Abstract Yoga, which combines physical exercise in the form of postures with deep breathing and concentrated focus, has been well documented to evoke physiological changes in the body. More recent research into the psychological affects of this ancient mind-body practice has found that the practice of yoga has the power to relax the body, alleviate anxiety and stress and improve concentration. And research has found these effects from children to the elderly. By so doing, yoga allows you to transcend from everyday reality into a higher state of consciousness — spirituality.
As such, yoga in contrast to ordinary exercise is a mind-body spiritual practice. Yoga and Its Psychological Effects As most people who have taken yoga can attest, you feel more relaxed almost immediately. There’s good reason for this. A 5000 year-old practice with roots in India, this ancient mind-body technique brings the body into a state of balance. How does just exercise do this? Actually, though we in the West know yoga as hatha yoga which is exercise comprised of different postures, or asanas, (Arya, 1985), yoga comprises many forms and all attempt to create a state of blissful enlightenment, called ananda.
The quintessential mind-body practice, yoga exercise is done with controlled breathing – pranayama – which elicits the relaxation response and allows the body to restore itself, and by focusing on the present which transforms practice into a moving meditation that encourages relaxation, mood boosting, physical purification and spiritual growth. This quasi-meditative “in the now” state eventually rewires the brain so you handle stress more easily. These effects have been borne out by research. Previously, research focused on how yoga reduces hypertension, cholesterol levels, and other signs of physiological stress (Raman, 2006).
But now a slew of recent research published in peer-reviewed journals in the U. S. , Europe, and India document the ability of yoga to decrease mood disturbance, reduce psychic stress and anxiety, and reduce PTSD symptoms (Lavey et al, 2005; Rani, 1994; Woolery et al, 2004). In many of these studies, effects occur within days of initiating instruction, and have been documented up to six months after a course of yoga training In addition to calming and relaxation, yoga also tends to promote self-control, attention and concentration, self-efficacy, body awareness, and stress reduction (Khalsa, 1998).
And these effects extend to children as well. For instance, yoga practice of yoga has been shown to reduce middle school children’s state anxiety, heart rate, headaches, and general tension and stress symptoms. The traditional practice of yoga has never been just “exercise. ” The asanas are only the “skin”of yoga. Underneath are the much more difficult to learn flesh and blood: breath control, concentration, meditation, and unitive ecstacy that allows you to transcend ego and everyday reality Ravindra, 2006). In fact, in Hinduism, Jainism, and certainforms of Buddhism, the Sanskrit word yoga stands for spiritual discipline.
Even if you don’t get into the much deeper spiritual philosophy that comprises yoga, it still becomes for many a spiritual practice. The meditative component – focusing on the here and now and letting go of thought — allows you to transcend from everyday reality into a higher state of consciousness. This makes yoga a mind-body spiritual practice (Ravindra, 2006) which was always its intent. In fact, the word yoga has been redefined as the union between the embodied self and transcendental self – between mind and body. Lowering Cortisol Cortisol is our stress hormone that charges us up to fight an impending threat.
It was designed to mobilize the body in the short run when actual danger, like a charging lion, threatened our survival. In the modern age, this flight/fight survival response has become a chronic reaction to the everyday stressors of modern life and keeps us wired and tears down the body. Practicing yoga reduces cortisol and brings the body into balance as George Brainard, M. D. , a professor of neurology at Thomas Jefferson University, first discovered in 1995 when he found that only a single set of yoga poses could significantly lower cortisol.
This study was repeated with similar impressive results in 1993. The cortisol levels of sixteen healthy new yogis were measured while sitting quietly and reading and writing and before and after a 50-minute yoga class they took every day for seven days. While quiet reading and writing showed the normal decrease in cortisol that happens during such activities, the decrease in cortisol following yoga was statistically significant (Knittel, 2003). Yoga and Posttraumatic Stress Numerous studies have documented yoga’s stress reduction effects (Sharma, I.; Singh, P. , 1989; Khalsa, 1998; Goyeche, J. R. , 1979).
Patricia Gerbarg, a professor of psychiatry at New York Medical College who studies the effects of yoga on posttraumatic stress, investigated if it could help tsunami survivors in India. One group of 60 victims received a four-day yoga breathing course; another group of 60 survivors received the same yoga course along with psychological counseling. A third group served as controls. All the yoga users experienced a huge drop in scores for posttraumatic stress disorder and depression after just four days.
And the effect was so persistent that Gerbarg and her team introduced yoga to those in the control group too. Counseling provided no added benefits over the yoga training alone (CITE GERBARG’S STUDY HERE – it wasn’t cited in the original article and I can’t find it). Acting via the vagus nerve, the “rest and digest,” or calming, pathway of the autonomic nervous system extending from brain stem to abdomen, yogic breathing physiologically affects the nervous system to produce profound changes in emotional states (Khalsa, 1998). If you change your breathing pattern, you can change your emotions.