Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has spent much of his life teaching yoga-based breathing practices around the world through his organization the Art of Living Foundation.

Just as your mind influences the breath, you can influence the state of your mind through the breath as well.”

Our brains tend to focus on negative thoughts more than positive ones.

Daniel Wegner, a psychology professor at Harvard University, has shown in several studies that the intention to control a particular thought often breaks down under stress or mental overload and actually ends up triggering the unwanted thought, undermining our best intentions.

As described earlier, our brain is wired to focus on fearful or negative stimuli more than positive ones.

One study found that, the more people engaged in media multitasking (from word processing to text messaging and e-mail), the higher their anxiety and depression levels tended to be.22

abhyanga ayurvedic oil self-massage is a powerful way to quiet the mind.

Why does our stress linger so much longer than theirs, sometimes becoming chronic? The answer is in our brain. Our capacity for thought—as precious as it is—gets in our way. In addition to a fretful mind, popular messages encourage us to live in overdrive, making it all the more difficult for us to return to a calm state. Let’s examine each of

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. —Maya Angelou