The Bone-Brain Connection

by Ram

Red Hills and Bones by George O'Keeffe

When we talk about bones and/or joints, we are referring to the body’s skeletal system. The skeletal system is comprises of all the bones and joints in the body provides structural support and serves as a storehouse for calcium and phosphate. Different kinds of cells, proteins, and minerals make up the skeletal system to act as a scaffold by providing support and protection to the softer tissues of the body and also attachment points for muscles to allow movements at the joints. Up until now it was assumed that the skeletal system was an inert calcified structure that only provided structural framework to prevent the body from collapsing. But thanks to some recent groundbreaking work (see The contribution of bone to whole-organism physiology), we now know that there’s more to the bones than just the support structure.

Endocrine organs secrete hormones directly into the blood stream to be carried to distant target organs. Examples of endocrine organs include the hypothalamus, pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenals, pineal body, and the reproductive organs (ovaries and testes). Recent research studies now point to the skeleton as an endocrine organ that secretes the endocrine hormone osteocalcin. Osteocalcin, which is found at high concentrations in the skeleton, was thought to be primarily involved in bone-building, bone mineralization, and maintaining calcium ion levels. Researchers now believe that osteocalcin acts as a hormone and travels to distant organs including the pancreas to release more insulin, to the adipose tissue to stimulate the release of another hormone adiponectin, which also regulates insulin levels, and the testes for testosterone production. Thus, the bone has now emerged as a genuine endocrine gland (see The "soft" side of the bone: unveiling its endocrine functions). 

Additionally, work by Gerard Karsenty, at the department of genetics and development at Columbia University Medical Center, reveals that osteocalcin has wide-ranging effects on liver, muscle, and, guess what, the brain as well (see Maternal and offspring pools of osteocalcin influence brain development and functions). Working with mice that had been engineered to lack osteocalcin, Karsenty noticed that while their skeletons appeared essentially normal, the mice appeared too docile, less rebellious, anxious, depressed, and displayed memory issues, suggesting that the bone via its hormone osteocalcin plays a direct role in memory and moods. When Karsenty infused these mice with osteocalcin, their moods improved and their performance on memory tests became normal. Furthermore, Karsenty also discovered that osteocalcin from pregnant mother mice crossed the placenta barrier and triggered the development and architecture of the mouse fetus’s brain. Simply put, bones communicated with the neurons and shaped the brain even before birth. This entire concept of bone-brain axis was least surprising to me because in Ayurveda, we are taught that the nervous system (brain and spinal cord—Majja Dhatu) arises from the precursor skeletal tissue (Asthi Dhatu). So as a researcher I was happy with the evidence-based research supporting this concept. 

So what might the bone-brain communication mean for human health? We know that as we age, our skeletal system degenerates as reflected in the reduction of bone mass. Additionally, aging also brings with it memory and cognitive loss and emotional turbulence. While all these changes were considered to be separate and independent effects of old age, taking into account Karsenty’s tantalizing work, it appears that these age-associated degenerative events in the physical body, emotional imbalance, and memory losses may actually be related and interconnected, and osteocalcin may be one of the molecules cementing these processes. 

Now I am sure you must be curious to know if we need to start taking osteocalcin to protect ourselves from age-associated skeletal degeneration or memory and cognitive decline. Remember, these kinds of questions can create false hopes, so before you sprint to the nearest pharmacy for a dose of synthetic osteocalcin, think of another attractive and natural alternative route to boost the bone-brain connection. Research studies show that the best thing to do to strengthen the bone and prevent age-related cognitive decline is exercise. Physical exercise helps partly because it works to maintain and strengthen the bones, which make more osteocalcin that in turn helps preserve memory and mood. And for us yogis, there is some exciting news as well. A recent research study showed that yoga increases bone turnover and triggers increased production of osteocalcin, which may help in the preserving bone mineral density (see Effects of Yoga on Bone Metabolism in Postmenopausal Women). While the authors of this study did not examine cognitive changes in these human subjects, I am guessing that given the ground-breaking studies by Gerard Karsenty, the osteocalcin production from the yoga regimen may help reverse cognitive changes.

Thus, it appears that all the regions of the body are more closely networked and interconnected than most people think, and the brain cannot be delineated or excluded from the body (see Your Brain is More Than That Thing in Your Skull). Additionally, the above-mentioned studies also suggest that the concept of unidirectional information flow from the brain to the periphery is incorrect, and it appears that peripheral organs also talk to the brain, making the information flow bidirectional (brian-body-brain). In addition to the different areas of the body communicating to the brain, we now also have a better understanding of how the bone talks to the brain and fosters its development, and how yoga can strengthen the bone-brain nexus. Let’s just say that an additional path to the brain starts from the bone!

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How to Foster Brain Health with Yoga

by Baxter and Nina

From "Tantra Song" by Jamme

When Baxter travels around the country sharing our ideas about Yoga for Healthy Aging, he often asks his students to list their top worries regarding getting older. Hands down, the number one fear they list is developing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, even when there is no family history of it. So we’ve spent quite a lot of time learning about brain health and how we can use yoga to support it as we age. We're happy to report there are quite a number of ways!

So today we’re providing recommendations for how to use your yoga practice to foster brain health, including both your cognitive health and the health of your central nervous system. If you are already practicing well-rounded active sequences that include a few restorative poses (or at the least a good Savasana), breath work, and meditation, that’s a great start, because regular exercise, stress management, and meditation for brain strength are all going to help both your brain and your nervous system.

The following recommends recommendations are for those who want to focus especially on brain health, whether you are just concerned about brain health in general, or have a special motivation, such as a family history of brain problems, such as early onset dementia or Parkinson’s disease.

What to Practice. For your balanced practices that include asanas, stress management, and meditation, be sure to vary the sequences that you practice as well as the individual poses that you include to keep your practice sessions fresh and stimulating for your brain! On rest days consider practicing a short “brain practice,” which could include meditation, a yoga philosophy study session on your own or with friends, or even time spent reading yoga books to find new poses, practices, and sequences to try.

How Often to Practice. In general, work toward practicing five to six days a week. Because exercise is important for brain health, we recommend practicing an active asana sequence (or another type of exercise, such as walking) around three to four days a week. On the other days, either work on your short brain-stimulating practice, an equanimity practice of your choice, or—if chronic stress is a problem—a short stress management session (see below).

Static Poses. The more physically challenging a pose is, the greater the workload is for your heart, which is a particularly good way to exercise your cardiovascular system and foster brain as well as your heart health. So we recommend including the challenging poses in your sequences for brain health as you would for cardiovascular health. See Techniques for Improving Cardiovascular and Heart Health for pose recommendation and timings. 

Besides providing exercise to benefit the brain and nervous system, static poses stretch your tissues, including the tissue around your nerves. With a regular asana practice, you can release holding patterns around your nerves, permitting more slide and glide through muscles and joints, which allows them to function them more effectively. 

Finally, balance poses help improve your proprioception (see How We Balance), fostering the health of the specialized nerves that allow you to sense where your body is in space.

To add learning into your asanas, vary your static poses as much as possible. Switch which side you start on, change your arm positions, or create a new version of a static pose. 

Dynamic Poses. Dynamic poses and flow sequences practiced for their cardiovascular benefits also foster brain health. So we recommend including dynamic poses in your sequences for brain health as you would for cardiovascular health. See Techniques for Improving Cardiovascular and Heart Health  for recommendations for dynamic poses to practice and how fast to move between poses. 

Also, like static poses, dynamic poses stretch tissues, including tissues around the nerves, so you can use dynamic poses to release holding patterns around your nerves, permitting more slide and glide through muscles and joints, which allows them to function them more effectively. 

A special advantage that dynamic poses provide is that because you are moving quickly from one position to another, all dynamic poses and flow sequences improve the functioning of your proprioceptors (see How We Balance), the specialized nerves that allow you to sense where you are in space.

To add learning into your asanas, vary your dynamic poses and sequences as much as possible, and experiment with inventing new mini vinyasas and flow sequences.

Meditation. If you already have a regular meditation practice, simply continue practicing as usual, with your favorite technique. If you do not currently meditate, because meditation has been shown to improve brain structure and function, we strongly recommend that you start. See Yoga Meditation Techniques for information. 

Stress Management. When you’re not feeling particularly stressed out, a well-rounded practice that includes active asanas and short-sessions of the stress management techniques of your choice will help keep your stress levels in check. And if you chose meditate every day, or do breath practices, restorative yoga or supported inversions on your rest days, all the better. However, because stress management is so important for brain healthy, if you’re experiencing chronic stress or entering a stressful period in your life, we recommend practicing at least a short stress management session for about 20 minutes every day. What you practice for your short stress management sessions could be any of the relaxation practices you prefer or that work in your particular circumstances: seated or reclined meditation, calming breath practices, one or two restorative and/or supported inverted poses, or a guided relaxation program. See Stress Management for When You're Stressed.

Equanimity. Because cultivating equanimity as you age will allow you to think more clearly and make better decisions, as well as help you handle brain changes to the brain that might arise over time, consider focusing on equanimity practices, such as studying yoga philosophy, practicing yoga for emotional wellbeing, and meditating to understand your thought patterns, that help you stay balanced and cultivate contentment with what you have and what you don’t have. See LINK.

Healthy Eating and Digestion. Eating a healthy, nutritious diet fuels your brain and nervous system and helps support their health. And due to the way your gut is connected to your brain, keeping your gut healthy and happy through by maintaining a good diet and supporting good digestion, also benefits your brain and nervous system health. See How Yoga Helps Your Digestive System for information about how to use yoga to support healthy eating and healthy digestion.

Sleeping. If you have trouble sleeping for just one night, it can affect your brain function the next day. But if you have chronic sleeping problems, ongoing lack of sleep can more have serious effects, such as impaired memory, and may even be linked to dementia. So, if chronic insomnia is a problem for you, we recommend that you use your yoga practice to support better sleep. See 5 Tips for Better Sleep. 

Learning. Because your brain is “plastic” and continues to actively grow and rewire itself when it is stimulated, we recommend using your yoga practice as a way to keep learning. Try new poses or new variations of familiar poses, new sequences, and new practices beyond asana (such as mudras or breath practices) on a regular basis. We also recommend studying yoga philosophy, because in addition to helping you learn to cultivate equanimity, yoga philosophy will expose you to new concepts and terminology (some of which are quite challenging to work your head around!). And because learning a new language is especially effective for brain health, try working on your Sanskrit!

Community. Remaining socially active supports brain health and delays the onset of dementia. Social engagement is a learning exercise, and as with other mentally stimulating activities, helps build up healthy brain cells and the connections between them. Attending yoga classes and participating in your local yoga community is a good way to stay socially active as well as to keep your practice going strong. If you’re not already active in the yoga community, find a way to join:

• Find a regular class you can afford
• Attend free events at your local yoga studio
• Go on a retreat (if it’s in your budget)
• Attend yoga conferences
• Practice yoga with a friend
• Attend a yoga book groups
• Participate in an online yoga community
• Volunteer for yoga community service

We hope after all this you’re starting to feel encouraged, because you now have a rich set of techniques you can use to support your brain health. It’s never too early start supplementing your yoga practice with these techniques, so try something new today!

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Leg Power Equals Brain Power

by Nina

Bhavani Cooper, Age 56

“Leg power predicts both cognitive ageing and global brain structure, despite controlling for common genetics and early life environment shared by twins. Interventions targeted to improve leg power in the long term may help reach a universal goal of healthy cognitive ageing.” —Steves, CJ, et al.

I have to say that even I always repeat to myself what Ram wrote about the brain “what is good for the heart is good for the brain,” I am so used to thinking about the brain as somehow being separate from the rest of the body, I was flabbergasted to read about a recent study of aging twins that showed that powerful leg muscles resulting from physical exercise correlates with sharper minds. Yes, even though the brain is just another organ in your body, like your heart or your liver, we’re so used to being told that doing mental exercises, like, God forbid, crossword puzzles, is the best way to keep our brains healthy as we age, that is hard for a lot of us—me included—to take in that something like doing yoga standing poses could actually be much more effective.

In a recent study Kicking Back Cognitive Ageing: Leg Power Predicts Cognitive Ageing after Ten Years in Older Female Twins. scientists at Kings College London set out to test whether muscle fitness (measured by leg power, since the thigh muscles are the largest muscles in the body) could “predict cognitive change” in a healthy older population over a 10-year time interval. Twins were used in the study so genetic factors could be ruled out. And leg strength was measured as a more objective indicator of exercise patterns than self-reporting (since self-reporting is notoriously unreliable). 

The study was performed on 324 female twins (average age 55, range from 43-73) at two time points ten years apart. The scientists performed cognitive testing on all the study participants, and for 20 pairs of identical twins, they also conducted brain-imaging scans. According to the New York Times, the scientists found that those who had had the sturdiest legs a decade ago showed the least fall-off in thinking skills, even when scientists controlled for factors such as fatty diets, high blood pressure, and shaky blood-sugar control. The Times reported that the differences in thinking skills were particularly striking within twin pairs:

“If one twin had been more powerful than the other 10 years before, she tended to be a much better thinker now. In fact, on average, a muscularly powerful twin now performed about 18 percent better on memory and other cognitive tests than her weaker sister.

“Similarly, in the brain imaging of the identical twins, if one genetically identical twin had had sturdier legs than the other at the start of the study, she now displayed significantly more brain volume and fewer “empty spaces in the brain” than her weaker sister.”

So this is very dramatic evidence about how important exercise is for maintaining cognitive health! The funny thing is that even the main author, of the study, Dr. Steves, was surprised by the results. The New York Times quoted her:

“I was quite surprised by the strength of the findings,” Dr. Steves said, “because to be honest, I am someone who has always in the past prioritized work of the mind over work of the body. This study brings home to me that the brain needs exercise to keep fit.”

For more information about the study, see Brawn and Brains (only the abstract for the study is available to general public).

Now we’ve been recommending exercise in general for cognitive health for some time now (see 6 Ways to Foster Brain Health with Yoga and Featured Sequence: Brain Health Practice). But if you’re interested in working on leg strength in your yoga practice, my post The Importance of Yoga for Strength had some basic recommendations for lower body strength. In general, though, the following are strengthening for your legs:

• Standing poses where you stand one or two bent knees, such as Powerful pose (Utkatasana), Warrior 2 pose (Virabradrasana 1), Extended Side Angle pose (Utthita Parsvakonasana), and Lunge pose 
• Standing poses where you balance on one leg, such as Tree pose (Vrksasana), Half Moon pose (Arda Chandrasana), and Warrior 3 pose (Virabradrasana 3)
• Backbends where you lift your legs up away from the floor, such as Locus pose (Salabasana) and Hunting Dog pose
• Stretching poses for your legs, such as Reclined Leg Stretch (remember, stretching is also strengthening—see Just Stretching is Not Just Stretching)

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6 Ways to Foster Brain Health with Yoga

by Nina and Ram

Mademoiselle Ferrand Meditating on Newton by de La Tour

In his post Mental Exercise, Yoga, and the Perfect Brain, Ram mentioned six basic ways you can help prevent age-associated memory loss and foster brain health. Today I thought we'd look a bit closer at each of those ways, so if brain health is a concern of yours (and, really, who isn’t concerned about this?), you can target your yoga practice to help support your brain health as well as your overall health in general. 

1. Engaging in Physical Activity. Engaging in regular aerobic activity leads to structural changes in the brain that result in improved cognition. Physical exercise increases nerve branching and in some cases triggers regeneration of new nerve cells, especially in the memory centers of the brain. Physical exercises help you learn new things, and to be more alert and attentive owing to the structural changes. Scientists believe that physical exercise triggers increased blood flow to the brain. The greater the blood flow is, the more oxygen and other important nutrients that reach the brain, which may explain the cognitive improvements associated with exercise. Physical exercises will also help maintain optimal blood pressure, control diabetes and lower cholesterol levels, all of which are potential mental risk factors.

A regular, well-rounded asana practice provides an excellent form of exercise, fostering strength, flexibility, balance, and agility. But targeting cardiovascular health with your practice could be especially helpful for brain health (see About Yoga for Heart Health And Circulation). As Ram says, “What is good for the heart is good for the brain.” After all, your brain is one of the important organs of your body, just as your heart is.

2. Staying Mentally Active. Just as exercise and physical activity prompt muscles to grow stronger, mental exercise tones thinking skills and memory. Mental exercises maintain, build, and remodel neural network connectivity, trigger production of nerve growth factors that increase neuronal branching, and stimulate new synthesis of neural cells. The brain actively grows and rewires itself in response to stimulation and learning. Our brain grows stronger from use and from being challenged. This is called brain plasticity. Plasticity is the reason why stroke patients can relearn skills after a brain damage and also explains how a healthy part of the brain might assume the job of a damaged part. The brain is continually morphing/re-sculpting itself in response to new experience and learning. The greater the neural density, stronger and more resilient is the brain and mind that keeps the physical body strong, in turn promotes healthy aging.

According to Baxter’s post How Yoga Sequences are Brain Aerobics, to be a “brain aerobic” an activity: needs to engage your attention, must break a routine activity in an unexpected, nontrivial way, and must involve more than one of the senses. So practicing yoga asana mindfully, which not only engages your attention but involves more than one of your senses, can meet all three of these requirements if you intentionally keep your practice varied (see Practicing Yoga Mindfully and Stuck in a Rut?). Meditation and pranayama can also meet these three requirements, again, if you vary the practices. See How Yoga Sequences Are Brain Aerobics for more ideas. And, of course, simply learning new yoga poses and practices, and studying the scriptures (see The Power of Svadhyaya, Part 2) provide excellent learning opportunities.

3. Being Socially Active. Social engagement reduces the risk of isolation and depression. Remaining socially active also supports brain health and delays the onset of dementia. Because being socially active requires that you plan, participate, engage, and be attentive and alert, it qualifies as mental exercise. Social engagement is also a learning exercise for the brain and mind. As with other mentally stimulating activities, social activities help build up healthy brain cells and the connections between them.

Attending yoga classes and participating in your local yoga community is a good way to stay socially active as well as to keep your practice going strong. See 8 Ways to Join the Yoga Community for more ideas. You can even practice yoga with one or more friends (see Practicing Yoga with a Friend).

4. Eating a Healthy Diet. High blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol are potential mental risk factors and increase the risk of dementia. A healthy diet helps to keep these factors at optimal levels. Some of the consequences of chronological aging are increased oxidative stress, free radical production, and uncontrolled inflammation that not only hasten aging but also trigger rapid brain aging. A healthy diet soaks up free radicals and brings down inflammation, thus preventing brain decay. Eating a healthy diet promotes good blood flow to the organ system, which includes the brain.

Practicing yoga stress management techniques improves digestion, prevents stress eating, and reduces cortisol levels. Cultivating mindfulness with meditation and asana practiced mindfully can help make you more aware of what your body really needs (and what it doesn’t). And using your meditation practice to strengthen you will power will help support you in changing your eating habits. See Yoga for Healthy Eating: An Overview for further information. 

5. Managing Chronic Stress. Chronic stress (see About Stress: Acute vs. Chronic) causes havoc not just to the body but also to the brain. Chronic stress brings with it several health issues, including constant fear, worry, anxiety, depression, and memory deficits. 

While stress hormones do sharpen attention and spur us to take needed action, we are not designed to handle high levels of stress hormones day after day, year after year. In the brain these stress hormones weaken blood vessels, kill off neurons, and shrink the hippocampus, resulting in memory loss. Chronic stress also speeds up the normal aging of other cells that in turn affects normal structure and function of the brain.

Using yoga’s stress management techniques help you dial down stress levels when you are suffering from chronic stress (see The Relaxation Response and Yoga). Cultivating equanimity in the face of life’s difficulties will help you from getting stressed out in the first place (see 7 Ways to Cultivate Equanimity with Yoga). 

6. Sleeping Well. Lack of sleep or sleep deprivation triggers accelerated mental decline. Sleep appears necessary for our nervous systems to work properly. Too little sleep leaves us drowsy and unable to concentrate, and leads to impaired memory and physical performance. If sleep deprivation continues, hallucinations and mood swings may develop. Just as sleep gives the body time to heal itself, sleep allows neurons to lower down their neurochemical activity and repair themselves.

Without sleep, neurons become “fatigued” and begin to malfunction. Sleep helps to clear out toxins from the brain as well as from the body (see Sleep, Alzheimer's Disease, and Yoga). Finally, the brain gets exposed to thousands of stimuli through the five senses, and sleep helps to reduce chaos and bring order to the information flow, helping to put an order to these information inputs and archive them as memories. 

Yoga can be really helpful for improving sleep because you can use it to manage your stress levels and reduce anxiety, both of which are frequent causes of insomnia (see The Relaxation Response and Yoga and 10 Ways to Soothe Anxiety with Yoga). If pain or physical discomfort is keeping you awake, you can use yoga pain management techniques (see Yoga for Pain Management). And soothing practices, such as restorative yoga and simple, calming forms of pranayama, can help you if you wake in the middle of the night. See Yoga for Insomnia, Part 1, Day to Night: Yoga for Better Sleep, and Five Tips for Better Sleep for further information.

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Featured Sequence: Brain Health Practice

by Baxter

Here's our new Brain Health sequence, which combines physical exercise and stress management to promote health of the organ in general with "brain aerobics" to challenge you mentally. If you want to practice this sequence on a regular basis, you'll need to change it up periodically (see Yoga Sequences Are Brain Aerobics for information).

1. Checking-In: Start by sitting and checking in with your mind: is your mind busy or quiet today? Is your focus good or scattered? What is your mood? As you take a few moments to observe your thoughts, notice if they have one of the following qualities: pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant. Can you notice this without necessarily having to act on this insight?

Next, choose a single yoga sutra, either from your Yoga Sutras book or by finding a sutra online, and read the Sanskrit aloud. Then, repeat the translation aloud three times in a row.

Now you’re ready for your asana practice. Set you mat up so the short end is touching a wall. Then stand at the front of your mat in Mountain pose, facing away from the wall.

2. Mini Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar): Practice the Sanskrit name for Sun Salutations. For general instructions on how to practice our Mini Sun Salutation, see Mini Sun Salutation. Start by practicing one round with your eyes open. Then attempt to do several rounds with your eyes closed, relying on senses other than vision to guide you. Because exercise is as important for the brain as it is for the heart, these Sun Salutations enhance basic brain health as well as stimulating brain function.

3. Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana 2): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then, facing the long edge of your mat, step your feet wide apart so that the outer edge of your left foot is flush against the wall (or only the heel if this is a problem for your hips). Then turn your right foot and leg out 90 degrees, towards the center of the room. Now, bend your right knee and raise your arms to come into the pose. Instead of looking toward your front arm, look back at your left hand as you enter, stay in the pose for 6-12 breaths, and then exit the pose. Turn to the other long edge of your mat and repeat on the second side.

Imagine the Wall!

4. Standing Forward Bend with the Wall (Uttanasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Now, stand with your back to the wall with your hips and shoulders touching the wall but your heels about 12 inches away from the wall. Bend your knees slightly and then tip forward from your hip joints to come into the forward fold, keeping your buttocks flesh on the wall and lowering down as far as you safely can. Caution: If you have osteopenia or osteoporosis, perhaps come only half way down. Stay for 12 breaths, and come up on an inhalation.

5. Triangle Pose (Utthita Trikonasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then, turn around on your mat so you can practice the left side of Triangle pose first. Facing the long edge of your mat, step your feet wide apart so that the outer edge of your right foot is flush against the wall (or only the heel if this is a problem for your hips). Then turn your left foot and leg out 90 degrees, towards the center of the room. Next, inhale your arms up to parallel with the floor, and keeping your attention on your left hand, come into full Triangle pose, using a prop for your bottom hand if necessary. As you stay in the pose for 6-12 breaths, keep looking at your left hand (your bottom hand) and continue to focus on your left hand as you come out of the pose. Then turn towards the other long edge of your mat and repeat the pose on the right side, following your right hand as you move into, stay in, and move out of the pose.

Imagine the Wall!

6. Powerful Pose (Utkatasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then, standing as you did for Wall Standing Forward Bend, keep your buttocks on the wall as you inhale your arms overhead, bend your knees, and tip your torso and spine forward over your thighs into the Powerful pose shape. See Powerful Pose for instructions about Powerful pose. Stay for 6 breaths. 

Imagine the Wall!

7. Extended Side Angle Pose (Utthita Parsva Konasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Next, align your feet for the pose the same way you did for Warrior 2, with your left outer foot (or heel) at the wall. As you come into the pose to the right, using a prop for your bottom hand if necessary, keep your eyes fixed on your right hand (your lower hand), throughout the pose. For additional instructions, see Upper Body Strength Practice Stay for 6-12 breaths, and repeat on the second side.

Imagine the Wall!

8. Half Downward-Facing Dog Pose at the Wall (Ardha Adho Muka Svanasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then stand facing the wall with your hands on the wall at shoulder height. Bend your knees a bit and slowly back your feet and hips towards the center of the room until your arms and torso are parallel with the floor and your hips are positioned directly over your heels. If your back and hamstrings permit, slowly straighten your legs without rounding your lower back towards the ceiling. Float your head between your arms as you actively push your hands into the wall and your hips away from the wall. Stay in the pose for 6-12 breaths. To come out, bend the knees a bit and walk the feet back towards the wall as you lift your torso up to vertical. For additional instructions, see Half Downward-Facing Dog Pose at the Wall. 

9. Warrior 1 to 3 (Virabhadrasana 1, 3): Practice the Sanskrit name of the two poses. Now, stand facing the wall about halfway back on your mat (you will need to experiment with the distance to get it just right). Step your left foot back about three feet, and turn it out a bit to the left. Then, inhale your arms up alongside your head and bend your front knee forward over your right ankle, coming into Warrior 1. Then, tip forward from your hips and lean forward, bringing your weight onto the right leg, your hands to the wall and your left leg up behind you into Warrior 3. Try to keep your hips square with the floor beneath you and your head floating between your arms. This can be quite a vigorous pose, so stay for just 3-6 breaths. See Warrior 3 Pose (Wall Version) for further instructions. To come out of the pose, on an inhalation, step back to Warrior 1 as lightly as you can. On your exhalation, come out of Warrior 1 and step back to Mountain pose. Repeat on the second side.

10. Reclined Leg Stretch Pose (Supta Padangustasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then, lie down on your back with the soles of your feet against the wall. Practice version 1 of Reclined Leg Stretch on your right side (see (Reclined Leg Stretch Sequence ), keeping good contact of the sole of the left foot against the wall throughout the pose. The key difference here is the tactile awareness of the bottom leg foot on the wall. Stay for 6-12 breaths. Then repeat on the other side. 

Imagine the Wall!

11. Legs Up the Wall Pose (Vipariti Karani): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then, set up for a supported version of Legs Up the Wall pose, using whatever propping would feel good for you today. See Legs Up the Wall pose for instructions on practicing this pose. After going up into the pose, change the typical position of your arms today, and notice how that affects the pose on the level of sensation, breath, and emotions. Stay for 5-10 minutes if your schedule permits. This pose is great for managing stress levels, which is important for maintaining brain health as it helps reduce strokes (see Brain Health Interview with Ram Rao).

12. Simple Seated Pose (Sukasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then sit in Sukasana with your back against the wall and as much support under your hips as you need for your back to feel comfortable. See if you can recall the sutra you learned for today. If not, re-read it now. Then, use the translation of the sutra as a mantra for a short meditation session, repeating the sutra mentally to yourself as you breathe in and out comfortably. I usually set a timer for how long I want to do my final meditation, typically at least 10 minutes, but feel free to start with 3-5 minutes at first. Any type of meditation can be beneficial for brain health, as it may help build brain strength (see Meditation and Brain Strength).

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Yoga Sequences Are Brain Aerobics

by Baxter

Do you like my brain? by Niki de Saint Phalle*

Brain Health is a topic we here at YFHA have addressed on numerous occasions. Research clearly points out that your mind like your body needs to be exercised regularly. I recently grabbed a flyer from my family doctor’s office that caught my eye. It was titled “The Power of Brain Aerobics: Maximize Your Memory.” As I read through it, I could not help but recall (good sign, eh?) the two excellent posts Ram did a while back on brain exercise (see The Power of Mental Exercise, Part 1 and Part 2). According to the group who published my flyer, the Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation, there are three conditions your brain workout must meet in order for an activity to be considered “brain aerobics”:

• It needs to engage your attention
• It must break a routine activity in an unexpected, nontrivial way
• It must involve more than one of the senses

You can see that attending a regular yoga class or practicing yoga at home likely meets all three of the criteria. First, you are actively encouraged to bring your attention to the practice at hand, whether it is the physical poses, breathing patterns or meditation. Second, because you classes are likely changing each week (unless you do a style of yoga that repeats the same sequence week to week), there will be some familiar components of a practice, but an ever-changing sequence of poses, with a goal for each class that is a bit different from the previous week’s class, breaking the routine in a nontrivial way. And if you’re practicing at home, you can consciously try to add new poses or change up your sequences to keep things fresh. Finally, not only does the successful practice of yoga involve more than one of our senses (most obviously visual, tactile, auditory), but involves the mind taking in information and acting on it in the moment.

Tomorrow I’ll be posting my new Brain Health Sequence. If you are going to practice this sequence on a regular basis, it may be more challenging to meet the second requirement of breaking the routine activity in an unexpected way. You will have to find ways to creatively modify the sequence every few times you practice. So in this post, I’ll make several recommendations for how you can do can make this or any sequence more stimulating for your brain.

To re-iterate why we want to do these mental aerobics, Ram says:

“Mental fitness is exactly what it sounds like: keeping the brain and emotional health in a healthy state by performing mentally stimulating tasks. Mental exercises refer to a series of exercises that help you to be more alert, think rationally and logically, make sound and correct decisions and boost a declining memory.”

Hear, hear! Now for some ideas about how to apply these concepts to your brain health (and other) sequence:

1. Each time you practice, pick one or two of the poses in the sequence and commit to learning the name of the pose in Sanskrit. We typically include the Sanskrit names of the poses in our sequences, so you can find the names right on the post. And if you want to know the Sanskrit name for a pose that is not included on the blog, there are many resources to help you with this, including my teacher Donald Moyer’s book Yoga: Awaking the Inner Body and Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar. Nicholai Bachman has a sweet little book and audio CD “The Language of Yoga” to assist in learning the most common yoga pose names, as well.

Note from Nina: Gosh, Baxter, you forgot to mention the second book I wrote with Rodney Yee, Moving Toward Balance—which has Sanskrit names for all the poses in the book! And, everyone, if you don’t have a yoga book on hand, Google or any internet search facility works very nicely for finding articles that include both English and Sanskrit pose names, such as those on Yoga Journal's site or even wikipedia.

2. Using your memory is a great mental exercise. So look over the sequence first and try to do it from memory. If you use the post while practicing, 30 minutes or so after you are done practicing, try to write out the sequence as accurately as you can.

3. A simple way to stimulate new nerve connections in the brain is by using the opposite or non-dominant hand/side for routine tasks. When it comes specifically to yoga asana, if you have a habit of doing the poses right side first, practice the same by starting on the left side before the right and vice versa. Or, as I do in class and at home, alternate which side you go to first in asymmetric poses.

4. Changing your daily habits and routines will allow mental stimulation to occur as well. So try practicing in a different room or space in your house. Something I often do is change the direction of practice by re-orienting my mat in my practice space to point in different directions. When you do this, notice what appears around you and how it feels to practice with the new orientation. Another way to change up a sequence is to tinker with it a bit by adding a new pose or substituting one pose for another (see Stuck in a Rut?).

5. Stimulate new neural network connections and brain growth by learning something new. I recommend that you have a yoga book at your mat and you take a few minutes to read a paragraph or two about yoga. Recently, I’ve been reading one sutra from Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD’s new book The Secret of the Yoga Sutra, pronoucing the sutra to the best of my ability and memorizing the English translation. For your learning pleasure today, I share with you Sutra 1.2 and his translation:

yogascittavrittinirodhah: Complete mastery over the roaming tendencies of the mind is Yoga.

I will typically reread the sutra for several days in a row, and continue to practice saying the Sanskrit phrase out loud.

Stay tuned for my new Brain Health Practice tomorrow!

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Mental Exercise, Yoga and the Perfect Brain

by Ram

Abstract Lights by Melina Meza

Generally we assume that as long as the brain is working fine and memory is reasonably good there is no need to pay attention to it. But the concept “use it or lose it” applies to the brain as well as the body. Our brains are like the car engines; just as the performance of the engine is enhanced as long as the oil is changed regularly, similarly the brain actively grows and rewires itself in response to stimulation and learning. Brain fitness, mental fitness and mental exercise all mean the same thing: it is the act of performing a mentally stimulating task that keeps the brain fit. Several scientific studies find that mental exercise can either prevent or delay the onset of mental and physical diseases.  Furthermore, age-associated memory loss can be prevented by: 1) physical activity/exercise, 2) staying mentally active, 3) being socially active, 4) eating a healthy diet, 5) leading a stress-free life and 6) sleeping well.

Several scientific studies point to the benefits of yoga (asanas, meditation and pranayama) in combating stress, keeping the individual physically and mentally stable and active, improving the digestive capacity and also helping in the sleeping process, all of which will result in combating age-associated memory loss. Yoga does this through multiple cellular mechanisms.  Studies show that the practice of yoga has beneficial effects on emotional well-being and general mental acuity without any of the side effects. Yoga increases brain chemicals such as endorphins and enkephalins that contribute to a feel-good response and ward off mental stress. It is akin to stimulating the brain in a positive way, which results in optimal brain function all of which can keep an individual alert and sharp.

So the questions are: Do I practice mental exercises? Does this involve yoga in any way? Is there anything that I do regularly with yoga that I feel will contribute to my brain health?

I incorporate yoga as part of my daily mental exercise regime. Yoga to me is not just about asanas but about all forms of the discipline that bring the body-mind-breath in tune. I sincerely feel that my yoga practice is keeping me mentally agile and physically fit.  Here are eight simple mental exercises that I incorporate as a daily/regular practice to combat age-associated memory loss and other mental illness.

Meditation: I do a 30-minute meditation and pranayama practice combined with an hour of asana practice. Meditation helps to settle my unruly mind and allows me to focus consciously. I also believe that meditation gets to places in my brain that asanas simply cannot penetrate. Meditating helps me to ease smoothly into my asana practice. Similarly, doing asanas helps me deepen my meditation practice.

Pranayama: I have a daily practice of pranayama. It helps me to calm down, reducing the Flight or Fight response. I have found it particularly useful in relieving stress in my mind that primarily comes from lab work.

Asanas:  I commit to a one-hour home asana practice when I am not teaching at the studio. My yoga sequence keeps varying each day and this variation in the asana sequence is a perfect way to stimulate the brain. In addition, I switch the sides lest I end up with a dominant side. (Some of the poses that I routinely do on the right side first, I practice the same by starting on the left side and vice versa.) Furthermore, as I do each pose I mentally call out the name of the pose preferably in Sanskrit thereby stimulating the “recall” centers of the brain.

Additionally, I end my asana practice with inversions. My rationale for this: with age there is a decline in the volume of blood flow into the brain. This decreases the hemoglobin, sugar and oxygen content to the brain that may be responsible for age-associated mental problems. Inversions trigger increased blood circulation to the brain (by reversing gravity) thus keeping the brain nourished and healthy.

Physical Exercise: My day doesn't feel right if I go without some form of physical activity. There are days when I feel so tired and my brain refuses to work smoothly towards the end of the day. Being aware of the fact that physical exercise is not only important for body's health but it also helps the brain stay sharp, I force myself to go for a workout to the local gym. The antidepressant-like effects kick in after exercising for just 20 minutes.

Santosha: I try to smile a lot and be happy and contented; smiling helps to improve mental and cognitive skills, interpersonal skills and it adds years to life. (See Santosha, Smiling and Longevity).

Satya: Truth frees us from all kinds of emotional turmoil and telling the truth significantly improves a person’s mental health and has a positive impact on health and longevity. So I do my best not to lie and if I am in a fix, I will avoid answering. (See Satya: The Truth about Lies and Healthy Aging.)  

Anger Management: Research from several diverse groups indicates that rage and anger are definitely hazardous to health. Anger has been associated with chronic over stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system, which, in turn, increases blood pressure and heart rate, causing alterations of ventricular function. These days I rarely get angry primarily because of my long-standing pranayama and meditation practice, techniques that are known to curb anger and achieve calmness. (See Anger Management: Philosophy, Science and Yoga.) 

Karma Yoga/Selfless Service: Research studies show that selfless service provides freedom from emotional disturbances including desires, ambitions, fear, worry, anxiety, judgment, rage, etc., leading to true happiness and improved cognitive skills. Therefore, I engage in selfless service and voluntary acts during weekends that brings greater fulfillment to my life. (See Selfless Service for Harmonious Longevity.)

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The Power of Mental Exercise, Part 2

by Ram

Autumn Light Festival by Melina Meza

Nearly a month ago, I wrote about the power of mental exercise (see The Power of Mental Exercise, Part 1). I had suggested incorporating some form of mental exercises in your daily list to keep the mind fit. Can you recall what I wrote and the exercises that I suggested? If you are unable to recall that information, it is time for you seriously start incorporating mental exercises as a daily life-style practice. In neuroscience, memory consolidation and recall closely reflect neuronal strength and signal transmission between neurons that are involved in memory. Short-term plasticity (STP) and long-term potentiation (LTP) are terms used in neuroscience to indicate cellular mechanisms that underlie learning and memory.

It is incorrect to assume that as long as the brain is working fine and memory is reasonably good, there is no need to pay attention to it. In reality, our brains are like the car engines, just as the performance of the engine is enhanced as long as the oil is changed regularly, similarly the brain actively grows and rewires itself in response to stimulation and learning. Brain fitness, mental fitness and mental exercise all mean the same thing: it is the act of performing a mentally stimulating task that keeps the brain fit and also wards off mental and physical diseases. Medical science has clearly elaborated the effects of mental stress on our physiology and its role in the disease process. Several scientific studies find that mental exercise can either prevent or delay the onset of the disease.

Both Ayurveda and Yoga describe the disease process as taking its roots first in the mind and gradually spreading to the body where it shows up as specific symptoms. Western medical science also accepts the mind-body connection through which emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and behavioral factors can directly affect our physical health.  In a landmark study done in 2006, Exploring Interventions to Reduce Cognitive Decline in Aging, scientists demonstrated the beneficial and enduring effects of brain fitness program in an elderly population. The study showed that seniors who received mental training could counteract the decline in mental performance that is seen in the elderly better than seniors who did not receive any kind of training. The researchers concluded that individuals who stimulated their brain more frequently experienced a slower rate of cognitive decline than others. In another study from Australia,  Mental Exercise Nearly Halves Risk of Dementia, scientists found that being mentally active diminishes the risk of age-associated dementias by nearly 50%.

Stimulation of the brain can occur in a wide variety of ways. The brain is constantly changing for people of all ages, and learning something new or novel builds and remodels new neural network connectivity. Mental training exercises must occur so that the brain can continue to grow. Today I’m going to present a variety of mental fitness exercises that you can perform in any setting. Since this is a yoga blog, I have come up with exercises that relate to yoga.

Memory Exercises

Our memory is the brain's filing system as it stores everything we have learned and continue to learn. The brain is made up of 100 billion neurons. During learning, neurons get “wired up” to each other and communicate through thousands of connections. Memories are formed when these connections are strengthened. Memory plays a crucial role in all cognitive activities, including reading, reasoning and mental calculation. Memorizing the lyrics of a new song, a mantra that you recently heard in the yoga class, street signs in a new area, and so on boost the level of certain chemicals that are responsible for the memory storage and retrieval. The information making up memory is stored in many parts of our brain, including areas that oversee the laying down of memory, some that are involved in storage and some that help with retrieval of these memories. It is easy to notice when memory fails or declines. To maintain a good memory, you need to train for it.

1. As you turn the pages of a yoga deck (cards with yoga poses) try to memorize the Sanskrit names for each pose. In the process, not only are you learning a new language but you are also laying down new neural connections each time you memorize and recall a pose and its corresponding name. It is a perfect way to stimulate the brain. The next time you see a picture of a pose in a magazine or if you happen to hear someone providing instructions for a particular pose try to recall the name of the pose in Sanskrit. Alternatively, try to recall the correct pose when you hear similar sounding names (for example, several my students get confused with Uttanasana, Utthita Parsvakonasana, Ustrasana, and Upavista Konasana).

2. Using the same yoga deck pick up five cards in a sequential order and mentally note down the name and other details scribbled on the card. Recall the information after 5 minutes preferably in the same sequence. Recall the same information after 10 minutes.

3. Open your favorite yoga text, such as the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita, and select a passage to memorize that week. You can start by memorizing the passage in English. Bonus points for memorizing it in Sanskrit as well!

Attention Exercises

Attention and memory cannot operate without each other. Attention is necessary in all our daily tasks as it enables us to maintain concentration and focus on the task. Any object that is attended to will remain in the memory, while those that receive scant attention will leave no memory traces behind. One of the ways to improve attention is by simply changing our daily routines or habits. This forces the brain cells to wake up from routine tasks and pay attention again.

1. When it comes specifically to yoga, if you have a habit of doing the poses right side first, practice the same by starting on the left side before the right and vice versa. Also, try practicing in a different room or space in your house and either find or create an entirely new sequence to practice.

2. The next time you decide to practice yoga, set a timer for a specific time (say 45 minutes). When the timer beeps, crosscheck whether you were fully attentive to your yoga or how often you were distracted. Try and recall all the steps you performed on the mat. If you found yourself distracted, be aware of it the next time you do a similar task.

Visual-Spatial Exercise

Our three-dimensional world is filled with colors, figures, shapes and sizes. Visual-spatial information is about seeing, organizing and remembering. It is the ability to distinguish one object from another, distinguishing a printed object from its background, recognizing a pattern of symbols, images, or words, understanding the relationship of an object situated in space to oneself or identifying an object when certain parts of it are visible. Individuals with visual-spatial difficulties have trouble with pictures, maps, schedules or diagrams. Visual-spatial impairment is often an early symptom of a problem with the nervous system.

1. At your yoga studio, look around and note everything you can see both in front of you and in your peripheral vision. Pick out five items and their exact locations. Write down as many details of the location and items as possible. After completing your yoga practice and before exiting the place, recall from memory all the five items, their location and other details. Challenge yourself to recall again all the details after two hours. (In a home setting since you are very familiar with the placement of objects in the room, try the above mentioned exercise in a different room or space in your house.)

As we age, it’s important to not only flex our physique but our mental makeup as well. With this two-part series on the importance of mental fitness, I hope you are more aware of how to exercise the different functional aspects of the brain.  Can I ask you to challenge yourself with daily activities that will help you break a mental sweat and sprout your neuronal branches thereby keeping the brain in shape? Good luck with the mental workout!

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The Power of Mental Exercise, Part 1

by Ram

The New Novel by Winslow Homer

Recently we had a query from one of our readers who asked to know each staff member’s fitness regimen (see Friday Q&A: How do you keep fit?). Nina wrote about our responses in her post Decide Each Day What to Do that I thought was not only fun but appropriate and interesting.  However, I realized that while posting my reply to Nina, I committed a faux pas. I had missed mentioning mental exercises as part of my fitness regimen that take up 30-45 minutes of my time daily.

Now you may wonder why I am attaching so much importance to mental exercises. According to Ayurveda and Yoga, disease first begins in the mind, and when this is not checked, it spreads to the body where it shows up as specific symptoms. Today, Western medical science accepts that there is a powerful mind-body connection through which emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and behavioral factors can directly affect our health. Science has well documented the role of the mind in the disease process and has explanation of how our thoughts and feelings affect our physiology.

You need to be mentally fit to ward off any ill health or disease. Mental fitness is just as important as physical health and shouldn’t be neglected. Mental fitness is exactly what it sounds like: keeping the brain and emotional health in a healthy state by performing  mentally stimulating tasks. Mental exercises refer to a series of exercises that help you to be more alert, think rationally and logically, make sound and correct decisions and boost a declining memory. Incorporating mental exercises into your life can help you reap the benefits of a sharper mind and a healthier body for years to come. For this reason, it’s not surprising that in general people who possess a higher level of mental agility are also physically healthy. Individuals who exercise their mind regularly live significantly longer without any signs of age-associated diseases.

Research findings indicate that humans actually build/rebuild brain cells throughout life. Several regions of the brain that are involved in memory, reflection, decision making, planning and emotional control have neural stem cells that can mature into functioning neural cells. Learning/stimulating environments maintain, build and remodel neural network connectivity and also trigger production of nerve growth factors that stimulate new neural connections. The brain actively grows and rewires itself in response to stimulation and learning. Mental exercises help you see the world in a new way and strengthen your neural networks. All of us are devoted to exercise to bulk up our bodies, but remember the concept of “use it or lose it” applies not to just the muscles but also to the neural pathways and connections in our brains. Several studies report that our brain grows stronger from use and from being challenged in the same way that muscles grow stronger from exercise.

The phrase "our brain is plastic" refers to the brain's capacity to rewire itself through experience. When we learn new things, our brain puts out new neural branches and forms new connections among existing neurons. The brain is constantly changing, morphing and rewiring itself. Plasticity is the reason why stroke patients can relearn skills after a brain damage. Plasticity also explains how a healthy part of the brain might assume the job of a damaged part. Thus, the brain is continually re-sculpting itself in response to experience and learning. A mentally active individual’s brain is a dense forest of thickly branched neural connectivity trees. It is this neural density that provides the mental resistance that keeps the physical body strong that in turn promotes healthy aging. Research studies find that mental exercises, including reading and doing a puzzles, delays the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and other stress-associated disorders. In part 2 of this series, I will discuss a variety of exercises and activities that can successfully strengthen all the areas of the brain.

Until then you could choose to incorporate some form of mental exercises in your day. You may ask what kind of mental exercises? Since this is a yoga blog, I have come up with brain exercises that relate to yoga. Here’s a sample list that you could attempt:

1. Next time you are in a yoga class and the teacher is providing instructions for a pose, try to recall the name of the pose in Sanskrit. It is a perfect way to stimulate the brain. Alternatively, try memorizing the Sanskrit names of yoga asanas and place the specific pose to the name (for example, several my students get confused about Parsvabakasana, Parsvakonasana, and Parsvottanasana).
2. Using your memory is a great mental exercise. The next time you complete a 60- or a 90-minute yoga class, attempt to write down some or the entire sequence of the asanas (in the same order) that your teacher taught you in the class.
3. A simple way to stimulate new nerve connections in the brain is by using the opposite or non-dominant hand/side for routine tasks. When it comes specifically to Yoga, if you have a habit of doing the poses right side first, practice the same by starting on the left side before the right and vice versa.
4. Changing your daily habits and routines will allow mental stimulation to occur as well. For example, take a completely different route to your yoga studio. This is a new experience that builds new connections and sets you on the path to mental fitness. And if you practice at home, try practicing in a different room or space in your house and either find or create an entirely new sequence to practice.
5. Stimulate new neural network connections and brain growth by learning something new. Read yoga philosophy and learn the Sanskrit names for important yoga concepts (for example, vrittis, swadhyaya, dharana, vibhuti, samprajnata, and so on).

Guess what? To stimulate new nerve connections by using my non-dominate hand, I just used my left-hand for the computer mouse while writing this piece. And if I can do it successfully, you too can do it!

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