yoga

Instead of Punishment, This School Teaches Mindfulness and Yoga — With Stunning Results

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Back in the 70s, during my grammar school years, I vividly remember a disturbing incident. I was in the school office when I heard the male principal screaming at a student behind a closed door. I don’t know what the student had done to be on the receiving end of such a rant, but I do remember my heart racing and a feeling of terror that the anger would somehow be turned toward me. Needless to say, I high-tailed it out of that office as quickly as possible, relieved to have escaped. The thing is, this scenario was considered utterly ‘normal’. Thankfully, corporeal punishment wasn’t practiced in my school, which would have been far more terrifying.

Kids Yoga

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, many students can relate to this story today. Corporeal punishment is alive and well in 19 states throughout America, with many schools resorting to increasingly harsh measures to deal with unruly students. But studies have shown, time and again, that verbal and physical punishment simply don’t work — both actually cause more behavioral problems in the long-run. There has to be a better way — and a Baltimore-based organization thinks it’s found the answer: empowering communities and schools through yoga, mindfulness and self-care practices.

Changing Young Lives for the Better with Mindfulness Practices

“Imagine this… instead of sending your children to their room kicking and screaming, taking away their iPad for a week, or giving them a time-out in the corner, you ask them to spend a few minutes alone to meditate and work through the anger, frustration, stress, or other emotions causing them to act out.

“This new form of discipline is now a huge success at several schools, and those schools are seeing some major changes among students.”

~ Sandi Schwartz in “Can Teaching Kids Mindfulness Replace Discipline?”

Robert W. Coleman Elementary School in Baltimore, United States, doesn’t have a detention room or an active punishment policy for disruptive kids. Instead, there is a Mindful Moment room, where students are encouraged to participate breathing practices or meditation to “calm down and re-center.” They are also given the opportunity to talk through what happened with specially trained aides.

Created in partnership with the Holistic Life Foundation, a local nonprofit organization that focuses on nurturing wellness of children and adults in underserved communities, the Mindful Moment room has significantly helped reduce the rate of suspensions — with exactly zero in 2015, and none so far this year. For over ten years, the foundation has also run the Holistic Me program, which offers after-school mindfulness and yoga classes for kids from pre-kindergarten through the fifth grade.

The Mindful Moment room is filled with lamps, plush pillows and bean bags — a far cry from the usual bleak, windowless detention rooms of the past. Essentially, it’s a space where students are safe and supported as they learn deep breathing exercises, meditation and mindfulness techniques.

“It’s amazing,” said Kirk Philips, the Holistic Me coordinator at Robert W. Coleman. “You wouldn’t think that little kids would meditate in silence. And they do.” [source]

Not only are suspensions now nonexistent, but students themselves are recognizing the benefits of the program.

“Before a big exam, one 5th grader talks of using breathing techniques: ”I took deep breaths to stay calm and just finish the test. When everybody around you is making a lot of noises just trying to tune them out… and be yourself, do your breathing.” [source]

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Another student used the exercises he learned through the school program when he was angry at home.

“This morning I got mad at my Dad, but then I remembered to breathe and then I didn’t shout.” [source]

Andres Gonzales, co-founder of Holistic Life Foundation, adds:

“We’ve had parents tell us, ‘I came home the other day stressed out, and my daughter said, “Hey, Mom, you need to sit down. I need to teach you how to breathe”.’ [source]

The foundation also tutors and mentors the kids, along with educating them about the environment. Students are involved in cleaning up nearby parks, creating gardens and visiting local farms. They also train kids to help run yoga sessions as co-teachers.

Whichever way we look at these programs of mindfulness, yoga and empowerment, they’re nothing less than a win-win — for the students, school and community as a whole.

Women’s Sexual Freedom and Enjoyment is Being Hijacked: 30 Million Women Want To Know Why

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30 million women in the United States are suffering from chronic pelvic pain.  Which means that 30 million women are suffering from debilitating and embarrassing symptoms such as urine leaking, painful sex, weak or non-existent orgasms and pelvic organ prolapse. (1-3) This is the silent female health epidemic that no one is talking about  

I often wonder why is it that women are continuously relegated to the sidelines and many times ignored and mistreated by doctors. Is it gender bias stereotypes? Is it ignorance? Is it the “not in my back yard syndrome” or is it simply conditioning that needs to be shattered?

Regardless of the reasons, women who suffer from chronic pelvic pain find themselves isolated and depressed. A substantial number of these women report low quality of life and secondary symptoms such as depression, anxiety, low libido and difficulties in their sexual relationships. (4-6)

Who wouldn’t be depressed, if every time they coughed, sneezed, jumped or laughed they leaked urine, or if every attempt at love making made them cringe at the thought of the pain, or if little things like lifting your kids or carrying groceries increased pressure so much inside your privates that you held back from an active life and doing the things that bring you joy.

The medical community, pharmaceutical and the media have sold women a bill of goods. There’s a belief that the only way to fix our “lady parts” problems is through surgeries, medications or pills, and it’s not our fault that we have been conditioned to think this way. After 14,704 pelvic healings, I see women who’ve received experimental drugs, Botox injections to their vaginal walls, and mesh surgeries that failed. Frankly, the side effects of these drugs and surgeries are many times worse than the symptoms the women were originally feeling. (7)

In fact, most doctors don’t understand how to treat chronic pelvic pain naturally and are still putting a band-aide on women’s pain and pelvic health by recommending opioids, surgeries and vaginal Botox injections, all of which have vey little evidence as to their efficacy and carry high risk associated with them. (8) In my NYC healing center, women report to me that their doctors have downplayed their symptoms and some doctors have actually told them “your pain is in your head,” or “go home, relax and have a glass of wine.”

There’s confusion among doctors because typically the lady parts in women who suffer from chronic pelvic pain look normal. In actuality, 40% of all gynecologic laparoscopies surgeries are performed to determine the cause of chronic pelvic pain and up to 15% of women of all women go to their doctors because of chronic pelvic issues.  So women are doing their best to find answers to their female problems, but the medical industry is falling short. Doctors are rarely taught about the pelvic floor in medical school, so they so often lack the education and expertise to help these women naturally. They resort to what they know, pills, surgeries and injections. (9) Most of the pelvic surgeries in my opinion are unnecessary. Even the most astute doctors overlook the real culprit of women’s pelvic pain, leaking, prolapse and abdominal pain… “the pelvic floor muscles.”

Our pelvic floor muscles or vaginal muscles are highly innervated, vascularized, and complex, and are susceptible to injuries.  The pelvic floor muscles are involved in what I call the 5 functions of life. They support our organs, close off our urinary sphincters, enhance sexual function, stabilize our hips and spine and act as a sump pump for the pelvis. The pelvic floor muscles or the vaginal muscles are also the deep connectors to the upper and lower extremities and when there’s an issue with them, such as scaring from births, episiotomies, spasms, trigger points or they are too weak or too tight, they can contribute to symptoms such as urinary and fecal incontinence, sexual pain, pelvic organ prolapse and low to non-existent orgasms.(10)

Research has shown that very few doctors, during routine gynecological exams, perform a digital exam of the pelvic floor muscles, the area where the women are experiencing most of their pain and symptoms. (11)

Here’s the truth –  your lady’s parts can be healed through integrative and holistic practices that include massages, exercises, yoga, and meditation and mindfulness training.(12,13)As a matter of fact, The Center For Disease Control and National Institutes of Health have recommended natural therapies such as pelvic floor muscle training as the fist line of defense in resolving symptoms related to leaking and pain.(14,15) As a woman who suffered from chronic pelvic pain and leaking after the birth of my daughter, and as a woman whom the medical community failed, I knew I had to change the conversation around pelvic healing. I scoured the earth, educated myself and read hundreds of research papers and books. I had to go deep into my own pelvic floor healing to find natural ways to heal and cure myself from my own debilitating condition.  You might be thinking how did she do it? I did it through natural and integrative therapies such as pelvic massages, exercises, breath work, yoga, meditation, bodywork, and mindfulness.  We all know the value of eastern medicine and also know that traditional physical therapy works for many ailments. These therapies such as yoga, mindfulness, massage and acupuncture can also be applied to lady parts with tremendous success.(16) The great news is that with the proper guidance you can learn how to do the massages, exercises and techniques on your own and conquer your pelvic condition naturally, and become the most vibrant and pain-free version of yourself.

Yoga Offers Supportive Care for Lung Cancer Patients

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the pros and cons of exercise for lung cancer patients, Chinese researchers suggested that studies on physical activity in this patient population focus on methods such as Tai Chi and yoga.

Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston answered that call with a feasibility study of a dyadic yoga program for lung cancer patients and their caregivers, which was presented at the ASCO 2017 Palliative and Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium in San Diego.

 The Reading Room checked in with lead investigator Kathrin Milbury, PhD, on the results of the study, and also with physical therapist and yoga therapist Jaimie Perkunas, DPT, founder of Yoga is Therapy in Tucson, Arizona, on how lung cancer specialists can guide their patients to the appropriate yoga programs.

Partner Poses

Milbury’s group looked at the effects of their intervention on quality of life (QoL) and physical function versus a waitlist control group. Patients in the study had stage I-III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and were undergoing 25 fractions or more of intensity-modulated radiation therapy for 6 weeks.

“This program was particularly designed to address physical symptoms (e.g., dyspnea, fatigue) and psychological needs (e.g., distress, blame) common among lung cancer patients and their caregivers, a vulnerable yet understudied population,” the team wrote in a 2015 paper.

The dyadic yoga program was based on the Vivekananda yoga program. MD Anderson has an ongoing research collaboration with the Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (VYASA), a yoga research foundation and university in Bangalore, India, Milbury noted.

 “The Vivekananda program allows us to tailor our yoga interventions to the type of cancer, so the program for the breast cancer patients is different than for the lung cancer patients. Some of the other yoga schools, like Iyengar, tend to be a bit more rigid, while other types of yoga are too fast moving. This program lets us adapt the sequence of physical postures to the patient populations’ needs.”

The yoga program consisted of 15, 60-minute sessions with four main components:

  • Joint loosening with mindfulness training
  • Physical postures (called asanas) paired with deep relaxation techniques
  • Breath work (called pranayama) with sound resonance
  • Meditation and guided imagery

“With these patients undergoing radiation, we wanted to focus on keeping the upper chest flexible,” Milbury said of the asana work. “We focused on a lot of chest-opening exercises to loosen up the muscles around the lungs. In general, there was more emphasis on stretching the upper body.”

As for the meditation and guided imagery, “we also focused on the needs of the population. Most of these patients are smokers, and with smoking-related etiology, there tends to be a lot of self-blame. So we focused on the idea of self-acceptance — compassion toward self and their partners.”

Sessions were jointly attended by the 26 pairs of patients and caregivers. The mean age of patients was 66.7, while the mean age of caregivers was 59.3. The vast majority of patients had stage IIIA and IIIB disease, with 57% having an ECOG status of 1.

 The dyads in the intervention group attended a mean of 12 sessions, with 65% attending a dozen or more. All participants rated components of the yoga program as very beneficial or beneficial, the researchers reported.

In terms of efficacy outcomes for the intervention, there was a statistically and clinically significant improvement for patients based on the 6 Minute Walk Test or 6MWT (478 m for the yoga mean versus 402 m for the control group (>70 m3, P<0.05).

The intervention patients also reported significant improvements in QoL domains, including physical function, stamina, and mental health (P<0.05), and clinically significant differences in symptoms at the end of radiotherapy, such as less distress, sadness, dyspnea, and fatigue, as well as better sleep.

One of the potential adverse events of radiotherapy in lung cancer patients is acute radiation pneumonitis, and the breathing techniques in the yoga program offered any benefits for patients who experienced symptoms such as breathlessness and cough.

“We found that the yoga intervention buffered against an increase in breathlessness,” Milbury said. “We weren’t able to eliminate this adverse event, but we were able to significantly buffer against it. Also, some patients experienced coughing, so we modified some of the yoga program components. For example, for some patients, lying flat on the ground in a supine position induced coughing, so we modified by propping their head up and so forth.”

As for the caregivers, “marginally to clinically significant” differences were seen in vitality (VT) and role performance (RP) versus waitlist controls, the authors noted. However, they pointed out that “based on dyadic analyses, [caregivers’] increase in VT and RP were significantly associated with patients’ 6MWT (P<0.01).”

While the randomized, controlled study was deemed feasible, study limitations included the racially homogenous sample (89% white patients; 100% white caregivers), the lack of a stringent control group, and the small sample size.

Milbury said the group is now in the process of seeking funding for an efficacy trial with a more stringent control group.

“We’ve known for some time that yoga can have a wide range of benefits for people who practice it,” commented Andrew S. Epstein, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, a designated ASCO expert. “Ideally, the findings of this study will encourage people with advanced cancer and their caregivers to practice yoga.”

Into Practice

According to a 2014 Canadian study on yoga for health-related QoL, “patients across groups reported strong preferences for the following components of yoga: small class sizes, cancer-specific group, stretching, breathing practices, meditation, and physical postures for strength conditioning and restorative poses.”

While MD Anderson offers an in-house yoga program with classes that meet those criteria, many lung cancer patients will have to seek yoga outside their care facility. Given the incredible popularity of yoga – now estimated to be a $27 billion industry with more than 20 million practitioners in the U.S. alone — and the wide variety of yoga styles, how can lung cancer specialists best guide their patients to appropriate classes?

Milbury suggested that patients avoid yoga classes that contain the labels “power,” “hot,” or “flow,” as these will most likely be too vigorous for lung cancer patients. She also said patients may want to steer clear of gym-based classes versus those held at a dedicated yoga studio, as the latter will likely mean more individual attention. And she advised clinicians to emphasize that a patient should discuss the class style with the yoga teacher prior to attending.

Finally, “I’d recommend staying in the realm of gentle yoga,” she explained. “It’s also important that the yoga class focus on breathing exercises. Unfortunately in the West, a lot of the yoga classes are very focused on strengthening. That’s good to an extent, because lung cancer patients do experience deconditioning, so some strengthening is good, but the chest openers and breathing exercises have a lot of benefit for this population.”

Perkunas cautioned that sometimes classes called gentle can still be in the “flow” style, which consists of moving from one pose to the next fairly quickly. She advised directing patients to certified yoga therapists, through organizations such as the International Association of Yoga Therapists.

‘Yoga Therapy’ vs ‘Yoga’

What’s the difference between yoga therapy and yoga? As explained by yoga therapist Gary Kraftsow, writing in Yoga International, yoga therapy “fundamentally focuses on … clients’ needs. [A yoga therapist’s] job is to understand why their clients have come to see them and determine what they can do to support them … Therapists look for ways to help their clients reduce or manage their symptoms, improve their function, and help them with their attitude in relation to their health conditions … therapists choose yoga techniques in relation to how they will specifically benefit individual clients.”

Perkunas explained that when she has worked with lung cancer patients, they generally come to her post-treatment: “They are looking for a way regain a sense of trust with their bodies — to get back in touch with their bodies after this life-changing event.”

While she and the patients will often focus on asanas that promote chest opening, they will also look for ways to rebuild overall strength and mobility. But patients aren’t necessarily looking to improve QoL directly, Perkunas added.

“When I’ve worked with lung cancer patients, they are more interested in managing their physical symptoms — aches, pains. As a result of their ongoing [yoga] practice, they often notice they sleep better, they have less anxiety, they feel more relaxed. So these are benefits that come with a yoga practice, but they aren’t necessarily the person’s primary interest.”

Perkunas advised that clinicians focus more on yoga to regain strength and mindfulness: “Be careful not to set up expectations that yoga will fix or cure their symptoms. Yoga is not a cure-all, but it is an effective management tool for symptoms.”

Finally, Perkunas pointed out that yoga does have a spiritual and philosophical component to it that may not appeal to all patients. She suggested having patients experience a variety of yoga teachers to determine which style of teaching works best for them. Again, directing patients to a dedicated yoga therapy class may be the best option.

Of course, cost may be an issue as patients are likely to have to pay out-of-pocket. “I have people who call me and, after talking, we determine that I charge more than they are willing to pay,” Perkunas noted. “I’ll refer them to classes in the community, with teachers that I trust, that may be better for their budget. Asking around in your community is a route to finding an appropriate class.”

11 Things Better than Drugs or Supplements for Healing

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11 Things Better than Drugs or Supplements for Healing

Natural medicine doesn’t just involve “nutraceuticals,” but extends to modalities like yoga and acupuncture that an increasing body of peer-reviewed research shows can be superior to drugs. 

Natural medicine is an amazing field, full of inspiring stories and an ever-accumulating body of scientific research to support its increasingly popular views on health. In fact, at GreenMedInfo.com we specialize in dredging up from the National Library of Medicine’s 27-million citation deep, seemingly oceanic database, highly promising clinical pearls indicating not only the value of natural substances in disease prevention and treatment, but sometimes their clear superiority versus drugs. Considering correctly prescribed medications are one of the top 3 causes of death, what’s not to like about safe, effective food-based alternative like that?

But our project, and natural medicine at large, is not without its challenges, one of which is that it is quite easy to get caught up in the allopathic model of treating surface symptoms, albeit naturally.  This ‘natural allopathy,’ if you will, entices people to look for ‘natural cure’ shortcuts and Band-Aids (‘nutraceuticals’) instead of address the deeper issues associated with avoiding, limiting and addressing environmental exposures, reducing stress, and improving diet and exercise, for instance. In a culture that pops hundreds of millions of doses of drugs and supplements on a daily basis, it is increasingly difficult to break free from the powerful psychological pull to ingest something — be it a natural or synthetic “magic pill”; its effects real or imagined — instead of address the underlying problems.

This is also why part of our project is to identify peer-reviewed published research from biomedical journals indicating that there are therapeutic actions, from walking to yoga, dietary changes to exercising, that are at least as effective and often superior to conventional drug-based treatments.

So, here is a good smattering of data that edifies the notion that sometimes, we do not need to “take anything” to stimulate our body’s innate self-healing abilities, as non-invasive therapies – including doing nothing (i.e. watchful waiting) — can accomplish favorable results:

  1. Colored light versus Benzyl peroxide for Acne: A combination of blue and red light irradiation therapy was found superior to 5% benzoyl peroxide in treating acne vulgaris without side effects. [i] Another study found blue light irradiation therapy alone as effective as 5% benzyl peroxide in the treatment of acne, but with fewer side effects.[ii]
  2. Dietary changes versus Drug Treatment for Hypertension: A high fiber, low sodium, low fat diet is superior to the beta-blocker drug metoprolol in hypertensive type 2 diabetic subjects. [iii]
  3. Acupuncture and moxibustion versus pharmaceutical treatment for Sudden Deafness: Acupuncture and moxibustion therapy was found to be superior in treating sudden deafness as compared with the routine drug-based therapy.[iv]
  4. Acupuncture versus Drug Treatment for treating Migraines: Acupuncture treatment exhibited greater effectiveness than drug therapy with flunarizine in the first months of therapy for migraine and with superior tolerability.[v]
  5. Dietary changes versus high-dose steroid for Crohn’s disease: An elemental diet is as effective as high dose steroid treatment in improving Crohn’s disease activity in children, while superior in supporting the growth of the children.[vi] Two additional studies found similar results in adults with mild-to-moderately active Crohn’s disease.[vii] [viii]
  6. Aromatherapy massage versus Tylenol for Menstrual Pain: Aromatherapy massage on the abdomen was found superior to Tylenol for alleviating menstrual pain in high school girls.[ix]
  7. Hypnosis versus Valium for Anxiety: Hypnosis during embryo transfer is as effective as diazepam in terms of pregnancy ratio and anxiolytic effects, but with fewer side effects.[x]
  8. Yoga technique versus Antidepressant Drug for Depression: Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (a rhythmic breathing technique) was found superior to the drug imipramine in the treatment of depression.[xi]
  9. Yogic intervention versus Drug treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Yogic intervention consisting of poses and breathing exercises was found superior to conventional treatment in diarrhea-predominant IBS.[xii]
  10. Foot Reflexology versus Drug treatment for Insomnia: Foot reflexology (Wooden needle technique) was found superior to the drug Alprazolam in the treatment of insomnia.[xiii]
  11. Watchful waiting versus Drug treatment for childhood Ear Infection: Watchful waiting compares favorably to immediate antibiotic treatment for some children with non-severe acute otitis media.[xiv]

This sampling reflects only a minor subset of data within our Therapeutic Actions index, one of six databases on the GreenMedInfo.com open access site.  Presently, we have 216 distinct actions indexed, which can be viewed on our Therapeutic Actions Display Page. You may be surprised how simple conscious acts such as chewing your food thoroughly, laughingor a walk in the forest can produce healing responses within the human body.

Yoga more dangerous than previously thought, scientists say

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A yoga class

Yoga is more dangerous than previously thought and causes as many injuries as other sports, a study has found.

The 5,000 year-old Indian discipline is said to boost physical and mental wellbeing, and celebrity fans include Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen – as well as David and Victoria Beckham.

However, in a recent study yoga caused musculoskeletal pain – mostly in the arms – in more than one in ten participants.

A class using yoga belts
A class using yoga belts 

The scientists behind the research, which was published in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, also found that the practice worsened over a fifth of existing injuries.

Professor Evangelos Pappas, of Sydney University, the study’s lead researcher said: “Yoga may be a bit more dangerous than previously thought.

“Our study found the incidence of pain caused by yoga is more than 10 percent per year – which is comparable to the rate of all sports injuries combined among the physically active population.

“However people consider it to be a very safe activity. This injury rate is up to 10 times higher than has previously been reported.”

His team assessed more than 350 people who attended yoga classes at two studios in New York.

Yoga is an increasingly popular complementary or alternative therapy for musculoskeletal disorders, with millions of people practising worldwide.

 Prof Pappas said: “While yoga can be beneficial for musculoskeletal pain, like any form of exercise, it can also result in musculoskeletal pain.”

He added: “We also found yoga can exacerbate existing pain, with 21 per cent of existing injuries made worse by doing yoga, particularly pre-existing musculoskeletal pain in the upper limbs.

In terms of severity, more than one-third of cases of pain caused by yoga were serious enough to prevent yoga participation and lasted more than 3 months.

“The study found that most ‘new’ yoga pain was in the upper extremities – shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand – possibly due to downward dog and similar postures that put weight on the upper limbs.”

The study conducted with Prof Marc Campo from Mercy College, New York, asked participants to complete an electronic questionnaire at the start of the project and again one year later.

Outcomes included incidence and impact of pain caused by yoga and prevalence of pain caused, exacerbated, unaffected, and improved by the ancient practice.

Prof Pappas said: “It’s not all bad news, however, as 74 per cent of participants in the study reported that existing pain was improved by yoga, highlighting the complex relationship between musculoskeletal pain andyoga practice.

“These findings can be useful for clinicians and individuals to compare the risks of yoga to other exercise enabling them to make informed decisions about which types of activity are best.

“Pain caused by yoga might be prevented by careful performance and participants telling their yoga teachers of injuries they may have prior to participation, as well as informing their healthcare professionals about their yoga practice.

“We recommend that yoga teachers also discuss with their students the risks for injury if not practised conscientiously, and the potential for yoga to exacerbate some injuries.

“Yoga participants are encouraged to discuss the risks of injury and any pre-existing pain, especially in the upper limbs, with yoga teachers and physiotherapists to explore posture modifications that may results in safer practice.”

The main components of yoga are postures, a series of movements designed to increase strength, flexibility and breathing.

It’s now commonplace in leisure centres, health clubs, schools, hospitals and surgeries.

There’s some evidence that regular yoga practice is beneficial for people with high blood pressure, heart disease, aches and pains – including lower back pain – depression and stress.

The NHS says most forms of yoga are not strenuous enough to count towards your 150 minutes of moderate activity, as set out by government guidelines.

However, yoga does count as a strengthening exercise, and at least two sessions a week will help you meet the guidelines on muscle-strengthening activities.

Activities such as yoga and tai chi are also recommended to older adults at risk of falls to help improve balance and co-ordination.

Spice up your sex life with a little bit of yoga.

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We are all mindful of the advantages of yoga and the magnificent changes it can get our lives if rehearsed religiously. Yet, did you realize that yoga assumes an essential part in boosting your sexual experiences also? Perused on to discover how:

6-Ways-Yoga-Can-Spice-Up-Your-Sex-LifeImproves your stamina

An excessive amount of work, stress, lack of sleep… the wrongs of the 21st century prompt to real absence of vitality in anything we do. Yoga manufactures stamina furthermore helps us in getting more rest, which can prompt to a more dynamic and fulfilling sexual coexistence.

Makes you look sexier

A sound way of life prompts to a solid body, which certainly includes the truly necessary oomph component to your looks. Also, the sexier you look, the sexier you feel from inside. So sweat it out on the yoga tangle for steamier sessions with your accomplice.

Increases flexibility

The more you practice yoga, the more adaptable you get to be. Your capacity to pro extraordinary yogic stances will prove to be useful while experimenting with new sex positions. Shock your man with truly unusual ones and turn up the warmth between the sheets.

Helps you focus

Not having the capacity to remain centered while engaging in sexual relations is basic. Our brains frequently tend to armada away regardless of how hot the sesh is. Yoga will recover your concentration and be available at the time. A standard specialist will never feel her mind meandering without end while in the demonstration.

The Cure for Cancer Begins With Understanding It

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The Cure for Cancer Begins With Understanding It

Cancer is not some predestined gene-bomb setting itself off within us, rather, a logical result of decades worth of cell shock/damage/adaptation to environmental poisoning, nutrient deprivation and psycho-spiritual stress. These cells have learned to survive the constant abuse, and flip into survival mode which is self-centered, hyper-proliferative (constant self-repair/replication) and aggressive (metastatic).

In a remarkable new essay by Mark Vincent this view has found its vindication. Entitled: “Cancer: A de-repression of a default survival program common to all cells?: A life-history perspective on the nature of cancer,” cancer is viewed in an entirely new light:

“Cancer viewed as a programmed, evolutionarily conserved life-form, rather than just a random series of disease-causing mutations, answers the rarely asked question of what the cancer cell is for, provides meaning for its otherwise mysterious suite of attributes, and encourages a different type of thinking about treatment.”

Additionally

“The broad but consistent spectrum of traits, well-recognized in all aggressive cancers, group naturally into three categories: taxonomy (“phylogenation”), atavism (“re-primitivization”) and robustness (“adaptive resilience”). The parsimonious explanation is not convergent evolution, but the release of an highly conserved survival program, honed by the exigencies of the Pre-Cambrian, to which the cancer cell seems better adapted; and which is recreated within, and at great cost to, its host.”

What Mark Vincent explains here is cancer as a regression (atavism/re-primitivization) of the human normal cell type, to a more ancient and robust cell type possessed by an ancestral cell lineage in pre-Cambrian times, well over 542 million years ago. If this is true, given the right (or wrong) conditions, normal cells may regress to a more primitive, far more individualistic cell phenotype in an attempt to survive (if not thrive) within the biochemical/bioenergetic adversities characteristic of the sickened, cancer-prone body.

The concept of regression to more ancient forms of incarnation within biology is not novel. The well-known principle of “ontogeny” recapitulates “phylogeny” in embryogenesis, also known as the “recapitulation theory,” for instance, proposes that the fetus’ development follows exactly the same sequence as the sequence of its evolutionary ancestors.

There is, in other words, inscribed within our genetic code a history of all past cellular/organismal incarnations, which while normally dormant, can be re-awakened when necessary to provide survival advantages. Who after all can say that cancer cells or tumors far from representing pure chaos (mutational view of cancer causation) are not symptoms of an attempt to heal, or regain balance within less-than-ideal conditions, when no other viable options remain?

What may be most important about this new view on cancer are its existential implications. After all, if cancer is not just something that by luck of the draw, does not happen to this person, while happening to that person, but actually has meaning, then perhaps we can begin to de-program ourselves from the rampant fatalism that undergirds the popular sentiment that cancer is to be both loathed and feared, but never quite understood.

Of course, the fatalism associated with cancer is heavily reinforced by the very organizations (largely self-appointed) in charge of “awareness campaigns” and “fund-raising” in the increasingly gaudy and blatantly cynical “cause marketing” programs that have proliferated (like the cancers themselves) into every facet of American, consumerism-based culture. The ideology of “watchful waiting” through increasingly invasive screening procedures consistently reinforces this fundamental fatalism. Cancer is subconsciously drawn to those who would do no more than wait for its inevitable bodily emergence.

People are told what they can do to “reduce risk,” but not that the end-point itself (cancer) would become avoidable if we sought to better understand it, i.e. knowing the cause enables you to mitigate and/or remove it. This active process of programming and ceaselessly reinforcing people to think of disease in terms of calculating and “reducing risk,” is heavily reinforced by the dominance of mathematical epidemiology in today’s practice of medicine.

Ultimately, it shifts the locus of power from the patient to the medical system whose priest-like claim to truth, obtained through complex algebraic equations and technologies so elaborate as to  perplex even their engineers and manufacturers, puts them in the position of having the same type of control over our bodies as once did the religious clergy our souls.

Once we begin to comprehend that the radically unnatural shift in the cell’s immediate environment, due to chemical exposures/nutrient deficiencies/chronic and acute psycho-spiritual stress, promotes its “neoplastic transformation” into cancer, we can begin to liberate ourselves from many avoidable and treatable causes of this archetypal human condition.

For additional research our Cancer Research Page, for instance, contains over 2,600+ articles from the National Library of Medicine on 612 natural substances with documented potential value in cancer prevention or treatment, including 500 on curcumin alone. It also contains research on 144 “problem substances” which exhibit carcinogenic potential, as well as 30 “therapeutic actions,” e.g. yoga, sunlight exposure, which have anti-cancer effects.

Yoga Benefits Your Brain Function and Mental Health

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Low-impact exercises such as yoga have a number of benefits. Not only can it provide the physical benefits of exercise, yoga may also help stave off cognitive decline, according to a recent study of older adults with early warning signs of waning memory.

Brain Function

Story at-a-glance

  • Yoga has been shown to combat cognitive decline. In one 12-week long study, volunteers who did yoga improved memory and mood to a greater degree than those who performed conventional brain training
  • Regular yoga practice has also been shown to have a positive effect on mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, ADHD and schizophrenia
  • Other health benefits from regular yoga practice include improved immune function, reduced risk for migraines and heart disease, improved sexual performance, better sleep and reduced stress

While I believe most benefit from high-intensity interval training (HIIT) for optimal health, there’s no doubt that yoga can also be beneficial. It has mental, emotional and even spiritual benefits that can be very helpful for those struggling with stress-related health problems.

Yoga can be viewed as a form of moving meditation that demands your full attention as you gently shift your body from one asana (yoga position) to another.

As you learn new ways of moving and responding to your body, your mind and emotions may shift and change as well. In a sense, you not only become more physically flexible, but your mental outlook and approach to life may gain some needed flexibility as well.

Yoga Helps Mitigate Cognitive Decline

Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that physical activity helps keep your mind sharp with age, and this goes for activities such as yoga as well. Overall, inactivity is enemy No. 1 if you seek to optimize your cognitive function. According to the New York Times:1

“There also is growing evidence that combining physical activity with meditation might intensify the benefits of both pursuits.

In an interesting study2 … people with depression who meditated before they went for a run showed greater improvements in their mood than people who did either of those activities alone.

But many people do not have the physical capacity or taste for running or other similarly vigorous activities. So for the new study … researchers … decided to test whether yoga, a relatively mild, meditative activity, could alter people’s brains and fortify their ability to think.3,4

They began by recruiting 29 middle-aged and older adults … who … were anxious about the state of their memories and who, during evaluations … were found to have mild cognitive impairment, a mental condition that can be a precursor to eventual dementia.

The volunteers also underwent a sophisticated type of brain scan that tracks how different parts of the brain communicate with one another.”

The participants were divided into two groups. One group enrolled in a brain-training program consisting of mental exercises for one hour per week. They were also asked to practice at home for 15 minutes a day.

The second group participated in a Kundalini yoga class for one hour per week. They were also taught Kirtan Kriya meditation, which involves the use of mantras and fluid hand movements. They were asked to practice this meditation at home for 15 minutes each day.

Yoga Outperforms Standard Brain Training

After 12 weeks, all subjects again underwent cognitive tests and brain scans. Overall, all participants had improved to some degree, but the yoga group not only fared slightly better on memory tests, they also reported improvements in their mood. As reported in the featured article:

“The brain scans in both groups displayed more communication now between parts of their brains involved in memory and language skills.

Those who had practiced yoga, however, also had developed more communication between parts of the brain that control attention, suggesting a greater ability now to focus and multitask.

In effect, yoga and meditation had equaled and then topped the benefits of 12 weeks of brain training. ‘We were a bit surprised by the magnitude’ of the brain effects, said Dr. Helen Lavretsky … who oversaw the study.”

Why Yoga Is so Beneficial for Your Brain

Over the years, a number of studies have honed in on the brain benefits of yoga. For example, studies have found that:

•Twenty minutes of Hatha yoga improves your brain function (speed and accuracy of mental processing) to a greater degree than 20 minutes of aerobic exercise (jogging).5,6 Potential mechanisms include enhanced self-awareness and reduced stress.

•Yoga helps improve mental health, including psychiatric disorders like depression, anxiety, attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and schizophrenia.7,8,9,10

Some of the studies suggest yoga can have a similar effect to antidepressants and psychotherapy.

•Yoga helps improve teenagers’ emotional resilience and ability to manage anger. As noted by yoga educator and writer Iona Smith:11

“During adolescence, the frontal lobes of the brain (the seat of language and reason) are still being formed, leaving teens to overly rely on their amygdala (the seat of emotions) …

The brain’s malleability during adolescence marks a crucial stage in both cognitive and emotional development.

Luckily, researchers are now able to paint a clearer picture of some of the factors that allow students to thrive throughout high school and into adulthood, such as self-awareness, managing distressing emotions, empathy, and navigating relationships smoothly.

When students hone these skills, they are not only happier and healthier emotionally, but are also better able to focus on academics.”

•By improving stress-related imbalances in your nervous system, yoga can help relieve a range of symptoms found in common mental health disorders.

Researchers also believe yoga can be helpful for conditions like epilepsy,chronic pain, depression, anxiety and PTSD by increasing brain chemicals like gamma amino-butyric acid (GABA).12

Other Mind-Body Benefits of Yoga

Other studies have demonstrated that regular yoga practice can impart a number of different physical, mental and emotional benefits, including the ones listed below.13,14,15,16

One explanation for yoga’s wide-ranging effects is that it actually alters genetic expression — through its beneficial effects on your mind! In fact, the relaxation response triggered by meditative practices has been shown to affect at least 2,209 genes.17

Improved immune function18 Improved sleep19,20
Reduced risk for migraines21 Lowered risk of hypertension and heart disease22,23
Lowered cortisol (stress hormone) level by down regulating hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and calming sympathetic nervous system24 Improved sexual performance and satisfaction in both sexes25,26

How Yoga Aids Weight Loss and Promotes Good Health

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, yoga has also been shown to aid weight loss. In one study,27 overweight yoga participants lost an average of 5 pounds (lbs) whereas the non-yoga group gained 13 lbs. This held true even when accounting for differences in diet. Typically, HIIT is the most effective for weight loss, and the key to its effectiveness is the intensity. So how can the effectiveness of yoga — which is the converse of HIIT in terms of intensity — be explained?

According to Tiffany Field, Ph.D., director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, yoga’s benefits are related to the fact that it does the opposite of more strenuous exercise. Rather than boosting your heart rate and stimulating your nervous system, yoga puts you in a parasympathetic state that lowers both your blood pressure and heart rate, and this helps promote a positivecascade of health effects.

This makes sense if you consider the adverse biological effects of stress. By promoting systemic inflammation, chronic stress can be a factor in everything from weight gain to high blood pressure and heart disease. It’s also been shown to trigger the onset of dementia. What’s worse, stress-induced weight gain typically involves an increase in belly fat, which is the most dangerous fat for your body to accumulate as it increases your risk for cardiovascular disease.

Stress actually alters the way fat is deposited because of the specific hormones and other chemicals your body produces when you’re stressed. For example, recent research28 shows that chronic stress stimulates your body to produce betatrophin, a protein that blocks an enzyme that breaks down body fat. So by reducing stress you reduce inflammation, and along with it your risk for any number of health problems, including stubborn weight.

A 2011 review29 of published clinical studies on yoga also concluded that yoga movements stimulate skin pressure receptors that boost activity in your brain and vagus nerve, both of which influence the production and release of various hormones. As vagus nerve activity increases, the levels of stress hormones like cortisol decrease. It also triggers the release of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that plays a role not only in your mood, but also in appetite control and sleep patterns.

The Importance of a Comprehensive Fitness Program

Yoga and other simple restorative exercises tone and strengthen your body, increase circulation and oxygen flow, energize you for the day and help you unwind in the evening. However, studies support the use of yoga to strengthen brain function and improve common psychiatric disorders (along with many other health benefits, including pain relief and increased flexibility and strength).

I believe it’s important to incorporate a variety of exercises into your routine for optimal results. Ideally, you’ll want acomprehensive fitness program that includes HIIT and resistance training, along with flexibility- and core-building exercises like yoga. Daily non-exercise movement is also important, and simply walking more each day can go a long way toward warding off many common health problems.

Yoga Improves Sleep Quality in Cancer Survivors

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Cancer survivors who participated in a special yoga program reported better sleep quality and less reliance on sleep medication, according to the results of a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Sleep problems and fatigue are among the most common problems experienced by cancer survivors, and can have a profound impact on quality of life. Sleep problems are very common during cancer treatment, but can persist even after treatment ends. In fact, 30 to 90 percent of cancer survivors report impaired sleep quality after treatment.

Yoga is a mind-body practice and form of exercise that may improve sleep among cancer survivors. In order to evaluate the impact of yoga on sleep, researchers conducted a randomized trial that included 410 cancer survivors with moderate to severe sleep disturbances that occurred two to 24 months after treatment. Participants were randomly assigned to standard care or standard care plus a 4-week yoga intervention called YOCAS® (Yoga for Cancer Survivors). The twice-weekly program included breathing exercises, 16 gentle yoga postures, and meditation. Participants attended two 75-minute sessions per week for four weeks.

Both groups showed improvement in overall sleep quality; however, the participants in the yoga group experienced greater improvement in sleep quality as well as sleep duration, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, su

bjective sleep quality, and daytime dysfunction. They reported greater sleep quality, less use of drugs for sleep, less fatigue, and better quality of life. In fact, participants in the yoga group decreased their use of sleep medication by 21 percent, whereas those in the control group increased their use by 5 percent.

The researchers concluded that yoga—and specifically the YOCAS program—could be a useful treatment for improving sleep quality and reducing the use of sleep medication among cancer survivors.

YOGA Is for Every Body

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As far as fitness trends go, you might say yoga has staying power. Though scholars debate the precise origin of the physical postures, breathing exercises, and meditation that compose the practice of yoga (some say it could be as old as 5,000 years, whereas others claim that yoga as we know it today is a more recent phenomenon, evolving within the past 100 years), it is safe to say that people have been engaged in yoga in some form or another for many, many years.

Yoga is a Sanskrit word that means “to join” or “to unite,” and yoga is often described as practice that unites mind, body, and spirit. People seek out yoga for a variety of health and wellness benefits, including physical strengthening and flexibility, stress relief, and spiritual practice.

Perhaps one of the greatest draws of yoga is that the benefits of the practice are available to everyone. Colleen Saidman Yee owns and directs the Yoga Shanti studio in Sag Harbor, New York, and conducts teacher trainings and retreats worldwide. Colleen says that while there are many misperceptions about yoga’s being the province of those who are already flexible or fit, the reality is that the many different aspects of yoga—physical, mental, and spiritual—mean that the practice can offer something to everyone, no matter their physical abilities.

“Yoga is not about putting your leg around your head,” Colleen says. “It is actually about becoming more comfortable in the body and mind that you have right now.” Together with her husband, yoga teacher Rodney Yee, Colleen is working to share this idea and promote the accessibility of the practice. “Rodney and I and many of the yoga teachers today are working very hard to dispel the myths and keep yoga approachable for all—yes, I mean for all,” she says. “Yoga is helping the returning vets dealing with PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]; yoga is infiltrating the education system; yoga is offered all over the country to senior citizens. My 86-year-old father takes yoga several times a week.”

Benefits for Women

For women specifically, Colleen says, yoga can improve physical and emotional well-being. “The benefits are endless,” she says. “The obvious ones are strength, flexibility, respiration, circulation, digestion, optimal weight, better sex, and improved sleep. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Confidence, honesty, vulnerability, compassion, mindfulness, kindness, self-love and intimacy, improved relationships, communication, and a feeling of connection are a few others. And then there is the connection between yoga and less stress and less depression.”

And while all of those benefits are appealing, the greater gift may actually lie in the journey of the practice itself, which for many results in an ongoing inner dialogue that can foster fulfillment and inner peace. This is because, as Colleen explains, practicing yoga means continually examining your physical and emotional self to understand what is contributing to your well-being and what barriers are prohibiting growth and flexibility: “The quicker you come up against your resistance, the better,” she says, “because that is where the teaching lies—when we ask ourselves, Who am I when things are not easy, and How do I move through rather than away?”

Colleen, whose personal yoga practice includes daily pranayama (breathing exercises) and meditation followed by asana (physical poses), says that working toward the answers to these questions through regular yoga practice can help us find our way through life’s challenges. “How do we navigate this wild and crazy life? That is where the real practice comes in,” she says. “I’m actually writing a book about this right now: How do we stay open and kind? How do we keep from shutting down and becoming hard and rigid when life throws us the inevitable curve balls—like when you get the phone call that your mother has died, or your lover walks out the door, or your baby keeps you up all night.”

Sharing the Practice

Colleen is passionate about sharing yoga with others because she has felt the transformative power of the practice in her own life. When a roommate first suggested she attend a yoga class more than 20 years ago, Colleen was skeptical. “I thought it would be a lot of new age stuff that I wasn’t interested in. I thought it would be a wimpy stretch class and that I would still need a workout afterward,” she says. But when that class came to an end, she knew she had been wrong.

“After my first class, I felt more alive and clearer than I had probably ever felt before,” Colleen says. “My body was worked out, wrung out, and relaxed. I was humbled by what I couldn’t do and excited by what I was able to do. But mainly I was perplexed by how I felt. I needed to investigate further. I felt like everything that I had ever practiced, studied, or experienced had led me to this point, and I was home. I knew that I had to dig deep.”

Colleen dove into her practice and ultimately transitioned to teaching. “I really didn’t think that I had the personality to be a teacher,” she says, “but my teachers at the time—Sharon Gannon and David Life—saw something that I didn’t and sort of tricked me into it.” Since that time Colleen has been sharing her knowledge with students through various venues, including her own studio. “Teaching keeps me upping my game and continually studying. Teaching keeps me honest and humble. Teaching keeps me showing up. Teaching saves my life again and again,” she says.

Recently, Colleen launched her first DVD releases—Yoga for Weight Loss and Calorie Killer Yoga (Gaiam, 2014)—and she is excited by the new teaching venue. “DVDs are a great way to have an intimate, everyday home practice,” she says. “We spend a lot of time planning and executing our videos to give people the tools we have found so helpful.” The DVDs provide particular benefit for those who may be interested in exploring yoga on their own. “They can be a launching pad to taking classes without intimidation,” she says.

Ultimately, no matter how a student of yoga ends up on the mat, whether through a class, a DVD, or any other venue, Colleen says, there is one critical point to keep in mind: “Consistency is the key to obtaining the many and mind-blowing effects that yoga can bring you. There is nothing to lose but a lot to gain.”

PUTTING THE “CARE” BACK IN HEALTHCARE: THE URBAN ZEN INTEGRATIVE THERAPY PROGRAM

Colleen is not just throwing out a line when she says that “yoga is approachable for all.” She is committed to bringing the benefits of yoga to people at all stages of life, no matter the challenges they are facing.

In 2009 Colleen and Rodney, together with fashion designer Donna Karan, founded the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy program to introduce yoga, along with other Eastern healing modalities (including reiki, essential-oil therapy, nutrition, and contemplative care) in healthcare settings. Working with doctors and other healthcare providers, Urban Zen therapists help address common symptoms of illness and side effects of treatment—including pain, insomnia, constipation, and exhaustion—to improve patients’ well-being.

“We have distilled the practices of in-bed movements, restorative poses, breath awareness, aromatherapy, and learning to just be with a person to help the symptoms patients experience,” Colleen says. Seeing the benefit to patients has been incredibly rewarding and moving: “The stories will bring you to tears.”