Research Finds Yoga and Meditation May Reverse Stress-Damaged Genes

Book cover via Amazon

I recently recieved this bit of research in an e-letter from Amy Weintruab. Amy is a fellow Kripalu Yoga Teacher and leading expert in the use of yoga and meditation in healing depression. Her book, Yoga for Depression: A Compassionate Guide to Relieve Suffering Through Yoga,
is an absolute must have for any yoga teacher, and for anyone who is
suffering through depression, or has loved ones that struggle with
depression. Unfortunately, I suspect that covers just about everyone.

Her
book and her teaching are so compassionate. I can tell you, if you are
suffering in the depths of depression right now, Amy’s book and her
healing work with yoga will bring you a profound sense of comfort, and
a new, powerful way to heal yourself. Learn more about her current
workshops here.

Amy
is also an amazing researcher and brings forward in her writing, and
through her workshops, a lot of the cutting edge research being done
with yoga in the treatment of depression, bi-polar disorder, PTSS, and other debilitating conditions.

Some of the best news to come out of research is that not
only does yoga help you to feel better, it seems that it may also
actually help to repair the damage done to genes as a result of
depression and stress.

Consider this quote from Amy’s newsletter:

In the 70’s, Dr. Herbert Benson made headlines when he reported on his research at Harvard, showing the benefits of Transcendental Meditation and what he called “The Relaxation Response“
in ameliorating or reducing all kinds of stress-related symptoms,
including high blood pressure, heart disease, different kinds of pain,
infertility, rheumatoid arthritis, insomnia, and a range of
psychological symptoms. The professor is still at it, reporting as
senior co-author in the journal PLoS One a significant advance in the
understanding of how relaxation techniques
such as meditation, prayer and yoga improve health: by changing
patterns of gene activity that affect how the body responds to stress.

In
the first comprehensive look at how mind states can affect gene
expression, Benson and his colleagues compared gene-expression patterns
in 19 long-term practitioners, 19 healthy controls and 20 newcomers who
underwent eight weeks of relaxation-response training. In both long-
and short-term meditators, it appears that gene damage from stress may
be reversed.

Further genetic analysis revealed changes in
cellular metabolism, response to oxidative stress and other processes
in both short- and long-term practitioners. All of these processes may
contribute to cellular damage stemming from chronic stress.

“It’s
not all in your head,” said Dr. Herbert Benson, president emeritus of
the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind/Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
“What we have found is that when you evoke the relaxation response, the
very genes that are turned on or off by stress are turned the other
way. The mind can actively turn on and turn off genes. The mind is not
separated from the body.”

You can sign up for Amy Weintraub’s newsletter, here.

Depression
is not a life sentence, and it isn’t something you have to suffer
through alone. If you are struggling with depression I urge you to
bring yoga and meditation into your life. Give it a try!

There are two more great articles below…

May you be happy, may you be filled with great peace,

Teal Marie

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Child’s Pose: It’s Child’s Play…

A reader request…this one’s for you K…

OK, no really, it’s called Child’s Pose (or, Garbhasana in Sanskrit). But, some of my awesome students back in Houston sort of inadvertently renamed it “Child’s Play,” and the name has stuck.

It’s an apt renaming because this is a really, really easy pose, and the great thing is you have been doing it since you were a child, so no practice required.

This posture is a forward bending movement and so it is extremely calming to the central nervous system. This is something yoga really excels at: turning off the sympathetic nervous system which initiates our “fight or flight” responses, and turning on the parasympathetic system which makes us feel, “ah…relaxed…happy….safe.” Too much of the former and not enough of the later leads to chronic stress syndromes, weight gain, adrenal depletion, and many other “dis-eases” of the body, mind and spirit.

So, lets practice together:

Come down on to your hands and knees on your mat, or the floor. Sink your hips back onto your feet and fold forward at your hips so that your hands come down in front of you and your forehead touches the floor; you can also move your hand to your sides with the palms facing up, still keeping your forehead on the floor. Experiment with both and notice the differences. Allow your tail bone to lengthen down towards the floor so that your spine feels very long.Stay here breathing deeply in and out of your nose for at least three minutes. Allow your body to sink into the posture more deeply with each exhale. Repeat the mantra, “I have everything I need. I have everything I need. I have everything I need.”

Notice the changes in your body and mind from when you start to when you complete your posture. Allow the sensations you feel at the end of the posture to resonate inside of you for a minute or two. Remember, as you move slowly out of the pose and into your day, that you carry this calm and equanimity within you…after all, it’s just child’s play.

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti
Om Peace, Peace, Peace
-Teal

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3 Simple Things for Your New Year

Image via Wikipedia

A New Year, a fresh start, opportunities to do and be more of the things we are always dreaming of. It is an amazing energy, but it can also leave us feeling a little overwhelmed and wondering where to begin. As a yoga teacher, I get a lot of questions throughout the year about how to improve one’s health, loose weight, sleep better, etc. There are always three things that I suggest people start with, and here they are:

Commit to getting 8 hours sleep every night. Pure and simple. Do whatever it takes to give yourself this gift. Sleep is an amazing tonic for so many maladies. Our bodies and brains need this time for integration and repair, without it we age faster, feel groggy and grumpy, and have trouble getting the most out of life. If you are sleep deprived like most Americans these days, break the cycle! You will be truly amazed what it feels like to be well rested.

Drink 3 litres of pure filtered water a day. For some this may seem impossible, but it is really quite doable with the small investment in a large water bottle that you can keep with you and fill throughout the day. Once your body feels the benefits of adequate hydration it will “ask” for the water and it will become much easier. If your goals this year include weight loss drinking 3 litres of water a day will greatly help you accomplish this goal. Chronic dehydration is often mistaken for real hunger, plus water helps you feel more full between meals, and gets you up from your desk to use the restroom which fuels your metabolism.

Take 7 deep breaths first thing in the morning and last thing at night. As soon as you open your eyes in the morning you can begin. Inhale deeply through your nose allowing your belly to fill with fresh air, then allow the breath to move into your chest, expanding your rib cage to the sides and then forward. As you exhale allow your belly to collapse and the chest to follow. If you have trouble doing this, think about the last time you saw a baby sleeping. This is the natural way that we breathe as babies, but time and stress may train this open, full way of breathing out of our bodies. This is also a beginning mindful breath meditation, so if meditation has ever been something you have been curious about, then you will be well on your way to your own practice.

Make a loving commitment to give these 3 gifts to yourself consistently for 40 days. I promise you it will transform your life in ways you may not think possible.

With loving-kindness,

Teal Marie

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