“Fear sharpens the senses. Anxiety paralyses them” – Kurt Goldstein. Is anxiety a medical illness or a cognitive mis-wiring, a philosophical or a spiritual problem or a cultural condition explored by poets? Scott Stossel explores how anxiety is a function of all of these. It can be measured physiologically, it can be measured as aContinue reading “My Age of Anxiety”
Category Archives: the human body
The Heart of Yoga
Another recommendation from Lewis Hamilton’s masterclass. Science and psychology are now studying and catching up with so many concepts explored in yoga. What suffering is, how it exists in our mind and our reaction to our circumstances, how we can build practices that alleviate our stress and so on. If you’re learning yoga from aContinue reading “The Heart of Yoga”
Endure
Endure is full of stories of individual athletes, coaching teams, scientists and corporate studying the nexus of the mind, brain and body to help humans break barriers on limits that seem impassable. Each chapters covers an element like pain, muscle, oxygen, heat and thirst, and how a belief in our own abilities enables us toContinue reading “Endure”
Move
What a delightful and light book. Williams explores types of movement from walking to dancing to stretching, fighting, breathing and so on and how each of these influences the body and mind. We obviously know that movement is good for us but this book dives into genes, genetics, how the brain communicates with organs andContinue reading “Move”
The Science of Meditation
There’s a useful distinction between ‘the deep path and the wide’ when it comes to meditation. Most of us may not become deep meditators but even the toe we dip in the water brings benefits. Results can be seen in short meditations of five to ten minutes. The more regular one is even with theseContinue reading “The Science of Meditation”
The Art of Rest
A light and fun read. Hammond uses a survey of 18,000 people and the forms of rest that they prefer, then explores the psychology and research of the top ten to see how and why they work. She finds it amusing that the ten did not include spending time with friends and family and makesContinue reading “The Art of Rest”
The Epigenetics Revolution
Epigenetics looks at the changes in an organism through the expression of genes rather than the genetic code itself. To try an even simpler take – it explores the intersection between nature and nurture. While large sections are simply too technical to understand, Carey does make the overview accessible and understandable, which is a realContinue reading “The Epigenetics Revolution”
Range
Reading ‘Beginners’ led me to this book. Epstein explores the idea of sampling a wider range of experiences, disciplines and interests both early and later on in life and how that can help one succeed in various circumstances. He tells the stories of individuals from across the spectrum of places, history and disciplines to showContinue reading “Range”
Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain
This book is a cutie. Small, easy to read and with pithy statements such as ‘your brain was not made for thinking.’ It packs ideas worth exploring further, palatable for non-readers as well. I read it in a couple of hours. The book explains evolutionary threads that connect us to other species, looks at theContinue reading “Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain”
Ayesha Anna Ninan 