Displaying items by tag: focus

The tension we feel in our bodies often comes from weak & dysfunctional breath patterning. When our breath is powerful & balanced, it creates a sense of ease throughout our physical & emotional body. When we are not breathing well, our spine is collapsed, & the diaphragm is weakened, so we begin to rely on the neck & back muscles to hold up our structure & help us breathe.

Weak breathing habits lead to poor posture, which cause tightness & tension as muscles assume the burden of functions they are not designed to perform. It is no longer just the elderly who show signs of poor posture, as habitual slouching & poor alignment increasingly affect young people as well.

Observing muscle balance & posture may lead us to conclude that a slouched person might be holding feelings of depression. Are they depressed from slouching? or are they slouching from depression? If we focus on changing patterns through core breathing, our body will naturally feel light, & our mental energy will be free to express itself. We can become enslaved in a stress cycle simply from poor breathing & the resultant bad posture & negative feelings that this cycle can create. This is an example of carrying "issues in our tissues." When we are aligned & breathing well, it is actually difficult to frown. Conversely, it becomes difficult to smile when one is slouching. Poor breathing leads to poor alignment, which leads to depression, which leads to poor alignment, which leads to poor breathing, & so on. It's easy to become stuck in this stress cycle when our modern lifestyles demand that we spend so many of our waking hours in a chair. Utilising YogAlign core breathing to align our spine & balance our muscular-fascial web, we can positively impact our reservoir of mental & physical energy and the quality of our thoughts.

Your breath defines your movements, your posture, your mood, and eventually, determines your life span. Learn to breathe with purpose & passion, in order to re-create who you are - a vital, passionate & loving being!

Much Love to Michaelle Edwards creator of YogAlign

Meditation as Medicine

Would you take a daily pill if it was scientifically proven to benefit your brain by increasing focus; reducing stress, anxiety, and depression; and improving memory, emotional awareness, and overall happiness? What if it wasn’t through taking a pill, but simply the act of sitting still, for even just one minute a day? 

This week’s guest on The Doctor’s Farmacy is here to share that it is, in fact, possible to reap huge benefits in a short amount of time. Journalist and ABC news anchor Dan Harris turned his life around using the power of mindfulness and meditation; he was able to stop self-medicating with drugs, end his struggle with panic attacks, and focus on building a successful, balanced life instead. 

Initially, Dan was a skeptic of the power of meditation. He didn't think science could back up the benefits… until he saw the research for himself. 

Studies show that meditation works, in part due to its role in growing the beneficial grey matter in the brain, and Dan witnessed the effects himself once he gave it an honest try. His experience led him to write two New York Times best-selling books on the topic in an effort to help other fidgety skeptics embrace the medicinal properties of meditation. 

Throughout our talk, Dan explains the proven impacts of meditation with a down-to-earth perspective and provides realistic steps for how to incorporate it into your own life, one minute at a time.

Dan shares his personal journey, from experiencing a panic attack on-air in front of millions to becoming a calmer, more mindful person, on this episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy. If you’ve ever wondered if meditation really works and just what the science says, this episode is for you. 

I know you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. 

Wishing you health and happiness, 
Mark Hyman, MD