FitSugar

Drishti: It's Where You Look

FitSugar — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 07:30:00 PST

Your drishti, quite simply put, is your gaze, or where you look.

When you focus your eyes on a fixed, non-moving, single point, your attention naturally follows, making it easier to concentrate (during meditation) or balance (during yoga). Your drishti will help you block out distraction, so you can draw your awareness inward.

When using your drishti, don't squint or strain your eyes - the muscles on your face should be relaxed and the gaze should be soft.

In yoga, while your drishti might help you stay up in Crow pose, it can also be used to deepen your stretch, as in twisting poses like Bound Squat - your drishti can help motivate you to move further into a pose. It can also help you to hold poses for a longer amount of time.

Yoga poses have specific drishti points that are used. In Ashtanga Yoga there are 8. Want to hear more about them? Then

read more Nasagrai Drishti: gaze at the tip of the nose, as used in upward facing dog and standing forward fold poses. Angusta Ma Dyai Drishti: gaze at the thumbs, as used in warrior I. Nabi Chakra Drishti: gaze at the navel, as used in downward facing dog. Pahayoragrai Drishti: gaze at the toes, as used in hand to toe pose and most seated forward bends. Hastagrai Drishti: gaze at the hands, as used in triangle and warrior II. Parsva Drishti: gaze to the side, as used in seated spinal twists. Urdhva Drishti: gaze upwards, as used in warrior angle, balancing half moon, and prayer twist. Naitrayohmadya or Broomadhya Drishti: gaze at the third eye or forehead, as used in fish, upward forward fold, and reverse warrior II. You can use these drishti points for other kinds of yoga as well. If you're not sure where to look in certain poses, do what comes naturally, or ask your yoga instructor.

Flattering Fitness Tops That Hide a Pooch

Jenny Sugar — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:25:41 PST

Whether you overdid it with late-night snacking, or you're in the awkward early weeks of pregnancy where it just looks like you did, slipping on a skintight exercise top doesn't inspire. If a softer middle makes you feel self-conscious, here are eight fashionable options to keep your belly hidden.

Whitney's Chris D'Elia Is Back With More Relationship Advice

Annie Scudder — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:00:09 PST

Single and looking for eligible, normal guys? Don't move to LA, says Chris D'Elia, who plays a lovable and hilarious boyfriend on NBC's Whitney. That's some of the advice the standup comedian dished out in response to our readers' questions. Yesterday he addressed your Valentine's Day dilemmas, and today's he's back to tackle general dating and love debacles.

Is it fair to barter TV shows with my fiancé? As in, two hours of The Bachelor equals half of a football game?

Chris: Look, I don't like football, but if I did and I wanted to watch it, then I would expect to have to sit and watch something like The Bachelor, and I would try my best to get into it, or at least find why she liked it. The other alternative is like, "OK, I want to watch football you want to watch The Bachelor, then let's agree on something else." But then neither of you get to watch what you want to. For The Bachelor, I'd want to watch Dexter.

Where do normal men hang out in LA? If you can solve this mystery (preferably with a chart that includes days of the week, locations, and "type" of guy) I guarantee you could sell it for millions in addition to making this single lady very happy.

Chris: I don't think that's a fair question. I think people move to LA because they're not normal.

What's the best way to suggest to any man that he needs to get some new clothes?

Chris: The worst thing you could do is beat around the bush, or side step it. You got to just say it. But I had an ex, and she was like "you got to get Converse," and she kept saying it - "get Converse." I was finally like, "OK, I'll get a pair of Converse." And I got a pair of Converse. I got those regular Chuck Taylor ones, but I literally got every single color of the Converse, and I wore them all the time. And a year later, she was like "All you wear is Converse." So you have to be careful with that, you'll create a monster.

Why do men need their man caves?

Chris: I think that men think they need their man caves. They don't really do. They think they want them, and then the second they do get them and they have alone time and time away from the girl, and the girl is really cool with giving them alone time, then that's when they, or at least I, start to think, "So, why are you so cool with me being alone? What's wrong with me that you don't want to be with me every second."

How can I ask my husband to do housework without sounding like a task master?

Chris: Don't make a list. Don't pin anything up on the fridge. I'm a dude, obviously, and when I'm not in a relationship, I don't do any of that stuff. I don't do laundry until I want to. But if I live with a girl, you have to do it when she wants to or when we want to, which sucks. That totally messes up my day. So just come out and just say it. Just have a good attitude about it and don't wait until you get frustrated.

How would you describe your perfect woman and how could she attract your attention?

Chris: Tweet at me. That gets my attention. The number one thing is, you have to have a good attitude. Find the humor and the fun in things that aren't even fun. The two things that turn me off completely are negativity and if a girl's cheap. I mean, I'll pay for everything, but if a girl just mentions it, that's a turn off. That and DON'T WEAR FLIP-FLOPS. It's terrible. I mean come on. Put something on your feet. What if you have to run away? You're dead.

I'm moving in with my boyfriend next month and it's the first time I'm living with a man. What should I prepare for? Get the answer and much more advice from Chris below!

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LilSugar — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:56:49 PST

We know moms are busy and the last thing you need is another site to add to your daily Internet surfing routine, but reading LilSugar is only one way to get the latest baby and parenting news, tips, and trends. We love sharing our latest finds, funny tidbits, cool photos, and sneak peeks - things that often don't make it onto LilSugar - on our Twitter and Facebook pages. We're also pinning up a storm over on Pinterest, where we're sharing all the pretty things - from beautiful nurseries to out-of-this-world birthday parties - we can find around the web. And if that's not enough, you can follow us @lilsugar1 over on Instagram for behind-the-scenes looks at the items that are piquing our interest each day.

Kristen Stewart Talks Badass Fairy Tales, Bella Swan, and Her New Leading Man on Snow White Set Visit

Molly Goodson — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:01:00 PST

Last October, we were so excited to pay a visit to the set of Snow White and the Huntsman outside London. We got a sneak peek into the amazing world Kristen Stewart and her costars, including Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Charlize Theron, and more, inhabited while shooting the action-packed fairy-tale movie. We have tons to come from our day poking around the remarkable set and learning about everything from the costumes to the fight scenes. While we were there, we even got to see the aftermath of Kristen accidentally actually punching Chris Hemsworth in the face filming a scene. Check out our chat with Kristen and stay tuned for lots from the set:

Is there something you admire about Snow White?

Yes. It’s strange playing a character that you actually could never truly embody. Her spirit affects people. . . I can’t have Snow White’s effect on people. I can’t actually be completely selfless because nobody is. You can only really play a character like that in a fairy tale and play it with an awful load of integrity. She’s very fully formed, but very farfetched-from-the-reality-that-we-live-in type of person. She also is strong in a very different way than you’d expect. Strength, yeah, but also gusto. I mean, she’s strong. She can kick ass. It hurts very much to do so and so it’s not like you’re watching her go take down a kingdom. You’re not watching going, "Yeah! Kill him!" Really it’s more like you’re watching someone having to do something that doesn’t just go against your sensibilities or that you agree with. It’s gutting. It’s physically gutting, literally. A million reasons, but she’s special.

Do you like that she’s not like your prissy fairy tale?

Yeah, because that’s just a very surface, though she is prissy sometimes. That’s the other thing. It takes her the whole movie basically to become who I’m talking about now. I’m really sort of talking in retrospect. It’s strange. It’s a total identity movie. It’s all about not finding yourself, but actually just being OK with who you always have been and not being ashamed of being the only one who sees the light. It’s an enormous burden and she’s so stunted. She was put away when she was 7 years old and your mother and your father were killed basically right in front of you. We’re not doing the version of a fairy tale that wouldn’t deal with all of those things, where you just sort of skim over all those things, and it's like all of these things are actually really important to the characters. She literally bleeds for her land and her people, and that’s just such a cool concept for me because it’s other people caring about people. It’s very simple, but it’s so common. Every day all the time you see people not caring about each other, and this is just about that.

She learns to be a leader or she’s born a leader inside, do you think?

She’s definitely a born leader. I mean, it’s literally pumping through those veins, but it’s been taken from her. She’s been so stolen from.

To read the rest of the interview, including her thoughts on Bella vs. Snow White and what it was like to punch Chris just

read more. Is it helping you get into the character's mindset to wear those cool costumes? Absolutely. If you look down and something doesn’t feel like you would definitely be wearing it, or if you go to grab your knife and it flops around or - basically [Colleen Atwood] thinks about every detail. It’s so wearable. I also have puffy sleeves. Somehow she manages to make puffy sleeves look butch. I was always expecting to personally wind up in a - basically what I’m wearing underneath it, like that little blue dress, which is just thin and wispy. I was really happy that she’s got something heavy on - a bit of armor before she actually finds her own armor. How did you feel the first time you put on the armor? Did you feel more badass? Yeah. That’s the first thing you want to [pound your chest]. Also, my armor doesn’t have a huge top on it. All the guys, unfortunately, they [raise their arms] and they hit themselves in the head. I can run around in mine. Somehow the armor on the men - unless they’re on horseback and they look amazing, but there’s also something kind of dainty about it, too, like pointy toes. It fits a woman’s body better, I feel. I don’t know, the guys running around suddenly look like little toys - slightly feminine little toys. Both Snow White and Bella had traumatizing experiences in the woods - being led out to die or have her heart broken - compare those two experiences? Well, it’s funny. I think [Snow White] genuinely lacks that innate fear of death that we all have. She’s got a serious, fierce survival - not skills, but insights. But she isn’t afraid of anything. What’s harder is to have dreams and hopes that you lived your whole life sort of be just shattered in front of you. So I think probably it’s totally impossible to compare the two. And I know that doesn’t make sense, but I kind of can’t compare. Can you compare the movies in general? Are there similarities at all? Bella and Snow White both come to find that they’re leaders. I mean, that’s definitely a similarity. They’re different. They’re very, very, very, different people. Also, I guess in a very sort of righteous way as well it’s all very like - everyone’s telling them “no” and both of them I guess see the light. Both of them are sort of a little more intuitive and spiritually, for whatever reason, connected and their gut is always sort of dead right. What about working with Chris surprised you? Did you have any preconceptions of him? Before I met him, I was like, "gosh, so charming." You know what I mean? Like he’s so ridiculously, seemingly nice. Movie-star caliber nice. But he really actually just is. But then again, it’s strange working - cause I mean it’s not a secret. It was completely different part before. It was totally like a rethought. So when he came in it was like "Wow! This is f*cking interesting!" I mean, it was like they really elevated it. Chris is an amazing, nice guy and also [has] great instincts and he can roll with everything on set. He’s really relaxed, whereas I’m always like, "oh my god!" I use my anxiety to do this and he’s always sort of like - he’s a good energy for me. I really like working with him. You actually punched Chris filming a scene and gave him a black eye? It’s actually a very confidence building experience. I don’t like punching anyone. So, you know, when you dream and your hand just slides right down their face, it doesn’t do that in real life. It really works. God, that really made me feel horrible, though. I mean, like instantly hot tears and I was like "oops!" We were watching it. It looks - it’ll be in the movie. Favorite fairy tale as a kid? I honestly don’t - somebody asked this the other day. I wasn’t here til the end of fairy tales. I really liked The Jungle Book. I was obsessed with The Jungle Book. Chris said Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. He is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and he was always like humming Enya as we were trudging up the mountain. I was saying basically, "You should make a remake of Lord of the Rings. Why are you doing this? . . . We’re doing Snow White and the Huntsman, Chris!" Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures

Grammy Awards: Gwyneth Paltrow Stuns in Sexy Stella McCartney

FabSugar — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 18:39:11 PST

This really shouldn't even be a poll, because we can't imagine who would look at Gwyneth Paltrow here and think her look isn't completely stunning. Her sporty halter dress from Stella McCartney hugs her curves perfectly, and she wisely chooses to keep everything simple - hair pulled pack in a sleek ponytail, clean makeup, super-minimal accessories including a ring by Delfina Delettrez - for a look that is ultra elegant and gorgeous. You know where we stand (we would vote her prom queen in a second), but let us know what you think of Gwyneth's clean, sexy look.

Vote on all of our Grammy Awards polls here!

Share Photos of Your Home!

Elka Karl — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 05:00:00 PST

Have you done any decorating in your home lately? Laid down a new rug? Hung a Valentine's Day wreath? Integrated some new artwork? Whatever it is, I want to see it!

Show off all of your shots of your home, both interior and exterior, in my group Su Casa, where readers can share snapshots and stories related to home decorating, crafts, organizing, and gardening. A Su Casa post could be anything from a photo of a loved one's home to a tiny nook you're tickled by. Think of it as a look book for home style. If I see something I like in Su Casa, I might ask you if I can feature it on CasaSugar.

To learn how to post in the group,

How to Share Your Food Photos on YumSugar

Susannah Chen — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 03:15:32 PST

Have you cooked, eaten, or seen something amazingly delicious recently? If so, don't let anything hold you back from sharing it with the rest of us. Case in point: the tobiko (smelt roe) and ikura (salmon roe) sushi that I savored at Ebisu in San Francisco.

We've got a group called Savory Sights, where you can upload mouthwatering images of foods and drinks you've made, consumed, or just salivated over. Start sharing your photos now! There are lots of ways to participate, so read on to learn more.

Snacking Good: Natchitoches Meat Pies

OnSugar Blog — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:07:39 PST

We've always wanted to take a stab at rolling out a few Natchitoches meat pies. Thanks to an easy recipe from Food Orleans, this might be a dream realized sooner rather than later.

[Baked or fried? You decide.]

Natchitoches meat pies are one of those special little treats with a name as fun to say as they are to scarf down. Nackadish - that's how you say it - is a small town we drive through on our way north to visit Alexandria or Oklahoma, and it's where Steel Magnolias was filmed, and it's famous for these little pies. It's a beautiful little place, with a picturesque riverfront lined with shops and restaurants that have their own sort of French Quarter-ish wrought iron balconies (remember the Easter scene where Jackson slapped Ouiser? That's the riverfront!). But you don't have to go into the actual town to get yourself some meat pies; just stop at any gas station right off I-10. They all fry them up and they're all pretty wonderful.

For her recipe, continue reading.

Sneak Peek: First Pictures From Game of Thrones Season 2!

Shannon Vestal — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:01:00 PST

We're just a few weeks away from Game of Thrones's April 1 season premiere, and today we've got another look at season two! These new images take us back to Westeros, where Arya is still posing as a boy, Sansa is grieving for her father, and Daenerys is fighting for power. It's not just old faces though, there are quite a few new characters in the mix as well. Take a look at at the sneak peek and be sure to check out the Game of Thrones season two trailer while you're at it.

Photos courtesy of HBO