Tuesday, February 11, 2003


Yoga and The Immune system

So I guess I am one of those anticipated guest writers. I read something where I was described as, the intense Carl Horowitz. Who knows? Perhaps that is a good description. I will let you judge for yourself.

While talking about the potential health benefits of yoga Fortune recently wrote:

<<…at that time he told me that concentrating on proper breathing in yoga sent helpful brain signals to the glands that helped control the parasympathetic nervous system, which in turn helps control the immune system.

i must say i greeted this explanation with a raised eyebrow. but the study above makes it seem that he was actually 100% correct. . .>>

So there is a kernel of truth in this. But I would have greeted this information with a raised eyebrow also. The truth is, in certain respects it is much more complicated than this and in other respects it is much simpler. Therefore, I would explain things a little differently.

When you control your breathing you can change your heart rate and blood pressure. The results you get will depend on the type of breathing and the way in which the practitioner is executing the practice. Long, slow, relaxed breaths could slow your heart rate and lower your blood pressure to a degree. If the breath is tense though, it could have a different effect. In my experience as a yoga teacher, the idea of a right way to breath can actually create tension in the breath. In a yoga practice you are trying to make breathing more efficient and therefore less tense.

The direction that the Yoga Sutras gives about the postures is sthirasukhamasanam. This translates as: the postures should have the duel qualities of strength without tension and softness without laziness. If you are doing this then there is efficiency in the work of the body. Otherwise the qualities of strength and softness will not both be present.

The next thing you are doing in a yoga practice is focusing your mind on one thing. If your attention is fixed on what you are doing there is efficiency in your mental activities as well. This is very different from the normal condition in which the mind jumps from thought to thought in a fairly random fashion. So you have efficiency in respiration, efficiency in the use of your body and efficiency in the activities of the mind. The result is less stress, less tension.

And then there is the thing about the parasympathetic nervous system. This area of the nervous system is connected with the relaxation response. Saying “…that concentrating on proper breathing in yoga sent helpful brain signals to the glands that helped control the parasympathetic nervous system…”, sounds fancy. However, I would explain things differently. The workings of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are a little more complicated than this explanation implies. If you want to get into the relationship between the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood, the endocrine systems production of hormones and its relationship to the functioning of the nervous system this explanation could go on for ever. And how many yoga teachers actually understand how to control the potential effects of the practice they teach so that they can target particular glands to produce the correct amount of the hormones that would cause a desired affect.

So why make things more complicated than they need to be? The parasympathetic nervous system functions are related to the relaxation response.

When you really examine the physical practice of yoga the whole practice is setting up the circumstances for relaxation to occur. For many people in our culture, just getting to relax for a few minutes is a challenge. Creating the situation where the mind is focused on one thing, the body is relaxed and working efficiently and the breath is also, prepares the practitioner so he or she can deeply relax. The result is that your system is not being inappropriately taxed. Healing and growth of body tissue occurs when we are at rest. For a person who practices consistently there are obvious benefits. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense that there would be a boost in immune functions and an increase in the body’s ability to produce antibodies to fight off an infection or a flu vaccination.

Peace. Carl

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