By cooling the brain with refreshing, vital energy, yawners and yoga practitioners alike can reduce their heart rate and relax their bodies.
Yoga practitioners know that many of the secrets of self healing are hardly a secret at all, since holistic specialists have been practicing natural self healing techniques for centuries. Oftentimes, the method is discovered first, and science determines the underlying mechanism long afterward.
Consider deep breathing exercises, mindful respiration or even laughing yoga techniques. All of these have one thing in common – namely, the slow, measured inhalation and exhalation of fresh oxygen. By cooling the brain with refreshing, vital energy, yoga practitioners can reduce their heart rate and relax their bodies.
Recently, scientists discovered a similar physiological principle behind a type of breathing you do when you're tired, bored or stressed out: yawning.
In a study published in the journal Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience, researchers announced that humans are more likely to yawn when it is cool outside, or when body temperature exceeds air temperature. This means that, in a sense, yawning may be seasonal.
Why are we more likely to yawn when our bodies are hotter than the air around us? The authors said that this involuntary action may be designed to cool our brains.
Coming to such a conclusion involved monitoring the yawn frequency of 160 volunteers during both the summer and the winter. Researchers discovered that participants had a higher likelihood of cracking a yawn if it was cold outside.
"According to the brain cooling hypothesis, it is the temperature of the ambient air that gives a yawn its utility," the team emphasized.
The applications of this effect extend to any activity that involves slow, sustained breathing. For instance, gentle yoga techniques often incorporate deep breathing as a way to energize the body while cooling and soothing the mind.
Among Hawaiians who are tired of the seemingly endless summer, yawn-like yoga breathing may provide a little relief for overheated brains.
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Tags: secrets of self healing, self healing, self healing techniques
