Breathing and the Diaphragm

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“In yoga, deep breathing is part of the practice of Pranayama. In Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, prana is the vital energy or life force; it also refers to respiration. Ayama means length, expansion, and extension, and conveys the idea of restraint, control, and stopping. According to B.K.S. Iyengar, Pranayama also means communication, expansion, or dimension. When practicing Pranayama, one slows down the rate of breathing and expands chest and lung capacity. Pranayama is an integral step in the eight-limbed path of yoga, Astanga Yoga, which strives to bring consciousness to mind and body, and finally, freedom.” – Dalia Zwick from The Diaphragm in Iyengar Yoga Pranayama and Physical Therapy

READ MORE ON BREATHING AND THE DIAPHRAGM:

http://www.bandhayoga.com/keys_access.html

http://www.bandhayoga.com/keys_access2.html

https://iynaus.org/yoga-samachar/springsummer-2010/diaphragm-iyengar-yoga-pranayama-and-physical-therapy

http://breakingmuscle.com/cycling/how-to-activate-your-diaphragm-to-improve-breathing-and-performance

The Vagus Nerve

What is the vagus nerve? Vagus means “wandering” in Latin. It’s a nerve that drops right out of the base of your brain and wanders to all your viscera. It is the nerve that controls the parasympathetic nervous system and relaxation response. And you can consciously activate your vagus nerve. Yup, you have direct control over how relaxed you feel. Below are several articles I’ve come across over the years that were interesting. I hope you do too. Read on to find out more about your vagus nerve.

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FROM PSYCHOLOGY TODAY:

“Visceral feelings and gut instincts are literally emotional intuitions transferred up to your brain via the vagus nerve. In previous studies, signals from the vagus nerve traveling from the gut to the brain have been linked to modulating mood and distinctive types of fear and anxiety.

As with any mind-body feedback loop, messages also travel “downstream” from your conscious mind through the vagus nerve (via efferent nerves) signaling your organs to create an inner-calm so you can “rest-and-digest” during times of safety, or to prepare your body for “fight-or-flight” in dangerous situations.”

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201405/how-does-the-vagus-nerve-convey-gut-instincts-the-brain

“Healthy vagal tone is indicated by a slight increase of heart rate when you inhale, and a decrease of heart rate when you exhale. Deep diaphragmatic breathing—with a long, slow exhale—is key to stimulating the vagus nerve and slowing heart rate and blood pressure, especially in times of performance anxiety. A higher vagal tone index is linked to physical and psychological well-being. A low vagal tone index is linked to inflammation, negative moods, loneliness, and heart attacks.”

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201302/the-neurobiology-grace-under-pressure

FROM ÉIRIU EOLAS (Irish Gaelic for “Growth of Knowledge”):

“One of the best means of inducing a relaxation response is through diaphragmatic breathing: inhaling deeply through the chest and virtually into the stomach. Engaging the diaphragm may be the key to inducing a relaxation response through deep breathing because the diaphragm’s close proximity to the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is a cranial nerve which supplies approximately 75 percent of all parasympathetic fibers to the rest of the body, and may be stimulated through diaphragmatic movement. Conversely, thoracic breathing that is limited to the chest cavity is associated with the sympathetic branch stress response.”

http://eiriu-eolas.org/tag/vagus-nerve/

“Well, by activating the vagus nerve, you can control your immune cells, reduce inflammation, and even prevent disease and aging!”

http://eiriu-eolas.org/2013/06/15/activating-the-vagus-nerve/

 

FROM THE HEALTH MATRIX:

“The vagus nerve is the heart of the parasympathetic nervous system, the anti-stress system. The vagus nerve is your calming and relaxing nerve which goes from your brain and down to your abdomen, dividing itself into multiple branches that reach your throat, your heart, and all your viscera.”

http://health-matrix.net/2013/08/06/heart-attacks-cfs-herpes-virus-infection-and-the-vagus-nerve/

FROM IEEE SPECTRUM:

Here’s a very interesting article on Vagus Nerve stimulation to treat epilepsy, heart failure, stroke, arthritis, and a half dozen other ailments:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/the-vagus-nerve-a-back-door-for-brain-hacking

Are Thoughts More Important?

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Thoughts, just like food, have to be digested. We have to process them. When we process information it leaves us with something useful that will be assimilated, and something not so useful that needs to be eliminated. This process is very clear when we take in food – we assimilate and eliminate. But because we rely so heavily on our eyes and we can’t see our thoughts, it’s not as clear. Some of us rely so heavily on our eyes in fact we think we are our bodies (we are so much more). And some of us even think we live in the external world (we don’t). We live in our minds. And your mind can either be your friend or your enemy, it can be a place of freedom or imprisonment. You get to choose. If you want to be healthy, if you want to feel good and live in a way that makes you happy you need to talk to yourself in a loving way and you need to have happy thoughts. I mean this literally. Look at how you talk to yourself, how you feel about yourself and if it is negative or critical in a harmful way you have got to learn to change it. Because, I’ll tell you a little secret, that voice that is saying those nasty things – that is not your voice. It’s somebody else’s voice you picked up along the way. Your natural voice is a loving voice. You can look at babies and small children and know this to be true.

READ THE ENTIRE BLOG HERE

Yoga Travels

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While rest and relaxation are incredibly therapeutic in their own right we increase their healing benefits exponentially by practicing in nature. 2016 we went to Little Corn Island, 40 miles off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. June 2017 we traveled to Mexico in June for the ultimate R & R at Haramara. And December 2017 we took a very special, once-in-a-lifetime trip, deep into the Amazon Rainforest. Stay tuned for upcoming retreats.

Find Your Ayurvedic Dosha

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There are a lot of tests out there to help you find your Ayurvedic dosha. It’s a good idea to take several tests and look for consistencies. To be absolutely sure though you must find a good Ayurvedic practitioner and have them help you determine your Prakruti and Vikruti so that you can start making wiser choices for yourself. Prakruti is your natural born constitution. Vikruti is your current constitution. Ayurveda aims to get your body and your mind from Vikruti back to Prakruti.

One of my favorite quizzes can be found here.

MORE AVY ON AYURVEDA

Mindful Awareness Research

UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) is an incredible resource for slowing down. They offer free weekly classes! Their mission is “to foster mindful awareness across the lifespan through education and research to promote well-being and a more compassionate society”

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Mindful awareness can be defined as paying attention to present moment experiences with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to be with what is. It is a necessary antidote to the stresses of modern times. It invites us to stop, breathe, observe, and connect with one’s inner experience.

VISIT UCLA’S MINDFUL AWARENESS RESEARCH CENTER

The Psoas

psoasXmajorThere is so much information out there on the psoas muscle. What is most interesting to me recently is the connection between psoas health and the mind.

“It is entirely possible to harness healing pranic energy and improve mental health by keeping the psoas healthy… The psoas is much more than a muscle used for structural stability. It influences every element of life, from how you feel, to how you look at the world, and even how you treat others.”

http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/this-muscle-of-the-soul-may-be-triggering-your-fear-anxiety/

Stop Listening to Your Yoga Teacher

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I teach yoga for a living. I try to remind them that they should listen to themselves first and me second. As a teacher you’d think teaching myself would be easy. It’s not. The self-critical voice that tells me I’m not good enough, or the judgmental voice that likes to look at what’s wrong with stuff rather than what’s right always gets in the way. The best and simplest way I know how to be my own best teacher is to get still. Really still. And I don’t mean just stillness of body, but stillness of mind. It is in that stillness where I can hear myself more clearly. When you stop that incessant train of noise barreling through your head, when you can find the gap between the thoughts, there is a voice worth listening to. But that voice is below the surface. And most of us are too damn busy to even pay attention. You are not your thoughts. Thoughts are superficial experiences you have. Thoughts are the waves on top of the ocean. The stuff worth exploring is below the surface. It’s in the depths of the ocean, and being still is how I most easily access that space. It takes practice. And it is not an easy practice, but it is a worthwhile practice. Everything you desire is already there – it’s inside you. Being still takes courage and vulnerability and it requires you to tap into the side of yourself that doesn’t have all the answers. The world does not teach us how to do this. You must teach yourself. So do yourself a favor and stop listening to your yoga teacher. Start listening to yourself. If you don’t, no one else will.

READ THE ENTIRE BLOG HERE

Liberated Body

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Liberated Body is “100% in service of helping people to reduce or eliminate pain, normalize range of motion, and embrace their body’s full potential by returning it to the happy, fully functional, badass state that is its birthright.”

Here you will find some nice articles on fascia, chronic pain and so much more:

Visit Liberated Body’s Site

MEDITATION

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Turns out being relaxed is good for us. We have access to our higher creative brain, we are more likely to be present, our peripheral vision opens, you become more sensitive to the world and most importantly it feels really good to be relaxed. Meditation is a great tool to get there. Meditation has been around for thousands of years and it seems only recently we are waking up to the profound transformation it allows. From lowering blood pressure to reducing stress to restoring the brain. In fact, the body can heal itself given the opportunity (time spent in a deeply relaxed state). There is a ton of research being done on the effects of being still and meditating. The neuroscience behind what’s happening during mediation is fascinating. This is an area of ever expanding awareness, so the following articles are only a brief introduction to the vast nature of the mind. Hope you enjoy.

http://www.feelguide.com/2014/11/19/harvard-unveils-mri-study-proving-meditation-literally-rebuilds-the-brains-gray-matter-in-8-weeks/

http://www.mindful.org/the-science/neuroscience/your-brain-on-meditation

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain/

http://thehigherlearning.com/2014/11/30/harvard-mri-study-shows-that-meditation-rebuilds-brains-gray-matter-in-just-8-weeks/