Category Archives: Deep Mind
Trump’s scorched-earth handling of environment extends to oceans too – Las Vegas Sun
Monday, June 29, 2020 | 2 a.m.
President Donald Trumps cruelty to the environment and wildlife clearly is never far from the top of his mind. He proved it again this month when, with the coronavirus pandemic heating up again and Black Lives Matter protests, he took a special trip to Maine.
There, he issued a proclamation allowing commercial fishing to resume in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, a pristine swath of the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Cod.
Trumps timing during National Ocean Month was no doubt chosen for full sadistic effect as he erased protections established under President Barack Obama.
The nearly 5,000-square-mile monument, the only one of its kind in the Atlantic, is home to an amazing array of life endangered whales, 1,000-year-old deep-sea coral beds, a huge number of fish and seabird species, rare marine life found nowhere else in the world, and more.
It was like swimming through Dr. Seuss garden, a research scientist told the Rhode Island-based environmental watchdog news organization ecoRI News. From the very first research trip out to the canyons and later to the seamounts, it was obvious these were special places.
But Trump, in his scorched-earth campaign to erase Obamas legacy and ruin the environment, decided to let management of the fisheries in this special place go back to a regional fishery management council that contains members of the commercial fishing industry.
Trump made it sound as if Obama had stolen the area from fishing interests, but that wasnt the case. Commercial crab and lobster fishers had been allowed to maintain operations there, and recreational fishing was permitted as well. In fact, the government had moved the boundary of the monument to provide access to some of the more fertile fishing areas.
And while the industry lobbied to reopen the area, critics say that closing it off had almost no impact on fishing quotas and productivity of the regional industry.
Environmental organizations immediately filed suit, to their credit. Heres hoping they succeed in regaining protection for the monument.
For Nevadans, the issue may seem far away and not a cause for particular alarm at a time of crisis.
But amid increasingly loud alarms about the disastrous effects of global warming, pollution and overfishing on the oceans, protecting the health and biodiversity of the seas is critical for everyone on the planet. One study last year in the journal Science showed that fish populations declined as much as 35% in some areas between 1930 and 2010, while the global population exploded.
Now seafood supplies in some areas are on the verge of collapsing altogether, which needless to say would have calamitous results on the worldwide food chain. And since fish is the primary source of protein for a significant portion of the world, especially the Third World, a collapse would inevitably lead to massive global unrest. Carefully conserving the oceans, nurturing sea life and ensuring that it survives to continue feeding the world is an utmost national security interest.
Against that backdrop, protections for areas like the monument should be expanded, not removed. Keep in mind that while 5,000 square miles might seem like a big area, it actually makes up just 0.012% of the Atlantic Ocean, which spans more than 41 million square miles.
There are four such monuments in the Pacific, which are all but certain to also be targeted by Trump. In fact, the administration indicated last week that it was looking at feeding two of those areas both established by President George W. Bush to the wolves.
If theres a glimmer of good news in terms of the Atlantic monument, its that Obamas protections already survived a court challenge filed by the fishing industry. The courts ruled that Obama had authority to create the monument.
Now, attorneys for the environmentalists who are opposing Trumps reversal argue that the Antiquities Act, under which presidents are authorized to protect monuments, gives Congress only the power to undo or alter those actions.
We can hope for another favorable ruling. But in November, we can take the issue into our own hands by voting this destructive president out of office.
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Trump's scorched-earth handling of environment extends to oceans too - Las Vegas Sun
Decoding the link between Artificial Neural Networks and Deep Learning Algorithms – Analytics Insight
Decoding the link between Artificial Neural Networks and Deep Learning Algorithms
The idea of creating intelligent systems has always fascinated data science professionals. The advent of computers and technology uplifts the notion that an algorithm that can learn from itself and adapt to changing model inputs. The art of self-learning algorithms helping data science with valuable information is an uncharted territory that AI-powered neural networks would like to explore more, courtesy the growing interest of professionals and technology experts alike.
To understand the complexities of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) lets first decode how our brain learns and relearns from different experiences. The human brain is made up of interconnected networks, these are called neurons. These neurons are responsible for processing different pieces of information. Lets understand through the concept of a hierarchy pyramid. Our brain is composed of different levels, and each level is responsible for decoding and understanding information from the surroundings.
As information passes on through layers from different levels arranged hierarchically, each layer of neurons understand, process, gather knowledgeable insight, and pass this information to the next layer in the hierarchy. Thus, ensuring the information which reaches on the pinnacle of the pyramid is intelligently accurate and without any bias.
Lets understand the Artificial Neural Network through food!
For example, when you get a whiff of something delicious cooking, for instance, a loaf of banana bread with chocolate chips baking your brain may process the information as I smell banana bread and chocolate chips, (thats your data input) I love banana bread with chocolate chips! (thought) Ill eat a lot of banana bread with chocolate chips (decision making) Oh, but they add to calories, I promised to go on a diet (memory) But, one slice wont hurt? (reasoning) I will have one slice for sure! (final course of action).
Now back to technology!
Likewise, ANNs seek to simulate information passing through layers of networks or interconnected brain cells, to let them learn and make decisions in a realistically human like manner. This is the layered approach to process information that ANNs strive to simulate. The human brain is complex and replicating it is a tough task, however, in its simplest form, an ANN can comprise of three layers of neurons-
1. The input layer (for data input)
2. The hidden layer (information processing layer)
3. The output layer (decision-making step).
A lot happens in the hidden layer, often called as the black box of ANN decision making point. The black box can add up to multiple hidden layers for the flow of information from one layer to another, just like what happens inside the human brain.
Deep learning seeks to understand what exactly happens within those hidden layers of the ANN. Representing the very cutting edge of Artificial Intelligence (AI), an algorithm trains itself to process and learn from data that is injected into the model in the input layer.
How is that possible? Thanks to the hidden layer of ANNs which is also called a deep neural network (DNNs), or in simple words deep learning. It is a self-teaching algorithm that filters information through multiple hidden layers same as a human mind does. Here are some interesting concepts and viewpoints of deep learning-
Goodfellow, Bengio and Courville explained that while shallow neural networks are trained to handle complex problems, deep learning networks add to accuracy as more neuron layers are added in the information hierarchy.
These additional layers can yield maximum accuracy till the 9th or 10th layer, after which a decline is observed in their predictive power.
At present, most ANNs and implementations deploy a maximum of 3-10 deep network neuron layers.
To make DNNs learn increasingly complex algorithms for accurate prediction, classification, several features run behind the black box, adding more layers to the hidden layer is one of them. More layers and more neurons do represent complex models with greater accuracy, but at the same time, data science experts must compute the cost and time aspect in model building.
The tech world is looking forward to achieve the perfect balance blending time, cost, model building and accuracy in predictions with deep neural networks, to solve the complex classification and prediction tasks in a jiffy.
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Kamalika Some is an NCFM level 1 certified professional with previous professional stints at Axis Bank and ICICI Bank. An MBA (Finance) and PGP Analytics by Education, Kamalika is passionate to write about Analytics driving technological change.
Why Facebook chose to open its first European A.I. lab in Paris and not London – CNBC
Director of Facebook AI Research Yann LeCun
Getty Images
Facebook's chief AI scientist has revealed why the social media giant decided to open an AI research lab in Paris as opposed to London or another European city.
The Facebook AI Research (FAIR) unit was first announced in late 2013 and the company said at the time it would set up a European branch. After considering its options, Facebook launched FAIR Paris in 2015.
"The original idea was to open it in London," said Yann LeCun on a press call. "It would be the logical place for Facebook given that Facebook has a large engineering lab in London."
Facebook has thousands of staff in London and it employs more technical people in the U.K. capital than it does in any other European city.
LeCun said after some analysis it turned out that "the ecosystem of talent was much more open and available in continental Europe, and particularly in Paris."
"Clearly, there is a lot more competition in London than there is in Paris," LeCun told CNBC in a follow up Q&A. "In London there was DeepMind, Microsoft Research in Cambridge, and there were a couple of others."
He said they "occupied the terrain" and there were some concerns about "going on their turf."
FAIR Paris is now one of Facebook's three main AI labs worldwide along with New York and Menlo Park, California.
It is home to about 30 permanent research scientists and 20 research engineers, LeCun said. Unlike Facebook's other AI labs, FAIR Paris is also home to a large number of resident PhD students.
Tech companies have spent the last decade aggressively bulking up their AI teams with machine-learning experts capable of building software that can learn how to perform tasks itself.
Google acquired DeepMind for a reported $600 million in 2014 and today it competes directly with the Facebook AI Research group and other AI labs like OpenAI, which was cofounded by Elon Musk.
DeepMind, which sits under Google parent company Alphabet today, employs around 1,000 people and the overwhelming majority of those are based in London.
FAIR also now has smaller sites in Seattle, Pittsburgh, Tel Aviv, Montreal and London.
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Why Facebook chose to open its first European A.I. lab in Paris and not London - CNBC
Stranger Things: David Harbour compares Hopper to Gandalf the White – lcbcradio.com
David Harbour has compared Hopper to Galdalf the White.
The 'Stranger Things' star has teased his character's involvement in the highly anticipated fourth season of the Netflix sci-fi show, and he compared his alter ego to the literary wizard's resurrection in the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy.
Referring to Hopper's daughter Sarah, he told Deadline: "I've always sort of hung onto this idea that the only way to reconnect with that Sarah character, and the fact that the only villain in a sense was Hopper, because she had cancer.
"There was no bad guy.
"I've always felt that he, in some sense, had to die, so I think they've crafted something really beautiful where in a sense he does sacrifice himself, and as we've seen from the teaser, he's resurrected, almost in my mind, like a Gandalf the White."
Production for the upcoming series had to be halted due to the coronavirus pandemic, and there's currently no word on how or when filming can resume.
However David, 45, has opened up about what fans can expect from the new season, and he teased a "darker palette" for Hopper.
He added: "Hopper is the American in that Russian prison, and to me, what happens in this season--first of all it's very epic and very big in a 'Stranger Things' way.
"There's monsters, there's horrors, there's scares, there's also like great 'Indiana Jones'-type action, but also we get to see some of Hopper's really deep backstory that we've hinted at with the boxes in season two, and I'm really excited to let people see these really deep colors in him.
"Each season we see a different side of him, and last season he was sort of wacky... now I think he's painted in a bit of a darker palette and he's able to express some of these really deep things in him, which we haven't really known yet.
"It's been hinted at, but we don't really know."
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Stranger Things: David Harbour compares Hopper to Gandalf the White - lcbcradio.com
Deftones’ ‘White Pony’: 10 Things We Learned From Chino Moreno – Revolver Magazine
The Prince of Darkness appeared without warning to Chino Moreno at the supermarket. It was 1999, and the singer had just stepped away from a Deftones recording session in West Hollywood to grab a snack, only to find Ozzy Osbourne in the checkout line. "I didn't talk to him," Moreno recalls of that early encounter, one more in a series of weird events that season. "He was paying for his stuff and sort of fumbling with his money. It was just surreal."
When Moreno got back to Larrabee Studios, he finished the lyrics to a new song, "Teenager," already filling his head. He still sounds excited as he looks back on that time and the making of White Pony, the milestone album that Deftones offered up to an unsuspecting world on June 20th, 2000.
It remains at the center of his band's legacy for deep, mind-expanding thunder, with songs like "Change (In the House of Flies)," "Elite" and "Passenger" that remain essential fan favorites. To celebrate, Deftones are planning a White Pony reissue (still in the works) that will include a whole companion-piece remix album called Black Stallion.
At the time, the band had already gone through a creative awakening on 1997's Around the Fur, stepping further away from the popular nu-metal sound of the moment for something completely their own raw, emotional, heavy, ethereal, mysterious. White Pony followed up by taking that sound deeper.
The album was written and recorded over many months across California by the classic Deftones lineup: Moreno, guitarist Stephen Carpenter, bassist Chi Cheng, drummer Abe Cunningham, and the newest full member, sound scientist Frank Delgado, DJ and keyboardist. The band's direction was at least partly inspired by the brooding trip-hop textures of DJ Shadow and Massive Attack, among others.
"We just had this idea of a sound and we wanted to experiment with that," recalls Moreno. "It was taking a chance, when we were already kind of successful for being a 'metal' leaning act, but it didn't feel uncomfortable. It felt like a natural progression. The confidence that we had in ourselves at the time really led us to open up and try those types of things."
In commemoration of 20 years of White Pony, Moreno spoke with Revolver for an in-depth piece to come. In the meantime, here are 10 highlights from our conversation about the alt-metal classic.
1. Stephen Carpenter heads South and Chino picks up a guitar As songwriting sessions were set to begin in Sacramento for a third Deftones album, Carpenter abruptly moved to Los Angeles. The guitarist would drive up every week days at a time, but he was also beginning to work with Cypress Hill rapper B-Real on a side project in L.A. called Kush. "So he was out there and it was just us without him at our studio just tinkering around. That's when I started picking up the guitar," says Moreno, who first learned the instrument at 16, playing along to records by Smashing Pumpkins and Jane's Addiction. When he and Carpenter's guitars began mingling on White Pony, Moreno felt a new connection. "It was just really fun to play along with him, and just see where I fit in. It was just a whole other avenue that opened up."
2. The role of Maynard James KeenanFor a time during the sessions at Larrabee, Keenan turned up frequently and ended up singing with Moreno on "Passenger." The Tool singer was going to be a kind of executive producer of the recordings, says Moreno, but the role didn't stick after Keenan got busy with another new act: A Perfect Circle. "I was hanging out with him a little bit and he would come by the studio. We had this idea that he was going to executive produce," Moreno remembers. "It wasn't really clarified, but he was down to help us work on the record. So [we] wrote on a couple of songs maybe the music for 'Passenger' and the music 'Digital Bath.' And then he got really busy."
3. The band's life of parties in the Hollywood HillsAfter the sessions for White Pony moved to L.A., the band rented a house in the hills above the Sunset Strip, where things could get a little crazy. A clue to the flavor of those times can be seen in the music video for "Change (in the House of Flies)," which has Moreno singing amid scattered, shell-shocked survivors of a SoCal house party. In reality, only the cast of characters was different. "Maybe not as model-esque," he says now with a laugh, "but every night there was a party. We'd be up to the wee hours of the morning. It's funny, I remember a lot more of hanging out than actually working on the music, but somehow we got it done."
On other nights, Deftones members might land at a club and find a random assortment of celebrities and musicians, from Christina Aguilera to Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. "I didn't feel like we ever really, really fit in," he says, "but we did definitely have fun. It was kind of a whirlwind."
4. A turning point in "Digital Bath"After months of work in and out of the studio, White Pony and the evolving Deftones sound took a major leap with the ethereal, soaring, beat-driven "Digital Bath." After he finished his vocal tracking, Moreno had to hear it immediately, and took a fresh cassette copy into his rental car. "It was at night and I was just driving through Hollywood," he says. "I was just thinking to myself, 'This sounds futuristic to me. There's little elements of things that I love, but it sounds like something new.' And we just made it an hour ago. So there was a feeling of accomplishment. I sort of felt like, yeah, we're onto something."
5. "Pink Maggit" vs. "Back to School (Mini Maggit)"White Pony closes with the band's longest and least conventionally structured song up to that point. At 7:38 minutes, "Pink Maggit" is a brooding, surreal tune that came out of a chord progression from Carpenter. "In our minds, it was like our Pink Floyd moment where we're just going to get astral and see how far out of space we can go."
Even within the song's epic scope, there was a hook that the label advised could be shaped into a hit single. White Pony had already been released as an 11-song album, but the band was urged to rework one of the album's purest expressions into a shorter single and include it on a second, 12-track version of the LP. The band reluctantly went along, and included a biting rap vocal from Moreno. "It was just like, alright, let's dumb this down a little bit," says Moreno, who still considers the original album (sans "Back to School") the preferred White Pony. "We just did it and the outcome was sort of lukewarm. I think some people liked it."
6. As White Pony session got deep, Deftones took a moment to get loudThe raging song "Elite" won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance and emerged from Carpenter's sudden urge during the White Pony sessions to "hear some metal shit," recalls Moreno. The guitarist was fully on board with the sound of "Digital Bath" and other tracks, spending many months expanding the Deftones sound into layered sonic landscapes, but it was time to kick out some jams. "Stephen came up with that riff and then I just attacked it I did what I knew he would love, and came up with some scathing aggression. It's that moment of the record that's in your face and relentless. I like heavy shit, too."
7. The evolution of Chino's singing styleAs he had on Around the Fur, Moreno stepped further away from nu-metal vocals at the new sessions. The songs he sang were often less about lyrical content than pure feeling and melody, and usually inspired by the Deftones sounds around him. "I've always written melodies and words inspired by the music that I'm singing to," he says. "It all has to work together. We've never been a band where I just hand those guys some lyrics and say, 'Hey, could you guys write something to this?' I mean, that'd be awesome to experiment with, but we've just never been that band."
8. The White Pony title and famous horse icon was chosen before a single song was writtenOn the cover of White Pony is a simple outline of a horse in mid-gallop that Moreno found online, and he immediately connected to it. Recording sessions for the album had yet to begin, but he already recognized White Pony as a powerful title and image for the band. He says it was just a bit of minimalist clip art, and he shared it with the others. "Everybody gravitated towards it right away," Moreno says of the band. "Frank brought out that the pony was symbolizing how we were treading our own path. I don't think we really talked about it back then, but our one mission was to stay away from the pack. I felt like we were all trying to do that making that record."
9. White Pony's popularity grew slowlyWhite Pony is now recognized as a milestone in the evolution of Deftones' music. Many critics immediately embraced the evolving sound, but it was two years before the record reached platinum. Moreno compares its current popularity to some of his favorite albums while growing up. "The more you listen to them, the more things start revealing themselves to you, and those records usually always ended up being the ones that stand the test of time," he says. "Years would go by and you got the vibe that it's a lot of people's favorite record. Some people that don't even really know much about Deftones' discography, they know that record, you know?"
10. The White Pony documentary that wasn'tThe success of White Pony also meant a long period of touring before returning to the studio in 2002 again, and the band brought a documentary crew with them during the final leg of the tour. That film was never released.
"After watching it, it was just depressing because you could tell we were tired. We needed a break," says Moreno. "Everybody just needed to step back and decompress. And we did, and then we started a whole other chapter of craziness."
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Deftones' 'White Pony': 10 Things We Learned From Chino Moreno - Revolver Magazine
#9 Ways How Meditation Can Strengthen Our Mind, Body, and Soul – Entrepreneur
June22, 20207 min read
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
With the change in time and changing situation, we all are under pressure. For some its work and for some its family and life, but at the core, it is all stress and anxiety. The outbreak of the Covid-19 has just contributed more to the distress.
When we are busy working, we often tend to ignore our mental health. For the longest time, we have given supreme importance to physical health over mental. But what we fail tounderstand that both are equally important.
Meditation is the key to balance both our mental and physical health, which plays a curialrole in handling stress and anxiety. To understand how mediation can help usstay calm when working from home, Entrepreneur India spoke to Dr. Priya Kaul, a Spiritual Life Coach, andHolistic wellness expert. Here's a full guide by Kaul who tells how meditation can boost our mind and mood when working from home.
Defined as a means to connect with inner self and almighty, meditation can do wonders. The Cambridge dictionary defines it as the act of giving your attention to only one thing, either as a religions activity or as a way of becoming calm and relaxed, or serious thought or study, or the product of this activity. Meditation forms can involve focusing, relaxing, pondering, or the expression of these, as in the famed Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.
For beginners, it is important to follow certain rules and guidelines while practicing meditation for effective results. Kaul explains the process:
1. First of all, sit or lie comfortably. If you want you may do it on the floor, or these days you can easily invest in a meditation chair or cushion.
2. Next is to close your eyes. It is recommended to use any cooling eye mask or pad to calm the eyes and improve concentration. Also, to make a soothing experience, keep mild fragrance in the room. Make no effort to control the breath; simply breathe naturally.
3. Later, focus your attention on the breath and on how the body moves with each inhalation and exhalation. It is important to notice the movement of your body as you breathe. Observe your chest, shoulders, rib cage, and belly.
4. Next, as you feel comfortable, start focusing on your breath without controlling its pace or intensity. If your mind feels distracted, return your focus to your breath.
5. During the initials days, maintain this meditation practice for 2-3 minutes a day and then try it for longer periods.
1. Reduces stress
It has been proven that regular stress spikes the stress hormone called cortisol. Spike in this hormone leads to many harmful side effects such as the release of inflammation-promoting chemicals called cytokines.
"When facing such problems, practice meditation regularly. It will help to improve conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, and fibromyalgia, which are often the most obvious side effects of stress," said Kaul.
2. Controls anxiety
Anxiety has been an alarming problem that many of us are suffering from. Talking about the same Kaul suggests, "It has been found that habitual meditation helps reduce anxiety and anxiety-related health issues like social anxiety, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. It often helps control job-related anxiety in high-pressure work environments too."
3. Brings into moment
It has been observed that due to work stress people often forget the purpose of life. The pressure is so much that many forget little things matter in life.
"Even after being with family and friends, they are not present at the moment. Regular meditation helps you bring in the moment and makes you live life to the fullest," she points out.
4. Helps in thought clarity
Clarity of thoughts is vital be it for making any personal or professional decision. If you are finding it difficult to make decisions at a certain point in time, that's when you need to turn towards meditation.
"It has been proven that deep breathing as a part of meditation helps remove the clashes of thoughts and furnishes you with clear views and improved decision-making capacity," she said.
5. Balances Emotional Health
Building emotions leads to effective that damages one's mental peace. Stress leads to the release of inflammatory chemicals called cytokines that affects the human mood and often lead to depression.
Kaul explains how it has been found that regular meditation reduces signs of depression by decreasing these inflammatory chemicals.
6. Enhances Self-Awareness
There are times when we are thrown into situations where we are unaware of the purpose and role of a given designation. This pushes us to a dark corner.
"When you don't know how to function right, practice meditation. Self-inquiry and related styles of meditation can help you 'know yourself'. This can be a starting point for making other positive changes," she said.
7. Improves Attention
If you think that your work hours get stretched due to lack of concentration and attention power, meditation can change that.
"When facing such problems, seek advice, and help from a professional. Indulge in 4-8 weeks of mindfulness meditation course for effective results," she recommends.
8. Generate Kindness
While we all know of basic meditation, some advanced levels can bring a massive change in our lives.
"Metta, a type of advanced meditation is known as loving and kindness meditation. If practiced under the supervision of an expert, it can help begin the kindness thoughts, and sympathy towards others," she said.
9. Improves Sleep
The most impactful result of regular meditation is improved sleep. It often happens that due to hectic work life people lose appetite and sleep, but regular meditation helps you relax and control the "runaway" thoughts that can interfere with sleep. This can shorten the time it takes to fall asleep and increase sleep quality.
According to an international survey conducted in 2019, 99 percent of people express the wish to work remotely at least once in their life and then continue the same for the rest of their career. Another survey around the same suggested that people prefer to work from home to be in a comfort zone, give time to family, more productivity, and saving more money. But, in the present time, when circumstances have made us work from home, there are two issues that people often face and those are: work-life balance and feeling isolated. And it has been observed that both these issues lead to multiple health and psychological disorders in average adults.
"There is a rise in this frequent problem and one needs to work towards making it better. It is suggested that one take small breaks after every two hours and give attention to family and kids in those minimal breaks. This will not only keep your mind at ease but will also make your family feel important," she said.
In fact, this period is very challenging for extroverts. Kaul suggested to make the best use of technology and connect with people and friends via video calls and calm down. And in case you find it difficult, sit in a calm space, play some calming music and take a deep breath. Practice this sincerely for 15 days and experience the difference.
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#9 Ways How Meditation Can Strengthen Our Mind, Body, and Soul - Entrepreneur
Which Type of Yoga Should You Try? – United News of Bangladesh
The ongoing pandemic is pressing stress and anxiety upon our mind and body. Health-experts are advising people to stay at home to prevent the COVID19 contraction. But many people are facing different physical and psychological issues for staying confined at home for several months. Practicing Yoga can provide mental relaxation and strengthen the immune system. Are you thinking of starting Yoga but confused about which style to start with? Read this article to know about some of the most popular types of yoga and the associated benefits.
If you are looking for a yoga style to increase your patience, try Hatha Yoga. Most hatha postures would allow you to move slowly. Hatha yoga focuses on breathing in order to create a connection between your body and mind. This yoga postures can strengthen your body by enhancing the flexibility of your limbs while minimizing the risk of injury.
Hatha Yoga presents a combination of poses from other forms of Yoga. Practicing these poses regularly, you can learn how to control your mind and stay focused on the moment. In addition to these, hatha yoga practice helps to lower stress and blood pressure, while improving energy-level and quality of sleep.
If you are a beginner who is looking for a Yoga form demanding less hectic activities, start with Yin yoga. This style will teach you slow-paced poses held for a longer period ranging from 45 seconds to two minutes. It also includes seated postures focusing on relaxation of mind, inner peace and spirituality.
While you hold a posture for a longer duration, you are stretching the connective tissues which can enhance their elasticity. Yin Yoga poses can also improve your blood circulation. However, if you have any connective tissue disease, dont try this form. Apply the recommended Props while practicing Yin Yoga.
This yoga form is perfect for those who do stressful jobs. If you are struggling with anxiety, stress, insomnia, or related illnesses, then you should definitely try restorative yoga. Restorative Yoga poses are easier to do and quite relaxing. The purpose of Restorative yoga postures is relaxing your mind and rejuvenating your body.
This yoga form focuses on your parasympathetic nervous system which can help you in achieving the deep relaxation of mind and body. The postures are done using some props like yoga blocks, blankets, and bolsters to prevent the body from excess straining.
Read:How to Handle Your Coronavirus Anxiety during Home Quarantine?
If you are you suffering from joint pains, try Iyengar yoga. This form of yoga is beneficial for those who want to alleviate pains of injuries and joint problems. Iyengar yoga will teach you precise moves and postures focusing on the proper alignment of different parts of your body.
Most of the Iyengar postures are carried out while holding breath. The extent of every pose will increase with your level of capability. Regular practice of Iyengar Yoga can improve the stability, flexibility, mobility, balance, and strength of your body. This yoga style is performed using some props like traps, blocks, and blankets.
This style of Yoga is a gift for those people who are looking for both spiritual and physical workouts. Kundalini yoga is a kind of mysterious yoga practices which focuses on both psychological and bodily improvement. This yoga form will teach you diverse steps some of which are physically demanding while some are mentally challenging.
This style involves a lot of meditation, breathing exercises, and fast moving postures. You will also get interval periods between postures for relaxation. While practicing Kundalini yoga, you will learn how to concentrate your attention to your internal sensations and flow of creative energy.
Ashtanga Yoga is also known as Power Yoga or eight limb path. This yoga form is highly physically demanding. Therefore, it is not recommended for beginners and weak persons. People who are in great physical shape can start the journey of Ashtanga Yoga. Popularized by celebrities worldwide, this yoga form teaches multiple standing and floor postures.
There are six cycle of yoga postures which are done repeatedly in every Ashtanga session. You have to start with the primary Ashtanga series. Getting mastered to the initial series, you can graduate to the next level. It may take years of practice to master the Ashtanga Yoga poses.
Prenatal yoga is a special workout for the pregnant moms in all trimesters. This yoga style works for the pelvic floor muscles and teaches breathing exercises which can ease labor during the delivery. Prenatal yoga can improve sleep, strength, flexibility, and muscle-endurance. It also reduces stress, anxiety, lower back pain, nausea, headaches and shortness of breath.
Prenatal Yoga also encourages the would-be mothers in stretching, mental centering and focused breathing. Research recommends that prenatal yoga is safe and offers diverse benefits for pregnant women and their offspring. Pregnant women can safely practice this Yoga without putting the fetus at risk.
Read:Coronavirus Tips: Free Online Yoga Courses for Stress Relief and Better Immunity
So far we have discussed some of the most popular forms of yoga. There are many other forms of yoga like hot yoga, vinyasa yoga, kripaluyoga, bikram yoga, aerial yoga, jivamukti yoga, etc. Each style of yoga has some unique purposes to bestow special benefits for your mind and body. However, before starting any Yoga posture it is recommended to consult with a doctor, if you have any prior illness.
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Which Type of Yoga Should You Try? - United News of Bangladesh
If You Want to Change, Start from the Ground Up – SFGate
By Deepak Chopra, MD and Anoop Kumar, MD
When people seek personal change in their lives, they often dont get very far. Even in this day when online advice is bewilderingly abundant and self-improvement books are at our fingertips, change eludes us. One way to remedy this is to start from the ground up. Normally, we feel compelled to start where we are right now, and thats a tremendous problem.
No matter how different people are, each of us woke up this morning to the same situation. We are constantly involved in thinking, feeling, and doing. No one starts this activity afresh. Instead, we are heavily invested in habits, beliefs, opinions, hopes, dreams, and fears collected from the past. So our thinking, feeling, and doing is entangled with the past even when we want something new, better, fresh, and different.
You cant always use will power or desire to cut the ties that bind you to the past, but you can do something that will lessen the influence of the past: You can start to see yourself clearly. With that one intention, you are starting from the ground up, because seeing yourself clearly happens here and now. You detach yourself from your story, which is the accumulation of your past. You take a fresh look at what is generating all this thinking, feeling, and doing. The process has to have an origin, a source, a wellspring that sets the active mind going every minute of the day.
Normally, if we try to see ourselves clearly, we are actually looking through a lens. We filter and arrange our experiences. Some experiences we reject, ignore, judge against, or censor. Other experiences we encourage, value, appreciate, and allow to enter our minds. The lens you choose is critical, yet people often dont realize they have a choice. It doesnt strike them in the first place that they see themselvesand everything around themthrough a lens.
The lens you see through can also be called your mindset, worldview, or simply your state of awareness. Your perspective, on life, family, relationships, work stem from it. Things become confusing because we are caught up in the conflicting stories, explanations, and belief systems that everyone gets exposed to. This confusion can be sorted out once you start to see yourself clearly. Cutting through all the clutter, you discover that you actually know whats going on. Deep inside, you are fully aware already.
There are three lenses you can view life through, configured as Mind 1, 2, or 3 at this moment.
Mind 1: You view life as a separate individual. The leading indicator of Mind 1 is the sense of localization within the body. As a result of being limited by the body, Mind 1 can only detect a world of localized things. As we see ourselves, so we see the world. You localize yourself in your body, and as a result you see a world of separate things. Other people live inside their own bodies, which gives them their own sense of separation. In Mind 1 you provide fertile ground for the ego. I, me, and mine become all-important. This makes perfect sense, because your agenda as a separate person is all about the experiences of pleasure and pain that emanate from the body. Even a mental state like anxiety is rooted in the body, because what you fear comes down to a painful feeling in here. In every respect Mind 1 is dominated by yes and no to the experiences that come your way. To achieve peace, you must successfully compete in the arena of separate people and things, experiences and events.
Mind 1 seems totally right and natural in the modern secular world. Mind 1 is reflected in sciences total focus on physical things, from microbes and subatomic particles, from the Big Bang to the multiverse. A bestselling book from 1970, Our Bodies, Ourselves, applies to all of us in Mind 1.
Mind 2: Mind 2 is centered in the unity of mind and body. It isnt necessary to see yourself confined to the physical package of a body. In fact, this mindset can be turned on its head. In place of isolation there is connection; in place of things there is process; in place of hard facts, there is an easy continuous flow. You relax into the flow of experience rather than slicing life into bits that must be judged, analyzed, accepted or rejected. Mind 2 lets you see yourself more clearly, because in reality the mind-body connection is a single continuity. Every thought and feeling creates an effect in every cell. You can consciously create change in the whole system through a switch in awareness. Mind 2 is subtler than Mind 1you have moved deeper inside who you really are, and those aspects and abilities that were filtered out by Mind 1 begin to come into view. You are the one who experiences, observes, and knows.
For most people Mind 2 begins to dawn when they meditate or do Yoga, finding access to the quiet mind that lies beneath the surface of the restless active mind. With this discovery comes a way to see beyond the separate egos fruitless search for perfect pleasure, power, or success. As a deeper vision of self and life soaks through all experience, Mind 2 is established.
Mind 3: Mind 3 expands awareness beyond all particulars. It is a radical redefining of what we mean when we use the indicator I. It places you in an infinite field of pure awareness, where all things exist as possibilities. This is not only a clear view, it is clarity itself, because there is no thing or process to obstruct your vision. Boundaries dont exist. There is no past or future. Even the idea of a present vanishes. the clearest view you can possibly have, because there are no boundaries to limit your vision. You are awake, you see things without any filter, your past no longer holds you captive, and therefore you are free, which is why Mind 3 has been known for centuries as liberation. There are no more mind-forged manacles, as the poet William Blake memorably called our self-imposed limitations.
Mind 3 is open to everyone, but there is a large obstacle that must be overcome, which is this: We are convinced by the lens we see things through already. Each mindset feels real and complete. You identify with physical things in Mind 1, the most important thing being your body. In Mind 2 you identify with your field of awareness as it brings experiences and sensations that rise and fall. Because it takes an inner journey to reach, Mind 2 isnt where the mass of humankind is, yet without a doubt anyone can go there. Mind 2 is a more natural fit than Mind 1, in fact, because if you see yourself clearly, you cannot doubt that thinking, feeling, and doing is constantly on the move, ever-changing, ever renewing itself.
But Mind 2 has its own peculiar limitation. I lingers and holds its own by experiencing my thinking, feeling, and doing. There is no need for this. Everyone alive, with the fewest exceptions, has been indoctrinated into Mind 1. In Mind 2 you escape this crude, second-hand, socially approved indoctrination. But there is a subtle indoctrination that replaces it, which sees the spiritual life as higher, better, and more valuable than ordinary life. This leads to a subtle clinging, a desire to keep the spiritual goodies coming your way and a self-image superior to those people who have not yet seen the light.
The subtle tendency to possess any idea, however fine that idea is, keeps the ego going. Letting it go entirely feels threatening. Who will I be if there is no I anymore? But if you stand back, this fearful worry only exists because the ego is asking it. Of course I will never agree to its own demotion. I is about self-preservation. The shift into Mind 3 occurs when you see that there are countless moments when you did without your ego.
Every experience of joy, love, compassion, beauty, peace, and service sets the ego aside. You go beyond I in a simple, natural glimpse of who you really are. You are the field of awareness itself, unbounded and free. Every possible experience originates here, before the whole interference of ego, society, family, school, and painful memories even begins.
Thats why Mind 3 has been dubbed the first and last freedom. It is the freedom you attain when you realize that you had it all along. Clear away the clutter, and it is simply there. Mind 1 and Mind 2 are creations, while Mind 3 is uncreated. It is the womb of creation, and when we arrive there, the inevitable feeling is that weve returned home at last. NOTE: For a visual journey through these Three Minds, visit anoopkumar.com/mind.
DEEPAK CHOPRA MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a modern-day health company at the intersection of science and spirituality, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is the author of over 89 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His 90th book, Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential, unlocks the secrets to moving beyond our present limitations to access a field of infinite possibilities. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.
Anoop Kumar, MD, MMgt is a Mind-Body Strategist who is Board-Certified in Emergency Medicine and holds a Masters degree in Management with a focus in Health Leadership. He is a keynote speaker and author who enjoys bringing clarity to the intersection of consciousness and everything else. Anoop is the author of numerous articles as well as two booksMichelangelo's Medicine and Is This a Dream? In addition to speaking and writing services, he offers consultations with individuals, teams, and organizations interested in deepening their understanding and experience of human potential, mind-body systems, and consciousness. Visit Anoop at anoopkumar.com and @dranoopkumar.
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If You Want to Change, Start from the Ground Up - SFGate
The Ripple: Equality and Balance is an Inside Job – Newton Press Mentor
What a strange social climate we are living in these days. Common folk are deciding for each other what we are and are not allowed to discuss. I will not conform to this nonsense.
I care about true equality and balance not just the faade of equality and balance.
The public is being told that we should only be having conversations about racism at this time. While it is important to have transformative conversations about racism, we cannot limit our conversations to only racism and expect to create equality and balance in our world. Why?
Because racism is but a symptom of a much deeper imbalance within the human condition.
Racism does not exist within the human condition when we are born. It is developed and learned over time, as the human ego develops from birth into adulthood.
The human ego is the aspect of our minds which fears what is different. The ego judges that which it fears. The ego attempts to control situations and people so that it does not have to confront its fears and insecurities.
Here are some examples:
Remember when you started dating a new lover. You wanted to be the apple of his/her eye. Yet, your lover had friends who, by your insecure perspective, seemed more charming, talented, and attractive than you. Remember how threatened you felt when your lover spent time with that attractive friend. Remember how you tried to control situations so your lover would spend as little time as possible with this attractive friend. This is the fearful human ego at work.
The human ego also shows up in parenting. Many parents fear that their children will not be accepted or popular if they are not involved in certain activities. These parents measure the popularity of their children as a reflection of their own worth. Sometimes the children have no interest in participating or excelling in certain activities, but the children fear not gaining parental love and approval, so the children acquiesce to receive your love. This is an example of the ego at work within the minds of parents and children.
The ego is always trying to influence and control situations so we can feel accepted and safe in the world. The ego is always acting out of fear.
The same thing happens in situations of sexism. Men who possess little self-worth and who fear not being loved try to control and manipulate women so they can achieve some sense of power.
The same thing happens in situations of racism. People who feel irrelevant in the world, or who are afraid to face their own insecurities, will label, judge, and control people of other races and ethnicities. This, again, is the fearful ego mind at work.
So, we can talk about racism all we want. We can change our language and our behaviors. But if we have not dealt with the fears that we carry within us, we will still judge people and try to control situations. So while we may appear to be less racist by talking about racism, unless we have dealt with our hidden fears, we will still be contributing to great inequality and imbalance in the collective human experience.
It is time for us to engage in deep self-honesty so we can evolve as a human race.
Equality and balance must first happen within our own minds and hearts. As each individual acknowledges and tames his/her own fear-based behavior, he/she will carry more equality and balance into the world by their very existence.
The first step in taming our fear-based ego behavior is to get honest with ourselves about our specific fears and insecurities.
Here are some questions to ask yourself to begin pruning your mind and heart for a more equal and balanced world:
1.What is my deepest fear in regards to security and safety?
2.How do my fears regarding security and safety affect my daily actions, communications, thoughts, and emotions?
3.What is my deepest fear in regards to being socially accepted or good enough?
4.How do my fears regarding social acceptance affect my daily actions, communications, thoughts, and emotions?
5.What is my deepest fear in regards to being separated or abandoned by those I love?
6.How do my fears regarding separation and abandonment affect my daily actions, communications, thoughts, and emotions?
7.How do these fear-based behaviors and communications affect my relationships in my home?
8.How do these fear-based behaviors and communications affect my relationships in my community?
9.How do these fear-based behaviors, communications, thoughts, and emotions affect the way I feel about myself in relationship with the world?
In the next Ripple, we will discuss how to transform these discoveries into lasting change in your life, to cultivate equality and balance within ourselves and in the world.
(Some readers may have noticed that I am no longer active on Facebook. To stay connected outside of the The Ripple, you can subscribe to my newsletter at http://www.amandablain.me or find me on Instagram @conscious_growth_artist).
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The Ripple: Equality and Balance is an Inside Job - Newton Press Mentor
Matters of the mind: Impact of lockdown and Covid-19 on marriages – The Indian Express
Written by Dr Shwetambara Sabharwal | Mumbai | Updated: June 19, 2020 10:01:34 am
As a practicing relationship counsellor for 16 years, I can confirm that intimate relationships have been the most complex to understand, to heal and the hardest to sustain mutual health and happiness. That said, they are also the most beautiful, emotionally uplifting and joyful stories.
As human beings we are often preoccupied with ourselves and our needs. Our daily thoughts may include a wide range of subjects, dimensionally between many galaxies, but the nucleus of those thoughts is I or the ego. Visually, I always describe couples as walking around with what I call their weighty trunks of treasures, where firstly their own past is neatly stocked, then the partner is expected to know what is inside, and as if that wasnt enough, each folded layer must be empathised with out of deep and honest love. I know you already see some of the issues here. No matter who I have met, working couples, educated or not, affluent or not, bankers, celebrities, business families, stay at home partners, authors, lawyers and more, the loaded trunks are with them, and each is fixated only on theirs.
There are several factors that make intimate partnerships more challenging than others.
1. Past baggage: The fantastical perception of love we all grow up with leads to subconscious expectations and needs, which actually have nothing to do with our partners or even ourselves, and often just lingering, lost feelings from experiences in our past with parents, relatives, friends, strangers and/or abusers.
We often indulge in looking at our marriage as a rescue of some sorts. An escape from the then reality of any kind of stress. Stress is a part of our daily life and the only thing that will rescue us from it, is our own coping strategies.
ALSO READ | Matters of the mind: Caution, courage and rationality may be answers to the crisis
2. Communication barriers: We do not communicate clearly, especially in marriages, as all our wishes are expected to be wirelessly transferred, absorbed and accurately understood. Communication is a huge relationship barrier, starting with basic concerns of culture, language, religion and family structures to deeper ones like empathy, acceptance, expectations, boundaries, conflict statements, difficult conversations and confrontations. We find it most difficult to have tough talks with our loved ones.
3. Need for acceptance and approval: We have a high need for approval and need it satiated from our partners. The displacement of disappointment with parents, teachers, relatives, colleagues and even close friends who missed appreciating us, subconsciously falls on the shoulders of the intimate partner to gratify.
The pandemic locked us all up in our homes, with our families, as if to tutor us through all or at least some of those barriers, to introspect and take notice of what is valuable to us.
As the list of to-dos piled up in the lockdown and kids stayed back from school, work stopped, socialising became impossible and we all ran around preparing and hoarding for a life within limits we had never known or appreciated before our homes with our loved ones!
The human body reacts with inertia to any change, and the Covid-19 occurrence followed by the lockdown were changes more severe than we ever collided with before. We retaliated with usual resistance, anxiety, panic, anger, frustration over every change imposed on us by nature, government or health advisors, which found limited outlets as we had little control over others. One was our phone, thus the millions of panic-driven calls, forwards, spreading rumours and half-information and the second was our consistent fall back our partner at home.
ALSO READ | Matters of the mind: For seniors feeling anxious during Covid-19, here is how to dig deep and stay strong
Once our bodies have acclimatised to the U-turn, the surroundings, we become open to looking around, learning and adjusting. I believe that resisting, accepting, learning and adapting are the natural stages of growth.
During the lockdown, gradually, at times grudgingly, some partners have learnt to accept and adapt . Those in therapy report a significant switch in their perceptions of one another. We are doing what we were always meant to do.
1. People are now paying attention to their inner selves and recognising the absence of self-awareness. The life-threatening nature of the virus has made us question our egos, grandiosity, expectations, lifestyles and needs, making us more humble and aware of the real sources of happiness.
2. Observe, listen, feel, touch and hold your partner with more attention and no rush to be elsewhere after. This has extended into talking about the other precious trunks in the house, full of stories, this time really listening and empathising. Listening and paying attention to another changes a lot, reduces resentment and that, one way or the other, partners have done.
3. With all possessions and people at risk, the pandemic brought some of us to an awakening. A very significant spiritual awareness of loving with detachment that has empowered us with compassion, forgiveness and connect. We have who we have in our life to love and hold, not to own and control.
(The author is a Mumbai-based psychologist and psychotherapist.)
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Matters of the mind: Impact of lockdown and Covid-19 on marriages - The Indian Express