What are the effects of meditation & mindfulness, according to the latest scientific research? What’s it good for? And while we’re at it, what’s the difference between meditation and mindfulness anyway?
Information is Beautiful is an independent collective of professional researchers, data journalists and designers dedicating to visualizing solid data, great information and mind-expanding knowledge.
They have reviewed 75+ studies and compiled all the evidence in one graphic and datasheet. Check out their site here.
The new era is coming into focus. No longer are we going to the gyms, eating out in restaurants, or gathering in shared air or public spaces with people who don’t live in our house. To accommodate this new normal AVY is offering Live Zoom classes multiple times a week. Classes are designed for relaxation, stretching, and slowing down.
“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
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.
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.”
“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.”
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.”
“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.”
THE SPIRIT OF TATÁ is the story of an Amazonian shaman, a tribe’s efforts to learn all they can from their dying elder, and a celebration of the extraordinary life and spirit of Tatá.
At 103 years-old, Tatá was one of the oldest shamans in the Amazon and was responsible for safeguarding the tribe’s spiritual legacy through the difficult years of colonization and interference by the rubber tappers and missionaries. Reaching near extinction in the mid-1980s, the Yawanawá decided to expel the missions and it was Tatá who helped to lead a revival of their cultural and spiritual practices, taking on apprentices and students to learn the legends, ceremonies, music, healing ways, and sacred plant knowledge that had been kept secret in the hearts and minds of a small handful of shamans and elders during the mission period.
THE SPIRIT OF TATA follows Tatá’s final days—a historic and challenging moment for the tribe as they face losing their beloved elder and greatest living library of spiritual knowledge and power. Surrounded by the ongoing vigil of his family and students, we witness Tatá continuing to share his teachings from his death bed – hoping to ensure the transfer of traditional knowledge to the next generation. This story is emblematic of a story happening around the world – the story of cultures losing their elders while struggling to recover and revive their ancient languages and traditions before they are lost forever. The film aims to wake up modern audiences to the inherent and vital need to preserve, protect, and support the continuation of indigenous peoples and knowledge for the sake of all life on earth.
HEADSTRONG™ MEDITATION PODCASTS are a series of meditations I created for Equinox. A selection are available at equinox.com/meditation. Also available on the Equinox app. Listen. Breathe. Reset.
“HeadStrong meditation program, a series of calming guided meditations led by honey-voiced instructor Amber Voiles, based in Los Angeles, including anxiety-reducing meditations created specifically for this moment.”
This pose is always done on the left side (to support the lymphatic, digestive & circulatory systems of the body). Push your back into the couch so you’re snuggled in tight & make sure your left shoulder is in front of you rather than under you (so you’re lying on the shoulder blade rather than shoulder head). Put pillows between the legs, under the head and in front (so you have the option to hug something). Cover yourself up. And cook for at least 20 minutes. Yum.
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.
Below are incredible resources about relaxation to help you better understand what is happening to the body and mind during my classes. I will be adding to this list, so if you have favorites email me @ ambervoilesyoga@gmail.com.
