The Science Behind How Yoga Reduces Stress

Many people have heard that yoga reduces stress, but there’s real science behind it.

Of course, any time you increase the heart rate (like with a few chaturangas), your body releases endorphins, which is the driving force behind that famed “runner’s high and a natural stress reducer. However, yoga taps into stress relief on a much deeper level. By incorporating techniques like pranayama (breath control) and meditation, yoga can help manage and reduce stress.

Pranayama

Pranayama is an umbrella term for breath control. There are a number of pranayama practices within yoga as outlined in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Pranayama can decrease injury, cleanse the body, and relax/de-stress. The vast majority of people are shallow upper chest breathers. If you pull in a deep breath and fill your lungs to capacity, then fully release until there’s truly nothing left, it can feel like a workout—it is. The lungs aren’t used to being fully utilized, and the ribs/intercostal muscles (muscles between the ribs) aren’t used to being so fully worked. Be careful with pranayama, because it can be overwhelming for newcomers. The best way to practice early on is in a class setting with a teacher skilled in pranayama.

Pranayama is effective for stress reduction because it calms the body’s sympathetic nervous system. Otherwise known as the fight or flight instinct, this nervous symptom gushes adrenaline into the body when you’re excited or scared. Adrenaline raises the heartbeat and surges stress hormones into the body. It’s an critical defense tool when you’re really in trouble, but North Americans have a tendency to being adrenaline junkies. We’re constantly stimulating ourselves with technology, and this has led to a veritable breakdown of the sympathetic nervous system. In some ways, your body gets used to all that adrenaline and stress hormones, but at what cost? We’re in a constant state of fight or flight, and all those stress hormones build up over time. It’s part of the reason why heart disease is the number one killer of American women.

With certain types of pranayama (those designed for relaxation), you can reduce the stress response of the body and nestle into recuperation. When the parasympathetic nervous system, known as “rest and digest,”  is given a time out, your body returns to its natural, restful state and can recover. That’s why it’s so important to practice pranayama and/or meditation daily, particularly first thing in the morning and before bed. Otherwise, you might be in stress mode 24/7 (especially if you suffer from insomnia).

As previously mentioned, there are many types of pranayama exercises, and it’s always best to have a trusted in-person instructor when beginning pranayama practice. However, one of the safest and most effective pranayama is the simple counted breath. Begin by inhaling for a count of five, exhaling for a count of five. If you can stay calm, hold the breath for five counts after the inhale. If you still feel calm, there’s the option to add retention after the exhale, too.

Another simple pranayama practice is two-part breath with legs up the wall. It’s popular before bedtime because the inversion (heart above head) is naturally relaxing. Two-part breath is the same as four-part breath but without the holds. You can choose any equal number to inhale and exhale with, as long as you completely fill and empty the lungs. If you can, putting weight (such as a bolster or heavy pillow) on the feet when they’re up the wall can provide an added sense of security. It’s normal for the legs to go numb or tingly in this position. For beginners, do not hold this pose longer than five minutes and practice caution when exiting the pose because dizziness can occur.

The counting of breaths and/or the ticking of the clock help to ensure you’re not focused on anything but breath. You might find that you tire easily, which is common for those just starting their practice. While in pranayama, your sympathetic nervous system is is pacified. Without having to focus on “fight or flight,” the amount of stress hormones released is reduced.

The Inner Voice

Stress comes at us in various ways. Triggers for stress come in many forms, both external and internal. Stress can also be a bit addictive. Even though we know technology usage often leads to higher stress levels—with social media usage linked to loneliness—we can’t get enough of it. Adrenaline can be a bit addictive in itself. Learning to balance our lives can start with literally balancing ourselves. It’s one of the core foundations of yoga and is prioritized in asanas and pranayama.

Hypnotherapists such as Marisa Peer have said that “rewriting the bad programs” we’ve downloaded can be corrected by hypnotic mantras. A popular option is “Hare Krishna, Hare Krisha. Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare.” Chanting in the alpha brainwave state, which can be achieved through meditative practices, helps us to get rid of the negative influences we hold within. The stress we carry with us isn’t permanently ingrained, but it does take some work to release it.

Our inner voice (or subconscious mind) operates like a kind of hard disk of our bodily computer. Stress causes the subconscious to download negative programs that can clog up normal function. This can lead to pain, chronic disease, and poor relationships. Our overly stimulated lives cause many of us to develop an inner voice that’s our worst critic. We’re encouraged to practice modesty, many times at a false level (i.e. always downplaying successes or brushing them aside instead of celebrating them) and self-deprecation. Overly done, this kind of denigrative thinking can have damaging effects. Cognitive reconditioning, or learning to speak nicely to ourselves, can be amplified with yoga for stress reduction.

Yoga and Self-Awareness

Yoga forces us to consider our breath and our movement, two things we rarely pay much attention to. It gives us the tools we need to slow down and to focus. The “white noise” of controlling our breath or fluid movements keeps the barrage of our inner voice at bay. We concentrate and we focus on safely stretching the body a touch beyond its limits with yoga. It’s not usually a high-intensity workout through the entire practice, but rather a means of returning to our center. That’s at the core of what stress reduction requires, and a first step in being kinder to ourselves.

Five Yoga Poses in Five Minutes to Fight Depression

You feel heavy, dull, tired. Maybe it’s gray outside (or, if you live in the pacific northwest, maybe it’s been gray and dark for weeks). Perhaps a life event (sickness, heartbreak, lethargy, indecision) has you feeling the terrible weight of emotional gravity.

I get it.

Having struggled with bouts of depression since my early twenties, I understand how debilitating an affliction it can be. Whether it affects you seasonally or chronically, practicing self-care in depression can be difficult. And the hardest part can sometimes be taking any action to change. When I feel depressed, pretty much the last thing that I want to do is get on my mat. Let me curl up in my bed and sleep, thank you very much. Or cry.

First, you’re not alone.

Secondly, if you can make the journey to the mat for even five minutes, we can make a change. Set a timer. Step on your mat. Just do it. Because just five minutes will change something. And maybe five minutes today turns into six minutes tomorrow, which turns into ten minutes in a week. Small steps.

We usually think that our minds run our bodies, but the reverse can be true: changing our bodies can change our minds. Check out Amy Cuddy’s inspirational video (bottom) and you’ll see what I mean. By putting your body into a physical appearance of joy and expansion, your mind and your hormones start to get the idea that life isn’t all terrible. Over time, small little changes can start to add up.

Five minutes. Here we go.

Cat/ Cow

Cow
Cat

Simple movement. Depression is stagnant energy. Start to move the energy of your body through simple cat cow. Start moving in all direction, “Color outside the lines.”  Move your spine in all directions. Move your shoulders, move your hips. Get the flow going. Make noise, even if you just hum. Add some voice to what you’re doing. Move the energy.

Sun Salutations

Do three. Big Breaths. Rather quickly. Focus on taking expansive breaths, even larger than usual. Big wide arm movements to move the stuck energy. Audible sighs. Noisy sighs.

Not sure how to do one? Check this out from my friends at Do Yoga With Me. 

Warrior Two

Warrior 2. Be Big.

Get big. Get wide. Push your feet apart. Reach your finger tips apart. Take your shoulders onto your back and stretch. Draw your shoulders onto your back, then reach through your arms. Ten breaths on each side.

High Lunge

High lunge.

The ultimate pose of joy and expansion. Open your arms, press into your feet and fill your body with breath. Get wider, longer, deeper from your toes to your finger tips. Take up your space. Ten breaths on each side.

Ustrasana – Camel

Modified
Full

See my video on doing this safely. Lots of leg strength, lots of grounding. Core strong and engaged.

Lift your chest forward and open. Open heart. Five big breaths.

Repeat it three times, pausing each time to sit on your heels.

Now. How do you feel?

Small steps. Small steps. #smalldailyacts

Amy Cuddy’s video on how body language shapes who we are. A must see.

Also, check out this post, “Not everyone who does yoga is happy, and that’s okay.” From my heart to yours.

 

Slow Down: How Yin and Restorative Yoga Can Help You Beat Stress

I honestly don’t know where I’d be if the practice of yoga hadn’t entered into my life when it did. I was unknowingly walking around in a perpetual state of fight-or-flight for years. Unaware of what was at play within me, I believed it was perfectly normal, and necessary…to be afraid of everything, and everyone, all the time.

Now, I can write this article with a smile and catch myself before I get too deep into a spiral of stress and fear. I know we each have our own path, and I cannot promise that yoga will “save” anyone, or be “the answer.” But, in my studies and my experience, I’ve found invaluable depth in this practice. It’s given me so much more freedom and space in my life.

One of the reasons that I teach yoga is because I want to help alleviate the burden of stress in our world. 

With the development of technology, social media, and the internet over the past few years, our culture has become incredibly stressful. We are expected to multi-task, be extremely efficient, and remain in a constant state of alertness and activity. This vigilance causes continual wear and tear on our bodies, our minds, and depletes the amount of energy that we have available to contribute to our quality of life. This heightened state within the body is often unconscious; a lot of us are walking around in a state of “fight-or-flight”, or a stimulated nervous system response, without even realizing it, because it has come to feel normal. The human nervous system and the stress response has been functioning the same way for millions of years; however, many of the perceived stress in modern-day society is left unresolved, and the nervous system remains in a heightened state of “fight-or-flight”, rather than naturally returning to balance when the danger has subsided.

Stress is often accompanied by several adverse side effects. The more stress that we experience, the more its effects compound within us. When stress becomes chronic, there is an accumulation of stress hormones in the body, and this residue can lead to disease.

How our nervous system works

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is a division of the peripheral nervous system that influences the function of the body’s internal organs and systems. The autonomic nervous system acts largely unconsciously, and regulates bodily functions such as the heart rate, respiratory rate, and digestion. This system is the primary mechanism in control of the fight-or-flight response: the body’s response to stress.

The autonomic nervous system has two branches: the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The sympathetic nervous system is often considered the “fight or flight” system, and the parasympathetic nervous system is often considered the “rest and digest” In many cases, both of these systems have opposite actions where one system activates a physiological response and the other inhibits it. When we are functioning in a healthy way, the PNS will kick in and inhibit the stress response, and our body will return to balance. The PNS is actually our natural state; it brings the body to homeostasis and invites feelings of relaxation and contentment.

The good news is, if we notice that we are in a state of chronic stress, there are practices to help calm the nervous system, stimulate the PNS, and alleviate some of the effects of compound stress.

Dr. Herbert Benson identified the “Relaxation Response”:

“A physiological state characterized by a slower heart rate, metabolism, rate of breathing, lower blood pressure, and slower brain wave patterns.”

This state can be induced through relaxation and breathing techniques. A consistent yoga or meditation practice can help strengthen the PNS, and minimize the body’s tendency to activate the PNS.

Yin and Restorative Yoga

While all styles of yoga build awareness and help to balance the systems of the body, I’ve always been drawn to the slower paced practices. Yin and restorative yoga provide a much needed contrast to the constant activity, stimulation, and demands on the body that can occur as a result of a busy life by inviting the body to slow down. When I include Yin or Restorative yoga as a regular part of my practice, it’s both a nurturing and energizing experience, allowing me to continue with other more active and demanding activities in my life with a clear and consistent focus.

While both styles involve releasing into stillness, using supportive props, and remaining in the postures for a period of time, there are some fundamental differences in the intention and effects of each practice. 

In a Yin Yoga class, practitioners place a healthy and deliberate amount of stress on the more dense tissues of the body to encourage them to remain healthy and strong. This practice facilitates gradual lengthening and release in the fascia and deeper layers of connective tissue. The fascial web of the body is one seamless network, one connected system. It holds the shape of our bodies and carries the stories, memories, and patterns from our lives. Working with the fascial network can lead to lasting release of chronic holding and a powerful shift of the body and mind. While the yin practice is ultimately relaxing, the stimulation from holding poses can occasionally be mentally challenging. 

In a Restorative Yoga class, props are used to completely support the weight of the body, which invites the nervous system to shift from a sympathetic response to stress (“Fight-or-Flight”) into a parasympathetic response (“Rest and Digest”). Unlike yin, the restorative practice is not about stretching connective tissue (or any other tissue!), but is designed to restore a natural state of balance to the nervous system. Over time, restorative yoga can help alleviate the effects of chronic stress by eliciting a deep state of relaxation. The deep state of rest that is accessible through restorative yoga can enhance the health of the nervous system, lymphatic system, endocrine system, and organ function. 

If you have not yet tried one of these styles, consider adding yin or restorative to your yoga menu. They might begin to change your definition of how it feels to be “relaxed”…

References

 

How Meditation Helped Me Through Addiction Recovery

Overcoming addiction is singlehandedly the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

Through addiction and recovery, I learned more about myself than I ever thought possible. I learned that my mind was highly susceptible to outside influence, and that’s something I desperately needed to change.

My painful road to addiction

In the prime of my life, I was in a terrible car wreck. My friends and I were driving home from the beach on a beautiful sunny day in June. The world was at our feet. Or so we thought.

My friend John was driving along the long stretch of road that ran alongside the ocean. It was a beautiful drive, and he liked to drive fast.

I knew it was dangerous, but I didn’t want to seem uncool. So I sat there in silence.

As we were careening down that road, a white sedan attempted a u-turn into our lane. Either she didn’t see us or didn’t realize how fast we were going. The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital bed. I was recovering from many injuries, including a spinal fracture. Pain medications become a way of life.

I lost two friends that day, including John. And that’s a pain that no meds could cure.

I returned home from the hospital with a long list of care instructions and a prescription for OxyContin. The painkillers worked as advertised. They worked on the physical pain and even seemed to dull my emotional pain.

At first, I took my prescription as recommended. But it wasn’t long before I needed higher doses to relieve the same pain. I was amazed at how quickly my tolerance grew.

Prescription painkiller addiction

I don’t remember the exact moment when I realized I was addicted. I started to catch on when my doctor was reluctant to refill my prescription. But part of me believed he was overreacting. Part of me needed to believe that.

After my own doctor stopped prescribing pills, I found others who would. In addiction circles, we call this “doctor shopping.”

I guess I realized I had a problem when I was on my second or third doctor. Because I started having trouble getting refills, I had to go longer periods without “a fix.” Then I felt physical withdrawal symptoms, and I couldn’t ignore the problem any longer. I was an addict.

Addiction and brain chemistry

It’s a very humbling moment to realize you’ve become an addict. How did this happen?

From the outside, it’s easy to wonder why I wouldn’t get help at this point. The answer? I had a disease. The disease of addiction changes your brain chemistry so you lose your own free will.

The progression from prescription pills to heroin was much easier than I would have ever expected. And then came another level of shame. People think addicts don’t care about these things, but that’s not true. We care; we just can’t help it.

When I finally hit rock bottom, I was ready and willing to do whatever it took to get sober. I was motivated, but I didn’t fully understand what was in store for me.

Depression, anxiety, and recovery

I started at a typical rehab center where they helped me through the physical detoxification process. This is the part that includes some very ugly withdrawal symptoms.

But that wasn’t the worst of it by far.

They released me from the rehab shortly after my physical symptoms subsided. And then I met PAWS.

Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) is the stage of recovery that comes next. Because drugs alter your brain chemistry, it can take months or even years for your brain to relearn how to work without them. During this time, your brain struggles to supply the right amount of natural dopamine to keep you functioning normally. This is why depression and anxiety are such major parts of recovery.

I was struggling hard. I was even thinking about relapsing.

And then I met the person who would change everything.

How meditation helped me overcome addiction

On a particularly difficult day, I stopped for coffee on the way to work and ran into an old friend from rehab. He looked amazing!

Unlike me, he seemed confident and secure in his sobriety. I jokingly asked him his secret, as if there’s a magic pill or something. In reality, I was convinced that he was just a stronger person than I was.

When he told me what he was doing, I was skeptical.

Barry credited meditation for pulling him out of the depths of despair. That sounds dramatic, I know, but those depths are real. I was talking to Barry from my own despair pit on that very day.

When I got home, I began feverishly researching meditation. And then it all made sense.

What I learned that day was enough to drive me to start meditating straight away.

The meditation-recovery connection

As it turns out, meditation and drug abuse have something in common: Dopamine.

Dopamine is closely associated with pleasure-seeking activities, including addiction, but it also has other roles. It plays a part in memory, mood, learning, and sleep. If your body doesn’t have enough dopamine, you may become depressed. In the case of addiction, dopamine is partially responsible for the intense cravings that drive you to use drugs.

Interestingly enough, meditation also increases dopamine in the brain. In fact, Kjaer and colleagues (2002) found that meditation increased endogenous dopamine by 65 percent.

Through my practice, I’ve learned that meditation not only provides a natural dopamine boost, but it also helps strengthen the mind. When I finally gained some control over my negative thought patterns, I found it much easier to resist any cravings.

I’m not sure where I was headed on that day that I met Barry in the coffee shop, but my future wasn’t looking good. Today, I have a completely different outlook, and I feel like I have a new lease on life. It was still a difficult journey, but meditation helped me overcome the biggest struggle of my life.

Source:

Kjaer, T. W.; Bertelsen, C.; Piccini, P.; Brooks, D.; Alving, J.; Lou, H. C. Cognitive Brain Research 2002, 13 (2), 255–259.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11958969/