THE MIND & BODY BLOG

Admit it! We all love taking selfies. It’s hard to imagine life without having clicked the perfect moment and having preserved it as a fond memory. With technology advancing almost every day, selfie is a trend that has emerged on the digital scene, taking the world by storm. What, however, started as a fun way to click self-portraits, has taken a new turn with people making incredibly risky attempts to get the best shot in a narcissist urge to draw attention to themselves and feel loved.   Who doesn't like taking selfies? But make sure to stay alive while clicking your next picture-perfect selfie. With a mind-boggling increase in the number of smartphones and selfie sticks, people have become increasingly obsessed with snapping the most spectacular selfie. This fanaticism even pushes them to unimaginable, dangerous places like train tracks, hanging from buildings, bridges and even restricted no-go areas, which has led to a significant rise in the number of selfie related deaths ...

You may be an atheist and may rightfully share a completely differing viewpoint from that of a fatalist on the origin of human life, but what is in agreement is that human body is the most evolved and a marvellous creation of nature. Its crowning jewel, the brain, is the sole regulator of this arcane automatic system often described as a super computer lodged in a safe bony vault with a mind-boggling dynamic database. What we must be aware of is that while some virtues are hardwired, others are learnt through evolution and developed cognitively. Neuroscience has come a long way from a rigid brain of early 20th century to a neuroplastic state capable of remodelling itself. This has paved way for better understanding of the chaos and the dynamics of the brain, and mind with the current capacity of remodelling self for quality health and longevity. The human mind has been an enigma both for the scientists and the philosophers alike. While Descartes believed in dualistic theory of brain...

Mahatma Gandhi saw this coming from a mile. Seems, India is going wrong somewhere, which is why its place has dropped in the Happiness index since 2013. Did you know India ranks lower than even Iraq and Pakistan on the World Happiness Index? India ranks 140th in the happiness quotient as per the latest report released in March this year . As a country, we are perennially on decline having dropped 7 notches from 133 in 2018 out of 156 countries surveyed. We stood at 122 in 2017, and with the latest drop our nation stands below Pakistan (67) China (93) and other immediate neighbours such as Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal. Looks like the entire nation, entrepreneurs and innovators have to buckle up their shoes to make the country prosperous and a happy place to live in. So, exactly why is India unhappy, despite the highest economic growth rate? A happiness index is not just statistics. It offers an insight into what’s on the minds of the peopl...

From what is now seen on television channels and propagated by fitness ‘gurus’ and celebrities, one would be made to believe one can nail yoga by mastering postures and increasing their flexibility and strength. But that’s far from reality. In fact, it is a market-driven version of traditional yoga — more dramatic and highly fascinating, customised to appeal to the uninitiated. Traditional yoga, on the other hand, seeks to initiate transformation in the person by helping them discover self and, at the same time, connecting with the universe as one attempts to use the huge potential of the brain. While we speak of using the brain’s potential to synchronise self with the universe, it’s worth mentioning how the brain is a unique organ in the human body. While it makes up for only 2 percent of body weight, it receives 20-25 percent of cardiac output, consumes 20 percent of the body’s oxygen and glucose supplies, utilises 50 percent of the overall gene pool and has neurons equal to the n...