If you've ever been to a yoga class, you know that an hour or so of yoga can totally change how you feel. One 2010 study in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology even showed significantly lower cortisol after a single yoga class. So when I heard researcher Amy Cuddy begin her TED talk by saying "We are also influenced by our nonverbals," my first thought was "Duh." But that's the way of TED, right? Start with the obvious and then blow our minds. She delivered, concluding "...all they need is 2 minutes, some privacy and their bodies.... Tiny tweaks lead to big changes." Yoga folks have known this for, oh, about five millennia. Research is beginning to show us how what we know happens happens, though and this helps us create evidence based, efficient and maximally effective practices. This talk is fascinating and the visuals are fantastic - definitely worth the watch, so I've included it below. The best part of the research is the confirmation that our postures, whether in everyday life or chosen "poses" like we engage in yoga class, change our hormonal profiles. Hormones are messengers in the body and I first heard this claim in a yoga class decades ago: "Locust increases testosterone and reduces cortisol." I've still never seen specific research on Locust pose, but there's a growing body of research showing how yoga class impacts cortisol and hormones of metabolism (check out my page referencing research on theBenefits of Yoga). We know instinctively that our bodies effect our minds, hearts and emotions. That's why yoga is so powerful: poses are sequenced in a balanced way. Home Yoga Practice (HYP) is so powerful because you can give yourself these experiences every single day, twice a day if you like. Two minutes, five, fifteen. Even two minutes matter. The effects linger and build. You balance the "power" poses of Warrior with calming poses, inverting poses, twisting and you end with a neutral pose that lets all sink in. "Try power posing. ... Configure your brain to do the best" for your whole life. Give yourself . Home Yoga Practice. Head over to theGuided Practice Page or just roll out your mat and begin.Home Yoga Practice Workbook will take you through everything you need to start your practice and give you the confidence to give yourself what you need, what you already have and didn't know. Give it to yourself, give it, as Dr. Cuddy says, to those with "No resources and no technology and no status and no power." Yoga for everyone.
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