Contemplative science, a relatively new area of knowledge and learning, focuses on the effects of bodymind intervention and enhancement techniques such as meditation and yoga. One area of study is the effects of slow, controlled breathing. Recent studies show what areas of the brain are affected by this practice and the subjective effects it has on personal well-being.
Posture. The secret to developing good posture is to practice it or you will lose it to Time and age. Also movement training and some deep tissue alignment would also be very useful. A word to the wise is sufficient or so they say.
My saying is "Your brain is inside of your body, and your body is inside of your brain" and posture is a good example of this notion. Posture contributes a fundamental piece to the sense of being embodied. This experience is neurally constructed by the higher brain areas of the parietal, temporal, and insular lobes. It is fed by the somatosensory and vestibular systems. Posture affects mood, personality, gender, and personal power.
Posture has been a central topic of public, educational, and medical concern through the history of this country. The main reason is that it was equated early on with moral judgements: good posture = good person and poor posture = defective person. The issue was later taken up in America by doctors, educators, and those interested in scientifically improving the human being.
This is great article confirming after an extensive database search of breathing studies that slow breathing has positive effects on the cardiovascular and central and peripheral nervous systems.
Osculation--or as it is more commonly known--kissing is a distinctly human behavior and serves a variety of purposes, some of them are quite surprising. Kissing fortifies emotional relationships, communicates nonverbal messages, stimulates sexual arousal, and is used to evaluate potential sexual partners. More so, it relieves stress and anxiety, lowers blood pressure and lowers cholesterol. So pucker up and lay one on someone you love, or at least sort of like, because it's all good.
One of the more recently discovered eating disorders is orthorexia which is the fanatically obsessive fixation on eating only extremely healthy "clean" food. Taken to an extreme it becomes orthorexia nervosa which is a condition that causes great personal distress and dysfunction. How can a healthy behavior result in a pathological condition? What are the personality traits related to these behaviors? And, more, what can be done to help treat such a condition?
A healthy mind in a healthy body. Exercise isn’t just about building muscle or losing weight. It has holistic effects on the bodymind regarding thinking, mood, attention, cognitive health, and holistic well-being. And, in looking at all of these positive effects on so many levels, it makes me increasingly motivated to get out to the gym. See you there!
The majority of the research into the effects of meditation on physical and mental health often present glowing results and this is most deservedly so because meditation can be a "Swiss Army Knife" tool to treat what ails you meaning it supports a variety of health benefits. But, there is a downside as a small but growing body of research literature is showing that meditation has always had some adverse effects--the ancient teachers knew this full well--but this aspect has been ignored in the West. The major points of this problem are reviewed here.
That meditation has positive physical effects on the body over time is often overlooked in favor of its psychological effects. In this essay, I give a cursory survey to how meditation affects the body including biological aging and longevity, brain health, serious illnesses, and holistic well-being.
There is a wealth of research into the effects of meditation on brain health and functioning, physical health, and some of the potential health hazards associated with meditation. This first part covers the many profound changes that meditation can have upon the neuroplasticity of the brain and nervous system.
The American essayist and spiritual philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1802-1882), taught that Nature--the entire natural world--was an expression of the Divine and to become one with it led to union with God. Scientific studies since the 1980s starting in Asia have built a large body of evidence showing that nature experiences lead to many psychological and physical benefits such as lowering depression and anxiety while heightening positive body image and well-being.