The pineal gland is roughly the size of a soybean and is considered a somewhat mysterious organ because it was the last of the endocrine glands to have its function discovered. It was long referred to as “the third eye” because of its location in the geometric center of our brain. The French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist, Descartes regarded the pineal gland as the principal seat of the soul and the place in which all thoughts are formed.
In addition to producing melatonin, the pineal gland also produces extremely tiny amounts of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a potent psychedelic. While it has been proposed that the pineal gland excretes large quantities of DMT during extremely stressful life episodes, notably in the event of birth and death, to produce “out of body” experiences, there is a lack of evidence to back up this claim (Nichols 2018).
This gland has the highest calcification rate among all organs and tissues of the human body. Pineal calcification is thought to jeopardize the amount of melatonin that can be produced by the gland and may be associated with a variety of neuronal diseases and may be linked to fluoride levels in our water and toothpaste etc (Tan et al 2018). There is, however, absolutely no research on the effect that yoga can have on the pineal gland. Maybe one day we will discover that Headstands decalcify the pineal gland, but until then just enjoy the literal change in perspective.
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References:
Nichols, D. 2018. “N,N-dimethyltryptamine and the pineal gland: Separating fact from myth.” Journal of psychopharmacology 32(1): 30–36.
Tan, D., Xu, B., Zhou, X., and Reiter, R. 2018. “Pineal Calcification, Melatonin Production, Aging, Associated Health Consequences and Rejuvenation of the Pineal Gland.” Molecules 23(2): 301.