Vivekan’s Weekly Bit: Yoga & Mood
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
Vivekan
This is a weekly post from Bodhisattva Yoga’s founder/co-director offering weekly bits of research findings, suggestions, and musings on all things directly & indirectly related to the broad Path of Yoga.
Are you feeling lazy, blah and unmotivated? Do you sometimes need a push to keep your yoga practice? …Maybe it’s a big shove that’s needed for you to resume your asana practice. Well, remember, you’re not alone. That fact however, shouldn’t keep you on the sofa without maintaining or getting back into your yoga practice though. Here’s more empirical information about the benefits of yoga that may help give you that push (or shove) needed to get back into your practice — and, feel good about it too.
Credit: iStockphoto
New Study Corroborates what Yogins Already Know
Science Daily has published the summarized findings of investigators from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) looking into the effects of yoga. These researchers, seeking to determine what, if any, effect yoga may have on moods, and GABA levels (GABA, gamma-aminobutyric, is a brain compound associated with depression and a host of other anxiety disorders), have determined “that yoga may be superior to other forms of exercise in its positive effect on mood and anxiety.” (Ahem. I said corroboration, not revelation.)
As published online in Science Daily:
The researchers followed two randomized groups of healthy individuals over a 12-week long period. One group practiced yoga three times a week for one hour, while the remaining subjects walked for the same period of time. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopic (MRS) imaging, the participants’ brains were scanned before the study began. At week 12, the researchers compared the GABA levels of both groups before and after their final 60-minute session.
Each subject was also asked to assess his or her psychological state at several points throughout the study, and those who practiced yoga reported a more significant decrease in anxiety and greater improvements in mood than those who walked. “Over time, positive changes in these reports were associated with climbing GABA levels,” said lead author Chris Streeter, MD, an associate professor of psychiatry and neurology at BUSM.
According to Streeter, this promising research warrants further study of the relationship between yoga and mood, and suggests that the practice of yoga be considered as a potential therapy for certain mental disorders.
Yoga should not be about blind faith – this has taken many societies and individuals to ruin. A practitioner should, in the ideal, investigate for oneself the effects of yoga. If one’s experience is entirely different than that purported by the lineage masters, and the non-biased and empirical findings of science, then one must examine where it is that they strayed from the path.
Join me in health – and, in a better mood!
–Vivekan
