<p>This is a review by Gunanidhi Sharma of B. P. Shrestha, <em>Nepalese Economy in Retrospect and Prospect</em>.</p>
<p>This is a review by Prayag Raj Sharma of Suraj Subba, <em>Botes: The Ferrymen of Tanahun</em>.</p>
<p>This is a review by Dilli Raj Sharma of T. R. Vaidya, Triratna Manandhar, and Shankar Lal Joshi, <em>Social History of Nepal</em>.</p>
Wellness is now seen as central to redefining the National Health agenda. There is growing evidence that contact with nature and physical activity in nature has considerable positive effects on human health. At the most basic level humanity is reliant on the natural world for resources such as air and water. However, a growing body of research is finding that beyond this fundamental relationship exposure to the non-human natural world can also positively enhance perceptions of physiological, emotional, psychological and spiritual health in ways that cannot be satisfied by alternate means. Theoretical explanations for this have posited that non-human nature might 1) restore mental fatigue, 2) trigger deep reflections, 3) provide an opportunity for nurturing and 4) rekindle innate connections. In this paper the authors show how an individual's experience of wellness is strongly connected to their relationship with the natural world. This paper points to how non-human nature could be better utilised for enhancing human health and wellness.
<br><b>Introduction:</b> Physical activity is known to improve self-esteem of children. Low self-esteem causes distraction of attention which leads to decline in performance in attentional tasks. The performance of a child at school depends on multiple factors, a major factor being attention. Hence, the present study was designed to see (i) the effect 4½ months of yoga practice had on children's (a) performance in attentional tasks, (b) self-esteem and (ii) the correlation between yoga performance and (a) academic performance, (b) behavior with peers, (c) behavior with teachers, (d) punctuality, (e) participation in extra-curricular activities. <b>Methods:</b> Participants were 116 children with group mean age ± standard deviation; 10.2 ± 0.6 years. We assessed them for (i) self-esteem using Indian Adaptation of Battle's Self Esteem Inventory for Children and (ii) performance in attentional tasks using two different tests, i.e., six letter cancellation test (SLCT) and digit letter substitution test (DLST) and (iii) the teacher's rating scale which analyzed the teacher's assessment of the children's academic performance, behavior with peers, behavior with teachers, punctuality, yoga practice, and participation in extracurricular activities on an analog scale, before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed with PASW (SPSS Statistics 24) using the <i>t</i>-test for paired data. <b>Results:</b> There was a significant improvement in the scores of (i) SLCT (<i>P</i> < 0.001), (ii) DLST (<i>P</i> < 0.001), (iii) social self-esteem (<i>P</i> < 0.01), (iv) academic self-esteem (<i>P</i> < 0.001), and (v) total self-esteem (<i>P</i> < 0.001) after 60 min/day of yoga practice for 4½ months. Pearson correlation showed a positive correlation between yoga performance and the behavior with teachers (<i>r</i> = 0.221 and <i>P</i> < 0.05). <b>Conclusions:</b> Yoga practice is beneficial for school children as it improves attention, concentration, memory, motor speed, and self-esteem (social, academic and total). In addition, improved yoga performance improves behavior with teachers, thus improving discipline in school.<br>
With yoga becoming more popular, have you become curious about yoga, kids/children's yoga, and are looking for tools that can help you learn yoga in a fun and safe way? Maybe you are a parent, teacher, or caregiver and are looking for ways to introduce yoga to yourself and kids/children? Maybe you are a kid's/children's yoga teacher and are looking for new ideas for the group? Maybe you are an adult yoga teacher and looking for ways to introduce kid's yoga?Yoga is becoming much more mainstream, and many school teachers, yoga teachers, guidance counselors, gym teachers, parents, grandparents, and caregivers are incorporating children/kid's yoga into yoga studios, classrooms and at home as a regular activity. This educational and fun book can help guide you!This book provides step-by-step instructions of yoga poses and coloring pages that focus on feeling grounded, improving concentration and self-control in all children ages 6-12 that teachers and parents can easily use. Based on my 15 years of experience as a children/kid's yoga teacher, these yoga poses and power thoughts can also benefit kids with ADHD and other special needs. There are 15 kid's yoga poses total outlined in this book. The goal of all of the yoga poses and power thoughts are to help kids Feel Grounded, Improve Concentration & Self-Control. The overall framework and order of the yoga poses in this book will help lay the groundwork for a structured and safe routine that helps the children and teacher. Best of all, this is aiding in setting the foundation for a life-long tradition of well-being and fitness.The step-by-step instructions make it easy for you to have fun learning and doing yoga with children.The instructions also provide an easy and safe way to learn yoga poses that aid in calming the mind, strengthen the body, and learning poses properly so that you do not risk injuring yourself or others.The power thoughts help you and the children connect the body with the mind and spirit which in turn helps you and the kids learn calming techniques and ways to improve your/their concentration. The coloring pages provide an engaging way for kids and adults to remember what the poses look like, what the power thoughts are, and discuss the benefits of the yoga poses and power thoughts. Moreover, the coloring pages are a great tool to help the kids learn and remember more easily! Feel confident that you will be creating a healthy and safe foundation in body, mind, spirit and overall well-being for your child and all children/kids you teach yoga.
PURPOSE: Breast cancer is a significant public health problem all over the world. The treatment of breast cancer has many side effects. Yoga has been suggested as an integrative form of therapy for breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to systematically review yoga interventions for breast cancer and determine the efficacy of these interventions as integrative modalities of treatment in altering various outcomes related to breast cancer. METHODS: Studies were included if (1) exclusively targeted breast cancer patients; (2) published between 2013 and May 2016; (3) written in the English language; (4) published in a peer-reviewed journals indexed in MEDLINE (PubMed), CINAHL, ERIC and Alt Health Watch; (5) they used any type of yoga as a part of or the whole intervention; and (6) utilized a quantitative design for evaluation. RESULTS: A total of 23 interventions met the inclusion criteria. Majority of the studies had been done in USA (n = 9), followed by Germany (n = 3), India (n = 3) and Turkey (n = 2). One study each was from Australia, Canada, Iran, Taiwan, Poland, and UK. Twenty-two of the 23 interventions had statistically significant changes in studied outcome measures. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the limitations of wide variabilities in sample size, lack of standardized approach in conducting yoga, multiplicity of outcome measures, varying durations of interventions and lack of using behavioral theories, yoga as an integrative form of therapy for breast cancer is a promising approach. More interventions utilizing yoga need to be tested.
Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have very rich tradition of herbal medicines used in the treatment of various ailments. Tribal communities practice different types of traditional healing practices. Enough documentation is available on the healing practices in other tribal communities except Mishing community of Assam and foot hill of East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh hence the attempt was made for the same. A survey on folk medicinal plants and folk healers of Mishing tribe was conducted in few places of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji district of Assam and East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, where this ethnic group is living since time immemorial. All information was collected based on interview and field studies with local healers within the community. The identification of medicinal plants collected with help of indigenous healers was done. Such medicines have been shown to have significant healing power, either in their natural state or as the source of new products processed by them. This study is mainly concentrated with plants used to cure diseases and to enquire about different healing systems. Detail note on the method of preparation of precise dose, the part/parts of plants used and method of application is given.
Background: Central obesity is associated with a higher risk of disease. Previously yoga reduced the BMI and waist circumference (WC) in persons with obesity. Additional anthropometric measures and indices predict the risk of developing diseases associated with central obesity. Hence the present study aimed to assess the effects of 12 weeks of yoga or nutritional advice on these measures. The secondary aim was to determine the changes in quality of life (QoL) given the importance of psychological factors in obesity. Material and Methods: Twenty-six adult females with central obesity in a yoga group (YOG) were compared with 26 adult females in a nutritional advice group (NAG). Yoga was practiced for 75 min/day, 3 days/week and included postures, breathing practices and guided relaxation. The NAG had one 45 min presentation/week on nutrition. Assessments were at baseline and 12 weeks. Data were analyzed with repeated measures ANOVA and post-hoc comparisons. Age-wise comparisons were with t-tests. Results: At baseline and 12 weeks NAG had higher triglycerides and VLDL than YOG. Other comparisons are within the two groups. After 12 weeks NAG showed a significant decrease in WC, hip circumference (HC), abdominal volume index (AVI), body roundness index (BRI), a significant increase in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. YOG had a significant decrease in WC, sagittal abdominal diameter, HC, BMI, WC/HC, a body shape index, conicity index, AVI, BRI, HDL cholesterol, and improved QoL. With age-wise analyses, in the 30-45 years age range the YOG showed most of the changes mentioned above whereas NAG showed no changes. In contrast for the 46-59 years age range most of the changes in the two groups were comparable. Conclusions: Yoga and nutritional advice with a diet plan can reduce anthropometric measures associated with diseases related to central obesity, with more changes in the YOG. This was greater for the 30-45 year age range, where the NAG showed no change; while changes were comparable for the two groups in the 46-59 year age range. Hence yoga may be especially useful for adult females with central obesity between 30 and 45 years of age. TRIAL REGISTRATION: (CTRI/2018/05/014077).
Critical study of basic treatise on the theory of pure conciousness (vijnaptimatrata) of the Yogacara school in Mahayana Buddhism; includes text in Sanskrit.
<p>The article attempts to sketch out the history, art, and architecture of the memorial stone-pillars named Vir Khamba of Western Nepal. They are numerous and are scattered all over the hilly region of Western Nepal. These Vir Khamba were erected by various persons and often state the name of national heroes who contributed to the nation and society as a whole. The study focuses on the Baitadi, Bajhang, Doti, Dadeldhura, Achham, Jumal, and Dailekh districts of western Nepal, which possess many of the memorial pillars, or Vir Khambas. The article includes 8 leaves of plates. (Rajeev Ranjan Singh 2007-03-04)</p>
Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) is a type of rhythmic breathing activity, trivially a form of Pranayama that stimulates physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being. The objective of the present work is to verify the effect of meditation in optimizing task efficiency and regulating stress. It builds on to quantitatively answer if SKY will increase workload tolerance for divided attention tasks in the people sank in it. EEG and ECG recordings were taken from a total of twenty-five subjects who had volunteered for the experiment. Subjects were randomly assigned to two groups of 'control' and 'experimental.' Their objective scores were collected from the experiment based on NASA's multi-attribute task battery II and was utilized for workload assessment. Both the groups had no prior experience of SKY. The experimental group was provided with an intervention of SKY for a duration of 30 min everyday. Pre- and post-meditation data were acquired from both groups over a period of 30 and 90 days. It was observed that subjective score of workload (WL) was significantly reduced in the experimental group and performance of the subject increased in terms of task performance. Another astute observation included a considerable increase and decrease in the alpha and beta energies and root mean square of the EEG signal for the experimental group and control group, respectively. In addition to this sympathovagal balance index also decreased in experimental group which indicated reduction in stress. SKY had an effect on stress regulation which in turn enhanced their WL tolerance capacity for a particular multitask activity.
Objectives: Cancer is an important public health concern, with millions of patients affected worldwide. Given the physical, psychological, and physiologic changes associated with cancer, holistic therapies are needed to treat all aspect of the disease. Design: A systematic review was conducted to determine the efficacy of yoga as a treatment option for cancer since 2010. Included studies were published from January 2010 to July 2012 and were indexed in MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Alt HealthWatch. Results: Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Eight of these studies were performed in the United States, and one each was conducted in Slovenia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Turkey. Conclusions: The evidence for efficacy of yoga as an alternative and complementary treatment for cancer is mixed, although generally positive. Limitations of the reviewed interventions included a mixed use of instruments, weak quantitative designs, small sample sizes, and a lack of theory-based studies.
Despite tremendous advancements in medicine, the number of oral cancer cases continues to increase, and the need for integrating alternate medicine or adopting an integrative approach has become a compelling cost-effective requirement for the management and treatment of diseases. Conventional treatment of oral cancer involves surgery followed by radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy which causes several complications including poor quality of life and high chances of recurrence of cancer. Oral cancer is often linked with obesity which is major risk factors in other cancers. Apart from obesity, oral cancer is thought to have an inverse relation with neurodegenerative disorders presumably because cell death decreases in the former case and increases in the latter. Ancient mind-body techniques such as yoga have not been adequately tested as a tool to synergize the cellular equilibrium pertaining to the treatment of oral cancer. Nerve growth factor (NGF), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) are among the early experimental cellular biomarkers that may be used to probe the modulation of oral cancer, obesity, and neurodegenerative disorders. Yoga has been reported to influence these molecules in healthy individuals but whether their expression can be altered in patients of oral cancer by yoga intervention is the subject of this research being discussed in this review article. Therefore, the present article not only reviews the current status of research studies in oral cancer, obesity, and neurodegenerative disorders but also how these are linked to each other and why the investigations of the putative NGF pathway, involving TNF-alpha and IL-6, could provide useful clues to understand the molecular effects brought about by yoga intervention in such patients.
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