Are Chemical Imbalances All in Our Heads?

It sounds a bit like the start of a science-fiction novel: chemical imbalances are nothing more than a figment of our imagination. But could it be true? In a piece she recently wrote for the BBC, Joanna Moncrieff of the University College, London states that it very well could be the case. She proposes that [...]

Benefits of A Consistent Yoga Practice

Physical Benefits of Yoga ·                     Increased Flexibility – yoga asanas (or poses) utilize secondary muscles and joints that often are not effectively targeted by standard weight–based or cardio exercise routines, and in particular enhancing flexibility in the hamstrings, calves, black, shoulders and hips. ·                     Increased Strength-the balancing positions in particular require pose intense physical burdens on the core of [...]

The Role of Motivation and Mindset in Fitness

In the aftermath of the holiday season, large numbers of people purchase gym memberships. The extra holiday pounds many accrue over a few days of inactivity and excessive food consumption often acting as powerful motivators to get fit; a leaner body beckons. The difficulty, as many know, is sustaining the motivation. The fall off rate [...]

Is Depression Inherited?

The World Health Organization estimates that by 2020, depression is likely to become the second biggest cause worldwide of Disability Adjusted Life Years or DALY’s (the sum of years of productive life lost due to disability) for all ages and both sexes. With a health problem this massive, understanding its causes, treatment and prevention are [...]

An Overview of Acupuncture

When considering a medical intervention like acupuncture, which originated centuries ago in non-Western culture (China), it is relatively easy to make it look faintly absurd by contrasting its conceptual vocabulary with that of modern day medical science. Undoubtedly, many practices of bygone days were, we now know, exceedingly dangerous and rooted in magical or religious [...]

The Magic of Yoga

Yoga Yoga is one of the most well known and practiced meditative techniques in the world. It is associated with several religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, and while it incorporates various aspects of each school of thought, different types of yoga can include different focuses. For example, in Hinduism yoga refers to one of [...]

The Science of Being Positive

Historical Roots In 1954 psychologist Abraham Maslow wrote a book called Motivation and Personality. It contained a chapter that changed the direction of contemporary psychology. The chapter contained a study of hundreds of studied by Maslow not because they were average and representative, not because they exhibited neurotic or developmental problems of interest, but because [...]

Neuroscience and the Emotional Brain

How do neuroscientists understand emotion? The quest of brain science to understand emotion has not been one of significant philosophical insights or metaphysical concern, but rather one of a more narrowly tightened focus. Large but uncertain truths about the nature of the mind has not been their goal. Their prey is been small but sure: [...]

Five Flavors of Personality

What is personality? Simply defined, personality is the unique combination of characteristics that makes an individual who he or she is. When we speak of personality, we mean not only behavior and social attitudes but also temperament, beliefs, emotions and our mental state. We make casual observations and commentary on others’ personalities every day as [...]

Mindfulness

Historically, the use of mental and physical practices to develop mindfulness is as old as civilization itself; subjectively, it is as close as the simple consciousness of being aware. Mindfulness as a phenomenon has only recently become a subject of study by psychologists, psychotherapists, and cognitive researchers in the West, but Eastern cultures have studied [...]

Next Page »