Your Health: THE Most Profoundly Transformative 12 Min.

KIRTAN KRIYA

In all of my Alzheimer’s prevention and brain health exploration, this is definitely one of the most exciting, profoundly transformative discoveries that I’ve learned about thus far:

A well researched 12 minute yogic singing meditation called Kirtan Kriya can have enormously positive health and wellness results:

What studies in conjunction with the Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation (ARPF) have found is that this simple 12 minute meditation can have profound benefits for one’s overall health, brain, memory, mood, energy, genes, cells, immune system, sleep and psychological and spiritual well-being.

Benefits reported include:

• better blood flow to the brain
• decrease in depression
• inflammation decrease
• decrease in memory loss
• increase in healthy genes
• increase in telomerase!

Practiced over an eight week period, improvements on cognitive performance on memory testing improved and changes were detected on the cellular level.  A groundbreaking study at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior’s Longevity Center researched the practice. Their evidence showed that telomerase was increased! Those are enzymes linked to structures at the ends of our chromosomes, which affect how our cells age. In fact, telomerase was increased by 43 percent, the largest increase ever recorded. (Telomeres are protective “caps” on the tips of eukaryotic chromosomes. Telomerease can extend telomeres, which is positive since longer telomeres are associated with longevity whereas shorter telomeres are associated with diseases/aging.)

What is Kirtan Kriya? It is a multi-sensory yogic singing exercise with mudras (hand gestures) reported to enhance brain and mental health, increase longevity, and keep the mind sharp, help people live longer and better and it can help alleviate some chronic illnesses– potentially expanding not just lifespan but healthspan.

If any of you are like me, and you still struggle with mindfulness practices that aim for stillness and an attempt at clearing the mind …. this may be a well-suited alternative to try.

The Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation has conducted research and discovered health and longevity benefits in conjunction with some of the leading medical schools in America including the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA and University of California-San Francisco, where Dr. Khalsa, medical director of ARPF did his anesthesiology residency.

From the ARPF website:

Click below for more from THE ALZHEIMER’S RESEARCH & PREVENTION FOUNDATION on Kirtan Kriya

Kirtan Kriya Yoga Singing Exercise

An explanation from Dr. Helen Levretsky from the Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior- UCLA Longevity Center:

Link to research:

(UCLA) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22407663       Pub Med synopsis           Pub Med article

Here is an animated YouTube Video that I play on my phone to utilize as an auditory (and if needed, visual) guide to cue me through the multisensory yogic exercise/meditation.

I continue to be astounded by how impactful these 12 minutes can be. It seems to me an ideal practice for those of us with busy brains! It’s been proven to help caregivers, and one can only imagine the positive effect that could be had if it were to be mainstreamed for kids– for first responders, teachers– anyone wishing to increase lifespan and healthspan or create more ease in their lives.

Any questions? Feel free to reach out, comment and share!

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Best regards,

Michelle Gillette