Resilient Reflections: Slow Yoga & its Increasingly Recognized Benefits for the Brain

Slow Yoga & its Increasingly Recognized Benefits for the Brain

Over the last couple of decades yoga has been marketed as a physical workout, a fitness class, a “how you get in your best shape ever” routine. We can see that alone by most of the marketing, which is of a white woman, slender or “built”, performing unbelievably perfect, flexible poses and a little younger lol! To some, yoga is a mix of powerful offerings to make you sweat.

And that’s okay. Well, the sweating, workout bit. I’ll not go there on marketing and advertising, that’s a whole different blog!

But really, there’s nothing wrong with having yoga as part of a workout routine to keep you fit, strong, healthy, and to keep you moving.

What it has made me realize, even appreciate more, is the importance of yoga beyond just a physical routine, and the huge numbers of people who may never try it because they think they are too out of shape, too old, not flexible enough, have physical challenges, are too overweight, and so on and so on.

This is where the industry and yoga need to start looking closer at what we are offering and what yoga means beyond the sweat. 

There’s an ancient history that goes back thousands of years with yoga. Ethics, medicine, language, asana, and self-awareness are just some of what yoga is really about when we aren’t working up a sweat on our mat. Peace. Balance. Kindness. Slow awareness. Growth.

I’m currently taking a teaching course that I’ve fallen in love with for taking me in an entirely new dimension of my appreciation of yoga. It’s slower, more subtle, and available for anyone despite their physical or mental issues or challenges and yet also for those of us who may be perfectly healthy. And it’s a course that focuses on the incredibly positive impact yoga can have on our brain, based on science.

My teacher has this great phrase “The pause is as important as the pose.” 

The idea is to stop between poses, feel your body, and become aware of how you feel in your body and mind. How often do we stop and smell the roses? Well, this is the same idea. 

And how you move in yoga can also help your brain. For cognition and memory utilizing your eyes, crossing body parts, moving alternate body parts all impact our brain in a positive way.  Sometimes we'll move our right hand along with our left foot or our right foot and our left hand. You're challenging your motor cortex and your cerebral cortex. You're challenging yourself on so many levels. It's a holistic discipline. There is focus, so you're training your mind.

Studies are showing that those who practiced slower yoga retained or even increased the size of their hippocampus. This is the structure in the brain responsible for memory and cognition.

So, if you are looking for a gentler approach to yoga that still has all the benefits of the practice, then slower yoga is right up your alley.  Slow yoga includes Hatha, Iyengar, Yin, Restorative, Meditation, and No Flow Yoga Stretch.

Slow Yoga is all about maintaining poses for longer periods of time, slower transitions between poses, rhythmic deep breathing, and a greater degree of focus on relaxation.  Students have time to learn and adjust their practice at their own pace, making it accessible to a far greater range of students irrespective of age and ability.

And it doesn’t mean you stop your Vinyasa!!! Just try and find a balance with the sweat.