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In a trial of 60 people, a 16-year-old high school student has demonstrated how yoga can help reduce blood pressure, the Daily Mail reported. Ashok Pandey presented his findings at his school science fair in Cambridge, Ontario. His research was so compelling that he also presented it at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Munich, which is attended by 30,000 doctors.
His research revealed 15 minutes of yoga five times a week over a period of three months reduced blood pressure by almost 10%. In the study, 60 individuals with high blood pressure were assigned to either relaxation, deep breathing, stretching, or yoga. After three months, relaxation had no effect on blood pressure, while stretching lowered it by 4.5 percent and deep breathing by 7.1 percent. Those assigned to practice yoga saw the most significant improvements, though, lowering blood pressure by 9.7 percent. Prescription diuretics typically lower blood pressure by 10 to 20 percent. Meaning: Downward dog could be just as good as downing a pill when it comes to lowering your blood pressure.
"This study suggests that some components of yoga, such as deep breathing and stretching, may individually have some blood pressure lowering effects," Professor Metin Avkiran, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, told the Daily Mail.
The young researcher is currently working with a team from Laval University in Quebec, on a trial that includes 500 participants to confirm his findings.
His research revealed 15 minutes of yoga five times a week over a period of three months reduced blood pressure by almost 10%. In the study, 60 individuals with high blood pressure were assigned to either relaxation, deep breathing, stretching, or yoga. After three months, relaxation had no effect on blood pressure, while stretching lowered it by 4.5 percent and deep breathing by 7.1 percent. Those assigned to practice yoga saw the most significant improvements, though, lowering blood pressure by 9.7 percent. Prescription diuretics typically lower blood pressure by 10 to 20 percent. Meaning: Downward dog could be just as good as downing a pill when it comes to lowering your blood pressure.
"This study suggests that some components of yoga, such as deep breathing and stretching, may individually have some blood pressure lowering effects," Professor Metin Avkiran, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, told the Daily Mail.
The young researcher is currently working with a team from Laval University in Quebec, on a trial that includes 500 participants to confirm his findings.
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An Indian American spiritual leader from Nevada is calling on Alabama to end its prohibition on yoga in public schools.
Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, said the prohibition against yoga - in place for almost 25 years - was "doing a disservice" to Alabama students. Moreover, listing yoga at the top of a list of inappropriate activities was "highly insensitive," Zed said.
"Yoga, although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all," he added.
Yoga, along with hypnosis, meditation and guided imagery exercises, have been prohibited in Alabama's classrooms since 1993. The prohibition is included in the Alabama Physical Education Instructional Guide, which references a 2006 letter from former State Superintendent Dr. Joseph Morton that stipulates that "yoga is not to be offered during regular school hours or after school hours to public school students on a public school campus in Alabama."
Alabama Department of Education documents describe Yoga as a "Hindu philosophy and method of religious training in which eastern meditation and contemplation are joined with physical exercises, allegedly to facilitate the development of body, mind, spirit."
Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, said the prohibition against yoga - in place for almost 25 years - was "doing a disservice" to Alabama students. Moreover, listing yoga at the top of a list of inappropriate activities was "highly insensitive," Zed said.
"Yoga, although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all," he added.
Yoga, along with hypnosis, meditation and guided imagery exercises, have been prohibited in Alabama's classrooms since 1993. The prohibition is included in the Alabama Physical Education Instructional Guide, which references a 2006 letter from former State Superintendent Dr. Joseph Morton that stipulates that "yoga is not to be offered during regular school hours or after school hours to public school students on a public school campus in Alabama."
Alabama Department of Education documents describe Yoga as a "Hindu philosophy and method of religious training in which eastern meditation and contemplation are joined with physical exercises, allegedly to facilitate the development of body, mind, spirit."
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Beings such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama rarely come to our world. But they do most certainly come when we need them the most. - Richard Gere
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It is easier to do the right thing when we know what the right thing is to do. We can’t rely on instinct to find the Way. We need guidance.Once we’re shown the path and begin to climb it, we find that with each step up we grow in wisdom and fortitude. Looking down we see how many of our old desires have fallen dead on the wayside. They look so feeble lying there that we wonder why we ever thought we lacked the courage to resist them.
The Mountain of Wisdom is different from other mountains. The higher we climb, the stronger we grow. —Hānshān Déqīng
The Mountain of Wisdom is different from other mountains. The higher we climb, the stronger we grow. —Hānshān Déqīng
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America's leading relationship researcher and authority is Dr. John Gottman, the author of several books about relationships. In his book, The Science of Trust: Emotional Attunement For Couples, he notes that couples who have relationship problems and then seek therapy are more likely to divorce than those who don't get counseling. Here's what Dr. Gottman writes:
We asked the people who participated in our research if they were getting therapy, and we discovered that there was a reasonably high correlation between getting therapy and getting a divorce. It was more likely that couples would get a divorce if they had therapy than if they had no therapy. This was especially true for individual therapy, but it was also true of couple therapy.
As one who has counseled and observed couples who have entered therapy, I was not surprised to read this. In my limited experience I've anecdotally noted that couples who do therapy often conclude in divorce. There are likely many reasons for this but, from a Vedic viewpoint, too much Western psychology focuses on issues of the past continually highlighting them and giving them power rather than providing a path for healing and moving forward.
We asked the people who participated in our research if they were getting therapy, and we discovered that there was a reasonably high correlation between getting therapy and getting a divorce. It was more likely that couples would get a divorce if they had therapy than if they had no therapy. This was especially true for individual therapy, but it was also true of couple therapy.
As one who has counseled and observed couples who have entered therapy, I was not surprised to read this. In my limited experience I've anecdotally noted that couples who do therapy often conclude in divorce. There are likely many reasons for this but, from a Vedic viewpoint, too much Western psychology focuses on issues of the past continually highlighting them and giving them power rather than providing a path for healing and moving forward.
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Alarmed by the high rates of incarceration in the United States, the Dalai Lama (in the 1990s), specifically asked 50 American Buddhists to serve the American prison population. One who responded o the Dalai Lama was Anna Cox, an Arkansas social worker and therapist. Interestingly, once her commitment was established, she received a letter from a man on death row in Arkansas who explained he had embraced Buddhism. His name was Frankie Parker. Cox responded and then visited.
According to Morgan Leyenberger, executive director at Compassion Works for All, the organization that Lama Cox founded for the purpose of serving the prison population and their families, a certain degree of freedom was allowed because of the nature of her professional specialization.“At the time she was allowed to just go to death row and walk around,” Morgan relates. “So she was walking around to people's cells, she was teaching meditation, and also just counseling because she was a practicing psychotherapist. So through her relationship with Frankie and others over time, she came to do prison outreach.”
Ironically, it was Parker’s execution that contributed to the outreach work. “Frankie Parker was executed in 1996 and after his execution an article was written about him in which Anna’s name was mentioned,” says Leyenberger. “Then a few people who were also on death row around the country started writing to her. She began a newsletter to correspond with these people who were in prison. Many of them were seeking coping strategies for dealing with their own scheduled execution.”
That newsletter, Dharma Friends, continues today, and until two-and-a-half years ago Lama Cox wrote all of the content for those issues. Dharma Friends is now in its 226th issue and is distributed in all 50 US states and in five countries. When tasked with teaching Buddhism to death row inmates, the text chosen was the Dhammapada, an anthology of verses attributed to Shakyamuni Buddha.
“Anna chose to write from the Dhammapada because she wanted a text directly from the Buddha that would be accessible to any Buddhist in any tradition,” Leyenberger explains. “She didn’t want the newsletter to be Vajrayana, Mahayana, or Theravada—she wanted it to be all-encompassing. She said that the Dhammapada is a foundational text that is instructive for us all, regardless of the path we’re on.”
(read the complete feature at www.buddhistdoor.net)
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The Sentencing Project, a Washington, DC-based research and advocacy center, documents that the United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world—670 people per every 100,000 US citizens, followed in second place by Rwanda, which has 434 people incarcerated for every 100,000 citizens.
Conditions in US prisons are often harsher than in other developed countries, with longer sentences and more solitary confinement than their overseas counterparts. This is particularly true for people of color. Rather than being a correctional system (as per its description), recidivism is common and a great many offenders are caught in a cycle that, instead of offering rehabilitation, becomes a lifelong process with no relief.
Conditions in US prisons are often harsher than in other developed countries, with longer sentences and more solitary confinement than their overseas counterparts. This is particularly true for people of color. Rather than being a correctional system (as per its description), recidivism is common and a great many offenders are caught in a cycle that, instead of offering rehabilitation, becomes a lifelong process with no relief.
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In the 1990s, alarmed by America's high incarceration rates, the Dalai Lama specifically approached 50 American Buddhists asking them to serve the prison population. Responding to his call was Lama Anna Cox, a now-retired Arkansas social worker, psychotherapist, and a lama in the Nyingma lineage of Vajrayana Buddhism. Determined to put the Buddha’s words into practice, Lama Cox began to answer the heartfelt request of His Holiness. Around the same time she made this decision, Cox received a letter from a man on death row in Arkansas. That man’s name was Frankie Parker and, at the time, he was a practicing Buddhist. A feature story in the website Buddhist Door, outlines what transpired after that initial contact.
According to Morgan Leyenberger, executive director at Compassion Works for All, the organization that Lama Cox founded for the purpose of serving the prison population and their families, a certain degree of freedom was allowed because of the nature of her professional specialization. “At the time she was allowed to just go to death row and walk around,” Morgan relates. “So she was walking around to people's cells, she was teaching meditation, and also just counseling because she was a practicing psychotherapist. So through her relationship with Frankie and others over time, she came to do prison outreach."
Ironically, it was Parker’s execution that contributed to the outreach work. “Frankie Parker was executed in 1996 and after his execution an article was written about him in which Anna’s name was mentioned,” says Leyenberger. “Then a few people who were also on death row around the country started writing to her. She began a newsletter to correspond with these people who were in prison. Many of them were seeking coping strategies for dealing with their own scheduled execution.”
That newsletter, Dharma Friends, continues today, and until two-and-a-half years ago Lama Cox wrote all of the content for those issues. Dharma Friends is now in its 226th issue and is distributed in all 50 US states and in five countries. When tasked with teaching Buddhism to death row inmates, the text chosen was the Dhammapada, an anthology of verses attributed to Shakyamuni Buddha.
“Anna chose to write from the Dhammapada because she wanted a text directly from the Buddha that would be accessible to any Buddhist in any tradition,” Leyenberger explains. “She didn’t want the newsletter to be Vajrayana, Mahayana, or Theravada—she wanted it to be all-encompassing. She said that the Dhammapada is a foundational text that is instructive for us all, regardless of the path we’re on.”
(read the full feature at : www.buddhistdoor.net)
According to Morgan Leyenberger, executive director at Compassion Works for All, the organization that Lama Cox founded for the purpose of serving the prison population and their families, a certain degree of freedom was allowed because of the nature of her professional specialization. “At the time she was allowed to just go to death row and walk around,” Morgan relates. “So she was walking around to people's cells, she was teaching meditation, and also just counseling because she was a practicing psychotherapist. So through her relationship with Frankie and others over time, she came to do prison outreach."
Ironically, it was Parker’s execution that contributed to the outreach work. “Frankie Parker was executed in 1996 and after his execution an article was written about him in which Anna’s name was mentioned,” says Leyenberger. “Then a few people who were also on death row around the country started writing to her. She began a newsletter to correspond with these people who were in prison. Many of them were seeking coping strategies for dealing with their own scheduled execution.”
That newsletter, Dharma Friends, continues today, and until two-and-a-half years ago Lama Cox wrote all of the content for those issues. Dharma Friends is now in its 226th issue and is distributed in all 50 US states and in five countries. When tasked with teaching Buddhism to death row inmates, the text chosen was the Dhammapada, an anthology of verses attributed to Shakyamuni Buddha.
“Anna chose to write from the Dhammapada because she wanted a text directly from the Buddha that would be accessible to any Buddhist in any tradition,” Leyenberger explains. “She didn’t want the newsletter to be Vajrayana, Mahayana, or Theravada—she wanted it to be all-encompassing. She said that the Dhammapada is a foundational text that is instructive for us all, regardless of the path we’re on.”
(read the full feature at : www.buddhistdoor.net)
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It is true that you are a divine incarnation, a perfect being, but when you act out of greed, selfishness, meanness, hatred or other such inferior motives, you act the part of a lesser being. - Wu Wei
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Mere outer revolutions end in violence without an inner revolution in consciousness. - David Frawley