US Military Will Develop Brain Implants To Treat PTSD

DARPA’s SUBNETS program seeks new neurotechnology for analyzing neuronal activity across sub-networks of the brain to enable next-generation therapies tailored to individual patients. Courtesy DARPA

Roughly 2.8 million men and women have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it’s estimated that up to 20 percent of those individuals will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder upon returning home.

In light of this sobering statistic, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has embarked on a 5-year, $70 million project to develop electronic devices that can be implanted in brains to treat PTSD and other psychological problems faced by military personnel. The new devices would both monitor and stimulate specific neural circuits in order to train the brain to function correctly.

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Massachusetts General Hospital are leading the effort, which is part of President Barack Obama’s larger BRAIN Initiative.

Playing With Plasticity

There are already more than 100,000 people around the world using deep brain stimulation to ease the involuntary muscle movements associated with Parkinson’s disease. DARPA will begin its project by studying those patients to record neural behavior. Many of these patients also suffer from anxiety and depression, so researchers also hope to map the specific brain circuits implicated in these illnesses.

Then, scientists will build electronic brain implants to stimulate the malfunctioning cells — down to a single neuron — associated with disorders such as PTSD and depression.

“If we are able to understand how the circuit has gone awry, that may give us some very critical clues as to how we may be able to reverse that,” Eddie Chang, a neuroscientist at USF, told NPR. 

The project hinges upon the brain’s ability to change, called plasticity. By stimulating brain cells that are firing incorrectly, the brain adapts and corrects itself. The devices would record activity, stimulate the brain, and automatically adjust as the brain’s circuits heal.

Mastering Mental Disease

Over the next five years, researchers will need to meet specific benchmarks, which will culminate with a submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval. Although DARPA’s project will first focus on military personnel, the project has the potential to benefit everyone.

“The neurotechnologies we will work to develop… could give new tools to the medical community to treat patients who don’t respond to other therapies, and new knowledge to the neuroscience community to expand the understanding of brain function,” said DARPA program manager Justin Sanchez.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/05/27/u-s-military-will-develop-brain-implants-to-treat-ptsd/#.U4inT3JdVIG

In this artist’s concept, a miniature electronic device placed between a patient’s skull and scalp would serve as an interface between a series of electrodes placed at varying depths in different regions of the brain and a clinician who could wirelessly review neurological data recorded by the electrodes and communicate with the device to prescribe tailored therapies. Photos on either side show a sampling of existing devices that could serve as inspiration or building blocks for SUBNETS technologies. DARPA will evaluate multiple designs from both performer teams over the course of the program. (Image courtesy of Massachusetts General Hospital and Draper Labs)

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/05/27/u-s-military-will-develop-brain-implants-to-treat-ptsd/#.U4inT3JdVIG

Tune Into The Wisdom Within!

21 May 2014 by Carmen Burby

Our body is intelligently equipped with everything it requires to serve us efficiently and effectively during the journey that is our physical existence. 

Recall

We need to recall times in which we felt wonderfully in tune with ourselves, when we felt at ease with our environment at home, at work, or with friends and so forth.  For example, it could be a simple walk in nature on a sunny day, a sunset or sunrise, your favourite place, sharing a meal with friends, sitting in a garden bathed in warm sunshine, watching a child at play, a successful meeting with a client, a party you attended looking beautiful and radiant or just remembering the look of people on a sunny day.  Hold that memory and feel it, sense it, savour it, smell it, touch it, see it and embrace the recollection of that beautiful experience.  Would you agree with me that we feel and look more relaxed, happier and friendlier when we recall happy moments?

Spring Cleaning 

             Our Subconscious / Conscious Mind 

                       (In The Broad Sense)

•  Subconscious Mind

It would be good if from time to time we try to do some mental spring cleaning, decluterring our minds as it were, disposing of unwanted material that does not serve us anymore.  It could be said that since our early formative years we have been storing memories in a generally random and indiscriminate manner. 

We stored everything, both good and bad events.  This is the work of the Subconscious Mind, which acts like a sponge.  Cannot reason, receives impressions and simple absorbs and works as it were on autopilot.  It does not actively filter or discriminate between the negative and positive impressions it receives.  It is like a bin in which you put anything.  It is the reservoir of all that we experience in life.  It accepts whatever is thrown into it!

• Conscious Mind or The Intellect

As we develop we start to reason and challenge certain beliefs and principles that do not serve us anymore.  This is the work of our Conscious Mind, which reasons, discriminates, takes action and does not work on autopilot like a machine, but it is fallible and prone to make mistakes.  In taking action we make mistakes.  We did not perform as well as we hoped, we failed and felt disappointed but we can and will do better with perseverance, and we can correct a mistake.  However, if we do nothing at all we do not have anything to correct.  Therefore, we must draw our own personal conclusions on what changes we need to make and what needs to be done in order to effect those changes!  Thus, we need to adjust, and make the necessary corrections and in this way we start to grow.  Mistakes may seem like obstacles to success, but they can propel us towards our ultimate goal if we choose to learn from them.

• Would I be right in saying that at this stage you are thinking that I know these two concepts already, but how can I start cleansing my subconscious of the unwanted material which is no longer beneficial to me?

To answer this question, I will base my reply on Swami Visnu-devananda’s book The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga.  At page 267 he says that “instead of guiding and giving proper suggestions with the developed intellect, man interferes with the natural work of the subconscious through wrong suggestions and thus adds miseries to his life.  However, with the help of the subconscious mind, we can change vicious nature by cultivating healthy, virtuous qualities that are opposed to undesirable ones.  If we want to overcome fear, we must concentrate on the opposite quality, courage.  The positive always overcomes the negative.  Even distasteful tasks and duties can be changed by cultivating a desire and taste for them.  All actions, pleasures, and experiences leave subtle impressions on the subconscious mind”.

In this way, by depositing opposite positive impressions in our subconscious mind we are burning as it were the negative impressions, which are impeding our development and causing us misery.  So, in this way the more spring-cleaning we do the more room we make for more positive impressions. 

Conclusion

In our daily lives, when we experience some daunting and trying times, no matter how busy we might be, we can just close our eyes for a few seconds to bring inner awareness and tune into ourselves with our active conscious mind to access the positive deposits we made in our subconscious mind. 

Hold a memory and feel it, sense it, savour it, smell it, touch it, see it and embrace the reminiscence of that beautiful experience.  Would you agree with me in saying that we feel and look more relaxed, happier and friendlier when we recall happy moments?

NB:

This blog is based on the teachings of Swami Visnu-devananda as outlined in his book The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga and of Swami Jyotirmayananda, who is the Director of the Sivananda Yoga Centre in London who recently led a workshop on Yoga and Stress management.  The workshop was like a beacon, which enlightened me and inspired me to write a few lines on this subject, but in reality I am only skimming the surface of the theme.

© 2014 Carmen Burby.   htpp://www.energysprings.blogspot.com

Yoga At Home - Ten Steps

10 Steps of Yoga at Home

8 May 2014 by Carmen Burby

          It is an understatement to say that time is our most precious commodity.  There are times when we literally try to manage it more efficiently by eliminating certain activities that we believe are less fundamental to our regimented life style.  We tend to give priority to our immediate, most pressing external responsibilities, thus neglecting ourselves, sometimes reaching the inevitably point of exhaustion. 

With this in mind, the Ten Steps of Yoga at Home was created to assist you in your personal journey of discovery towards a healthier and happier way of life. 

1.	Choose A Space For Your Practice.  Arrange a small area in your home where you can place your mat and that allows you to lay your arms alongside your body, above your head and stretched out on the floor at 90 degrees to your body.  Nearby obstacles should be avoided to allow total freedom of movement.
2.	Purchase a CD or DVD If you are a beginner an instructional CD or DVD or MP3 / MP4 will guide through your initial practice.  However, if you are an experienced yogi you may like to create your own practice.  You can choose your media depending on what you would like to achieve from your class.  Maybe you would like to have a dynamic class, which will include fast paced exercises, or maybe you would prefer to have a relaxing class with gentle, meditative and therapeutic exercises.  So, choose the appropriate accompaniment for your personal journey.
3.	Establish A Regular Daily Routine Choose a time, which you can devote entirely to yourself without external interruptions.  If you have limited time available you may allow yourself between 15 – 30 minutes, with the ultimate aim of maintaining a full two-hour session.  This time, solely dedicated to yourself, will nurture you and promote your well being by creating a more relaxed, peaceful and energised person.
4.	Create An Intention Decide what your intention is for the day’s practice.  What do I want to achieve?  To attain a balanced mind?  To manage daily stress? To stay relaxed so I am able to handle anything in a calm manner? To develop compassion?  To empower myself to change my life style?  To heal? Or do I want to dedicate my practice to a friend who is in need?  Throughout your practice try to focus on your intention.
5.	Concentrate On A Mantra Start your practice by chanting your preferred mantra or your own mantra if you have one, or you may simply repeat the universal mantra OM three times.  The focus on the mantra prepares us mentally and spiritually for the class.
6.	Breathing Exercise I believe it is a good practice to perform a breathing exercise at the beginning of your practice as it prepares you for your session by helping the body eliminate large quantities of carbon dioxide and other impurities.  This permits the red blood cells to absorb more oxygen, increasing the richness of the blood as Swami Sivananda mentions in his new book of yoga.  Thus, you will feel alert and inspired for the practice to come.
7.	The Practice Depending on how much time you have allowed for your day’s practice, start by focusing on your intention, then your mantra, the breathing exercise and Sun Salutation followed by the main postures (asanas).  If your time is very limited try doing the Sun Salutation, which consists of 12 bending and stretching postures (asanas).  It is aimed at warming up, adding flexibility to the spine and toning the entire body and its performance assists greatly in the subsequent execution of the asanas.  Always conclude with the final relaxation.
8.	Final Relaxation The session ends with the final relaxation.  Lying down in Savasana (corpse pose) for at least 10 minutes to relax every part of your body.  Swami Sivananda says “It is vital that you integrate this relaxation time into your asana session right from the start.  Otherwise the mind may find an excuse to leave it out and you will not absorb the full effects of the asanas”  (The New Book of Yoga – The Sivananda Yoga Centre).
9.	Patience Is A Virtue Be consistent in your practice and avoid self-criticism.  At whatever stage you are at in your practice try to concentrate on your own experience.  There are a number of magazines, which depict experienced practitioners in advanced postures and on seeing them one may think I will never be able to achieve these postures.  Be patient with yourself, your practice is a personal journey.
10.	Closing Your Practice / Gratitude Feel grateful for having given yourself the opportunity to have this new experience and acknowledge the benefits you are accumulating within. Close your practice by chanting OM 3 times. Om Namah Sivaya (I salute the divine within you)
Addendum
	I hope you will be consistent in your practice to give yourself the opportunity to fully understand and feel the benefits of this beautiful practice.  Approach every class with curiosity.   The guidance outlined above is just a template on which to build your practice.
	Wishing you an enlightened journey along the road to discovering the richness of Yoga! © 2014 Carmen Burby.   htpp://www.energysprings.blogspot.com