(Newswire.net — January 13, 2015) Santa Fe, NM – According to Dr. Hedy Kober, a neuroscientist at Yale University, meditation improves the brain and psychological functioning on a variety of levels. Kober, who says she began practicing meditation to cope with the stresses of ending a relationship, discovered that meditation helped her handle stress and other unpleasant feelings in her life. “It did to my mind what going to the gym did to my body — it made it both stronger and more flexible.”

New research is proving that meditation and other yoga teachings that focus on learning to be present and relax do more to the human brain than previously thought. Many of these studies, including the ones done in Kober’s lab at Yale, show that a regular meditation practice can actually change brains on a cellular level, improving the neuroplasticity and neural circuits in the brain. These circuits are damaged frequently by stress, creating negative associations in the brain, which can lead to a myriad of other issues, both physical and psychological. Meditation reverses the damage done by stress.

Further research shows that meditation not only reduces stress and its negative effects, but also lowers anxiety, aids in fighting addiction and depression, and even improves an individual’s memory and ability to critically think.

Julie Schoen, a yoga and meditation teacher based in Albuquerque, says that her practice has helped her deal with both physical and emotional trauma, freeing her from the “weight”, which is so often described by those healing from trauma. Schoen, who meditates and practices yoga each morning, believes that everyone can greatly benefit from both, which is why she has chosen teaching the two as her life-long mission.

“It takes work,” she says about learning how to meditate at home on a daily basis, “but it is well worth the reward.”

A picturesque week of yoga, meditation, and healing is waiting for you at the world renowned Blue Spirit Resort in Nosara, Costa Rica. This year’s theme is all about learning what it means to be present and why slowing down is the best thing you can do for yourself in this digital, “faster-is-better” age. Julie Schoen will lead this retreat; she recommends that people interested in learning yoga in Costa Rica make a week-long commitment to start, meditating every day at the same time, even if just for five minutes.

“Once you commit it becomes easy,” she says. If possible, Schoen recommends starting a meditation practice in conjunction with a digital cleanse, which means no phones, no computers, no television, and no Internet.

“Meditating is all about learning how to be present and how to listen to your thoughts and your body without judgment. If you’re constantly being pulled away it becomes really difficult and it’s easy to get frustrated.”

For this reason, Schoen leads annual yoga and meditation retreats to Costa Rica, where everyone does just that – disconnects and gets present. Both yoga and meditation are taught daily and the results, according to those that have attended, are life-changing.