PEARL WEBINAR
April 13th 2019
Overview: Meditation has been in existence as part of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra-the original and the only treatise about yoga written almost 5000 to 10,000 years back. The practice of yoga was associated with a longer life, a better memory, a disease-free existence and unbound happiness or bliss (popularly called “Ananda” in Sanskrit). Despite these claims for thousands of years by practitioners of Yoga, modern science particularly medicine, did not pay much heed and considered such claims as hyperbole propagated by biased believers and practitioners.
Starting from the early 70″s extensive research was carried out by physician-scientists on the role of Yoga. These individuals did not believe in yoga, had never visited India and, both the Indian culture and Hinduism as a religion was totally unknown and alien to them.
Forty years to today we now know meditation can decrease aging, increase memory and make your brain grow! Do away with depression and anxiety that is common in day-to-day existence. The stress of today’s living that produces several diseases including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, heart attack, stroke can undoubtedly be improved by the practice of physical yoga and meditation.
The latest research in neurobiology has clearly shown that regular practice of meditation can change the brain circuit created by nerve cells called neurons that propagate anxiety, stress, and depression, and produces happiness and bliss instead. This discovery called neuroplasticity has led to the use of meditation as a technique to reduce the damage to the brain and the body leading to memory loss, cardiovascular diseases and cancer caused by stress.
This webinar will talk about the role of meditation in inducing neuroplasticity for a healthier existence, a longer life and a powerful though aging brain, even as an octogenarian.
Dr. Indranill Basu Ray is a Cardiologist & an Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiologist. He is currently with St. Francis Hospital, Memphis, TN. He is a former faculty member in Medicine (Cardiology) at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School. He also holds the position of a Professor in Cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India.
Dr. Basu Ray has been meditating since the age of six. His research centers on the use of meditation and yoga in modern medicine, particularly heart diseases. He is also one of the cardiologists who wrote the American Heart Association’s scientific statement on the use of meditation in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.