The Autonomic Nervous System and Yoga Practice

Lisa SchmidtPacific Yoga Teacher Training 500 Hour Program

Final Anatomy ProjectMay 1, 2010

ABSTRACT 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 Response?

Initial Fight or Flight Response Mobilizes body for immediate

action

Slower Resistance Reaction

Stage of Exhaustion

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 worksPhysiological changes to the nervous system

Stimulation of the Vagus nerve through breathing practicesActivation of the Parasympathetic NSInduction of the relaxation response

Yoga practices repetition which rewires deeply embedded physical, psychological, or emotional patterns

Meditation observation of behavior patternsChange, and cognitive learning, becomes realized

Yoga SutrasIII.9: “When after a moment of stability, the mind ceases its fluctuation and

remains naturally quiet, it begins its transformation to stability”

Simple Pranayama/Pratyahar

a Practice① Use the breath in order to

concentrate on marman points

② 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

③ Anchor each center with awareness, using breath

④ Invoke a favorite deity, teacher, mantra

Meditation

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 RehabilitationSavasana 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 RehabilitationPrasarita Pardottasasana,

concave back

Bharadvajasana, sitting on chair, hands on trestle

Adho Mukha Shvanasana with support

Shirshasana

Viparita Dandasana with bench

Yoga Poses for Cardiac RehabilitationDhaanurasana with or without

support

Sarvangasana with chair

Halasana with support

Bhismacharyasana with support

Setuandha Sarvangasana with support

Yoga Poses for Cardiac RehabilitationViparita 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