I had a fantastic experience during the YES+ course. I learnt to cope with intense period of change. I feel, without these powerful techniques, this change could have caused post-stress trauma or dis-ease.
Calming the mind through meditation & the breath
Meditation is a fantastic relaxation technique. But it takes much practice to get to the point of sitting still without a million emotions & thoughts passing through the mind. Breathing techniques can be very powerful in calming the mind, preparing it for deep meditation. This is because there is a direct link between the breath and emotion – researchers in Belgium had a brilliant test of this (Phillippot, Chappele, Blairy, 2002). They had people come experience different emotions in the lab, which you can reliably do by showing film clips that arouse anger, sadness, happiness. They noticed that, lo and behold, each emotion was associated with a different breathing pattern and depth. But these researchers didn’t stop there. They went further to show that having people breath in these patterns without showing the film clips induced the same emotions they experienced while watching the films – striking evidence showing that we can influence our emotions via our breath.
Health benefits of controlled breathing
Controlled breathing techniques are often used to achieve deep relaxation and calm. Research shows that they are also beneficial for lowering blood pressure (Grossman et al., 2001; Sakakibara et al., 1996; Telles et al., 1992), increasing well-being (Kjellgren et al., 2007), mental focus (Bhatia et al., 2003; Jella et al., 1993, Naveen et al., 1997), and boosting immune function (Sharma et al., 2003).
Health Benefits of Meditation
Research on meditation is flourishing. It has been shown to increase well-being, decrease stress and boost immune function (Davidson et al., 2003), increase focus and attention (Jha et al., 2007),increase feelings of connectedness to others (Hutcherson, et al. 2008), and to increase compassion. Groundbreaking research with both novice and long-term meditators has shown that a part of the brain associated with awareness of self and others, the insula cortex, gets bigger with through the practice of meditation (Lazar et al., 2005). For more information on research, see work by Dr. Richard Davidson.
Ok, so the breathing and meditation makes you feel good, but are positive emotions good for me?
Heck yeah! Positive emotions not only feel great, they help broaden your intellectual, social, physical and psychological resources – helping you think creatively and flexibly, connect with other people easily, feel resilient and optimistic, and gain coordination and physical health. For more info on this great research, read about the work of Dr. Barbara Fredrickson.