Science of yoga talk at NIH

This post reviews a talk on the science of yoga and whether there should be a different approach from the usual evidence-based clinical research to evaluate the effectiveness of yoga as a therapy. Everything here should apply to qigong or taijiquan as well.

http://alfiamyst.blogspot.com/2008/05/science-of-yoga-and-weak-hip-flexors.html

Regulating the sympathetic nervous system

This part of the ANS controls the “fight or flight” responses. It can produce body reactions such as increasing blood flow to the skeletal muscles as much as 1200%! Whoa. I would think zhan zhuang is more about calming the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system (controls “rest and digest”). However these systems are [...]

Qigong random notes

Last night I did qigong for what seemed like an hour but it could have been more. After a little while, I thought I felt “microcosmic orbit” (so I think since I have no idea what this should feel like). Basically similar to acupuncture with electrode sensation but fainter, going up the back, down the [...]

Exercise and mitochondria function

At first, this article sounded like one of those scientific studies that just tells you something everyone already knows - exercise is good for you. Duh. Good thing we poured research money into determining that. Well it then mentioned big words I didn’t understand like “mitochondria” and “gene expression profile”.
It looks like weight training improves [...]