Geeky wellbeing favourites: January 2024
New beginnings, rest, plus the usual mind–body science highlights
It’s January, the month of new beginnings, gratitude lists and new year’s resolutions (and omg how is it 2024?) If you must know, I’ve mostly already failed with mine but I’m ok with that as long as some of the principles – self-care through yoga, meditation and creative practices – remain.
In fact, I switched off from daily life so much over the holidays that I failed to do all the things I had overscheduled myself to do (prepare my workshop, prepare class plans, complete my somatics course, work on some poetry, work on this newsletter, knit and more … I did say I overscheduled!). Instead, I did mostly nothing productive, and that’s really important; I keep having to remind myself that not every waking moment needs to be used with productive tasks, whatever they are.
Excitingly though (and potentially related) is that I had the headspace to write a couple of blog posts:
In the first one, I explore how living a mindful life can help to be more engaged with one’s health, which is known to lead to better outcomes. This was inspired by reading The Mindful Body (I also learned that there are two definitions of mindfulness , at least in academic terms, which was rather surprising).
If, like me, you’ve been wondering what’s the deal with NSDR (the latest Andrew Huberman craze) and how it’s different to yoga nidra, check out this blog post. Spoiler – they are basically the same.
Are you in London? Join me on Saturday for 2 hours of yin and yoga nidra – some spots still available. Would love to see you there, 2.30pm at Moreyoga Harringey.
Mind–body science highlights
I spotted two interesting study protocols published in BMJ, so I am looking forward to finding out about the effects of yoga on the fear of falling among the elderly and a comparison of yoga, patient education and physio for patients with breast cancer.
In the meantime:
More evidence that yoga nidra can improve sleep
This small study (41 participants, no control) evaluated the effects of yoga nidra on sleep and cognitive function on participants who had never practiced yoga nidra before. They found that yoga nidra improves both sleep quality and cognitive function, eg reaction time (which is likely related to the sleep improvements) when compared to a baseline measurement.
Digitally delivered mindfulness meditation reduces anxiety and stress
Two studies report the benefits on mindfulness meditation on mental wellbeing. In the first one, caregivers of children undergoing surgery received a virtual reality (VR)-guided meditation and snacks, and their anxiety levels were compared with those who received snacks alone (yes, that is a bit of an odd control). The study reports significant reduction in anxiety in the VR group but not in the control group; but note that this was a tiny study of just 26 participants. In case you are interested, the VR-guided meditation itself lasted 6 minutes and included calming visuals and an audio guided meditation; I was hoping for something a little more exciting and immersive than that!
The second study (also tiny at 20 participants) evaluated the more familiar Headspace app, and found that using it twice a day for a month reduced stress levels among pregnant women. I am particularly intrigued by the fact that they used the Oura ring to evaluate HRV (heart rate variability) as a proxy measure for stress (rather than a stress questionnaire).
Breathing practices are effective for stress management
This systematic review has a lot of food for thought for those who are interested in using breathing practices for their own stress management or in a teaching context. As expected, slow pace is preferable to fast pace, but combined pace and alternate or single nostril breathing were also effective. Other important contributors to effectiveness were long-term practice and having some human guidance.
New class schedule! If you are in London, join me on Tuesdays (Winchmore Hill) or Fridays (Stroud Green, near Finsbury Park).
Also, of interest
The Conversation has an article on fascia, with quite a few interesting insights into its function – for the yin enthusiasts out there.
I recently joined the editorial board of Consilience, a science poetry peer-reviewed journal. Check out the latest issue on my favourite subject, time, and my personal highlight poem from the issue.
Some, mostly obvious, things in this 100 small changes that transform your life article, but I particularly like the advice of practicing yoga at home in your pyjamas because, well, that’s what I do too.
Until next month!