What Our Nerves Communicate

This post is the first in our new series called “This is Your Body on Yoga.” We’ll be looking at all the systems of our body, pulling them out one-by-one, to see how they are affected by Yoga and how we can maximize the benefits of Yoga by bringing our attention there. Of course, it’s hard to look at just one system since we are an interconnected being. But that’s the beauty of Yoga: Because Yoga is union, we foster overall good health and happiness in body, mind and spirit whenever we practice!

This first post is on the most important system, but one so obvious we often overlook it—our nervous system. The core of the nervous system is our brain and spine, called the “central nervous system.” Nerves then travel from our brain and spine to every part of our body; this is called the “peripheral nervous system.” More than anything else, our nervous system is a communication system.

Our nervous system carries impulses throughout the body with lightning speed. You’ve experienced this if you’ve ever had to move quickly in response to a stimulus, like catching a ball that’s unexpectedly flying toward you or suddenly had to maneuver your car out of the way of a speeding object.

This shows up in yoga class when you hear or see how your teacher’s cue and your body just moves that way even without you thinking about it. This response can become even more refined over time when your body just knows how to move. This movement is intuitive and completely in tune with what you need in the present moment. 

Here are two other interesting ways we engage the nervous system when practicing yoga: The first has to do with pain response. There’s a reason why we say in class “no pain, no pain.” Pain is the body’s way of saying something is amiss and should not be ignored. If we continue to ignore pain, our brain begins to accept the pain as normal. Pain will even continue if there is no physical reason for it to continue. The good news of Yoga is that it helps us to look at the pain more objectively, even befriend the pain, so that it can be dealt with more skillfully. And yes, practicing yoga does help people reduce and even end pain.

Second, yoga brings balance to the nervous system which brings more balance to our life. Our nervous system is connected to our energy because nerves are electrical impulses. And Yoga is all about energy flow, right? This is why yoga sessions start with awareness (how is my energy flow right now?), move into active breathing, strength building and balance (raising the energy) and finish with slow stretching, relaxation and meditation (calming the energy). This cycle is genius for training the body to be alert for the daily challenges that arise while also being able to wind down to re-group during the day and sleep well at night.

This week:
• Be alert to your reaction time as body and brain communicate through your nervous system
• Listen to your pain responses and accept the valuable information they provide
• Honor the cycle of energy—awareness, ramping up, slowing down—to bring overall balance to your nervous system