As a somewhat  OCD, ADD, City Girl who’s always on the go and lives life in the fast lane, I find it hard to do something as simple as relaxing and calming down.

I’ve realized that city life can be extremely stressful and chaotic.  Even just walking the streets can bring about anxiety. (Don’t even get me started on driving in NYC!)
Even if you don’t live in a big city, life in general can be filled with tension, worry, and anxiety.
One of the best ways for me to help ease the negativity that life brings about is YOGA.

Yoga is also amazing at changing your figure (Bikini Season is almost here, Ladies!!!)
I find that it has made my body more toned, leaner, stronger…. and I lose a lot of excess fat.

Yoga has gotten a lot more popular in the past few years in Korea. 
Ock Ju-Hyun (of the 90′s K-Pop group Fin.K.L) started her own Yoga DVDs and helped start the Yoga craze in South Korea.
I tried her DVD and it can be difficult… I was huffing and puffing~ I don’t think I even finished the whole DVD…=T

However, the good thing about Yoga is that you can go at your own pace.
Yoga is not about competition and being as bendy as possible.
You go as far as you can, and little by little, you’ll see changes in yourself (and your body) that you’d never thought possible.

You don’t need to spend a lot of money to do Yoga.  I’ve learned Yoga through DVDs.  (Click HERE for the ones that I use).
If you are a complete beginner, I do think it would be helpful to take a few  Beginners Yoga classes in order to learn the basics correctly, because you CAN hurt yourself.
* Here are a few Tips:
- Never let your knees go past your toes when stretching.
- Take it slow.  Don’t pull or strain your muscles. The more Yoga you practice, the more flexible you will become.
- Make sure to take deep breaths in and out through your nose.  This totally helps you relax even if you aren’t doing Yoga.

Yoga helped change my life.  It helped me get through a bout of Depression when it seemed that nothing else could.
It also made me want to live a healthier life-style and change certain bad habits.
Am I living that healthier life and have I gotten rid of those bad habits? At times…. but the point is, that the desire is there.

Not everyone wears makeup.  Not everyone needs to wear makeup.
I do feel that everyone should try to live a balanced life, live a life as stress-free as possible, and be in a healthy state of mind AND body.
I truly believe that Yoga helps to achieve these things.

I was lucky enough to meet my favorite Yoga Guru Sara Ivanhoe.
She is an amazing and talented person (and she gets the Cute Boy Seal of Approval from my guy friends).
One thing she said that really made me think:
“It’s like everything else.  You get better with practice.
You practice the violin, you get better at the violin.
You practice stressing out, you get better at stressing out!”

So if you are feeling fat, over-whelmed, unhappy with life, blah, and/or all of the above…. try some Yoga and you just might be amazed.

Namaste.
* The Light Within Me, Salutes the Light Within You*

*~ Have a Beautiful Day! ~*

http://irenekimmakeup.com
http://irenekimmakeup.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/irenekimmakeup

Korean hospitals lead the world in terms of survival of cancer patients. The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs on Monday said the nation’s five-year cancer survival rate has increased to 57.1 percent in 2003-2007 from 44 percent in 1996-2000. The rate describes how many patients are still alive five years after they are diagnosed.

The five-year survival rates for stomach, uterine cervical and liver cancers, the three cancers Koreans are most prone to, are 61.2 percent, 80.5 percent, and 21.7 percent, better than those of the U.S. (25.7 percent, 70.6 percent, and 13.1 percent) or Canada and similar to Japan’s 62.1 percent, 71.5 percent, and 23.1 percent.

Survival rates for colon and breast cancer are 68.7 percent and 89.5 percent, similar to or higher than those of the U.S. (65.2 percent and 89.1 percent) or Japan (65.2 percent and 85.5 percent).

Survival for lung cancer is 16.7 percent, higher than the U.S.’ 5.5 percent but lower than Japan’s 25.6 percent. The rate for prostate cancer is high at 82.4 percent but far lower than the U.S.’ 99.7 percent.

The average rate for all cancers is at 57.1 percent, higher than Japan’s 54.3 percent but lower than the U.S.’ 66.1 percent. The high average rate in the U.S. is attributable to the fact that the country has a higher proportion of prostate or breast cancer, where post-surgery recovery is faster than for others, experts said.

Park So-hee, a senior official in charge of cancer registration at the National Cancer Center, said the rate is higher the earlier cancer is discovered. Korea has high survival rates because an increasing number of hospitals diagnose patients at an early stage of cancer and doctors have improved their techniques, she added.

Source: The Chosun Ilbo

Perhaps the title of this post is a bit harsh but according to South Korea’s Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, one in five Korean women are malnourished and intentional starvation is a leading cause.   This statistic is considered high for a developed nation like South Korea.  The underlying reason for such starvation appears to be superficial in nature: to be beautiful or what is perceived as beautiful.

In the 2007 report, 48.7 percent of teenagers were on a diet, with 65.3 percent of females restricting their eating.

About 88.3 percent of the females were doing so to make their appearance better. This year, the trend has not significantly changed.

This is rather unfortunate because isn’t beauty in the eye of the beholder?  More importantly, such malnourishment could lead to long-term health issues like osteoporosis and depression.  Koreans need a gut check and start putting some food in their bellies!

Breast cancer is one of the top two cancer killers of women of all races and ethnicities in the U.S.  And Korean-American women are no exception to the dangers of Breast Cancer.  We came across this very alarming insight about Korean-American women and breast cancer from Medical News Today: breast cancer in Korean-American women is on the rise and therefore, Korean-American women need to be more aggressive about preventive tests.  Korean women are very sacrificial and are always concerned for others, but they need to look out for their own health.  If you have children and you’re busy, take a time out and go to your regular check-up.  And if you’re mother hasn’t been to the doctor in a while, why not schedule a check-up and drive her yourself.

Reaching Out to Improve Breast Cancer Awareness, Engagement Regular screening mammograms as recommended by the American Cancer Society are known to be effective in reducing breast cancer deaths, but many women don’t get screened regularly or at all, particularly Asian American women. They are among the least likely to get a mammogram compared to women of all other racial and ethnic groups. JHUSON associate professor Haera Han, PhD, RN, and nursing doctoral candidate JingJing Shang, MSN, RN, OCN, are working to change those statistics. Both are pushing back against growing rates of breast cancer among Korean American and Chinese American women and breaking new ground in community-based, participatory research to identify and overcome barriers to breast cancer screening for these women.

Han’s research has disclosed that the Korean American community does not widely use preventive health services like mammograms. One-third of women in her study had never heard of a mammogram. The reasons: cultural beliefs that emphasize urgent care, not preventive care; fatalism; limited English; a dauntingly complex health care system; and a lack of health insurance. Han notes, “With long work days without weekend or holiday breaks, a lack of health insurance, and limited English skills, mammograms simply aren’t a high priority.” To help change that equation, her National Institutes of Health-supported work is developing and testing tailored health messages to help Korean American women understand the benefits of breast cancer screening. Han says, “Our message, based in the traditional Korean role of the woman as a family’s center, is simple: ‘Take care of yourself; if your health suffers, your family suffers, too’. And women are starting to hear and heed the message.” Her broader goal is to build health literacy skills that can give Korean American women the skills needed to negotiate the health system, to communicate with their health care providers, and to understand that prevention and screening work.

Source: Medical News Today