In June, 2010, I was presenting a paper at an international transpersonal psychology conference in Moscow.1 As part of the experience I had elected to attend a two day Holotropic Breathwork (HB) workshop led by Stanislav Grof, one of the founders of transpersonal psychology.2 As a simple ritualised process, HB harnesses the innate capacity for individuals to realise their potential for deep...
Objective: To review and discuss the literature concerning mindfulness interventions and the Breathworks Mindfulness for Health Programme. Methods: Electronic databases used consisted of MEDLINE, PubMed, PsychINFO and Google Scholar. Search terms used consisted of ‘Breathworks Mindfulness’, ‘Mindfulness for Health’ and ‘Mindfulness for Pain’. Breathworks endorsed literature was also considered....
Abstract The locus coeruleus (LC) has established functions in both attention and respiration. Good attentional performance requires optimal levels of tonic LC activity, and must be matched to task consistently. LC neurons are chemosensitive, causing respiratory phrenic nerve firing to increase frequency with higher CO 2 levels, and as CO 2 level varies with the phase of respiration, tonic LC...
Pharmacognosy JournalMarch 15, 2018K Kunal, K Subbalakshmi N., R Pai Sheila et al.4 citations
Background: Yogic practices are known to affect the cardiac, respiratory and mental status of people. Objective: To investigate if the regularly supervised training of pranayama and meditation affects the basic cardio-respiratory parameters and short-term-memory (STM) of mentally challenged young adults. Material and methods: 80 mentally challenged young adults attending a special school were...
A Revista Brasileira de Psicoterapia visa ao incremento da produção científica nacional, através da disponibilização de um veículo de divulgação que incentive o desenvolvimento do conhecimento interdisciplinar na área da psicoterapia. É uma publicação multidisciplinar revisada por pares (peer-reviewed), publicada pelo Centro de Estudos Luis Guedes em colaboração com o Departamento de...
Telomeres, the repetitive sequences that protect the ends of chromosomes, help to maintain genomic integrity and are of key importance to human health. Telomeres progressively shorten throughout life and a number of studies have shown shorter telomere length to be associated with lifestyle disorders. Previous studies also indicate that yoga and lifestyle-based intervention have significant role...
Stress-induced disorders such as anxiety represent the leading causes of adult disability worldwide. Previous studies indicate that yoga and other contemplative practices such as pranayama, or controlled yogic breathing techniques, may be effective in the treatment of mood disorders and stress. In this study, 142 individuals (mean age = 43 years; SD = 13.90) participated in a 3-day retreat...
The effects of stress can have a significant impact on an individual’s personal life, relationship with colleagues, job satisfaction and career prospects. If unmanaged, stress can be the trigger that drives talented, motivated teachers out of our classrooms and into other professions. Yoga and meditation have been prescribed as a form of complementary alternative medicine for the treatment of...
Yoga is an ancient Indian way of life which includes changes in mental attitude, diet and practice of specific techniques (Asanas), breathing practices (Pranayama) and medication to obtain highest level of consciousness. Pranayama or regulated breathing is considered as one of the essential aspects of Yoga. When a person breathes the olfactory nerves situated in the roof of the nose are...