For this first episode of Season 4, the Yes Girls say "Yes" to being yogis or better yet, yoginis! And since this is a BEING challenge, it meant taking charge of more than just a few yoga exercises, yoga poses or handling a couple of minutes of mindfulness meditation.

A BEING challenge means so much more than that. And this one certainly did. 

It meant merging some not-so-obvious yoga benefits with some quite-obvious-yet-surprising meditation benefits into one. And all of that into a two-week-long 6 am practice that included not just any type of yoga but the one and only Surya Namaskar, which translates to "Sun Salutation".

But first things first - they needed some answers and quite a lot of guidance regarding how to get started with yoga as more than just a form of exercise, how to get started with meditation, yoga for beginners, yoga for health, guided meditation, the best meditations, types of yoga, types of meditations, meditation techniques for beginners, meditations techniques for mental health, plus meditation and mindful apps.

They needed to know more.

And who better to ask than a mindfulness practitioner from the birthplace of the practice itself?

Nisha Parikh is a Hyderabad-based yoga and mindfulness enthusiast and soon-to-be certified expert who merges that practice with a professional and academic background in Psychology.

Beyond that, she's also a marketing and talent management professional. She is a mentor to many in her capacity as the Vice President of Marketing and HR at Telebu Communications.

As the guest expert, Nisha offered the girls a mind, body and soul regimen, plus some guidance, and off they went in their attempts to become "yoginis"!

So listen in if you're curious about yoga and meditation, or mindfulness in general, and would like to know a bit more about why it might just be the best new thing you'll try this year, in the spirit of saying "yes" and stepping outside your comfort zone.

You can follow Nisha Parikh here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishaparikh/

Other resources:

Some yoga info and lingo and get you acquainted: 

https://www.artofliving.org/us-en/blog/yoga-101-a-simple-guide-to-practice-and-philosophy-to-help-a-beginner

What an asana is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asana

What a Surya Namaskar or Sun Salutation is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Salutation 

The regimen that Nisha suggested:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oE8pQ2UM1uYV1_jaGtT-P13zKvVMwKp_/view?usp=sharing

The Surya Namaskar video used:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1WoZPb48QU

The mindfulness and meditation app used:

https://web.insighttimer.com/download-app 

The "morning person" book Akumu mentions:

https://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Morning-Not-So-Obvious-Guaranteed-Transform/dp/0979019710 

Akumu's blog post on meditaiton:

https://www.akumufiona.com/post/3-strange-things-that-happened-when-i-started-meditating 

Africa Yoga Project mentioned by Claire:

https://www.africayogaproject.org/ 

Yoga With Adrienne that Claire mentions:

https://www.youtube.com/c/yogawithadriene

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