Dharma Singh Khalsa: Why are yoga and meditation often overlooked for healthy brain aging?

Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD
What is your current job title and organization, and what excites you the most about working there?
As the Founding President and Medical Director of the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation (ARPF), what excites me leading the way in cutting edge research on the beneficial, anti-aging effects of yoga and meditation on cellular health, brain function and, specifically, memory.
Please tell us about your interest in applied brain science. What areas are you most interested in? What motivated you to pursue work in your field?
What interests me the most is how life style influences brain health during aging. What motivated me was my lifelong interest in holistic medicine and my 35 years of practice and study of stress, meditation, and memory. I’ve looked at it from both sides; I’ve studied mind/body medicine with Dr. Herbert Benson at Harvard and Kundalini Yoga withYogi Bhajan.
What is one important thing you are working on now, and where can people learn more about it?
Perhaps the most promising area we fund and study is about the effects on brain and memory of a simple 12 minute yoga meditation called Kirtan Kriya. Currently we have studies looking at how this meditation may efficiently improve capacity and slow the progression of Mild Cognitive Impairment into Alzheimer’s Disease. Best place to learn more is the research section in our website.
What are 1–2 key things you’d like every person to understand regarding his/ her own ...

Source: SharpBrains - August 8, 2013 Category: Neurologists Authors: Alvaro Fernandez Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Health & Wellness Alzheimers-disease Alzheimers-Research-and-Prevention-Foundation brain-aging Dharma-Singh-Khalsa Kirtan-Kriya Kundalini Yoga meditation memory memory-loss mild-cognitive-impairment Stress Source Type: blogs