Yoga With Pamela McDowell

Smokers have mastered something many of us are striving to attain – a regular daily practice.

Mind you, many of them have decided the practice of smoking no longer serves them.

But for those who continue to smoke, you can capitalize on the practice.

And nonsmokers, never fear, there is something for you in here too. (And no, I’m not going to suggest you take up smoking.)

This goes back to my client mentioned in a previous post…

Yoga in Your Everyday Activities

She was upset about not practicing enough, and we identified a few things she did daily that she could turn into a sort of yoga practice.

One of those was smoking.

This client doesn’t take much quiet time, but she is very consistent with her smoke breaks – going outside for sunshine, fresh air, and a smoke.

She also tends not to pay much attention to her breathing in her day-to-day activities, and often finds herself holding her breath.

But each of these smoke breaks is an opportunity for her to pay attention to her breath – simply noticing the inhale and exhale with each puff of a cigarette.

Perhaps even paying special attention to the feel of the cigarette, the process of lighting it, and in the end putting it out.

…And possibly even bringing those smoke breaks to a gradual halt, transforming them to simple breaks to relax and breathe without the nicotine.

Nonsmokers: Have you ever noticed that serious smokers are pretty regular about their breaks?

Are you?

If not, why? Is it because you think you’ll be more productive if you skip your breaks?

Or if you’re a computer worker, do you spend your breaks online or playing computer games, sitting in much the same way you do during your work time?

Take a cue from the smokers and get up, move a little, and look outside. If you’re adventurous, go outside.

Notice your breathing, stretch, do some yoga or EFT. Relax and enjoy for a while.

And like a smoker, take your breaks regularly.

Other ways to put the breaks on:
Chocolate Meditation
Rest for a Moment
Are You Rushing Through Your Yoga Practice?

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Or how to get the most mileage out of your bar of Lindt Excellence 85% cocoa bar.

Have you ever downed a snack or meal and hardly noticed what you were eating? Even if it is some delicious delicacy you’ve been looking forward to?

Possibly even a piece of your favorite chocolate… headed to your stomach before you even noticed.

Next time you enjoy a piece of chocolate, really live it up.

Notice the packaging, the box and the foil protecting the tasty treat.

Be aware of opening the packaging and breaking off a piece.

Feel the weight, see the color, smell the aroma.

Take a bite, noticing the complex the sweet and bitter flavors, the smooth texture, the way it melts

Bring your awareness to every bite.

I’ll bet your chocolate bar lasts a lot longer eating it this way – and that you enjoy it so much more.

Explore other ways to turn your “weaknesses” into strengths:
Smoking for Yoga
The Yoga of a Parking Ticket

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My client sat down. “I don’t know why I’m not practicing. I enjoy it and know it is good for me, but I just can’t get it in my head to practice.”

She was clearly disappointed in herself.

Wanting to turn around her attitude (it really isn’t useful to beat yourself up about something you think you should be doing – but aren’t) I started asking some questions.

“So, you haven’t done anything?” I asked, knowing at the very least she attended one of my group classes earlier that week.

“Well, I have been doing this (showing me a forward bend she does from a chair), and I have been paying attention to my posture.”

I congratulated her, pointing out that she was indeed something. In fact, many days of the week she was doing something, which in my opinion is better than a longer practice that you never have time for.

We then started to identify some things she does every day that she could turn into a yoga practice (yoga is not just about what you do on a mat, after all):

When you’re loading the dishwasher, coordinate your breath with your movement. Exhale as you bend forward to put a dish in, inhale as you return to standing upright. Rather than racing to finish, be aware of your movements and enjoy them.

Also, approach loading the dishwasher with a positive attitude – instead of holding resentment that no one else in the house will load the dishwasher, enjoy the process of clearing space on the counter tops.

When making your mom’s bed, notice the feel of the covers in your hands and the movement in your body as you pull the sheets, blankets and bedspread into place. Do each layer one at a time, then switch to the other side.

There. We had 2 activities she could turn into a yoga practice, gradually building the habits of conscious breathing and moving.

We identified yet another activity that she engages in quite regularly that would be fantastic for breath awareness. More on that later…

Now, rather than lamenting your lack of practice (or not enough practice, according to your standards), what daily activities can you turn into a yoga practice?

Discover more “everyday yoga”…
Smoking for Yoga
Chocolate Meditation

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An unwelcome bit of mail arrived today. I had forgotten all about the special “souvenir” of my day trip to Monterrey while in California this summer. Even though I paid to park in one of the city garages, I managed to choose one of the spots marked “no parking” to leave my car in while taking in the touristy sights.

How does this relate to yoga? At first, fuming over seeing that the city employees had denied my request to rescind the ticket, I saw no relation to yoga.

“Bloody h&!!… They’re gonna make me pay it” I thought. “I didn’t intentionally park in a no parking spot… why couldn’t they let this one slide?”

After reluctantly dismissing the approach of just not paying the ticket, I began to plot how I would make it most painful to them – my response to their hospitality.

Send pennies? That would make them work. Nah, it would also be a lot of work for me.

Pay in Australian dollars? They never did stipulate American dollars, and I’ve got enough here to pay the ticket. Could be fun, but the Aussie dollar is almost on par with Yankee money. Hardly worth the hassle.

I could send another letter of protest along with my payment. Hmm, I might feel better for a few minutes, but the first plea fell on deaf ears so why should I spend my energy on that.

Ahha! Send a letter to the editor of the local newspaper. Yeh, right. I’ve lived in areas with parking shortages before, and parking violators didn’t get a whole lot of sympathy. Why should I expect any different in Monterrey?

Once my daydreams subsided, I realized the best option is to pay with my credit card – at least I’ll save 41 cents on postage and get some airline miles by using plastic.

As I headed toward my computer to pay the dreaded fine, I noticed an opportunity.
An opportunity to reflect.

How do I react when I’m not perfect? How do I react when others aren’t perfect, or when situations don’t meet my expectations?

Do I let my emotions cloud my perception? Am I quick to become defensive or self righteous?

In this case, yes, yes and yes.
Was my response better than it would have been 10 years ago? (yes)
Could it have been better? Absolutely.

But of course, my response was perfect just as it was. Who am I to define perfect?

It was, it is, and that’s that. From my knothole, who am I to say what is perfect and what is not? Who am I to judge?

The best I can do is observe.

Read more about the power of observation:
Stock Market Yoga
Yoga Socks

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Clearly, practicing some asana (postures/movements) should help improve your brain’s GABA levels, helping you feel more calm and relaxed.

If you don’t already practice asana, you can start by finding a local yoga class, getting some personalized instruction to develop your own practice, or watching a video to help guide you through some movements. (I recommend getting some live instruction from a qualified instructor at first.)

Beginner Yoga Guide

And while this particular study did not test meditation, there is a whole pile of studies showing the benefits of meditation for reducing stress, decreasing anxiety, and lowering blood pressure.

You can practice meditation as part of you yoga practice…

You can also bring your meditative yoga practice into your everyday tasks. Anything you do can be turned into a meditation, thereby calming your nervous system. For some ideas, listen to the “Ancient Yoga Secret to Washing Your Dishes.”

And if you’re not into yoga? EFT, the Emotional Freedom Technique, has been found to be effective for treating anxiety, depression, and even epilepsy. There have also been a number of studies demonstrating the effectiveness of EFT.

The real secret is to do something today – and every day – that will help calm your mind and pave your way to a lifetime of better health.

Click on the following links to read more about the Yoga-GABA connection:
Study Says Your Brain GABA Levels Increase with Yoga
What is GABA?
Details about the Yoga - GABA Study
Where to read the report on the Yoga - GABA Study

Visit these pages for more tips for improving your mental, physical and emotional health:
Grandma’s Yoga Secrets
The Ancient Yoga Secret to Washing Your Hands
Chocolate Meditation

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Here are a few of the details of the study.

The study was a small pilot study 19 participants. Participants either practiced yoga or read for 60 minutes.

GABA levels of the 8 yoga practitioners and 11 readers were measured and compared. Yoga practitioners got a 27% increase in GABA whereas the readers experienced none.

(Actually, the researchers used magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging devices to measure GABA-to-creatine ratios in the participants’ brains and did some fancy calculations to get to the corresponding brain GABA levels.)

The group practicing yoga had at least 4 months of experience practicing at least 2 days a week. They practiced their choice of asana-based yoga for the study.

The other group read periodicals and popular fiction – religious and self-help materials were excluded.

The yoga participants practiced for 60 minutes, 55 minutes of asana with a short rest at the beginning and end of practice.

Participants included 18-45 yr old men and women, with no history of psychiatric illness, alcohol abuse or substance abuse. The women were using “an acceptable method of birth control” and weren’t pregnant.

With a 27 % increase in GABA in the yoga practitioners, it is clear something is going on. And it stands to reason that since increasing GABA levels correspond to improvements in depression, anxiety, ADD & ADHD, and epilepsy, yoga should help with those conditions.

And since yoga has demonstrated success with depression, anxiety, and epilepsy, the conclusion appears to be correct.

Some questions remain (of course).

Since the test was on people with healthy GABA levels, will yoga help people with low GABA levels?

Is the effect unique to yoga, or does the increase in GABA increase with other forms of physical activity?

What about other aspects of yoga….do meditation, visualizations, reading spiritual texts and practicing pranayama produce increased levels of GABA, too?
(Except for a combined 5 minutes of rest and any breathing techniques incorporated into the postures, the practice did not include pranayama or meditation because researchers couldn’t verify the yoga practitioners were doing anything if they just sat there.)

While there is more to be learned, the study adds to the increasing evidence for the benefits of practicing yoga.

How to Benefit from the Yoga-GABA Study
Details about the Yoga - GABA Study
What is GABA?
Yoga Increases Your Brain’s GABA levels

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GABA helps calm your nervous system. It’s often called the brain’s natural calming agent.

GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid ) is used throughout the human nervous system, so is has broad effects on the body.

Research also indicates that GABA is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain.

Neurotransmitters are chemicals that are used to relay, amplify and modulate electrical signals between a neuron and another cell.

Inhibitory neurotransmitters tend to keep nerve signals coherent and quiet. After an impulse is transmitted, they discourage additional impulses. (This is in contrast to excitatory neurotransmitters that tend to encourage additional impulses.)

Low levels of GABA are associated with conditions like…
Depression
Anxiety
ADD & ADHD (attention deficit disorder & ADD with hyperactivity)
Early morning awakening
Constipation
Headaches located in the back of the head and neck

Also, increased GABA and improved GABA delivery appears to improve epilepsy.

So, if yoga can increase GABA levels, it is possible it will improve these conditions.

How to Benefit from the Yoga-GABA Study
Details about the Yoga - GABA Study
Where to read the report on the Yoga - GABA Study
Yoga Increases Your Brain’s GABA levels

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Yoga could make you happier.

Ok, to anyone who regularly practices yoga, this is not news. But a new study gives some bio-chemical reason for why yoga can make you feel happier and calmer.

In a pilot study, researchers from Boston, MA found that an hour of yoga increased levels of GABA in the brain by 27%.

They’re happy because their study supports their hypothesis “that an individual yoga session would increase brain GABA levels.”
They’re also happy because this means that yoga may be able to help depressed people be happier, anxious people be calmer, and epileptics to have fewer seizures.

People experiencing major depression and anxiety disorders tend to have lower brain GABA levels than the general population.

Also, medications to control epileptic seizures tend to increase brain GABA levels, and increasing GABA is one way to treat epilepsy.

So, increased brain GABA levels may be why previous studies have found that yoga helps improve depression, anxiety, and epilepsy.

Whatever the reason behind it, yoga might just help you feel happier.

How to Benefit from the Yoga-GABA Study
Details about the Yoga - GABA Study
What is GABA?
Where to read the report on the Yoga - GABA Study

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There is a groovy study out that indicates that yoga increases GABA levels in your brain. More on why that is important later. But first, the nuts and bolts of the study….

It is called

“Yoga Asana Sessions Increase Brain GABA Levels: A Pilot Study,” appeared in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Volume 13, Number 4, 2007, pp. 419-426.

The following researchers were involved with the study:

Chris C. Streeter, M.D.
Division of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA.
McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA.
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

J. Eric Jensen, Ph.D.
McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA.
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

Ruth M. Perlmutter, B.S.
Division of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA.

Howard J. Cabral, Ph.D.
Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA.

Hua Tian, M.S.
Division of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA.

Devin B. Terhune, M.Sc.
Division of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA.

Domenic A. Ciraulo, M.D.
Division of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA.
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Boston V.A. Healthcare System, Boston, MA.

Perry F. Renshaw, M.D.
Division of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA.
McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA.
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

You can read more about the study online at
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2007.6338

Study Says Your Brain GABA Levels Increase with Yoga
What is GABA?
Details about the Yoga - GABA Study
How You Can Benefit from the Yoga - GABA Study

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The fancy name for the final resting pose in yoga is savasana… the corpse pose. It is done resting on your back, letting gravity do it’s work.

But you don’t have to play dead to get the benefits of a rest.

Your rest can be sitting down, kneeling, laying on your side – even standing quietly if that is what works for you.

The important thing is…. TO REST.

Get the most out of all the work you just did.

Give your body a minute or more to integrate your practice before you rush off to the next thing in your day.

Allow your mind and your body just “let go.” Drop all the busy-ness for a few minutes.

Set aside a little bit of time at the end of every practice to rest – even if it means having a shorter meditation, a shorter pranayama session, or fewer asana.

Check out some other ways to get the most out of your practice:
Chocolate Meditation
Smoking for Yoga
Yoga in Your Everyday Activities

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