THE ERGONOMIC YOU

  Computers, Laptops, Tablets...our lives are definitely not existing without atleast one of these at home and unescapably at work. Typically, there’s nothing wrong with using a basic workstation, but when you spend most of your waking hours sitting at that desk, you may want to consider making it a more comfortable space, for short-term and long-term health. If you have pain or fatigue in your hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, upper back or neck it may be related to using a computer. Perhaps you cannot afford to significantly change the work area in your room, but you can probably make small adjustments to promote comfort. Bad posture is the root of all. Back pain, one of the most common complaints of older men and women, is usually the result of years of faulty posture. In addition, poor posture can affect the position and function of your vital organs, particularly those in the abdominal region. While you’re typing, your wrists should not be resting, but held up in line with the backs of your hands. Your fingers should be in a straight line with your forearm. The keyboard should ideally be just above your lap so your elbows are bent at least 90°. If you can’t move your keyboard, try adjusting the height of your chair. Your monitor should be slightly below eye level and straight ahead, not to one side. You can use anti-glare screens to avoid your eyes being strained. To make sure your posture is correct, sit with a neutral spine position, with your hips at about 90°. If your back is straight, supported by back and abdomen muscles, you can relax your shoulders without slouching. Stand up and walk frequently, stand straight to promote health and good appearance. Exercise your hand by pushing on top of your fingers, and using backward resistance movements. Do a minimum of fifteen reps for each hand at least six times every day. - Prathyusha Talluri.

Flokati Rugs for your Homes

    The latest entrant into home Décor trends is the Shag rugs which have made its way into the international home décor market. It is actually know as flokati a type of rug made with wool, which has been in existence in Greece for centuries. Flokati rugs were cherished as family treasures, and have been a part of brides' dowries and used as wall-hangings and bed covers as well as rugs in Greek tradition. In the current form with its woolly texture and softness, the material is being used as a pillow cover or as a rug to add softness for the feet. In whatever form this bushy soft material has made its way into many homes. Real flokati shag rugs are made with wool -they begin with pure natural sheep's wool that's spun into yarn, and woven to create long loops. The distinctive Flokati pile is then cut by hand. After which a unique process is followed where every Flokati is carried to mountain waterfalls where it's washed for hours in deep vats. The swirling stream fluffs the long yarns into luxurious lively softness. This is the original Flokati technique, but these are extremely expensive and what we get in the market are the nylon and artificially made ones which make up for the original one. Whether your house has a modern touch or a fusion of your native and traditional décor you can use this shag rug on your floor or wrap your special cozy chair with this fabric for the soft and velvety warmth and charm it provides. With new pastel colour schema s that have come you could also look at placing this on your wall and another variation of the rug is for the new born babies where you could put baby on it! But don’t forget to clean the rugs periodically with the vacuum cleaner or use a plastic rake to clean the soft wool and dust it.  

It’s fine to eat with your Hands

    With spoons and forks replacing the usage of hands and the influence of Western culture on Indian households, eating with hands is slowly fading. Perceived as unhygienic and primitive, the practice of eating with hands seems to be perceived only as primitive. To appreciate the habit of eating with hands we must delve into our Vedic wisdom to know the reasons why it is good for us. For centuries Indians have been eating with hands as the people of yore knew the Power of the hand. The ancient Hindu teachings talk about eating food with your hands, feeds not only the body but also the mind and the spirit. The hands are considered the most important organs of action. It is mentioned in the Vedic prayer-“Karagre Vasate Lakshmi Karamule Sarasvati Karamadhye Sada Gouri Prabhate Karadarsanam”, which means on the tip of your fingers is Goddess Lakshmi; on the base of your fingers is Goddess Sarasvati; in the middle of your fingers is Gouri Parvati. In this manner, look at your palm and while looking at the palm, thus sanctifying all the actions that will be done during the day. Thus, one prays in the morning to reinforce the attitude that all actions are performed as a service to the Lord. This is one simple explanation through a prayer. There is also another scientific reason from the Vedic texts and Ayurveda that our hands and feet are said to be the channels of the five elements. Each finger is an extension of one of the five elements. Through the thumb - space; forefinger- air; mid-finger-fire; ring finger-water and through the little finger - earth. While taking the food into the mouth, each finger aids in the conversion of food, before it passes on to the internal digestive system. Gathering the fingertips as they touch the food stimulates the five elements and invites Agni (fire) to bring forth the digestive juices. As well as improving digestion the person becomes more conscious of the tastes, textures and smells of the foods they are eating, which all adds to the pleasure of eating and healthy living. With the knowledge and scientific reasoning behind eating with the hands explained, let us enjoy the benefits of eating with hands with a higher awakening. Now even etiquette experts say it's acceptable to eat with your hands except that you don’t lick them in public!

Gift a Bamboo to your loved ones

Bamboo for Fengshui:Many people give a Lucky Bamboo or Dancing Bamboo as a gift  for housewarming gifts, birthdays, anniversaries, grand openings, award, achievements and other auspicious occasions. Receiving this plant as a gift increases your luck. For those who are still uninitiated about this beautiful green stalk here is what we are talking about. The lucky bamboo plays an important role as a living example of the feng shui elements of water, wood and earth. When you place this plant in the correct spot, it can introduce fire and metal to complete a balance of the five elements. This plant is one of the most recognizable and popular feng shui cures. It's an easy care plant that can survive in any kind of light and can attract auspicious chi energy and in turn energise your home. Number of stalks matters : Much of the luck that is associated with bamboo comes from the number of stalks bunched together or woven together into an arrangement. The number of stalks determines the kinds of energy the plant attracts into your home and life. The more stalks in the planter, the greater the blessing of good fortune and luck. Two Bamboo Stalks Two stalks of bamboo as an expression of love. This number also is said to double your luck. Three Bamboo brings three kinds of luck to you:Happiness: Fu, Long Life: Soh and Wealth: Lu (Career promotions) Five Bamboo Stalks With the number five, there's one stalk for every area of your life that can bring you wealth. The overall energy attracted to a five bamboo stalk plant is one of health, which is needed to benefit from any of the five areas of your life. You'll want to have a healthy career, healthy relationships, and more. The five stalk bamboo reinforces each of the five areas of your life Emotional,Intuitive,Mental,Physical,Spiritual that can influence the level of wealth for each area. As the number increase so do the benefits, so the next time you are at loss as to what to buy for your loved ones , this is the easiest and beautiful gift you can buy. And not just gifting your could buy one for yourself too! Here wishing you all the energies in life.

Dealing with pet loss

      The English novelist George Eliot said “Animals are such agreeable friends. They ask no questions and pass no criticisms.” A wonderful statement that describes the unconditional love that these wonderful beings give us. And when we lose them the grief is as much as you would feel when you lose a person close to you.   It is no wonder that people experience intense grief at the loss of a pet and the feeling of grief following a loss is completely normal. There are several ways that pet owners can help themselves and  move forward after the loss of a pet.   1. Get back to your daily routine You probably wake up and take your pet out on its routine walks , continue that routine and also when you have specific schedule for your pet’s need,replace it with an alternate routine to get over it. Sometimes pet owners are used to a schedule that was based on their animal's needs.   2. Farewell ceremony If you have friends who also have loved the pet and have played with it ,you could have a farewell ceremony and have talk about him/her and have them share a few things which would help you feel better.   3. Photos or videos There are many ways you could preserve your pets memories alike  photos, scrapbooks, home videos & collages. The latest being the Facebook and Instagram where you can permanently share your pets pictures in the digital form.   4. Help Children cope with the loss A child is devastated with a loss of pet and the best thing to do is to be honest with him/her about the death, depending on the age of the child. Assure them that the pet has moved on and is no longer in pain and if the older ones are there just spend some quiet time with them reassuring them.   6. Get another pet This again depends as to how the previous pet has passed away. If it was sudden then it’s better not to get a new pet, as the grieving would take time and you can’t focus on the new one. If the pet has aged and passed away then you could consider and get another one to replace the pet  and move on.

Decorating your house with Mirrors

      There are no rules when it comes to decorating your home with mirrors. Mirrors bring light and depth into rooms — they are like decorative windows which you can move around and place as you like. Mirrors have several benefits and can reflect and emphasize views and colors on walls creating special effects.   Mirrored Art A bold and gorgeous mirror can be the focal point of a room. Use an extra-large mirror in front of your main door to serve as a last-minute check point when you  head out . The mirror itself becomes the artwork in this minimal set up. Even a large wall mirror can bring simplicity to a space if used correctly. Double the Space Add mirrors to any space you want to visually expand. The location and placement of the mirror are key when utilizing them — you want to ensure that it will not create undesirable reflections and will allow it to maximize its innate qualities. Mirrors, in a large dining room can  brighten the room, create additional luminosity and add dimension to the space. Dramatic Effect Full-size floor mirrors can make a dramatic statement in a small space.Using a framed, full-size mirror placed on the floor and resting on the wall can become an incredible asset in many ways in a bedroom, living room and even at the end of a hallway. Mirror Funky Try something new — hang multiple mirrors on the same wall get adventurous depending on the interior décor of your house. If you use them together on a wall, you can group them  in a visually-pleasing way, similar to art pieces.The scale of the mirrors should be proportional to each other and to the wall space — avoid using small mirrors on a large wall. A Design Must-Have Mirrors can add an extra decorative touch to a room. Mirrors are like art and should coincide with other pieces in your home. They are an integral part of the design style. mirrors can aesthetically enhance an interior with the use of stylish frames, when they are well placed and form focal point. The Perfect Spot Mirrors can be displayed in every room of the house, but a favorite spot for designers is the entryway. Entries, rooms that lack natural light and dining areas can be a great place because they create an opportunity for creative lighting, candles, ambience, art and reflectivity. You can decide which is the perfect spot of you rhouse to enhance that place with the right mirror. Bedroom Reflection An energetic vibe is given to an ultra-modern bedroom when you place it in your bedroom. A  large stand-up mirror works with the curtains to deliver the illusion of double square-footage in a tiny space. Another option would be  a floor-to-ceiling mirror can be a useful accent to a bedroom wall, especially when it comes to dressing.Just see to that it is not placed opposite to your bed that’s all! Reflected Light Dining rooms are an ideal place for mirrors, especially when there's a full house. It adds more visual dimension and when you use mirrors in a dining room with candle  lights  which will reflect and create a warm, romantic glow for an ideal family get together. Try these tips to enhance your homes to and improve the visual atmosphere. P.Charitha

The benefits of being grateful

      "The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." — Eric Hoffer   For many people life means - struggle, lack of money, hardships, insecurity, stress, and the inability to see what we already have in life. And the age of recession and down-turning adds more to it. The fact is we don’t recognize or see what life has given us and we still look for something more. We don’t count our blessings as in what we already have, like our job, our loving parents, our home, the vehicle we drive, the beautiful sky and probably everything under the sun that makes you happy.   It's important to recognize and express gratitude for the fact that “everything” in your life is a miracle, a creation that you created.   The Power of Gratitude is an extremely important aspect of attracting the Abundance and Happiness that you desire and deserve in your life.   How does the Power of Gratitude work?   When you are in a sincere state of gratitude your energy (vibrational resonance) is one of acceptance and harmony. You resonate and as a result project a much higher vibrational frequency which is exactly what attracts to you the events, conditions, and circumstances that you desire. In other words gratitude puts you in a harmonious vibrational resonance which attracts additional energies   When you are able to fully develop that awareness, (and with a little practice, you will) not only is it an extremely freeing experience, but you are setting your self up for a much greater flow of Abundance and Happiness being attracted and coming into your life. When the Universe sees that you are grateful for what you have, it will send you more.     Gratitude Journal   Just a mere thank you would not suffice to be unconditional gratitude. Express it. Tell the person who has helped you with something how grateful you are. You must feel the gratitude from within the heart.   Another wonderful method of expressing gratitude would be to maintain a journal where you can write   the things you are grateful for on a daily basis. Try writing five things every night for a start. As the months pass and you fill your journal with blessings and thankfulness, an inner shift in your reality will occur. As you focus on the abundance rather than on the lack in your life, you will be designing a wonderful new blueprint for the future. This sense of fulfillment is gratitude at work, transforming your dreams into reality.   Begin the day to explore and integrate this beautiful, life-affirming principle into your life and the miracle you have been seeking will unfold to your wonder and amazement. If you have a desire to consistently attract desired outcomes; it's essential that you developing an attitude of gratitude for attracting and manifesting the things that you desire into your life.   Gratitude- the gateway to abundance & happiness !

కాళ్ళ నొప్పికి బైపాస్

అడుగువేస్తే చాలు కాళ్ళ నొప్పులు కొంత' దూరం కూడా నడవటం కష్టం గా వుంటుంది దీనికి కారణం కాలి ధమనులు కావచ్చేమో అంటున్నారు నిపుణులు కొవ్వు పేరుకు పోయి ధమనులు మూసుకుపోయినా, కుచించుకుపోయినా నడుస్తున్నప్పుడు కాళ్ళల్లో తీవ్రమైన నొప్పి కలుగుతుందట డయాబెటిస్ B.P  కొలెస్ట్రాల్ ల స్థాయి ఎక్కువగా వుంటే ఈ సమస్య ప్రమాదం ఎక్కువగా వుంటుంది కాబట్టి నడిచినప్పుడు తీవ్రమైన నొప్పి కలుగుతుంటే నిర్లక్ష్యం చేయకుండా వైద్యం తీసుకోవాలని  సూచిస్తున్నారు నిపుణులు డాక్టర్ పరీక్ష ద్వారా ధమనుల్లో ఎక్కడ అడ్డంకి ఉందో గుర్తించి స్టెంట్ లేదా బైపాస్ సర్జరీ ద్వారా ఈ సమస్య నుంచి బయటపడొచ్చు

Your body is speaking to you

  Not many years ago, I was always carrying packs of Antacids, Cetirizine, Paracetamol and a few other tablets in my office bag. I used to experience gastric issues, continuous sneezing and headaches. If I consulted any doctor, they usually said I am fine health-wise, may be I am taking more stress. I am advised to avoid taking stress, avoid taking sodas, ice creams, spicy foods and the list went on and on. I started feeling depressed about my health. I used to stay awake in the night for the fear that I may die due to heart attack. This went on for almost a decade. Then I started doing some research on health issues and reasons for physical symptoms. Suddenly I realized how conscious mind, sub conscious mind and physical body are linked. Our physical body responds to the sub conscious mind. It was such an amazing feeling to know that our body actually speaks to us. Whatever symptoms body is showing up, the body is not waging a war with us but trying to tell us that there is an issue in our thought process. Each issue in our life shows up in some part of our body. Financial issues and fear of future will give rise to pain in the lower back and right knee, inability to accept the feminine part of us (every human being will have both male and female energies within us) will give rise to pain in the left knee and left ankle, inability to accept and receive love will lead to cardiac issues. So what exactly is happening here? How can our emotions or thoughts be linked to physical illness? We all know that whole of Universe is nothing but energy. Universe understands only the language of energy. We are all energy beings. All our thoughts, feelings, emotions are nothing but energy formats. Any moment the energy is stopped somewhere, it will create an imbalance in the body and body responds as dis-ease or illness. We know both river and lake has the same water, why river water doesn’t stink but the water in the lake stinks? When you stop the energy from its natural flow, it starts stinking. When we experience a thought or feeling or emotion, if we don’t allow it to flow through us but hold on to it, the stagnant energy starts showing up in our body as pain or illness. We are not used to allow our emotions to flow through us, so all the unfelt emotional energy gets stuck up at specific body parts depending on which part of life it represents and what emotion it is and manifests as a dis-ease or illness in that part of the body. Our body is trying to communicate with us. But we don’t heed to it, we just don’t want any inconvenience in the body. So we run to the doctor. But do you know the best doctor is your own body, which is trying to tell you something? You can always go to a doctor, but before you take an appointment and visit him / her, take a minute and listen to what your body wants to tell you. One day I accompanied one of my friends to a doctor and I started sneezing. I was sitting in the hospital to see the doctor and was wondering if I need to go and buy Cetrizine or wait for the appointment to be completed. But suddenly I thought there may be a reason why I am experiencing sneezing. I started to look back at my day and realized that I got irritated with one of the discussions in my office. May be the irritation actually started showing up as sneezing. I just took a couple of minutes and allowed and accepted the discussion, accepted my reactions, allowed all the feelings and emotions I had. Extended love towards myself. It took about 5 mins and my sneezing disappeared.   Even my headache was not because there is some issue in my head, there was an issue with my digestive system. I was unable to digest what was happening in my professional life. This resulted into digestive issues and my symptom of headache. Whatever I was unable to accept in my professional life was giving rise to stress that created gastric issues. Isn't it wonderful that our body speaks to us so literally, irritation in nose actually was irritation with colleagues, inability to digest situation led to digestion issues!! So give just a minute to what your body is saying to you, you will get to perfect health in no time. Give attention to your thoughts and emotions, your body is in complete sync with your emotions. If you keep denying your emotions, your body has no other choice than to push you into handling it. For any medical issue, you definitely have to seek medical attention. But along with medical attention, if you give your attention to what your body is telling you, you may get healed faster. Do you remember the old saying, “A stitch in time saves nine”?   From next week, we would discuss most common health related topics and the emotional reasons for experiencing each of the health issues.   Disclaimer: We are not suggesting that emotional reasons are the only cause for any ailment or dis-ease. This is no replacement for medical attention. Whenever required, please use your discretion and consult your doctor, general physician or request for medical help.   -Ramakrishna Maguluri Engaging with life ELAI engagingwithlife@yahoo.com

Honour your feelings, Love your Self

  We cannot step into self-love until we learn to honour our emotions and feelings. Emotions are our response to life and other people in our lives, they are the means we experience the richness of life. We define our experience of life through our feelings and emotions. We say 'I am happy you did this for me', 'I am sad I lost this in life’ or 'I feel loved’ or 'I feel angry'. By denying our true feelings we deny experience of life itself. And by making our feelings wrong, we make ourselves wrong and move further away from self-love. Most of us grow up with a false notion that some emotions are 'bad' or 'negative’. Emotions like anger or sadness are unpleasant and hence we do our best to control them, suppress them or manage them. But emotions by themselves are not wrong or bad, they are the means through which we experience the richness of life. As we do not allow a free flow of emotions, or not allow ourselves to honestly feel what there is to feel, we build up a density of unresolved emotional baggage. This is what makes us react to situations in life rather than responding to it. In stead of making ourselves wrong for having wrong emotions, we need to resolve the suppressed emotional density. No amount of self-work or practicing of self-love will get us to a place of true self-love unless we learn to honour our feelings and emotions. Emotions are God’s gift to human beings, they can be used as excellent tools for self-awareness. No other beings on earth have the richness and variety of emotional response to life as we do.   So how can emotions moves us into greater self-love? Simple, by making a commitment to honour each and every feeling and emotion that surfaces in us during our daily lives. Honouring includes acknowledging honestly what you feel and allowing yourself to feel it without judgement. Just by observing what is coming up and honestly acknowledging what we feel, we honour the emotion and honour our experience of life itself. If you have a beloved child, would you make the child wrong for each act, every minute of the day and still expect it to feel loved? No. How can we expect to feel self-love all the while making ourselves wrong for each and every emotion? "I will love myself more if only I can control my anger". "I love most of me except the part of me that is jealous". We can never reach to a place of self-love as long as we judge a part of us as wrong or bad. Commit to love and honour yourself NOW! Give your full attention to the emotion of anger or sadness or envy or any other emotion that comes up in any situation. Honestly acknowledge how you feel without judging yourself wrong for having that feeling. Once you feel through it, give yourself time to reflect what prompted this emotion - is it some unresolved hurt or pain from the past? The more you treat yourself with love and acceptance, the unresolved hurt from the past, that is prompting strong emotional reactions in each situation, will start melting away. You will enjoy using the emotion to gain greater awareness about your unresolved issues. And the more you resolve your past hurt, the more you will flow with each emotion without feeling bad about it but in complete awareness that it too will pass away once it served its purpose. The more you will start loving and honouring yourself. -Ramakrishna Maguluri

Decorating Home on Your Budget

  01. For walls, the best bet would be to use wallpaper. Apart from giving them a new look, it would also revive the spirit of your home and prove to be cost-efficient. Another option would be to create your own wall art. For this, use lots of stencil patterns, wallpaper borders and chalkboards and create interest in the room’s outer edges. 02. Use mirrors for decorating the rooms. This is because they help brighten up a room and also create the illusion of space. Keeping a mirror at the back of artistic belongings helps in highlighting them from all sides. 03. Instead of fixing an imperfection, which would prove to be a costly affair, look for ways to hide or cover it. A dark spot on the floor can be hidden with a rug. Similarly, peeled off paint, on the wall, can be covered with a nice wall hanging. 04. For the cabinets, opt for repainting, rather than replacement. Painting would refresh the look of your cabinets and make them look cleaner and livelier than before. 05. If your house is situated in a picturesque location, the best bet would be to explore the beauty of nature completely. For this, remove the curtains on the windows and maximize the view. Natural beauty draws attention and makes a house, a strikingly pleasant place to be in. 06. Nothing looks better than a neat, well-organized house. Systematize everything in such a way that there is no clutter and everything, right from shoes to clothes to books, is placed in allotted shelves or drawers. 07. Greenery and flowers are the best bet to beautify a house. Use a mixture of silk and fresh flowers to decorate your house. You can also highlight a specific area with potted flowers and herbs. This is an inexpensive, yet impressive way to decorate a house. 08. Use a lot of fabrics - cover the dining room chairs, put slipcovers on fading couches, make fresh pillows covers, redo the old curtains and get new blankets and quilts covers. A new bed linen is also worth a thought. All these items would do a lot to refurbish the look of your house. 09. Remember, paint creates a dramatic effect. You can paint the walls and the floor of your house with vibrant colors, to liven it up. 10. For the lighting, illuminate your house by using hand decorated lamp shades. Get them from a discount store and place them in the dark nooks and corners of your house.