Breathwork and meditation for mind-body mastery - PART TWO

As I mentioned in PART ONE, traditional yoga is much more than just physical movement. The type of yoga I practice and now teach to the TMS Community encompasses breathwork and mediation as part of the daily practice, which honestly, I feel has even more impact on the mind and body than the physical practice and offers a broader benefit to our mental health.

When I started yoga I had no idea of the power that these two elements had, there are many forms of yogic breathwork that we can explore in our practice, but the benefits are similar for all varieties. 

Breathwork benefits

1. Increased lung capacity/oxygen uptake
2. Ability to regulate the respiratory system 
3. Ability to regulate the central and autonomic nervous systems and directly impact stress levels
4. Blood pressure regulation and effective treatment of hypertension
5. Ability to initiate our relaxation response/reduction of cortisol
6. Ability to slow down heart rate AT WILL
7. Improves sleep quality and duration
8. Increases mindfulness
9. Enhances cognitive performance
10. Improves the flow of energy around our bodies
11. Improves mental concentration

Meditation benefits

Regular meditation activates the parasympathetic nervous system (our coveted 'rest and repair' mode) and quietens the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight mode) which is the HOLY GRAIL OF TMS RECOVERY. If that were the only benefit of this work, it would be SO worth practising this alone. But medical studies have shown that daily meditators also have lower blood levels of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol - the all-important trio of stress chemicals.

The number of benefits that meditation has is pretty mind-boggling, check this out:

1. Strengthens our brain’s neuroplasticity - the ability to form new connections, especially in response to unlearning our pain’s practised signals and create new ones (more on the brain below)
2. Higher pain tolerance
3. Ability to self-regulate with mindfulness/awareness (more on this below)
4. Changes in gene expression - reduced stress-related pathways, reduced inflammation & increased autoimmune function
5. Anti-ageing and preservation of fluid intelligence such as our ability to think, reason and solve problems
6. Ability to hone the skill of self-focus/regulation
7. Ability to change our thought processes - similar to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
8. A dramatic increase in resilience to stress over time
9. Reduced anxiety, depression and other mental health problems
10. Reduced scatter-brain / monkey mind
11. Reduced procrastination, overthinking, catastrophising

Mindfulness

Meditation teaches us mindfulness, which in essence is the ability to maintain a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and the surrounding environment - a massively important of TMS recovery.

It also broadens our level of compassion to ourselves and to others, teaches us to practice patience, gives us better focus and productivity and actually rewires our brains to experience much less stress and anxiety in general.

Mindfulness, when practised regularly, gives you the opportunity to settle your nervous system without doing ANYTHING at all and can be practised anytime, anywhere. For example: take a moment to witness what's in front of you right now. Maybe it's your phone or your computer. What else is around you, what do your clothes feel like on your skin? Look at the detail in the room around you, take ten minutes right now to just notice, sounds, smells, feelings. Witness everything in your environment. Zone out from your brain's banter and get into the NOW. This is mindfulness and its power to settle an overactive nervous system is dramatic.

Mindfulness is something that modern medicine simply cannot touch, teach or influence in any way. This has been one of the most impactful elements of meditation in my recovery journey.

Meditation - a workout for the brain

Although meditation is inherently incredibly relaxing, it is actually considered a workout for the brain. Regular practice has been scientifically proven to actually CHANGE the composition of the brain in the following ways:

1. Enlarges the prefrontal cortex - the brain is responsible for rational decision-making. Studies have shown that meditation increases grey matter (brain cells) in this region.
2. Shrinks the amygdala - a key brain structure known as the emotional or fear centre of the brain. Smaller amygdalae found in more mindful people are associated with greater emotional control (BONUS!)
3. Thickens the hippocampus - key for learning and memory. Just a few weeks of mindfulness meditation practice increased the size of this brain region.
4. Increases overall grey matter - brain cell bodies important for processing power and linked to intelligence, seem to increase with meditation training.
5. Enhances high-amplitude gamma brainwave activity - High-frequency gamma waves correlate with states of heightened awareness and bliss. Long-term meditators have been shown to have more gamma wave activity both before and during meditation.

Practice yoga, breathwork and meditation with me

I'm convinced that yoga will change YOUR life like it did mine, and it's the PERFECT partner to TMS recovery practices... The specific yoga method I have created for TMS recovery combines gentle physical movement, breath and meditation together. Focusing on calming the nervous system, teaching the brain that we are safe and well, and comforting our hurting bodies and hearts. An ideal way for us to connect to ourselves and as a community, check out the many regulating classes available in the Mindful Movement and Rest & Regulation sections of my Mind-Body Mastery Membership.