MyLifeYoga

There is a lot written about the “mind-body” connection. But little, if anything, is spoken about the “body-mind” connection. Here are three things to know:

1. Its not just mind-body

In the 1970s Dr. Herbert Benson of the Harvard Medical School discovered something strange. He found that as little as 20 minutes of meditation sets up a response in the body that reverses its stress and relaxes it. He called this the “Relaxation Response”. This was the discovery of the “mind-body” connection. Since then there has been much research done on this subject and the “mind-body” connection is now accepted as a fact. But it is not just the mind that has an effect on the body. The connection works in both directions. The body also has a strong impact on the mind.

2. Foundation of many limbs of yoga

In fact the body-mind connection is at the heart of many limbs of yoga. We must first understand that yoga is the state of mind when all thoughts are brought to rest. Such states are usually achieved via meditation, and hence yoga is primarily about meditation. So why do we need anything else besides meditation? The reason is that to calm down the mind we must also calm down the body. This is the body-mind connection. This means that the primary reason for asana practice, within the context of yoga, is to calm the mind down so that it becomes easier to meditate. The same goes for Pranayama (The practice of controlling the breath). This is also done with the primary goal to calm the mind down.

3. Virtuous cycle

The fact that the connection between the mind and the body works in both directions allows us to set up a virtuous cycle. This is a self reinforcing cycle and leads to positive results. This means that a calm mind de-stresses the body. And a de-stressed body allows the mind to further quiet down. A “virtuous cycle” is put into place, and if this is taken to its logical conclusion the end result is a mind that is completely quiet and in a state of yoga. This is why the limbs of yoga are not considered as sequential steps. They are instead called “limbs” because like the branches of a tree they all grow simultaneously and the growth of one reinforces the growth in others.

So what is the key take away? The key lesson is that instead of just practicing only yoga postures, we must also practice breathing exercises and meditation (along with other limbs of yoga) to set up a virtuous cycle. If you experience benefits from doing yoga postures, you will find that these multiply many fold if other limbs of yoga are also practiced simultaneously.

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Credits:This has been written by Raj Shah and edited by Ketna Shah.

A randomized scientific study has found that cancer survivors who attended a 75 minute low intensity yoga session twice a week for a month, had reduced need for sleep medication, while also reporting improvement in sleep quality.

The study divided 410 cancer survivors into two groups. One group got standard treatment. The other group got standard treatment plus yoga. The group that did yoga reported 21% less use for sleep medication, while the standard group reported an increase of 5% in the use of sleep medication during the study period. The yoga group also reported statistically significant improvements in sleep quality while the standard group did not.

The study included 410 cancer survivors, most of them white women, and most (75%) had been treated for breast cancer. All survivors who participated in the study received standard post-treatment care, but half also attended twice-a-week 75-minute yoga sessions for 4 weeks. These were delivered in community-based sites, which included yoga centers, community centers, and community oncology centers. The yoga done by participants was mostly restorative hatha yoga that included mindful breathing and gentle stretching. Participants also did meditation.

Between 30 to 90% of cancer survivors report suffering from some kind of sleep related issues following cancer treatment. These can last up to months and even years. This is why this study is important as it shows a way of improving the quality of life of cancer survivors.

Related: Can Yoga Help With Sleep?

Credit: We found the story here.

The news is pretty grim. A recent study has shown that when sugar is consumed at recommended levels, it can still double the risk of dying in female mice.

Till now the idea has been that it is safe to consume sugar if it is no more than 25% of our total calorie intake. This translates to restricting our sugar consumption to no more than 125 grams per day. The average consumption of sugar in the US is at 150 grams per day. This implies that most people in the US are consuming what is considered as “safe” amounts of sugar. So scientists at the University of Utah decided to put this idea to the test. Are we in fact consuming sugar at safe levels?

They took 153 mice and divided them into two groups. One group was fed a diet with no sugar. The other group was given a diet so that 25% of calories came from sugar. They then sat back and observed the animals for 26 weeks. In the group where no sugar was fed 17% of females died. While in the sugar-fed group 34% females died. A diet containing “normal” levels of sugar proved lethal, doubling the rate at which animals were dying! This is simply an astonishing result and not something that anybody expected.

The idea that sugar is a safe substance has allowed us to add it to many different foods. You will find that sugar is being added to bread, cereal, yogurt, ketchup, sauces, dressings, chips, fries, peanut-butter, baked beans, and even a slice of pizza contains 3.8 grams of sugar! So even if you have not had any sugary drink or consumed any cookies or cakes, you may still be consuming more than 120 grams of sugar per day! In 1822 the average consumption of sugar in the US (and most of the rest of the world) was at about 9 grams per day, while today it is around 150 grams per day! All this because of the notion that it is “safe” to consume sugar at these levels.

Now this idea is crumbling. There is increasing alarm amongst scientists and doctors that the so-called safe levels of sugar are not what they seem to be. This study demonstrates this pretty effectively. Till the point we have definitive studies to determine safe levels of sugar, we must in the meantime be cautious about the amount of sugar we put in our mouths.

Related: Sugar is Toxic to Mice in ‘Safe’ Dose

Credits:This has been written by Raj Shah and edited by Ketna Shah.