In classes, we move away from, How can I meditate? How can I feel this?
To more loosely gripped and free flowing ideas/ inquiries of, What would that feel like if I...”.
As a healthcare practitioner, I enjoy good data as much as the next clinician. What I love most about incorporating a wellness practice to everyday routines, or to an existing therapy plan - is that there are objective measures to show how holistic healing practices regulate the nervous system, and help us stay balanced in our body and mind. Studies show us how movement, breath work, and conscious attending (meditation) can improve cognitive function and emotional regulation through activation of the prefrontal and frontal cortex’s in the brain.
The same areas of the brain light up when a practitioner is engaged in meditation, as if they were involved with a high level calculation or executive function task. Think about how this can improve our learning, and our ability to retain new and important information. We can see on objective assessments, areas of the limbic system responsible for regulating our emotional responses, which are also activated during practices of breath work + conscious attending. Think about how this can improve our interactions and communications with others and within ourselves. When the ”yoking” that is yoga occurs, there is a connection between mind, body, and self - and from this place of union, clients find new levels of accessibility in meeting their treatment and personal wellness goals.
