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yoga is a fun hobby and a way of life for many. Whether you are a life-long fan of yoga, or just starting to get into the rewarding sport, you will need good supplies. Some items are required in order to do yoga, other things are optional. Our review of yoga shoes and supplies with get you started. Let us help you decide what equipment you need.

Our first subject in yoga shoes and supplies are yoga shoes. The type of shoes you need depends on what kind of yoga you are doing. If you are participating in a simple or beginners style of yoga, you really don't need shoes at all. If you do a more advanced and physical type of yoga, such as Bikram Yoga, you should consider investing in a good pair of athletic shoes. On the other hand, if you do a type of yoga that is somewhere in the middle, you might consider using a soft dancing shoe or simple athletic shoe.

Our second subject in yoga shoes and supplies are the basic equipment needs. Anyone who does yoga should have a yoga mat, no matter what level or style of yoga they are doing. You can find these quite affordably at most department and sporting goods stores. It is also important to have good clothing. Comfortable, loose fitting, stretchy pants or shorts, and cotton T-shirts, tanks or sweaters are best. Socks are optional, as are shoes.

Our final subject in yoga shoes and supplies are advanced equipment needs. You may choose to use all or none of these items. One of these items is a yoga ball. These large inflatable balls are great for a number of yoga exercises. You might be able to purchase one of these in a kit with a yoga mat if you prefer. Other types of equipment include books and videos for instructional use and additional clothing items if desired.

Chinese slippers and Oriental sandals are a great accessory. Whether it's just for the bedroom, spa and around the house or a stylish addition to an outfit during the summer, Japanese and Chinese inspired shoes and slippers are a great idea. Buy authentic geta or zori sandals or cheaper replicas are available in the United States. For yoga shoes and equipment visit universal Yoga.

For a real links-style golf experience we discovered the royal St. Cloud Golf links, located in St. Cloud, about 25 minutes southeast of the Orlando airport or the Disney area. The royal St. Cloud links greet you with a rolling layout of links-style fairways, punctuated by classic links bunkers that feature names such as Hell, Spectacles, Devil's Pocket and Hoofprint. True to its link heritage, every club in the bag will be utilized as the terrain is naturally varied.

Unlike other Orlando golf courses, the royal St. Cloud is free of any residential developments and offers a pure golf experience. The design features four sets of tees and from the blue tee offers a championship length of 7,111 yards and a 74.6 rating, all on flawless fairways and silky-smooth Tifeagle greens.

Its motto, as printed above the entrance to the club house is "Original Golf Played Here", and indeed the royal St. Cloud features original style golf at its unpretentious best. I had a chance to talk to Bill Filson, the Director of Golf and since 2002 co-owner of this facility.

Bill has an extensive teaching background. He has personally studied under some of the top-ranked teaching professionals and brings 12 years of teaching experience that featured beginners to PGA tour professionals. Bill has consistently been a top-ranked PGA Professional. The royal St. Cloud's teaching staff is complemented by Dave Rummels who brings 17 years of valuable PGA Tour experience with him and can share advice from the Tour with the students. Associate Professional, Doug Holloway, has 16 years coaching experience.

At the royal St. Cloud Golf links the commitment to teaching the game of golf commitment includes state-of-the art video equipment and even a teaching tent for inclement weather. Lessons, programs, and clinics are offered for every skill level and requirement. Bill explained that they run very reasonably priced children's clinics at $7.00 per clinic and the club has 120 members in their junior program. Ladies can also learn the sport without embarrassment in a relaxed, comfortable environment. And with every family membership at the club kids play for free.

Bill prides himself on offering one of the greatest values in golf in the Orlando area. For the 2005-2006 season rates vary from $46 to $48 from November 1 to January 10, and $64 from January 11 to April 30, 2006. discounted tee time rates are available after 11 am or 12 pm respectively, 7 days/week. Bill went on to say that the fees at the royal St. Cloud are always reasonable, and that he aims not to oversell his course, but to exceed the visitors' expectations.

In addition, he offers a very unique proposition: a 100% money-back guarantee with no conditions if you didn't enjoy your playing experience at the royal St. Clouds. He said in the almost three years since he has run this course only 2 people ever asked for a refund; a phenomenal achievement, considering that several tens of thousands of rounds are played here every year.

One of the very unique features of this course is the handcrafted stonework which is evident in four bridges found throughout the course that have been hand-built by one individual brick by brick. Bill said that some of the bridges are even a little bit crooked, just to give them more character. The most famous stone bridge can be found on the 5th hole and many of the British visitors to this golf course come here specifically for this unique feature.

Bill explained that his golf course serves a value-based market that is composed of local residents, snowbirds escaping the cold northern winters, and British golfers, a very loyal crowd who refer this facility to many of their friends back home.

The royal St. Cloud Golf links have been rated as one of the Top 5 Most Underrated Golf Courses in the Orlando area and they have hosted the 2004 and 2005 British Junior Amateur. With its wide-open fairways the course looks deceptively simple, however, I experienced very quickly the unique challenges offered by the royal St. Cloud. Traditional links golf is played on the ground, unfortunately I still managed to find water several times, despite the generously open fairways.

The other feature I really enjoyed were a number of the ponds on the back nine of the course that were playing host to a variety of local wildlife and water birds. I particularly enjoyed watching a very rare specimen of wood stork stalking the edges of a pond for food, and a crane standing upright with stretched out wings. The course had a very relaxed, casual and friendly feel to it and we enjoyed a tasty hot dog after our game on the beautiful patio outside the clubhouse as a way to cap off a very enjoyable golf experience on a gorgeous day.

driving Directions from the Disney area:
royal St. Cloud Golf links is an easy 25 miles from the Disney area.
(25-35 minute approximate drive time)
* Take Osceola Parkway to the Florida Turnpike
* Take Exit 244 to Hwy 192, turn left.
* Go 4.6 miles to Vermont Ave, turn right.
* Take Vermont 2.1 miles to Creek Woods Road, take a left.
* Go only .7 miles to Michigan Ave, take a right directly into the Golf Club.

statistics
Par 72 Yards Rating Slope
Blue 7111 74.6 128
Gold 6680 72.2 125
green 6083 69.2 115
citrus 5531 66.6 111

For more information please visit royal St. Cloud Golf website or call them at (407) 891-7010.

This entire article including photos is located at http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/orlando_royal_stcloud_golf.htm

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com, a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new http://www.travelandtransitions.com/ebooks.html FREE ebooks about travel.

The ultimate Stage Staying off

Hey, are you still with me?? Good. You have made it.

The changes you feel :
You will find a lot of changes in you. Improvements mostly. You feel more umm.. lets say Able. You have more stamina, you can walk faster, you cough less, perhaps your palpitations have stopped, you feel better with yourself. Medically, there are a thousand ways in which you have helped yourself and others.

One laughable change that I noticed was change in my body odor  Funny, try sniffing your armpits and notice the difference.

Now What??

Now you have to protect yourself against a relapse. There is nothing much new to this. The keystones are the same as those for Strengthening Your Resolve.

There are likely to be some psychological effects e.g. depression, anxiety, mood disorder, increased appetite, maybe weight gain etc. but if you have prepared your grounds well, you will be able to overcome these.

If you have consulted a counselor/ friend/ medical worker, continue reporting your progress to them. You will find them co-operative, understanding and encouraging. If you are using any medicines / substitutes, do so under medical supervision and your doctor will wean you off them slowly.

What you really need at this tentative stage is the environment. You need to be around people who dont smoke, who don tolerate smoke, who dont even tolerate the smell of smoke. You need to be in no-smoking zones.

Also, this is a very good time to begin some aerobic exercises or better still Yoga. Sounds funny, huh? But the truth is, the worst times to control are the ones when you are by yourself. When you are with others, you can stay off. There are enough excuses as well as your pride to keep you off. But alone is the testing time.

This is when you need to occupy yourself with Physical exercises. The reason you can reach out to smoke when you are reading or watching TV, but you wont if you are working out.

I never said that quitting is easy. Its hard, very hard. But since you know that by now, you are prepared for it.

Also, now you begin to notice the smell of smoke. You will find yourself getting intolerant of cigarette smoke.

You will notice how, if someone smokes in your apartment or office, the smell can linger on for DAYS. It is also the time to turn into an evangelist and induce others to stop smoking.

Are you ready to quit smoking?

We can take this quit smoking journey together and make real progress to a healthier life.

This concludes Part two of the Don't Quit Smoking Series