Saagara’s Pranayama breathing demo course is now available on Facebook. Learn how to relax your mind and relieve anxiety while experiencing a relaxed meditative state. Pranayama’s simple and intuitive guide to deep breathing allows you to progress at your own pace and achieve the lasting benefits of deep breathing practice. Practicing deep breathing for just 15 minutes a day can not only relieve stress but also help with migraines, high blood pressure, depression, COPD, and asthma. The Facebook version of Saagara contains only the beginner sequences, check out Saagara for more information on getting the full version of Pranayama.

Andrew

One of my dear friends was diagnosed with breast cancer last spring, and while she is currently cancer-free, the first two things she told me still resonate: 1) I will never stand in front of the microwave again and 2) I never did wash the grapes well enough; I’m going to start buying organic.

I think most of us have some skepticism when it comes to buying produce at the store as we are now faced with the choice between buying conventionally grown fruits and vegetables and purchasing organic. Recent reports I’ve found, such as in a Mayoclinic blog article, Nutrition and Healthy Eating, conclude that while nutritional content of both organic and nonorganic produce is equal, “Conventional growers use pesticides to protect their crops from molds, insects and diseases. When farmers spray pesticides, this can leave residue on produce.” Of course, many of us naturally cringe at the thought of consuming chemicals, but upon biting into those cold, juicy grapes, the thought tends to disappear. After all, the grapes taste good. However, upon further research, one can begin to discern that those pesticides might actually lead to health problems or even diseases.

Below you will see a pie chart published in Environmental Factors in Breast Cancer, a supplement to Cancer magazine. The chart, as Figure 2 says, identifies mammary carcinogens. Sure enough, pesticides do have a slice of the pie.

Other science literature points to links between pesticides and other health conditions such as reproductive health and Parkinson’s disease.

We are lying on our backs in the studio. The lights have been dimmed.

Place your hands on your ribs or over your head or by your side. Breathe. Watch your breath from your lungs’ perspective. Your body did a lot of work today. Sometimes we have to breathe to activate the mind.

This was the end of our hour-and-a-half yoga practice. And prior to, I did have a lot on my mind. I have sixty student essays to grade; I have work emails to respond to; I have Christmas shopping to do; a six-hundred mile car ride to make in a week; and it’s freezing outside.

‘Tis the season for stress and poor health—best treated with chocolate, popcorn, Monday night House, Wednesday night Glee, Thursday night Gray’s Anatomy, and on Friday, a few glasses of wine. Those things carry me through the week just fine. My students, my poor students, who are cooped up in libraries and study rooms until all hours of the night, splurge with a “night on the town” – and sometimes, too many nights on the town; they say “a break,” I say “procrastination.”

During my 9am class, they arrive and immediately slump down into their seats (poor posture, tired bodies).  Some of the students space out, some make poignant observations about our current book of discussion—Dave Egger’s Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius. I see a few students pop out their planners and calendars to ferociously add to their to-do lists.  On our last meeting of the semester, I changed my routine. Instead of looking over my lecture notes, or taking attendance, or writing on the board, I listened to them chat across the table. Economics, I hear, is a killer class. One of my students spent the night at the library; of course, she doesn’t look tired—eighteen year old vibrancy.