how yoga is more powerful than drugs.
The first time I went to a yoga class (about 7 years ago), I went in with the idea that I’d come out all “calm and zen”. But, in reality, I sat there comparing myself to all the bendy ladies around me while I frustratingly (and quietly painfully) strained to touch my toes. And, all I actually wanted to do was go home, watch Netflix, and cry into my pillow.
That was when I thought “yoga” was all about bending yourself into some next position, which I think most people do with the way it can be portrayed on social media. But that’s really not the point of it (it just happens with time).
the 8 limbs of yoga.
“Yoga” derives from the Sanskrit word “Yuj” which means “to unite”(1). It’s the practice of uniting the mind and body through the breath. The movement part is really just one small part of yoga called the asana which is one of the:
8 limbs of yoga
Yoga is an ancient Philosophy - the practice has been preserved for over 5,000 years. And, there’s a pretty good reason for it: yoga has some incredible health benefits that science is only really just beginning to scratch the surface on.
The one you probably know about is that it relaxes us. But how? Well, the most important part of yoga is the breath. The practice of deep, slow and controlled breathing calms our nervous system which teaches our body to self-regulate when we’re in high-stress situations (2). You don’t have to do the asanas to practice yogic breathing. But, they help to link up our body and mind. It works a bit like this:
You're in a yoga class, and your teacher asks you to get into downward dog and hold for 5 breaths… but your calves are saying otherwise. It hurts and every part of your body wants to get out of it (your brain switches into your fight or flight mode as panic sets in).
This is where the breath comes in. The slow, controlled breathing calms your nervous system, helping to relax your muscles (and mind). Then, by the end of the 5 breaths, the pose is a lot easier than at the start.
Yoga’s called a “practice” for a reason: it's the practice of sitting with uncomfortable feelings and thoughts and learning to breathe through them. As Bessell Van Der Kolk (one of the pioneers of trauma research) states, this gives us a sense of time by showing us that through time pain heals if we just sit with it, and breathe (2). This then integrates into our daily lives. It may sound “woo-woo”, but practising anything each day turns into a habit.
the science.
Habits are created through the formation of new neural pathways in our brains, which yoga facilitates (3). Research shows that a long-term yoga practice helps to grow new brain cells and connections that improve: learning, memory, attention, information processing, reasoning and decision making (3). And brain scans found a thicker cerebral cortex and hippocampus (which is where information processing, learning and memory are held) in long-term yogis than in non-yogis (3). This usually shrinks as we get older - meaning yoga can actually slow down brain ageing.
Yogic breathing in and of itself is incredibly healing: studies show it increases saliva secretion which contains nerve growth factors that help our body heal (4).
It stimulates stem cells, and collagen and improves pain intolerance (5).
AND relaxes lung pathways, increasing oxygen to our heart which reduces blood pressure and the risk of heart disease (helping people with lung-related illnesses) (5).
this is just through breathing.
therapy.
The reason I continued with yoga (despite my first frustrating experience) was because I’d read about its benefits on mental health. Studies show that long-term yoga practice is more effective for depression, anxiety (which played a big role in my life) and PTSD than any other drug or therapy ever studied (3,6).
Before yoga, I didn’t have words to express myself and doctors weren’t much help. Plus, this option was free. So, learning about how yoga worked motivated me to keep going. Since then it’s been an up-and-down, love-hate 6-year relationship. It’s not always been fun. But it’s helped me in more ways than I could have imagined. And each time I feel like giving up my body shows me something it’s never been able to do before which gives me the motivation to keep going. Before yoga, I had pretty bad social anxiety and found chatting to anyone without the ease of a drink and a smoke terrifying.
Since starting my practice I’ve been able to stop smoking, drinking and moved to the other side of the world. I can wholeheartedly say that I wouldn’t have been able to do that without yoga.
When I went back to classes I only found a handful of teachers to preserve the philosophy, most seem to only emphasise the asanas. But it’s important to integrate all 8 limbs, not just pick and choose the bits that we want. They were created together for a reason.
The 8 limbs of yoga are kinda similar to the 3 core beliefs of CBT therapy which emphasise that in order to change how we’re feeling, we need to change our thoughts, feelings and behaviour (7).
CBT is one of the most effective forms of therapy for anxiety and depression.
Different types of yoga mimic different therapies (or, you could say different therapies mimic different types of yoga). Ashtanga (which is my preferred practice) incorporates EMDR with breath work, movement, and stretching. Which explains why yoga is so effective in treating mental health issues.
trauma.
Emotions are held in different parts of the body - heartbreak in the chest, the neck feels stress and the stomach holds anxiety and sadness (2). Trauma is when these emotions become unbearable and the body and mind become “stuck” (so to speak). In the brain, trauma acts like a blocked drain which can manifest in different ways: anxiety, addiction, depression, and PTSD (3). This impacts our immune system, our body overreacts and starts to attack itself which can lead to cancers, heart disease, and autoimmune (3). Yoga helps release trauma by stretching out stress held in the body and using the breath to work through the pain, rewiring the brain and working through trauma in a safe and effective (and free) way. And, most importantly, without the side effects of drugs.
endocannabinoids.
Yoga also helps to regulate a system in our body called the endocannabinoid system (5). This is a relatively unknown system, mainly because it was discovered in the 30s by some scientists who wanted to figure out how cannabis affects us - which is what the system was named after (8). Cannabis was then made illegal, so the system sort of got swept under the rug.
The endocannabinoid system is primarily found in the brain but affects pretty much every part of our body (8). If you think of the body like a business, the endocannabinoid system is like the CEO that keeps each department (bodily functions) in check. If there’s anything going on in or outside the body causing us to freak out the CEO comes in and calms everything back down.
It works by the release of 2 endocannabinoids that we make naturally called AEA and 2-AG (8,9). If there are too many stressors (which, in today’s world, you just have to turn on the news to get hit in the face with a monthly intake of stress) the system becomes dysregulated. Meaning AEA and 2-AG don’t get released and we’re stuck in this stressed state (8).
The War on Drugs (declared by Nixon in the 70s, making weed and psychedelics illegal and locking down on drug enforcement) stopped any further research into the system. But, now the war is ending research has started back up and one really interesting study found that:
just a 4-day yoga retreat released more endocannabinoids than exercise and orgasms (!)
along with improving focus, happiness, positive well-being and reducing depression and anxiety for at least 1 month (10). I’m gunna write some more about this in another blog post because the system is fascinating in and of itself. But, for now, we can summarise by saying: the endocannabinoid system is like the lock and yoga the key to chilling out our bodies.
Just a simple 10-minute yoga practice each day will help regulate our bodies and charge up our immune systems, preventing any potential chronic illnesses (physical and mental). It’s one of the most powerful and simple ways we can take control of our health, our bodies and our minds.
Looking after our health doesn’t just benefit us, it affects the well-being of everyone else around us. If we’re stressed or ill it affects our moods, our ability to think clearly, and our patience with others. Bad moods get passed on. Looking after yourself is the most selfless thing you can do. If we learn to take care of ourselves we then have the ability to care for the people who really need it. All we have to do is learn to breathe.
references:
Basavaraddi, I. (2015) Yoga: Its Origin, History and Development (accessed 30 September 2022)
KripaluVideo (2018) Bessell van der Kolk: Overcome Trauma with Yoga (accessed 28 November 2021)
Harvard health publishing (2021) Yoga for Better Mental Health, Harvard Health (accessed 30 September 2022)
TEDx Talks (2015) The Science of Yogic Breathing | Sundar Balasubramanian | TEDxCharleston (accessed 30 September 2022)
TED-Ed (2020) What Yoga does to Your Body and Brain - Krishna Sudhir (accessed 30 September 2022)
van der Kolk, B. (2015) The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma, London: Penguin Books
TEDx Talks (2017) Yoga and its Connection to Mental Health | Nikolai Blinow | TEDxSalveReginaU (accessed 30 September 2022)
TEDx Talks (2019) The Endocannabinoid System and the Revolution of One | Rachel Knox | TEDxPortland (accessed 30 September 2022)
Zou, S. and Kumar, U. (2018) ‘Cannabinoid Receptors and the Endocannabinoid System: Signaling and Function in the Central Nervous System’, International Journal of Molecular Sciences 19.3: 833, DOI: 10.3390/ijms19030833 (accessed 30 September 2022)
Sadhasivam, S. et al. (2020) ‘Inner Engineering Practices and Advanced 4-day Isha Yoga Retreat are Associated with Cannabimimetic effects with increased Endocannabinoids and short-term and Sustained Improvement in Mental Health: A Prospective Observational Study of Meditators’, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2020.8438272: 1-9 (accessed 30 September 2022)