Self-Regulation, Psychological Health, and Yoga

by Nina

Meditating by Melina Meza

“There is emerging evidence from the extant literature to support the beliefs that modern adaptations of yoga practice are beneficial for mental and physical health. Here, we delineate very specific components of yoga practice (ethics, postures, breath regulation, and meditation) that are rooted in a historical framework and employed in varying degrees in contemporary contexts as a model for understanding how yoga may achieve its benefits – facilitating self-regulation and resulting in psychological and physical well-being.” —Gard, et al

If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you’ve probably realized that I firmly believe that yoga is an effective practice for psychological well-being as well as for physical health. Over the years, I’ve written about how yoga poses, breath work, and yoga philosophy all can help with psychological well-being (I’ve left discussions of meditation to some of our other readers because frankly that really isn’t my strong point). Although I don’t require scientific proof that these practices provide significant benefit for psychological health—sometimes your own experience is the best guide there is—I was excited to see an intriguing new study Potential self-regulatory mechanisms of yoga for psychological health by Gard, et al in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, which provided a model for understanding how yoga can achieve these benefits.

And since I have a handy medical researcher who I can ask for an assessment of studies like these (some are pretty dubious), I sent the study to Brad for a sniff test. It passed! In fact, his exact words were, “This looks pretty serious.” So I’m sharing the study with you today. Basically, the study proposed that yoga achieved its benefits by “facilitating self-regulation.” According to an article in Psychology Today Anger in the Age of Entitlement:

“Research consistently shows that self-regulation skill is necessary for reliable emotional well being. Behaviorally, self-regulation is the ability to act in your long-term best interest, consistent with your deepest values. (Violation of one's deepest values causes guilt, shame, and anxiety, which undermine well being.) Emotionally, self-regulation is the ability to calm yourself down when you're upset and cheer yourself up when you're down.”

Well, I quite like the sound of that! In fact, it seems that both those aspects of self-regulation—the ability to act in your long-term interest, consistent with your deepest values, and the ability to calm yourself down and cheer yourself up—are what I've been writing about all these years, without even knowing about self-regulation. The proposed model for understanding how yoga provides the ability to "self regulate" is actually quite complex, however. The authors put it this way, “Specifically, we describe how yoga may function through top-down and bottom-up mechanisms for the regulation of cognition, emotions, behaviors, and peripheral physiology, as well as for improving efficiency and integration of the processes that subserve self-regulation.” Okay, that’s a lot of jargon! And the following figure may or may not give you an idea of what they mean by that. (Of course, if you’d like to read the entire paper, you can simple read it here).

By the real takeaway for me from this article was that these scientists included all eight branches of yoga (see Ashtanga Yoga: Following the Eight-Fold Path) in their model as the tools that yoga provides to facilitate self-regulation. Here are some extracts from the paper:

"Ethics (Yama and Niyama): On the foundation of the yogic path of self-regulation lie ethical and moral precepts, which are specific examples of the standards or guidelines that contribute to self-control suggested by Zell and Baumeister (2013). 

"Postures (Asana): Modern and historic yoga practice manuals such as Light on Yoga (Iyengar, 1995) often suggest a connection between emotional states, physical health, and postures. Although this link has not scientifically been established yet for any particular poses (or set of poses) specifically, there is evidence linking posture, emotion, and mental health (Michalak et al., 2009, 2011, 2014). We attempt to address these hypothesized benefits in the following section.

"Breath Regulation (Pranayama): Traditionally, two benefits of pranayama are described to help the practitioner down-regulate arousal and increase awareness of the interaction between the body and the mind (Sovik, 1999).

"Meditation (Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi): In the yoga tradition, the concentrative meditation techniques described in Raja yoga help the practitioner begin to see the conditions that lead to mental and emotional suffering (fluctuations) and the conditions that remedy suffering (i.e., mental stillness). Suffering is further described as a time when the mind is in an afflicted state—either grasping onto an experience, not wanting to let it go, or experiencing aversion, trying to push some object of experience away with force. In both cases, how one relates to one’s inner experience will create either more or less suffering. Such suffering can also be described as a mental state that prevents the mind from seeing reality without emotional bias. The ability to see reality clearly without bias, through meditation practices, is a revered tool of self-regulation within yoga (Cope, 2006) and similarly in mindfulness traditions (Vago and Silbersweig, 2012)."

In the end, the authors describe yoga as a unique practice “because it offers a variety of complementary tools with which the practitioner can increase self-regulation.” And I say, amen to that! With such a wealth of complementary tools to choose from, you’re likely to find something that will work for you. And different tools may work for you at different times in your life. I’m pretty sure that this is one of the reasons I started blogging about yoga in the first place.

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When Relaxing Isn't Relaxing

by Nina

Cactus Flower by Melina Meza

On Friday, Baxter wrote about how meditation and other forms of conscious relaxation, such as yoga nidra, can be agitating for certain people (see Friday Q&A: Can Meditation Be Dangerous?). I wouldn’t be surprised if that were true for many of us at certain times. Sometimes when you’re feeling anxious or depressed having to sit quietly with your thoughts can be overwhelming. The same thing is true for lying down on your back in Savasana or restorative poses with your eyes closed. Even practicing supported forward bends, which many people find soothing, can cause you to brood rather than quiet down. 

A more active yoga practice will be easier for you when you’re depressed or anxious—the physical challenges and mindful movements will engage your mind—yet it’s still important for you to manage your stress (see One Thing: Yoga, Zen, Whatever). So here are some ideas for different things you can try when classic relaxation techniques just aren’t working for you.

Eyes Open: If closing your eyes in Savasana or any restorative pose causes agitation or brooding, try keeping your eyes open but with a soft focus.

Crocodile Pose: Sometimes lying on your back can make you feel exposed and vulnerable (see Anxiety, Yoga and the Front Body). So try lying on your belly in Crocodile pose (Makrasana) instead to see if that is more comforting. If your lower back curves too much in Crocodile pose, place a folded blanket (long rectangle) under your lower belly. 

If you don’t find Crocodile comfortable, you could try a supported version of Savasana, as raising your torso higher than your legs might feel better than being flat on your back, or even a side-lying Savasana (see Corpse Pose Variations).

Supported Child’s Pose: Like Crocodile pose, Supported Child’s pose allows you to relax without feeling exposed or vulnerable. Many people actually find hugging their bolsters very comforting. You can turn your head to side and keep your eyes open if that helps; just be sure to turn your head to the other side for an equal amount of time.

Supported Inversions: because the Relaxation response is triggered by your physical position, supported inverted poses don’t require a mental focus (see Why You Should Love Your Baroreceptors). So you can keep your eyes open and even listen to music while you are practicing them and you’ll still quiet your nervous system. These are also great alternatives to forward bends, which cause some people to brood and others just find unpleasant. Of course, as with any pose, if you feel bad in an inverted pose, come out of the pose immediately. See All About Supported Inverted Poses to find a supported inverted pose that's right for you.

Choose Appropriate Breath Practices: Never do a breath practice that makes you feel uncomfortable in any way. Practices that encourage you to take a longer and/or deeper inhalation can actually be agitating for people with anxiety. The safest thing to do is just to practice simple breath awareness. But if that isn’t enough to engage your mind and you keep being distracted by depressing or anxious thoughts, try a practice that’s recommended for your particular state (see Balancing Your Emotions with your Breath).

And please let me know if you have any further recommendations! I'd love to add more ideas to my list.

Finally, if you are a teacher who is teaching one or more students with mental disorders, it is always a good idea to let the class know that if anyone becomes seriously agitated, anxious or depressed during meditation or relaxation, they should stop and raise their hand so you can help them find an appropriate alternative. 

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