Chemicals in Yoga

Leave a Comment / Anatomy, balance, drugs, meditation, Neuroscience, nutrition, philosophy, yoga

Everything is chemical. It is the basis of all matter in the universe.

It is easy to think of some chemicals as good and some as bad, but this is really a silly way to look at it, because most chemicals are useful in one form or fashion. Some interact poorly with the chemical composition of your body and this is why you view them as good, or bad, or what have you.

The truth is, that chemicals have a very real potential and a very real danger when misunderstood and mistreated. Some great examples are drugs, oil, water, food, really all of the imbalances that we perceive in our current world are chemical imbalances. But we ourselves are natural and chemical, so it is important to remember that being a human is having a mostly stable chemical composition.

So we can say that certain chemicals, especially purified chemicals, can be extremely potent to the human body and can enact change within the body, to produce a certain effect. This has become known as medicine, where we take mostly plants and process them, somehow to interact with the body.

Even the word ‘naturally’ is a corrupted word in modern marketing; synthesized chemicals are certainly natural, but people tend to think that natural means closer to nature, or less processed. But since processing itself is natural, everything is viewed as natural. So it is a repetitive word that can be ignored. But in any case, saying chemical is repetitive. Of course it is chemical.

What people really are referring to when they say they want less chemicals is that they want less processing, less synthesis and more extrapolation. Purity is becoming more and more preferable as an ideal in food and cleaning products and things that we are exposed to, which is really a transference from other aspects of culture, religiousness and such from our ancestors.

So its important to realize that there is nothing that happens inside of you that isn’t there. All of the chemicals in your brains are what create all of your experiences. Each one has happened inside of you. Drugs are not magical, they interact with the brain in very specific patterns, however, we have coined drugs as strange chemicals with strange effects, things to be feared. They are not things to be feared, but parts of your self to be understood. For each acts as a mirror, a specific poison giving you a window into the unknowable, into the deep fathoms of your unconscious mind. To fear a drug is to fear an aspect of yourself, and perhaps there is no greater fear than to fear yourself.

Drugs are really an internal interaction cause by the reaction of introduction of a new substance. Your experience on the drugs is your bodies reaction to them, the processing of them. It is not something that exists outside of you, although you have introduced a foreign substance into your body’s chemical make-up. So your body is essentially reacting and this is what you experience. This is why certain drugs have nearly no long-term effects and some have effects that can last a lifetime, because your body is more or less efficient at processing them. And it learns and adapts. This is why psilocybin can have less and less effects the more that you do it, the same with LSD, marijuana, etc. So there is really nothing happening outside of what your body is doing and how it is interacting and reaction to the substance that you have introduced to it.

This leads us to see the body as having an enormous potential and as understanding how we subjectively view things as changing us. In fact, we are changing ourselves.

To move on to some more significant discussion, I would like to talk about 3 substances, chemicals, which yoga seems to have a tremendous effect on. Serotonin, Dopamine, and Melatonin are in my opinion three of the most interesting molecules or chemicals in existence.

All three are hormones/neurotransmitters, all three are present in a vast spectrum of life, contributing to the homeostasis of lifeforms across the biological spectrum.

Melatonin might be the most interesting, seen in plants, fungi, and bacteria in anticipation for the daily onset of darkness. In humans, it regulates the internal clock, or circadian rhythm, as well as seasonal cycling. There are many popular uses for melatonin, but there are few studies on its long-term effects and there is almost no research to show usefulness as medicine, or therapy. Its long-term effects are almost completely unknown. However, it can be found in the retinas of the eyes and seems to interact in very strong ways with dopamine and serotonin, and has a tremendous effect on the immune system and for protecting specific important cells. It is used as a drug primarily to allow humans to co-exist in nocturnal environments.

Dopamine is an intrinsic part of the action-reward cycles of conscious attention and is extremely important for learning. It interacts strongly with melatonin and can be found in the retinas of the eyes as well. Melatonin and dopamine both interact in interesting ways to light, stimulating dopamine while suppressing melatonin. This is mostly affected by stimulants, such as cocaine (why users always want more), or ADD medications such as adderoll, conserta, ritalin, etc. By overstimulating the prefrontal cortex and the dopamine pathways within, you can keep hyperactive children quiet, because their brain is receiving added stimulation from the slow release of chemicals in their brain. It is what allows for beings to interact intelligently with their environment.

Serotonin is one of the most interesting hormone/neurotransmitters in the body. 90% of it is in the gut, yet it is known as the happiness neurotransmitter. Its is probably the primary communication device between the stomach and the brain. Again, the messenger is found in fungi and plants, and it is believed it is one of the primary factors in a feeling of abundance or scarcity of resources. It is also evidenced to have a role in social rank, because the availability of food signifies this. It can also have an effect in stimulating bone mass. Studies have also shown that nutrition in early life can have an effect upon the body later in life. This is the chemical that most euphoric drugs are attempting to target, with the exception of cocaine. MDMA is one of the purest ways to stimulate serotonin release from the synaptic vesicles of neurons.

Now lets talk about yoga. It’s easy to see how yoga can affect the dopamine system; rebalancing due to lack of stimulus. This is why many people find yoga to be tortuously boring, yet understand the effect of spending an hour and a half in mindfulness, or mediation, or whatever. Dopamine regulation is indeed a major goal of the yogic practice: to keep the fluctuations of pleasure and pain on an even keel. Thus you keep the mind from fluctuating.

Melatonin is something that seems to receive large effect from yoga, as sleep patterns have been clinically evidenced to improve from yoga classes while even studies on injected dopamine have not evidenced the same positive effects. Learning to cycle with the sun, or at least to adjust to the sun’s cycling is an intrinsic part of the yogi’s journey. “Sun Salutations” seem to have quite a bit more meaning in light of the melatonin system.

Serotonin, lastly, is one of the more interesting of the three. This is where nutrition in yoga starts to become a larger and larger factor. Eventually, you will begin to find more equilibrium within your digestive system to optimize time in the yoga studio, in the asana, as it would be. Your bodies nutrition can have a direct effect upon your happiness, though modern science has nearly no data on this type of emotional nutrition relationship. There is too much money to be made in between the science with fads such as fat-free, sugar-free, diet, which are really marketing campaigns for food manufacturers.

With yoga, you can find balance between the three systems, inverting the bodies fluids moving them around, heating them up in various ways and using various techniques, breathing, sitting still, and a certain concentration on nothing to allow the pleasure/pain/stimulus/reward system to re-balance.

Enlightenment, it seems, could be broken down into the consistent flow of dopamine, without fluctuation, seratonin flushing from the gut up to the brain through inversions such as Sirsasana, Sarvangasana, and continually folding forward, bending the spine back and forth to get the circulatory system pumping everything into a balanced state for the body to enjoy for the day. Intense yoga classes can also stimulate the adrenal glands in specific ways that allow for deeper relaxation and “letting go”.

Just some thoughts, some research that I did on Google Scholar, etc. If you would like me to post some supporting evidence I’ll be happy to!

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Keeping Knees safe in Hip Openers

Leave a Comment / Anatomy, asana, knee, muscles, muscles, yoga practice

Over the past few months, I have been working diligently toward lotus pose. This has led me to some very stark realizations about how the knees need to be protected while opening the hips, at least for those of us with tight hips. This is an anatomy article geared at learning how to appropriately safely stretch with the ligaments of the knees, and how the opening of your hips is largely affected by your feet.

We can start with an overview of the anatomy of the outside of the leg. Lets start at the bottom and work our way up.

There are a few major tendons in the ankle that need to be protected while opening the hip. If these tendons are not flexed during the stretching of the hips, stress will accumulate in the lateral portion of the knee, specifically in the lateral meniscus and the lateral collateral ligament.

Now we know the basic ligaments of the ankle and the outside of the knee that are being affected. Now let’s talk about the fibula, one of the most slender bones in the body.

There is a tremendous amount of connective ligamentation on the outsides of the ankles, especially back towards the calcaneus where there are three ligaments to stabilize the ankle on the heel. The heel is a crucial point of stress when the hip is being opened and right on the lateral portion, or outside of the heel is where the most important flexion lies for the opening of the hips. This activation, which should continue up through the plantar and dorsal ligaments to the pinky toe of the foot. This will keep the ankle safe and properly aligned to allow the hip to open while the knee opens laterally.

Once the fibula is aligned properly, the outer knee ligaments and inner cushions can do their job and keep the interior knee ligaments from over stretching. You can see a great view of the knee’s mixture of interior and exterior ligamentation, which in reality overlap and interweave.

http://classroom.sdmesa.edu/eschmid/F07.11.L.150.jpg — knee ligamentation

The fibular collateral ligament is the most important ligament on the outside of the knee and is a thin sheath. This is the ligament that you really want to keep safe and relaxed while stretching the hip, which will ensure that the meniscus is not over-stressed. If it is, the ACL and PCL, the interior crossing ligaments of the knee could be overextended. Also keep in mind the moving the stretch further back into the hip will take time, so be patient with your bodies process. After all, yoga is all process, there is no completed pose or perfect posture. There are always possible improvements, different variations, alternate alignments.

Let’s move up into the thigh, and where you should be feeling the stretch. The IT band is a completely necessary activation, but it is really controlled by the flexion of the outer portion of the foot.

You can see here the muscles that should be receiving the stretch while the hips are externally rotated. The gluteus minimus, piriformis, gemellus muscles, obturator muscles, adductors, and quadratus femoris muscles. The medial gluteus also twists and stretches fairly significantly. There are also a lot of muscles at the front of the thighs that are receiving significant stress from the hip opening postures.

The Satorius muscle, Vastus Lateralis, and Tensor Fascia Latae stabilize the outsides of the knee. The pectineus and adductor longus muscles, adductor magnus, and gracilis muscles.

Armed with this information, you can now see how the foot and ankle have intricate connections all the way up the leg. Keeping the knee stable while opening the hip will allow you to practice more often, with less stress on our knees, something that I think we could all use a little bit less of. In addition, this article should allow you to know how the muscles that open your hip are stretched during external rotation. Any questions are greatly appreciated.

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The Responsibility of Ashtanga

Leave a Comment / Anatomy, asana, Ashtanga, ashtanga institute, enlightenment, happiness, mindfulness, Mysore, philosophy, yoga philosophy

I love being able to learn yoga from multiple sources, multiple teachers with subjective and unique viewpoints. I think this is one of the biggest reasons I have been able to progress through various yoga traditions without injury.

Lots of the yogis here are injured, in one form or fashion. I’ve seen taped toes, adjustments, heard about knee tears, ankle injuries, wrist pain. This is the pitfall of advanced practice, injury is more prevalent when you are exhausted, too tired to breath, or simply disconnected from your body. I notice this almost exclusively with my breath, it is what guides my practice.

Using breathe to guide practice is the only way. I am extremely fortunate to have learned this from Rusty Wells, Bryan Kest, and many of my other teachers before arriving here. It is how I stay sensitive to the soft spots in my body, the places that are not normally touched. It is how I open my hips, by drawing my breath deep down into my abdomen and activating my lower abdominals to twist, open, and externally rotate. I can feel what is too much, or not enough because I am in tune with the fluctuations of my body. Each exhale is pushed out with ease and each inhale fills my torso and lengthens my spine. When there is too much pain, I can feel it is too much, but when it is good pain, I can breath through it, feel my body opening and making space for less. The power of the primary series and the Ashtanga practice is undeniable, no matter which series or whatever you are on.

I can’t imagine doing Ashtanga then resting for the rest of the day. I walk heavily and practice Yin, as well as static Hatha style poses to compliment the imbalance of the primary series (there is no doubt that it is powerful, but it is not necessarily optimal for a 25-year-old. Why? My knees need to be strengthened simultaneously, my hips need to be stabilized, and my mind needs the softness of moving slow. Forwards folds, child’s pose, lunges, Baddha Konasanas, happy babies, goddess poses, half pigeons, and cow-faced pose are all a part of my practice outside of the studio and they are absolutely allowing me to go deeper, faster, but honestly I don’t care about where I am in the series anymore.

Over the past week, I have talked to many people about the politics of the Jois Shala. Of course there are politics, these are humans we are talking about; however, it does seem that there is a certain mindlessness about the Shala. My personal observation is that the art is quite as respected as it once was and it now mass-produced so that everyone can experience the Jois Shala. Apparently, this morning there was fighting at the gate to get into the Shala because people wait outside for hours before the class starts to get a good spot. So it’s a lot like the freeways in America now.

I always remember Rusty saying, “try not to act like you are the only one.” And its true, there are more people in the world right now than there ever has been, so we all need to act accordingly.

Last night, I met a man from Israel whose name I can’t remember, but he practiced with Patthabi Jois and we got into a lively conversation about the ego and what series you are on and what yoga is truly about. Happiness. He said he had met zen Buddhists that had never even practiced yoga and were the happiest men he had ever met. We also talked about how silly it was that the primary series is the point of focus for the Ashtanga tradition, because it is an anatomically imbalanced sequence that was designed for Patthabi Jois as a young teen by Krishnamacharya. He assured me that the sequence is not important and I can’t agree more. But by the same token, I didn’t necessarily come to India to learn the primary series, I came to India to deepen my Samadhi, my mindfulness, and to detach from the world of my birth. To meet people as a fresh unknown person, to learn more about myself, my tendencies, and most importantly, my flaws and strengths. And maybe, somewhere along the way I can find this thing that some call Nirvana, others call Samadhi, and most refer to as god.

The day before, I met someone who had only great things to say about Saraswathi. So far, she has done a great job with being personal, telling me what to do, and letting my practice my own yoga. on day 2 she told me to do head stand and I was very happy to do some inversions. Her assists have been great too, we got the point where I was bound in half-lotus, but there was too much pain and she let me adjust in the way I needed to adjust. That said, my lotus hip openings are moving along very well here because of the repetition of the primary series. You are welcome to your own opinion, but I believe that the physical body is something that contributes greatly to our mental state, especially the openness, flexibility, and strength of joints and limbs. I mean, 90% of the happiness neurotransmitter, serotonin, is in your gut. The body certainly is the overarching reason why we feel the way that we do, because the body is a system and the mind is what allows us to operate the body in the ways that are available to us. So by opening the body, I believe I am opening my mind.

I realize this may contribute to a sense of having to be somewhere, like there is a destination besides your current location, but the opening process is enlightening in and of itself. I am trying to focus my mind on gratitude for each day’s new sensations, new aches, new pains that I move through. And my Samadhi continues to deepen so I will continue to strive along the path that I have found. But I want to try to enjoy each step of the path, rather than just the major destinations call asanas, or sequences, or series, or styles of yoga.

Tomorrow, I will practice the whole primary series and begin to embed it into my body. When I come back to my own practice in the Shala on Monday, I’ll see how far I can go on my own. I am excited to practice with everyone, I always love the group energy. Plus, the main Shala is really cool and decorated and I don’t get to spend much time in it.

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Ayruvedic Oils: from right to left, Lavender, Saffron oil, Sandalwood oil, Lotus oil

Ayurveda | आयुर्वेद

1 Comment / ayurveda, health, hinduism, Mysore, Neuroscience, Organ Systems, Science

About 80% of the world’s population relies on tradition remedies for their health care needs. India has many alternative medical practices that date back over 5,000 years, alongside yoga in the Indus Valley Civilization.

Ayurveda means “knowledge of life” and includes the use of herbal medicines, mineral or metal supplementation (rasa shastra), surgical techniques, opium, probiotic, CannabisIndica, and application of oil bymassages. In the laboratory, Ayurvedic techniques have shown promise, however, due to the enormous amount of confounding variables associated with the healing techniques, many applications of Ayurveda have yet to be proven. Part of the reason for this is that Ayurveda is used to promote vitality, wellness, and optimal health, which is hard to measure in the body, compared to illness and visible cellular degeneration.

The other reason that America has no idea about the effectiveness of Ayurveda is that there is little money in it. Almost all of the plants used grow naturally and are therefore unpatentable. However, I believe that Ayurveda has tremendous value in application and am going to explore the Indian knowledge of its uses while I am here. But it is very hard to find real scientific data behind the practice of Ayurveda here.

There is one major problem with Ayurveda; many of the processing and mixing techniques are not effective in mass production. This can lead to oils having too many heavy metals and toxic chemicals such as Mercury and Arsenic. The answer to this problem is toxicology and spectroscopy of the final produced products, which is not a readily available practice in India due to the economic circumstances. However, the higher quality oils are somewhat guaranteed, at least this is what I have learned from foreigners and locals alike. The best manufacturers create pure oils.

Within the first four nights of living in Mysore, I have met two of the major pure oil suppliers (not-mixed) and the most renown statue maker in India. All were very persuasive business men that I kind of had to dismiss because they were so interested in selling to me, partially because I am an American and partially because I am a potential customer. I’ll talk about the statue maker later with some of the Hindu religious practices, temples, and deities.

The first supplier was excellent. I could see the quality of his oil, pure, and the distributor assured me that they were highest quality and that he used them himself. He said there was only one distributor with higher quality oils than himself. I will be returning to him, but he sold me lavender, which I find to be extremely soothing and helps me to sleep. It also has anti-septic and anti-inflammatory properties and is relatively easy to find and process into oil.

The second supplier was even better. He assured me that he was the highest quality supplier in India and that Kino MacGregor and other yogis come to him personally to supply themselves with oil. He showed me letters from satisfied American customers and all had amazing things to say about him. If possible, I will be starting an export business in the US with him, which he agreed to. But I also stipulated that I would need toxicology reports on the chemical mixtures of the oils. He agreed, but has no idea how to do it. Maybe I can figure out how to use spectroscopy to measure this, but I am pretty sure I will need to find another partner skilled in pharmacology, or some similar discipline.

I bought Lotus oil, Saffron oil, and Sandalwood oil, all at very good prices $10 for 25mg. Saffron is very rare, it should last me a long time and is used for energy, known as a mood enhancer because of the way it interacts with serotonin in the gut, and is used to increase respiratory health. Lotus oil is used for meditation, but is relatively unstudied in the lab. Major uses include arthritis, diabetes, and fungal infections. Sandalwood oil is the final oil I bought and is used for mental health, focus, and raises blood pressure. All of the oils have anti-carcinogenic properties.

I am very satisfied with the quality of the oils, but I am really interested to learn more about how they interact with body chemistry and affect the different organs. It is really silly that we don’t know more about these basic remedies, instead of finding new chemicals that can be patented. It shows the corruption of the current American pharmaceutical industry, that is not interested in healthy people, but making money. It’s not really a criticism, just an objective observation. There is interest in helping people, but the corporations are not regulated appropriately to really produce the most efficient, quality results. The problem again, is mass consumption and production instead of personalization and customization for the unique qualities of each individual.

Here are a few more pictures from the last few days:

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10 Metabolic Facts to help you Optomize your Nutrition

Leave a Comment / Digestive System, health, nutrition, Organ Systems

I have been experimenting with nutrition for over 6 years, ever since I had the desire to get the most out of my yoga practice. I believe I have found the best strategies for my own body. These are some tips to manage your body’s metabolism.

The first step is reading labels. Do it with everything at first, then you can do check-ins. You’ll be surprised to notice how often the chemicals in food change. Everything is a chemical, so don’t get too concerned, but be aware of what you are consuming. This means using Google, probably a lot at first to figure out what you are consuming. This is the true key to dieting.

Once you are aware of what you are eating, you can start to cut out certain chemicals, say hydrogenated oils and preservatives. You can start to look for organic ingredients, which typically are higher quality and less toxic. If you can, go organic with most things, the food has more nutrition and less toxins due to having no exposure to pesticides.

Here are 10 things to consider as you eat during the day:

Your metabolic rate is set by your endocrine system, your hormone regulation system. Stay cool, not stressed. Stress releases in your day are essential to keeping things running smoothly underneath the hood, endorphins help the body to handle stress and keep you content.
Your metabolism moves fastest when you wake up in the morning. Ideally, you eat your meals in an upside down pyramid sort of way throughout the day, stopping before 8 at night. Start early, end early. When it gets dark, stop eating, if you can.
Sweating stimulates toxin excretion and your metabolism. Get enough exercise to stimulate your sympathetic nervous system, but there’s no need to become a marathon runner, or king of the elliptical.
You are in control of your metabolic rate. There are people with genetic metabolic disorders, but they are about 1 in 1,400. This means that there is likely no genetic reason for obesity.
Your body has internal clocks and regulators you should know how your body has been programmed to work by your past behavior. Often, people change diets dramatically when trying to lose weight and this, in and of itself, can shock the body into digesting slower. This happens when people decide to “go vegan”. Meet your body where it is, add things slowly to your diet, rather than taking things away at first. The body also seems to really like eating on a schedule, I saw this in France where there are no obesity problems.
Eat a large breakfast because your metabolism can process the food all day and it gives your body momentum to get started in the morning. Eat within an hour of waking up if you can.
Keep your parasympathetic nervous system active while exercising to burn fat and use your bodies stores of energy. Yoga is great for this, so is walking, meditation, breathing exercises, etc. Low energy output tasks that don’t require exertion will target the fat tissues for energy.
There is a protein myth in modern health, that you need more of it than fat and carbohydrates, but in truth you need all three in fairly equal portions for optimal digestion. That means even if you are consuming lots of protein, you need to consume fats and carbs to digest efficiently.
Don’t cut calories, just sugar. The easiest ways for many people to lose weight are simple. Less sugar. potato chips, and meat.
Water keeps everything moving, dehydration can lead to stagnation in the metabolism. Electrolytes are key here because they keep the fluids in the body concentrated with energy. The less toxic the fluid content in the body, the easier energy currents can flow though it.

These are just a few tips that I use personally. Balance your food groups. Find new stuff to eat, not the new flavor of cheetos, try a new kind of fruit, even if its nasty, spit that shit out. Try these guidelines out, see how they affect you before doing anything strict. I have found them to be incredibly useful for myself. They are simple, but HARD to execute. Especially water and hydration. Most americans (~75%) are chronically dehydrated, so water consumption throughout the day is a great place to start. I come back to it almost every day.

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The Last Diet you’ll ever Need.

Leave a Comment / Anatomy, Digestive System, endocrine system, happiness, health, nutrition, Organ Systems, Science

Are you looking for the list of ten things? I hate to break it to you, but your body’s nutritional needs are much more complex than a 10 item list, so stop looking for the easy way out. With that said, I have about 5 or 6 points I would like to make :), these are lessons that I have learned myself, with guidance of some very educated and experienced people along the way. This diet post is going to be different, because I would like to educate you about your endocrine system, and why your emotions have far more of an effect on your body weight than you could have ever imagined.

What if I told you that your metabolic speed is directly related to your actions? That you are 100% in control and that genetics don’t play a large role in metabolism? What if the way you felt directly correlated with how you looked?

What if you had more control over your metabolism, how fast energy recycles in your body?

If you were thinner, more energetic, and more prepared to face the physical stresses of your future, would you be happier? Maybe how you feel is a more important question than you have ever realized.

All of these things are controlled by the endocrine system, a chemical messaging system that runs through your bloodstream and is released by your brain, your kidneys, and your digestive system. Seratonin is the neuro-hormone that scientists have found correlates with happiness, and 90% of our seratonin is in the intestines. What you eat correlates with your state of well being, and is the single largest contributor to good health beyond your mental state.

I am pretty sure humans were meant to be sensitive to our environment to help us survive. That is what will really have to change, if you want to change the way that your body operates, because you are the same as your environment, a part of it. Think there is an easy way out of the food question? Your ancestors didn’t either. Its time to step up and educate yourself so that you can become self-sufficient and eat optimally for your happiness, because its probably having a much bigger effect on your life than you realize.

The endocrine system is the chemical messaging system your body uses for slower change, such as digestion, growth, hormone regulation, etc. When we talk about dieting, this is probably the most important aspect of your body to pay attention to. Unfortunately, modern foods tend to have lots of excess chemical additives for extended preservation, which cause our internal chemical systems to get messed up. A lot of these chemicals are used in junk food, but also in things like meat, dairy, and poultry, so when we eat them, they can really mess up certain chemical processes in the body because the body doesn’t really know how to react to them because it isn’t evolved to consume and process them. They are engineered chemical additives that cause imbalance and things like obesity and illness due to improper nutrition and overconsumption and with time, things like cancer and heart disease.

1. This takes me to the first major thing you have to understand to optimize your body’s nutrition; your body is an ecosystem. 37 trillion cells, according to recent, incomplete estimations. Approximately 60% of the human body mass is water; less if you are obese, more if you are an infant or child.

2. This takes us to the second major point, water consumption; you are a walking hydraulic water lift system! Water and fluid content of your body is an enormous contributor to your metabolism, and one of the most overlooked aspects of dieting. Foods with high water content tend to be cleansing for the gastrointestinal tract and can provide the body with electrolytes, like potassium or magnesium from bananas or mangos. Legumes and big fruits are great. Harder, more sinuous vegetables like spinach and kale tend to build tight muscle. You are what you eat! Onto #3

3. Your environment has a huge effect on your body. Our body is designed to fight gravity from the moment we are born, and to take in the air around us through our lungs. The human body contains 65% oxygen, 18.5% carbon, and 9.5% hydrogen yet oxidation is a force that we are constantly fighting with the recycling of the cells in our body. So there is a certain balance that the body maintains, and that cycles with the environment. This brings me to the third point, your environment is a part of your body and your body is a part of your environment. We have to consider where you do the things that you do and ensure that you spend time around other humans and ideally nature. Other humans and their bodies are also a part of this environment and highly stressful situations can lead to higher stress levels, requiring greater outlets for stress release. Pay attention to the cycling of the moon, eat the food that is more abundant in your season, give your body a chance to cycle with the earth. Try to eat before 8pm and right when you wake up, eating a few meals earlier in the day rather than a huge dinner. Give your body nothing but the best, maybe go organic or find some local farms, try to avoid preservatives. Do you think that stuff is easy for your stomach to digest? Of course, if you live in the city, lots of these things aren’t available to you, but you should explore your city! Find way of exploring cuisine that bring you satisfaction, and don’t worry too much about it! This brings me to the fourth point:

4. Stress is the single biggest contributor to death in north america, in the form of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease. Stress is something that needs to be released on a regular basis, and can really be useful to maintaining a high level of physical performance. However, like all things, stress must be maintained in balance. Physical yoga could be defined as a certain type of stressing of the body, so there are definitely good types of stress, as well as bad. The single largest contributor to stress’ affect on your is your perception of stress, whether you like it or don’t like it, essentially, and your confidence level for success. In reality, it is all about your perception of the stressor. This brings me to the final, last, but certainly not least point:

5. It’s all in your head. When you are happy and at peace, your body will be too, even if you are eating less that optimally for your nutritional balance. Imbalance always correct themselves in one way or another, but happiness is truly something that is generated from within.

There are things no authors talk about in their ultra-marketed books made for mass consumption (sounds like McDonalds to me) because it would alienate their audience. The truth is very simple. Sugar is the number one drug on the planet. Its mass consumption is killing us, releasing its toxicity through our pores, giving us acne, causing massive dehydration because people prefer it to water, and getting us addicted to dorritos, cheetos, cheeze-its, and chilly dogs. High fructose corn syrup seems to be in every single desert at the major gorcery stores. America is sick, and only we can fix ourselves. Humans are not supposed to be obese, in fact, this new epidemic is 100% a result of the lifestyles we have chosen as Americans. Convenience. No, I’m not talking about the people with endocrine disorders, mental illness, or the genetics that cause those things. I’m talking about overconsumption.

6. Convenience kills. Things that look too good to be true often are. Cheesecake is ridiculous. Soda should be illegal. So should fast-food. Not really, but it really is that bad for you. Once a month, maybe, but why? Can’t you be more satisfied with something fresh that you cook for yourself? This brings me to my final point, I don’t even want to talk about the agricultural industry: You really aren’t meant to eat much meat.

There is some weird obsession about getting enough protein in the US. I’m not saying protein isn’t important, but its only 1/3 of the equation, with fats and carbs. Eating balanced in every meal is hard, but is makes it easy for the body to digest. Lentils and beans are great sources of protein if they are cooked properly.

I am not trying to offer rules, only guideance, these are things that work for me. I am almost completely pescatarian and try to eat organic when I can, but its hard because its expensive. But I do believe in supporting things economically, so where I spend my food money is important to me. I eat mostly from local grocery stores that buy the stuff that is around me. Whole foods when I can, though they have lots of junk now. Be careful out there, let me know how you do.

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The Respiratory System

Leave a Comment / Anatomy, breathing, health, muscles, Organ Systems, Respiratory System, Science

Anatomy of Lungs and Respiration

artiphoria-prana-entering-the-body — The Anatomy of Breath – Elliot

There is one thing you have done every moment of your life. Even before you can remember. This will be the last thing you do before you die. And your awareness of this thing will partially determine how you exist on planet Earth. Prana, or your breath, is the primary mover on life in your body and corresponds deeply to your mental and physical health.

Humans have two lungs and five lobes, two on the left and three on the right (the right is bigger), each of which can be from 70-100 square meters in surface area, about the same surface area as a tennis court. The lungs have 2,400 kilometers of airways and 300 to 500 million alveoli which are gas exchange points for the bloodstream. These are powerful organs of exchange with the environment, with power and functioning that should not be taken for granted.

The respiratory system is a series of organs responsible for intaking oxygen from the atmosphere and expelling carbon dioxide back into the air. This basic gas exchange between the body and the atmosphere is completely dependent upon the respiratory system and almost every vertebrate animal has one. This exchange affects every other system, as they oxygenation of blood is necessary in every organ. The nervous system also seems to draw energy from the respiratory system, and the cardiovascular system takes cues from the respiratory system (both cue off brain activity) to determine how much blood it should be pumping based on breath rate. When the sympathetic nervous system becomes active (the flight or fight mechanism), heart rate is increased, respiratory rate is increased, the sensitivity of the nervous system is heightened to allow for survival, but this comes at a cost.

Yoga focuses primarily on the respiratory system’s functioning to move the muscular-skeletal system in the opposite way. In our modern world full of non-environmental stress and high levels of adrenaline in non-life threatening situations, the sympathetic nervous system is overactive and is probably the biggest contributor to the high fatality rates from cardiovascular disease (nutrition would be the other competing contributor). The respiratory system is vital to the functioning of every mammal on the planet and is one of the most intricate and powerful tools for surviving, prospering, and thriving on planet Earth.

LadyofHats, Jmarchn – Own work using: Sobotta, Johannes (1982) *Atlas der Anatomie des Menschen / 2 Brust, Bauch, Becken, untere Extremitäten, Haut.* (18^th ed.), Munich: Urban & Schwarzenberg ISBN: 3-541-02828-9. OCLC: 260005032. Gray, Henry (1980) *Gray’s Anatomy*(36^th ed.), Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone ISBN: 0-443-01505-8. OCLC: 7775214. Yokochi, Chihiro (1991) *Atlas fotográfico de anatomía del cuerpo humano* (3^rd ed.), Mexico: Interamericana/McGraw-Hill ISBN: 968-25-1677-3. OCLC: 33318149. Also used several online diagrams like:[1] [2]

I honestly think the vast majority of people take breathing for granted. Most Americans are in such a rush that they don’t even notice their superpower of consciousness. We don’t learn about breathing in school, or in early sports, which is really a shame because breathing concentration allow for intense amounts of focus. Every athlete should learn breath control techniques from young ages; I can remember when I learned to run with proper form at 15 and I think that learning about breathing should happen even younger. This is what keeps us all alive, after all, and we really should learn how to keep our nervous systems functioning optimally through breathing exercises.

To really understand how intricately related the nervous system and respiratory systems are, we need to go back in time to when you were born. At birth, a babies lungs are full of fluid, but once the child is released from the birth canal, the central nervous system trigger a huge change in reaction to the environment, which then triggers the first breath, about 10 seconds later. From there, the lungs develop rapidly until at about 2, the alveoli are fully developed, then the lungs begin to grow normally until full adult muscular maturity is reached. The lungs are muscular and most mammals use their musculoskeletal systems to support their breathing, as humans do. This is why yoga can alleviate many hampering disabilities having to do with lung functioning, because strengthening the accessory muscles to the diaphragm strengthens the overall functionality of the respiratory system.

The muscles of the respiratory system are the following:

the diaphragm (primary)
the external intercostals
the internal intercostals (intercostals interlace on the inside and outside of the ribs).

The accessory muscles are:

External-and-Internal-Intercostals-of-the-Thoracic-Cage

sternocleidomastoid
scalene muscles
serratus anterior
major & minor pectorals
trapezius
latimus dorsi
thoracic erector spinae
iliocostalis lumborum
quadratus lumborum
serratus posterior, superior, and inferior
levatorescostarum
transversus thoracis
subclavius

As you can see, there are a tremendous amount of accessory muscles involved in breathing. I interpret this a particular way, that there is an enormous spectrum between thriving and breathing with ease and freedom contrasted to breathing for survival, or breathing only with the diaphragm and ribs, which puts extreme amounts of stress on those muscles. I think the idea of balance between the primary and accessory muscles is the right idea, and the stronger the accessory muscles, the more powerful breathing will follow. This takes time, muscles build strength in increments, and this is probably the biggest reason why yoga is so difficult for many Americans. Because we need it the most!

Questions

What kinds of breathing exercises do you practice for optimal health?
What kinds of breathing exercises would you like to learn about?
Do you find that breathing affects your mental health?
Do you find time to meditate on your breathe during the day?

References

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"Illu01 head neck" by Arcadian - http://training.seer.cancer.gov/head-neck/anatomy/overview.html. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Illu01_head_neck.jpg#/media/File:Illu01_head_neck.jpg

Jihva Bandha | जिह्वाबन्ध (Bandhas part 4/4)

1 Comment / Anatomy, Bandhas, muscles

The Fourth Bandha

The Jihva bandha is an interlock of energy used in yoga to perform certain postures and asana. This is one of the most useful tools in yoga, believe it or not. It creates more space in the back of the nasal cavity allowing for greater circulation through the lungs. The Jihva or Jiva Bandha is the interlock of the tongue to the root of the top front teeth. It causes an upward pull on the back of the tongue and lift on the top of the tongue and tissue attaching it to the mouth. It is possible to take this bandha while fully engaging ujjayi pranayama for tremendous effect. Because you are breathing through your nasal cavity, you can spend an entire practice with the interlock activated, though it might take a bit of time for your system to adapt to the mental focus involved.

Why to perform the Jihva Bandha

This exercises the tongue, a muscles that is very active and useful in human lives and the lives of most mammals. The bandha can be taken with the mouth closed or open, you should try both, to see how it feels, but keeping your mouth closed is a bit easier during the asana practice. This bandha is in no way necessary for practice, but it can intensity concentration at the peaks of meditation, or at the peak of a pose. Similar to the final alignment of drishti in a posture, the Jiva bandha is a final detail that can easily be overlooked, but adds immense relaxation and stillness to the final breaths of any posture.

This leads me into the final concept of the bandhas: focus. The reason that interlocking energy is so important in yoga is that it allows for immense focus, energy cycles more efficiently and pathways open to create increased control, concentration, focus, and ultimately room to breath. Each bandha is a piece of a larger puzzle and are tools to the freedom that a true Samadhi creates. By making each breath, nervous pulsation, and heartbeat as efficient as possible, you allow for the greatest efficiency and focus simultaneous.

Cascading interlocks in the spine

The bandhas are building blocks, one builds on the others and all three are like instruments that can be used during asana and meditation to take greater control of the spine through accessory muscles, and therefore respiration. Use them during breathing exercises, asana, and even while you are doing everyday things. Mula bandha can be great for your lower back while you’re driving! Take advantage of your own anatomy and make your practice easier and more efficient by employing these powerful tools and methods. Let me know if you have any questions!

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Anatomy of your Tongue

Leave a Comment / Anatomy, muscles, Organ, yoga

The tongue is a muscular hydrostat (hydraulically powered food grabber in the same class as an elephant trunk, snake tongue, or octopus arms) with no support that acts as the organ for taste, or gustation. It lies the floors of the mouth of vertebrates and moves to manipulate nutrition for digestion and mastication (chewing). It maintains constant pressure and is made of three directions of muscles and blood vessels to supply nerves and blood vessels. Many cultures also use the tongue phonetically, for specific communication (whistling, growling, kissing), or for cleaning the teeth and mouth.

There is a significant amount of musculature connecting the tongue to the mouth. There are eight muscles in the tongue region, classified into intrinsic or extrinsic. The four intrinsic muscles change the shape of the tongue and are unattached to bone, while the four extrinsic muscles change the position of the tongue and are anchored to bone.

The extrinsic muscles are the hyoglossus, genioglossus, styloglossus, palatoglossus that allow the tongue to extend outwards, retract, and move side to side. The intrinsic muscles of the tongue all originate and insert within the tongue. These muscles shape the tongue by lengthening and shortening, curling and uncurling, and flattening and rounding the surface. These muscles facilitate speech, swallowing, eating, and provides for the shape of the tongue. The average length of the tongue is about 10cm. tongue_arteries

The tongue receives blood through the lingual arteries, all of which drain into the internal jugular vein. The tongue is innervated by several nerves which carry the sensation of taste to the brain. The chorda tympani, the lingual nerve, the trigeminal nerve, and the glossopharyngeal carry the nervous information to the brain. The chorda tympani is particularly interesting, because it also innervates the muscles of the face, meaning there is likely a strong connection between facial expression and the sensation of taste and similarly, the trigeminal nerve is responsible for sensation in the face and the motor functions of biting and chewing. Together, these nerves create the highly specific feedback loop that ends up as the sensation of taste in the brain.

The tongue is covered with numerous taste buds, however, the sensations of different tastes are not localized to specific areas of the tongue. This was disproven and all taste sensations come from different parts of the tongue, though certain regions can be more sensitive to certain flavors. The different taste buds are filiform papillae, fungiform papillae, vallate papillae, and foliate papillae.

The taste receptors function by waiting for stimulus chemical to interpret, called tastants. Once a tastant has dissolved in saliva, it makes contact with the plasma membrane of the gustatory hairs, which are the site of transduction (conversion of one stimuli to integrate into the nervous system). The tongue is equipped with mostly taste buds on its dorsal (upward facing) surface, to sense the five different kinds of taste: umami, sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. Umami is currently the most researched and debated of the five kinds of taste.

Fungiform papillae, vallate papillae, and foliate papillae are the most associated with taste, while the filiform papillae is far more associated with increasing surface area of the tongue and to increase the friction between the tongue and food.

Bacteria builds up easily on the tongue and is the second most vulnerable soft tissue to pathogens, next to the gums. Tongue scraping can assist with removing debris and bacteria from the surface of the tongue. This can also be done with a brush, but I think that both are extremely useful for keeping the oral cavity clear of pathogens and potential disease. Most vertebrate animals have and use tongues, some are specifically adapted to catching prey, or to clean and groom fur, clear nostrils, or to regulate heat in the case of a dog. The tongue is an organ that has evolved over a long period of time and is extremely useful for animals that live above the sea-level.

That does it for the tongue, this will lead into the final bandha article, Jihva bandha, so check back soon to see more details about how to use the tongue while practicing. Talk to you soon!

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Anatomy