Just 25 minutes of yoga and meditation a day to increase happiness

Practicing Hatha yoga and mindfulness meditation can improve brain function and increase energy.

Hatha yoga is one of the most popular styles of yoga in the West, and it involves physical movements and breathing exercises combined with meditation. Mindfulness meditation involves observing thoughts, emotions, and sensations with openness and acceptance.

One study found that practicing Hatha yoga or mindfulness meditation for just 25 minutes a day can enhance brain function, cognitive abilities related to goal-directed behavior, the ability to control knee-jerk emotional responses, habitual thoughts, and actions.

“Hatha yoga and mindfulness meditation both focus on the brain's conscious processing capacity for a limited set of goals such as breathing, creating postures, and reducing the processing of unnecessary information,” says Peter Hall, associate professor at the University of Waterloo, Canada.

“These two functions can have a positive effect after a period of practice, practitioners can easily focus on what they pay attention to in daily life,” said Mr. Hall.

Thirty-one study participants completed 25 minutes of Hatha yoga, 25 minutes of mindfulness meditation, and 25 minutes of silent reading in a random order. Results showed that after both yoga and mindfulness activities, participants performed better on functional tasks than after reading.

Research has also found that both mindfulness meditation and Hatha yoga are effective in improving energy levels, but Hatha yoga has a more powerful effect than meditation alone. The meditative aspect is more important than the poses to improve function, but Hatha yoga does help improve flexibility and strength.

There are several theories as to why exercises like yoga improve energy and cognitive function: it releases endorphins, increases blood flow to the brain, and reduces focus on unnecessary thoughts.

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