Yoga and Stress Reduction

Yoga and Stress Reduction

Stress
The feeling of stress is a combination of our perception of events or situations and our
body’s physiological reaction. Work issues, difficulties, challenges, obstacles, deadlines,
papers, tests, athletic events, performances, family problems, and tragic events are only
a few of the situations that can instigate stress. Even joyous events like holidays,
weddings and new additions to a family can also exacerbate stress. Natural disasters,
world conflicts, tragedies, and stories of suffering and heartbreak, even those occurring
on the other side of the world, can have wide-ranging impacts, affecting people’s mental
health.

One of the ways in which we respond to stress is through our fight-or-flight response.
This is a combination of the activation of our sympathetic nervous system and specific
hormonal pathways which result in the release of cortisol from the adrenal glands.
Cortisol is one of our primary stress hormones, and is often used to measure the stress
response.

Stress in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Immediate, or acute stress, can often be
motivating, as it can be activating. We hear stories of people being able to accomplish
physical feats in emergency circumstances because cortisol increases blood pressure,
heart rate, and blood sugar, as well as increasing mental focus. Because the stress
response increases mental focus, it can often help us meet a deadline or finish a project.
But too much stress, or constant stress with no respite for the body and mind, can
interfere with numerous physical and mental abilities.

On a long-term basis, chronic stress can be damaging. Stress hormones including
cortisol decrease the responsiveness of our immune system. They also increase blood
sugar levels as well as blood pressure and heart rate, helpful in a crisis, but not for long-
term health and wellbeing. This is where how we respond to stress can have a
significant impact.

Yoga and Stress
The practice of Yoga is well-demonstrated to reduce the physical effects of stress on the
body, and has even been found to lower cortisol levels. This effect is noticeable, and it is
one of the primary reasons why people often take up Yoga. People find that they feel
more relaxed after practicing Yoga. The asana, or physical postures of Yoga, are helpful
for reducing muscular tension, which reduces stress. We have a tendency to store
stress not only in our nervous system, but distributed throughout the musculature and
other tissues of the body; our digestive system, for example, responds very quickly to
stress. Yoga can be a valuable and effective tool for releasing this stored stress. This
can be true even for post-traumatic stress and recovering from the after-effects of
traumatic events.



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Yoga and Stress Reduction – continued

Yoga includes not only the asana or physical postures, but most Yoga classes end with
savasana, or a pose of relaxation. Some classes include a guided relaxation where the
teacher leads students through a progressive relaxation of the body, which further
reduces the experience of stress.

Yoga also includes meditation and breathing practices (pranayama) as well as a set of
ethical precepts and observances (yamas and niyamas). Meditation, the ethical precepts
and observances, focused relaxation techniques, and working with the breath all have
beneficial stress-reducing qualities, through improving our relationships with the various
aspects of our inner nature as well as affecting our psychology and physical body.

Yoga, the Breath and Stress
Working with the breath can be a particularly effective method for treating a negative
response to stress. When we are experiencing stress, our breathing tends to become
shallow and rapid. Shallow and rapid breath further stimulates the body’s stress
response, and we can become caught up in an ineffective breathing pattern that only
causes more stress. Many yoga techniques emphasize slowing and deepening the
breath, which activates the body’s parasympathetic system, or relaxation response. Just
by changing our pattern of breathing, we can significantly affect our body’s experience of
and response to stress. This may be one of the most profound lessons from yoga
practice.

Selected Research Investigating Yoga and Stress
Studies of Yoga have demonstrated that Yoga practice has the ability to reduce stress.
As mentioned earlier, Yoga can reduce cortisol levels, a finding which was documented
in the October 2004 issue of the journal, Annals of Behavioral Science. In the June 2004
issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychology, researchers found that caregivers for people
with dementia (a very challenging condition) improved physical and emotional
functioning after practicing Yoga. February and August 2005 studies published in the
Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine analyzed the breathing techniques
of a specific Yoga practice, Sudardhan Yoga Kriya, which the authors maintain reduce
stress, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

Another Yoga-based program that has been widely studied in the use of stress reduction
is the mindfulness-based stress reduction program (MBSR), which is taught, studied and
popularized by Jon Kabat-Zinn and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare
and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The mindfulness-based
stress reduction program includes guided instruction in mindfulness meditation practices,
yoga and gentle stretching, inquiry exercises to enhance awareness, individual
instruction, group dialogue and home assignments.

The effectiveness of the MBSR has been studied in a variety of different scientific
studies both at the University of Massachusetts as well as other medical centers around
the world. Results that they have reported on their website which are still in the process



7801 Old Branch Ave., Suite 400, P.O. Box 369, Clinton, Maryland 20735
Toll Free 877.964.2255 Tel. 301.868.7909 Fax 301.868.7909 www.yogadayusa.org

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Yoga and Stress Reduction – continued

of being written about include improved ability to react effectively under high degrees of
stress. Published studies have found that program participants experience lower levels
of stress. Kabat-Zinn and colleagues also found that people who practiced a meditation
technique while receiving treatments for the skin disorder psoriasis (which is sensitive to
stress) had skin that healed faster than people who did not listen to the meditation tapes
during treatment.

Selected References
Brown, R.P. and Gerbarg, P.L. Sudarshan Kriya yogic breathing in the treatment of stress,
anxiety, and depression: Part I-neurophysiologic model. Journal of Alternative and
Complementary Medicine. 2005; 11(1):189-201.
Brown, R.P. and Gerbarg, P.L. Sudarshan Kriya yogic breathing in the treatment of stress,
anxiety, and depression: Part II: clinical applications and guidelines. Journal of Alternative and
Complementary Medicine. 2005; 11(4): 711-7.
Kabat-Zinn, J., Wheeler, E., Light, T., Skillings, A., Scharf, M.S., Cropley, T. G., Hosmer, D., and
Bernhard, J. HYPERLINK "http://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/bibliography/abstracts/abstracts9.cfm"
\o "Click here for the ABSTRACT" Psychosomatic Medicine. 1998; 60: 625-632.
Robert-McComb, J.J., Tacon A; Randolph P; Caldera Y; A pilot study to examine the effects of a
mindfulness-based stress-reduction and relaxation program on levels of stress hormones,
physical functioning, and submaximal exercise responses. Journal of Alternative and
Complementary Medicine; 2004; 10(5), 819-27.
Robert-McComb, J.J., Tacon, A., Randolph, P., and Caldera, Y. Mindfulness-based stress
reduction in relation to quality of life, mood, symptoms of stress and levels of cortisol,
dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) and melatonin in breast and prostate cancer
outpatients. Psychoneuroendrocrinology. 2004; 29(4): 448-74.
Waelde, L.C., Thompson, L., and Gallagher-Thompson, D. A pilot study of a yoga and meditation
intervention for dementia caregiver stress. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 2004; 60(6): 677-87.
West, J., Otte, C., Geher, K., Johnson, J., and Mohr, D.C. Effects of Hatha yoga and African
dance on perceived stress, affect, and salivary cortisol. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 2004;
28(2):114-8.
Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School Web site:
www.umassmed.edu/cfm.

NOTE: The International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) carries an extensive set
of Yoga and Health Bibliographies, including citations for ongoing research, on their
website. Eleven of the most requested bibliographies are accessible free of charge.
Dozens more are freely accessible by IAYT members, or available to nonmembers for a
modest fee. IAYT also maintains an extensive library containing many of the articles
cited, which is open to researchers and the general public. For more information, please
see HYPERLINK "http://www.iayt.org/" \o "http://www.iayt.org/" or call IAYT at 928-541-
0004, M-F, 10-4, MST.

7801 Old Branch Ave., Suite 400, P.O. Box 369, Clinton, Maryland 20735
Toll Free 877.964.2255 Tel. 301.868.7909 Fax 301.868.7909 www.yogadayusa.org

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