First time visiting – my kind of place !!!
Sun Salutation Wrap !!! Yum!
Srivatsa Ramaswami was a direct student of late Krishnamacharya (known as father of modern yoga) for over 30 years. Other than Krishnamacharya’s son, TKV Desikachar, Ramaswami is probably one of the oldest students, outside of Krishnamacharya’s family. In one of the workshops “Yoga for Internal Organs”, I had the luck of attending, Ramaswami commented how there are people who embrace practice of meditation only and feel no need for other more physical movement based practice, but he says, “it’s both”. You need both. AND true yoga practice is just that – most people associate yoga with just pretzel poses but that’s just one of eight limbs – meditation and pranayama practice is just as important and should be weaved into that “yoga” practice of our’s. Here’s some definitions straight from Wikipedia on Neuroplasticity … which is about how we are empowered to heal and regenerate ourselves – Yoga can play a big part in that process, I am learning.
Meditation
A number of studies have linked meditation practice to differences in cortical thickness or density of gray matter. One of the most well-known studies to demonstrate this was led by Sara Lazar, from Harvard University, in 2000. Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin, has led experiments in cooperation with the Dalai Lama on effects of meditation on the brain. His results suggest that long-term, or short-term practice of meditation results in different levels of activity in brain regions associated with such qualities as attention, anxiety, depression, fear, anger, the ability of the body to heal itself, and so on. These functional changes may be caused by changes in the physical structure of the brain.Fitness and exercise
Aerobic exercise promotes adult neurogenesis by increasing the production of neurotrophic factors (compounds which promote the growth or survival of neurons), such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), insulin-like growth factor, and vascular endothelial growth factor. Exercise-induced neurogenesis in the hippocampus is associated with measurable improvements in spatial memory.Consistent aerobic exercise over a period of several months induces marked clinically significant improvements in executive function (i.e., the “cognitive control” of behavior) and increased gray matter volume in multiple brain regions, particularly those which give rise to cognitive control.The brain structures that show the greatest improvements in gray matter volume in response to aerobic exercise are the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus;moderate improvements seen in the anterior cingulate cortex, parietal cortex, cerebellum, caudate nucleus, and nucleus accumbens.Higher physical fitness scores (measured by VO2 max) are associated with better executive function, faster processing speed, and greater volume of the hippocampus, caudate nucleus, and nucleus accumbens.
– excerpt from wikipedia
I am so in awe of YOGA because the practice in so many different styles covers both: the need for stillness as well as need for movement – both yielding the benefit of meditation when you engage in yoga. Yoga does not fix any particular disease, illness or a condition; BUT the person engaged in the practice of yoga changes – the PERSON, the practitioner changes – it’s not a cure of the condition but … it’s getting to the person; not the illness. It’s not a prescription – but healing that’s self-generated … in short, it’s a discovery of yourself as a healer of self and then … the world around you. You are the healer when you listen to your inner wisdom and connect to the higher self.
