Yoga for Central nervous system health, heart health and overall vitality

 

There is some  information about the brain that you may not be aware of that is important. First of all the Central Nervous System is the brain and the Spinal cord. Second the brain changes throughout our life, the term for this being- neuroplasticity. Third, we build new neural Pathways throughout our lives and we can actively affect this process!       In recent research I came across the work of Dr. Roger Sperry, (Nobel Prize Recipient for Brain Research)   -let's focus on these two points-

 

• “90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by the movement of the spine” Dr. Roger Sperry

• “Additionally, Dr. Roger Sperry demonstrated that 90% of the brain’s energy output is used in relating the physical body to gravity. Only 10% has to do with thinking, metabolism, and healing.” 

 

Movement of the spine brings better brain health! These are reasons posture and optimal body Mechanics (particularly spinal alignment) is essential to health and vitality- healthy nutrition for the brain and energy output of the brain!

 There is a saying in Chinese culture- :You will live as long as you can arch your back". This makes good sense when you understand the relationship of nourishment and stimulation to the brain.  

 

Think about this in relation to the Asanas (poses) in yoga, all of which are strengthening and/or stretching the muscles along and within the spine to some degree.  “90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by the movement of the spine”  Balance poses in Yoga, where you challenge yourself to balance on one foot or one foot one hand etc…90% of the brain’s energy output is used in relating the physical body to gravity.

 

Meditation, Ideally Yoga is moving meditation; quieting the mind. narrowing the focus, controlling the thoughts, and therefore giving the mind a rest or at least the focus (economy) necessary to build new neural pathways. The longer I do yoga the less separation there seems to be of mind/body/brain/heart/energy.  Through continued practice over time all of this becomes integrated and a natural understanding, knowing/ intelligence develops over time.  The brain is throughout the body and the body has it's own intelligence. This is far more than gaining muscle development and knowing the names and mechanics of postures (asanas). It is building new neural pathways, gaining control over the mind and body, it is training the intuition so that eventually the yoga practice begins to be naturalistic, and organic;y evolving. In other words you train till you can practice with mindfulness but very little "thinking". 

  

This is also why Shavasana, is so important, you are resting the brain as well as the body, “90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by the movement of the spine” giving the spine time to restore and reset.  Shavasana using blankets and bolsters are often better for people who are injured or elderly or need to improve posture.  In meditation and some restorative yoga this is also true. Conversely, this is not so true the way many of us “relax” seated in chairs that foster poor alignment, watching TV or movies, drinking alcohol, etc… none of this is even approaching the healthy relaxation needed for restoring health of mind and body.

 

Another aspect of the brain is Neuroplasticity

- in this article How Training Changes the Structure of the Brain, Dan Peterson states;   "On the most basic level, learning a new skill or improving a skill involves changes in the brain.  There are a few different ways that our brains adapt to picking up new skills and changing environmental conditions.  The first involves a rewiring of the networks of neurons in the brain.  Each skill or action that an athlete performs involves the activation of neural pathways."

Knowing the brain is very plastic and that each repetition in practice affects the brain brings light on the importance of “mindful daily practice” to ensure that the pathways being laid down in the brain are reinforced with the right neural connections.  This processes being optimum when the mind is quiet.

~ “Do not allow past experiences to be imprinted on your mind. Perform asanas each time with fresh mind and with a fresh approach. If you re repeating what you did before, you are living in the memory, so you are living in the past. ” ~The light on life, B.K.S Iyengar Having a distracted mind, or careless practice isn’t just wasting your time, it can actually be steps backwards from attaining new skill, depth and understanding.This clarifies the abilities of an experienced yogi (daily practice over years) to perform yoga postures as compared to persons who do yoga at 1 or 2 classes a week.

 The other aspect of brain health has to do with the quiet mind. 

Research around the brain activity patterns of experts has been done by Brad Hatfield at the University of Maryland.  His research around expert marksmen... "has shown that their brains are, in fact, ‘quieter’ and more economical than the brains of novices.  In effect, they tune everything else out so thoroughly that only the most essential  brain areas associated with the task are turned on and working.   Novices, on the other hand, exhibited not only more brain activity, but  activity that suggested communication between areas of the brain associated with motor control and areas associated with conscious, cognitive thought and analysis.  Several studies on athletes and clutch performance of skilled tasks have associated a certain type of quiet, focused brain state with successful performance.  In effect, a quiet brain is an expert brain."

Conversely  "It has been theorized that high stakes cause athletes to overthink and become self-conscious about their movements, which in turn causes them to revert back to the rigid movement patterns of a less-experienced performer.  This has been observed in disciplines from rock-climbers to weightlifters to piano players.  The mind can get in the way of the body smoothly carrying out what it  already knows how to do." Dan Peterson

There is also a relationship to the quiet mind and the metabolic/systolic heart rhythms-   

At the Institute of Heart Math http://www.heartmath.org/research/science-of-the-heart/introduction.html  research shows "positive emotions create increased harmony and coherence in heart rhythms and improve balance in the nervous system and conversely: disharmony in the nervous system leads to inefficiency and increased stress on the heart and other organs..
The heart  a  complex,  "processing center with its own functional "brain" that communicates with and influences the cranial brain via the nervous system, hormonal system and other pathways. These influences profoundly affect brain function and most of the body’s major organs, and ultimately determine the quality of life." ~Institute of Heart Math 

Autumn poems 2014 ~

Dear Ones, remind me of this day when I do not smile!
  Maybe it is the softer light of the overcast sky
or the moisture in the air
that brings this day under my skin in a soothing magical depth.
 I feel closer to ones who have passed beyond: are they sending us blessings?
I see immeasurable, infinite beauty in the green leaves
of a wetter southwestern summer, nearing it's end.
The colors rich and reflected, puddles are masterpieces,
rocks are singing and the trees dancing the Earths song.
I cannot contain gratitude so vast,
yet, is it enough to make up for all the days taken for granted?
This abundance my eyes missed because of the chatter in my smaller mind?
  Dear Ones remind me of this day when my eyes are dull.                   ~C.Bouajila


The sunrise sky casting a pink tint to the world,
The day’s first light glows through the tapestry of still trees.
Golden light and scattered hints of yellow autumn leaves.
Bird songs mingle in harmony with silent air, not even a slight breeze.
Brilliant white potential surrounds this new day.
The city traffic begins to hum, and then a train whistle in the distance.
There are journeys ahead as the past sleeps on.
A familiar cat jumps from tree limbs to rooftop.
Oh deep gratitude I am awake!                                                               ~ C. Bouajila

Image by Danmala

 

The First Months of Your Yoga Practice

Practical Guide: Your First Month of Practice

1. Just show up.

2. Don't worry about memorizing anything.  Your aim is to show up every day. The rest will come automatically. No one in the class cares if you know what you are doing. The teacher doesn't expect you to know anything.  Just show up. (And remember to take off your shoes.)

3. Each morning you will wake up and some days you will feel good and some days you'll feel bad and the thing is to get past the ups and downs of the mind and just show up anyway.  This isn't the kind of thing where you think to yourself "oh, I feel nice today I think I will go to yoga".  Nope.  The yoga bit is showing up regardless of how you feel because feelings are always changing. Philosophically, this is the identifying with the unchanging Yoga Sutra thing. Try to get right away that it ain't about the asanas. Just show up.

4. Or maybe think about the asanas as where your body is located in space.  So rather than your body being at home, take it to the shala.

5. Build up your daily practice with the mantra of "slow and steady".  There is no rush.  There is no finish line.

6.  The first month (actually, the first few years) is all about trying to establish a habit.  That is one of the reasons why you start with a small amount of time.  It is much easier to show up for perhaps twenty minutes each day than 90.  This is different than going to a 90 minute yoga class.  This is about a daily practice as part of the rest of your life.  Start small.  A little each day. This is the traditional method for learning and practicing Ashtanga yoga.  We aren't changing a thing because this really does work. 
7. It is ok to know nothing. It is ok to feel uncomfortable. It is ok if your ego gets bruised.  Be willing to learn.  Just be a student.

8. Yoga is not friendship time. Yoga goes beyond that. You can leave all that at the door.  You don't have to say good morning or be in a nice mood.  It really isn't about that. Your teacher isn't supposed to be your friend. Your fellow students are busy learning and practicing just like you are.  Let the space be more.  Let the energy be raised.

9. Just show up.

10. Keep showing up.

Moving beyond the soreness and moving when there is pain.

 Move your body in new ways, build strength, increase your flexibility  and you will be sore.   This is actually a very good thing!

  When you move deeper/more the body will feel “sore” for 24-48hours (while the body is changing); the best remedy for soreness is to move again!  with-in 24-48 hours.   This is how you move beyond soreness. Remember consistency is the key to progress. Practice 4-6 times a week.

 Try enjoying this soreness- it is a clear sign that you are changing, enjoy feeling the muscles, enjoy remembering how your body moves and feels- Enjoy being ALIVE and Vital enough to be able to get sore! See it as a challenge to move (literally) beyond.

• Yoga Asana (any vigorous exercise, sweating) is Stimulus for change. 
• Change happens in the body (it becomes stronger, more flexible) during the 24-48 hours after. (1st decay of old cells and 2nd Growth of new cells)
• If there isn't re-stimulus after 48 hours the body begins to lose that progress  (Decay)

 

To quote Dr. Harry S. Lodge co-author with Chris Crowley of, Younger Next Year and Younger Next Year for Women: "Exercise is healthy stress...When you exercise fairly hard you stress your muscles . You drain them of energy stores and you actually injure them slightly. The stress of exercise is good because it tears you down to build you back up a little stronger....It is a signal to your body that it needs to repair the damage and then some.  It needs to make the muscle just a little stronger. To store just a little more energy for tomorrow. To build a few more tiny blood vessels inside the muscle. To get a little younger."  .... " At rest, only 20 percent of your blood flow moves through your muscles: in a trained athlete, that rises, with exercise, to 80 percent. Picture it: torrents, rivers of blood flooding through your muscles with exercise, picking up the cytokines, the messengers of inflammation and repair, growth and healing, and taking them to every corner of your body....Every joint, every bone, every organ, every tiny part of your magnificent brain gets it's bath of C-6, and then the wonderful, rejuvenating C-10 each time you sweat. That's the right balance, good decay triggering growth."

 I recommend this book for understanding  how one can avoid 70% or more of disease and  70% or more of the negative affects of aging; empowering you to live an active, independent life longer.  It is also motivating and funny. We are likely to live a  much longer life than previous generations. Will it be active and independent until near the end?  or will we become increasingly helpless and dependent on "care" for years or decades of our life?  It doesn't have to be all downhill after 40, 50, 60,70 years old you can create a younger body now, and maintain it to very late in life.  ~Move it or lose it.~

 Pain is another thing all together; we tend to stop moving due to injury/pain. Rest it, stop all exercise. This is a huge mistake, keep moving, exercising all the parts you can (remember you are increasing oxygen and blood flow to the whole body)! Pain is our teacher, so do continue to move, even move the injured parts in the range of motion you are able without pain, move through soreness and to the edge of pain. If you measure the pain from 1- 10, (10 being most severe), continue to move (slowly with the breath and mindful focus) up to the 1-2 range of pain and learn. This is where to check alignment:  are you breathing correctly? is the joint supported with correct, balanced muscle engagement? Are the spine, shoulders and hips in alignment? Do you feel energy spiraling through the limbs and torso?  Move with alignment and energy in mind, noticing what feels better and doing that!   To think and focus of building new strength and flexibility in improved alignment, rather than focus on what isn’t working. This is the mindset for healing. Homeopathy, Arnica, herbs, Epsom salts baths, essential oils, and acupuncture are some options for healing, but for goodness sake keep on moving!

 Of course if the pain is 8-10 range all the time, seek medical attention. Yet keep in mind, more and more people are getting results from yoga, physical therapy and exercise thereby  avoiding surgeries and other procedures that may or may not help. 

My Teacher, James Cardinale, recently when I mentioned shoulder pain (in the 4-7 degree range) had me do handstands. I was very surprised to realize there was no pain in doing handstands! Later, even just thinking of handstands, I aligned my shoulders better throughout the day! I discovered the pain was coming from how I was holding my shoulder while at the computer and reaching to the back seat of the car to lift out stuff! Changing those habits and doing head and handstands are healing - healing more than just that shoulder too!

"The body is a treacherous friend. Give it its due; no more.  Pain and pleasure are transitory; endure all dualities with      calmness, trying at the same time to remove yourself beyond their power. Imagination is the door through which disease as well as healing enters. Disbelieve in the reality of sickness even when you are ill; an unrecognized visitor will flee." 

         ~Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri______________    

 

LEARNING

I was recently interviewed by Hakim Belamy for a blog about learning and want to share it with you.  direct link to blog I-remember-this!  or read it here-

I remember this! 

Christina Bouajila is a former K-5 art teacher who struggled with a learning disorder in grade school. Fortunately, her 6th grade year saw the efforts of a vigilant teacher and a determined mother converge as Christina was enrolled in a graduate student led program at Southern Methodist University. There, Christina saw her reading level rocket from a third grade reading level to a post 9th grade reading level as she was about to enter her freshman year of high school. She credits that leap to the passion of those young grad students and the attention she received in an environment where there was one teacher dedicated to the progress of two or three assigned students. However, later in life Christina learned a different kind of “reading”. She learned how to read and listen to her body.I loved teaching, but what I experienced was one of the failings of our education system. I had 950 students in a very large elementary school, dealing with a different classroom and different classes every 45 minutes. I was passionate about it and I loved it. I put a lot of energy into it, but it became like riding a roller coaster, you can only ride it so many times in a day. So I burnt out. It was at a time when the economy was crashing, so I was losing my house. And something started happening at the time where I wasn’t coping with stress. There always seemed to be an endless stream of thoughts, worries about the future and analyzing the past. Very little time was being spent in the present. I also happened to be getting carbon monoxide poisoning from a car that I knew had an exhaust leak, but I thought with the windows rolled down I was protected. Things got so bad that I thought, at the young age of 49, that I was developing early onset dementia. It was frightening, I would be driving places I had been numerous times and get lost. It was really frightening for myself and my pre-teen daughter. I was so afraid and aware that I was losing the ability to have power over my own mind.

So I started looking to solve my lifestyle. Deal with living in relative poverty, part-time work and not wanting to go back to education for a while, so I started going to a community yoga class that was affordable twice a week. And all of the sudden i was like, “I remember this.” I had studied dance and I had always been very active. Before going into teaching and right after college I taught fitness for many years, as well as guided relaxation at the end of intense workout classes for people. And here I was going to this class and all of the sudden I felt peace. I remembered it, and I thought “I know how create this. I know how to do this”.

I kept going to the class for about three or four months. Then, the instructor mentioned that she was going to be moving and that she was having trouble finding someone to take over the class. I’d taught it before and was beginning to practice it more while I was not at class, so I said “You know, I think I could be ready in a month, and I’d be willing to take over the class.” However, I knew in order to take over the class I had to live the example. So I began daily meditations and daily yoga, and it saved my life.

I found my way back to being relaxed, and I mean really relaxed. Not the kind of relaxed you get when you plop down in front of a TV. I was able to be deeply relaxed and calm my mind enough to just be in the present. Now, it’s been over four years of daily practice that brings me back to that place of peace.

Christina Bouajila is a yoga instructor, meditation coach, visual and performance artist. The proud mother of a fine young scholar, Christina also organizes flash mob style, synchronized meditation events called "Med Mob". Find Christina and her yoga practice at HappyMountainYoga.com. 

 

"Have you lost weight?"

"You look great"   "have you lost weight?"  

 Recently after improving my posture several people said this to me. Hearing this hit a nerve that just made me sad. Why? I'll tell you why! I hadn't lost any weight and didn't need to either!

It is a cultural obsession that "looking good" and "losing weight" are so linked together. Women diet when they don't  need to.

It is possible to be too thin, And it is healthier to have a little extra weight than not enough weight.
Why not just look into someone's eyes and say "you look great!" period!
 or say "you look great, you must be taking good care of yourself?"

 or "you look great you must be feeling good".

Some extra pounds is not obesity, there is a big difference and as a culture we need to stop buying into the fashion and diet weight loss industry's tactics! 

 I have met people who literally will "not be friends with anyone who is more than a few pounds overweight", saying "it just grosses me out". This is beyond judgmental, it is sad.

Obesity is a cultural problem and health issue in the USA, but many people who are full-bodied and rounder suffer so much trying to fit a norm that is sick and unattainable.

We all know by now, how much photographic manipulation goes into the ultra-thin images of women in fashion magazines. We know about eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.

Billions of dollars get spent on weight loss and diet programs that don't work -And advertising that  portrays an underweight ideal that is impossible for  people to attain.

 I love many people who are "overweight" by western popular culture and who are beautiful! Most of the women I spent time with in North Africa would be considered "fat" here, whereas there, the standards of beauty there include fuller bodied, robust women.

Beauty comes in many shapes and sizes. We need to broaden our perception of beauty, and not judge each-other by the cultural ideals pervasive in the media.
"You look great" "have you lost weight"... I also heard this often at a time in my life where I struggled financially and wasn't eating enough. I didn't feel like I got a compliment, and I was reminded again how hungry I was, and how being hungry kept me up the night before.
  I wish I would've said "YES, I LOST WEIGHT, MY BODY FAT IS UNHEALTHILY LOW, WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS LOOKING GREAT? 
I have been heavy enough to have negative effects on my vitality. I went through hating myself and feeling like I was disgusting. I  was sunk in self hatred over my "appearance".
I started to love myself exactly as I was, which lead to things like walking, hiking, dancing and enjoying moving. Once I loved myself more, my weight stabilized around 140pds which is healthy for me.
So maybe the next person you notice looking good you might just say "You are beautiful, I love you!" Better yet, find the beauty in everyone around you!

               
You are all beautiful, and I love you. Namaste, Christina