Defend Your Brain With Yoga

Its origins may trace back over 5,000 years, when it was first referenced in sacred texts in Northern India. Today, yoga is one of the most popular forms of exercises around the world. Whether you prefer Ashtanga, Bikram, Kundalini, or another style, new research reveals another reason to make yoga part of your routine for life: its power to protect the brain against the cognitive decline of old age.

A Health Craze With a History.

Yoga had been practiced in the East for centuries before making its way west in the mid-1800s. Some evidence suggests Henry David Thoreau was likely the first American to practice. By the end of the century, yoga masters such as Swami Vivekananda began traveling to raise funds for their communities and share their culture and religion with the world.

It took a little while to catch on, but by the mid-twentieth century, yoga had become popular among Westerners for many benefits. Yoga has been associated with physical benefits like improved flexibility, metabolism, and muscle strength as well as mental health benefits like stress reduction and better focus. Beyond individual practice, yoga is also seen as a boon to public health, as it can be adapted for any age or ability level and can build a sense of community.

More Than Your Average Mind-body connection.

While much is known about the positive impacts yoga can have on health, there is still much to be learned about exactly how it works on a physiological level. Among the latest discoveries, a team of scientists in Brazil recently studied 21 elderly female yoga enthusiasts, who averaged 14.9 years of experience. They found the women to have have greater cortical thickness in the parts of the brains associated with cognitive functions such as attention and memory than a group of 21 of their non-yoga practicing peers.

Their research, published in the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, suggests that practicing yoga could help ward off the decline of cognitive abilities as we get older. All exercise is arguably good for health, but according to the researchers, yoga's unique combination of physical and mental practices, including meditation appears to have greater benefits than other types of activity. While more further research needs to be done to know the full story of how yoga impacts the brain, the study provides new merit to incorporating yoga practice into any stage of life.

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Different Types Of Meditation Do Different Things To Your Brain.

When you think about meditation, you probably imagine someone splayed cross-legged with their eyes closed, perhaps while chanting. If you've tried your hand at meditation, you might even think about sitting quietly while focusing on your breath and the way your body feels. But just like there are many ways to exercise, there are many ways to meditate. And just like different exercises target different body parts, every technique targets something different in your brain.

Train Your Brain.

In 2017, two studies from the ReSource Project at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany were published in Science Advances. For the studies, researchers trained 300 volunteers in three meditation techniques. Then, they analyzed the effects of each technique as the volunteers practiced them regularly for three months apiece, one three-month period after the other.

Here's a rundown of how each technique works, and what it did to the volunteers' brains.

Mindfulness Meditation.

For this technique, which the researchers called "presence" meditation, people focused their attention simply on how it felt to breathe, gently guiding their focus back whenever it wandered. They also performed a "body scan" exercise, where they focused on the sensation and presence of each part of the body, one after the other, from the tips of the toes to the top of the head. They used these same mindfulness techniques in various other activities, such as focusing on how it felt to walk or zeroing in on sights, smells, and tastes.

One of the studies used MRI to assess the differences in brain structures after the training. Mindfulness meditation was associated with a thicker prefrontal cortex and parietal lobe, both of which are linked to attention control.

Compassion Meditation.

The researchers called this technique "loving-kindness" meditation. Compassion meditation is all about connecting with the feeling of love and care for something or someone else. In each session, volunteers began by imagining themselves and then a "benefactor" — someone who does them good, like a parent or a romantic partner — and extend feelings of love, kindness, and good wishes to both themselves and that benefactor.

Over the next several sessions, they extended those feelings to someone they felt neutral about, then to someone they had "difficulties" with, and finally to all beings on Earth. "To stabilize and foster experiences of loving-kindness," the researchers wrote, "we instructed participants to mentally repeat phrases such as 'May you be happy,' 'May you be healthy,' 'May you be safe,' and 'May you live with ease.'" They also focused on accepting their emotions and practicing forgiveness and self-compassion.

This portion also included a partner exercise. In the exercise, one person would tell the other person about something they experienced that day that was either difficult or made them feel grateful. The storyteller focused on how they felt at the time without interpreting the situation, and the listener listened attentively without giving any feedback. Then the roles were reversed.

After it was all over, the volunteers' brains showed increases in the limbic system, which processes emotions. They also had a boost to their anterior insula, which helps you consciously identify your emotions.

Perspective Taking- Training.

In the "perspective module," volunteers performed a solo exercise designed to help them observe their own thoughts as mental events instead of representations of reality. In the first phase, they trained to give their thoughts labels like "me" or "other," "past" or "future," or "positive" or "negative." As they became more experienced, they eventually just observed the comings and goings of thoughts without involving themselves in them.

The perspective module also had a partner exercise. First, all of these volunteers learned about the Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach, which divides the mind into subpersonalities or "inner parts," — for example, "managers" are parts that try to keep you in control of every situation, "exiles" are parts that try to protect you from pain, and "firefighters" are parts that react when exiles are activated in order to extinguish bad feelings.

After that, the partner exercise was a lot like the one used for compassion except that the stories were told from the perspective of one of these "inner parts" without telling the listener which one — the listener had to figure it out from the story. That helped the storyteller take a bird's-eye view of their own experiences, and the listener to infer the perspective of the storyteller.

This perspective-taking training was associated with thickening in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, the left occipital region, and the middle temporal gyrus — all of which are linked to Theory of Mind, the ability to understand that others have beliefs, intentions, and perspectives that are different from yours and to infer what they might be.

Different Exercise For Different Strength.

Lead researcher Tania Singer laments the fact that people put all of these cognitive exercises into a big bucket labeled "meditation." "It's like asking a sport expert 'what does sport do to your body'. The expert would say, do you mean swimming or horse-riding? You can imagine mental training being as complex," she told New Scientist. So if you're considering starting a meditation regimen, don't just try any old technique. Think about what you want to accomplish, then find a meditation method designed to build those skills.

 That all for today friends . Have any quary ask in the comments.

5 Persuasion Tricks To Get People To Do What You Want.

We all want something, and a lot of times, it involves getting someone's help. Considering how much time we spend trying to persuade or convince others, it's surprising we don't stop more often to think about whether we're using the right methods. So why waste time trying new tactics when we can go straight to science? We've put together some tricks to help you get your way.

1. Explain The Reason For Your Request.

Think about a time you were in a huge hurry and you had to wait in line for something important. You might not have gotten too far if you simply asked, "Can I cut in line?" The likelihood of persuading someone to agree with your request would have increased by more than 50 percent if you had added one thing: a reason. "Can I cut in line because I need to catch my flight?" or even, "Can I cut in line because I'm in a rush?" The greater request, the greater the reason you should provide to truly increase your chances of getting what you want, but a little rationalizing can go a long way.

2. Listen First Then ask For The Favour.

Lynne Franklin is a consultant to executives and teams on persuasive communication, and she discussed the psychology of persuasion"It's called the rule of reciprocity," she told us. "Say something interesting and get them to speak. You learn more about who they are or what they do, They're more interested in reciprocating. I've listened first, now they want to ask me about me. So I've built good will without having said anything.".

This works well with people we've never met, but it's worth remembering that you can talk to someone you already know in order to achieve the same effect. "We as human beings have a tendency to decide what we want people to do and then tell them. And they don't care. They have their own agenda," Franklin explained.

"So how can you present your idea in a way that increases the chances that they'll actually want to do it? And in order to do that, you need to know who they are and what motivates them." You need to understand what they want and find a way to give them that by achieving what you want.

3. Give an actual gift in return for a person help.

Similar to exchanging information, the norm of reciprocity is a social convention that compels people to return a favor when someone has helped them. Charities use this principle when providing unconditional gifts like return address labels or even a pen or pencil, and it can increase donations by up to 75 percent. Just be careful when using this approach: providing external incentives can actually decrease giving in certain situations, particularly when it comes to charity.

4. Switch up the words you are using.

There are a lot of quick and dirty language tricks that, though subtle, can make a big difference when you're trying to persuade someone to do what you want. For instance, try saying "I" instead of "you" to remove the accusatory element of your statements, e.g. "You need to go to the grocery store," versus, "I feel stressed because I have to go to the grocery store."

If you're worried your request will be met with a hard "no," you can also try the magic words "but you are free [to refuse]" to double (!) your chances of getting what you want. And if you're the one saying "no" and you want people to accept your refusal, then say you "don't" do something instead of saying you "can't." This way, the person refusing won't be able to fight you with logic or find a way to turn "can't" into "can." Pay attention to your word choices and you never know what other neat tricks you'll find!

5. Ask in Person.

We all rely on email and other text-based communication these days, but it's never as effective as looking someone in the eye and asking for a favor. And the difference is massive: a pair of experiments conducted by researchers in 2016 concluded that complete strangers receiving a request in person were 34 times more likely to fill out a survey than strangers who were asked over email. If that's not a reason to ditch the keyboard for an IRL conversation, then we don't know what is.

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Want To Be happier ? Do One Creative Thing A Day.

Doing one creative thing each day, be it painting, playing the guitar, or even just cooking dinner, will increase your overall happiness.

Why It Matters?

There's nothing people like more than talking about how busy they are. Between work, family, work, friends, and work, it's all too common for people to complain that they just don't have time for pursuits like drawing or journaling or whipping up a meal. But a 2016 study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that we'd do well to make the time. According to the study, engaging in just one creative activity each day can increase your overall well-being, making you more likely to feel "energetic, enthusiastic, [and] excited."

At this point you might be thinking, "But I'm not a creative person, so I guess I'm just doomed to an unhappy life." Not so fast. According to the researchers' definition, "Creativity includes coming up with novel or original ideas; expressing oneself in an original and useful way; or spending time doing artistic activities (art, music, painting, writing, etc)." That's a pretty wide-ranging definition. A press release about the study explained that "the most common examples reported were songwriting; creative writing (poetry, short fiction); knitting and crochet; making new recipes; painting, drawing, and sketching; graphic and digital design; and musical performance."

Those who engaged in these activities didn't just feel better in the moment; they were happier the next day. Ultimately, the researchers found that being creative launches "a particular kind of upward spiral for well-being and creativity: engaging in creative behavior leads to increases in well-being the next day, and this increased well-being is likely to facilitate creative activity on the same day.

Why People Should Know About It .

Three words: Adult coloring books. According to Nielsen Bookscan, 12 million of these books were sold in 2015, and in the 12 months between May 2015 and April 2016, American adults spent more than $128.2 million on colored pencils. For those who haven't caught onto the craze, it might be tempting to write it off as child's play. But, according to the research, we'd all be smart to find some time to bust out the crayons.

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Spending Money On Experience Make You Happier.

If you've ever waffled over whether or not you should splurge on a big purchase like, say, a new car, or save up for that big trip to Europe you've always dreamed about you're not alone. A psychologist who has spent his life exploring the idea of living in the moment teamed up with a Cornell psychology professor and a doctoral candidate in an attempt to answer this question: does spending money on experiences make people happier than buying things?

We Appreciate Vacation More Than possession.

You didn't realize you hated your old couch until the exact moment you laid your eyes on an on-trend, blush-hued loveseat from a fancy furniture store's website. Sure, it's more than half your rent, and that trip to Mexico will have to be put on hold, but it's beautiful. You deserve it. Your excitement grows as you quickly confirm your purchase. Then, a strange thing happens...the couch takes forever to ship, making you a bit impatient. When it finally ships, you have to take time off work and wait for the dang thing to be delivered. You actually said no to a vacation for this?! According to Matthew Killingsworth, Thomas Gilovich, and Amit Kumar's 2014 study in the journal Psychological Science, that was a mistake.

As The Atlantic puts it, the emotion you feel while waiting for a material good, such as your trendy couch, to arrive is more likely to be impatience than excited anticipation. Plus, people get what's called a "hedonic adaptation," where things we're constantly exposed to just become background noise. How long will it take before your excitement over that new couch turns into the same hum-drum feeling you had for your old one?

That's all well and good, but experiences are fleeting too, aren't they? Yes, but not in the psychological sense. People feel more joy before, during, and long after an experience. This study claims that, unlike the impatience of waiting for your couch, waiting for a trip to Mexico with your friends would've been pleasant and exciting. Upon your return, the trip would give you a sense of nostalgia, with no risk of it disappearing into the background of your other daily thoughts. You know what you're getting when you purchase a couch—and it gets old—whereas the outcome of a vacation is somewhat mysterious. Not to mention, it's much more fun to hear stories about a crazy trip to Mexico than to hear about your velvet couch. (Just saying.)

You'll Thnak us Later.

Kumar notes to The Atlantic that this study's findings imply "notable real-world consequences." Gaining material possessions is often about instant gratification, putting on appearances, and keeping up with the Joneses. Buying experiences is associated more with identity and social connection. Kumar explains that if people are waiting in line for material goods, they're much more likely to treat each other badly (Black Friday shopping, anyone?). When people are waiting in line for an experience, such as a concert or a new brunch spot, they're more likely to stay positive and also be gracious and generous to others. You might enjoy looking at your new couch right now, but you'd forever be grateful for the time spent with friends drinking poolside margaritas.

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Does Money Buy Happiness ? That Depends On What Kind You Want.

We all know the tired cliché: "Money can't buy you happiness." But when you compare a Hollywood billionaire to someone who just got evicted from their apartment, the phrase starts to lose its meaning. Clearly, there's a certain amount of money that can mean the difference between happiness and misery. But what amount is that? In 2010, researchers decided to find out, and their answer was pretty interesting.

Day To Day Vs Big Picture.

For their study, which was published in the journal PNAS, Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deacon differentiated between two types of happiness. The first they called emotional well-being, defined as a person's day-to-day emotional experience—"the frequency and intensity of experiences of joy, stress, sadness, anger, and affection that make one's life pleasant or unpleasant," as the researchers put it. The second they called life evaluation, defined as the self-perception of one's life as a whole.

To gauge people's feelings on these two metrics, they asked 450,000 people questions about how they were feeling yesterday and how they see life as a whole, in addition to basic demographic information such as gender, age, and income. Questions about emotional experiences were things like "Did you feel stress during a lot of the day yesterday?" and "Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?" Life assessment, meanwhile, required people to imagine a ladder with numbered rungs—rung 0 at the bottom, representing the worst possible life, and rung 10 at the top, representing the best. The survey then asked, "On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?"

Pannies From heaven.

Here's what they found: when it comes to emotional well-being, money certainly does buy happiness—but only to a point. The more money you make, the more your day-to-day happiness improves, until you hit around $75,000 per year. After that, the improvement levels off. That means someone who makes $150,000 per year isn't likely to have a significantly happier day than someone making $75k. But when it comes to life evaluation? That's a whole different ballgame. No matter their income bracket, people who make more money have a more favorable evaluation of their own life as a whole. The study concluded that "high income buys life satisfaction but not happiness, and that low income is associated both with low life evaluation and low emotional well-being."

Why is this? Kahneman and Deacon have some ideas. "Low income exacerbates the emotional pain associated with such misfortunes as divorce, ill health, and being alone," they write. It could be that once you have enough to weather the storms that head your way, it doesn't matter how much extra you make—your day-to-day life is pretty much stable. But, the researchers note, it's generally recognized that overall life evaluation is tied to your level of education, which in turn is tied to your income. In that way, the fact that money can buy you a positive assessment of your life makes sense. Maybe it's time we all asked for a raise.

So That is for now friend happiness series going . There is a lot to tell you . If you have any questions ask in the comments section. And i will try to respond as soon as possible .Thank you.and this is the book i want to recommend you to know more about happiness.

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The Perma Model Is a Five Part To Approach To Finding Happiness

We all want to be happy. According to recent analyses of the self-improvement market in the U.S. alone, as much as $549 million per year is spent on self-help books, and self-improvement as a whole could represent a $10 billion per year industry. But what are the actual psychological components that define happiness?

Since 1998, a new field of study has sought to answer this and other questions about human behavior. Positive psychology is "the scientific study of what makes life most worth living," and it examines the biological, personal, relational, institutional, cultural, and global dimensions of life. The goal is to understand how to achieve eudaimonia, a Greek word which refers to a contented state of being healthy, happy, and prosperous.

Qualifying Happiness.

To help us think about what we need to do to flourish, positive psychology pioneer Martin Seligman developed The PERMA Model and described it in his 2011 book, "Flourish." According to Seligman, PERMA describes five important building blocks of well-being and happiness:

• Positive emotions – feeling good
• Engagement – being completely absorbed in activities
• Relationships – being authentically connected to others
• Meaning – purposeful existence
• Achievement – a sense of accomplishment and success

Seligman believes that focusing on all five of these elements can help people reach a life of fulfillment, happiness, and meaning. This model can also be applied to institutions to develop programs to help people develop new cognitive and emotional tools.

But knowing where to focus can be challenging.

"Generally, we have a consistent set of values, but we are constantly changing the way we rank those values based on what happens in our life," professional coach Stella Grizont in a interview.

Grizont was one of the first 150 people in the world to receive a master's degree in Applied Positive Psychology.

"You need to get really clear on describing your values. And values are the guiding principles for how you behave or the decisions you make," Grizont said. "Once we become aware of what it is that drives us, then we realize there are micro moments, opportunities [in our everyday life] for us to deepen them. Your most awesome life might be right there, but you're not always seeing it."

Grizont added that "a big mistake that I see people doing is trying to figure out 'what do I do next?' And I think the better question to ask is, 'How do I want to be?' Typically people will find that there are actually multiple possibilities they haven't explored yet because they haven't asked the right questions."