Rejection Hurts, Literally

Again from the New York Times

Food, improved?

An article from the New York Times about the food we may eat, how it's marketed and whether those claims have merit.

Old Wives Tales

How much misinformation is there about health and well-being? So much that I take great satisfaction when even lesser known myths are disproved. Here's one from the New York Times about allergies and local honey. We hear so many pieces of information that sound logical, such as: eating local honey will cure allergies. The theory is that the bees come into contact with the allergens, which make their way into honey, which will help us develop an immunity when eaten in small doses. And yet:

Dr. Stanley Fineman, president-elect of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, said he has seen a growing number of patients ask about local honey. “Seasonal allergies are usually triggered by windborne pollens, not by pollens spread by insects,” he said. So it’s unlikely that honey “collected from plants that do not cause allergy symptoms would provide any therapeutic benefit.”


Now if only I had a dollar for every anatomy and physiology misstatement I've heard in a fitness class.

Yama's, Niyama's and Candy

From the Wall St. Journal, reporting which includes a study that says:

There is research to show how irresistible the candy dish can be. A four-week study of 40 secretaries found that when candy was visible in a clear, covered dish, participants ate 2.5 pieces of chocolate on top of the 3.1 candies they would have eaten had the chocolates been in an opaque container, according to the 2006 study in the International Journal of Obesity. Moving the dish closer, so the subjects could reach the candy while seated at their desks, added another 2.1 candies a day to their intake.


Some of the things I deeply appreciate about yoga are the Yama's and the Niyama's. While yoga is an intensely internal practice, the Yama's and Niyama's direct us to change our actions in the world. They suggest to us that meditation and a realization of our spiritual nature are easier to achieve when we set up our world so that it stops knocking us down. 


Of course we can just stop choosing to eat the candy (if that's what we want); of course we can just stop seeing candy as bad...or we can simply remove it from our sight.

The physiology of Community

Here's an article that begins to explain those unique experiences where we feel bonded to others in large groups.

Researchers studied heart rates of fire walkers, and heart rates of friends and relatives who were merely watching them. The heart rates of the walkers and the non-walkers synched up.

I think about yoga classes, people moving and breathing together, and all the physiological shifts that help us to band together for a time in class; creating that anxiety reducing, tension relieving, depression lifting sensation of belonging.

Pratyahara

From the New York Times, report of a study that relates well to the practice of Pratyahara.