Yoga Bliss

  “You’re as young as your spine is flexible.” ~Joseph Pilates How often do you exercise? The answer is critical to your well-being. The body was designed to move. Our early ancestors hunted and foraged for food and water, carried children, and hauled tubers and melons. Hard work and much walking and running were adaptive for survival and kept bodies and minds working well. The day ended with tranquility and sleep. As little as 75 years ago, before modern technology made us sedentary, movement was woven into everyday life: we strolled to the store and sprinted to catch the bus; we carried groceries home and trekked up and down stairs, some with a baby in arms. Kids played outside, walked and biked to school, roller skated to the store, planted a garden, pushed a lawnmower and shoveled snow. Farm folks milked cows, rode horses, pitched hay, cleaned out the barn, and carried water from the well. What has happened to our bodies in modern, technological life is a t...

  Are you jumpy and anxious? That’s because your brain is spiking with high beta waves (18-40 Hz). Are you engaged, energized, and focused? That’s because your brain is spiking with mid-range beta brain waves (15HZ to 18HZ), present during waking and driven by dopamine. Are you relaxed and meditative? That’s because your brain is spiking with alpha brain waves (8Hz to 12Hz). Brain waves are electrical flows that pass between the cranial nerves. Change your brain waves, change your mental state. Yoga will do this for you. Change in Brain Waves During Yoga Practice As you move through asanas, mid-range beta brain waves give you the mental focus and alertness needed for movement. These mid-range brain waves combine with the slower, relaxing, alpha brain waves, the state between awake and asleep. Needed for sensory perception, alpha brain waves enable us to pay attention to certain sensations and ignore others. When you focus on shifting your body in Warrior III to sta...