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july 2016yogajournal.com.auTAKE A WALK THROUGH any public space,
and you’ll spot more than a few people
moving about as if they’re in a trance,
staring down at their smartphones while
weaving through the crowd, or mind-
melding with their digital tablets as they
shop, dine, or ride the train. All too often,
contact with others is taking place over text,
Skype, or email – not face-to-face. It’s a
dramatic shift from the way things were
just a few decades ago. For example, a 1987
University of California, Los Angeles survey
found that almost 4o percent of the school’s
first-year students spent 16 hours or more
per week socialising with others in person;
today, just 18 percent of UCLA’s first-year
students devote the same amount of time to
doing so. Digital communication has, for
many, become a default mode, while
hanging out in real life seems like a
throwback, a trend that’s a bit worrisome
when you consider that getting together
with friends has significant benefits for our
health and wellbeing.
Strong, broad-based social support (the
kind you tend to develop via in-person
interactions) increases your odds of living
longer by 91 percent, according to a review
of 148 studies conducted by researchers at
Brigham Young University. Close
connections also have a proven impact on
survival or quality of life for people facing
health issues such as cancer, stroke,
dementia, depression, and diabetes. Being
embedded in a community is biologically
reassuring, experts theorise; it confers a
protective effect that actually seems to boost
immunity and fights stress and inflammation.
“Intimacy is healing,” agrees Dean
Ornish, MD, president and founder of the
Preventive Medicine Research Institute
(PMRI) in Sausalito, California. He adds
that there’s “something really powerful” in
being able to share your authentic self with
others, instead of just a carefully curated
Facebook profile or Instagram snapshot. In
his work at PMRI, Ornish helps facilitate
social intimacy for people with heartdisease using “love-based interventions” –
sessions that combine support-group
meetings and yoga and meditation classes
with healthy meals and workouts. He
typically has patients practice yoga before
they get together in their support groups,
which encourages more meaningful
conversation during the meetings. “At the
end of a yoga and meditation class, you’re
feeling more peaceful, which helps you access
your feelings and express them without fear
of being judged,” Ornish explains.
Forging significant connections without
such guidance can be a little tougher, but it’s
absolutely possible. Harvard University’s
Study of Adult Development, which tracked
the lives of 724 men for up to 76 years,
offers insight into what can happen to an
individual’s personal habits over time.
Encouragingly, the study reveals, it’s never
too late to change course. People can and
do rewrite their life scripts midstream,
intensifying ties with family, friends, and
acquaintances, and that can bring physical