Articles in: Meditation

Working with the mind through meditation is one of the precepts of Ayurveda and one of its greatest offerings. Many people today, while ready and willing to begin a meditation practice, find their path riddled with stumbling blocks and either abandon their efforts or find it hard to build consistency in their practice. John Douillard and the LifeSpa team set out to make powerful meditation techniques – as well as its sister practices of yoga and breathing exercises – accessible and applicable to our busy modern lives.

Brainwave Benefits of Yoga for Stress, Anxiety + Depression

by John Douillard on November 26, 2019 | Leave a Comment

Yoga + the Brain Yoga, including physical postures (asana), breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation, have been studied extensively. Yoga has so many benefits, but for this article, I will focus on its effect on the brain and brainwaves. Studies show that yoga decreases anxiety while boosting cognitive function.1 A meta-analysis of 15 studies found that […]

Train Your Nervous System for a Longer Life: Meditation + REST Protein

by John Douillard on November 21, 2019 | 1 Comment

How is Your Nervous System? What are you doing to calm your nervous system? Keeping your cool on the inside may be more important than you think! A new study in one of the world’s most prestigious journals (Nature) may have just proven a fundamental Ayurvedic principle,1 showing that nervous system activity is linked to […]

Top 10 Ayurvedic Life Hacks

by John Douillard on October 26, 2019 | 8 Comments

Ayurvedic medicine is rich in time-tested wisdom, backed by good science, which we would now call life hacks. Some of these ancient health-promoting strategies are on the top of my list to helps us live longer, healthier, and happier during our stay here on earth. Here are my top ten! Dr. John’s Top 10 Ayurvedic […]

091: Ayurvedic Lifestyle + Psychology with Dr. John Douillard

by John Douillard on October 2, 2019 | Leave a Comment

If you are exhausted at the end of each day, fighting against the current, and using your weekends just to recover from your busy week, this podcast is for you!

Kapalabhati Breathing for Blood Sugar, Weight Loss + Brain Cleansing: the Science

by John Douillard on September 19, 2019 | 6 Comments

Pranayama, Nitric Oxide + Stress Reduction As rising levels of stress are linked to ever-rising levels of chronic disease, researchers look to time-tested stress reducing techniques to break this cycle. Recently, more and more studies are published on the science of breathing, also called pranayama. The word prana means life force and ayama means to […]

Science Behind Slow Eating

by John Douillard on September 14, 2019 | 5 Comments

Eating Slow Feels Good! Years ago, I co-directed an Ayurvedic in-residence wellness center with Dr. Deepak Chopra. We prescribed Ayurvedic treatments and guided patients through 1-3 week detoxification and rejuvenation programs. The organization we worked for had a handful of centers around the country, but ours was for more serious conditions, such as cancer and […]

The Big Bang! Akashic Records + Ayurveda

by John Douillard on September 5, 2019 | 11 Comments

Quantum Big Bang Since the days of Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Nikola Tesla, Niels Bohr, and others who introduced quantum physics, scientists have explored the origins of the universe through that lens. The result is a new paradigm replacing the notion that the world consists of bits of matter randomly colliding in space, materializing after […]

The Hidden Power of Yoga Nidra

by John Douillard on August 6, 2019 | 2 Comments

Yoga nidra has become a popular and effective relaxation tool common in many yoga studios. But it is not always practiced with an understanding of its original purpose. Translated, yoga nidra combines yoga, union of mind, body, and consciousness, and nidra, sleep. Strictly translated, yoga nidra is the ability to sleep while maintaining a state […]

089: Yoga Nidra with Rod Stryker

by John Douillard on August 5, 2019 | 1 Comment

Yoga nidra has become a popular and effective relaxation tool common in many yoga studios. But it is not always practiced with an understanding of its original purpose. Yogarupa Rod Stryker has taught yoga nidra for 40 years and has a book coming out called Enlightened Sleep. I’m very excited to bring him onto the podcast, where we dive deep into yoga nidra.

Kaya Kalpa Cleanse: Stem Cell Activation + Longevity

by John Douillard on July 29, 2019 | 10 Comments

The world may not need another cleanse, but the cleanse I’m introducing to you is not new—in fact, it is thousands of years old: perhaps the oldest Ayurvedic detox of all! There is one catch: this cleanse, the LifeSpa Kaya Kalpa Cleanse, is NOT for everyone. It’s more aggressive than our first two cleanses, the […]

Nature’s RDA for Healing

by John Douillard on July 16, 2019 | Leave a Comment

Don’t you feel better after being outdoors? Nature walking, forest bathing, hiking, and just being in the wilderness have been shown to offer numerous health and psychological benefits, but how much time is needed in the woods to get these benefits? A new study published in Scientific Reports finds two hours a week is minimum […]

God is Back: The Science of Spirituality

by John Douillard on July 13, 2019 | 13 Comments

Just when the world has decided to become less religious, science, which has beaten the secular drum for decades, may change its tune! Some of our greatest scientific minds now suggest with confidence that there is an intelligence behind the order of the universe.2 The scientific tide is shifting; there may in fact be a […]