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Years ago, road rage did not exist, not in theory and not in definition. People took Sunday drives, drivers let others cut in front of them at intersections, and people reserved honking for times when safety was compromised. However, as the population continued to boom and peoples' lives became increasingly hurried and stressful, road rage went from being nonexistent to plaguing our city streets. Having been given its own encyclopedia entry, road rage can now be found as an explanation used in courtrooms, news desks, and hospitals.

By definition, road rage is the term used to describe criminally violent behavior by the driver of a vehicle. It's a term that is usually synonymous with "aggressive driving" and one that often results in car accidents. While many people assume that road rage behavior is limited to driving, those who possess it often have underlying issues, a hidden problem that prevents them from remaining under control in stressful situations.

With the recent announcement that the US population has reached 300 million people, it's easy to assume that roads are going to become even more subject to grid lock.. As more and more cars fill up lanes of traffic, road rage will likely continue to fester, making itself an epidemic plaguing our nation's highways.

While road rage can be the reason for accidents, tickets, hospital stays and, in worst case scenarios, death, there is some good news about it: road rage is preventable.. In a world filled with epidemics that have no cures, we have the ability to eradicate road rage - in the form of a steering wheel - literally in our hands: all it takes are some mindful manners on the road.

Yoga and Road Rage

You may think that yoga has little to do with road rage, with both entities residing on separate sides of the cool, calm and collected spectrum. But, yoga greatly has the ability to influence road rage by helping you to minimize stress and practice self control. Yoga provides a vehicle for relaxation, taking away the vehicle filled with rage.

Just Breathe

The term "Just Breathe" has been used throughout the ages, establishing itself as an act used to calm people down. It is a term that has built a reputation based on effectiveness: breathing does facilitate calmness. This is because it helps to remove negative energy and stale air out of the body, replacing them with positive energy and rejuvenating oxygen. Breathing also facilitates circulation, helping the body to rid itself of tension and become more relaxed, less rigid, and far less likely to succumb to the stress of a traffic jam.

A major part of yoga is breathing; it is as essential to yoga as it is to human life.. Because yoga teaches you how to get the most out of each breath, it helps the body to utilize the benefits of oxygen, leaving people naturally more calm and refreshed.. Through conscious breathing, a practice taught in yoga, you learn to focus on the characteristics of each breath you take, helping to remove external stress factors, including that car honking in the background.

Be Self Aware

Yoga is a practice that allows you to know yourself, getting in touch with who you are and your capabilities. While this kind of life lesson can help in all walks of life, it can also be helpful in thwarting road rage. When you know yourself well, you are better able to understand when you may be on the brink of losing control, allowing yourself to work at calming down or, if need be, pulling over and letting the stress subside. When you are self aware, along these lines, you are better able to put things into perspective, grasping onto the concept that a traffic jam is just a traffic jam and not the end of the world.

In addition to helping you become self aware, yoga also helps you to become more aware of your surroundings. When on the road, being aware of those around you is essential to safety and driving defensively can save your car and your life. By knowing your surroundings, and anticipating the moves of your fellow drivers, you may be further able to avoid overly aggressive drivers, drivers who probably don't practice yoga regularly.

Plan Ahead

Yoga is an activity that transcends several parts of life, making those who practice it more efficient on all sorts of levels. Because it is an empowering activity, those who take yoga are benefited with a new level of control, proactivity, and productivity. These all work together to help you plan ahead, giving yourself enough time to reach your destination.

A main cause of road rage is people rushing to get somewhere and becoming irritated at slow moving traffic or slow drivers. Some people may never experience road rage unless they are at risk for being late for something. Because of this, planning ahead, and giving yourself enough time to get where you need to go can greatly decrease the rage you may feel when traffic rolls to an unwanted stop.

Some road rage may be unavoidable; when drivers around you are driving aggressively, you may become a victim of road rage from no fault of your own. However, for the road rage incidents that lie within, you have the key to turn off the ignition. By practicing yoga, and applying the principles you learn in yoga to life on the every day road, you can do your part at making road rage pull over for good.

About us: TWISTED is a medical yoga studio at the Center for Osteopathic Medicine in Boulder, Colorado. Twisted integrates osteopathic medicine, Hatha yoga and mindfulness practices to teach optimal balance between physical, mental, and emotional health. It aims to educate and help people to live a healthy life from the inside out. Rehabilitation programs offer a comprehensive treatment regime for the whole being, empowering each person one breath at a time to stimulate the bodys natural healing potential.

Jennifer Jordan is senior editor of http://www.yogatwisted.com. Specializing in articles that not only teach yoga techniques, but also teach techniques on fulfillment and enrichment, she aims to educate students proudly enrolled in the school of life.

Menopause can be a physical, psychological and emotionally challenging time for many women. They will spend half of their adult lives in menopause, according to statistics which show the average life expectancy of women at 79.5 years nowadays.

By 2050 women will probably live to be at least 95 years old. A new generation of health-conscious women today is looking forward to a new phase of life with physical, spiritual and personal growth.

Most women think of menopause as the point when they cease to menstruate. They do not link irritability, anxiety, memory lapses, or mood swings to hormonal imbalance caused by this process of biological change. About 75% of all women experience some temporary symptoms of hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, increase in level of cholesterol, decreased libido which may last for years; long term ones may include vaginal dryness and urinary problems. To know more about menopause, you can visit http://www.1menopause.com

Fortunately, these unpleasant complaints or symptoms can be prevented, reduced and relieved by making some changes to daily lifestyles with the right diet, nutrition supplements, regular exercise and adopting some complementary therapies such as yoga, tai chi, spa therapy or holistic aromatherapy, which all help to achieve a healthy, balanced lifestyle with natural medicine. They also offer a safer alternative compared to Hormone replacement Therapy. They also to reduce the risk of future age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis and diabetes.

For a list of detailed menopause symptoms please visit http://www.1menopause.com

Aromatherapy, which has been well used for over 2000 years, is the practice of using distilled essences obtained from the leaf, stem, flower, fruit peel, bark or root of a tree. As the aromatic molecules from essential oils disperse in the air, they:

• carry pleasant fragrances to your nose
• come in contact with the olfactory receptor cells in the nasal cavity
• transmit the information to the olfactory bulb which is a structure just above the nose.
• cause a response in the limbic system of the brain which works in conjunction with the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus region to regulate the hormonal activities.
• trigger the production of hormones that govern appetite, body temperature, insulin production, overall metabolism, stress levels, sex drive and conscious thought and reactions.

Essential Oils can have a positive effect on all these functions through the sense of smell which happens to be the most complex and sensitive of all the five senses. The sense of smell is over 10,000 times more sensitive than your sense of taste and researchers have shown how aroma causes a brain reaction by activating the hypothalamus gland, the pituitary gland and the bodys hormones as well as stimulating the emotion and memory.

Aromatherapy is particularly effective for stress, anxiety and psychosomatic induced problems, muscular and rheumatic pains, digestive disorders and womens problems such as PMS, menopausal problems and postnatal depression. It is a natural and non-invasive therapy designed to help a person enhance the body's natural ability to balance, regulate, heal and maintain oneself.

Essential Oils are very concentrated and their properties potent as they contain molecules small enough to enter your skin; except for essential oils of lavender and tea tree, the oils need to be diluted with a carrier oil, usually with a vegetable oil such as sweet almond or jojoba, to avoid skin irritation. The oils can be used in a vaporizer, sprays, bath, hot or cold compress, perfume or for topical body application or massage. Some recommended essential oils for menopausal women:

• Bergamot uplifts mood and reduces anxiety and depression.
• Clary Sage eases hot flashes and night sweats and PMS.
• Roman Chamomile has calming effect, ease tension, anxiety and headaches.
• Frankincense helps psychosomatic problems and anxiety.
• Geranium is a hormone balancer and reduces stress.
• Jasmine is euphoric and eases tension and anxiety.
• Juniper Berry regulates period and relieves water retention.
• Lavender is sedative and aids sleep.
• Rose is a womb tonic and provides relief from pre menopause to post menopause.
• Sandalwood stimulates the development of sex hormones and promotes vaginal secretions.
• Ylang Ylang is aphrodisiac and relaxes the nervous system.

Copyright 2005

Elena Leong is a certified aromatherapist by International Federation of Aromatherapy (IFA) and the founder of http://www.1menopause.com - a website on menopause information and its associated symptoms and problems which can be prevented or reduced by some natural Chinese herbal supplement, complementary therapy and other natural treatment options to ease and enjoy the menopause transition.