Raine Baljak

Sūryanamaskāra (Sun Salutation) 5-minute Morning Yoga

Start your morning with a salute to the sun through the Sūryanamaskāra, सूर्यनमस्कार, an ashtanga yoga flow sequence fit for five minutes of your morning. According to the Shastras (Epics), the practise of the Suryanamaskara is important for spiritual development. It helps keep the physical body fit and strong, maintain a good level of health,…

Reflections on the Iceberg Illusion

By: Raine Baljak April 12, 2022April 12, 2022

Motivationachieving dreams, Business, diary entry, dreams, Fitness motivation, hustle, Iceberg Illusion, Khalil Gibran, Motivation, Motivational, Poetry, Reflections, Study effectively, study motivation, work hardLeave a Comment

I normally write a new article at 6 am (GMT +9) every two days on this blog, but ever since returning to Cebu (in the Philippines) from Tokyo (Japan), my schedule has been erratic from an unbelievable demand of more pressing matters resulting in my blog writing taking a backseat. However, last night, I finally…

Gut health, microbiome, prebiotics, and probiotics.

By: Raine Baljak March 23, 2022March 20, 2022

NutritionDiet, Food, Gut, Gut Health, Gut Microbiome, metabolism, Nutrition, prebiotics, probiotics, Recipes, weightlossLeave a Comment

How your health is linked to your gut bacteria? The biggest, complex, diverse and most important microbial habitat is our gut! It fights off infections, strengthens our immune system, signals cells, regulates our metabolism, how much energy we burn or how much fat we store. Some scientists even believe that diseases like colon cancer, diabetes…

Climbing in Cantabaco, Cebu

By: Raine Baljak March 21, 2022July 28, 2022

CebuAdrenaline, Cebu, Cebu Rock Climbing Community, Climb, Climbing, Outdoor, Outdoor Sports, Philippines, Rock, Rock Climb, Rock Climbers, Rock ClimbingLeave a Comment

After spending over 20 years of my life in the island of Cebu (Philippines), you would think I would be well aware of everything! But it had to take me living two years in Japan to discover how much I still have yet to learn about my hometown island. The journey On March 18th, 2022,…

Pathogenesis or Salutogenesis?

By: Raine Baljak March 19, 2022March 17, 2022

HealthDiet, dietetics, evidence based, Gut Health, Health, healthy lifestyle, life coach, lifestyle, Mental Health, Nutrition, scientific, scientist, theoryLeave a Comment

Health is beyond the absence of disease or infirmity. Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing. It’s a basic human right, essential for a long and happy life, and something we should all strive for. Traditionally in medicine and health studies, pathogenesis works retrospectively from disease to determine how individuals can…

The differentiation between stress & anxiety

By: Raine Baljak March 17, 2022March 17, 2022

Health, NeuroscienceAnxiety, Mental Health, Mental Health Awareness, Neurology, Neuroplasticity, Neuroscience, Psychology, Stress, Stress ManagementLeave a Comment

Whether it is in sport, studies, work or recreation, stress is a common experience throughout our human life and not everybody experiences stress the same way. This is what makes stress highly subjective. Imagine six people riding a rollercoaster, some may appear very anxious and fearful while others might be in pure euphoria and excitement.…

Lonely Heart

A tactful method of developing one’s understanding of the human heart’s anatomy is through drawing it! One study reported that “when studying anatomy science, drawing is one of effective important methods because it is an integration of ideas and knowledge of vision thereby increasing comprehension and learning motivation of college students” (Joewono et al. 2018).…

Book Review: The Upside of Stress

The first time I heard of Kelly McGonigal was her TedTalk on how to make stress your friend published in 2013 and then around September of last year, I was recommended her 2015 publication, the Upside of Stress. Where McGonigal reveals an important truth based on science: True excellence is only achieved under great adversity.…