The effect of yoga on the nervous system is one way we can understand the truly integrative approach of yoga to health and well-being. The nervous system is our communication network through which we respond to internal and external stimuli and through which we work to maintain a homeostatic environment within our body. The effects of the nervous system on our body can be seen from the cellular level to the systems level and from the physiological to the psychological.
Understanding the stress response is an important piece of understanding the effects of the nervous system as stress has been implicated as a contributor to many disease processes such as cardiovascular, cancers, autoimmune, inflammatory, digestive, endocrine and psychological disorders. More recently, the idea of stress resilience has garnered attention as a way to help people have a healthy relationship to the natural stressors in life. Polyvagal theory provides us with a deep understanding of the complexity of the nervous system in its response to stress and capacity to restore us to a place of optimal healing, growth and peace.
Yoga practices and philosophy provide us with a unique lens through which to understand how to work with the nervous system. Yoga can help to promote relaxation, but also resilience in our body and minds reaction and response to stress, pain and suffering. We can look at the philosophy and practice of yoga to help us understand how to build stress resilience and to promote vagal tone and vagal flexibility.
What You Will Learn
- How the nervous systems works including the stress response and relaxation response
- The effects of stress on the body from the cellular to the systems level and how it impacts the physical, psychological and social domains of health.
- Polyvagal theory including concepts of vagal tone and vagal flexibility and their potential effects on the physical, psychological and social domains of health
- Yoga philosophy that helps us to understand this information from an embodied and practical standpoint. This will include discussion from texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and relevant concepts such as the gunas.
- Practices of pranayama, asana and meditation that can help us to cultivate stress resilience, vagal tone and vagal flexibility for greater well-being along the physical, psychological and social domains of health.
This Course Also Includes:
- Yoga Practice Video: Enjoy a yoga practice video to regulate vagus nerve function, which that Marlysa has created specifically for this course.
- Recordings of Both Webinar Sessions: Yours to keep. It’s generally acknowledged that many people only retain 10-20 percent of what they learn in a workshop. You will get the recordings of both webinar sessions (both MP3 – downloadable and MP4 – streaming online), enabling you to go back and listen to the workshop as many times as you like.
- Transcripts of Both Sessions: Ever wanted to refer to a certain part of a course? Even the best note takers miss a point every so often. With the transcripts of the sessions, you can go back and refer to particularly important passages or clarify sections you were in doubt about.
This course qualifies for 3.5 hour CEs with Yoga Alliance.
