Posts Tagged ‘participants’

Yoga May Help with Irregular Heartbeat

April 18th, 2011 kate

D20a.jpgoes yoga steady your heartrate?

A new study out of The University of Kansas shows that yoga decreases episodes of cardiac arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat whose symptoms can include chest pains, dizziness, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath.

The research was conducted by Jeannie Drisko, MD and Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy, MD. (The latter grew up in India with a yoga-teacher father.) Here’s what they did: Participants with arrhythmia spent three months doing their normal exercise routines. Over the next three months, they attended three yoga classes a week, which included pranayama, asanas, meditation, and relaxation.

At the end of the study, not only did the frequency of irregular heartbeat episodes decrease, but the participants also reported less anxiety and depression. Lakkireddy says:

“These
findings are important because many of the current conventional
treatment strategies for atrial fibrillation include invasive procedures
or medications with undesirable side effects.

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Study: Meditation Changes Your Brain

February 7th, 2011 levis25

hst060.jpgScience has spoken.

A new study published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging shows that subjects who meditated 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had
measurable changes in parts of the brain
associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress.

According to an article in The New York Times, “How Meditation May Change the Brain:”

M.R.I. brain scans taken before and after the participants’ meditation
regimen found increased gray matter in the hippocampus, an area
important for learning and memory. The images also showed a reduction of
gray matter in the amygdala, a region connected to anxiety and stress. A
control group that did not practice meditation showed no such changes.

We want to know: Meditation improves your memory, makes you feel better about yourself, and reduces stress. What is holding you back from meditating?

Read the whole story on:http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/

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Lessons from the Sweat Lodge Tragedy

October 26th, 2009 wynona

By now most of us have heard about the tragic Spiritual Warrior retreat and sweat lodge in Arizona that resulted in three deaths and dozens more hospitalizations. The retreat, led by James Author Ray, was meant to facilitate the “spiritual cleansing” of the 60 participants. It seems the participants pushed themselves too far in an attempt to reach their spiritual goals.

It’s something we can all relate to as yoga students. Bay Area yoga teacher Katchie Ananda wrote a column in the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday that I think draws an important parallel.

“As a spiritual seeker, I’m very aware of the “edge,” the place where we
push ourselves past our comfort zone, to let go of old patterns and
explore a bigger potential. In a culture that is focused on comfort,
that’s often an important exercise,” writes Ananda. “But how far should we push
ourselves or encourage our students to push?”

Have you ever pushed yourself too far in yoga class–physically, mentally, or spiritually? And how can you tell that it’s time to back off?

Read the whole story on:http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/

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