I posted back in November 2015 about
my personal journey with yoga. I started off with videos and home practice in
2007 and the personal changes that have occurred since then, through
integration of classes with others, following the direction of personal yogis
(who may or may not practice yoga, but they're still inspirational trailblazers
to me), are phenomenal. Crow pose is still my favorite - I have yet to master the
ego.
 |
| Crow Pose - Bakasana |
I produced and edited (very
sloppily, I might add) an article about the benefits of yoga and mindful
breath. I have edited and re-formatted it to be easier on the eyes, the heart,
and hopefully -- your soul.
∞Yoga on, my friends. Yoga on.∞
Overview:
Yoga and mindfulness, by association, are based on the concept of integration of
the mind-body connection; by keeping the practitioner mindful, this in turn
reduces emotional responsivity to internal or external triggers. The result is
a direct impact on physiological response to environmental stressors, which
influences physical health, emotional health, and spiritual connectedness (for
those interested in these benefits).
• Physical Stress Response includes:
■ Breathing: typically short and shallow when a person is stressed
►Increased CO2/ decrease O2 effects:
○ CO2 can induce: Visual disturbances - Headache - Reduction in
reasoning ability - A sense of “air
hunger” or dyspnea (asphyxiation); In other words, if a
person "forgets" to be mindful of their breath, the body thinks
it is choking to death; the reduction in reasoning ability suggests that yoga
and connected breathing sequences would enhance reasoning ability, and
consequently, decision-making capability.
■
Stress response and fatigue
►Increased
cortisol levels -- the effects of this response include:
○ Weight gain
○ Decrease
in immune system function
○ Memory impairment
• Short-term
"fixes"
■ Alcohol Use and Abuse (once-a-month bingeing to daily use)
►Short-term effect: decrease in perceived stress (the
body continues to react as if stress level had not changed though; this is
a cognitive change or an illusion the mind creates)
►Long-term effect: raised cortisol levels
■
Caffeine Use and Abuse (yes, you can abuse caffeine; it's now in the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual's latest version)
►Short-term effect: increases the perceived wakefulness of the
consumer
►Long-term
effect: raises cortisol levels
∞•∞•∞
"Short term pain, long term happiness;
Short term happiness, long term pain.
Which do you choose?
∞•∞•∞
Physical
body benefits of yoga and meditation
•Body
systems affected: nervous system, respiratory system, cardiovascular
system, diabetes, cancer, immunity, and the list goes on.
■ Specific examples of effects of yoga and meditation on particular body systems and/or disorders:
►Diabetes/Blood sugar
○ Postures that stimulate the pancreas lead to renewed ability of pancreas to
manufacture insulin and increased insulin sensitivity.
∙ This suggests that we may benefit non-diabetic patients by increasing
productivity and efficiency of the pancreas (which reacts when we eat) through
yoga practice.
►Sleep and Circadian Rhythm Processes
○ Transcendental Meditation (TM): increases melatonin production (melatonin is
often a supplement taken to enhance sleepiness, but is actually produced
by the body naturally, if given proper rest and support)
► Response time
○ Meditation, in general, increases the speed of attention
location/relocation (decreasing response time and increasing information
processing efficiency)
►
Mind-body connection
○ Increase in the mind's ability to focus on the present (mindfulness)
∞•∞•∞
Definition
and overview of mindfulness meditation
»
"A family of self-regulation practices that focus on training attention
and awareness in order to bring mental processes under greater voluntary
control and thereby foster general mental well-being and development and/or
specific capacities such as calm, clarity, and concentration (Walsh &
Shapiro, 2006, p. 228).”
»
Mindfulness meditation (in contrast to other forms of meditation) “has been
shown to stimulate the middle prefrontal brain associated with both
self-observation and metacognition (Cahn; Polich, 2006; Siegel, 2007b)
and foster specific attentional mechanisms (Valentine; Sweet,
1999).”
∞•∞•∞
Empirically-supported
benefits of mindfulness and regular yoga practice
» Emotional Regulation (based on
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction treatment, or MBSR)
►
Benefits
a. Decreased reactivity to internal and external stimuli
b. Interpersonal benefits
c. Intrapersonal benefits (those that occur within the self and
relationship with the self)
› Studies suggest a detached frame of mind results from mindfulness practice,
stopping the trigger-thought-craving-use cycle, which is the addiction cycle
(sugar counts, too!)
› If a “lapse” occurs (i.e., a “slip”), acceptance that is learned through
practicing mindfulness regularly may reduce making a
negative situation worse and may reduce the resulting shame/blame, which
helps the person get back on track more quickly to recovery.
»
Clinical Research Studies
1. University of Utah study; correlation between physical changes and
yoga practice
a.
12 yogis; 14 fibromyalgia patients; 16 healthy volunteers
b. Fibromyalgia
patients tend to perceive pain with less stimulus than those without
fibromyalgia; yoga and mindfulness practices are beneficial to these patients.
2. German study performed in 2005 with 24 “emotionally distressed” women
a. Effects of yoga practice on stress, depression, anxiety; yoga
practice two times per week at 90-minute sessions
›
Depression scores: improved by 50%
› Anxiety scores: improved by 30%
› Overall well-being: improved by 65%
› Somatic complaints such as headaches, back pain, and poor sleep: higher
resolution rate (no specific measurement available)
3. Descriptive 2005 study, New Hampshire; inpatients, 113
participants with bipolar disorder, major depression, and schizophrenia
a.
Short term positive effects: decrease in scores on tension, anxiety,
depression, anger, hostility, and fatigue (during a Profile of Mood states)
– (FYI: a state is changeable; a trait is static)
b. Improves quality of life for elderly, dementia caregivers, breast
cancer survivors, epilepsy patients
4. Sudarshan Kriya yoga (SKY): cyclical breathing study with
45 participants who were inpatient clients receiving treatment for
depression
a.
Description of yoga "treatment"
∙
30 minutes, 6 times per week for 4 weeks
∙ The yoga group outcomes were compared to ECT and tricyclic antidepressant
∙∙
Remission rates per group: 93% ECT; 73% antidepressant; 67% breathing
5. Study of 60 alcohol dependent men; 1-week detox, 2-week SKY
a.
SKY group treatment compared to alcoholism treatment
∙ Results included:
∙∙ A drop in depression scores: 75% in SKY group vs. 60% in tx group
∙∙
Decrease in both cortisol and corticotropin (the chemical that “boosts”
cortisol production) in the SKY group, but not in the treatment group
∞•∞•∞
PTSD and
comorbidity with substance use and/or abuse
Substance
use is often accompanied by trauma; though it may not result in clinical
PTSD (e.g., a diagnosis), but can have long-lasting effects that mimic this
disorder due to the environment the user allows themselves to interact with to
acquire and use and/or abuse drugs and alcohol.
There
is a perception by the patient that past traumatic experiences are occurring in
the here-and-now based on being triggered by cues that are similar to the
original event (often flashbacks, loud noises or other environmental factors)
The
traumatic memory is triggered more easily due to its storage in
the short-term memory system.
Future research directions and implications for trauma-affected populations:
■ FACT:
20% war veterans are diagnosed with PTSD
□ Disabled Australian Vietnam veterans with PTSD study; alcohol and
antidepressants
·5-day course of: breathing techniques, yoga, stress-reduction
education, guided meditation
·Pre-treatment ranking via CAPS (Clinician
Administered PTSD Scale); this measure rates how severe the PTSD symptoms are
∙Post-tx
ranking at 6 weeks and 6 months dropped from average of moderate/severe
symptoms to mild/moderate while the control group (who remained on the
waiting list) experienced no improvement.
■ FACT: Those who have a history of substance
use and/or abuse also tend to have a history of trauma, either prior to or after his or her first episode of substance use.
□ Mindfulness Study: MBRP (Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention) 8-week
group post inpatient/outpatient substance use treatment (n=168) versus TAU
(treatment as usual) group
· Outcome: lower rates of substance use per
4-month post-intervention period measures. This included lower rates of
craving, increase in acceptance and mindful action.
REFERENCES
∙Harvard Health
Publications, Harvard Medical School, “Yoga for anxiety and depression”
(Harvard Mental Health letter), April 1, 2009. http://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/yoga-for-anxiety-and-depression
∙Bowen, S.,
Chawla, N., Collins, S. E., Witkiewitz, K., Hsu, S., Grow, Marlatt, A. (2009).
Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for Substance Use Disorders: A Pilot
Efficacy Trial. Substance Abuse, 30(4), 295–305. http://doi.org/10.1080/08897070903250084
∙Dartmouth
Undergraduate Journal of Science, “The Physiology of Stress: Cortisol and the
Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis” (Posted by Michael Randall ’12), Fall
2010, http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/fall-2010/the-physiology-of-stress-cortisol-and-the-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis#.Vh6UAXpViko
∙Physiological
Responses to Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide in the Breathing Environment, W. Jon
Williams, Ph.D. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, USA
NIOSH Public Meeting September 17, 2009, Pittsburgh, PA
∙Balaji, P. A.,
Varne, S. R., and Ali, S. S. (2012). Physiological
Effects of
Yogic Practices and Transcendental Meditation in
Health and
Disease. North American Journal of Medical
Sciences, 4(10),
442–448. http://doi.org/10.4103/1947-2714.101980
►In
progress (and taken word-for-word):
Practically speaking, you do your brain-body a lot of good.
Among the benefits of TM:
• It’s the only meditation practice shown to lower blood pressure.
• The practice can help increase insulin resistance.
• TM is the most effective meditation technique to slow
biological aging (my favorite!).
• It can also ease feelings of anxiety in people with
anxiety disorders.
∞ Yoga on, my friends. Yoga on. ∞
