Alphabetical Benefits of Yoga, N

​N is for the Nervous System. I don't need to point out that we live in a fast moving world. Think about the last time you sat in silence with yourself. If you do yoga or have a meditation practice you may be able to say today. Maybe, when you do allow yourself a moment of your own time you start to feel restless or guilty as you have a to do list the size of a giraffe. What if I said that by stepping away from that list for just ten minutes may be the most proactive thng you do in your day. There are three parts to the bodies nervous system, I'm going to focus on the two branches in the autonomic nervous system, which are the sympathetic (SNS) and the parasympathetic (PNS) nervous system. The SNS is associated with adrenalin and the hormone cortisol, it gets our heart rate beating, and rises our blood preassure. Without the SNS we'd have been a wild animals meal a long time ago as we wouldn't react in emergencies. Our SNS keeps us proactive, ambitious and excited about life, yipeee! However if our bodies create too much cortisol we start thinking less clearly and find it hard to concentrate as reflexes become a bit dull. The PNS, aka, the rest and digest nerve slows the heart rate, regulates our breathing and lowers blood preassure, it sends signals to the brain that it can relax and that the body has time to repair itself. Think of the expression nervous wreck, if you don't take care of your nerves they start to fray and information to the brain takes longer to travel. Ways yoga can bring us to our PNS: Breath awareness, such as the three part breath or Nadi sodana. Supported asanas: Childs pose, baddha konasana or legs up the wall. Allowing ourselves to release in these asanas strenghen the nerve transmissions to the brain and decrease stress patterns, releasing tension in the body. Neural networks send positive messages back to the brain and being that the brain constantly changes, the more you do something the more the brain responds, it may have a positive lifestyle influence for your mental wellbeing and the giraffe size list may not seem as big anymore.