seat. Inhale into the chest and ribs, and reach your arms out parallel to the floor, palms facing forward. Exhale more quickly from the navel, and swing your arms to reach out in front of you, palms face each other.

Repeat for one minute.

3. Twisted Lunge


Regulates: organ health, overall system function.

Come into a Lunge Position, back heel up, hips squared. Bring your palms together at the chest and plant your right elbow onto the left knee. Keep the hips level as you exhale and spin your heart and top shoulder to the sky. Place your back knee down onto the floor if needed.

Take 5-10 breaths here, then switch sides.

Read the full article here.