Courtesy PsyBlog, here is how cognition can be accelerated by just 4 x 20 minutes Meditation:
…In a new study reported in the journal Consciousness and Cognition…researchers found significant benefits for novice meditators from only 80 minutes of meditation over 4 days (Zeidan et al., 2010).
Despite their very brief period of practice — and compared with a control group who listened to an audiobook of Tolkein’s The Hobbit— meditators improved on measures of working memory, executive functioning and visuo-spatial processing.

An ascetic, in the Yogasana pose. dated from 8th century.
Image Source: Museum …

This weekend, three excerpts – on three very different topics – sent to me by three friends.
The first is an excerpt from a keynote speech delivered by Sh Sam Pitroda on “India in a globalized world” at Nehru Centre, Mumbai (Thanks Prashant):
…Today, education is definitely on the national agenda. I believe that this is a great window of opportunity because we have a very large young population. We are prepared to invest on education. Our economy is growing at 8 to 10%. But, at the same time, don’t have big …

Courtesy, Sridhar Pai:
The MP High Court orders government *not* to make Surya Namaskar and Pranayam mandatory for students…
…even as yoga for kids is now being taught in studios from Minnetonka, USA to Moscow in Russia.
Sigh.
.
Related Posts:
Super Brain Yoga – I want to trademark this!
High-Tech Pranayama
No more “Christian Yoga”
After Christian Yoga, Islamic Yoga*…

I was alerted to this by a reader…quite remarkable:
Sushruta lays down the basic principles of plastic surgery by advocating a proper physiotherapy before the operation and describes various methods or different types of defects, viz., (1) release of the skin for covering small defects, (2) rotation of the flaps to make up for the partial loss and (3) pedicle flaps for covering complete loss of skin from an area. He has mentioned various methods including sliding graft, rotation graft and pedicle graft. Nasal repair or rhinoplasty has been described in …

Discovered this while looking for something else over the weekend:
Tulsi to ‘insulate’ the Taj Mahal
Lucknow: Tulsi, known for its medicinal qualities, will now help protect the Taj Mahal from environmental pollution. In an exercise being undertaken by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and the Lucknow-based Organic India, a million tulsi saplings will be planted near the marble mausoleum.
A spokesman for the company said it is one of the best plants to purify the environment. It cleanses as it releases high amounts of oxygen, which minimises the adverse impact of industrial …

Stumbled across this remarkable fact recently:
The first report of the use of ‘phototherapy’ in the treatment of skin disorders dates from 1400 BC from India…
A liitle bit of digging led me to the following references:
Historical aspects
The first report of the use of ‘phototherapy’ in the treatment of skin disorders dates from 1400 BC from India when patients with vitiligo were given certain plant extracts (whose active ingredients included psoralens) and then exposed to the sun.[1] Fitzpatrick TB, Pathak MA. Historical aspects of methoxsalen and other furocoumarins. J Invest Dermatol 1959;31:229-31 …

Many of you must have read a report in The Hindu from a few weeks ago by unnamed “Eminent Historians” titled, “From ‘India Shining’ to ‘India was Shining’“. The report (dt. 3rd May) appeared to be an amateurish attempt at trashing some of the claims made in the BJP’s manifesto regarding India’s past and heritage.
It had excerpts from the BJP’s manifesto and brief counter-points dismissing the claims and assertions. Curiously – in spite of being authored by “Eminent Historians” – it was surprisingly light on references and historical sources.
Dr. …

Saw this ad on the London Underground:

I consider myself fairly well-read but to be honest, I was not aware of the anti-bacterial properties of silver…(I am reminded – once again – of how learning is a never-ending journey!)
…and now I know why my mother prefers my daughter to eat in a silver “thaali” and drink water from a silver urn.
Related Posts:
High-Tech Pranayama (Must Read)
“Copper Cure-all?” 
Eating curry may boost memory 
and in case you missed this: Super Brain Yoga – I want to trademark this!*

Unbelievable, isn’t it?! Thanks to Sanjay for alerting me to this…And as he pointed out, “Don’t miss the R in a circle after Super Brain Yoga!”
As someone else wrote, “…Am just breathless. American marketing ingenuity desperately required in India.”
Related Posts:
High-Tech Pranayama (Must Read)
Benefits of Yoga – reconfirmed 
“Copper Cure-all?” 
and this category of posts on Indian Ayurveda and Medicine
*UPDATE: It is already registered as a trademark. See this: http://www.superbrainyoga.org/

From a recent article in UK’s Daily Mail:
Curcumin, a key ingredient of the spice turmeric, is good for the memory  -  and now scientists know why.
It has been shown to protect nerve cells, making it potentially useful in conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
…Curcumin is a powerful antioxidant and one theory is that it acts as a scavenger, attacking free radicals that damage the nerve cells involved in memory and mental functioning. Some research shows that South Asian populations, who are among the highest users of the compound, have low …

Many of you may�have�come across this information about “Ancient Indian Scientists” before. I received it in a chain email but I shall be most grateful if any reader(s) have links or references to the original source(s).�
There are many assertions and statements here�that have not been verified or explained (see e.g. the entry on Acharya Bharadwaj who is credited with advances in aviation technology*). We need to source and evidence�these it to make it more credible.
Some excerpts below (statements on which I need help are marked in italics):
***
ARYABHATT (476 CE), …

A tidbit on the health benefits of traditional Indian spices:
“Black pepper could provide a new treatment for the skin disease vitiligo..” Excerpt:
“…Vitiligo is a condition in which areas of skin lose their normal pigment and become white.
Researchers discovered that piperine – the compound that gives black pepper its spicy, pungent flavour – can stimulate pigmentation in the skin.
The study, by King’s College London, appears in the British Journal of Dermatology. These findings could potentially lead to the development of treatments…”
As many of you may know, the incidence of …

Extracts from a news report dt Dec 28 ‘07 “Studies show yoga has multiple benefits” (if proof was needed)
***
…Yoga induces a feeling of well-being in healthy people, and can reverse the clinical and biochemical changes associated with metabolic syndrome, according to results of studies from Sweden and India.
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure, obesity and high blood sugar.
…
Dr. R.P. Agrawal, of the SP Medical College, Bikaner, India, and colleagues evaluated the beneficial effects of yoga and meditation in 101 adults with …

…once again suggesting�that there is more than a grain of truth in ancient dharmic traditions.
A recent report in Daily Mail reveals that skipping meals once a month could help stave off a heart attack.
In a study conducted by Dr Benjamin Horne, professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, researchers found that:
“fasting for at least 24 hours cuts the risk of coronary artery disease by up to 40 per cent, compared with those who eat every day…Experts believe the break from food could help ‘re-set’ …

A few weeks ago, TIME Magazine had published an article titled “When Yoga Hurts” which had some alarming statistics about how yoga-related injuries were on the rise in the US.
It�mentioned how people were getting hurt by either pushing themselves too hard or by taking lessons from Yoga instructors who didnt know enough about it.�
Yesterday, I was alerted to two letters in�the latest issue of the magazine that referred to the original article. They make some good points which deserve wider publicity.�I am reproducing them in full below (emphasis mine).
The first …

Came across an ad for this device in a recent edition of Newsweek.
Excerpts from the ad (emphasis mine):
“…Now you can enjoy the pleasures of stress-free living and feel younger in just 15 minutes a day. It’s suprisingly easy with the remarkable new medical device called the StressEraser.
This medical breakthrough actually reverses ergotropic tuning. The harmful process that causes your nerves to respond faster and more strongly to stress….
Medical researchers now know that the harmful effects of ergotropic training are intricately connected to the biological mechanisms of breathing.
More importantly, they …

…just kidding.
On a more serious note, in Hindu Voice UK, Anish Shah recently wrote about the trend to ignore (or de-link) Hindu traditions from their origins and pretend that these were really secular practices.
This trend may be entirely harmless on the other hand, I am also slightly worried that there is no mention at all about Yoga’s origins and how it is intimately connected to the Hindu spiritual and philosophical tradition.
So we now have Christian Yoga (see here and here) and I will not be surprised if Islamic Yoga is …

Came across this amazing story�in a recent issue of the technology magazine Red Herring: “Copper Cure-all?”.
It lists some amazing medicinal properties of Copper (”Taamba” in Hindi or “Tamra” in Sanskrit) which should not surprise most people of my generation who were taught as children that drinking water from copper vessels (and wearing it next to your skin) has beneficial effects.
Another example of ancient “wisdom” being proven right by modern “science”?
No doubt some of you�will notice that there is no mention of use of copper in India in the opening paragraph.
Excerpts:
“Could …

A couple of recent news items on Haldi’s medicinal properties and how moderate quantities may help prevent Alzheimer and various forms of cancer.
Last week British newspaper Daily Mail reported that, The occasional curry ‘could prevent Alzheimer’s’�although this is not really NEW news.
See for example this report from BBC (from 2001!) Curry ‘may slow Alzheimer’s’
Thats not all – “…curries could help prevent or manage colon cancer.., according to research being carried out in Leicester…the news comes just days after cold and flu experts recommended a spicy dish as the perfect antidote …

Here is another example of how new scientific research is providing evidence of the medicinal properties of spices. This time, “haldi” and its beneficial impact on cancer treatment. Read the full article here: “How curry can help keep cancer at bay” (15th Oct ‘05)
As the article mentions, “It is not the first time scientists have found that curries can be good for health. Curcumin, a member of the ginger family, is already widely used in Indian and Chinese medicine for a range of ailments from rheumatism to abdominal pain.
Studies have …