Page 15 - Mangwanani Magazine June 2020 Edition

After losing my father to cancer, I began researching the
effects of yoga and positive thinking on the brain. I hope
these ndings inspire you to slow down, enjoy each
moment like it’s your last, and to breathe.
The Breakdown

A Stressed Mind = Stressed Muscles = Negative and
Anxious Thoughts
A Calm Mind = Relaxed Muscles = Positive and Uplifting
Thoughts

We are taught to think, feel, and react the way that we
do when life starts to get us down. It’s normal to be
tough on oneself and continually search for external
solutions. But there is good news: You already possess
all the power, skill, and necessary components needed
to completely alter the way your brain works… all the
power needed to change your life for the better!
The Yoga Connection
The Science
Yoga is all about taking what we learn on the mat (all
If the endless bookshelves of self-help books, millions of
the things we’ve discussed here today: deep breathing,
online quotes, and thousand-dollar seminars aren’t
softening muscles, clearing the mind, and enjoying the
enough to prove the importance of happy thoughts,
present moment) and bringing it into our daily lives.
deep breathing, and learning to de-stress and slow
These are the techniques that break bad habits,
down, maybe the scientic evidence will persuade you
eliminate negativity, and diminish stress, studies have
to make some small changes that will come with
found. The powerful effects of meditation on the brain
life-long effects. Think about this: Our thoughts and
are often subjects of medical studies and new scientic
actions really do change the chemical composition our
research is released daily about the practice’s
brains. When we practice deep, slow breathing, relax
neurological benets. Yoga and meditation decrease
our muscles, and think positive thoughts, we are actually
stress, depression, and anxiety while increasing
rewiring the brain. Alex Korb, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral
happiness and the overall quality of life.
researcher in neuroscience who studies how yoga
affects stress and the brain. He shares that “the specic
Start Now!
thoughts you have may differ, but the brain regions Take ten minutes every day to meditate, bringing your
involved, and the physiological response will be the focus inward. It’s really easy—just breathe. Sign up for a
same. The physiological stress response means an yoga class or deepen your current practice. Big
increase in heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tension, changes don’t happen overnight, and habits don’t
and elevation of cortisol and other stress hormones.” change instantaneously. Stick with it for a month and
Sounds familiar, right? Our current response to stress feels watch your life change and transform. Remember, think
normal and hard to combat, because they are habits positive thoughts, take deep slow breaths, and let your
that most likely were picked up when you were young, muscles (especially the shoulders and jaw) relax. Love
witnessing your parents’ responses to stress. By the time your yoga brain!
we become adults we have absorbed these same
habits. Our brain currently knows how to react to stress,
love, challenge, and struggle. It is referred to as “our
response factor.”The good news is we are able to alter
our “response factor” and break away from old habits
that impair us from being the best versions of ourselves.
The secret: yoga and meditation!