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RISING WOMEN EXPERT
ADVICE...
What are some of the improvements in brain
function that result from practicing yoga and how do these improvements
manifest themselves?
Your amazing brain is capable of improvement at any age! Studies have shown
that practicing yoga improves attention and concentration. With regular
practice, memory improves, intuition heightens, and imagination and
creativity expand.
The human brain is able to continually adapt and rewire itself. Even in old
age, it can grow new neurons. Most age-related losses in memory or motor
skills simply result from inactivity and a lack of mental exercise and
stimulation. A healthy human being is a human doing.
It’s the flexibility of the spine, not the number of years that determines a
person’s age. Yoga slows down the aging process by giving elasticity to the
spine, firming up the skin, removing tension from the body, strengthening
the abdominal muscles, eliminating the possibility of a double chin,
improving the tone of flabby arm muscles, correcting poor posture,
preventing dowager’s hump, and so on. Yoga lets you trade in characteristics
of old age for characteristics of youth as it affects positively the brain,
glands, spine and internal organs. Yoga also helps reconnect the mind and
body in a way that improves the well-being of both. To do so, practitioners
engage in deep breathing, posing, stretching and other relaxation techniques
designed to reduce stress and tension.
When we incorporate meditation into our exercise program, this practice
helps slow or stops the incessant chatter of thoughts that occur, allowing a
deeply focused and highly aware state. Meditation gives our brain a needed
rest so that it can more easily function to heal our body.
Some of the manifestations of practicing yoga will be improved blood
circulation to the brain as well as the reduction in stress, a healthier and
stronger body with increased immunity against disease.
Yoga practice is an excellent, efficient way to establish a mind-body
balance in oneself. You learn the interconnectedness of all of life. Your
yoga practice soon evolves from a personal journey to one connecting to the
community at large where your social skills improve along with your yoga
practice. Yoga empowers individuals to manage their own bodies and brains in
order to become healthier, happy and peaceful.
Dawn Cardinal teaches yoga & practices Shiatsu at the Nielsen
Homeopathic Clinic. Dawn may be contacted at 403.984.3335 or visit
www.morethanyoga.ca
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