This article is taken from the monthly Sciences et Avenir n°936, dated February 2025.
"The stopping of the whirlwinds of the mind" : this is how the Indian scholar Patanjali defined yoga around the 2nd century BCE. The interest is major, as our mind tends to "whirl" in multiple circumstances: when we ruminate on the past, when we imagine the worst for an upcoming meeting or exam, when all sorts of thoughts prevent us from closing our eyes at night... Which is not beneficial for mood and mental health.