FBInCIAnNSATerroristSlayer
2019-01-29 01:28:58 UTC
WESTERN CHRISTIAN GENIUSES ARE LEARNING TODAY WHAT HINDUS LEARNED
MILLENNIA AGO
The following was excerpted from a Dharmic Hindu woman's tweet:
After Hatayoga, Ayurveda, turmeric latte and Dhyan, the Christian West
is all set to appropriate ‘Pranayam’, de-Hinduise it and call it
‘cardiac coherence breathing’! Soon some evangelist will claim Jesus
invented it!
======================================================
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/proper-breathing-brings-better-health/?utm_medium=social&utm_content=organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=SciAm_&sf206620823=1
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
Proper Breathing Brings Better Health
Stress reduction, insomnia prevention, emotion control, improved
attention—certain breathing techniques can make life better. But where
do you start?
By Christophe André on January 15, 2019
A growing number of studies show that breathing techniques are effective
against anxiety and insomnia.
These techniques influence both physiological factors (by stimulating
the parasympathetic nervous system) and psychological factors (by
diverting attention from thoughts).
Because these techniques are safe and easy to use, scientific validation
might result in their being more frequently recommended and practiced.
As newborns, we enter the world by inhaling. In leaving, we exhale. (In
fact, in many languages the word “exhale” is synonymous with “dying.”)
Breathing is so central to life that it is no wonder humankind long ago
noted its value not only to survival but to the functioning of the body
and mind and began controlling it to improve well-being.
As early as the first millennium B.C., both the Tao religion of China
and Hinduism placed importance on a “vital principle” that flows through
the body, a kind of energy or internal breath, and viewed respiration as
one of its manifestations. The Chinese call this energy qi, and Hindus
call it prana (one of the key concepts of yoga).
A little later, in the West, the Greek term pneuma and the Hebrew term
rûah referred both to the breath and to the divine presence. In Latin
languages, spiritus is at the root of both “spirit” and “respiration.”
Recommendations for how to modulate breathing and influence health and
mind appeared centuries ago as well. Pranayama (“breath retention”) yoga
was the first doctrine to build a theory around respiratory control,
holding that controlled breathing was a way to increase longevity.
In more modern times, German psychiatrist Johannes Heinrich Schultz
developed “autogenic training” in the 1920s as a method of relaxation.
The approach is based partly on slow and deep breathing and is probably
still the best-known breathing technique for relaxation in the West
today. The contemporary forms of mindfulness meditation also emphasize
breathing-based exercises.
In fact, every relaxation, calming or meditation technique relies on
breathing, which may be the lowest common denominator in all the
approaches to calming the body and mind. Research into basic physiology
and into the effects of applying breath-control methods lends credence
to the value of monitoring and regulating our inhalations and exhalations.
Mind under the Influence
Even a rudimentary understanding of physiology helps to explain why
controlled breathing can induce relaxation. Everyone knows that emotions
affect the body. When you are happy, for instance, the corners of your
mouth turn up automatically, and the edges of your eyes crinkle in a
characteristic expression. Similarly, when you are feeling calm and
safe, at rest, or engaged in a pleasant social exchange, your breathing
slows and deepens. You are under the influence of the parasympathetic
nervous system, which produces a relaxing effect. Conversely, when you
are feeling frightened, in pain, or tense and uncomfortable, your
breathing speeds up and becomes shallower. The sympathetic nervous
system, which is responsible for the body’s various reactions to stress,
is now activated. Less well known is that the effects also occur in the
opposite direction: the state of the body affects emotions. Studies show
that when your face smiles, your brain reacts in kind—you experience
more pleasant emotions. Breathing, in particular, has a special power
over the mind.
This power is evident in patients who have breathing difficulties. When
these difficulties are sporadic and acute, they can trigger panic
attacks; when they are chronic, they often induce a more muted anxiety.
It is estimated that more than 60 percent of people with chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have anxiety or depressive
disorders. These disorders probably stem in part from concerns about the
consequences of the disease (what could be more distressing than
struggling to breathe?), but purely mechanical factors may contribute as
well: the difficulty these patients experience often leads to faster
breathing, which does not necessarily improve the quality of their
oxygen supply but can aggravate their physical discomfort and anxiety.
Rapid breathing can contribute to and exacerbates panic attacks through
a vicious circle: fear triggers faster breathing, which increases fear.
In 2005 Georg Alpers, now at the University of Mannheim in Germany, and
his colleagues observed significant and unconscious hyperventilation
when people who had a driving phobia took their vehicles on the highway
(where they might not be able to pull over if they become agitated).
Whether anxiety derives from breathing problems or other causes, it can
be eased by a number of breathing techniques derived from traditional
Eastern approaches (see “Six Techniques for Relieving Stress”). For
example, “follow your breath,” an exercise that focuses attention on
breathing, is one of the first steps in mindfulness meditation, whereas
alternate nostril breathing comes from yoga. Combining reassuring
thoughts with breathing is an approach incorporated into sophrology, a
technique that emphasizes harmony of body and mind and that borrows
exercises from many approaches, including yoga and mindfulness.
Overall, research shows that these techniques reduce anxiety, although
the anxiety does not disappear completely. Breathing better is a tool,
not a panacea. Some methods have been validated by clinical studies;
others have not. But all of those I describe in this article apply
principles that have been proved effective. They aim to slow, deepen or
facilitate breathing, and they use breathing as a focal point or a
metronome to distract attention from negative thoughts.
Spotlight on Cardiac Coherence
A close look at one popular technique—cardiac coherence—offers more
detail about the ways that breathing exercises promote relaxation. With
the help of biofeedback, the approach attempts to coordinate breathing
with heart rate, slowing and steadying breathing to slow and stabilize
the heartbeat.
The method was developed based on the understanding that slow, deep
breathing increases the activity of the vagus nerve, a part of
parasympathetic nervous system; the vagus nerve controls and also
measures the activity of many internal organs. When the vagus nerve is
stimulated, calmness pervades the body: the heart rate slows and becomes
regular; blood pressure decreases; muscles relax. When the vagus nerve
informs the brain of these changes, it, too, relaxes, increasing
feelings of peacefulness. Thus, the technique works through both
neurobiological and psychological mechanisms.
Cardiac coherence’s stabilization of the heartbeat can dampen anxiety
powerfully. Conversely, patients with overactive heartbeats are
sometimes misdiagnosed as victims of panic attacks because their racing
heartbeat affects their mind.
A typical cardiac coherence exercise involves inhaling for five seconds,
then exhaling for the same amount of time (for a 10-second respiratory
cycle). Biofeedback devices make it possible to observe on a screen how
this deep, regular breathing slows and stabilizes the beats. (The space
between two heartbeats on the display is never exactly the same, but it
becomes increasingly more consistent with this technique.) Several
studies have confirmed the anxiety-diminishing effect of these devices,
although the equipment probably has more influence on the motivation to
do the exercises (“It makes it seem serious, real”) than on the
physiological mechanisms themselves. Simply applying slow breathing with
the same conviction and rigor could well give the same result.
Some versions of cardiac coherence recommend spending more time on
exhaling than on inhaling (for example, six and four seconds). Indeed,
your heart rate increases slightly when you inhale and decreases when
you exhale: drawing out the second phase probably exerts a quieting
effect on the heart and, by extension, on the brain. This possibility
remains to be confirmed by clinical studies, however.
Other work suggests that the emotional impact of the breathing done in
cardiac coherence and various other kinds of exercises stems not only
from effects on the periphery—on the parasympathetic nervous system—but
also from effects on the central nervous system. Breathing may well act
directly on the brain itself.
In 2017, for instance, Mark Krasnow of Stanford University and his
colleagues showed in mice that a group of neurons that regulates
respiratory rhythms (the pre-Bötzinger complex in the brain stem)
controls some of the activity of the locus coeruleus, a region involved
in attention, wakefulness and anxiety. Breathing techniques may
influence this seat of emotions by modulating the activity of the
pre-Bötzinger complex.
Beyond any direct effects produced by slowed breathing, the attention
given to inhaling and exhaling may play a role in the brain’s response.
In 2016 Anselm Doll and his colleagues, all then at the Technical
University of Munich, showed that this attentional focus eases stress
and negative emotions, in particular by activating the dorsomedial
prefrontal cortex, a regulatory area of the brain, and by reducing
activity in the amygdala, which is involved in these emotions.
In addition, paying attention to breathing causes most people to slow it
down and to deepen it, which as I have mentioned, is soothing. Cognitive
resources are limited, and so when individuals concentrate on breathing,
they are not thinking about their worries. Those who practice
mindfulness learn to notice when their attention drifts away from
breathing and goes back to their concerns, and they train themselves to
return periodically to their breathing. This refocusing has a relaxing
effect on anyone and helps to combat ruminative thinking in people who
have anxiety or depression, especially those who are particularly prone
to negative thoughts that run in a loop.
When to Use Breathing Techniques
What is the best time to apply slow-breathing techniques? One is during
occasional episodes of stress—for example, before taking an exam,
competing in a sporting event or even attending a routine meeting at
work. In 2017 Ashwin Kamath of Manipal University in India and his
colleagues studied stage fright before a public speaking engagement. The
participants, all medical students, spent 15 minutes doing alternate
nostril breathing—that is, slowly inhaling through one nostril and
exhaling through the other by applying finger pressure to the side of
the nose not being used. Compared with members of the control group,
participants experienced somewhat less stress when speaking publicly.
These exercises may also help when insomnia strikes. In 2012 Suzanne M.
Bertisch of Harvard Medical School and her colleagues reported, based on
survey data, that more than 20 percent of American insomniacs do these
breathing exercises to sleep better. They may be on to something. In
2015 Cheryl Yang and her team at National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan
showed that 20 minutes of slow breathing exercises (six respiration
cycles per minute) before going to bed significantly improves sleep.
Insomniac participants went to sleep faster, woke up less frequently in
the night and went back to sleep faster when they did wake up. On
average, it took them only 10 minutes to fall asleep, almost three times
faster than normal. The investigators attributed the results both to the
calming mediated by the parasympathetic system and to the relaxing
effect of focused breathing.
But respiratory techniques do not work only for acute stresses or sleep
problems; they can also relieve chronic anxiety. They are particularly
effective in people with psychiatric disorders such as phobias,
depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2015 Stefania Doria
and her colleagues at Fatebenefratelli e Oftalmico Hospital in Milan,
Italy, offered 10 training sessions of two hours each, spread out over
two weeks, to 69 patients with anxiety or depressive disorders. The
training included a varied set of breathing techniques (such as
abdominal breathing, acceleration and deceleration of rhythm, and
alternate nostril breathing.), combined with some yoga stretches. The
researchers observed a significant decrease in symptoms at the end of
the protocol. Even better, improvement was maintained two and six months
later, with follow-up sessions just once a week and some home practice
during this period.
Breathing exercises also help to counter the accumulation of minor
physical tension associated with stress. Therapists recommend doing them
regularly during the day, during breaks or at moments of transition
between two activities: you simply stop to adjust your posture and allow
yourself a few minutes of quiet breathing. Therapists often suggest the
“365 method”: at least three times a day, breathe at a rhythm of six
cycles per minute (five seconds inhaling, five seconds exhaling) for
five minutes. And do it every day, 365 days a year. Some studies even
suggest that, in addition to providing immediate relief, regular
breathing exercises can make people less vulnerable to stress, by
permanently modifying brain circuits. In a practice that may seem
counterintuitive, however, counselors may encourage some anxious
patients to breathe rapidly instead of slowly, as part of an effort to
train them to cope with their anxieties (see box “Inhale for Panic!”).
But why confine breathing techniques to negative emotions? It is also
worth applying them during pleasurable moments, to take the time to
appreciate and remember them. In short, one can pause and breathe for
enjoyment as well as to calm down.
MILLENNIA AGO
The following was excerpted from a Dharmic Hindu woman's tweet:
After Hatayoga, Ayurveda, turmeric latte and Dhyan, the Christian West
is all set to appropriate ‘Pranayam’, de-Hinduise it and call it
‘cardiac coherence breathing’! Soon some evangelist will claim Jesus
invented it!
======================================================
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/proper-breathing-brings-better-health/?utm_medium=social&utm_content=organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=SciAm_&sf206620823=1
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
Proper Breathing Brings Better Health
Stress reduction, insomnia prevention, emotion control, improved
attention—certain breathing techniques can make life better. But where
do you start?
By Christophe André on January 15, 2019
A growing number of studies show that breathing techniques are effective
against anxiety and insomnia.
These techniques influence both physiological factors (by stimulating
the parasympathetic nervous system) and psychological factors (by
diverting attention from thoughts).
Because these techniques are safe and easy to use, scientific validation
might result in their being more frequently recommended and practiced.
As newborns, we enter the world by inhaling. In leaving, we exhale. (In
fact, in many languages the word “exhale” is synonymous with “dying.”)
Breathing is so central to life that it is no wonder humankind long ago
noted its value not only to survival but to the functioning of the body
and mind and began controlling it to improve well-being.
As early as the first millennium B.C., both the Tao religion of China
and Hinduism placed importance on a “vital principle” that flows through
the body, a kind of energy or internal breath, and viewed respiration as
one of its manifestations. The Chinese call this energy qi, and Hindus
call it prana (one of the key concepts of yoga).
A little later, in the West, the Greek term pneuma and the Hebrew term
rûah referred both to the breath and to the divine presence. In Latin
languages, spiritus is at the root of both “spirit” and “respiration.”
Recommendations for how to modulate breathing and influence health and
mind appeared centuries ago as well. Pranayama (“breath retention”) yoga
was the first doctrine to build a theory around respiratory control,
holding that controlled breathing was a way to increase longevity.
In more modern times, German psychiatrist Johannes Heinrich Schultz
developed “autogenic training” in the 1920s as a method of relaxation.
The approach is based partly on slow and deep breathing and is probably
still the best-known breathing technique for relaxation in the West
today. The contemporary forms of mindfulness meditation also emphasize
breathing-based exercises.
In fact, every relaxation, calming or meditation technique relies on
breathing, which may be the lowest common denominator in all the
approaches to calming the body and mind. Research into basic physiology
and into the effects of applying breath-control methods lends credence
to the value of monitoring and regulating our inhalations and exhalations.
Mind under the Influence
Even a rudimentary understanding of physiology helps to explain why
controlled breathing can induce relaxation. Everyone knows that emotions
affect the body. When you are happy, for instance, the corners of your
mouth turn up automatically, and the edges of your eyes crinkle in a
characteristic expression. Similarly, when you are feeling calm and
safe, at rest, or engaged in a pleasant social exchange, your breathing
slows and deepens. You are under the influence of the parasympathetic
nervous system, which produces a relaxing effect. Conversely, when you
are feeling frightened, in pain, or tense and uncomfortable, your
breathing speeds up and becomes shallower. The sympathetic nervous
system, which is responsible for the body’s various reactions to stress,
is now activated. Less well known is that the effects also occur in the
opposite direction: the state of the body affects emotions. Studies show
that when your face smiles, your brain reacts in kind—you experience
more pleasant emotions. Breathing, in particular, has a special power
over the mind.
This power is evident in patients who have breathing difficulties. When
these difficulties are sporadic and acute, they can trigger panic
attacks; when they are chronic, they often induce a more muted anxiety.
It is estimated that more than 60 percent of people with chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have anxiety or depressive
disorders. These disorders probably stem in part from concerns about the
consequences of the disease (what could be more distressing than
struggling to breathe?), but purely mechanical factors may contribute as
well: the difficulty these patients experience often leads to faster
breathing, which does not necessarily improve the quality of their
oxygen supply but can aggravate their physical discomfort and anxiety.
Rapid breathing can contribute to and exacerbates panic attacks through
a vicious circle: fear triggers faster breathing, which increases fear.
In 2005 Georg Alpers, now at the University of Mannheim in Germany, and
his colleagues observed significant and unconscious hyperventilation
when people who had a driving phobia took their vehicles on the highway
(where they might not be able to pull over if they become agitated).
Whether anxiety derives from breathing problems or other causes, it can
be eased by a number of breathing techniques derived from traditional
Eastern approaches (see “Six Techniques for Relieving Stress”). For
example, “follow your breath,” an exercise that focuses attention on
breathing, is one of the first steps in mindfulness meditation, whereas
alternate nostril breathing comes from yoga. Combining reassuring
thoughts with breathing is an approach incorporated into sophrology, a
technique that emphasizes harmony of body and mind and that borrows
exercises from many approaches, including yoga and mindfulness.
Overall, research shows that these techniques reduce anxiety, although
the anxiety does not disappear completely. Breathing better is a tool,
not a panacea. Some methods have been validated by clinical studies;
others have not. But all of those I describe in this article apply
principles that have been proved effective. They aim to slow, deepen or
facilitate breathing, and they use breathing as a focal point or a
metronome to distract attention from negative thoughts.
Spotlight on Cardiac Coherence
A close look at one popular technique—cardiac coherence—offers more
detail about the ways that breathing exercises promote relaxation. With
the help of biofeedback, the approach attempts to coordinate breathing
with heart rate, slowing and steadying breathing to slow and stabilize
the heartbeat.
The method was developed based on the understanding that slow, deep
breathing increases the activity of the vagus nerve, a part of
parasympathetic nervous system; the vagus nerve controls and also
measures the activity of many internal organs. When the vagus nerve is
stimulated, calmness pervades the body: the heart rate slows and becomes
regular; blood pressure decreases; muscles relax. When the vagus nerve
informs the brain of these changes, it, too, relaxes, increasing
feelings of peacefulness. Thus, the technique works through both
neurobiological and psychological mechanisms.
Cardiac coherence’s stabilization of the heartbeat can dampen anxiety
powerfully. Conversely, patients with overactive heartbeats are
sometimes misdiagnosed as victims of panic attacks because their racing
heartbeat affects their mind.
A typical cardiac coherence exercise involves inhaling for five seconds,
then exhaling for the same amount of time (for a 10-second respiratory
cycle). Biofeedback devices make it possible to observe on a screen how
this deep, regular breathing slows and stabilizes the beats. (The space
between two heartbeats on the display is never exactly the same, but it
becomes increasingly more consistent with this technique.) Several
studies have confirmed the anxiety-diminishing effect of these devices,
although the equipment probably has more influence on the motivation to
do the exercises (“It makes it seem serious, real”) than on the
physiological mechanisms themselves. Simply applying slow breathing with
the same conviction and rigor could well give the same result.
Some versions of cardiac coherence recommend spending more time on
exhaling than on inhaling (for example, six and four seconds). Indeed,
your heart rate increases slightly when you inhale and decreases when
you exhale: drawing out the second phase probably exerts a quieting
effect on the heart and, by extension, on the brain. This possibility
remains to be confirmed by clinical studies, however.
Other work suggests that the emotional impact of the breathing done in
cardiac coherence and various other kinds of exercises stems not only
from effects on the periphery—on the parasympathetic nervous system—but
also from effects on the central nervous system. Breathing may well act
directly on the brain itself.
In 2017, for instance, Mark Krasnow of Stanford University and his
colleagues showed in mice that a group of neurons that regulates
respiratory rhythms (the pre-Bötzinger complex in the brain stem)
controls some of the activity of the locus coeruleus, a region involved
in attention, wakefulness and anxiety. Breathing techniques may
influence this seat of emotions by modulating the activity of the
pre-Bötzinger complex.
Beyond any direct effects produced by slowed breathing, the attention
given to inhaling and exhaling may play a role in the brain’s response.
In 2016 Anselm Doll and his colleagues, all then at the Technical
University of Munich, showed that this attentional focus eases stress
and negative emotions, in particular by activating the dorsomedial
prefrontal cortex, a regulatory area of the brain, and by reducing
activity in the amygdala, which is involved in these emotions.
In addition, paying attention to breathing causes most people to slow it
down and to deepen it, which as I have mentioned, is soothing. Cognitive
resources are limited, and so when individuals concentrate on breathing,
they are not thinking about their worries. Those who practice
mindfulness learn to notice when their attention drifts away from
breathing and goes back to their concerns, and they train themselves to
return periodically to their breathing. This refocusing has a relaxing
effect on anyone and helps to combat ruminative thinking in people who
have anxiety or depression, especially those who are particularly prone
to negative thoughts that run in a loop.
When to Use Breathing Techniques
What is the best time to apply slow-breathing techniques? One is during
occasional episodes of stress—for example, before taking an exam,
competing in a sporting event or even attending a routine meeting at
work. In 2017 Ashwin Kamath of Manipal University in India and his
colleagues studied stage fright before a public speaking engagement. The
participants, all medical students, spent 15 minutes doing alternate
nostril breathing—that is, slowly inhaling through one nostril and
exhaling through the other by applying finger pressure to the side of
the nose not being used. Compared with members of the control group,
participants experienced somewhat less stress when speaking publicly.
These exercises may also help when insomnia strikes. In 2012 Suzanne M.
Bertisch of Harvard Medical School and her colleagues reported, based on
survey data, that more than 20 percent of American insomniacs do these
breathing exercises to sleep better. They may be on to something. In
2015 Cheryl Yang and her team at National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan
showed that 20 minutes of slow breathing exercises (six respiration
cycles per minute) before going to bed significantly improves sleep.
Insomniac participants went to sleep faster, woke up less frequently in
the night and went back to sleep faster when they did wake up. On
average, it took them only 10 minutes to fall asleep, almost three times
faster than normal. The investigators attributed the results both to the
calming mediated by the parasympathetic system and to the relaxing
effect of focused breathing.
But respiratory techniques do not work only for acute stresses or sleep
problems; they can also relieve chronic anxiety. They are particularly
effective in people with psychiatric disorders such as phobias,
depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2015 Stefania Doria
and her colleagues at Fatebenefratelli e Oftalmico Hospital in Milan,
Italy, offered 10 training sessions of two hours each, spread out over
two weeks, to 69 patients with anxiety or depressive disorders. The
training included a varied set of breathing techniques (such as
abdominal breathing, acceleration and deceleration of rhythm, and
alternate nostril breathing.), combined with some yoga stretches. The
researchers observed a significant decrease in symptoms at the end of
the protocol. Even better, improvement was maintained two and six months
later, with follow-up sessions just once a week and some home practice
during this period.
Breathing exercises also help to counter the accumulation of minor
physical tension associated with stress. Therapists recommend doing them
regularly during the day, during breaks or at moments of transition
between two activities: you simply stop to adjust your posture and allow
yourself a few minutes of quiet breathing. Therapists often suggest the
“365 method”: at least three times a day, breathe at a rhythm of six
cycles per minute (five seconds inhaling, five seconds exhaling) for
five minutes. And do it every day, 365 days a year. Some studies even
suggest that, in addition to providing immediate relief, regular
breathing exercises can make people less vulnerable to stress, by
permanently modifying brain circuits. In a practice that may seem
counterintuitive, however, counselors may encourage some anxious
patients to breathe rapidly instead of slowly, as part of an effort to
train them to cope with their anxieties (see box “Inhale for Panic!”).
But why confine breathing techniques to negative emotions? It is also
worth applying them during pleasurable moments, to take the time to
appreciate and remember them. In short, one can pause and breathe for
enjoyment as well as to calm down.