Watch video of cute dog, named Boo.
The stress-reducing benefits of this ancient Zen practice are well documented, but how meditation works to improve well-being is little known.
That said, a new study has revealed that meditation may enhance key structures in the brain responsible for learning, memory, and emotion control.
Mind Your Gray Matter
In the small study, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were taken before and after an 8-week program that combined about 30 minutes a day of full-body progressive relaxation, yoga,
and seated meditation.
Compared to a control group, the m indfulness meditation participants experienced an
increase in gray matter concentration in the hippocampus, the cerebellum, and other key brain regions responsible for cognitive function
and emotion control.
The researchers suggest meditation may be an effective tool to reverse certain downsized brain regions commonly seen in people suffering from depression and anxiety.
(Related: Learn more about how to cope with anxiety and depression.)
Other Reasons to Love Legumes
But that’s not all.
Legumes do more than protect you from cancer. They also:
* Dial down high blood sugar.
Learn how the fiber in beans helps stabilize blood sugar.
* Tame an out-of-control appetite.
Here’s why black beans — and 8 other tasty eats — can bust your appetite and banish belly fat.
* Sn ap you out of
a bad mood. Learn what vitamin in lentils can rev up feel-happy brain chemicals.
Some messages coming out of your mouth bypass the vocal chords.
Turns out that your teeth, gums, and surrounding tissues also have plenty to say — about your overall health.
“Your mouth is connected to the rest of your body,” says Anthony Iacopino, dean of the University
of Manitoba Faculty of Dentistry and a spokesperson for the American Dental Association.
“What we see in the mouth can have a significant effect on other organ systems and processes in the body.
And the reverse is also true: Things that are going on systemically in the body can manifest in the mouth.”
So stay attuned to the following warning messages, and have worrisome symptoms checked out by a dentist or doctor.
The fiery bite of cayenne pepper can make food sing with flavor, but did you know that this dried spice also has many practical uses around the home, too
?
Here are the top seven ways you can put cayenne to work around
your home.
RESTORING THE VISION AND PROMISE OF AMERICA
Posted on October 11th, 2011 by Joseph
THE POTENTIAL ENDURES
I, like most of you, who care about the United States of America am not pleased with the state of our nation. My father was an immigrant blue-collar worker.
Now gone, he was a member of the generation that built America into a superpower that Tom Brokaw wrote about in his book,
The Greatest Generation.
Like my father and the millions of other immigrants who sought refuge and settled in America, multitudes still seek our shores for the promise
of our country.
Many American citizens, living in America and now near destitute, seek that same promise. While the promise has faded, the potential endures. It needs to be awakened and once again fulfilled.
It can and must be done.
Read more about this insightful book.
Tired of that spare tir
e? Sick of your love handles
? You can increase your body’s fat-burning power by eating more foods that strengthen your liver (your body’s main fat-metabolizing organ) to burn fat better.
The result? A leaner you!
There are many great liver boosting foods, but here are some of my favorites:
A few years ago I had the great pleasure of meeting Geraldine, a rescued potbellied pig, on a visit to Kindness Ranch, a sanctuary that rescues and rehabilitates former laboratory animals.
Geraldine behaved as a companion dog, leaning into me as I rubbed her back and flipping over on her back as I rubbed her belly. I couldn’t imagine how anyone could do anything that would cause her to suffer.
We can learn a lot of positive lessons from pigs about loyalty, trust, friendship, compassion, and love if we open our hearts to them. Calling someone a pig is really a compliment.
Pigs are very intelligent, highly social, and deeply emotional animals.
They display many different personalities.
There’s even scientific research that shows that pigs can be optimists or pessimists depending on whether they live in enriched environments or places where there’s continuous stress and suffering. Pigs are sentient beings who
are capable of suffering incredible pain.
They not only suffer their own pain, they also see, smell, and hear the pain of others. We grossly underestimate animal suffering and many argue that their pain is worse than ours in that they don’t know when it’s going to end, it’s interminable, and they can’ t ra
tionalize it. All they know is what they’re feeling at the moment and it’s endless psychological and physical abuse.
When the divine presence is gone, only emptiness remains.
Look for some way to re-create the departed blessing.
The most powerful thing that anyone can do, however, is to fill the void directly: going inward to find peace and silence; following the trail of spiritual clues; paying attention to the guidance of your soul; seeking your own essence; finding the presence of God; removing obstacles and inner resistance; changing your allegiance to the soul.
I think nothing here is incompatible with Christian life.
The aftermath is a precarious time, and some people don’t strike out on their own; they are attracted to the safety and comfort of organized religion.
Perhaps the prospect of an inner path feels too mystical or abstract, though I am amazed at how m
any people do not choose going inward as their first response to the aftermath.
Adapted from The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008).
Thomas Ramey Watson is an affiliate faculty member of Regis University's College of Professional Studies. He has served as an Episcopal chaplain (lay), trained as a psychotherapist, done postdoctoral work at Cambridge University, and was named a Research Fellow at Yale University.
In addition to his scholarly writings, he is a published author of poetry and fiction.