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Monsoon Magic: Navigating the Lush Trails of Sahyadri Safely

Trekking in the Sahyadri ranges during the monsoon season offers a mesmerizing experience with lush green landscapes, cascading waterfalls, and the fresh aroma of wet earth. The monsoons transform the Sahyadri into a verdant paradise, attracting numerous trekkers and nature lovers.

So, what makes trekking so enjoyable and rejuvenating? Is it so difficult that only a select few can do it? These questions are best answered by experiencing a trek first hand. For those still trying to decide whether to venture into trekking, let me give you a sneak preview.

While trekking, you may find yourself stuck or simply in awe of the untouched beauty around you. This beauty, often missed while traveling by car, embeds itself permanently in your memory. Trekking involves confronting new situations throughout the day, making each little thing a cherished memory for life. Human togetherness becomes simple in the face of this challenging lifestyle for otherwise confused and unprepared minds.

Trekking during the monsoon season comes with its own set of challenges and requires careful planning and preparation. The trails can be slippery due to rain and mud, increasing the risk of slips and falls. Streams and rivers can swell suddenly, making crossings risky. Visibility can also be reduced during heavy rains, which may lead to disorientation.

Essential Skills and Preparation

Contrary to popular belief, trekking is not tough. If you know how to walk, you can trek. However, this doesn’t mean venturing into unknown territories alone. Walking along a trail with a backpack doesn’t require exceptional skills but does require physical fitness, planning, the right clothes, shoes, and above all, common sense.

A first-time trekker should start with easy, effortless trails of about an hour and gradually work up to longer, more difficult treks. The difficulty of any trek depends on the terrain’s hilliness and altitude. Most walking trips tailored for moderately active people cover gentle terrain at low altitudes, with optional shorter routes and breaks along the trails. This applies to treks in Maharashtra or in South India.

 

Respecting Nature and Safety

Respecting nature and the environment is crucial while trekking. Living in harmony with nature during a trek rewards you with an enriching feeling of rejuvenation.

Here are some tips for safe trekking in the Sahyadris’ during the monsoons:

Proper Gear: Equip yourself with good quality, non-slip trekking shoes, a waterproof jacket, and quick-dry clothing. A sturdy walking stick can also provide additional support on slippery trails. Choose a well-fitted backpack with multiple pockets, padded shoulder straps, and large zipper closures. The base should sit on your hips, and the top should be at least one hand-width below the base of your neck.

Essentials in Your Day Pack: At least 2 litres water, Swiss Army knife, Map if you have one, compass, a rain jacket or a poncho is a must.

Stay Informed: Check the weather forecast before setting out and be prepared for quick weather changes. Avoid trekking during a heavy downpour or when thunderstorms are predicted.

Experienced Company: It’s safer to trek with experienced and certified guides who know the area well and can navigate safely through challenging terrain. Avoid going with information posted by groups on social Media.

First Aid Skills: A basic first aid course is beneficial. At the very least, know how to bandage a wound and detect signs of dehydration and heatstroke. However, in the absence of not knowing first aid, ensure your guide is first aid trained.

Emergency Preparedness: Carry a basic first aid kit, a whistle for emergency signals, and keep your mobile phone fully charged for emergencies. Inform someone about your trekking plans and expected return time.

Environmental Awareness: Be mindful of the flora and fauna. The monsoon is a crucial breeding season for many species, and it’s important to tread carefully and respect wildlife habitats.

Trekking in the Sahyadri during the monsoons can be a thrilling and rejuvenating experience if done with caution and respect for nature. With the right preparations and safety measures, you can enjoy the breath taking beauty of the rain-soaked Sahyadri safely.

Happy Trekking!

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Urine Colour – Can be a good indicator of health

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In my previous blog, I discussed how your poop describes your health status. In this blog, I shall tell you how your pee says a lot about your health.

In a day, we all visit the bathroom many times to pee, but seldom does it cross our mind to check our pee colour before we flush it out of sight.

Urine, or pee, is the body’s way of expelling waste products in a liquid form, mainly composed of water, salt, and chemicals called urea and uric acid.

The kidney creates urine by flushing out toxins and other bad substances from the blood. Various factors such as medications, food, and illness can affect urine colour or odour.When there is a malfunction, the urine may contain clues to the problem. The colour of the urine can be a helpful indicator.

Ideally, the colour of urine should be pale yellow, indicating you are well hydrated. The pale yellow colour is due to a pigment produced by the body called – UROCHROME and UROBILIN.

Let’s understand how the colour of the urine describes your health. There are three main causes for abnormal urine colour

  • Food that you eat
  • Drugs or Medication that you take
  • Health Issues

What does the colour of Urine Indicate?

Transparent: If the pee colour is completely clear, its sign of over hydration. Sometimes excess hydration may lead to dilution of salts in the body.

Brown colour: Shades of brown in your urine may indicate dehydration. It can also signal liver disease, where bile salts that should be processed and eliminated through stool end up in the urine.

Note: If you eat a lot of aloe, fava beans, or rhubarb, these foods can also turn your urine brown.

Red colour: Foods like beets and blackberries can cause red urine. If the red color persists, it could be a sign of blood in the urine, which may be due to kidney disease, urinary tract infections (UTI), or cancers. In such cases, consult a doctor immediately.

Blue or Green colour: Consumption of asparagus can lead to green urine. Certain medications, genetic diseases, and UTIs can also cause blue or green urine.

Orange: An orange color may be due to medications such as high-dose vitamin B2, the UTI drug phenazopyridine, or the antibiotic isoniazid.

Dark yellow: Dark yellow urine indicates significant dehydration. It can also be linked to high intake of B vitamins, especially B12, resulting in this dramatic hue change.

Cloudy or milky: Cloudy or milky urine most often indicates the presence of white blood cells, suggesting an infection.

Bubbles/frothy urine: Excessive bubbles or frothing that occurs every time you urinate can indicate an excess of protein in your urine.

Does your urine smell?

Pee doesn’t usually have a strong smell. However, some foods, especially asparagus, contain a smelly sulfur compound that can change the odor. Vitamin B-6 supplements can also affect the smell. When you’re dehydrated and your pee gets very concentrated, it can smell strongly of ammonia. A strong ammonia smell may indicate a UTI, and a sweet smell could be a sign of excess sugar and diabetes.

How often should you urinate?

It varies for everyone, but normally people need to empty their bladder up to 8 times a day. If you suddenly need to pee more often than usual, it could be a sign of a health problem such as a UTI, diabetes, an enlarged prostate in men, vaginitis in women, or interstitial cystitis.

Urine is something that most of us must take a look and prevent any conditions by prevailing. By understanding what your urine color indicates, you can take steps to maintain your health and seek medical advice when necessary.

Keep yourself well hydrated and stay healthy!!

We hope this article helps you. Understanding the color and characteristics of your urine can provide valuable insights into your health. By paying attention to these signs, you can take proactive steps to maintain your well-being. Keep yourself well-hydrated and consult a healthcare professional if you notice any unusual changes in your urine or speak to a certified expert by subscribing to GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here.

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Heal yourself with the magic of “MUSIC THERAPY”

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There is nothing more soothing than music. If you’re stressed, tired or unable to sleep, listening to music can make you feel better almost immediately. This effect is a type of Music Therapy.

The concept of music therapy is not new, especially in India. Music has long been an integral part of Ayurveda, the holistic science promoting a happy and healthy lifestyle. The Vedas, particularly the Samveda, are rich in music mantras and ragas.

Great composers of Indian classical music have practiced music therapy for centuries. It is even said that the classical music maestro Thyagaraja brought a dead person back to life with his composition.

How does it work?

Music stimulates the pituitary gland, which in turn affects the nervous system and the blood flow. Healing with music is believed to work by vibrating the cells of the body, which can effectively change a person’s consciousness and promote health.

Personally, I love music and have always considered it my medicine. Whether I am stressed or confused, music always gives me the right direction. Having experienced a lot of positivity through Music, I wanted to share how music can be a positive healer.

The Power of Music Therapy

Music therapy uses music and sounds to:

  • Help express emotions
  • Cope with symptoms of a disease and its treatment
  • Improve emotional and physical well being
  • Develop self-confidence and self-esteem
  • Re-kindle a sense of creativity
  • Help relax and feel comfortable

You don’t need to have musical expertise to benefit from music therapy. The technique consists of various interventions and planned programs that vary depending on the situation. The type of music is important—soothing music, ragas, relaxing music, and motivational music all have different effects.

Types of Interventions:

A typical music therapy session may include different interventions, which can be grouped into four types:

  1. Performing/Playing: This can include singing or playing an instrument
  2. Composing: This includes any group or individual songwriting process, which can be simple or complex as needed
  3. Improvising: Creating music on the spot or in the moment
  4. Receiving/Listening: This can include a music and relaxation experience, a lyric analysis intervention, or a “moving to music” experience, such as gait training

A “typical” music therapy session may incorporate multiple interventions or just one long, in-depth one. The key is that each intervention is designed to target a specific therapeutic goal and objective.

Benefits of Music Therapy :

The right kind of music helps one relax and refresh. Even while working, light music can improve efficiency. It helps control negative aspects of our personalities like worry, bias, and anger, and can help cure headaches, abdominal pain, and tension. Music therapy is one of the most effective ways of controlling emotions, blood pressure, and restoring liver function. It can also reduce insomnia, schizophrenia, and epilepsy.

Here are some additional benefits:

  1. Coping with work-related stress
  2. Enhancing social skills in children with autism
  3. Symptom management in cancer care
  4. Treatment of tension headaches
  5. Promoting health and wellness
  6. Helping people undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy
  7. Providing physical and psychological support for people with cancer
  8. Assisting people at the end of life
  9. Alleviating cancer pain
  10. Supporting children and young people
  11. Reducing stress
  12. Improving parent-child interactions
  13. Encouraging conversation among people with middle to late-stage Alzheimer’s disease

Music therapy is a powerful tool for healing and improving well-being. Whether you are dealing with stress, health issues, or just need a way to relax, music can be a wonderful companion and healer.

I would like to end this blog with a quote:

“If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC”

― Kurt Vonnegut

We hope this article has enlightened you on the incredible healing power of music therapy. If you have any personal experiences with music therapy or have questions, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

#BeTheForce

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Best yoga poses with Attitudes!

IYD

Yoga is a Way of life. It aims at overcoming all our dis-qualities like attachments, aversions, hatred, jealousy, and likes and dislikes.

I am here today to share my best yoga poses which have helped me to shape my attitude from negative to a positive and had a great impact on my personality. I don’t do yoga postures just for strength and flexibility. I do yoga postures with a feeling of emotions which have, in turn, helped me imbibe some good qualities within me.

When a dancer dances with the feeling and emotion, that experience is translated down to the audience watching the performance.

“Where goes the hand, there goes the eye,

Where goes the eyes, there goes the mind

From my mind, I create (bhava) feeling

When I create bhava, the observer creates the essence (Rasa)

Rasa is experienced.”

When you do yoga asana, you cannot isolate the body from the mind. You have to apply your mind and feel the asana. This is better done with the below four attitudes.

Let me share what these are.

  1. Dharma is Right to conduct (DUTY)

This is recognized as a duty, faith, and acceptance. Self-direction is our duty. It is a state of preparedness. It’s an initiative towards being quiet and peaceful and enjoying one’s own company. The asana which can be practiced with this Dharma attitude is Sukhasana, Padmanasa, and Vajrasana.

image 1 first yoga pose

When you sit in the Sukhasana position, your mind starts to wander the moment you close your eyes. Now it’s your duty towards yourself to develop the silence, develop awareness, become introvert, self-direct, and observe peace.

Apart from asana, it can also be acquired using the following techniques:

  • Looking at nature – sea, sky, greenery, flowing river water.
  • Listen to nature – soft music, stream flowing, birds chirping, breeze
  • Reading stories like Panchatantra, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, or any other books with a positive message
  • Prayers
  1. Jnana (Knowledge)

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Jnana is knowledge and is recognized as concentration, coordination, body awareness, self-knowledge and clarity.

Do you desire to have a good concentration? How much? How often are you able to balance your work and home life? If you find this challenging, follow these techniques:

The asanas which helps to achieve the same are Utkatasana, Ekpadasana, Stithprarthasana, Pranayama, and Tadasana.

Other techniques include focusing on one point, playing brain games, and self-analysis.

  1. Vairagya (Humble)

Vairagya is objectivity. This is recognized as humbleness, relaxation, Letting go attitude, and surrender. It is an ability to view things from a distance. It helps to rise above the situation and view things in a detached way.

Few asanas which helps are Trikonasana, Yog-Mudra, Vakrasana, Konasana-3, and Shavasana.

3rd pose

Other techniques include

  • Scream loudly
  • Share jokes
  • Play physically aggressive games
  1. Aishwariya (Self-reliance)

Aishwariya is freedom and power. This is recognized as one’s willpower, determination, free from ignorance, fight for justice and higher motives.

It helps to build qualities like strength, effort, willpower, confidence, self-esteem and a sense of achievement.

Asanas include — Bhujangasana, Veerbhadrasana, back-bending postures, and nasal cleaning process.

The attitude of Aishwariya creates a feeling of enthusiasm.

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Next time when you do asanas, generate these feelings in you. It works as a reminder all the time and that helps in faster and better growth.

Wish you All A very Happy International Yoga Day!

If this article helped you, let us know in the comments below! You can find more articles on yoga here. You can also join our live, interactive sessions on GOQii PRO where you will be guided in real time by an expert. Book a class now from the GOQii App.

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