The power of yoga and meditation

By Samantha Wigfield

In a recent study, 90 per cent of 300,000 Canadians say they feel overwhelmed and stressed in their academic and daily lives.

Whether yoga and meditation originated in India 5,000 years ago or in 500 B.C. in the time of Buddha has always been controversial, but experts say there is no doubt students today could benefit from the power of chanting a few “ommmms.”

Yoga and meditation are different, in small ways. Yoga means “union,” and comes from the ancient Sanskrit language. It means the union between the person and their god or universe. The word meditation also comes from Sanskrit, another word for it is “dhyana” which means the state of awareness of the mind which can shut out other distractions in life and focus on the peace someone practicing yoga is trying to achieve.

The owner of the Downtown Yoga Studio in Windsor, Gina Wasserlein, said she has been practicing yoga for 18 years and has had her studio for 13 years.

“When you practice yoga and meditation, which go hand in hand, you release a stress hormone called cortisol. Deep breathing will help with lowering that stress level,” said Wasserlein.

Over time, these practices can lower anxiety and lower depression and can increase tolerance, memory and self-awareness. They can even motivate for goal setting.

Yoga and meditation can improve heart rate, making it easier for oxygen and carbon dioxide to move evenly throughout the brain.

Meditators also have higher levels of “Alpha waves,” which are electrical activity in the brain, indicating the brain is in a state of consciousness and relaxation, which increases empathy and has been shown to reduce sadness, tension and anger.

Sarah Smith, 23, is a University of Windsor student, who experienced a lot of these benefits over the three years she’s been practicing.

“I suffered from anxiety and depression like you wouldn’t believe. I would have anxiety attacks almost every day and I started to practice with a friend who was really into it,” said Smith. “Eventually she convinced me to go to classes with her and I haven’t had an attack in months. It’s really helped me in my life and I feel healthier too.”

Wasserlein said practicing yoga and meditation is like programming the mind to take away negative thoughts. Continuous thoughts of “I can’t do this” or “I hate this” will result in a negative habit pattern.

“Yoga breaks that pattern. You’ll notice how much better you sleep, how much better your day is. You’re so much more calm, less reactive and it helps a lot of people with anger issues if you practice long enough,” Wasserlein said.

It can also change the size of our brain and its size. Over a period of eight weeks of practicing yoga and meditation, researchers found that the amygdala, which deals with stress, blood pressure and fear had actually decreased in gray matter. Gray matter increased in the areas dealing with memory processing, emotions and learning.

Although most people, particularly students, have busy lives and hardly have time for themselves, practicing both yoga and meditation a few times a week could be a great way to reset the mind and keep calm through  hectic schedules.