~Edgar Allen Poe

Via Bloomberg:

Scientists are getting close to proving what yogis have held to be true for centuries — yoga and meditation can ward off stress and disease.

John Denninger, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, is leading a five-year study on how the ancient practices affect genes and brain activity in the chronically stressed. His latest work follows a study he and others published earlier this year showing how so-called mind-body techniques can switch on and off somegenes linked to stress and immune function.

While hundreds of studies have been conducted on the mental health benefits of yoga and meditation, they have tended to rely on blunt tools like participant questionnaires, as well as heart rate and blood pressure monitoring. Only recently have neuro-imaging and genomics technology used in Denninger’s latest studies allowed scientists to measure physiological changes in greater detail.

The science is advancing alongside a budding “mindfulness” movement, which includes meditation devotees such as Bill George, board member of Goldman Sachs Group and Exxon Mobil Corp., and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch recently revealed on Twitter that he is giving meditation a try.

It’s an interest that dates back to an exchange program he attended in China the summer before entering Harvard as an undergraduate student. At Hangzhou University he trained with a tai chi master every morning for three weeks.

“By the end of my time there, I had gotten through my thick teenage skull that there was something very important about the breath and about inhabiting the present moment,” he said. “I’ve carried that with me since then.”

Click to read the full article on bloomberg — YOGA.

Image via Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images

Here is a list of over 100 documentaries you can watch for free online. They are about Science, Consciousness, ETs, you name it. It’s a smorgasbord of fascinating subjects to learn about.

1. Home (2009)
2. Thrive (2011)
3. Paradise or Oblivion (2012)
4. Love, Reality and the Time of Transition (2011)
5. Earthlings (2005)
6. Everything You Know Is Wrong (2000)
7. Zeitgeist: Addendum (2008)
8. Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011)
9. The Money Fix (2009)
10. The Wikileaks Documentary (2010)
11. Owned & Operated (2012)
12. Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis (2010)
13. Apologies of an Economic Hitman (2010)
14. The Beautiful Truth (2008)
15. The Awakening (2011)
16. What Would It Look Like? (2009)
17. The World According to Monsanto (2008)

18. Esoteric Agenda (2008)
19. Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging (2008)
20. College Conspiracy Scam in USA (2011)
21. The Indigo Evolution (2005)
22. Edible City: Grow the Revolution (2012)
23. Collapse (2009)
24. The Global Brain (1983)
25. The White Hole in Time (1993)
26. The Primacy of Consciousness (2011)
27. Fuel (2008)
28. Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil Crisis (2006)
29. What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire (2007)
30. Resonance: Beings of Frequency (2012)

Click to check out the full list of — consciouness documentaries . 

Link and Image via Altering Perspectives 

Each of the images above are part of a collection that our dear friend Bob Campbell has built in his home over the past 50 years. He was kind enough to scan the collection and share it with us. We’re happy to bring Bob’s collection to life by sharing it with our readers on Lucid Practice.

What’s your favorite image? 

Any pictures to share? 

Via My Yoga Blog:

I practice every day (Mo through Fr) Ashtanga yoga at the same place at the same time. I practice every day the same routine. Friday is a little exception, because on Friday a led class is offered. On Sunday I practice on my own. Saturday is a day off.

This is simple. This helps me to stay committed. Not much organizing is required. Early in bed, early up, that’s it. At 8:30 my practice usually comes to an end. Then I’ve the entire day  for any activities, duties, projects, learning……or what else comes into my mind.
I’m still amazed how fit I feel when I’m through my yoga routine that early.

This is how it shall be.  This is how it’s a piece of cake to be disciplined. No, it’s perhaps not super easy, but it’s the easiest way I know.

Same time, same place, same teacher and it’s difficult not to practice Ashtanga yoga. 

Ashtanga yoga is art if performed correctly. So beautiful.

~Mahatma Ghandi

How Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin — a bike-riding, socially conscious, Animal Collective–loving person — is redefining what it means to be a football player.

Interesting Excerpts: 

“In a league where single-minded football obsession and the purposeful snuffing out of personality seems to be encouraged among players, Barwin has established himself as a unique character. From his promotion of green living and energy conservation to his public endorsement of marriage equality, he’s an individual in a profession where individualism is often demonized.”

“Those dinners informed the unofficial Barwin family mantra: balance. Each son was required to learn an instrument and take piano lessons. Sports were just a part of the pursuit for well-rounded men, and Connor’s first love was basketball.”

“Barwin embraced McGinn’s preferred mode of travel: bike. McGinn now lives in Seattle, where he worked on his uncle’s recent mayoral reelection campaign. He says people in the Pacific Northwest don’t grasp how he could have possibly enjoyed his time in Houston, with its conservative politics and sprawling intertwinement of highways. “All that shit in between [those highways], that’s just a 15-minute drive to most people,” McGinn says. “When you start riding your bike and living on the gritty here and there, you see all that space that most of the city doesn’t see. We knew artists, bar owners, chefs, graffiti artists, musicians, newspaper and magazine writers. That’s where life happens, in that in-between part that most people drive by on the highway at 80 miles an hour and don’t get to see.”

“Barwin says there’s nothing staged about the way he presents himself to the world, but he’s self-aware about his choices. “[It’s all] what I enjoy doing, but I’d say, ‘Yes, I know what I’m doing,'” he says. “When I post a picture of me riding a public bus, I know what I’m doing.” He pauses. “But I do enjoy riding the bus!”

“All the ‘green’ stuff, it’s not [me] pounding my chest, trying to save the world. It just seemed like the right thing to do.”

“In Houston, that meant a half-dozen Texans at an M83 show. This season, it’s a handful of millionaires buying bicycles. “You have to expose people to different things,” Barwin says. “Those guys have never even been on the subway. Once you get them on the subway, they’re like, ‘Wow, this is really easy.’ All those guys are normal human beings. It’s not going that far to make a connection.” Barwin points to the complexity of an NFL locker room. “In football, you have Todd Herremans and DeSean Jackson on the same team,” he says. “Physically, there are so many differences. And then you have where everyone comes from, what point they’re at in life. There are so many differences that make it so interesting.”

“Jesse Nading was a Texans linebacker for five seasons, and he says that although Barwin’s standing within the team was important, ultimately, his ability to broaden his teammates’ views comes from his willingness to broaden his own. “A lot of it stems from it being reciprocated,” says Nading. “If you have something that’s of interest to you and means a lot to you, and you invite Connor, it’s very unlikely that he’s going to turn down a unique experience where he can push himself. Guys respond to that.”

Great article on Grantland. As a former football player, it’s nice to see leaders of professional sport, especially this sport, challenge the traditional social status quo.