I always expect groundbreaking news from Dr. Joseph Mercola whom I have followed for years. Now he says to stop worrying: cancer is not genetic. No matter what your family history, Dr. Mercola says cancer is about diet.

Interestingly, yogis also say that health begins in the gut.

There are many yoga practices, both internal cleansings and asanas, for cleaning up the digestive system. Dr. Mercola says diet can keep the mitochordria of your cells vibrant and that makes the difference between healthy cells and mutated cancer cells. Unlike the medical model, Dr. Mercola says you can even reverse and prevent cancer with diet. But this is NOT another diet fad; it's a way of feeding your cells. Here's how:

I have heard this a lot. Good thing I didn't listen when I said it to myself at age forty-one. 

Yes, I had been doing yoga since I was fourteen; but I knew hot yoga was a different animal. My other hatha yoga wasn't going to save me.

Now your Loud Obnoxious Voice is reasoning with you: "Hot yoga is dangerous at your age; start slower, and ease into hot yoga later."

Dangerous ideas...don't you just love those? As for later, you're old; you have no time to waste.

Now for the good news: if you're between 40 and 60, you're in the perfect place in life to perfect all the positions of hot yoga. Here's why:

Could it be that you never really ask to fly?

Most of us ask for very little; we "keep both feet on the ground." 

"I just want enough to pay the bills." Splat.

Most of us never notice that in fact, we get exactly what we ask. Not because we're punished; because we asked for it.

"I don't ask for much....I'm not asking for the world...I need very little...I can't afford that....I don't need money.... rich people are  greedy...."

As if being meager is rewarding. 

Toby Calandra created a series of meditations around a simple and powerful premise called "Ask and Receive."

Yup, that's all there is to it. How does that work? Beautifully! Listen to the Ask and Receive meditation below and get ready to take off...

It's not your fault. From a tender age, we're taught to mistrust our own sense of direction.

"Don't depend on what you feel," we're told. Feelings change; they're not rational, after all.  Instead, "think straight!" and seek advice from someone Bigger, Older, Wiser. Teachers, parents, bosses, even peers are more trusted with your life than you. "For godsakes, never make important decisions based on emotions!"

But don't you change all the time, too? Wouldn't that make your emotions the best gauge for what's best, right now, in the present moment?

Can you learn to trust your feelings?

"You do hot yoga in the summertime? Are you crazy?"

Yea...crazy like a fox.

If this is your first summer of hot yoga, get ready: summer is hot yoga season. Because once you get the heat, the humidity, the humility of hot yoga inside you, August is a breeze again...just like when you were a kid. 

Why is hot yoga such hot fun in the summertime? Let me count just five of my favorite reasons:

Top 5 Things I love about Summertime Hot Yoga...

I was Valedictorian of PS 42 Elementary School in Queens, NY (not telling what year).

I skipped 8th Grade in the 2 Year SP - Specialized Program of accelerated learning.

I graduated in the Top 10 percentile of my high school class of over 1250 graduating students. Yes, 1250 seniors; the Far Rockaway High School student body was so huge that freshmen and sophomores went in the morning, juniors and seniors in the afternoons.

And somehow I missed out on the most important education of my life.

What I really learned in school was how to live up the expectations of others. I was never asked to consider what was important to me; what I wanted for myself. Were you?

Were you schooled to be a people pleaser? 

So you're looking in the mirror and thinking how you suck in hot yoga today.

You're off balance in Tree. You can't bend in Half Moon. You can barely breathe in Pranayama. You're getting hot and bothered thinking, "What's wrong with me?"

My answer to you: Fahgeddaboudit.

Even if you figure out "why," by your next class things will be different - you'll be different - so how will it help to dwell on today?

I'm done feeling bad about myself...

Will hot yoga outlast Peak Fitness and other crazes from aerobics to step-class?

For years I experimented with different forms of physical conditioning - everything from swimming at the Y to weight training at home (an exercise physiologist friend prepared a personalized weight training regimen tailored for my size, shape and age.) 

What they all had in common: I was bored.

I dreaded doing it. I played music, put on the TV, anything to distract me from the drudgery (now I see people riding stationary bikes or treadmilling-it at the gym while watching little personal-sized TV screens. I feel their pain).

I was tuning out while I was trying to tune up. Something about this just didn't fit my idea of whole-self health...

Peak Fitness is a form of exercise that works you as hard as possible for a short burst of time, and is followed up with slower, more relaxing movement. It's all the rage.

Which just proves that everything old is new again.

Hot yoga had this system down to a science over 50 years ago. Hot yoga is finally being proven by modern day science, but we hot yogis already have our proof,  in our results...

Do you feel sluggish afew hours after lunch?

Do you have trouble sleeping at night?

Do you need a coffee the size of your head before you can function in the morning?

It could be that your circadian rhythms are confused. In this 24/7, globally awake, in your Facebook, tweet-tweet-news-flash, no interest in Pinterest, attention medicated world, we're all a bit confused.

Blogging all night can leave you feeling blah. Even when you finally fall asleep over email, sleeping in a lit room when your body expects darkness can wreak havoc. Jet lag, for those who think a vacation will fix you, is another common culprit.

Everyone knows yoga can help your body, mind and spirit; but try yoga at a time of day that syncs with your own natural rhythms and you might you might just open up a whole new world of benefits. Here's how yoga affects you morning, noon and night...