{"id":23144,"date":"2023-11-21T14:32:50","date_gmt":"2023-11-21T14:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yogajournal.com\/?p=115253"},"modified":"2023-11-21T14:32:50","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T14:32:50","slug":"stressed-you-may-want-to-try-a-jigsaw-puzzle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/21\/stressed-you-may-want-to-try-a-jigsaw-puzzle\/","title":{"rendered":"Stressed? You May Want to Try a Jigsaw Puzzle."},"content":{"rendered":"
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People meditate for all kinds of reasons. Some do it to relieve anxiety, others to achieve clarity. Some find the experience as natural as breathing, others struggle with it. But what about those of us who just can\u2019t seem to figure out how to do it?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tried to meditate while sitting, lying down, even swaying in a silk hammock. Instead of quieting my thoughts, I start creating to-do lists, wondering what that noise is, thinking about lunch\u2014literally anything but focusing on my breath. Even one-minute meditation<\/a> sessions stress me out, which defeats the purpose.<\/p>\n

And then a couple of years ago, on a whim, I ordered a 1,000-piece Frida Kahlo puzzle<\/a>. Hours went by as I lingered, contented and calm, over the pieces. \u201cThis must be what meditation is supposed to be like,\u201d I thought.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not alone in this line of thinking. \u201cMany people struggle practicing meditation,\u201d says Dr. Chelsea Azarcon<\/a>, a naturopathic medical doctor who has researched the body\u2019s response to working on puzzles and practices them herself as part of her experience with chronic illness. \u201cThis is where alternative forms of meditation, like puzzling, come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Missing Piece<\/h2>\n

The parallels between puzzling and meditation may come as a surprise. \u201cThink of it as exercise for the brain,\u201d says Azarcon, who explains that both activities stimulate the formation of new neural pathways.<\/p>\n

While exploring cognitive decline, neurology researcher Patrick Fissler found<\/a> that doing jigsaw puzzles can activate up to eight cognitive functions at once. This sets off a complex chain of events in the brain that might help reduce the chance of developing dementia and Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Puzzling also increases brain waves that focus your brain and help quiet the mental chatter so you can relax, explains Azarcon. \u201cAlthough what happens in the brain when we puzzle is a little different than what happens when we meditate, both move us into a parasympathetic state, reducing stress and helping us relax.\u201d Also, Azarcon adds, puzzling can lower heart rate and blood pressure, similar to meditation.<\/p>\n

The MacArthur Study<\/a>, conducted by Johns Hopkins University, confirms those findings, indicating that people who do puzzles are also likely to have a longer life expectancy and better quality of life than those who do not. These traits are commonly shared by those who meditate. Other benefits of regular meditation include improved memory and cognitive abilities<\/a>, increased attention span<\/a>, reduced depression<\/a> and insomnia,<\/a> and lowered blood pressure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Single-Pointed Focus<\/h2>\n

Aside from its ability to create relaxation and its obvious health benefits, the quiet focus required by puzzles can bring about one of the primary objectives of meditation: bringing yourself back to the moment in front of you.<\/p>\n

\u201cSolving puzzles can be an ideal mindfulness exercise to help redirect your attention to the present moment,\u201d says psychiatrist Dr. Sasha Hamdani, founder of FocusGenie<\/a>, an app that helps manage ADHD symptoms. \u201cIf meditation doesn\u2019t work for you but puzzles do, that\u2019s great!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve tried meditating before but my mind just goes all over the place and I have too much inner chattering going on,\u201d says Leslie Peed, a member of the Jigsaw Puzzle Enthusiasts group on Facebook. \u201cWhen I\u2019m puzzling, I\u2019m able to block everything out and focus solely on the puzzle. I\u2019m not thinking about a hundred different things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brittny Horne was so impressed with the way puzzling made her feel that she founded her own puzzle company, RVL Wellness<\/a> Co. \u201cNot all of us are built to enjoy traditional meditation. Puzzles allow me to \u2018sit still\u2019 without actually sitting still,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd the focus required to put the pieces together allows me to remain present in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowadays, there\u2019s always a puzzle partially assembled somewhere in my house. When I\u2019m feeling overwhelmed, I\u2019ll spend several minutes putting a few pieces in place before walking away feeling better. I feel as though it clears my thoughts and helps me get on with my day in a more grounded state.<\/p>\n

Perhaps one day I\u2019ll try meditation again. But for now, I\u2019m content to put my puzzles together, one piece at a time.<\/p>\n

About Our Contributor<\/strong>
Lois Alter Mark is an award-winning lifestyle and travel writer. A regular contributor to<\/em> Forbes<\/a>,USA Today 10 Best<\/a> and <\/em>Reader\u2019s Digest<\/a>, she loves experiencing and introducing readers to the best spas, self-care products and wellness destinations. Thanks to her blog, Midlife at the Oasis<\/a>, Lois was chosen by Oprah to accompany her to Australia on the trip of a lifetime. She\u2019s still pinching herself.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Stressed?<\/figure>\n

The same single-pointed focus of meditation can be found in pondering a puzzle.<\/p>\n

The post Stressed? You May Want to Try a Jigsaw Puzzle.<\/a> appeared first on Yoga Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37,35,36],"class_list":["post-23144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ayurveda","tag-blogs","tag-yoga","tag-yogacourseware"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}