Are you’ a #hygiene freak?

 Good Personal Hygiene

“Practicing good body hygiene helps you feel good about yourself, which is important for your mental health & Physical health.”

Hygiene is a series of practices performed to preserve health.

People who have poor hygiene — disheveled hair and clothes, body odour, bad breath, missing teeth, and the like — often are seen as unhealthy and may face discrimination. On a social level, people may avoid a person with poor personal hygiene, which may result in isolation and loneliness.

In people with poor personal hygiene, the body provides an ideal environment for germs to grow, leaving it vulnerable to infection.

Developing and maintaining a personal hygiene routine is key to having a healthy body and mind.

Personal hygiene

Personal hygiene are practices performed by an individual to care for one's bodily health and wellbeing through cleanliness. Many people equate hygiene with 'cleanliness' but hygiene is a broad term including personal habits choices as how frequently to bathe, wash hands, trim fingernails and change clothing. Also includes keeping the environment clean and pathogen free. 

Components of personal hygiene

Personal hygiene has many components, following these components one may be able to advance his/her hygiene the following are some;

• Face hygiene

• Fingernail & Toenail hygiene

• Ear hygiene

• Hair hygiene

• Foot hygiene

• Environmental cleanliness

The following common symptoms will tell you if there is an issue with your personal hygiene.

Cold Fever	Food Poisoning	Skin infections	Cough
Typhoid	Hookworm Infection	Gastroenteritis	Depression
Scabies	Hepatitis A	Urinary Infections	Lice
Tooth decay	Pediculosis	Salmonellosis	Halitosis

Wash Your Hands Multiple Times a Day

This should be an obvious one, but it’s the first one on our list for good reason. How many surfaces have you touched today? And how many other people have touched those surfaces?

Our hands are our primary tools, and we touch hundreds of things every day without a second thought. They carry all kinds of germs, and we can easily transfer those germs to other surfaces.

Let’s accept it: our hands are gross! And the best way to improve our personal hygiene is to wash our hands thoroughly and regularly.

When you need to wash your hands:

• after handling garbage
• before and after dining
• before and after handling food
• after touching animals
• after spending time in public spaces
• after blowing your nose
• after changing diapers

And those are just some of the times when you should wash your hands. Generally, if your hands come into contact with something that may have germs on it, wash your hands afterward.

Washing your hands is more than splashing around some water for a couple of seconds. Whether you’ve handled food, used the toilet, or entered someone’s home, you should always wash your hands with soap and water.

The soap is important because it captures the grease and germs on your hands. When you rinse the soap off with water, it takes the germs away with those sudsy bubbles!

Preventing body odour

After washing, apply deodorant to your armpits. Put on clean, dry clothing. Wash sweaty or dirty garments well and, if possible, hang them outdoors to dry. If you have a problem with excessive sweating, make an appointment to see your doctor.

Avoid Touching Your Face

Remember when we talked about all the germs on your hands? Chances are you’ve touched your face at least once since starting this article, and you didn’t wash your hands before you did it.

 

It’s an unconscious move. If our nose itches, we scratch it without a second thought. We rest our heads on our hands while we think or listen. We play with our hair, whether it’s on our face or on our head.

And it’s gross. Because when you touch your face after touching numerous surfaces, there’s a good chance that bacteria will get on your face and stay there.

And “touching your face” includes more than just your cheeks or forehead. As soon as your fingers enter your nostrils or your mouth, that’s a whole new level of contamination (and again, gross).

Ear hygiene

Ear wax accumulates in the ear canal that leads from the outer ear to the ear drum. As the secretion comes out of the ear it collects dust particles from the air. Daily washing with soap and water is enough to keep the outer ear clean. Do not reach farther than you can with your little finger into your ear. Putting in hairpins, safety pins or blunt-edged things for cleaning purposes might harm the ear. If you feel wax has accumulated and is plugging your ears and interfering with hearing, consult your doctor.

Hair hygiene (hair care)

The hair follicles from which the hair grows produce oil from the sebaceous glands that keeps the hair smooth. The scalp (the skin covering the head) also has numerous sweat glands and is a surface for the accumulation of dead skin cells. The oil, sweat and dead cells all add together and can make the hair greasy and look dirty unless you wash it regularly.

Poor hair hygiene could cause dandruff and skin infections such as Tinea capitis. Dandruff is dead skin on the scalp that comes off in tiny flakes when sebaceous glands produce too much oil and accumulates on the scalp.

Armpit and bottom hygiene

These are body parts that easily get sweaty and where ventilation is very poor. After puberty, our sweat gains a specific and unpleasant odour which may be offensive to others. The armpits and the bottom should be washed daily.

Anal cleansing is the hygienic practice of cleaning the anus after defecation. The anus and buttocks may be cleansed with clean toilet paper or similar paper products. Water may be used. Hands must be washed with soap afterwards. The use of rags, leaves, stones, corn cobs, or sticks must be discouraged as these materials can damage the skin.

Why is personal hygiene important?

Good hygiene is vital because it helps prevent you and your children from getting or spreading germs and infectious diseases. The germs that cause many diseases can be passed on through touching other people, getting faeces (poo) on your hands, handling contaminated food, or coming into contact with dirty surfaces or objects.

Conditions that you can develop if you have poor personal hygiene include:

• COVID-19 and other infectious diseases
• Diarrhoea, especially gastroenteritis
• respiratory infections, including colds and flu
• staph infections
• worm-related conditions, such as threadworms
• scabies
• trachoma, an eye infection which can lead to blindness
• tinea or athlete’s foot
• tooth decay

Value and Benefits of Good Health: 

Life is a big fight and health is the best weapon to succeed in the battle of life. A healthy man can enjoy life in every way. An unhealthy man lives a miserable life. He may have intelligence, merit, and wealth, but he cannot use them and reap the benefits. 

Increase Your Stamina Rewire Your Body

Exercise increases stamina and overall energy levels over a long period of time. Cardiovascular exercises like running, biking, aerobics, jogging, and exercises of your lungs and heart increase the efficiency with which oxygen gets supplied to the muscles in your body. Over a period of time, this will enhance and increase your body’s stamina and endurance levels. Exercises will tire you out in the short term, but with practice, you will soon notice the difference that it makes to your body.

It’s important that you don’t give if you don’t see any results as stamina building takes time.

What is stamina?

The bodily or mental capacity to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity.

The moral or emotional strength to continue with a difficult process, effort, etc.

Having low stamina often causes a person to feel tired after little exertion, and they may experience an overall lack of energy or focus. By increasing their stamina, a person can feel more energetic and complete daily tasks more easily.

How to increase stamina by natural means?

There are natural means which are a combination of diet, exercise and lifestyle modifications that can increase your stamina the natural way.

1.Start with a Better Morning Routine

If your days are stressful and rushed, consider a fresh, new approach to your morning routine. Start with a healthy breakfast and morning exercise, and you will set a positive tone for the rest of your day. 

Start by getting into action with simple activities like taking a walk, going to the gym, or practicing an invigorating morning exercise, such as tai chi or yoga. These activities can help you feel focused and ready to meet the challenges of your day. Be sure to power up with a healthy breakfast to give your body the fuel it needs.

2.Focus Your Positive Energy

One great way to start your new morning routine is by taking a few quiet moments after you wake up to focus your positive energy for the day. You can achieve this through meditation, thinking positive thoughts, doing affirmations, or practicing visualization exercises. Studies have shown that regular meditation may lower blood pressure, boost the immune system, and help relieve stress and fatigue.

3.Eat a Healthy Breakfast

Eating a good breakfast is an essential part of a morning routine. “It’s important to break the fast,”. “When you skip breakfast, your body says, ‘Okay, I need to conserve energy.’ Then your metabolism slows down and you have less energy throughout the day.”

4.Eat for Energy

Eating foods with a low glycemic index — whose sugars are absorbed slowly — may help you avoid the lag in energy that typically occurs after eating quickly absorbed sugars or refined starches. Foods with a low glycemic index include whole grains, high-fibers vegetables, nuts, and healthy oils such as olive oil. In general, high-carbohydrate foods have the highest glycemic indexes. Proteins and fats have glycemic indexes that are close to zero.

5.Refuel Your Energy Every Day

Human beings aren’t meant to operate like computers — at high speeds, continuously, for long periods of time. We’re designed to be rhythmic, and to intermittently renew. The first key is to intermittently quiet your physiology. You can dramatically lower your heart rate, your blood pressure and your muscle tension in as little as 30 to 60 second seconds with regular practice.

6.Listen to Music

“If you’re stressed out about something at work, then soothing music might be good. If you want an energy boost and love rock ’n roll, then that might be better for you.” Sounds can affect our mood and our body. When we listen to a beautiful song or the sounds of nature — a babbling brook or ocean waves — our bodies produce chemicals that can boost our moods.

7.Right breathing techniques

What increases stamina is to practice the right breathing technique while jogging or swimming. Pace up jogging with your breathing and control it. Do core exercise. If you have a weak core and upper body you won’t last long. Focus on developing all of your body muscles.

8.Say less. Do more

“Action speaks louder than words!” Just saying is not enough One must have a powerful mindset to dream, optimistic attitude to believe and strength to achieve it. Just do your thing and prove your competence, rather than saying confidently about it with nothing in hand. Silence is one of the most powerful skills you can learn. It gives you peace, better relationships, more influence, and a confident personality. As long as your goal is to make the world a better place, doing will always beat speaking.

9.Follow A Healthy Diet

If you are into high-intensity workouts or activity, your diet can supplement the energy required to complete the activity. Along with proteins and fats, you must increase the intake of carbohydrates if you perform high-intensity activities. These carbohydrates can provide energy quickly as they can be easily metabolized to release energy. This, in turn, increases your stamina and helps enhance endurance. You can consume bananas and apples, foods rich in fibers, such as berries, cereal grains, etc., brown rice, and other starchy foods, such as sweet potatoes, to supplement your body with carbohydrates and increase your stamina.

10.Lighten your load

One of the main reasons for fatigue is overwork. Overwork can include professional, family, and social obligations. Try to streamline your list of "must-do" activities. Set your priorities in terms of the most important tasks. Pare down those that are less important. Consider asking for extra help at work, if necessary.

11.Drink water

What's the only nutrient that has been shown to enhance performance for all but the most demanding endurance activities? It's not some pricey sports drink. It's water. If your body is short of fluids, one of the first signs is a feeling of fatigue.

12.Be Consistent

Consistency is putting forth a consistent effort day in and day out no matter what you do. There are numerous ways where consistency can be applied. Even though it is possible to be at your best every day, you should try your best every day. That is the consistency you should strive for. Even though it might be difficult, there are a few ways you can make this easier on yourself. In order to be consistent, you need to know what you have to do every day. Therefore, you should create a schedule for yourself.

13.Get enough sleep

Two-thirds of us suffer from sleep problems, and many people don’t get the sleep they need to stay alert through the day. Sleep plays an important role in your physical health. For example, sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. A lack of sleep at night can make you cranky the next day. Sleep lets your brain catch up so you're ready for what's next. Proper rest sets you up for your best performance.

14.Maintain Good Personal Hygiene

“Practicing good body hygiene helps you feel good about yourself, which is important for your mental health & Physical health.”

People who have poor hygiene — disheveled hair and clothes, body odour, bad breath, missing teeth, and the like — often are seen as unhealthy and may face discrimination. On a social level, people may avoid a person with poor personal hygiene, which may result in isolation and loneliness.

In people with poor personal hygiene, the body provides an ideal environment for germs to grow, leaving it vulnerable to infection.

Developing and maintaining a personal hygiene routine is key to having a healthy body and mind.

15.Have more fun 

Maybe you’re so preoccupied with commitments and pressures that you don’t give yourself enough time for fun. Laughter is one of the best energy boosters around. A hectic lifestyle is exhausting. Try to carve out a few more hours in your week to simply relax and hang out.

The fact of the matter

An increased body stamina helps you train more, perform more profusely and eventually helps you build good health. The key concept here is to challenge yourself. If you’re trying to improve your stamina (or any aspect of your fitness) you’ll need to follow the “principle of progressive overload,” a physiological rule that explains how the body gets stronger, faster, and fitter. 

HOLI: Splashing with life

HOLI also known as “Dol Purnima” and “Basant Utsav”, Holi itself is maneuvered into several colours establishing its sense literally into our mind and soul through centuries.

This tradition has transpired through ages to signify the festival of colours across the globe, with its origin solely in the Hindu mythology.

Holi is inextricably linked to mythical tales featuring warriors, gods, demonesses and asuras.

The word Holi is derived from the word “Holika “, who was the sister of King Hiranyakashyap. This festival is celebrated in remembrance of the victory of good over evil, i.e., on the next day after Holika was burnt on a pyre.

Holi 2022 Festival Date in India

According to the Hindu calendar, Holi is celebrated on the last full moon day or Poornima of the month of Falgun. This year Holi festival falls on March 18, 2022. And Holika Dahan will be observed a day before Holi which will be on 17th March 2022.

600 years ago. Saint Kabir says: 

Kabir, Jab hi Satnaam Hridhay dharyo, Bhayo paap ko naash |

Maano chigni agni Ki, Pade puraani ghaas ||

Worship of fire is also an important part of Holi as in this process, we offer our vasnas to Agni in order to transcend them eventually. Worshipping the fire during Holi also ushers in the warm season ahead as we move to the new year, marking the end of winter and the abundance of the upcoming spring harvest season. The colours of Holi are also a reflection of our joyful emotions and desires being now freely expressed. In the olden days the colours themselves that were used were natural and organic thus serving the dual purpose of being healthy for the body as well as healing our psyche. Nowadays this is not the case as the artificial colours we use are rather harmful and even toxic. The ayurvedic principle has been lost.

Lord Krishna and Holi

The stories of Sri Krishna’s boyhood pranks which so delighted the gopis (cowherd maids) of Vrindavan also form the essence of Holi. Though older than Krishna, the gopis were so charmed by Sri Krishna’s play that they themselves became like children again. Sri Krishna and the gopis are depicted as celebrating Holi in the hamlets of Gokul, Barsana and Vrindavan, bringing them alive with their mischief and youthful pranks. Holi was Krishna and the Gopi’s celebration of Love. This teasing, affectionate panorama of feeling and colour has been captured and immortalized in the songs on Holi.

Holi is also celebrated in memory of the immortal love of Lord Krishna and Radha. The young Krishna would complain to his mother Yashoda about why Radha was so fair and he so dark. Yashoda advised him to apply colour on Radha’s face and see how her complexion would change. In the legends of Krishna as a youth he is depicted playing all sorts of pranks with the gopis or cowgirls. One prank was to throw coloured powder all over them. So, at Holi, images of Krishna and his consort Radha are often carried through the streets. Holi is celebrated with great enthusiasm in the villages around Mathura, the birth-place of Krishna.

So let us also join together free from the binds of our self-created barriers and feel the happiness of Holi, forgetting ourselves and glimpsing the eternal joy residing in our soul.

The Real Spirit of Holi

Holi also means “sacrifice”. Burn all the impurities of the mind, such as egoism, vanity and lust, through the fire of devotion and knowledge. Ignite cosmic love, mercy, generosity, selflessness, truthfulness and purity through the fire of Yogic practice. This is the real spirit of Holi. Rise from the mire of stupidity and absurdity and dive deep into the ocean of divinity. 

Being all about love and new life, Holi is a time for repairing relationships and laughing with family and friends.

OM TRIYAMBAKAM: The THIRD EYE of LORD SHIVA

The Lord Shiva is called as Triyambaka or Trinetra for having the third eye. Shiva’s third eye has always fascinated people. It stands there dramatically on his forehead ready to release a missile of fire and destroy the world. Many people assume that is why Shiva is called the `destroyer’. Whenever the sins, immoralities and devil powers overtake the good and truth then Lord Shiva opens the third eye for destroying everything in the universe and builds a new universe.

Shiva's third eye is located on his forehead and most of the times remain closed. However, when Shiva opens his third eye, it destroys everything that it sees. As an example, in Shiva Purana, there is a story where Shiva burns Kama Dev to ash by opening his third eye.

Once, Lord Shiva was sitting fully engaged in meditation. Goddess Parvati, his consort came there and playfully covered both his eyes with her hands. Immediately, the entire universe plunged into darkness. Chaos prevailed everywhere. Even the Gods of heaven were afraid. With his divine power, Siva created a third eye in the center of his forehead. Fire emerged from his third eye and he restored light in the universe. 

While his right eye symbolizes the sun, the left signifies the moon. The third eye depicts fire. In contrast to his two eyes that represent his activities in the physical world, the third eye views beyond. He controls the physical universe with His sensory eyes. It is said that Shiva’s third eye allows him to see beyond the apparent, something that the other two eyes cannot perceive.

It is also recognised as a powerful emblem in Shiva, protecting the good from evil. According to legend, when the third eye opens, all darkness and ignorance are annihilated. So, in some ways, the third eye denotes the eradication of the wicked.

According to spiritual beliefs, we all can activate our third eye and therefore achieve enlightenment. The third eye is also known as Gyananakashu.

As a result, contrary to popular opinion, the third eye does not alone represent Shiva’s rage and destructive force. In reality, it points the route to wisdom, knowledge, greater awareness, and enlightenment.

We all have only 2 eyes and what does Shiva's third eye indicate?

Actually, we humans too have three eyes, but the third eye is not opened for us because of our ignorance and being in the materialistic world.

Shiva is the Adi Yogi, so Shiva is always in deep meditation and thus His third eye or Ajna Chakra is activated.

Shiva's third eye indicates

·         His Cosmic energy / knowledge.

·         His immense Yogic energy.

·         Shiva is Trikala darshi (who knows past, present and future).

·         Shiva as Soma Surya Agni Lochan, which means Shiva's three eyes represent Soma (moon), surya (Sun) and Lord Agni.

·         Shiva opens His third eye only to destroy evil.

 

We worship Shiva to acquire the rare state of bliss which is above all the happiness created by this material world.

परः पुमानीश्वरः स शिव शम्भुरनीश्वरः ।
शीर्षे मन्दाकिनीधारी भालचन्द्रस्त्रिलोचनः ।।
पञ्चवक्त्र प्रसन्नात्मा दशबाहुस्त्रिशुलधृक् ।
कर्पुरगौरः सुसितो भस्मोद्धुलितोविग्रहः ।।

 

The above verse best describes Lord Shiva’s identity. It says: Param Purusha Shiva also known as Ishwar having no Lord over him, who holds Mandakini on his head. He has three eyes and crescent moon on his forehead. He is five faced, a pleasant soul, holder of a trident, having complexion as white as camphor, keeps on applying white ashes over his body. Such is the description of Lord Shiva. The third eye is treated as any another divine characteristic of Lord Shiva.

 

The third eye and pineal gland connection

 

The name “third eye” comes from the pineal gland’s primary function of ‘letting in light and darkness’, just as our two eyes do. This gland is the melatonin-secreting neuroendocrine organ containing light-sensitive cells that control the circadian rhythm.

 

So why would anyone want to awaken or open their third eye? The importance of the third eye is seen in the principles of Buddhist Dharmic traditions of law and order. The third eye chakra is an energy center within the body on the forehead in the center of the brows. It is presumed that we would want all of the chakras in our bodies to be aligned and properly energized.

 

Once our third eye chakra is opened, we can gain wisdom, intuition, deeper self-reflection, higher self-confidence, and logic, just to name a few. Anyone would love to have those traits, but you now may be wondering: how does one open the third eye? A common practice is to do yoga and meditate. The technique of meditation is a trance dance that allows one to have a better connection with oneself.

Your third eye might also be blocked, which prevents you from opening it. A blockage can cause poor memory, anxiety, and can impair physical, emotional, and mental health.

In conclusion, when we refer to the “third eye”, we are symbolically talking about seeing something that the two sensory eyes cannot see. It is to see something that is within your interior self. The two eyes that humans possess are controlled by senses which are not reliable. The third eye represents all pervading – Gyaana (knowledge) and Dhyana (Consciousness or Concentration) that one aspires to achieve.

ॐ त्र्य॑म्बकं यजामहे सु॒गन्धिं॑ पुष्टि॒वर्ध॑नम् ।
उ॒र्वा॒रु॒कमि॑व॒ बन्ध॑नान् मृ॒त्योर्मुक्षीय॒ मा ऽमृता॑त् ।