Why Sitting Might Harm Your Brain

by Baxter

The Chair by Salvador Dali*

Most of us have received the memo by now that sitting is the new smoking! Today, I will share with you a new study that may provide you with one more reason to get you up out of that chair frequently, whether at work or elsewhere. Although the study I will review looked at a workplace setting, Ram has noted previously that “sedentary activities include the time spent sitting in an automotive on a long commute, sitting at a desk at work, sitting on the couch after work, watching television, reading, and playing games or surfing the internet.” And the average American adults spends an impressive 10-12 hours sitting each day in these ways, with surveys of other countries around the world pointing to similar trends. So, this topic is likely relevant for all of us! 

There are a few other points I feel are worth revisiting from past posts before we get to this new study. So, let’s start with a review of what we already know from those posts. I’ll then discuss a new study that showed why sitting might be bad for the health of your brain.

What We Already Know 

How does sitting specifically affect health?

Sitting is right behind smoking in contributing to shortening your lifespan, even ahead of high blood pressure and high cholesterol. In the study Patterns of Sedentary Behavior and Mortality in U.S. Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A National Cohort Study that demonstrated this, which Nina discussed in our post Pop Upright for Even a Minute or Two, it was also noted that getting up every 30 minutes and moving—even if your overall time sitting was similar to non-standers—lowers your risk of early death. 

Prolonged sitting is also associated with many other health issues, such as obesity, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and several types of cancer. In addition, it affects the structure of the body, negatively impacting the spine, neck and hips.

Maybe as important to keep in mind is that there is research that shows that even if you exercise regularly outside of the 8-10 hrs of sitting you may be doing for work, it does not undo the ill effects of prolonged uninterrupted sitting! (See Sitting time and all-cause mortality risk in 222 497 Australian adults.) 

How does sitting specifically affect cognition? 

From another study Acute effects on cognitive performance following bouts of standing and light-intensity physical activity in a simulated workplace environment, which Nina reviewed previously in Pop Upright for Even a Minute or Two, we know that standing frequently and light physical activity in the workplace improves overall short-term cognitive function. 

What is the effect of decreased blood flow to the brain in the short term and over time? 

We know that sudden, complete disruption of blood flow to the brain, that is, stroke, can permanently damage parts of the brain and in some instances result in sudden death. But strokes are typically cause by a blocked or ruptured blood vessel. We don’t know, however, if being sedentary, our topic of today, can cause a stroke, but it can contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease, which increases your chance of strokes.

In Brain, Aging, and Cognition, Ram points out that cognitive changes we experience with age, such as memory loss, are in part related to an overall decrease in blood flow to the brain, often as a result changes to the circulatory system of the brain, such as narrowing of the blood vessels. This low flow state can cause cell death and therefore diminished function in the affected areas. However, we are still uncertain of the effects of small, intermittent decreases in blood flow, such as from sitting, at this time. 

About the Latest Study on Blood Flow to the Brain

An August 15th, 2018 article in the New York Times Why Sitting May Be Bad for Your Brain discussed the results of a new study, which adds yet another potential reason for us to get up regularly when sitting for long periods of time. The study measured changes in blood flow to the brain in three different scenarios, which I will discuss below. But generally regarding the importance of steady blood flow to the brain, the Times noted:'

“Past studies in people and animals indicate that slight, short-term drops in brain blood flow can temporarily cloud thinking and memory, while longer-term declines are linked to higher risks for some neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia.” 

They also note that past research has demonstrated that long periods of sitting decreases blood flow to the legs, but no studies had been down to date to look at blood flow to the brain. 

To try and find out about the effect of prolonged sitting on blood flow to the brain, researchers in England studied 15 healthy adults, both men and women, who worked jobs that involved long periods of sitting (see Regular walking breaks prevent the decline in cerebral blood flow associated with prolonged sitting). The researchers used an ultrasound machine to track the blood flow through the middle cerebral artery, one of the brain’s main arteries, and also monitored the carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the subjects' exhalations to see if that might correlate with any blood flow changes. Subjects were monitored in three separate situations:

1. Sitting for 4 hours straight, either reading or doing computer work, and only getting up when using a bathroom close by if needed
2. Sitting for 30-minute intervals doing the same work and getting up and walking on a treadmill machine next to their desks for 2 minutes at a comfortable pace, over the 4 hours.
3. Sitting for 2 hours doing the same work, with an 8-minute walk on the treadmill at the same comfortable pace as in the second scenario, over the 4 hours. 

The subjects had their blood flow and CO2 levels checked right before and during each movement break and at the end of 4 hours. What did the researchers discover? The sessions of 4 hours of straight sitting resulted in a small but noticeable decrease in blood flow by the end of the session. For the times when subjects sat for 2 hours, the blood flow increased during the 8-minute exercise session, but was lower at the end of 4 hours than at the start. Most impressively, overall blood flow was higher at the end of 4 hours when a 2-minute break occurred every 30 minutes. (CO2 levels remained the same in all groups in all settings, so was not apparently affecting blood flow.)

Now, this was a small study, which always affects the certainty of conclusions that came be made from the results. The study also did not test whether the changes in blood flow affected short-term cognitive function or tell us anything about the long-term impact of such decreases in blood flow on overall mortality and the development of the disease mentioned earlier. So, there is obviously more research needed both on larger groups of people and to answer questions. 

So, what’s the takeaway? Despite the limitation of the study, I feel it confirms certain recommendations we have made here regarding how to address long spells of sitting, such in our post Pop Upright for Even a Minute or Two, which recommends taking a break every 30 minutes. And we may want to consider updating other recommendations we have made in the past, such as those made in The Ill Effects of Prolonged Sitting to simply move 10 minutes for every hour of sitting. I recommend that instead of taking a 10-minute break every hour that you take a 2-minute break (or slightly longer) every 30 minutes.

Yoga asana can be a great movement break and is much less expensive than having a treadmill next to your desk! So I recommend for your two minute breaks either doing one static standing pose or two, as Nina suggests in her post Rethinking Office Yoga post or some simple dynamic versions of those poses to create as slightly more aerobic effect. And a great follow-up study for us yoga practitioners would be identical to this British one but using yoga breaks instead of treadmill ones.

Oops, there’s my timer telling me I’ve been sitting for 30 minutes! Time for me to get up and move for two minutes before getting back to work.

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Follow Baxter Bell, MD on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. For upcoming workshops and retreats see Baxter's Workshops and for info on Baxter see baxterbell.com.  

Chakras: Guides on the Path to Healing

by Beth

Walking Maze by Heidi Santschi of Heidi Santschi Garden Design

Most of us have encountered the chakras at some point in our yoga journey. Some of us have solid knowledge of the origins and meanings. And many of us may be wondering if the chakras have relevance to our yoga practice and the issues we deal with every day.

My answer to that wondering is an unequivocal yes! Over my next several posts I’ll share what I’ve learned about the chakras as a useful model, or lens, through which to view ourselves and our lives. I’ve chosen the contemporary view because this is when and where we exist. 

Even so, it is important to understand the history of the chakras because history provides context, and context gives us a foundation on which to build a contemporary view that supports the yoga tools we use to work with the chakras. Reading Nina’s post Friday Q&A: Chakras That Are True to Yoga is a great first step. The next step is learning how to view the chakras as a useful model for healthy aging. 

We know we have a physical body (anamayakosha) because our five senses tell us that we are solid flesh and blood. We also have an energy body (pranamayakosha), which includes the nadis, pranavayus, auras and chakras. This can be harder to grasp because our energy anatomy is not physical. But while it is not solid flesh and blood, it does intersect with and impact our physical body and the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects that exist within it. Therefore, our mission, if we choose to accept it, is to deepen our understanding of the relationship between the physical and energetic systems (which are actually one in the same but we don’t need to get too wonky here) to inform, enhance and deepen our life experience and our yoga practice.

Are these chakras real? There is no hard scientific evidence. A pathologist can perform an autopsy to locate and dissect all of our physical parts but will not find or be able to dissect the chakras. Acceptance of the chakras will depend on your openness to the reality and relevance of a philosophical and psychological model that you cannot see, touch, smell, hear ,or taste (well, some people claim to be able to ‘see’ chakras but that’s subject for someone else to tackle). 

Christopher Wallis, PhD, in his article The Real Truth About the Chakras, writes that many different chakra systems come down to us from the texts of Tantra yoga:

“five-chakra systems, six-chakra systems, seven, nine, ten, fifteen, twenty-one, twenty-eight and more chakras are taught, depending on what text you’re looking at.” 

For the purpose of this series, I’ll be referring to the system that describes seven energy centers located at different points in the body along the spinal column. These chakras and their locations are said to be:

1. Muladhara (root chakra – between the perineum and the pelvic bone) 
2. Svadhisthana (sacral chakra - 4 fingers width below navel) 
3. Manipura (solar plexus chakra – in the abdomen above the navel) 
4. Anahata (heart chakra – center of the chest) 
5. Vishuddha (throat chakra – neck/throat) 
6. Ajna (third eye chakra – centered between the eyebrows) 
7. Sahasrara (crown chakra – top of the head) 

Anodea Judith, PhD, has written numerous books on the subject. My favorite is Eastern Body, Western Mind. In it, she offers a useful metaphor of human beings as biocomputers. In this metaphor, our body is the hardware, the chakras are software that hold vital programming (helpful and unhelpful), prana (life force energy) is what powers the entire system, and we are the users. In this view, each chakra contains a different program for issues such as survival, sexuality, self-actualization, love and compassion, communication, intuition, and awareness. 

To achieve optimal physical and spiritual health, when we have any issues, problems, or blocks in our life, we need to recognize, heal, and integrate them. I feel that when we recognize a problem, we can choose to use the chakras as guides to change how we perceive our issues, our beliefs, and our behavior. In other words, we can choose to debug and reprogram some of our software. 

These psychological aspects of the chakras are contemporary interpretations and are not found in the ancient texts. Does this make a difference? That depends on your willingness to consider a contemporary interpretation. I have found this interpretation to be relevant, helpful, and beneficial for myself and many of my students.

For example, in my post Enough I described that one element of my “programming” was an unhelpful core belief that I had to do more and be more in order to be accepted and valued. When I became aware of how that unhelpful “programming” was causing stress, I was able to use my knowledge of yoga to debug and reprogram that belief. In the chakra model that I will be discussing, this is seen as a heart chakra issue involving balance, compassion, and self-acceptance. At the time I was not consciously working with the chakras, but looking back I can see that my asana practice had an impact on my energy anatomy. After all, they are ultimately one in the same. And yes, I am getting better at accepting myself as I am, warts and all. 

The art and science of yoga offers us a wide variety of practices to work with the chakras:

• Yamas and niyamas (ethics and actions) 
• Asana 
• Pranayama 
• Guided imagery 
• Mudra 
• Meditation 
• Chanting and affirmations 

Over the next several posts, I will be exploring each of the chakras and their application to yoga practice and healthy aging.

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For information on Beth Gibbs' classes and upcoming workshops, see Beth's Classes and Workshops and for information about Beth, ProYoga Therapeutics, and Beth's book and CD, see proyogatherapeutics.com.

#MeToo with Names: California Yoga Teachers Accused of Sexual Abuse

by Nina

Tree of Hope, Remain Strong by Frida Khalo*

"We are, I believe, just beginning to see the impact on the yoga community of this #MeToo moment,” said Shannon Roche, chief operating officer of Yoga Alliance, a voluntary registry believed to be the industry’s largest credentialing body. “There is a long history of sexual misconduct and of abuse-of-power situations in the yoga community. We also know that, like many other communities, yoga has many times tried to keep those stories in the family.” —from "#M3Too Unmasks the Open Secrete of Sexual Abuse in Yoga"

This quote is from Miranda Leitsinger's important new article #MeToo Unmasks the Open Secret of Sexual Abuse in Yoga.  Because this article—which I heard took six months to research—was only reported locally in California, I thought I should share it with those who may not have heard about it. In addition, for those in California who heard the audio version broadcasted here on public radio, the written article is quite different in that it actually gives names, both of the many women who are accusing male yoga teachers of sexual abuse and of the teachers that they are accusing. So I wanted to be sure that you, too, knew about the written article.

First, I would like to take a moment to honor the courage of the many women in this article who allowed their names to be used, either when in sharing their personal experiences or when commenting on the accusations against specific teachers. You might even see some names you know because three of the women, Charlotte Bell, Leslie Howard, and Judith Lasater, have been interviewed on our blog (though not on this topic). Thank you.

Then, I want explain that all of the teachers mentioned are currently teaching in California, with most of them in the San Francisco Bay Area. (The teachers mentioned by name are Manouso Manos, Zubin Shroff, and Allan Nett.) That is just because this article was for the local public radio station’s program “The California Report.” The article mentions that yoga teacher Rachel Brathen, who has been collecting #MeToo yoga stories, received the second most number of stories about New York, so let’s all not just blame California. This is a national, if not a worldwide, problem.

It is also worth recognizing that the quote above from Shannon Roche of Yoga Alliance that is included in the article is groundbreaking in and of itself. She admits both that there is “a long history of sexual misconduct and of abuse-of-power situations in the yoga community” and also that there has been a history of certain people in the yoga community trying to keep that a secret. There, she said it! 

Then I recommend you read the complete article yourself and see what you think. It’s not only long and thorough and well researched, but it also raises a number of unresolved issues that we all need to work on together. Where do we go from here? Now that we’ve admitted there is a ongoing problem, what to we do about it?

“In yoga, experts and leaders say, that soul-searching is only beginning.” —Miranda Leitsinger

I have to admit, at this point, I’m unsure what the best solution is. See Yoga Teachers Who Abuse Their Students for a discussion of my concerns about the limitations of having a “code of conduct.” But while I don’t claim to have the solution to this, I do think that owning up to the problem and shining the light of day on it first step to finding one. So I’m grateful both to the reporter who worked so hard on the article and all the women who came forward to tell their stories.

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For information about Nina's upcoming book signings and other activities, see Nina's Workshops, Book Signings, and Books.

Video of the Week: Dynamic Tree Pose

In this version of Tree pose, you move in and out of the pose with your breath, a dynamic practice that may challenge your balance more than the static version. If you feel insecure doing the pose this way, feel free to position yourself close to a wall.




Subscribe to Yoga for Healthy Aging by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook and Twitter ° To order Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Well-Being, go to Amazon, Shambhala, Indie Bound or your local bookstore.

Follow Baxter Bell, MD on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. For upcoming workshops and retreats see Baxter's Workshops and for info on Baxter see baxterbell.com.  

Friday Q&A: Is Pigeon Pose Safe for Us?

Q: There's been a lot of discussion in yoga groups lately about teaching or not teaching Pigeon Pose. What do you think about the pose in the Healthy Aging crowd? 

A: Although I myself have not noticed these recent discussions, I certainly can understand the interest in this topic because Pigeon pose, which is really Eka Pada Rajakapotasana or One-Legged King Pigeon Pose, a modern yoga pose, is both ubiquitous in yoga classes and in often is used in advertising these days. (I will continue to refer to it as “Pigeon,” which is a nickname for the pose in question—another pose, Kapotasana, is actually Pigeon pose, but you now know the full name of the pose we’re talking about today). Pigeon pose seems particular popular with classes geared towards younger students and those interested in or more naturally adept at what many call “hip opening” poses. 

For those unfamiliar with the pose, the basic pose I have encountered in most classes usually has two versions. The first version, with the torso more upright, focuses more on the back bending of the spine and the stretch of the front of the back leg: 

The second version, in which you forward bend over the front leg, increases the stretching around the front hip: 

If you are naturally flexible in the directions of movement this pose requires of the hips and spine, it is generally safe for your hip, knee, and lower back joints. And if you are stiffer in those areas, the pose may allow for gradual stretching of those tight areas, but I often recommend helpful propping in order for you to practice it safely as in this photo: 

The challenge and potential problem for older students practicing this pose is that they are more likely to have underlying conditions that would make this pose a potential risk for either aggravating on old issue or creating a new one. Several specific situations come to mind: osteoporosis of the spine or hips, hip and/or knee replacement, arthritis in the spine, hips, or knees, and history of general, non-specific low back pain, just to mention a few. 

I am particularly concerned with the way some teachers still recommend students position their front shin, parallel with the front of their mats. I consider this potentially dangerous for the ligaments and cushioning menisci of the front knee joint in students of all ages, which is one of the main reasons I rarely even teach this pose to my students any more. 

I am comfortable not teaching this pose because there are so many other poses that can address stiffness in the hips and spine, which create the same risk of injury and which are much more accessible to younger and older students alike. To improve spinal back bending ability, I recommend dynamic and static versions of low Cobra and Locust poses. For those who can’t get down to the ground easily, dynamic and static Arms Overhead Pose and dynamic and static versions of Warrior 1 pose are great alternatives, and the later also stretches the front of the back leg. Another good pose to stretch the front hip muscles and tissues is Lunge pose and all its variations. (see Featured Pose: Lunge Pose). Not pictured, but helpful for those who may be doing chair work only, is a chair version of Lunge, where you are sitting on the chair as you take the Lunge position. 

As for the stretch around the hip of the front leg in Pigeon, there are several good alternatives. Easy Sitting Pose with a forward bend is a good one: 

Also good are Cobbler’s Pose with a forward bend and Thread the Needle pose, also called Figure 4 (see my video at www.youtube.com). You can also try what I call Upside Down Pigeon. To do this pose, start by lying on your back and taking your one leg into the top leg position of Thread the Needle pose. Keep your bottom leg stretched along the floor. Now hold onto your top leg with two hands and mindfully invite your shin towards your chest so the shape is similar to the second version of Pigeon shown above. 

You still need to be mindful of the top knee in this version, but unlike classic Pigeon, which directs a lot force from the weight of your upper body into your front knee joint, Easy Sitting Forward Bend, Cobblers Forward Bend, Thread the Needle and Upside Down Pigeon allow for more control of the force placed on the joint. And for those who can’t get down to the floor, you can do Thread the Needle sitting in a chair, with or without some forward bending. (see my video at www.youtube.com). 

So, could you teach Pigeon to your students as they age? Yes, but not without some risk of injury to the places highlighted here, which likely outweigh the benefits you might associate with the pose. So I therefore recommend substituting the alternative poses described above. Anyone else have other favorite alternatives to Pigeon? 

Subscribe to Yoga for Healthy Aging by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook and Twitter ° To order Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Well-Being, go to Amazon, Shambhala, Indie Bound or your local bookstore.

Follow Baxter Bell, MD on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. For upcoming workshops and retreats see Baxter's Workshops and for info on Baxter see baxterbell.com.  

The Mind-Body Problem and Yoga

by Nina

Isaac Newton by William Blake

Just recently I was telling someone that I consider the mind and the body to be one and the same. After all, what we call our body is what makes it possible for our minds to interact with the world. Our five senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch (which includes the skin that covers our entire bodies!) allow us to take in what’s happening around us and to respond in kind. So, our bodies and minds are in constant two-way communication. In addition, our two internal senses, interoception and proprioception (see Coming to Your Senses in Yoga Poses), allow our bodies to communicate their own internal states to the mind, so even within our bodies there is constant two-way communication from between all our internal parts—joints, organs, muscles, etc—and our brain. So even without considering that we our gut contains a semi-independent nervous system cells (our gut brain) that is in constant communication with the part of our brain in our skulls, our brains are so intertwined with every part of our body through our nerves—and can’t, in fact, exist without our bodies—that is really should be impossible to say where one begins and the other leaves off.

However, the traditional idea that most of us grew up with—that our brains and bodies are two separate entities—is so strong that most of us have a hard time of letting go of it. For example, it’s really hard to convince people that the best way to maintain brain health is physical exercise, the same thing that is the best way to maintain health of “the body.” I even find myself slipping back into that way of thinking. I’ve been wondering why that is for quite some time now, and I finally decided just to do some research on it. 

It turns out that this idea of the mind and body being separate and made of different stuff comes to us from ancient Greece, where Plato and Aristotle, who had different beliefs from each other, argued in different ways that the intellect was made of different, superior stuff (immaterial) than the body (material). This is called “dualism.” From there, dualism became a staple belief in Western civilization. Later on in the 17th century Rene Descartes modernized the concept saying that the body was made of a matter (a substance that it is spatially extended but which is unthinking) and the mind of a different substance (a substance that is immaterial but which thinks):

“A person… lives through two collateral histories, one comprising of what happens in and to the body, the other consisting of what happens in and to his mind… The events in the first history are events in the physical world, those in the second are events in the mental world” —Gilbert Ryle 

Unfortunately, this type of thinking led to a whole host of problems, as you might imagine. Thinking of our minds as being separate from our bodies led to us feeling shame about our bodies, as they were made of an inferior substance, and to having an attitude that ignoring the needs of the body was best for spiritual advancement or just for living in the civilized world. It also led to major problems in the way Western Medicine approaches our health. According to Neeta Mehta in her paper Mind-body Dualism: A critique from a Health Perspective:

“Mind-body dualism is an example of a metaphysical stance that was once much needed to unshackle science and medicine from dogma, but which later had far reaching restrictive influence on the field of medicine, on its complete understanding of real health issues, and on developing effective interventions to deal with the same.”

But surely yoga is different, right? After all, we yoga practitioners are all about being present in our bodies and learning to love and appreciate them from the inside out. Well, as is so often the case, it depends on what you mean by “yoga.”

In Classical Yoga, while and body and the mind are made of the same material (prakriti), it is the soul (atman) that is made of different material (purusa). And rejecting your body-mind in favor of the soul is what the eight-fold path is all about. In fact, I was recently surprised to learn that the traditional view of the body in yoga is very negative. For example, take this quote from the Yoga Sutras:

II.5 Ignorance is the notion that takes the self, which is joyful, pure, and eternal, to be the nonself, which is painful, unclean, and temporary. —translated by Edwin Bryant

I’ve already discussed in my post Spiritual Ignorance that “ignorance” in the Yoga Sutras means spiritual ignorance about what the real “self” is. In this sutra, Patanjali compares the true Self, the soul (purusa), with the non-self, the body-mind (prakriti), saying that the body-mind is “painful, unclean, and temporary.” In his commentary, Edwin Bryant explains what you mind be wondering about, that is, what is “unclean” about the body-mind?

“While anyone can understand that the body is temporary, what does Patanjali intend by saying it is ‘unclean?’ Vyasa quotes a reverse: ‘The learned consider this body to be unclean, on account of its location, origin, sustenance, excretions, death, and the continual need to keep it clean.’”

In fact, Bryant says that in Patanjali’s school of yoga, they viewed the body as “a rather unpleasant bag of obnoxious substances.” I read some quotes from original texts about this, and, boy, they really say some disgusting things about the body. Trust me. Bryant concludes his discussing by saying that eight-fold path is about ignoring and transcending the body, not about learning to love and listen to your body.

“In short, the Yoga tradition does not consider the body a suitable place to seek happiness for those interested in enlightenment.”

It is only when we move ahead to Tantra and Hatha Yoga that there is a change to viewing the body in positive light. In Hatha Yoga, which is what we are practicing when we do our modern asanas, the goal is to make your body strong (through asanas) and clean (through cleansing practices, some of which are pretty weird) so it can withstand our spiritual practices and allow us to achieve self-realization.

“Instead of regarding the body as a meat tube doomed to fall pretty to sickness and death, they viewed it as a dwelling place of the Divine, and as the cauldron for accomplishing spiritual perfection. For them, enlightenment was a whole-body event.” —Georg Feuerstein

But even though in traditional Hatha Yoga the body is no longer viewed as shameful and disgusting, the original aim of Hatha Yoga was the same as Classical Yoga: to transcend the body-mind and achieve enlightenment (self-realization). So, your body-mind (prakriti) is still your non-self, not your true Self. And the body-mind needed a lot of cleansing and purification to make that happen!

From there, we come to modern yoga, where our thinking about the body (and the body-mind) has changed. Now we see our body as having value on its own, not just as a vehicle for achieving enlightenment. Our body is no longer something “unclean” to be ashamed of, but quite the opposite—something to value, cherish, and be amazed at. And listening to our bodies is an essential part of yoga practices that can help us tune into what we need at any given time and sometimes even help us heal.

Right now, I don’t have information about how we came to this point, but no doubt modern understanding of anatomy, new modern philosophical concepts that challenge dualism, the yoga teachers of the early twentieth century, like Krishnamacharya and B.K.S. Iyengar, who taught us to listen to and nurture our bodies and even practice asanas mindfully as a form of moving meditation, mindfulness practices from Buddhism, etc. all come into play. But, regardless, I’m very grateful.

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For information about Nina's upcoming book signings and other activities, see Nina's Workshops, Book Signings, and Books.

Cultivating Dana (Charity) as A Practice

by Victor

The Soup by Pablo Picasso

In November of 2015 Ram wrote an excellent post on dana, the niyama that includes generosity, altruism, and acts of giving. Dana: On the Positive Effects of Charity. Ram’s article does an excellent job of describing the what and why of dana. Today I will attempt to explain the how. 

Generosity, altruism, and acts of giving are practices that can be strengthened over the long term by making them as routine as sitting in meditation, breathing mindfully, and stretching your body in postures. In this vein, dana (generosity, altruism, and giving) is considered one of yoga’s niyamas. The Mahanarayana Upanishad describes dana this way: 

“All beings live on the gift of the other. Through gifts strangers become friends, they ward off difficulties. On gifts and giving, everything rests. That is why charity is the highest.” 

Creating consistent routines is essential to continued growth and development, whether you are interested in developing better balance, strengthening your core muscles, loosening your shoulders, or being more generous. Of course, it feels nice to go to one yoga class, one time, but as anyone who has practiced consistently over the long term can tell you, the benefits of consistency and longevity are many times greater. Likewise, as you practice giving more regularly and make it a long-term endeavor, you find that the individual acts of charity feel easier, freer, and more like a part of who you are. 

While this could easily devolve into a discussion of what you give and the quantities, I think it is useful to separate those considerations out from the acts of giving. In other words, each of us has different things and in differing amounts that we could give: money, time, energy, attention, care, access, etc. The niyama dana is not about comparative giving. Instead it is about self reflection and a recognition that the act of giving is a form of yoga practice. So, in this regard, there is no need to parse out quantities or percentages. More basically this is a practice of evaluating what you can give of yourself in each moment of being. 

Practicing dana can be as simple as turning the thought “what am I getting out of this?” into the thought “what more can I give to this?” An easy place to see this is in the perspective you bring to yoga asana practice. Sometimes we are prone to viewing the postures like pills. We think things like “what is this posture supposed to do for me?” We think and sometimes say this as if we are passively receiving the posture, as if we have no agency at all, as if it is not us who is the one creating the position with our own bodies! Once you make the mental switch from trying to get something from a posture and instead find more and more ways to give your energy to what it is that you are doing, suddenly the posture and you who are performing it come alive! In a real sense, it is that act of finding the energy, the strength, the space, the breath, you have to give that reveals the benefit of that practice. The more you practice engaging from this mental framework, the easier it becomes to drop into it. 

In my experience as a teacher, the primary reason that people struggle with this is not because they are inherently selfish, it is because they consistently under value how much they have to offer to the moment. It is not that people are holding back some degree of hip flexibility like a bio-mechanical hoarder. It is that they think that whatever degree of hip flexibility they do have access to is not enough. One great benefit of practicing dana, of being generous, of giving what you have to give in the moment, is that it reveals to you how much you had to give all along. You discover the degree of hip flexibility you do have. You illuminate how much compassion you do have. You highlight the great degree of safety and stability that you do have. You recognize how wealthy you really are. 

While dana is something you can practice regularly while doing yoga postures it is also useful to create other Dana practice opportunities. This practice is strengthened when you make it a regular part of your routine. I will give you a personal example, not because I think everyone should necessarily do what I do, but because it may highlight one way in which you might create a dana routine. Like many people I shop for groceries on a weekly basis. I am aware that there are many people who cannot have such a regular routine and who do not have access to food on a consistent basis. So, I downloaded the Share The Meal app, which is run by the World Food Program. The app gives me options to share one day of meals ($.50), one week of meals ($3.50), one month of meals ($15.00), and more. While it is possible to make a one-time donation to the World Food Program in a larger amount, I choose to donate money, which in turn buys meals, every time that I am at the grocery store. I don’t want to give and then forget about it. I want to make giving a part of my life. Again, the purpose of this example is not to self-aggrandize or to judge those of you who do choose to give charitably on a less regular or even automated basis, but to highlight the practice of giving and to illuminate one way among many that generosity, altruism and giving—all practices of dana—can be something that each of us can develop as a skill. 

Practice changing your frame of mind from one of getting to giving. Practice recognizing that you do have more to share than you might think. Practice creating routines of generosity. And in that practice, you might just find a new way to grow.

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