As we move into a new year, we often experience a sense of new possibilities and opportunities. However, these desires too often get caught on with a wish to change or improve ourselves. This mix up often results in leaving us stranded in the past and in failure because what we have done, as we create those resolutions, is strengthen patterns of thought that keep us looking back or forward rather than appreciating the moment right where we are. A more sane and kindhearted approach would have us see these desires for new life as part of the cycles of life expressing itself in us. We can savor the sensations we experience as we move through our day. (For those of us in Miami, this is our season where the days are cool and the skies are clear and infinite. It’s hard not to feel good. It’s hard not to feel expansive in our thinking. For those of you reading this in colder climates, bear with us. Spring will come to you soon.)
Our point is that we can harness the power of this new year’s moment through kindhearted attention. Even if you are not quite in the positive end of the possibility spectrum, we hope you can stir, even if just a little in the direction of the now. We know of no better way to channel and ignite positive energy through embodied awareness than through mindful and kindhearted movements of the body.
With this in mind, we want to encourage you to take advantage of the days, move with the flow, and get going with more movement. There are so many reasons to do so.
Take a look at the three articles below to explore. All three relate to movement and breath and cognitive and emotional health.
Remember that eating well is not just about food!
Feed your mind and create the foundations for meaningful and sustainable transformation.
Exercise ‘keeps the mind sharp’ in over-50s, study finds
“Doing moderate exercise several times a week is the best way to keep the mind sharp if you’re over 50, research suggests. Thinking and memory skills were most improved when people exercised the heart and muscles on a regular basis, a review of 39 studies found.”
This article is a must read whether you are young or young-with-experience. The reasons to move the body, lift heavy things, and eat well are countless. The article points to a major one to consider: mental clarity. Learn more…
When scientists saw the mouse heads glowing, they knew the discovery was big.
“…Researchers have identified two networks: the vessels that lead into and surround the brain, and those within the brain itself. The first is known as the lymphatic system for the brain, while the latter is called the glymphatic system. The “g” added to “lymphatic” refers to glia, the kind of neuron that makes up the lymphatic vessels in the brain. The glymphatic vessels carry cerebrospinal fluid and immune cells into the brain and remove cellular trash from it…deep breathing [also] significantly increases the glymphatic transport of cerebrospinal fluid into the brain.”
As I read this article, I was once again amazed by the awesomeness of the human body. We know a lot more than we used to regarding the different organs of the body, but we are only beginning to scratch the surface in understanding the ecosystem that we are. Everything is interconnected within and the body can only exists in a web of interrelationships that extend beyond the human to the world and universe that surrounds and enfolds us.
New discoveries regarding the lymphatic and glymphatic systems are shedding light to the importance of the brain clearing waste products in order to remain healthy. It is theorized that in people with Alzheimer’s this process gets disrupted. The study suggests that quality sleep is critical in how the brain clears waste through the glymphatic system. It also points to deep breathing as an important way of clearing such waste. These two activities, sleep and deep breathing, are definitely impacted by movement (cardio), lifting heavy things (resistance training), and conscious breath work (yoga). Learn more…
Science illuminates why slow breathing calms the mind.
“People have been learning to control their breath for a long time—it’s been a method of calming the mind in yoga and meditation for millennia, and it’s used today in medical and psychiatric settings to help quell anxiety, and even curb panic. Now, a study in mice homes in on the brain mechanisms that underlie the calming effect of slow breathing. So even if you don’t quite understand or believe in the power of breathwork to calm you, it will very likely benefit your brain anyway.”
If you have been to our yoga sessions you know that we end each of our in Savasana or corpse pose. After one hour or so of moving the body and following the breath with intention, gentleness, and care, we are left to notice the sensations in the body, following them without judgment, letting them be without the impulse to either grasp or reject, change or improve. When we get up and sit, inevitably, everyone feels a sense of release and deep relaxation. Part of what has happened is that the hour of practice is an hour of meditative movement, where the focal point is the breath as we move in a context of kindhearted intention. It’s after this period of entrainment with the ebb and flow of the breath, that we often feel the release of tension we carry sometimes unknowingly. This kind of practice is powerful. The article provides reasons why it works. Learn more…
Takeaway from the three articles:
Love yourself unconditionally, engage in kindhearted movement, breathe in gratitude, exhale love, and join us this week for optimal health!
Wishing you well,
Maribel and Carlos
