Yoga, Meditation and Your Brain
The first and most important thing to know if you want to start practicing yoga and meditation is that there are no prerequisites. You don't need to be flexible, have special clothing, or even have a ton of space. All you need is a willingness to learn, something comfortable to move in, and just enough space for your yoga mat.
Something yoga and meditation practitioners have known is that they both help your brain and mental state immensely. It's been in more recent years this has actually been measured and proven by science. With the use of fMRI and EEG, you can see changes in the grey matter volume in your brain as well as changes in other structures. They also can see less activation in the parts of your brain that control your “monkey mind” or the part of your brain that likes to wander.
It's funny to think that less activation in your brain could be a good thing, but really when your mind is still you can really use your brain more efficiently! Think of having too many tabs or apps open on your computer, or trying to balance on one foot with your arm tied behind your back and make dinner at the same time. You can get the picture, your brain when bogged down with too much won't be as optimized.
A study conducted at Harvard University found mindfulness meditation actually changed key structures of the brain. The changes consist of increase in cortical thickness within the hippocampus, decrease in brain cell volume in the amygdala, and increase in grey matter. These areas control emotional regulation, fear and anxiety responses, as well as stress. Participants in the eight week study reported to feel all around improved well-being and mood.
At UCLA they did a study on the aging brain, finding that a person who has practiced meditating for around 20 years had more grey matter throughout their brain. Not to say they didn't experience some loss on volume, it was significantly less than a person who didn't meditate at all.
The list can go on with the positive findings from some of the country's leading scientists. It doesn't hurt to give it a try! This doesn't mean you have to jump right into an hour every day. Find something sustainable, something that works with your life. Even if that is just one minute, timed on your phone, and just focusing on your breath. Just letting your eyes close... noticing your breath. Begin to feel your chest rise and fall with every inhale and exhale. Can we find time throughout our busy days to live in the present moment?
Study from UCLA | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01551/full
Study from Harvard University | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3004979/