by Brad and Nina 

Gaudi Ceiling by Brad Gibson

Since the early days of Yoga for Healthy Aging, we’ve been blogging about the research of Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, who studies the effects of stress on cellular aging (see Stress, Telomeres and Aging). Dr. Blackburn is so convinced that chronic stress affects aging on a cellular level that she is studying the effects of meditation and yoga on aging, thinking that these practices might actually slow aging and lengthen life.
In particular, Dr. Blackburn has been studying the affects of meditation and yoga on telomere length. Throughout your life, your cells may reproduce many times to repair and strengthen their host organs, to grow or to fight disease, and the telomere at the end shrinks each time the cell divides and duplicates itself. A chemical called telomerase helps restore a portion of the telomere with each division, but after 10 to 50 divisions or so (the number varies by tissue type and health, and biologists still do not understand the system well), the telomere gets so short that the cell is no longer able to replicate. Because some cells or tissues in our body (skin, blood cells, etc.) continue to replicate and be replaced as we age, or to be repaired after injury, if the progenitor cells needed for these processes cannot replicate due to telomere shortening, this can contribute to the aging process and increase our susceptibility to disease.
Dr. Blackburn’s research has demonstrated that chronic stress actually accelerates telomere shortening and that anti-stress practices such as meditation and yoga can in turn slow the process by “boosting” telomeres. A recent BBC article Can Meditation Delay Aging?  gives a good overview of Dr. Blackburn’s current research. Here’s an excerpt that explains why meditation and yoga might boost telomeres.
But while telomeres are still getting a lot of buzz these days, I for one know that this is only one of many theories of aging out there (see What is Aging, Anyway?). So I turned to Brad for his take on the article (and the issue of telomeres in general). 
—Nina
Overall, this a reasonable, well-written and—for the most part—balanced article. I think when it gets into how the established medical profession and scientists are reluctant to get into this area, it is largely correct. However, there is so much confusion and outright snake oil sales in the “anti aging” field right now that it’s no big mystery why people (and scientists) are cautious. In addition, it is important to keep in mind that the role of telomeres in aging is still very controversial. This statement late in the article is a bit problematic:
"Conventional medical tests give us our risk of particular conditions - high cholesterol warns of impending heart disease, for example, while high blood sugar predicts diabetes. Telomere length, by contrast, gives an overall reading of how healthy we are: our biological age. And although we already know that we should exercise, eat well and reduce stress, many of us fall short of these goals."
For one, the role of cholesterol levels is (surprise!) being hotly debated again. And some of the longstanding wisdom about what levels are good or bad—especially for women—may be wrong.  The idea that telomere length is a read-out of our “biological age” is simply not supportable by solid scientific evidence. It is telling us something, but it’s not exactly clear what that is precisely. There are some big efforts going on right now to identify new “biomarkers” of aging, and I'm under the impression that telomere length is no longer being considered as major player in these efforts.

—Brad

Image via Flickr user katerha

I haven't had a summer reading list since high school. That could be because that was the last time I had enough free time to sit down with a big stack of books to read for pleasure (Oh wait!, I had to do it for a grade?. Nevermind.)

This year I'm not working full time, so I've found myself with a little more down time. Sure, I'm writing whenever I get assignments, teaching a few yoga classes week, keeping my 2-year-old busy in the sweltering Charleston, SC heat, practicing yoga as much as I can, cooking a lot.... OK, I don't have time to read books now either. But, I am more motivated than ever to learn, grow, find financial freedom, clean up my act, and generally enjoy every moment as much as I possibly can. (If for no other reason, then because I've started to notice my daughter mimicking nearly everything she sees me do--from asking her Daddy to turn down the TV (oops!) to my Downward Facing Dog.) I want her to see me more often with a book in my hands and less with a screen in my face. (And, yes, I do read on a Kindle. It was just a figure of speech, OK?) So, I made my own summer reading list. You'll notice these are not all yoga books--but they all are very relevant to my life as a yoga teacher, mother, freelance writer, woman, etc.

Money: A Love Story. I think all yoga teachers should read this book by Kate Northrup about valuing yourself, spending money on the things you value, seeing sound financial decisions as a form of self-care, and understanding that there are a billion ways to create abundance in this world. This one was the first on my list, and I've already devoured it.. but still need to go back through and do all the journaling exercises.

It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys: The Seven-Step Path to Becoming Truly Organized.  Kate Northrup mentions this book a couple of times in Money: A Love Story, and I knew it would be the next book I'd dive into. Even the title kind of strikes a nerve with me because I'm the type of person who has a million grand ideas and a ton of ambition and drive, but my life is just too chaotic right now to be as productive as I'd like. Case in point, the e-book I'm "writing" that's been collecting electronic dust in my Google Documents list for two years now... TWO!

Pushback: How Smart Women Ask--And Stand Up For--What They Want. This is another one that I think people in the yoga community have trouble with. Compassion is a part of the practice, and so it's really easy to think, "Yes, I do need to make X amount teaching this yoga class, but I certainly wouldn't want the studio owner to sacrifice what she needs to meet her bottom line... so I'll just take what she offers me." This attitude never helped anybody pay their bills, and settling for less than we deserve doesn't help the thousands of other yoga teachers out there struggling to pay their bills either.

Breathe: A Novel. Sure this sounds like just another fictional story of someone transforming through yoga... But, every now and then, I like to be reminded in a don't-take-yourself-so-serious way that yoga can be fun, healing, and, yes, even entertaining. I'd like to read this one on the beach, with a fruity umbrella-shaded drink in hand.

Miracles Now: 108 Life-Changing Tools for Less Stress, More Flow, and Finding Your True Purpose. I've followed Gabrielle Bernstein online for a long time now--and I have loved her video tips and tricks for using meditation and Kundalini Yoga techniques to deal with everyday life. So I can't wait to dive into this book, which promises to offer 108 simple solutions to combat complicated problems like "stress, burnout, frustration, jealousy, resentment" without spending hours meditating and practicing yoga everyday. We'll see. I'm skeptical of anything that offers quick fixes, but I don't doubt I'll learn at least one or two more things to add to my toolbox.

To keep myself motivated and honest, I'm going to review each of these books when I'm done reading them. Will you join me? What are you reading this summer?

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Cactus by Melina Meza

Another very thorough review article Meditation: concepts, effects and uses in therapy (not a research paper) that looked at the results of 75 scientific selected articles in the field of meditation, including Transcendental Meditation, found that over 60% of participants reported negative side effects. Before I list the reported complaints, keep in mind that I don’t have the percentage breakdowns for them and the authors caution that the research itself has limitations on how well it was done (more on that in a minute). The reported side effects were: 

“relaxation-induced anxiety and panic; paradoxical increases in tension; less motivation in life; boredom; pain; impaired reality testing; confusion and disorientation; feeling 'spaced out'; depression; increased negativity; being more judgmental; feeling addicted to meditation; uncomfortable kinesthetic sensations; mild dissociation; feelings of guilt; psychosis-like symptoms; grandiosity; elation; destructive behavior; suicidal feelings; defenselessness; fear; anger; apprehension; and despair.”

by Nina

Zen Jewel by Torei Enji

Last night I was thinking about someone close to me who is going through hard times—struggling with rather serious depression. Although he exercises regularly, he doesn't take yoga classes. He's considering starting, though, and naturally I'm the go-to expert on that topic so I spent some time reading up on the studios in his area in an attempt to help. But when it came down to it, I surprised myself by recommending a Zen center in his area instead of a yoga studio. That's because I felt that if he was going to do one thing for himself—in addition to western style therapy—it should be a practice that would reduce his stress levels. Stress, of course, can exacerbate or even cause depression and I know his lifestyle is stressful. And Zen style meditation is a great way to switch your nervous system from Stress mode to Relaxation mode, and to teach you to cultivate equanimity in the face of challenges.

by Baxter

Meditating Frog by Sengai

It’s been five months since I was last here at Prana del Mar, the Ocean of Energy, an incredible yoga retreat center just north of Cabo San Lucas near the tip of the Mexican Baja Peninsula. When I was last here in December, I posted a few short meditations that some of you found useful (see Short but Sweet: 10-Minute Meditations), so I thought I’d continue the tradition and offer you another one to try today. For some of you, this particular meditation technique will be familiar, but for others it may be fresh and new. I don’t recall the first time a yoga teacher suggested it to me for my meditation focus, but it took a while for me to appreciate it fully. It is called the So Hum meditation, and Timothy recommended it as a meditation technique for beginners in his post Starting a Meditation Practice.

Yoga tradition tells us that the So Hum meditation is based on the sounds of the in-breath and the out-breath, that is, the sound you might hear as you listen to your inhale is said to be the “so” sound (pronounced like “sow”) and the sound you might hear as you listen to your exhale is said to be the “hum” sound. I say “might” because I wonder if it sounded a bit different in the ancient Indian culture than it does to modern English speakers. After all, the English “cock-a-doodle-do” of the rooster is heard as the  “quiquiriqui” in Mexico, and “cocorico” in France.

Fortunately, there is a deeper connection to the yoga philosophy and ancient Sanskrit language that I came across, which may intrigue you enough to consider using this sound mantra as you meditate. The “so” is actually “sa,” which is related to the word “sat.” “Sat” is sometimes translated simply as “that,” but it is often also said to refer to “reality” or “all that is” and shows up as part of the names of famous Indian teachers or gurus, like Satchidananda, to name a more modern luminary. And the “hum” comes from the word “aham,” which may be a shortened version of ahamkara, a term which refers to the ego-self, or our ordinary self, as opposed to our higher, spiritual self. That's right - in some yogic philosophies, we have multiple realities rolling around in our heads at the same time! Our ahamkara often holds the control of things over our wiser part, known as our buddhi consciousness, and a lot of the work of yoga is trying to shift that control over to our more enlightened potential. So when “sa” and “aham”(which here translates as “I am”) meet, they become “so” and “hum”, which could be translated as “I am that” or “I am Reality.” It is a reminder that we are interconnected and inseparable from all of reality.

An interesting aside is that Melina Meza (our YFHA photographer), who is here co-teaching with me, shared with our group yesterday is that in the Indian Life Science of Ayurveda, it is believed that disease’s first germination occurs because we have forgotten our interconnectedness with all of life. So, maybe this mantra is a way of reconnecting with that yogic truth. And wouldn’t it be great if it had a beneficial effect on reversing disease?

So I invite you to set yourself up in a comfortable seated position, either in a yoga pose, such as Hero pose or Simple Crossed Legs, or in a chair. Now find your inner lift from your sittings bones up to the crown of your head, and simply begin to listen to the sound of your own breath. Even is it does not sound exactly like “So Hum” as you inhale and exhale, hear those syllables in your mind with each round of breath for about 10 minutes. Practice once a day for the next week and see what you notice. Please report back to us any interesting observations you make! And for those of you interested in learning more about mantras and meditation, check out this interesting article The Power of Mantra from Yoga International that my good friend Sharon shared with me last week.

I am finally back from my retreat in Mexico, where we practiced meditation at the beginning and end of each of our two asana classes daily. Via my iPhone (don’t you just love technology, sometimes!), I was able to share some simple meditation practices with you last week (Short but Sweet and More Short Meditations from Mexico). These posts spurred one reader to ask the following:

Q: I have a question on meditation. You have been running articles lately on meditation but have never precisely defined what meditation is. Savasana doesn't seem to count as meditation, but why not? If someone is in a restorative pose like legs-up-the-wall or supported bridge and is focusing on the breath, is that considered meditation? If not, why not? I hope you can clarify this for me.

In addition to the posts I did last week, Timothy and Ram have addressed certain aspects of meditation in earlier posts (see Starting a Meditation Practice and Achieving Stillness in Turbulent Situations). But, our reader is right on some level that we have not precisely defined what meditation is. And this is partially because there are many kinds of meditation, depending on what tradition you look at. Different yogic traditions have different focuses, techniques and goals for meditation. So, in some ways, one definition will not satisfy all meditators!

That said, we can look at classical yoga as defined by the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali (which we have quoted on numerous occasions here at YFHA) to get at least one perspective on what meditation is. One of the most obvious goals of yoga practice, and of meditation (since it is one of the tools or techniques of Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga), is the “quieting of the fluctuations of the mind” as sutra 1.2 “yoga citta vrtti nirodhah” is often translated. TKV Desikachar’s translation of this same sutra is as follows:

Yoga is the ability to direct the mind exclusively toward an object and sustain that direction without distraction.

The underlying idea here is that the normal busy, erratic and worry-prone mind—to mention a few of the qualities of average mind—is the source of much of our daily suffering, and the result of the focused practice is a quieting and stilling of the mind that results in greater peacefulness. There are also other loftier results that arise with continued yoga and meditation practices, which we can leave for another time.

There are several stages in the process in classical yoga, which include:

1. Pranayama practices that intensify concentration and focus.
2. Dharana or “concentration.” In dharana, you choose an object for your mind to focus on, even though it wanders off and has to be brought back to the chosen object frequently. Anyone who has tried to sit for 10 minutes and focus on one thing, like the mantras I suggested last week, has had this on again, off again experience of trying to focus exclusively on one chosen thing.
3. Dhayana or “meditation.” As the practice of concentration improves, at a certain point the mind establishes a continuous link with the object of the practice and you are said to be at the stage of “Dhayana” or meditation. Sutra 3.2 marks this shift in the quality of the experience, which Desikachar translates as: “Then the mental activities form an uninterrupted flow only in relation to this object.” Even though this is not the end stage of things in the classical yoga perspective, I’ll stop things here and say that in modern circles we often call even the earliest stages of concentration practice “meditation,” and this is really OK for our purposes.

I’ll now turn to which postures you can “meditate” in. The truth is that as long as you are able to mentally focus on your chosen “object” of the day, just about any pose that allows the body to remain quiet and less likely to distract your mind could be a good one. Even though I asked my students to sit in one of several typical yoga asana sitting positions, a few students last week had body pain that made it very difficult for them to keep their meditation focus. So those students were invited to lay in supported Savasana, for example, as an alternative. Legs Up the Wall could be an acceptable alternative for some students, especially for shorter meditations less than 10 minutes long. For anything longer, many students will begin to experience tingling in the feet and legs, which may be too distracting to the mind for a good meditation. Supported Bridge pose, for many, would likely be to physically stimulating to be a good meditation position, but there could be exceptions in some cases. And you need to be able to stay awake and present while meditating, so if the posture you chose is leading to drowsiness, this means the mind is no longer staying focused and you need to find a different position for your practice.

And the “focus” of the mind can be varied, from something as simple and consistent as the sensation of inhaling and exhaling, to a single word or phrase repeated with each breath that I called “mantra” in our practices last week, to the gazing at a mandala or a flame (meditation techniques in which the eyes are open and used to direct the attention of the mind). As the topic of meditation is larger and more complex than these introductory thoughts I am sharing with you today, I know we will return to it again and again in future posts to tease out subtly, nuance and purpose. In the meantime, if anyone has a favorite yoga posture that they find effect for their meditation practice, please share that with the rest of us.

—Baxter

I once heard David Swenson say that smoking would be a pretty healthy habit if it weren't for all the smoke. I mean, think about it. Smokers take breaks, go outside, and for a few minutes focus on breathing. This was during a workshop I took with him several years ago, and I remember thinking to myself how completely funny it would be to start taking "smoke breaks" a few times a day--without the cigarettes, of course. When, I remembered that right outside of my office building there would be actual smokers taking real smoke breaks and the idea quickly lost all of its appeal.

I was reminded of this yesterday when I found myself at home, working up to the very last second on a writing deadline. I'm a work-from-home mom, so my strategy during these times is to keep my daughter engaged in activities so I can type-type-type... I decided I'd take my computer to the backyard to let her play while I worked. The problem with this set up, of course, is that there are too many distractions (and, as I've mentioned, I'm already a procrastinator--I'm learning to accept that!), so when my daughter came running up to me with a purple tube of bubbles in her hand and those sweet, hopeful eyes and said, "Bubbles, Mommy? BUBBLES!?" I thought, What the heck? I can finish this article later.  

Photo by Flickr user Stephen Dann

She watched wide-eyed as I carefully dipped the wand in the soap. I pulled it out, making sure an iridescent film covered the little circle opening. I filled my lungs. Then, slowly, carefully, and with control I breathed out one smooth breath.

"BUBBLES!! I catch them, Mommy! LOOK! A BIG one!"

Bubbles never disappoint. And it's hard not to be completely blown away (pun intended) by witnessing toddler's unwavering excitement at the simplest things in life. (Deadline, schmedline... Do you see all those colors?!)

After a few minutes, I realized this feeling wasn't much different that those few moments at the beginning of every yoga session when I sit quietly to check in and notice my breath. In. Out. In. Out. Blowing bubbles is pranayama. It's a smoke break without the smoke.

I had skipped my practice yesterday--Deadline!!--but, thanks to my daughter, I was able to squeeze in a little pranayama, practice contentment, and remember that what really matters in life isn't necessarily what we accomplish, but how we experience it.

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by Baxter

If you are up for it, I'd like share some new meditations with you that I’ve been teaching this week at my retreat in Yelapa, Mexico. Now, if Tuesday’s theme is a good one for you right now, then by all means continue to use "strength and stability" for a while. But if you’d like to experiment, here are two more possibilities.

Flexibility Meditation

For the second day of my retreat, I was thinking of how to incorporate the concept of flexibility into my meditation and that of my retreat group. And as I was gazing down on the surging and receding surf on the Yelapa beach, I realized I’d like my own flexibility to reflect nature's undulations. The rhythm of the waves on the shore mirrors the waves on my own breath in meditation. The mantra or meditative phrase "fluid as the sea" seems fitting, so try repeating it mentally on your exhale for your ten-minute sit today. Hope all follows well from there!

Digestion Meditation

On day four of my retreat, we turned our focus to an area of the body that has special connotations in the yoga tradition, the upper abdomen. This is where the digestive fire, known in Sanskrit as the jathara agni, is said to reside. Convenient, as the anatomical stomach sack and the first part of the small intestine are also located there! Instead of narrowly focusing on digestion as related to healthy eating, I broadened our vision a bit. As my friend and colleague Scott Blossom, a yoga teacher, Ayurvedic practitioner and acupuncturist (a triple threat!) has said to me, we not only are digesting the food we eat, assimilating what is beneficial and eliminating what is not, we are also digesting the interactions we've taken in throughout the day on an emotional/mental level as well.

So I asked the students to consider some situation they were still chewing on and come up with a word or two that would distill down its essence, not unlike a memorable meal where one ingredient stands out and can come to represent the bigger meal eaten—like those porcini mushrooms that one mealtime in Italy, but I digress! So once you have quietly sat for a minute or two and have come up with an appropriate word for your unfinished meal, use that word as your mantra for your ten-minute minute sit today. Remember that a primary purpose of a mantra is to create a consistent focus for the mind to distract it from its usual habit of generating all kinds of thoughts, many of which can be stressful. Secondarily, this particular mantra may allow for new insights to arise following your mediation regarding the "meal" at hand. Several hours after practicing with this focus myself, I find my mind returning to the mantra again and again and spending some valuable moments in reflection on the original event I had taken in earlier! Tasty!

by Baxter

Even though I'm away leading a retreat this week, I'm thinking of all our readers at YFHA (kinda' wishing you were here!), as I'm focusing a good portion of our practice time here on developing a home yoga meditation practice. Since we have two yoga practice sessions a day here, we begin and end each if them with a 10-minute seated meditation practice. Monday was our first full day of practice together and the overriding focus was on the feet, anatomically, and the idea of "starting”—whether that meant starting something new, starting again, starting over—about taking the first steps on that new path. For me, the feet represent the base of our overall strength, as well as stability. So I suggested that the group might use the phrase "strong and stable" as their mantra (a repeated word or phrase for mental focus), during the final seated meditation of each class.

As you might have calculated, by doing four 10-minute meditations in class, my group is getting 40 minutes of time to practice this powerful method in manageable amounts of time. (I happen to have them doing two more 10-minute sessions on their own for a total of 60 minutes a day). This is a sweet amount of time, but at home, you can easily practice just one or two sessions in a day and still reap benefits. Try the "strong and stable" mantra for your sit today! I'll try to share other ideas this week as well.

by Baxter

Breakfast of Champions by Melina Meza

Recently I had the good fortune to present an all-day workshop on Yoga for Healthy Eating at the Yoga Journal Conference in San Francisco. The workshop was in many ways a distillation of all of the ideas and information we have presented here at YFHA over the last 2+ years. And as I prepared for the day, and while I was presenting the workshop, the stories my students and workshop attendees shared with me really brought home once again how powerful our daily modern stresses are in derailing our attempts at healthy eating.

As we have addressed here previously, the stress response, which usually is NOT to a true life-threatening emergency these days, causes an immediate impulse behavior that is essential in a true emergency, when you need to act, not mull over what to do. But because we are usually at the desk or behind the wheel and not actually fleeing or fighting and expending energy, the impulse tends to override our commitment and willpower to maintain healthy eating habits. So sometimes we grab a snack as our impulsive reaction.

On top of that, the stress reaction releases extra cortisol into our blood stream, which hangs around a lot longer than the fast acting adrenalin and CRH hormone. And cortisol tends to increase our appetite, even if it is nowhere near mealtime. So we have yet another urge to eat. And since the body releases energy-rich sugar molecules into our bloodstream in those first moments of our stress response - molecules that have been stored in the body for emergencies - we tend to be more likely to want to replace them by reaching for carbohydrates that are rich in similar sugar molecules when that post-event cortisol appetite strikes. So we make another unhealthy choice by going for the snack foods and sugar-rich soft drinks so readily available at work and at the store! What’s a determined yogi to do?

Nina has suggested that a regular stress-reduction asana practice—with an active portion (such as a few rounds of Sun Salutations to address held physical tension in the body), followed by several restorative poses or even a supported easy inversion—combined with meditation and breath awareness -- is a good option for beginning to deal with the overall stress in your life. And we have also talked about how the stress response causes that immediate impulsivity, which Kelly McGonigal, PhD says reduces your willpower in the moment of the stressful event. But she also notes that a regular meditation practice tends to build willpower, possibly offsetting the stress response impulsivity and getting you through those daily stressful bumps. According to one study, even 10 minutes a day starts to do the trick after you rack up as little as three hours of total meditation time over several weeks.

All of this made me think about the times when you return home from a stressful day, fatigued and not wanting to or having the energy to do your stress management practice. So I came up with a 20 minute practice to address the general effects of stress and to support our resolve and will power to eat more healthy, that just about anyone can do when you first get home.

Before I share this fairly simple practice, I want to reiterate our recommendations on what to do in the moment of the stress event. Consider any of the following:

• Get up and take a short, brisk walk.
• Try one of our short office yoga practices, which you can do at work or just about anywhere.
• Drink a big glass of water and sit quietly, observing your breath for five minutes before acting on the impulse to eat.
• If you really feel you need to eat something, be prepared with healthy whole-food snacks you bring to work each day, or have in your purse or backpack before you leave home for the day.

For the 20-minute practice, I’m proposing a two-part meditation. You can practice this when you get home or, honestly whenever it suits your schedule. But I suggest you do it every day (we’ve said before and I’ll say it again: your bad habits never change without work and practice!).

Part 1:  This is your Stress Reduction practice, a 10-minute simple, reclined meditation. Before practicing, set a timer so you don’t have to worry about what time it is, because that is not relaxing. For this practice, lie in Relaxation pose for 10 minutes, and simply focus on your easy, natural breath as it enters and exits your body. That’s it. Try to stay gently awake. You can use a blanket support under your spine and head, or just a pillow to lift the head slightly. The purpose of this first meditation is to trigger the Relaxation Response that Herbert Benson first described back in the 70’s.

Part 2: This is your Willpower Boosting practice, a 10-minute seated meditation practice. Come up from your reclining position and sit with or without support on the floor, or use a chair if you prefer. Set your timer again for 10 minutes. Now, establish a nice inner lift from your sitting bones up to the crown of your head. Then pick a simple word or phrase to use as your mental focus, and repeat it to yourself mentally on each exhalation. You might use the phrase “healthy eating” as your intention, or pick something that works better for you. When you notice that you’ve become distracted, immediately return to repeating your phrase. This second meditation is not about relaxing, but about staying focused and concentrated on your intention. That does not mean you might not still feel relaxed at the end, but that’s not the purpose. Remember, studies have shown that meditations like this not only make meditating easier over time, but also improve a wide range of self-control skills, which is what we are after!

So there you have it—the 20-minute, two-part Healthy Eating Meditation practice! Give it a go for the next month. And let us know what changes you notice. No time like the present to make the change you want to see in 2014!