Six Reasons Why Yoga is the Best Exercise to Exorcise Anxiety
And why practicing yoga is one of the best decisions I’ve made
The following content is my opinion based on my own experience overcoming Panic Disorder and my own yoga practice. My intent is to share my interpretation (less of a science and more of intuition) to help inspire others who are in search for their answer. Consult your physician first before integrating any type of alternative approach. ________________________________________________________________
Panic Disorder is never caused by one thing and one thing alone. It is a dis-eased state resulting from an unfortunate combination of variables — a “perfect” storm so to speak.
Think of recovering from Panic Disorder and/or Anxiety Disorders like rehabilitation after a physical injury. It’s no different — except all the effort and exercises will strengthen your fragile autonomic nervous system as opposed to a broken limb. And there are few forms of mind-body exercise that are as all-encompassing as yoga.
I didn’t have the patience for yoga at first. I only stuck with yoga because of the economics — I purchased a 30-day unlimited pass and, determined to get the best deal, I went almost every day for a month. Turned out to be of the best decisions in my life.
Here are six reasons why I think yoga is one of the best exercises to exorcise Anxiety and Panic Disorder:
1 | Yoga is a stealth form of cognitive-behavioral therapy
The stories we tell ourselves over and over again shape the way we see our self and our world. That unreliable and often misguided internal dialogue skews our perceptions of both our inner and outer worlds.
Yoga interrupts that internal dialogue with a new narrator. A good yoga instructor not only queues us through breath and postures but also articulates and guides our focus from our default thoughts to the present moment.
For example, paying attention by simply thinking about inhaling when you move upwards and thinking about exhaling when you move downwards, or paying attention to the tingling sensations as blood becomes restricted in a certain pose, this attentiveness trains your brain to separate “you” from yourself — meaning the thinking/feeling you from the physical you. It creates this sort of separation or distinction between you and your body; it is in this space that you develop a more flexible mindset.
This practice of shifting our focus from a distracted mind to the present moment is training your brain to break the anxiety-inducing circuitry.
2 | And yoga is even a form of exposure therapy
Especially hot yoga in the stress of a 90+ degree humid yoga studio.
People who suffer from Panic Disorder (regardless of the origin or cause) have a heightened sensitivity or awareness of internal autonomic cues.
If you are jogging, your heart rate exceeds your normal (resting) heart rate. You expect your heart to beat faster when jogging so this of no concern to the mind. But with Panic Disorder, you could be laying on the couch or even sleeping when out of nowhere your heart rate becomes tachycardic. An elevated heart rate for no apparent reason is extremely concerning.
The main objective of yoga is to achieve control over the autonomic nervous system, meaning our ability to control functions like heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate.
There are even poses (like Camel Pose) that can trigger the fight-or-flight reaction in anyone not just people with Panic Disorder. The heart rate becomes elevated in the posture and you learn to breathe through the posture because it’s now reframed into a healthful context.
A regular yoga practice becomes a sort of de-conditioning therapy that can desensitize the brain to a tachycardic heart rate that, previous to yoga, was associated with a panic episode.
3 | Yoga improves stress resilience through vagal toning
The brain is connected to the body by many nerves, but the longest and most widely connected nerve is the vagus nerve.
One of the many jobs of the vagus nerve is to coordinate homeostasis (a balanced state) amongst the various systems of the body. When the body does not easily transition from an activate to rest state (imbalance to balance), this is a sign of poor vagal tone. Faster indicates better vagal tone and higher stress tolerance.
For Anxious Patients, transitioning between an active to rest state (imbalance to balance) is a much slower process for the body, which explains why it is so so difficult to calm down or why we are so easily jumpy from residual activation that lingers long after. A regular yoga practice develops the conscious control to override the unconscious autonomic nervous system.
Our sympathetic nervous system (the part of the autonomic nervous system associated with fight-or-flight) is constantly stimulated in our modern world. The slow deep breathing in yoga that vibrates the vagus nerve and is thought to improve the vagal tone is essentially exercising or training the parasympathetic nervous system (associated with rest and repair).
4 | Yoga can lower inflammation
A recent study of 218 participants over a 5-year period concluded that a regular yoga practice can protect against inflammatory diseases by favorably altering pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. The vagus nerve also plays a role in inflammation, which might be how yoga helps lower inflammation.
How does this relate to anxiety and panic disorder?
Because neuroinflammation is considered to be an underlying component to central nervous system (CNS) disorders like anxiety and panic. The immune system was considered to be separate from the nervous system. Evidence shows us that most mental health disorders are likely related to neuroinflammation and that there exists an immune component to panic disorder.
We need to stop thinking of “stress” as the mental inability to cope and start considering “stress” as the body’s state as a result of exposure to a stressor (ie neuroinflammation, toxicant exposures, viral/bacterial exposures, holding tension, etc). The semantics matter for how we perceive and therefore treat anxiety and panic disorders.
5 | Certain yoga poses help the brain’s immune system
In 2015, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine discovered that the brain actually has its own lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is basically a sewer system to drain cellular waste. The lymphatic system fights infection, destroys cancerous cells, and disposes of the toxic waste products of cellular functioning.
Just like our cardiovascular system, the lymphatic system a network of vessels throughout the body connecting organs and tissue. Unlike our cardiovascular systems, however, the lymphatic system does not have a pump (ie heart) to move lymph fluid. This means our lymphatic function is entirely dependent on interstitial forces (skeletal muscle contractions) or physical movement.
The fluid mechanics of yoga more than other forms of exercise stimulates the brain’s lymphatic system through its inversions:
Inversions | An inversion is any position in which the hips are above the heart, and gravity is directing both blood and lymph flow towards the brain. These include legs-up-the-wall, rabbit pose, scorpion pose to name a few.
Sun salutations | A sun salutation is a specific sequence of poses that cycles the body from being inverted to upright and then repeated several times throughout a traditional vinyasa style practice. Sun salutations direct both blood and lymph flow towards and away from the brain, towards and away from the heart — like plunging the brain.
6 | A regular yoga practice is a self-love ritual
The most difficult aspect of dealing with Panic Disorder for me was feeling betrayed by my own mind and my own body. That I couldn’t rely on myself.
My dis-ease became hard to explain to people — bosses, co-workers, friends, boyfriends, even family. My lifestyle was slowly stripped away which was such a difficult process and a process that our culture does not understand — mostly because of the societal misperception that this disease is fundamentally emotional. (Panic Disorder for me was a symptom of a gastrointestinal disorder.)
A regular yoga practice can become this sort of self-love ritual for those of us with panic or anxiety disorder. We learn the art of shifting our focus within a more playful context and learn to reconnect with our body — without the shame of self-doubt or defending what others consider weak-minded.
For me, my yoga practice became this designated time and space for me to get in sync with a body that I didn’t feel comfortable in. Yoga was almost like a celebration of my physical self and this process of celebrating my body gained me more momentum towards healing.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve read any of my previous articles, you know that I resolved intense Panic Disorder through my diet. Although I believe eating a low-sugar, plant-based diet alone can resolve Panic Disorder by way of improving gut health, I also know it’s important to attack this beast from every angle.
Once you develop Panic Disorder, unlearning and untangling this brain-gut circuitry will require a disciplined and multifaceted effort. And yoga is an incredible tool to complement a healing diet.
Yoga is like a martial art for the soul, except you are fighting yourself — your habits, your negative thought patterns, your doubts — for better energy through balance. That said, remember to honor yourself each day by listening to what your body needs. This is the single most important aspect of yoga and similarly anxiety. Anxiety and panic disorders are your body’s way of telling you it needs something. An alarm to wake you up.
I leave you with this beautiful video of one yoga instructor’s explanation of why she practices yoga.
