Your Brain on Yoga

Rebecca Lewis July 25, 2013

For most people, exercise means performing strenuous physical activities like walking, sprinting and weight lifting to produce a big deal of sweat, burn fats and tone muscles. There are however slower forms of exercise that don’t require you to move vigorously. Low-impact as they may seem, these types of exercise are not just designed to keep you fit, but also mentally and emotionally stronger. One of them is yoga.

Yoga is the generic term referring to the physical, mental, and spiritual practices which originated from ancient India. It is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy and is defined as the ‘the stilling of the changing states of the mind’. Whilst there are over a hundred of yogic poses and practices, this ancient exercise mainly involves stretching, meditation and breathing techniques. Regular practise of yoga promotes a clear, bright mind and a strong, capable body.

There are overwhelming scientific evidences that point to the benefits of yoga in the human brain. A study by the Boston University School of Medicine for instance, found that 20 minutes of seated, standing and supine yoga postures which include controlled breathing and proper contraction and relaxation of muscles, could boost memory, speed and focus more than regular workouts do.

Yoga has also been found to improve the well-being of depression patients. When compared to other low-impact exercises such as walking, Herdecke University researchers found that yoga helped reduce symptoms of depression. In another study, conducted by the University of Minnesota, scientists found no significant difference in the effects of yoga and cognitive behavioural therapy in treating anxiety disorder and stress.

How does yoga exactly do this?

It may appear that there’s magic behind different ‘asanas’. But there’s no magic. It’s neurobiology. Major studies on yoga provide clues on how yoga stimulates the brain to produce chemicals that give people a higher sense of well-being. In one study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, researchers found that practising yoga regularly stimulates the brain to release a chemical called GABA in the thalamus. GABA is a type of grand inhibitor that has a significant role in suppressing neural activity. Medications for anxiety disorders work by encouraging the release of GABA. Alcohol also has the same effect. In this study, participants who practised yoga had higher levels of GABA than those who did not. In fact, the effect of yoga in stimulating GABA appears to be stronger than the effect of anti-anxiety drugs. When the researchers measured the subjects’ GABA levels before and after doing an hour-session of yoga, they showed 27% increase.

People who haven’t tried yoga yet would think that this exercise works because it is relaxing. Not really. Actually, it works because it’s stressful. It may look easy – doing those static stretches. But mind you, you could sweat a gallon in just two or three poses. The goal of practising yoga is to fight pain and stress by staying calm and breathing properly. Yes, it is your attempt to stay calm amidst a stressful situation that provokes yoga’s superior benefits to your brain.

Basically, the human brain is hardwired to automatically react to pain or discomfort. We call it ‘stress response’ which is characterised by several symptoms like increased heart rate, muscle tension, breathing difficulty, and elevation of stress hormones like the cortisol. Our stress response itself increases the likelihood of anxious thoughts. However, these anxious thoughts make a difficult situation more agonising.

Just because it’s hardwired in our brain doesn’t mean we can never change our responses to stress. That’s where yoga comes in. Yoga allows your mind to effectively work together with your body to alleviate your stress responses. How does yoga do this? This exercise teaches your mind to pay attention to the present moment and calm your mind so it doesn’t trigger stress response.

There are really a lot of reasons to try yoga and incorporate it in our daily life. Through this ancient exercise, we can strengthen our mental ability to fight stress and therefore, achieve a happier and more satisfying life.