Stress is a major crisis of our generation that affects us all but is often underestimated. Yoga, when done right is an amazing tool to combat that. Ideally, being part of a regular class is the way to go but these five asanas can be tried at home—two stretches, two breathing exercises and one bandha or neuro-muscular lock. Try them at home, but if you are new to yoga, opt for a teacher to guide you through the poses.

Sharnagat Mudra
Sit back on your heels in Vajrasana or the kneeling pose.

Technique:
– Breathing in, raise your arms above your head and parallel to your ears.
– Exhale slowly, as you bend forward at the waist till your forehead touches the floor and place your palms flat on the floor.
– Hold your breath for thirty seconds to a minute. And then breathe normally.
– Inhale slowly as you come up, with your hands raised.
– Breathing out, lower your arms to start position.

Benefits: Combats pimples, dark circle under the eyes and stiffness in the back.

Don’ts: Avoid this asan if you are suffering from lower backaches or high blood pressure avoid this mudra.

Merudandasana
Lie on your back with your hands stretched out at shoulder level.

Technique:
– Looking up breathe in and raise your right leg 90 degrees from the floor.
– Breathing out, lower the right leg to your left side.
– Turn your head to the right. Maintain this posture for thirty seconds to a minute, breathing normally.
– Breathing in, lift the right leg to 90 degrees.
– Breathing out, slowly bring the right leg down to starting position.
– Repeat the same with the left leg.

Benefits: Combats stiffness and pain from the upper and mid back, and helps control Sciatica pain.

Don’ts: People suffering from severe sciatica should consult their doctor before performing this asana.

Brahmari Pranayama
Sit cross-legged in padmasana or lotus position.

Technique:
– Close your eyes, inhale deeply and count till five.
– Hold your breath and press your chin down to the mid-point between your collar bones (the jugular notch).
– Raise your chin up to four fingers above that point and emit the humming sound of a bee from your throat as you exhale.
– Repeat this sequence twice.

Benefits: Relaxes the body and helps develop concentration, memory, quality of voice and the higher mental faculties.

Don’ts: If you suffer from severe throat problems avoid this Pranayama.

Shitili Pranayama
Sit cross-legged in padmasana or lotus position and close your eyes.

Technique:
– Roll your tongue to form a tube and slowly inhale through it. If you’re unable to, make a square with your lips and breathe through the gaps in your teeth. Inhale and count till five.
– Press your chin down on the jugular notch and hold your breath for ten counts.
– Raise your chin up and then slowly exhale through the nostrils while you count to ten.
– Repeat the cycle fifteen times. As you get more comfortable you can perform this for as long as one hour.
– If you feel very cold, stop immediately.

Benefits: Aids in the release of anti-stress hormones and makes the tongue more flexible.

Don’ts: If you suffer from throat problems or infections of the throat avoid this pranayama.

Mool bandha
Sit cross-legged in padmasana or lotus position and close your eyes.

Technique:
– Exhale forcefully through your mouth and hold your breath.
– Slowly contract your lower abdomen muscles—they should be tight and contracted.
– Hold for 10 to 30 seconds.
– Slowly release the contraction and breathe out.
– Inhale slowly, expanding your stomach muscles and breathe out, relaxing the body.
– To perform the bandha again, take a few long breaths to bring your breathing back to normal.
– Repeat this cycle three times.

Benefits: Increases vitality.

Don’ts: If you suffer from piles or gynaecological problems consult a doctor before performing this bandha.

A key suspect in last month’s bombing at a Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people has fled to Turkey.

According to AP, he departed Dhaka on Aug. 30 for Delhi by Jet Airways. In Delhi, he continued his travel to Abu Dhabi, and from Abu Dhabi he boarded Jet Airways partner airline Etihad Airways to travel on Aug. 31 to Istanbul.

According to Thai police raises another indication that the attack could be the work of members of China’s ethnic Uighur minority who have sympathizers in Turkey.

Police had previously said the man, carrying a Chinese passport in the name Abudureheman Abudusataer, may have directed the Aug. 17 bombing of the Erawan Shrine. Investigations revealed that he left Thailand on Aug. 16 for Bangladesh, and police speculated that he might have gone to China.

However, national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said that information gathered by Thai police and Bangladeshi officials showed that the man departed Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, on Aug. 30 and traveled to Istanbul in Turkey as his final destination, via New Delhi and Abu Dhabi.

The 4,000-year-old Hittite cuisine was cooked in Alacahöyük, an important Neolithic settlement and Turkey’s first nationally excavated area. Aykut Çınaroğlu, the head of the excavations and professor of archaeology at Ankara University, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Chef Ömür Akkor, an excavation team member, prepared a special Hittite menu in light of the available archaeological findings. “We conducted research on kitchen culture, food and bread of Anatolian-Hittite cuisine dating back 4,000 years,” he said. Akkor added that the food was cooked by imitating the period’s conditions. “Ancient settlers wrote that they ate cold meat, cooked onion and bread on a festival day. They did not use yeast while making bread or cook them in moist ovens. The team tried to make it with pounded wheat, not sifted flour,” he said.

Akkor said experimental foods were cooked using findings found on ancient tablets. “There is a lot of information about food culture on Hittite tablets. We used buckwheat brought from Germany for cooking. It was crushed on stones and we did not use kitchenware other than a knife. Considering the conditions at the time, we understood that the Hittites were highly successful in the kitchen as well as in other areas,” Akkor said, adding that more than 100 pastry names were found on Hittite tablets. During the excavations, findings about olive oil, honey, beverages and vegetables were also discovered. Underlining the hygienic measures taken in Hittite kitchens, Akkor said if a chef with a large, unmanaged beard or long, unmanaged hair cooks in the kitchen or an animal wandered into the kitchen, he or she used to receive a death penalty along with their family. The rule was valid for those who cooked without having a bath beforehand. “These rules show how the Hittites took sanitary issues very seriously 4,000 years ago,” he said.

The excavations in Alacahöyük were first started in 1907 by Ottoman archaeologist Makridi Bey. In 1935, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, re-started it by providing funds for the excavation. Currently, the excavations are conducted by Ankara University. Alacahöyük is seen as a significant tumulus of the Hittites, who migrated to Anatolia in around 2000 B.C. Çınaroğlu said interesting and informative findings have been uncovered during the excavations. Copper chunks found in a mining workshop that date back 3,700 years and bronze brooches are among the most interesting ones.

Here are some highlights from the Hittite menu:

Breads:

Ninda.imza (without flavor)

Mulati (made from barley)

Ninda.gur.ra (with cheese and fig)

Ninda purpura (small bread)

Ninda.ku (sweet bread)

Food:

Apricot butter

Beruwa with cucumber (beruwa is the name given for mashed food. There are many kinds)

Beruwa with chickpea

Happena (a casserole of meat, olive oil and honey)

Kariya (grilled lamb liver and heart)

Cold meat

Sandwiches (according to Hittite tablets, sandwiches were made with cooked meat and onion)

Turkey’s well-known ancient site of Alacahöyük, which currently draws around 50,000 visitors annually, is located in the central Anatolian province of Çorum. The ancient site was one of the most significant centers of the ancient Hittite civilization and also Turkey’s first national excavation site. Works at the site are set to continue in order to uncover more clues like those found last year in order to prove settlement in the area began 1,500 years earlier than previously thought. Alacahöyük was first introduced to the archaeology world in 1835 by W. C. Hamilton, but has since been frequently visited by many scholars who came to Asia Minor. The Alacahöyük excavations have been overseen by Çınaroğlu since 1998. The first excavations began at the ancient site in 1907 and lasted only 15 days, and were restarted in 1935. Artifacts such as sun disks, bull and deer statues and 13 tombs of Hittite kings show the high culture of the era. The Sphinx Gate and the reliefs are the reflections of Hittite Religious Ceremonies that have survived to present day.

The dengue crisis continued to rattle Delhi with a six year-old boy becoming the 10th victim this season even as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said his government was mulling bringing a law to enable temporary takeover of private hospitals during emergencies.

Aman Sharma, a child from Srinivaspuri area of South Delhi died of dengue and his parents alleged that three private hospitals — Max Saket, Moolchand and Batra — refused to admit him citing unavailability of beds. He died on Sunday at Holy Family hospital in Okhla.

Last week, seven-year-old Avinash Rout had died of dengue after being denied admission by five hospitals which drove his parents to suicide, triggering widespread outrage.

As cases of dengue continued to rise and inch towards the 2,000 mark, Kejriwal carried out surprise checks at Guru Teg Bahadur hospital and Dr Hedgewar Aarogya Sansthan in Karkardooma and later said private hospitals which refused treatment to dengue patients will not be “spared”.

Delhi Government directed all the schools to ensure that children came to school dressed in full sleeves shirts, trousers and salwar kameez for the next one month as a preventive measure to avoid mosquito bites.

“It is heartbreaking. We have become blind in the race to make more and more profit. We shouldn’t forget our humanity. Nothing would have been lost if the hospital had treated the child. Would it have affected their profit margin so much?,” he said.

Warning that hospitals which refuse patients will be penalised, the Chief Minister said his government was contemplating bringing a law to enable temporary takeover of private hospitals during emergencies.

Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry asked Delhi Government to take strict action against hospitals refusing dengue patients and directed it to rein in private facilities overcharging them.

As the national capital battled the worst outbreak of dengue in the past five years with the total number of cases between January 1 and September 12 reported at 1,872, the Union Health Ministry has asked government hospitals to increase the number of beds in order to meet to the rush of patients.

“I held a meeting with the Delhi Health Minister and asked him to take strict action against hospitals refusing dengue patients. They have been asked to submit a report on the actions taken. We have also assured that whatever support they need will be given,” Union Health Minister J P Nadda said after chairing a meeting with officials of RML, Safdarjung and Lady Hardinge hospitals.

“I have asked Delhi Government to see that private hospitals do not charge unwarrantedly and that they should take only reasonable fees from the patients,” Nadda said.

At the national level, there has been decrease in number of dengue cases detected with 75,808 cases in 2013, 40,571 cases in 2014 and nearly 21,000 cases in 2015 up to second week of September, and the recovery has been in more than 99.99% cases, an official statement claimed.

Asked whether government was not prepared to deal with the situation, Kejriwal said it was doing its duty and the MCD should do whatever is required to bring the situation under control.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has summoned administrators of all private hospitals and nursing homes in the city and asked them to ensure treatment to all dengue patients. As the opposition parties stepped up pressure on the Delhi government over the dengue outbreak, Delhi government ordered a magisterial inquiry into the death of Avinash Rout.

The Chief Minister appealed to people to donate blood so that adequate quantity of platelets could be made available.

Health Minister Manish Sisodia conducted surprise inspection of various schools along with Environment Minister Asim Ahmed Khan to see whether authorities are taking precaution to curb breeding of dengue causing mosquito.

“Parents should send their children to schools only in clothes of full sleeves and the government will ensure that the uniform colour does not create any problem to the children,” said Sisodia. Sisodia also directed the health authorities to issue challans to schools where mosquito breeding or water-logged areas were found.

He directed the school principals to activate Eco Clubs for ensuring that premises are kept clean and there are no areas which are prone to mosquito breeding.

n a major breakthrough, Maharashtra police has arrested one person in rationalist Govind Pansare’s murder case. The arrested man has been identified as Sameer Gaikwad, who is said to be a resident of Sangli.

Gaikwad was arrested in a joint operation of Kolhapur and Sangali police. He was produced before a Kolhapur court, which remanded him police custody till September 23.

The arrest was made after police verified the phone calls he made on the day of Pansare’s murder. According to reports, Sameer Gaikwad had been involved in various criminal cases.

Earlier, terming the killing of social activists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare as “disturbing”, the Bombay High Court had said sincere efforts were needed to investigate both the cases.

Pansare, a veteran Communist leader, was shot dead outside his residence in Kolhapur in February. He was one of the leaders who spearheaded the anti-toll movement in the Kolhapur district of western Maharashtra.

An Islamist conference in the city of Pointoise near Paris discussing the merits and demerits of wife-beating was dramatically interrupted by topless feminists from the group Femen on Sunday.

According to a report in the Independent, two women ran onto the stage while some imams were addressing a conference on whether beating your wife is permitted in Islam. The women then took off their clothes, showing off messages on their chests saying ‘Nobody makes me submit’ and ‘I am my own Prophet’.

The two imams hurried off the stage, only stopping to cast sideways glances at the women.

Immediately thereafter, security personnel and members of the audience violently dragged the women off stage, kicking and beating them in the process while they were pinned to the ground.

You can watch the whole video here

The unnamed women are believed to be aged 25 and 31, says the Independent.

The group alleged on Twitter that the “activists were brutally removed from the wings”.

Inna Shevchenko, a spokesperson for the Ukranian-born feminist group, the imams were discussing the beating of women. She added that the women were arrested but released after questioning.

Meanwhile, the organisers of the conference rallied for continuation of the conference, and expressed pity for the women, labeling them “victims of anti-Muslim onslaught from the media”.

Begging is a Massive Rs 1.8 billion industry…Yea even i am shocked.

Do you know how many beggars are there in India and what their collective annual income is?

How much a beggar spends on his food and where does the remaining money go?

Despite India’s rapid economic growth in recent years, poverty and begging are still among st the biggest issues in India.

A study by sociologist Mohammed Rafiuddin reveals fascinating details about beggars and the problem of begging in India, especially in Hyderabad.

After a two year long survey, which has been published under the title Beggars in Rafiuddin says there were 73,00,000 beggars across India who earn as much as Rs 180 crore (Rs 1.8 billion).

The study further revealed that a beggar normally spends 20 per cent of his earnings on food as much as 30 per cent on bad habits (smoking, drinking etc). “As much as 50 per cent goes towards savings,” said Rafiuddin.

While the poverty is real, begging is quite often carried out in organized gangs. For the privilege of begging in a certain territory, each beggar must had over their takings to the gang’s ring leader, who keeps a significant share of it.

The most common problem is that beggars are so used to begging that they actually prefer not to work. Many of them also make more money from begging that what they would if they did work.

In many places , visitors ,travelers and motorists are often approached by A CHILD or A WOMEN or A WOMEN HOLDING CHILD .Kindly remember the the Child does not belong to them and is rented drugged and dozed with chloroform or alcohol to keep quiet Many at times the children are kidnapped and trafficked to other cities

BEWARE. by helping the beggars you in helping to Fund a Huge organised CRIME called as the begging Mafia.this wont end the poverty but will only encourage more and more beggars on the streets.