{"id":385,"date":"2011-12-05T23:19:12","date_gmt":"2011-12-05T23:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bikramyogavernon.com\/?p=385"},"modified":"2011-12-05T23:19:12","modified_gmt":"2011-12-05T23:19:12","slug":"forbes-yoga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thehotroomvernon.com\/2011\/12\/05\/forbes-yoga\/","title":{"rendered":"Forbes on Yoga"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Take a look at the newest article from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bikramyogavernon.com\/\">Forbes<\/a> online. \u00a0This is whats happening at <strong>Bikram Yoga Vernon<\/strong> during your 90 mins in the <strong>Hot Yoga Room&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Forbes on Yoga, Bikram Hot Yoga Vernon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/alicegwalton\/2011\/06\/16\/penetrating-postures-the-science-of-yoga\/\" target=\"_blank\">Penetrating Postures: The Science of Yoga<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>This is the first of a two-part series on yoga: the second, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.forbes.com\/alicegwalton\/2011\/06\/22\/penetrating-postures-part-ii-the-psychology-of-yoga\/\">The Psychology of Yoga<\/a>,\u201d looks at the psychological changes that yoga has been shown to bring about.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Judging from the number of yoga mats I\u2019ve seen toted around Manhattan in the last 15 years, I\u2019m pretty sure I was the last person on the island to try it. My relationship with the practice started about six months ago, and I must admit, I fell for it \u2013 and hard. I was amazed at the changes it was effecting in my body, and even better, my mind. But the science nerd\/Western medicine part of me wondered how, exactly, it was doing this. I could wager some guesses based on what I know about the body, but wanted to talk to some people who actually study this stuff for a living.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Stephen Cope is a therapist and director of the Institute for Extraordinary Living at the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kripalu.org\/\">Kripalu\u00a0Center for Yoga and Health<\/a> in Massachusetts. \u00a0He heads a program at the Center entitled \u201cYoga and the Brain,\u201d in which researchers are studying yoga\u2019s effect on the brain with MRI and other clever techniques. Cope explains that yoga brings about measurable changes in the body\u2019s sympathetic nervous system \u2013 the one charged with propelling us into action during the \u201cfight or flight\u201d response to stress. However, because our lives today include business emails at 10 o\u2019clock at night and loud cell conversations at the next table, our stress response often lingers in the \u201con\u201d position at times it shouldn\u2019t. Yoga helps dampen the body\u2019s stress response by reducing levels of the hormone cortisol, which not only fuels our split-second stress reactions, but it can wreak havoc on the body when one is chronically stressed. So reducing the body\u2019s cortisol level is generally considered a good thing.<\/p>\n<p>Yoga also boosts levels of the feel-good brain chemicals like GABA, serotonin, and dopamine, which are responsible for feelings of relaxation and contentedness, and the way the brain processes rewards. All three neurotransmitters are the targets of various mood medications like antidepressants (e.g., SSRIs) and anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) drugs. The fact that yoga is linked to improved levels of these coveted chemicals is nothing to sneeze at.<\/p>\n<p>Yoga has another bonus, says Sarah Dolgonos, MD, who has taught at the Yoga Society of New York\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.anandaashram.org\/\">Ananda Ashram<\/a>. She points out that in addition to suppressing the stress response, yoga actually stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which calms us down and restores balance after a major stressor is over. When the parasympathetic nervous system switches on, \u201cblood is directed toward endocrine glands, digestive organs, and lymphatic circulation, while the heart rate and blood pressure are lowered,\u201d says Dolgonos. With the parasympathetic nervous system in gear, \u201cour bodies can better extract nutrients from the food we eat, and more effectively eliminate toxins because circulation is enhanced. With parasympathetic activation, the body enters into a state of restoration and healing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There is also consensus that yoga boosts immune function, says Dolgonos. This benefit is probably due to the reduction of cortisol, mentioned earlier: too much of the pesky hormone can dampen the effectiveness of the immune system \u201cby immobilizing certain white blood cells.\u201d Reducing circulating cortisol \u201cremoves a barrier to effective immune function,\u201d so yoga could help prevent illness by boosting immunity.<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s zoom in on yoga\u2019s effects on the body even more (bear with me, this is really interesting). Researchers have discovered that yoga improves health in part by reducing a major adversary of the body:\u00a0<em>inflammation<\/em>. Chronic inflammation, even low grade, is responsible for a litany of health problems from heart disease to diabetes to depression.<\/p>\n<p>Paula R. Pullen, PhD, Research Instructor at the Morehouse School of Medicine, studies yoga\u2019s effects on inflammation by looking at what\u2019s happening in the bodies of heart failure patients who enroll in yoga classes. She has shown that after being randomly assigned to yoga or to standard medical care, patients taking yoga have significantly improved levels of biomarkers like C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). If your eyes just glazed over, these findings are quite remarkable because they illustrate that yoga can actually affect the tiniest molecules, the ones that are widely known to predict risk for serious disease. Pullen underlines that reducing the body\u2019s level of inflammation is incredibly important from a preventative standpoint. \u00a0And yoga can help with this. \u201cYoga balances the body, the hormonal system, and the stress response. People tend to think of yoga as being all about flexibility \u2013 it\u2019s not.\u00a0 It\u2019s about rebalancing and healing the body.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though it\u2019s been around for thousands of years, Western science is just beginning to understand how yoga exerts its effects. It will certainly be interesting to follow the research as it continues to reveal just what yoga is doing in the body and brain. Stay tuned for Part II of the yoga series!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Take a look at the newest article from Forbes online. \u00a0This is whats happening at Bikram Yoga Vernon during your 90 mins in the Hot Yoga Room&#8230; Penetrating Postures: The Science of Yoga This is the first of a two-part series on yoga: the second, \u201cThe Psychology of Yoga,\u201d looks at the psychological changes that yoga has been shown to bring about. Judging from the number of yoga mats I\u2019ve seen toted around Manhattan in the last 15 years, I\u2019m pretty sure I was the last person on the island to try it. My relationship with the practice started about six months ago, and I must admit, I fell for it \u2013 and hard. I was amazed at the changes it was effecting in my body, and even better, my mind. But the science nerd\/Western medicine part of me wondered how, exactly, it was doing this. I could wager some guesses based on what I know about the body, but wanted to talk to some people who actually study this stuff for a living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Forbes on Yoga - The Hot Room @ Studio be (Formerly Bikram Yoga Vernon)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thehotroomvernon.com\/2011\/12\/05\/forbes-yoga\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Forbes on Yoga - The Hot Room @ Studio be (Formerly Bikram Yoga Vernon)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Take a look at the newest article from Forbes online. \u00a0This is whats happening at Bikram Yoga Vernon during your 90 mins in the Hot Yoga Room&#8230; Penetrating Postures: The Science of Yoga This is the first of a two-part series on yoga: the second, \u201cThe Psychology of Yoga,\u201d looks at the psychological changes that yoga has been shown to bring about. 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