When two or more things relate harmoniously, such as when I relate well to you, you to me, or two moons circle a planet, there is resonance. It is a pattern of harmony. Within our body, resonance occurs when our heart rate, the changes of our heart rate (called heart rate variability), our blood pressure, and brainwaves all come together in a coherent signaling pattern. When this happens, our emotional and physiological resiliency increase; inflammation reduces; cardiovascular health improves; stress reduces; sleep improves; and the nervous system becomes increasingly well balanced. It is quite simple to enter into resonance; yoga, meditation, pranayama and other practices encourage it. However, there is also a specific way of breathing, that if done for about 10 minutes a day, will train your nervous system to quickly return to an equilibrium. In this talk, you’ll learn about resonance breathing, and we’ll have a practice session that will give you a direct experience of heart-brainwave coherence.
Eddie Stern is a yoga instructor raised in New York City. He studied Ashtanga Yoga, chanting, philosophy and ritual under Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, of Mysore, from 1991-2009, and is the co-founder of Ashtanga Yoga New York, the Brooklyn Ganesha Temple, and the Brooklyn Yoga Club; he co-publishes Namarupa, Categories of Indian Thought, a Hindu art and philosophy magazine; and runs the Urban Yogis project that brings yoga and meditation to young adults and youth in disadvantaged and at-risk-to-violence communities in NYC, with his collaborator, Deepak Chopra. He also directs, along with Barbara Verrochi and Melanie Jane Parker, Breathe, Move, Rest, a health and wellness non-profit. Eddie has published several books on Pattabhi Jois and Astanga Yoga, including a translation of Pattabhi Jois’s 1960 treatise, Yoga Mala. His next book on Yoga philosophy and practice (The Little Beginner’s Book on Yoga) is due out in 2018. He continues to study with Pattabhi Jois’s grandson and successor, R. Sharath Jois.