Research finds that regular yoga practice may curb symptoms of depression and alter important stress-related biomarkers. Depression impacts 17 million American adults annually, often contributing to severe impairments in physical and social functioning. Women are roughly 2 times more likely to suffer from depressive disorders including major depression and dysthymia. Research published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine suggests that a 12-week yoga inter

Research shows a direct link between how you breathe, how you feel, and relationship satisfaction. Here's why, and how you can change your life by altering how you breathe. You probably already know that chronic stress wreaks havoc on relationships. Research shows that when stressed, you are more likely to be anxious, depressed, irritable, stubborn, pessimistic, and have a hard time communicating effectively. There's hope. By changing how you breathe you can defuse the impact

Sometimes it takes falling flat on your face to understand why humor is such an important part of building stress resilience. Not long ago a couple of my friends and I decided to repair some rotting boards on my deck. This involved tearing up old planks to make space for the new ones. At one point, I was on my knees trying to pull up a decayed slat with all my might. Little did I know, my friend Karyn had just finished cutting into another panel next to me. When I attempted t

It’s hard not to get excited about the brave new world of neuroscience, and what we’ve learned about the brain. But is that enthusiasm premature? Researchers at the University of California San Francisco, who discovered that brain development research may be skewed, think so. One of the basic principles of research is that the sample of people selected for a study should be similar to the larger population. Studies that deviate from that standard run the risk of producing bia

Is fear holding you back from living the life you want? Here are 4 essential steps for working with, and overcoming your fears. Fear is a common emotion, but it gets a very bad rap. Aside from those who enjoy thrill seeking, most of us repress or deny our fears, or may avoid situations that provoke them. We do this because fear feels lousy, and we’ve been led to believe that our anxieties are a sign of weakness or shortcoming. But this belief only feeds our fears and can make

Humans are natural storytellers. We can’t live without them. But sometimes these stories work against us and undermine our happiness. Here's what to do to change your story and your life. “A man is always a teller of stories. He sees everything that happens to him through them.” ~ Jean Paul Sartre Even though we are perennial story tellers, we don't have to fall prey to our imaginations, or allow anxious or negative rumination, fearful imaginings, or projections about future

Mindful Magazine TOP POST for 2017! Research shows us that we not only have the capacity to pay attention to, and stop the chatter of our stories, but can also reduce our stress, rewire our brains, and reinvent our relationships by responding to them differently. The stories we tell, particularly the ones we’re not aware of, can profoundly shape who we are, and the decisions that we make. Recognizing our stories and how they influence how we relate to others is a hallmark of

Researchers in New Zealand find that a slumped posture may impact your mood, self-esteem and even your response to stress. Yoga may help. A study, published in Health Psychology, included 74 adults (55% women) between the ages of 18-67 years who were randomly assigned to either an upright seated posture group (n=39) or a slumped posture (n=35) group. First they completed a number of measures of mood and self-esteem. They were then fitted with a finger cuff to continuously mon

Is our desire to be happy at the root of our suffering? Disappointment is a uniquely human condition, the flip side of our capacity for creativity and invention. Only humans “dream things that never were” and “say ‘Why not?’ “ as George Bernard Shaw famously put it. This capacity gives us flying machines and pocket computers. It also gives us rising suicide rates in countries around the globe, from the United States to India to New Zealand. To be unhappy enough to end it all,

Here's how mindfulness-based therapies may help to ease traumatic stress symptoms. Pain, loss and traumatic events are part of the human experience. Approximately 60-75% of North Americans experience at least one traumatic event in their lifetime. Some of these individuals may go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A review of the research finds that mindfulness-based programs such as Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) may provide relief from post-trau

Part of the brain commonly associated with memory and dementia could also hold the key for depression, anxiety and emotional regulation. The hippocampus is an area of the brain commonly linked with memory and dementia. But new U of T Scarborough research finds that it may also yield important clues about a range of mental health illnesses including addiction, anxiety and depression. The research, authored by a team of neuroscientists, found that a specific part of the hippoca

Physical activity has long been known to lessen anxiety and depression, and is commonly prescribed to lessen the symptoms of many mental health conditions. But can exercise actually make you feel happier or more content? Researchers at the University of Michigan decided to investigate whether exercise increases positive psychological states in the same way it reduces negative mental health. In particular, they assessed which aspects of physical activity are related to happine