Breathe For Your Own Good!
By Nymph Kellerman
During the last few decades, Western Universities have become interested in the various techniques of deep relaxation and the effects it has on the body. During a deeply relaxed state, the heart rate slows down, there is a lowering in blood pressure, a decrease in oxygen consumption, a reduction in the blood lactate (high levels are associated with anxiety), and last but not least, the electrical activity of the brain changes. In recent years it was discovered that the brain has the ability to change its vibrations and in doing so, changes behaviour as well as involuntary functions of internal organs.
The largest part of the brain is called the cerebral cortex and it comprises about 80% of the brain. It is concerned with our conceptual thinking and motor functions. It houses a number of lobes with overlapping thinking, sensory and memory tasks. For our purpose we need to be aware of the two cerebral hemispheres (almost like two separate brains), connected to each other by the corpus callosum (an intricate web of fibres). These hemispheres are largely responsible for different intellectual functions.
