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Monday, June 25, 2012

The Effect of Yoga Poses on Your Mood

by Nina

“To sit in Lotus Pose and gaze at one’s nose is said to be a spiritual practice; to do Lotus Pose and concentrate on the coccyx or elsewhere is said to be a physical practice. Where is the difference? How can Hatha Yoga be only physical and Raja Yoga only spiritual?” —BKS Iyengar

Iyengar sounds a bit cranky in that quote, doesn’t he? I think that’s because back in the 60s he was getting tired of explaining his somewhat radical point of view that doing yoga poses was a form of meditation. Traditionally yoga poses were seen as physical exercises to purify and strength the body for meditation and other spiritual practices. But Iyengar argued that the poses themselves were a spiritual practice.

“A posture can be considered as much a mantra or as much as meditation.” —BKS Iyengar

I thought of this recently when I read an interesting article about a study about the affects of meditation on moods (see Meditation Induces Positive Structural Brain Changes). When I first heard about the article, I thought it was going to be about a study of traditional seated meditation, and I was excited about the possibility that there was proof that traditional meditation helped improve our moods. Instead, I found the study was done using a special form of Chinese meditation called Integrative Body-Mind Training (IBMT) that “differs from other forms of meditation because it depends heavily on the inducement of a high degree of awareness and balance of the body, mind, and environment. And the study found:

“Building on results from a study they published in 2010, investigators found that healthy college-aged volunteers who practiced IBMT for 4 weeks showed significantly improved mood changes compared with those who did not practice the meditation technique.

The researchers note that these mood changes coincided with improved axonal density and expansion of myelin in the anterior cingulate part of the brain, a region that is implicated in self-regulation. Previous research has linked deficits in this brain area with attention deficit disorder, depression, schizophrenia, dementia, and addiction.”
Orchids in the Mist by Michele Macartney-Filgate
Exciting results, certainly. But doesn’t IBMT sound like Iyengar yoga? I mean, isn’t the practice of yoga poses with a mindful focus on alignment and physical sensations the same as “awareness and balance of the body, mind, and environment”? So it’s pretty easy to extrapolate from this study that Iyengar yoga would have similar effects as this Chinese meditation technique.

Of course I don’t really need a study to tell me what I know from personal experience. My asana practice definitely affects my moods. I usually feel better after practicing almost any sequence, and when I’m feeling depressed or discouraged or stressed, I can intentionally design a practice that can improve my mood. But it’s always nice to find out about studies that back up what I know intuitively because, well, it seems I’m on a mission: I want you, whoever you are, to start practicing, too. Your moods will improve and your stress levels will be reduced, and your overall health will benefit as a result. And now there is the intriguing possibility the practice could also help with dementia (as well as attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia and addiction)!

“Yoga is the harmony of the body, senses, mind, and intellect. That’s why there is no difference between physical and spiritual yoga.” —BKS Iyengar
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