In one of my previous posts, I think it was the beginning of second week of the challenge I touched upon the subject of awareness. More than just amazed at the changes by body is going through, I am fascinated with how this intense practice influences the mind. Hence, over the last couple of days I've done quite a bit of reading on meditation and development of active awareness. Also, a lot has been said recently in media about the concept of "mindfulness" which links directly into this subject. Mindfulness is defined as a state of active awareness; an active attention to the present - being able to actively observe the thoughts or feelings without attaching emotion to them or judging them as good or bad and as a concept is closely related to another area of interest - metacognition sometimes referred to as meta-awareness (cognition about cognition). Mindfulness deals with how you think while metacognition puts more emphasis on what you think about but, just like in this amazing picture the fMRIs of the brain shows significant difference in brain activity when these two are at play. (source: www.pnas.com)
If you have time, have a look at this short clip from a BBC programme, talking about the mindfulness and the effect it can have on human brain. This active awareness developed through meditation can reduce stress, anxiety, depression and even chronic pain.
Hatha yoga, and hence Bikram is perfect it you want to develop an active focus and clam your mind. The daily practice really does show benefits. Over the last couple of years there has a lot of research performed in the neuroscience area on this, so if like me you are interested in the subject or would like find out more why not check out this paper summary - Does mindfulness lead to neuroplasticity? - by Micah Allen, PhD. Fascinating stuff.
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