Both the yogic mind and the truly scientific mind must be a living mind, learning, never ending. Gently holding onto observed truths and patterns, but willingly letting them go if proven to be false. In this way, the flow of knowledge is constant and is never dead or stagnant. It is this curiosity that sheds light on ignorance and destroys the great illusion of Maya. So, when the opportunity arose to apply for a PhD researching the effects of yoga asana on the brain using the quantitative measurements of fNIRS brain imaging technology, I jumped at the chance. Now, as a PhD student at the University of San Luis Potosí Autónomo, Mexico, I will use fNIRS brain imaging technology to look at the effects of yoga on the brain. Light on Yoga – fNIRS brain imaging technology Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an experimental non-invasive, non-ionizing neuroimaging technique that employs multiple sources and near-infrared light detectors to map brain activity through the observation of oxygen saturation levels in hemoglobin. Unlike functional magnetic resonance imaging, fNIRS allows patients to capture images during movement while observing brain activity, such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which has been identified as a key brain area to understand important aspects of well-being and its practices. It has also been observed that measurements of heart rate variability (HRV) approach the accuracy of an electroencephalogram (EEG), making it advantageous in research where characterization of the autonomic nervous system (i.e., vagal tone) and its relationship to brain activity is desired. The Third Eye – The Prefrontal Cortex Many people think that the third eye is attributed to the pineal gland. However, according to Dr. Huberman of Huberman Labs, it makes much more sense to associate the third eye with the prefrontal cortex. This is due to the fact that when we enter meditation, the space between the eyebrows where people are often told to focus is the prefrontal cortex. In addition, the prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain associated with executive functioning, or rather, the higher mind that perceives life beyond the animal instincts associated with the reptilian part of the brain located further back. The prefrontal cortex is the most advanced part of the frontal cortex and constitutes 30% of the total cortical area. Its exact definition and role remains an area of debate in neuroscience. However, it is widely accepted that this is the area responsible for executive functioning and complex behavior. It is here that automatic and instinctive reactions are controlled, past memory and learned experience are analyzed, and future action is reviewed, planned and executed. Several researchers have highlighted the importance of the prefrontal cortex as an important region of interest in both the treatment and diagnosis of psychological disorders, stress levels, emotional response and well-being. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) has emerged in one of the most consistently diminished regions in mood disorders with reduced functional connectivity that is reduced in the Default Mode Network (DMN) and the Cognitive Control Network (CCN). It has been observed that reduced functional connectivity within the default mode network correlated with major depressive disorder. Santosha – La Importancia del Bienestar In the philosophy of Yoga there is the concept Santosha is related to being content. In Western research language, its equivalent would be well-being. The World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that the decrease in levels of well-being and the increase in cases of major depression is the factor that contributes most to the global burden of diseases when measuring the years of health and capacity lost due to this pathology. Both psychology and behavioral medicine indicate that physiological stress reactions confer risk of psychological and physical illness. Integrative, multidisciplinary research that applies neuroimaging technology that is capable of recording both brain and cardiac activity can help bridge historically separate disciplines of physiology and psychology and clarify the brain-body pathways that link psychological and physical well-being. The above has the potential to provide more accurate diagnoses and treatment assessments. Exploring neurobiological markers of well-being and neurological changes that result from yoga practices could provide more accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and preventive care.
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Hypermobility & Hypotension – Yoga Asana, Anxiety and Pain
Hypermobility, hyperextension, hyperflexability – these are different words all describing the same thing – a weakness or laxness in the connective tissue (fascia) of the joints. There is a tight link between anxiety and generalized hyper joint mobility as well as preliminary connections with depression, fibromaglia, chronic fatigue, and attention deficit (and hyperactivity) disorder. There is also evidence that this laxness in the the fascia is also related to issues of low blood pressure and a resulting problems such as POTS. It basically works like this: A lack of strenth in the connective tissue (fascia) surrouding the joint makes the joint and the tissue more susceptible to injury, injury signals the release of cytokines and creates inflammation and increased levels of cortisol in the blood. High levels of cortisol and generalizad inflammation is highly associated with all of the previously mentioned disorders as well as just more physical pain. Besides increasing the chance the injury and inflammation, the lack of blood flow through the system (due to a lack of engaging muscle fiber and connective tissue) results in low blood pressure – or hypotension. Hypotension can result in dizzyness, blurred vision, tiredness and difficulty getting blood from the digestive tract up to the heart. This in turn will also affect the digestion, the immune system and increase the liklihood of other chronic ailments, such as long covid. Things then only get worse for my fellow flexis since we are often drawn to activities where we can enjoy and showcase our great limberness and without proper joint stability, those hanumanasana splits without engaging the feet and leg muscles only makes things worse and increase our chances of inflammation and injury. Some people think that super flexis got it easy on the Yoga mat. WRONG. Those of us who are naturally flexible, or teachers who are guiding the practice of naturally flexible individuals, absolutely must pay even more attention to hand spine connection and foot pelvic alignment. Without engaging these connections which start in the karmendriyas (organs of action) of the hands and feet, the muscles around the bones and joints will not engage. Any lack of awareness to these foundational connections and active engagement, will increase the probability of hyperextension of the joint, injury and inflammation and all the benefits of Yoga Asana can easily transform from a discipline of holistic healing into one of chronic injury and poor system functioning. So if you are a naturally flexible human being, be careful with your practice and make sure that you are working with a teacher who can help you to protect your joints and engage those deep muscle fibers around the bones as well as guide you into a progressive practice of inversions and back bends to get the blood moving from the feet up into the heart and brain. SOURCES: Arthralgias, fatigue, paresthesias and visceral pain: Can joint hypermobility solve the puzzle? A case report (2016) Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome: Immunologic contrasts and connective tissue comparisons (2021) Is pain the only symptom in patients with benign joint hypermobility syndrome? (2015) Psychopathological manifestations of joint hypermobility and joint hypermobility syndrome/ Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type: The link between connective tissue and psychological distress revised (2015) #karmukayoga #yogatherapy #yogazoom #yogaonline #hypermobility
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Yoga Asana and Vagus Nerve Function
Why physical posture affects your mood, perception of reality, creative and executive functioning. Research is identifying that a large part of our perceived reality has it’s basis in the ascending visceral communication of the body upwards to the brain (mainly through the vagus nerve), where it is then interpreted and then sent back to the body. Essentially acting like a feedback loop between gut, heart and brain. Why is this useful to know? Various studies have shown that simply changing our physical form has significant impact on our perceptions and experiences of the world. There is evidence that ‘good posture’ does equate to higher levels of wellbeing – even when walking. A ‘good posture” allows for better breath, which affects vagal tone. and relaxes the sympathetic autonomic nervous system (ie. the fight/flight stress response). Greater relaxation of the sympathetic system allows for greater resources to be used for executive and creative functioning rather than just survival. I mean how is your mind going to think about the next big project at school or work when it is recieving communication from the your body that it is in immediate danger? If your brain is recieving the message from your body that there is danger in the environment, it is only logical that survival comes first and resources (attention, blood, oxygen) will be allocated to figuring out to get back into safety and homeostasis. Contemplating creative and executive tasks will be put as second priority. In addition to reducing executive functioning, a slumped posture significantly increases attention and memory recall of negative stimuli – a key symptom of those suffering depression and anxiety. It is speculated that the hyper-attention to negative stimuli then results in a negative feedback loop between gut, heart and brain. Resulting not only in a more pessamistic outlook on life but also digestive problems such IBS. Therefore, according to the research, improving ones posture is one way to short-circuit this negative feedback loop. So all that talk about good posture (which starts in your FEET!!) isn’t just about reducing back pain! Lifting the heart up, pulling the shoulders down and back and relaxing the lower abdomen not only improves breath but also emotional and executive functioning. Sources: Brain-heart interactions in the neurobiology of consciousness (2022) Breath of Life: The Respiratory Vagal Stimulation Model of Contemplative Activity (2018) Effect of Posture Feedback Training on Health (2020) How we walk affects what we remember: Gait modifications biofeedback change negative affective memory bias (2015) #karmukayoga #yogatherapy #vagusnervehealing #posture #wellbeing #vagusnerve
Leer más...The Enteric Nervous System and Vagus Nerve Function
The ENS (enteric nervous system) is composed of the largest accumlation of nerves in the human body. Yes. Even more than your brain!!! What and where is the ENS? The ENS is one of the three branches of the autonomic nervous system. It consists of a nerve plexus embeded in the intestinal wall that extends across the entire gastrointenstinal tract from the esophogus to the anus. Due to it’s massive network of neurons that are similar in structure, function, and chemical coding to it’s upstairs companion (the brain) – it has often been termed ‘the second brain’. But perhaps calling it the ‘second’ brain is not entirely correct, and perhaps even insulting to the ENS, as it has been demostrated in controlled animal studies that changing the information in the ENS directly influences the Hypothalamus – Pituitary – Adrenal axis (further upstairs) and has a significant effect on anxiety and stress behavior. Similar findings have been found in humans – albeit through more observational means. 80-90% of this this bottom up communication occurrs via that wandering wonder, the Vagus Nerve – not the other way around. So it kind of makes you wonder…who is controlling who? Which part of us is the ‘first brain’ and which is the ’second’? How much of our reality is composed of top down executive thought processes and how much of those thought processes are actually controlled by bottom up information sent by the ENS via the Vagus Nerve? Makes me contemplate my younger years when I found myself obsessed with Egyptian history and feeling a bit confused that such an advanced civilization would essentially throw out the brain but preserve the heart and other internal organs for all eternity. It also makes me deeply appreciate the wisdom of Yoga Asana. Yoga Asana is the only physical practice that I know of that specifically addresses the nervous system via the digestive tract and vagus nerve. The very purpose of Yoga Asana isn’t just to make you more flexible or twist yourself into various forms to impress family and friends. The aim and purpose of Yoga is first and foremost to create SPACE. Space around the joints, space in the digestive tract which results in space around the enteric nervous system which then results in an increase in Vagus nerve tone leading to greater space between the breaths and finally space between thoughts. And that space between thoughts is where the ability to perceive the reality beyond the illusion of Maya (psychological conditioning) begins. Maybe these Yogi’s and Egyptian priests knew something that we are only now begining to uncover… Sources: Vagus Nerve as Modulator of the Brain-out Asis in Psychiatric and Inflammatory Disorders (2018) Effects of intestinal microbiota on Anxiety-like behavior (2011) The human enteric nervous system (2004) Control of gastrointestinal motility by the ‘gut brain’ the enteric nervous system (2005) The enteric nervous system and gastrointestinal innervation: integrated local and central control (2014) #vagusnerve #secondbrain #embodiment #karmukayoga #nervoussystem
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The Mystery of Light & Atma – Yoga & Physics in Conversation
So I have a neighbor who lives downstairs from me. He is a physicist. And Sunday afternoon as we sat enjoying enchiladas potosinas and guacamole, he began to explain to me the concept and problem with the speed of light. Here it is summarized below. Imagine you see a train traveling at 50km per hour. Inside that train there is a small cat (because cats make any topic more interesting) running at 20km per hour in the same direction that the train is moving. Looking from the outside of the train, w hat is the actual speed of the cat? If you answered 70km per hour, you are correct…and probably did much better than me in high school math. The speed of the cat is merely her running speed + the speed of the train. Now, lets say there is a conductor on the train trying to find this cat and she is standing there on the train with a flashlight pointed in the direction of the running cat. What is the speed of light coming out of that flashlight? If you answered 50 or 70km per hour, welcome to my world of being a mere mortal and humanities major. If you answered 300,000 km per second, no matter if the train is moving at 50km per hour or 0 km per hour, well done smarty pants, you are well on your way to becoming a physicist yourself. The speed of light on that moving train (or any moving object…like the earth or expanding universe) does not follow the rule of the running cat or the moving train. It is it’s own constant. Why? Well that is the great mystery that puzzles my friend and Einstein alike. And so with a few synaptic connections running around in my head clicking into place with various Yoga Sutras and the philosophical concept of Atma, I asked… ‘Could that mystery be explained if the light isn’t moving at all? What if the train and all of it’s surroundings are just moving around and obstructing the view of a constant light shining?’ And my dear neighbor and friend, the physicist, gave me a big grin and stated, that yes indeed, that could quite possibly explain the speed of light mystery. So now it is three days later and here I am still contemplating that conversation with wonder and awe. Lets say that indeed, light is the constant which never moves. It would align perfectly with the philosophy of mystics around the world and the Yoga sutras that describe Atma as the ultimate reality where all knowledge and truth is known. Where all darkness and ignorance is dispelled by the constant light of pure consciousness. In the Yoga sutras, Patanjali goes further to say that all of our sufferings are merely obstructions to this light, and we have to work out these obstructions to fully experience this light. You might compare it to how one needs to clean a window to fully perceive and enjoy the sunlight outside. The sun, Atma, this light of pure consciousness, is always there, a shining constant. It is our own ignorance and karma (actions) that keep us from enjoying its light and warmth. And so the question is, how do we work out these obstructions, and clean this dirty window of ignorance? Patanjali makes it clear that the discipline of Yoga offers a fast track, a kind of all powerful Windex, to remove this dirt and darkness that keeps us from enjoying this light, from experiencing Atma. It might take many lifetimes, but the hope is that with each life, a little more light shines through the window, granting us greater warmth and joy. With each lifetime, we keep working out how to melt away the heaviness and cold of the darkness that obstructs our perception to our true and timeless nature of being ONE – ONE with consciousness and ONE with light. ONE with Atma. OM
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