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Medea
Netherlands
115 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 14 2010 : 04:14:53 AM
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Wellesley College instructor examines how yoga benefits the brain
Sarah Thomas
Liz Owen leads a class of Iyengar yoga students in the cobra pose at Wellesley College.
By Sarah Thomas, Town Correspondent
It's 1:40 p.m. on a Monday, and Liz Owen and about 30 students are going through the Sun Salute, the Bound Angle, and other poses that make up the study of Iyengar Yoga. Some of the students in the class at Wellesley College are taking yoga for credit; others are auditing, just for a few hours of relaxation a week.
After 45 minutes of challenging contortions, Owen has the class lie down and concentrate on breathing.
"Feel your heart expand," Owen said. "See if you can feel a shift in your brain away from the concerns of the day into a place that's quiet and supportive."
Now, Owen says, that shift in the brain has been quantified by modern science. For the last few years, she has been working as part of a research team on a study of the effects of yoga on anxiety and mood. The group's results were published this month in ββThe Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.ββ
"What I've seen and experienced in my practice is now what the evidence is proving," Owen said. "Yoga has a profound effect on both the body and on emotional well-being."
The study, which was backed with a grant from the National Institutes of Health, looked specifically at the effect of yoga practice on a chemical called gamma-amino butyric acid, or GABA.
"GABA is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain," said Dr. Chris Streeter, associate professor at BU Medical School and lead researcher on the project. "It's low in people who are depressed, and if you treat that depression, GABA levels go up."
Streeter, herself a yoga practitioner, has long seen that patients suffering from depression and seizures (another condition associated with low GABA levels) reported increased well-being after practicing yoga. That's when she got the idea that yoga elevated GABA levels.
"Our first study, with experienced yoga practitioners, was very positive," Streeter said. "In this second study, we studied people who were not experienced with yoga."
In the study, the participants either practiced yoga or did a metabolically equivalent amount of walking over a 12-week period. At the end, their GABA levels were measured with MRIs.
"What we found was that, while there wasn't an overall change in their GABA levels, the participants who practiced yoga had an increase in GABA levels right after completing the yoga exercises," Streeter said.
Owen said the results support what Owen she has long known. A certified Iyengar yoga instructor since 1990, she began practicing in 1984 to help improve her posture.
"I'm like a completely different person now," Owen said. "I'm a calmer and more secure person. Yoga has helped my relationships and helped me understand my family. Every day I feel I go deeper and deeper into a place of mental well-being."
Owen and Streeter said their next goal is to try to replicate their results on patients suffering with clinical depression.
"I hope this study will bring yoga more and more to the attention of the medical community, and maybe even into the corporate world," Owen said. "Anyone who is suffering from stress and anxiety can benefit from yoga."
That sentiment is echoed by Owen's students.
"I feel like I'm emotionally better able to cope with my life after I do yoga," said Lauren Tonti, a first-year student.
"Senior year is a stressful time, but I can forget my stress for an hour when I'm here," said fourth-year Jo Treitman.
Link to research article: http://www.liebertonline.com.proxy....cm.2010.0007
Link to interview: http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news...eams_up.html |
Edited by - Medea on Nov 14 2010 04:15:21 AM |
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