The autonomic nervous system and yoga

The autonomic nervous system and yoga The autonomic nervous system and yoga The autonomic nervous system and yoga The autonomic nervous system and yoga The autonomic nervous system and yoga The autonomic nervous system and yoga The autonomic nervous system and yoga The autonomic nervous system and yoga The autonomic nervous system and yoga The autonomic nervous system and yoga The autonomic nervous system and yoga

The Autonomic Nervous System and Yoga Practice

Lisa SchmidtPacific Yoga Teacher Training 500 Hour Program

Final Anatomy Project

May 1, 2010

Different methods of breathing and yoga practice can affect the autonomic nervous system and have an impact of the

functions we ordinarily consider to be under unconscious

control Abnormal breathing and movement patterns can

stimulate autonomic reactions associated with anxiety, panic, and other nervous system stimulation By contrast, quiet

breathing and introspective yoga postures influence the

autonomic circuits that slow the heartbeat and reduce blood pressure, producing calm and a sense of stability Our ability

to control respiration consciously gives us access to

autonomic function that no other system of the body can

boast.

The Nervous System

Divisions

What is the Autonomic

Nervous System?

Function of ANS

Two Divisions

Sympathetic NS

The Stress Response

What Causes the Stress

What Happens Next?

Fight or Flight Response Chronic Stress & Cortisol

Parasympathetic NS

Conditioning and Practice

 Activates the Rest and

Digest System

 Benefits include resting,

digesting, healing

 Powerfully affected by

respiration rate, levels of

Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide

Let it go!!

Parasympathetic Stimulation

• slowing down of the heartbeat

• lowering of blood pressure

• constriction of the pupils

• increased blood flow to the skin and viscera

• peristalsis of the GI tract

• returns the body functions to normal after they have been altered by

sympathetic stimulation

• The vagus nerves also help keep inflammation under control

Role of the Vagus Nerve

How Yoga works

Physiological changes to the nervous system

Stimulation of the Vagus nerve through breathing practices

Activation of the Parasympathetic NS

Induction of the relaxation response

Yoga practices repetition which rewires deeply embedded physical, psychological,

or emotional patterns

Meditation observation of behavior patterns

Change, and cognitive learning, becomes realized

 Yoga Sutras

III.9: “When after a moment of stability, the mind ceases its fluctuation and remains naturally

quiet, it begins its transformation to stability”

Simple Pranayama/Pratyahara

Practice

Use the breath in order to

concentrate on marman points

Big toes, ankles, midcalves, knees, midthighs, perineum, navel, heart center, throat well, middle of the

eyebrows, forehead, and

crown-follow like a ladder up and down

Anchor each center with awareness, using breath

Invoke a favorite deity, teacher,

mantra

 Turning mind to positive qualities

 Positive qualities become dominant

 Negative qualities become dormant, weakened

 Negative reactions (fear, anger, anxiety, resentment) that trigger the sympathetic NS less likely to occur

awareness – self-observation - repetition

Study: Iyengar Yoga and

Cardiac Rehabilitation

Scientific Study on Yoga’s biological

effects

Improves Vagal Tone

Significantly improved cardiac

autonomic nervous tone

The effect produced on the heart

when only the parasympathetic nerve

fibers (which are carried in the vagus

nerve) are controlling the heart rate

The parasympathetic nerve fibres

slow the heart rate from approximately

70 beats per minute to 60 beats per

minute

Yoga Poses for Cardiac Reh abilitation Savasana with support

 Supta badda konasana with support

 Purvottanasana on bench and

support

 Trikonasana with a trestle

 Parshvakonasana with a trestle

 Ardha Chandrasana with a trestle

Yoga Poses for Cardiac Reh abilitation  Prasarita Pardottasasana,

concave back

 Bharadvajasana, sitting on

chair, hands on trestle

 Adho Mukha Shvanasana with support

 Shirshasana

 Viparita Dandasana with bench

Yoga Poses for Cardiac Reh abilitation  Dhaanurasana with or without

support

 Sarvangasana with chair

 Halasana with support

 Bhismacharyasana with

support

 Setuandha Sarvangasana with support

Yoga Poses for Cardiac Reh abilitation Viparita Karani ona Setubandha

Bench

 Shavasana with support

From Iyengar Yoga Increases Cardiac Parasympathetic Nervous Modulation

Among Healthy Yoga Practitioners

Kerstin Khattab,1 Ahmed A Khattab,1 Jasmin Ortak,2 Gert Richardt,1 and Hendrik

Bonnemeier2

Evidence Based Complement

Alternative Med 2007 December; 4(4):

511–517.Published online 2007 October 27.

Common thread through

these poses

How Should I Practice?

 Sit each day for five minutes

 Deeply rest (restorative pose) each day for twenty minutes

 Practice each day three poses

Birdwings by Rumi

Your grief for what you've lost lifts a mirror

up to where you are bravely working.

Expecting the worst, you look, and instead, here's the joyful face you've been wanting to see.

Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.

If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be

paralyzed.

Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birdwings