The Neuroscience of Yoga

I started doing yoga daily whilst amidst intense study, an MSc Neuroscience followed by a Ph.D., I was stressed and needed something to counteract it. Yoga was my savior, my destress tool. I could feel the positive effects but being me I wanted to know what was going on inside at a biological level. What I began learning fascinated me, so much so that I left my Ph.D. and became a yoga teacher. Here is a snippet of what I’ve been learning recently, hopefully, it will interest you too….

As far back as Krishna (3228 BC), India’s greatest prophet, there are writings referring to electricity in the body, the spine & brain being the center of this system and yoga & yogic breath being a tool to calm & regulate this system. All of this we now know to be true thanks to modern-day Neuroscience. We know that electrical signals run along neurons in the brain and nerves in the body, that the spine & brain are part of the central nervous system controlling all senses and responses within the body. We also now know thanks to new technologies such as EEG & fMRI that yoga & yogic breathing alter both the structure and electrical activity within the brain. These studies are slowly piecing together why yoga makes us feel so good & confirming what yogis have been telling us for 1000s of years, yoga creates calm, focus & steadiness of mind.

In the Bhagavad Gita it states:

“Offering inhaling breath into the outgoing breath, and offering the outgoing breath into the inhaling breath, the yogi neutralizes both these breaths; he thus releases the life force from the heart and brings it under his control.”

Sounds a bit ‘woohoo’ right? But studies have shown breath-focused meditation and yogic breathing practices have numerous cognitive benefits, including increased ability to focus, decreased mind wandering, improved arousal levels, more positive emotions, decreased emotional reactivity, along with many others. But how?
A recent study has shown this is due to the breath’s ability to regulate the production of noradrenaline in a small area of the brainstem called the locus coeruleus (Melnychuk, 2018). As you breath in the locus coeruleus activity is increasing slightly, and as you breathe out it decreases. Noradrenaline has multiple actions within the brain. When we’re stressed we produce too much noradrenaline and we can’t focus. When we feel sluggish, we produce too little and again, we can’t focus. So there’s a sweet spot of noradrenaline, when the perfect amount is released, in which our emotions, thinking, and memory are much clearer. Put simply this means that our attention is influenced by our breath and that it rises and falls with the cycle of respiration. By regulating our breathing we are regulating our ‘focus’ neurotransmitter noradrenaline allowing the perfect amount to be released, which in turn allows for optimum concentration and processing within the brain.

Recent research has also found those with a strong meditative or yogic practice have more ‘youthful brains’ and less risk of Alzheimer’s (Marciniak,2018). This is now thought to be also due to the breath’s ability to regulate Noradrenaline. When it’s produced at the right levels it helps the brain grow new connections, like a brain fertilizer and increases brain plasticity (Melnychuk, 2018).
We also know that deep breathing causes the release of the neurotransmitter called bradykinin, and bradykinin signals the parasympathetic nervous system to activate.  The parasympathetic nervous system, also known as the rest and digest system, it slows the heart rate, increases intestinal and gland activity and relaxes muscles. Being in the parasympathetic nervous system allows our bodies and brains to come back into balance, rejuvenate and process at optimum.
These studies are allowing us to see for the first time the biological reason for the calm, centered and focused feeling you get after yoga practice.

Another area in which yogic or mediators’ brains differ is their ability to manage stress.
Neuroimaging studies have allowed us to see that those with a strong practice react differently both in person and at a biological level. For the average person when exposed to a stressful stimulus we see the activation of the amygdala, hippocampus, the adrenal glands as the brain gets the body ready to respond abruptly (Wang,2011). These areas of the brain are thought to be the more primitive areas of the brain, needed to react quickly to threats. We also see that activation in the frontal cortex decreases, it turns ‘off’ slightly. The frontal cortex is where our logical thought happens, personality, expression, decision making, moderating social behavior, orchestration of thoughts and actions in accordance with internal goals (Miller, 2002). In those who mediate we see different signaling, there’s not as much activation in the amygdala, hippocampus, the adrenal glands. But more importantly the frontal cortex, specifically the left prefrontal cortex is activating, it stays ‘On’ (Wang,2011). The left prefrontal cortex is the seat of positive emotions keeping us positive, calm, focused and rational. Put simply their stress response isn’t triggered, they’re able to stay in a place of positivity and rational thought throughout stressful stimulation.

Further studies have shown that this may be due to structural changes in the brain. Those with a regular practice of meditation and mindfulness have been found on average to have a smaller amygdala (the seat of the stress response). Studies have also shown that the amygdala can actually shrink after the prolonged practice of Yoga and meditation. This is believed to be due to the yogi’s ability to stay in the left prefrontal cortex (the seat of positivity) leading to less neuronal pathways into the amygdala, less activation and blood flow resulting in shrinkage (Goleman, 2017). In sum those who meditate don’t react to stress stimuli the same as others, they stay calm and focused due to physical alterations in the brain.

This is just a snippet of the research that’s out there, validating what Yoga has always known. It’s amazing to see eastern believes and practices being backup by science but more importantly its teaching us that we have a choice in how our brains function. As we begin to understand the impact of Yoga practices on our neurobiology, we see the tools and practices that shift our psychological and emotional states and ultimately release we can work with the brain to change it. Our brains are plastic, always open to new ways of thinking, working and responding to life. Neuroscience is proving this and opening the minds of many to the brilliance and gifts of yoga.

References
Melnychuk MC, Dockree PM, O’Connell RG, Murphy PR, Balsters JH, Robertson IH. Coupling of respiration and attention via the locus coeruleus: effects of meditation and pranayama. Psychophysiology e13091, 2018. doi:10.1111/psyp.13091.

 Miller EK, Freedman DJ, Wallis JD (August 2002). “The prefrontal cortex: categories, concepts and cognition”. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences. 357 (1424): 1123–36. doi:10.1098/rstb.2002.1099. PMC 1693009. PMID 12217179.

Marciniak R, Sheardova, Čermáková, Hudeček, Šumec, Hort J. (2018) “Effect of Meditation on Cognitive Functions in Context of Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases” Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 8,17: 1662-5153 DOI=10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00017

Wang, D. J., Rao, H., Korczykowski, M., Wintering, N., Pluta, J., Khalsa, D. S., & Newberg, A. B. (2011). Cerebral blood flow changes associated with different meditation practices and perceived depth of meditation. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 191(1), 60-67. doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2010.09.011

Goleman, D., & Davidson, R. (2017). The Science of Meditation: How to Change Your Brain, Mind and Body. London, England: Penguin UK.

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