173: Heart Rate Variability, Breathing and Yoga

You’ve probably measured your heart rate while exercising with a chest strap or a wrist device - but have you ever measured your heart rate variability (HRV)? It’s fascinating stuff for yoga students. Ronda Collier joins Lucas Rockwood on this week’s Yoga Talk Show to explain why HRV is a crucial health metric, the importance of "coherent breathing", and how all of this ties in with your yoga practice.

Ronda has more than 25 years of experience in high technology product development with a proven track record of delivering leading-edge consumer electronic products within both privately held startups and Fortune 500 corporations. She spent years as an independent scholar researching non-invasive health monitoring techniques to improve overall personal well being, research that led to the founding of SweetWater Health in 2010.

SweetWater is a leading tech company provided heart rate variability monitoring software you can use on your smart phone.

What You'll Learn:

• How your breathing and state-of-mind dramatically impact your heart rate
• How your heart rate variability can act like a sneak peek into what’s going on with your central nervous system
• Why high frequency heart (HF) rates are associated with parasympathetic nervous system response
• Why low frequencies (LF) are associated with sympathetic nervous system response
• Why elevated heart rate + reduced high freq waves + increased low frequency waves = stress response

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

• Why you should be drinking turmeric tea

Links & References from the Show:
SweetWater Health 

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