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A Harvard study reported that yoga modulates the stress response. The poses, breathing exercises, and meditation techniques in yoga can reduce the impact of the brain’s exaggerated stress response. These self-soothing practices can lessen anxiety and even physical pain. Science has proven that yoga also eases depression and has other neuroprotective benefits.
Yoga is a low-risk, high-yield approach to reducing anxiety and improving overall health.
Practicing yoga encourages the production and release of GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid) in the brain. GABA is the chief inhibitory or calming neurotransmitter. Its principal role is reducing neuronal excitability throughout the nervous system. In humans, GABA is also directly responsible for the regulation of muscle tone.
One study discovered that yoga was more effective than walking when for increasing GABA levels in the brain. GABA relaxes your brain and body and counteracts the fight or flight response caused by anxiety. Your heart will decrease and muscles will relax.
Mindfulness is a fundamental principle of yoga. Through the practice of yoga, you learn to be mindful. Mindfulness is the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment. Science has found mindfulness to be an effective practice to reduce chronic anxiety and stress.
There is an ensemble of neural networks, called the default mode network (DFM), that is your brain’s go-to state when it’s at rest, not doing anything in particular. Science discovered the DFM using fMRI scanners where people were observed with no specific thinking assignment. The scans showed that their mindless mental activity was mostly repetitive ruminative thoughts.
In mindfulness, by intentionally directing your attention inward and cultivating awareness, you are becoming aware of your DFM and exerting control over it. By doing this repeatedly in yoga (or meditation), you train your brain to break free of negative or anxious thought loops and orient itself in the present moment.
These are just a few examples of how yoga aids in reducing chronic anxiety. It helps to calm the brain and counter the effects of anxiety on your body. Yoga can also alter your perception and mindset so you don’t experience constant tension and stress as much when outside the yoga room.
