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Meditation for Beginners and Yoga for Children
Posted on August 8, 2011 | Yoga.
Yoga is an ancient Indian art of performing exercises to bring in total balance of the mind body and soul. Yoga has been considered extremely helpful for children to bring in total balance and control restlessness, sharpen memory and even help in achieving a complete soothing of the nerves.
Yoga for children is considered to be almost like complete bliss. Yoga is also very helpful as it inculcates a sense of discipline and regular habit of exercise which is extremely essential in today’s time and age when kids spend a considerable amount of time in front of the PC or watching television. There are various Yoga Asanas that are helpful in bringing about a complete enhancement of the sensory organs like the eyes and ears.
It is important for parents to introduce their children to yoga from an early age as it brings about complete relaxation and control of the mind along with a complete co ordination of the mind and the senses. There are many who believe that memory enhancement too is possible if the right yoga asana is practised on a daily basis. Yoga for children as more and more parents are realising these days is as essential as brushing their teeth.
However, an important aspect to be kept in mind while introducing children to yoga is to introduce them to practising the art of mediation too. Meditation for beginners is certainly an important channel to bring in total focus of the mind so as to inculcate a sense of well being instantly. Meditation or positive thinking is an art that has been in practice since ancient times in India and is considered to be one of the perquisites to learn yoga with perfection.
Basically Meditation for beginners is the introduction of practicing the art of total concentration to just one thing without complicating the brain with multiple thoughts. So the first thing for Meditation for Beginners is to look for a quiet place with no noise or sound pollution, sitting in a straight posture with an erect spine and eyes closed. Next comes relaxation of the mind and a total focus on the centre point popularly known as the third eye or the area right in between the two eyebrows. Once there is a total relaxation of mind body and soul a complete concentration is enabled with a feeling of well being right from within. Breathing should be very relaxed and controlled. The time spent in deep meditation should be slowly and gradually increased as sitting with folded legs for most people is not an easy thing to do.
However, finding total peace with meditation in the first few sittings is extremely difficult. It certainly takes time for one’s mind body and soul to be in co ordination and this in turn makes it extremely important for one to practice Meditation for beginners before actually trying to practice it with full force in the initial stages. This is an extremely well defined art of bringing in complete balance of the mind as it teaches one to introspect and realise what is actually peace of mind rather than running after materialistic things to satiate the thirst of the mind.
If children are taught the art of Mediation they too should be introduced to the art by getting them to practise with Meditation for Beginners. Thus, for a complete sense of achievement it is important for parents to make sure that their children learn the art of yoga and meditation under expert guidance, of course!
Understanding The Effect Of Stress On The Brain
Posted on June 17, 2011 | Mental Health.
When one is under stress, the brain sends nerve signals to the adrenal glands to facilitate the release of adrenaline. Adrenaline will then increase the blood sugar, increase the heart rate and the blood pressure, among other actions. Apart from that, hypothalamus will facilitate the pituitary gland to stimulate the production of Cortisol from the adrenal cortex. Cortisol is a stress hormone that helps in an individual’s response to stress, as it keeps the blood sugar and blood pressure high to help them get away from the danger.
This is the normal reaction the brain undergoes when under stress in the short term, but it is extremely damaging in case it goes on for a long time. The main reason for this is that the increasing amount of Cortisol will reduce the effectiveness of the immune system and affect the memory because it decreases the number of brain cells.
In research, it has been indicated that Cortisol damages and kills cells in the part of the brain that is responsible for short-term memory – the hippocampus. This makes the brain unable to access existing memory or forming a new one. At the same time it interferes with neurotransmitters, the chemicals that facilitate communication between brain cells. As a result many people are unable to retrieve a long term memory when in a crisis and are unable to think clearly. The reason why working memory is lost in stressful conditions is the fact that the stress hormones divert glucose to the exercising muscles, causing a lower amount of energy to reach the hippocampus. Consequently, it impedes us to create new memory. This is the reason why many people do not remember traumatic events, and why the working memory is usually the first to ‘get lost’.
It is also known to be a cause of premature aging of the brain. When Cortisol is released in the brain, it binds different neurons in the cytoplasm. After a series of reactions, the neurons release more calcium. In case calcium increases in the brain, the neurons will fire faster and more frequently and eventually die. Further research has also indicated that there might be a connection between changes in the ippocampus and Alzheimer’s disease. Some experts explain that the shrinkage and damage of specific parts of the hippocampus affect specific memory abilities and the higher the shrinkage the faster the individuals will progress towards Alzheimer’s.
For this reason, it is important for people to try to avoid stress in order to have a healthy brain. The best way to do this is to take charge of their thoughts and emotions so that they can handle different situations better, without compromising the brain fitness. Individuals can also engage in relaxing activities to reduce the stress levels as well as keep their sharp minds. They can also opt for meditation or deep breathing in order to free the mind from stress and bring about a calming sensation. In so doing, they will drastically reduce the amount of Cortisol in the brain, allowing them to salvage their memory and focus to keep a healthy brain.