Brighton Natural Health Foundation is creating a central hub of expertise, training, advice, and referrals for a wide range of mindful movement practices. Over the coming months, we will be building a comprehensive library of research evidence to support these practices, with a commitment to keeping it updated and expanding it over time. We begin by sharing a substantial collection of evidence on two key areas of mindful movement—yoga and tai chi.
Evidence for the Benefits of Mindful Movement
Research consistently shows that practices such as yoga, which include physical postures (asana), meditation, and breathwork (pranayama), can have significant benefits for both physical and emotional health. The resources below explore these benefits across a range of themes, reflecting the holistic approach of mindful movement, which sees the body and mind as interconnected rather than separate.
Dr Helen Lavretsky studies Geriatric Psychiatry at UCLA, investigating the microbiotic role in mood and cognitive functions in elders. Her studies have shown that mind-body disciplines such as Yoga and Tai Chi have helped to reduces cognitive decline and mood disorders in an ageing population, helping to modulate nervous system function, metabolism and immunity.
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Yoga, lifestyle and nutrition can be advantageous when working with the symptoms of the COVID aftermath. Breath work increases oxygen in the arteries, reducing respiratory effort and the burden on the heart. Pranayama strengthens the diaphragm and increases lung capacity.
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Yoga (as mind-body therapy) has shown to be effective at reducing inflammatory cytokines, through the resulting alterations in neuroendocrine, neural and psychological and behavioural processes.
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Yoga and meditation practice has been shown to lower cytokine responses which can cause inflammatory conditions such as IBS, IBD, osteoporosis and arthritis.
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“The more a person reported directing their cognitive resources to immediate sensory experience and the task at hand, the lower their resting cortisol” and also that “people who dwell on painful past memories, or who develop anxiety about their future, typically have higher stress levels”.
On a specific study within the project on immune markers, it was concluded:
“Our results suggest that practice of concentration meditation influences interference control by enhancing controlled attention to goal-relevant task elements, and that inflammatory activity relates to individual differences in controlled attention.”
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The oscillating airflow produced by humming on the exhalation increases nasal nitric oxide levels, which could help reduce viruses entering the respiratory system and improve immune responses to COVID-19. Increased nitric oxide levels have also been linked to reduction in sinus inflammation, improving respiratory issues such as rhinitis. Humming extends the exhalation, creating vibration in the upper torso and throat. The ‘mmm’ sound created vibrates into the cerebral cortex, said to nourish the pituitary gland for endocrine and ANS/vagus regulation as well as deactivating the limbic fight or flight response, stimulating serotonin production.
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Ujjayi or ‘victorious’ breath slows the passage of breath with gentle constriction of the opening of the throat. When practised with softness around the eyes, Ujjayi has been shown to increase the baroreflex sensitivity shown to support parasympathetic action via blood pressure control.
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GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that affects mood and mental health. Fluctuating levels of GABA are linked to medical conditions including anxiety, autism, and Parkinson’s disease. Yoga and mindfulness meditation practices increase GABA levels in the body
A 2021 study showed that breath awareness helped to regulate neural oscillations in the brain and activated areas of the brain which relate to emotions, autonomic endocrine responses and pain perception. When pacing the breath, regions of the brain which related to empathy, love, trust, state of union, interoception and embodied recognition were activated, with emotional, cognitive, and physiological regulation observed.
“There is emerging evidence showing that stressors involving interpersonal loss and social rejection are among the strongest psychosocial activators of molecular processes that underlie inflammation…. individuals who are more neurally sensitive to social stressors may mount greater inflammatory responses to social stress.”
“Yoga is based on the stretching of fascial tissue. Slow, methodical stretches held for a long duration have significant physiological effects. When fascial tissue is stretched, signals are transmitted to the autonomic nervous system. This reduces activity levels in the system responsible for stress – the sympathetic nervous system – which indirectly causes the body to relax.”
Fascial Fitness: Practical Exercises to Stay Flexible, Active and Pain Free in Just 20 Minutes a Week, Robert Schleip, Johanna Bayer et al (2nd edition, Lotus Publishing, 2021)
“It is not to be mistaken that slow breathing practice should minimise sympathetic activity, but rather, that it appears capable of achieving optimal sympathovagal balance, and enhancing autonomic reactivity to physical and mental stress… Of great scientific interest is the effect of long-term practice of slow breathing.”
A 2017 study explored that neural oscillations in the brain could be regulated by breath awareness alone and that parts of brain responsible for emotions – empathy, compassion, interoception and feelings of cohesion – as well as autonomic endocrine responses and pain perception could be activated.
Much current research into interoception is also exploring links with yoga and meditation. The recent years witnessed a surge of interest in the topic of interoception, which is due to the ‘embodiment paradigm shift’ in psychology and neurosciences, recognizing that intelligent or adaptive behaviour needs a body behaving within contexts, and which is promoted by findings highlighting the integral role of interoception in self-regulation, emotional experience, decision making, and consciousness. Interoception, as the visceral dimension of embodiment, has gained rapidly expanding interest in the study of the human mind.”
“Interventions such as meditation not only decrease pain but also have powerful protective effects on brain grey matter and connectivity within pain modulatory circuits.”
Yoga has been shown to benefit all aspects of pain, as movement and as a meditative practise.
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The stilling of the mind at the heart of yoga is related to its ability to raise GABA levels.
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“COPD is a systemic inflammatory disease that causes difficulty breathing,” said study presenter Randeep Guleria, MD, professor and head, department of pulmonary medicine and sleep disorders. “We investigated to see whether simple, structured yoga training affects the level of inflammation, shortness of breath, and quality of life in patients with stable COPD.”
Where pro-inflammatory cytokines are essential during the process of fighting off infection, severe inflammation can cause a cytokine cascade or storm, leading to multisystem organ failure and death, as we have seen in COVID-19 . Because cytokines affect the microenvironment of nearby tissues and cells, they also create; “an optimal environment for tumorigenesis (tumor formation) and chronic inflammatory diseases.” As a foreground to the COVID-19 pandemic, chronic inflammation has become a prevalent factor in Western civilization.
Nasal breathing slows down the rate at which breath comes in. This has been studied for the inhalation on runners, where they might gasp at the air through the mouth when their breathing is less efficient at oxygenating (‘air hunger’); breathing in through the nose has shown to slow the breath down by an average of 22%, resulting in “represents easier, less effortful respiration”.
“Our findings show measurable improvements for the patients in the test group, suggesting an immune-regulatory role of yoga practice in the treatment of RA. An intensive yoga regimen concurrent with routine drug therapy induced molecular remission and re-established immunological tolerance. In addition, it reduced the severity of depression by promoting neuroplasticity.”
