Social media services is the buzz word in marketing. You can be watching TV, eating in a restaurant, or on your computer and you will see or hear some mention of a social networking site. It may be Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Blogs, or another of the many social networks.

Whether you are on the social networks or not, you’ve even come to recognize their logos. Social media has become a way of life and a powerful marketing avenue for businesses.

But as powerful a source as social media presents, there are some business owners who still aren’t utilizing this incredible opportunity to grow their business sighting one or more of these 4 myths:

Myth #1: It’s Just A Fad

Social media is still in its infant stages, however, it’s already proven its value and is definitely here to stay! Facebook has over 400 million active viewers who spend over 500 million minutes per day on Facebook alone.

Traditional advertising, newspaper ads, telephone ads, and direct mailers are static in nature. They are usually advertisements about your services. Once the printed piece is presented there is no opportunity for connecting with and engaging the viewer and answering their concerns.

Social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Blogs allow you to connect and engage your viewers with one on one conversation or group conversations.

What does this mean for you: More potential new patients and more treatment acceptance.

Do you know anyone who likes…really likes…going to the dentists? I don’t and I’ve been in it for almost 30 years. But one of the most amazing facets of social media is the ability to become real, not just an advertisement or a picture in a telephone ad…you become real!

Your viewers get to see their dentist as a real person, your personality, your hobbies, your likes and dislikes, even your ups and your downs… you’re real…you’re human. You also have become their “go to” person in your field of expertise.

Viewers are reading your posts, learning more about dentistry, finding out why they should visit a dentist and have their treatment done, seeing there can be medical complications when treatment goes undone. All because you are presenting valuable information in your posts previously unavailable to patients due to limited time and access for information while visiting your office.

All of this combines into establishing credibility, gaining trust, and building relationships and hopefully take some of the fear away associated with “going to the dentists”…and if a patient or potential new patient knows someone with a dental problem, who do you think they are going to refer them to….you!

Myth #2: Social Media Platforms Are Only For Teenagers

Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are no longer sites just for teenagers. Businesses have found these networking sites to present an incredible opportunity for connecting with and engaging their audience.

According to Inside Facebook, a Facebook tracking source,the fastest growing demographic is Women over 55. Women also comprised over 56.2% of Facebooks audience, and 45% of Facebook’s US audience is women over age 26.

What does this mean for you: Women make approximately 80% of the decisions concerning purchases for themselves and their families.

What percentage of women are in your practice and what’s their average age…bet they fall into one of these two ranges above. Women are extremely active on the Internet and social media networks. When the phone rings at your office, well over the majority of the calls are from women scheduling appointments or getting information.

Myth #3: Too Time Consuming and Overwhelming

The number of social media platforms available and all the information about social media can be overwhelming, IF you try to use all the networks starting out.

One of the best pieces of advice is to start with just one, possibly two, of the social networks and become comfortable with how to use it. It’s better to be active and consistent on just a couple of sites than to be semi-active and inconsistent on a bunch of sites.

Time is always a big factor in managing social media, but once past the learning curve, much of the work can (and should) be put on “auto-pilot”.

Later if you determine you want to be active on the other sites but may not feel confident enough or may not have the time to manage the sites, you can always choose to outsource some or all your social media activities.

What does this mean for you: Choose where you want to start and jump in…take action!

Realize you can assign someone in your practice (person must see the benefit and be social) to manage your social sites, however, this person should never post for you in the 1st person as speaking for you. You will also want to have a social media policy in place for “what to and what not to” post.

As you grow you will learn much of your posts and information can be done ahead of time and preset to post in the future. There are a lot of sites that allow you to make one post and then that site will automatically post your information to several other network sites…sort of “one post does all”.

Myth #4: It Will Cost Too Much

Your advertising budget is one of the largest expenses associated with your practice. You have your newspaper and telephone book ads, magazine ads, direct mail outs, and possibly printed newsletters.

Two major problems with traditional print ads: 1) They are static as mentioned earlier in this article and once read, there’s no interaction with the viewer. 2) With print ads, especially direct mail outs, at best there is only about a 5% return on the investment…what happened to the other 95% of your investment dollars?

Solution: Social media marketing – interacting with patients and potential new patients.

What does this mean for you: All the social media networking sites are Free to join, come with unlimited use, and are marketing your practice…24 / 7 / 365!

It would be a mistake to pretend social media is totally free because there is the time involved with maintaining your sites, especially when maintained well whether maintained in-house or outsourced to a third party.

When you factor in how many, or should I say how few, people are actually reached with traditional advertising, the cost of budgeting money for an ongoing social media presence pales in comparison.

Add to that the fact only about 15% of the population still uses telephone books and print ads with the other 85% using online sources, you can see why creating and maintaining your online presence is critical to your practice.

Bottom line: When done correctly, social media marketing has the ability to cut your advertising budget by as much as 90%! This translates into more money in your children’s college fund, more money to travel and enjoy life, and…last but not least, more time on the golf course (or your favorite hobby)!!

The primary objective of social media marketing is a bridge that gives you access to people, information, and even companies that in the past, you didn’t have access to. Its one-on-one contact and its word of mouth advertising in the best of forms and…most of its….Free.

Through your social media communities and patient inactivity you establish your practice’s online visibility, make contacts, gain their trust, and build profitable relationships ultimately leading to more new patients, more treatment acceptance, and more product and services sales.

Isn’t that what you’ve wanted to do since you opened your practice? With social media…you can! Click here to get to know some do’s and don’t in social media.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4654412

Restore the natural flora

One of the biggest issues facing the planet has always been pollution. It’s caused by fossil fuels, deforestation, and private planes all over the place. One way to combat this is by planting flowers that fix toxins in the soil instead of allowing them to spread further. Another way is to find eco-friendly products in stores. When gut health is good the next question is how to improve gut health more?

Avoid processed foods and sugars

Processed foods and sugars in general are bad for you. Processed foods are usually surrounded by lies about having benefits when in fact they have none. The opposite of this is healthy foods, which are usually surrounded by claims that they have benefits but are actually harmful. Cows and chickens have natural hormones that make them produce milk when they are pregnant. Processed foods take this away from you and replace it with an unhealthy from of energy drinks and bread.

Processed foods contain highly refined carbohydrates and sugars. Avoiding them will help your body burn fat instead of storing fat. It also means avoiding processed versions of popular foods like cereal, pasta, and potatoes. Processed carbohydrates spike your blood sugar levels which makes you hungry and thirsty. When you drink water or eat cereal without added sugars, your blood sugar levels go down.

Take probiotics

Probiotics are live microorganisms that are taken as a active part of a health regimen to promote a healthy digestive tract, increase energy level and even fight off a number of diseases. The good news is that you can take these powerful little devils anywhere and they will grow and thrive in your body. Just be sure to obtain a reliable source of these organisms as some are contained in dangerous forms in non-probiotic foods and drinks.

Probiotics are like superfoods for the digestive tract. According to research from the University of Connecticut, eating diverse and balanced diets can boost your immunity, support the growth of good bacteria in the digestive tract, and even help prevent various types of gastrointestinal diseases and inflammatory conditions. Here I’ll walk you through some of the basics of probiotics, what they do for you, and some options for buying them in bulk.

Give it time to work

Your gut (or gut instinct) is your body’s internal tell-tale that warns you about danger and recommends actions to avoid it. Your gut can be wrong about things. It can push you into situations that aren’t good for you, in fact. Making long-term economic decisions involves weighing up the pros and cons of each option. And when you read news stories about new studies showing that certain foods can slow aging, take note! It’s not always about what vernacular proverb says, but what actual science says…

How to stay motivated is the most important thing you can do for your quest for healthy living. If you take on a big challenge or commit to a goal without giving it time to sink in, you’re setting yourself up to fail. It takes time for habits to become invisible, so give yourself plenty of time to feel inspired, enthusiastic, and positively motivated. The rest of this article outlines the process of how I give myself this time. Go now and recommend any healthy tips for your gut.

They call it labour for a good reason. To sustain that hard work at that time it is a good idea to equip your body for it. Pilates sessions for pregnancy will help you see how important it is to prepare your body (and mind) for that special time of delivery and to actually get you to do the right exercises, specifically designed for each of the three trimesters and specifically designed for the individual woman. Gain experience with the Pilates exercises and get certified in a Pilates instructor course.

You will know also what is better to do after having given birth. So Pilates sessions for Post natal women is very much there to help you get your body in shape; but do not kid yourself, hard vigorous exercising straight after is a no, no as it is NO, no to engage yourself in strenuous crunches. Please, even if you decide for no Pilates, give yourself a break first and leave quite some time before you start your crunches. Do yourself that favour.

Let me briefly explain this: The rectus abdominus muscles will separate right out to the sides as the uterus expands and makes room for the growing fetus. This set of muscles will then remain open out for quite some time. If you work them straight after, you will make them stronger in that position and they will be much more difficult to rejoin back closer. This may have dire consequences with time; you basically have your abdomen exposed.

If you however think very highly of your body and your health, want to avoid the risk of abdominal hernia down the line, get a Pilates instructor specifically qualified for pregnancy. You will work together right through: from conception to birth and after a short break of about 6-7 weeks again with yet a different programme. Remember: yes, you will be doing this to be fit, but most importantly add the benefits of being healthy and happy.

And no, you do not have to wait to be pregnant before starting; in fact best to get on with it before you get there. Being pregnant means a lot of unpredictable times day in and day out and you will probably feel like exercising should be the last thing on your mind! You will establish a rapport though with your Pilates teacher where you will feel understood and supported. We can all do with a sympathetic approach, especially during special circumstances. Tips are good but you need to apply it to be proven.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5260398

There are many ways you can bring more traffic to your website but search engine optimization or SEO is by far the best approach. SEO in layman’s term is the implementation of different strategies to please the search engines and in return, rank higher on their search results. Search engine optimization consultants considers to be an expert in SEO industry, they provide solutions to business to get higher ranking and covert it into sales.

Traffic from the search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing is considered gold by online entrepreneurs because of the potential profit that can be made out of it. It is considered valuable because it’s highly targeted and has a high conversion rate. Therefore, if you are running a business online, it’s imperative and strategic that you include SEO in your online marketing plan.

Unfortunately, SEO is time-consuming and requires some technical skills to be effective at it. While it is no rocket science and can be learned from resources available online, the learning curve is steep and the training resources are oftentimes misleading. Remember that there’s a proper and ethical way of doing SEO. If you implement unethical SEO strategies that you have acquired from unreliable sources, you put your website at risk of being banned in the search results – the nightmare of every online entrepreneur!

If you don’t have time and you don’t want to risk your website from potential penalties, outsourcing SEO is a viable solution. Here are some good reasons why outsourcing SEO leads to better results and higher productivity:

• SEO companies invest in training and technology to be informed on all the latest updates from the major search engines. This allows them to create effective and safe strategies that will yield results and will not get your website in trouble.
• Since SEO is their core service, SEO companies are more efficient to carry out SEO campaigns. Their expertise and resources allow them to accomplish their tasks effectively.
• Outsourcing SEO saves you money. It takes away the costs incidental to the organization, maintenance and training of your in-house SEO team.
• Outsourcing SEO increases your productivity. By taking away the hassles of search engine optimization from your team, you are given more time to manage your resources and focus your attention to your core business resulting in higher and better productivity.

Not all SEO companies are created equal; hence, you need to find one that meets your requirements. Here are some helpful tips to guide you when searching for that ideal SEO Company:

Knowledge and Experience

You should choose an SEO company that is both knowledgeable and experienced in search engine optimization. The company should be able to discuss to you in detail the strategies that they use in running a campaign. More importantly, they should be able to answer your questions without using jargons. They should also be able to provide you with sample projects that they have managed successfully. If they are a reputable SEO company, they won’t have no problem providing you with references.

Immediate Results Guarantee

Stay away from SEO companies that guarantee results. The truth is, no SEO company can guarantee top ranking and the specific timeframe it takes to achieve it. Google’s algorithm is top-secret and unknown to all SEO practitioners. It’s constantly evolving, which makes guaranteeing results even more impossible. Chances are that you are dealing with an SEO company that uses unethical SEO strategies if they guarantee immediate success. While it’s possible to achieve top rankings in a few days using shady SEO techniques, it’s most likely going to be short-lived. Your website could be banned in the search engines, which is the worst thing that can happen.

Consider your SEO campaign as a long-term investment that should be approached with caution and should be implemented gradually and consistently.

Deliverables and Reports

You don’t want to be paying for your SEO without solid evidence that you are getting closer to your objective. This is why a performance report, that is delivered at least once a month, is essential to your campaign. A reputable SEO company will not only send you monthly reports but will make clear the deliverables you should expect.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7745148

Many people are wondering about the connection between the brain and colon. I receive email inquiries rendering curiosities about the relationship between my spiritual guidance and colon therapy. Why am I associating the delivery of profound wisdom with a water-based cleansing to the colon? I think this is a great question which opens another door for explaining this exclusive relationship between the brain and colon. I have four keys to nurture your paradigm shift. Part of gut health diet is to limit foods that are high in fat.

Colon Therapy

Knowledge of colon therapy is essential to understanding this unique healing relationship. This therapy is the water irrigation of a colon utilizing warm, filtered water for cleansing. Your body is made of 75 – 80% water. Your brain is approximately 80% water. You are walking water, flesh and bones. The first key to understanding the brain-gut connection is knowing the colon requires optimal water hydration to foster efficient movement of waste. The process employs a disposable, two hose kit attaching to a speculum which inserts into the rectum at the onset of the procedure. The hoses connect to a colon therapy device affixed directly to the sewage line. The process is clean, gentle and can assist relief from a number of health issues.

The Body

Do you remember the movie Robots? It’s a Disney Pixar film featuring the adventure of a baby robot turning into a man while journeying to find his place amongst inventors. At the movie’s introduction, the baby robot comes in a box, from the factory. The parents had to use directions for placement of each body piece in order to manifest the sum of their baby robot.

Unfortunately, many of us believe that our body organs and parts are all separate. However, unlike the baby robot, humans are born as one whole body unit. The second key to grasping this exceptional healing opportunity is acknowledging your body as one unit. Therefore, if one body organ is malfunctioning, there is, at least, one other accessory organ in the body, struggling to compensate for the inefficiency of its partner organ. Your body has a blueprint dependent upon the function of its entire unit. To embrace this knowledge is to create a new opening for healing.

The Mind

The brain is a shell which encapsulates the mind of your being’s existence. A mind is the most powerful element of one’s body. The mind generates your thoughts. The brain carries out the function of your thoughts delivered from the powerful direction of your mind. The mind is empowered to generate and decipher the mental, physical and spiritual information received by the body. Subsequently, these messages, conveyed within the depths of the mind, must move through the digestive processes of the body. Upon completion, this digestion is represented in the form of waste. The waste is a by-product of the information transacted by the mind. It carries an energy that one must release from the body, timely. The colon temporarily houses this residual. It is responsible for releasing this excrement from the body. To withhold these messages is to create a dense plethora of negative waste energy “weighting” the entire body downward into mental, physical or spiritual sickness. However, to release this material is to free the mind, body and spirit toward creative outlets. The third key to learning this exclusive brain-gut healing relationship is familiarizing yourself with the philosophy I teach my clients: The information processed inside the mind travels through the body’s entire digestive process for release through the colon. Your colon communicates with your mind and takes on the responsibility of interpreting those thoughts. If you are constipated in your mind, your body will replicate this stagnation through a constipated colon.

The Spirit

As a Sage, I receive spiritual guidance creating an opening for intuitive vision of a client’s stagnation. Additionally, as an energy healer, this information is deciphered from the entire body while an interesting segment is disseminated from the colon. My clients engaged with colonic therapy receive spiritual coaching during the session allowing individuals to build awareness of the healing connection between their brain function and colon. Thus, the final key to comprehending this distinctive brain-gut relationship is realizing that the spiritual guidance has a significant purpose in the brain-gut healing process:

1. It enables the client to tap into their constipating thoughts. In turn, this expression shows relationship within the colon through the simultaneous movement of its related waste.

2. This liberation from dormant waste yields clarity of the mind, a heightened awareness of gut intuition and the courage to execute this inner guidance.

This communication challenges you to embrace a paradigm shift. Do you dare to engage? Holistic Healing includes whole body function as an approach to long-term health. The mind, body and spirit correlate to the head through to the toes. Whenever you are ready to heal, remember the 4 keys of this amazing healing relationship between the brain and colon. Your health regimen must include a whole body approach.

Sage Joya Z. Baynes is a Certified Colon Therapist providing spiritual guidance, energy healing and accountability coaching during her sessions. Clients committed to their healing journey experience quantum transformational healing beyond their expectations. Sage Joya is enthusiastic about teaching individuals the importance of whole body healing through the integration of colonic therapy with medical treatments and alternative modalities for the mind, body and spirit. Here at mothersbabies.org our clients has been entertained well by our services.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7066279

Once thought to be a passing fad, and although still relatively new, social media is now taking a firm hold and warrants attention in many retailers’ online marketing efforts. Social media services is a perfect way to reach out your audience.

You can’t avoid it. No matter where you turn it seems you hear terms like “fan page”, “followers”, “tweet”, “re-tweet”, “blog” and more being used. With all the social media hype, many are questioning what social media actually is and how they can use it to move their business forward.

In this article I am going to explain what social media is, provide some strategies for making your site more social media friendly, touch upon differences between options presented by major social media outlets, and answer the question of whether you should do it yourself, or hire a consultant to do it for you.

Social Media can be time consuming, but when implemented correctly can add a level to your business that helps build brand loyalty, and awareness which in turn can boost your bottom line.

What is Social Media?

Wikipedia defines social media as: media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.

In other words, it is a group of Internet-based applications that utilize new web concepts to promote user generated content.

Examples of some of the major social applications currently online are Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Twitter can be seen as a “micro blog” type service that enables you to post short messages of up to 140 characters that are fed in real time to your followers. Facebook is more of a “publishing” platform which enables you to create a page that integrates multiple media options into one (i.e. discussion boards, blogs, photos, shopping carts, etc…) YouTube is a service that enables you to produce video content to the masses (possibly to demonstrate the use of your product.)

The power and uniqueness of each provides pros and cons. Because Facebook has a little more of a learning curve to it and because it has a number of options to choose from, I’ll briefly touch upon that below.

Simple Tricks to Make Your Site More Social Media Friendly

Whether or not you’re on social media platforms or not, odds are you’re customers are. They’re sharing your URL with their friends on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or MySpace.

If you want to engage in social media marketing, you’ll want to be sure to have that presence reflected on your e-commerce site.

Social Sharing
There are dozens of sites you can visit that will provide embeddable code which can be used to create social networking icons on your site. These icons make it easy for visitors to share what they like about your site with their social media friends and followers.

A couple of sites worth checking out are ShareThis. ShareThis is a tool you can install on your site that makes it easier for visitors to share with their network. You’ve probably seen some form of ShareThis on news sites. There are typically several icons spread out in a horizontal line or grouped together under a header of “Share.” Installing this tool lets your visitors easily spread the word via social networking sites about a page or website – yours – they like.

Add This is very similar to ShareThis. Both require site registration and a little publisher information, but both are also easy to use and do basically the same thing.

Show off your Social Media presence
If you’re on several social networking sites, it behooves you to display that affiliation somewhere on your site. For the consummate online shopper, these links show you’re not just an e-commerce beginner. The more social media sites you’re a part of, the more web-knowledgeable you look and the greater brand awareness you can build.

You can display your social media links either in self-created sidebar module or by using sites like Lijit ( http://www.lijit.com ). Lijit is similar to ShareThis; however, rather than pushing people out social networking sites, Lijit pulls them into your other sites.

Facebook Fan Page or Group?

A question that often gets asked when it comes to Facebook and brands is should you build a Facebook Group Page or a Fan Page?

It is a good question and the answer depends mostly on what your plans are for your site. I’ve broken down the pros and cons of both a fan page versus a group page below.

Facebook Fan Page
Facebook Fan Pages are a great option for brands – including e-commerce sites – that plan on posting information at least once a week.

Facebook Fan Page Pro’s:

* Looks polished; closely resembles an individual profile page

* Can include videos, photos, links, events, etc.

* Can be fed into “fans'” update stream similar to an individual profile update

* Can be given a customized url similar to an individual profile

* Hides the name and address of the page creator

* Offers options to add applications such as a Twitter feed

* Includes a “wall” similar to individual profiles that people can post comments on

* Can be paired with a Facebook Fan Page Widget on your site

Facebook Fan Page Con’s:

* More difficult to manage conversations between fans

* Conversations are on display for the public to see

* Unable to convert Facebook Groups to Fan Pages if you’ve already got a Group page set up

* Until you have an adequate number of fans, you’ll be posting a lot

* A dismal Fan Page linked to your site can hurt your inbound links in SEO

Facebook Group Page

Facebook Group pages are easy to create and slightly more personal than a Fan Page. Because it is not a constantly fed profile-like page, posts do not need to be as often.

Facebook Group Pro’s

* Can be more intimate; people see who created the group

* Still allows for pictures, photos, videos, events, etc. to be posted

* Allows for emails to be sent to all group members

* Pre-dates Fan Pages; more familiarity among early adopters of Facebook

Facebook Group Con’s

* Visitors must visit your group page for updates

* Does not allow applications to be added to the group page

* Offers visibility

* Will automatically post related groups to your group page whether you want them or not

* Cannot be linked to your site via widget(s)

The Verdict? Consider a Facebook Fan Page if you want to keep your “fans” up to date on the goings on of your site. Consider a Group if you have a niche within your site that people might want to create conversations about.

Should You Hire a Social Media Consultant for Your Site?

With the hundreds of social sites and applications available, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. When you’re already trying to keep your e-commerce business afloat, social media can seem unnecessary and time-consuming.

Research has shown, however, that e-commerce retailers are reaping the benefits of this new media channel (i.e., offering better customer service and increased sales) so it pays to use it.

Not everyone is social media savvy nor do they have the time which is why a lot of companies hire consultants to help them with their campaigns.

Do you need a consultant or should you do your own work?

When to hire a social media consultant:

* If you really do not have the time to commit to a social marketing campaign.
* If you don’t have the time to learn the ins and outs of social applications.
* If you don’t consider yourself a strong writer and/or interactive with your audience.
* If you want to launch a large social media campaign and need experts to help get things off the ground.
* If you tend to defer project work to experts rather than attempt to try it yourself.

When to do your own social media work:

* If you’re familiar with social media sites (like YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook) and use them on a personal basis.
* If you’re a quick-learner and tech-savvy.
* If you’re planning a small campaign with only one or two social sites.
* If you have content ready to post on a blog (or Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

Note: Social media consultants tend to pay per project or per hour depending on their rates and availability.

What We’ve Learned

Social media seems to be here to stay. It most certainly will evolve and change as time goes, but you can be sure that in one form or another social media will continue. It’s much like the TV or radio were when they began and the power it harnesses for those who use it will shine through.

It can bring awareness to your product or brand and help you build a stronger relationship with your customers which can lead to greater sales and future growth for your business.

Having said that, keep in mind that social media can be time consuming and integrating a social media marketing campaign into your business should not be taken lightly. Proper planning and implementation is critical to your success-you may even want to consider hiring an expert to handle it for you. This will largely depend on your needs, budget, and time you have to allocate your own resources to getting the job done in-house.

When it comes to Facebook and the choice between creating a Fan Page or a Group, you’ll want to consider your objective before you determine which is best for you. Fan Pages are best for pushing brands and for ecommerce sites that can commit to posting at least once per week. Consider a Facebook Group if you want a more personal touch and if you can’t commit to posting at least once per week.

Integrating social media into your site is easy. There are sites that provide the code and icons for you to simply paste into your web structure. Once you are utilizing social media make sure you display it on your site so customers know where to find you.

Remember, social media is a tool that can push your business and brand forward. Plan carefully and choose wisely. Like those that harnessed the power of TV and radio, social media adopters will see the benefits with time. Read more on how social media services push your brand forward.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3498170

There are different pieces of Pilates gear that you can buy and use. Some of these exercise gear are simple yet very effective in giving you a fit and lean body. Getting to know each one of this training device would help you make an informed buying decision. Dynamic pilates manly is designed for all fitness and ability levels, offering all the benefits of Pilates including overall strength, flexibility, coordination and balance.

Pilates apparel:

When you think of Pilates clothing, you should think about comfort, style and fit. Fabrics that can give you good stretch and fit are spandex, cotton, polyester or nylon. Choose pants that fit snugly but comfortably on your hips and waist, with a slight opening at the legs. For tops, choose a design that would not ride up while you are exercising.

Pilates chair:

This gear is great for enhancing your Pilates exercise. Choose a design that will help you in doing movements that you would not usually do when exercising on the floor. You can choose a combination chair that would allow you to do different lower body or upper arm movements. A lifetime warranty on this product would be advantageous for you.

Pilates mat:

This is an essential gear, especially when practicing Pilates at home. This gear is important in balancing and proper aligning of your body during workout. It is also a must for protecting and supporting your back during the exercise. There are many different mats available on the market today. Before shopping for one, make sure that you can tell the difference between Pilates and yoga mats. They differ in thickness and most yoga mats are not suited for Pilates training because the former are thin.

Pilates ball:

This is an over-sized exercise ball that provides many fitness benefits, including helping you develop your balance. If you are practicing Pilates at home and you want to use this gear, try to find a DVD on Pilates that uses the exercise ball. Various exercises performed using this gear require you to focus your balance on a central point. This makes the muscles around the area do the work, thus improving and enhancing your balance.

Pilates reformer:

This is a great machine for those who are serious about practicing Pilates. This device may be complicated and daunting to look at, but with the right instructions it can be easy to use. Using this gear in your workout is different from using other training devices. For one, this device helps you develop and improve your balance and technique which are essential elements of the Pilates workout.

This gear comes in various types. Some are custom designed which are capable of holding heavy weights and may include special features. Whatever your preferences are, keep in mind that there is always a reformer available for anyone, whether you are a beginner, expert, a Stott Pilates practitioner, elderly or someone who is exercising for physical rehabilitation and strengthening.

Pilates ring:

This gear is popular for its versatility and portability. Popularly known as magic circle, this gear is usually made of rubber or flexible metal with small pads on both sides. It enhances your exercise by providing mild and moderate resistance and allows you to focus your workout on certain muscle groups.

Pilates rebounder:

This gear looks like a mini trampoline. When choosing one, make sure that it is sturdy enough and would not tip over. Choose a model that can be easily installed, moved and disassemble for easy storage in a closet or under the bed. Using the right rebounder would help your strengthen your heart, improve metabolism and oxygen circulation and develop and enhance your muscle tone.

Whatever Pilates gear you consider buying, make sure that you do your homework first about each item that interest you. Head on to polestarpilates for the list of Pilates exercises.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2793145

Vector Art is a technique, which means art created with vector-based programs. Vector art basically uses dots, lines, and curves. Vector programs take note of the relationship between these elements. This allows images created to vary their scale without losing quality or pixelating. In comparison, pixels lose quality when they are raised above 100% of their size. Concept board, also known as a presentation board, is a stimulus material or a starting point of a certain creative process.

Popular vector programs are Illustrator, Freehand, Corel Draw, and Flash. Almost everything created with these programs is considered as vector work. I say “almost” because there are exceptions to each rule. If your vector work combines vector images with raster images, I’m afraid that it is no longer a vectorial work (and consequently does not belong to the Vector Gallery).

For example: to finish your vectorial work, you think that your work is missing something, and you put it in Photoshop to give it a small texture, trying to complete it more. At that moment it is no longer a vector work, and you should upload it to “Digital art> Mixed Media”. In the same way, if you take the rasterized texture and put it in Illustrator by applying a layer style, nor would it be a vector work.

As this texture cannot be increased by over 100%, it makes your vector technically useless after raster images in original size. Do not even think that you cannot add textures to your vector work. Many of these programs come equipped with samples of detailed patterns, textured brushes, even with “Live Trace”, which as its name indicates, traces raster images and converts them into vector graphics.

Reiterating and ensuring there is no confusion, here is a list with programs generally considered as raster-based: Photoshop, Painter, MS Paint and a great free alternative, Gimp. Basically, everything created with this program is considered rasterized image. A few of these programs are able to create images with points, lines, and curves, just as a vector program would do.

The same Photoshop can make images based on vectors, however, they are usually considered “vexel” because vexel artists usually include brush strokes on their images (for hair, etc.).

Speaking of brushes. Just because you have downloaded and installed a set of brushes for Photoshop (or any other raster image program) that has the word “vector” in its title, it does NOT mean that your work is vectorial. These brushes come in various sizes, and no matter what resolution you apply them, they can never be increased above 100% of their size without losing quality. Inquire here for vector arts projects.

Put simply, Vector is not a style like Anime, but it is a medium like charcoal. Asking what vector art looks like is like asking what oil paintings look like. It might resemble Rembrandt, Picasso, or a painted one with the fingers of a fifth grader.

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Getting yourself registered for wedding has now become mandate in India. It provides you important marriage evidence that can benefit you in cases of disputes, false rejection of marriage, bank deposits, etc. It also provides a married woman security and self confidence as the rates of crime in India is very high when it comes to deceiving. The company that is getting your wedding registered is providing all necessary info that a couple might need to complete the process. Registry office wedding ceremony will require some supporting documents one month before the wedding and you will also pay the fee.

If any of the spouses’ want to apply for a Visa to any of the country then too you would need to get Registry of Marriage done so that you can travel overseas. The obligatory registry of marriage is the call for what all crimes are being continued in India from decades. This way we can take a step forward in diminishing the crimes up to a large extent. Wedding is like a gambling, you never know what type of partner you are going to get. Even though people verify about it in the best possible manner but the shady sides are not unveiled in many cases. In such cases if you are filing a case against your partner and want to get a divorce then the foremost document you need to present to the court is the wedding certificate only.

There are many companies in the market that are offering Hindu Muslim marriage and making the Marriage Registration Procedure simple for you by collecting the entire documents from your home. So the services being offered are superior and save on time as you need not to stand in the queues or run from here to there. A Hindu marriage certificate is a license and an essential document that a spouse must keep ready as soon as they get wed. Legal authorization of wedding is the call of the time and works as prevention to any abandonment. In previous times people used to go for a Hindu marriage certificate for the reason that of having an heir to property. It can help in case of death of any of the partner, re-marriage and moreover as an evidence for the highly educated people. In the marriage registration procedure both the partners need to be presented in front of the registrar with the witness. The witness can be either a friend or a family member. The company boast it services to every type of wedding be it Christian, Hindu, Muslim marriage. There is a cheap wedding celebrant that you can find but I would suggest to read their review first.

The registry office wedding cost in Australia is more or less 150 AUD I guess. If you and your spouse are going through a difficult time in your marriage, you may be considering marital therapy. But you also may be reluctant to pursue it if you are wondering, does marriage counseling work? Well, there is no definitive answer to that as the success of any type of counseling always depends on many different factors. Many couples do find it to be extremely beneficial to their relationship. Others feel it was useless or helped very little. This article explores some of the factors that are necessary to answer “yes” to the question, “Does marriage counseling work?”.

You both are committed to working on the relationship

An essential factor for any type of therapy or counseling to be effective is that the person receiving it must be committed to the process and to improving the situation. For couples, if only one of you is committed to working through your relationship problems while the other is resistant, the answer to the question, “does marriage counseling work?” is more than likely going to be “no”.

Counseling is a collaborative process between the client and the therapist. The greatest marriage counselor on the planet is going to have limited success with someone who has no desire to truly work on the relationship. It has to be a two way street. Sometimes resistance to the therapy process can be overcome, particularly with an exceptionally experienced and skilled therapist, but it will be very difficult.

You have a counselor with whom you both feel comfortable

Another key factor with regards to the question, “does marriage counseling work?” is whether or not you have a counselor with whom you both feel comfortable. No therapist is a good fit for everyone. If this is the case, you and your spouse would be better off to find a different therapist to work with. Too much is at stake to try to force a therapeutic relationship that doesn’t feel right for both of you.

You are both willing to do the work

Talking in and of itself will only go so far in terms of bringing about the desired changes in your relationship. While it can be helpful to have a safe place to discuss your feelings and concerns, there needs to be more. Many therapists will give you exercises or homework to do between sessions. These exercises help to reinforce what you are learning in therapy and give you an opportunity to practice new skills which you can discuss each week. The more you and your spouse participate and do the work, the more likely the answer to your question, “does marriage counseling work?” will be yes.

Sticking with it and tolerating the pain

Two other very crucial elements in terms of the question, “does marriage counseling work” are:

• You stick with it
• You are willing to tolerate things getting worse before they get better

A lot of people drop out of counseling at some point. They get discouraged or don’t like the process and assume the answer to, “does marriage counseling work?” is “no”.

One of the main reasons people drop out is because things often get worse before they improve. A good therapist will prepare you for this upfront. Marriage counseling is going to open up some wounds and address some painful issues. Initially, that can seem to create even more pain. But it is akin to the necessity of cleaning out an infected wound so it can finally heal. The cleaning process is painful, but it must happen or the wound will never go away.

If each of these factors is present for you and your spouse, then the answer to the question, “does marriage counseling work?”, is very often a resounding yes. It is not going to be easy, and it may be a lengthy process. But if you really want your marriage to be healthy and strong, the rewards are definitely worth it!