A while back I wrote a blog about the powerful benefits of viparita karani, legs-up-the wall pose. This pose has helped so many people I know learn to relax and deal with insomnia, stress and adrenal exhaustion. It’s a great pose. I love restorative yoga and, having a busy life, I feel like it’s an essential part of self-care.
So it was interesting to see a recent study published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology showing that restorative yoga is actually not as good as gentle stretching in terms of lower cortisol levels and helping people ameliorate the neuroendocrine dysregulation (metabolic syndrome) of chronic stress.
Actually, the results of the randomized controlled trial (RCT), published in November, 2014 make a lot of sense.
Researchers divided participants into two groups – once practicing restorative yoga and the other gentle stretching. After six months, the group that was doing gentle stretching showed decreased salivary cortisol levels compared to the restorative yoga group. Cortisol is the primary hormone that is used to measure stress response. When you have a lot of cortisol coursing through your system, your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA), or stress engine, is in high gear. You need to move in order to lower those cortisol levels.
In my experience working with people with chronic stress, it has become very clear that they are not particularly interested in lying down. How many times have you noticed people leaving class right before s’ava’sana? If you are really stressed out, exercise feels good, but stillness – not so much.
I think more research is necessary – but I am also seeing how this study corroborates Subtle Yoga methodology – helping people work out neuromuscular tension through mindful, repeated poses and progressive breathing patterns is more effective than simply using restorative poses.
Here’s a brief intervention I like to teach for anxiety. Please note this may not be appropriate for people with lower back issues.
Progressive exhales in Uttanasana
1. Take a deep breath. As you exhale, slide your hands down the backs of your legs.
2. Inhale back up to standing.
3. Exhale as you slide down again at the end of your exhale pause for 2 seconds.
4. Inhale back up.
5. The next time you exhale pause for 3 seconds, then 4, then 5.
6. Come back up to Mountain pose, take several long deep breaths and notice how you feel.
We teach principles of sequencing and simple protocols for working with stress, anxiety, depression and trauma in our RYT200 program for Behavioral Health Professionals at MAHEC in Asheville and also in our RYT500 Therapeutic Yoga Teacher Training programs.
No matter what they say I do “legs up” the wall everyday. It beats “climbing the walls” anytime. When I get up, I just know I’m gonna live!
I agree Pamela! I love legs up the wall – the point is that some people can’t access the benefits of it because the nervous system is hyperaroused. So how do we help them become calm enough to enjoy the pose!
Here’s a follow up from a FB conversation
Another important piece, that is mentioned in the study’s conclusion (that I think is worth noting but didn’t mention in my blog) is that the researchers speculated that the gentle stretching groups outcomes may have been influenced by “group support.” I think this is a critical road to explore. The sanga that’s created during classes helps lower stress hormones – Dan Siegel’s work would most likely corroborate this statement – when we self-regulate, we affect other’s capacities to self-regulate, this is a critical thing for us as yoga teachers to understand – our state is very important for student’s self-regulation and their state in turn affects other students’ self-regulation. but if you are just lying their with an eyebag – in a hyperaroused state – you get none of that interpersonal neurobiologic feedback. Here’s the original blog for anyone interested. https://subtleyoga.com/anxiety-using-yoga-to-shift…/
Very Interesting Article – thank you for writing and sharing. I teach Restorative Yoga so very good to read. It’s an interesting point. A famous movement teacher – Gabrielle Roth – used to say that the quickest way to still the mind was to move the body!
So sometimes in a restorative class I would move a little first – gentle movement, all fours, easy stretching, feeling our way – so that students are encouraged to be in their bodies, to feel and welcome what is truly present and the arc of the class slowly resolving to a two or three lovely restorative postures such as Legs Up the Wall. Teaching in a way that always is an invitation to rest and anchor in the present. In their own presence.
Thanks again for sharing your work and your writing.
Neal
Thanks for your thoughts Neal. I think your approach is great. I have worked with clients with more severe anxiety for whom the thought of closing their eyes for restorative poses was unbearable – and that’s really a different ball of wax altogether. But with a more mentally stable group, I think that slow gentle stretching before restorative is wonderful! I love your description of “an invitation to rest and anchor in the present. In their own presence.” very sweet!
This is of great interest to me and thank you for your work Kaoverii. I teach therapeutic classes and private, and over several years have witnessed the varying degrees of anxiety disorder’s and responses to stillness and movement. Mindfulness of slow gentle movements and breath, followed by stillness that is is comforting (as in some restorative postures), works well for most, to allow the drashta to develop in a comfortable enjoyable way. Some PTSD students have found the slowness of mindfulness yoga fearful, yet have decided to persist because of the freedom of mind afterwards. Their choice.
It’s also wise to refer to Patanjali’s order of the 8 limbs to see that asana comes before Dharana.
Dr Maarten Immink an academic and research scientist in the area of motor neuroscience in Adelaide, has some interesting studies on neuroscience of movement and cognitive function of mindfulness yoga. Aum shanti Kendra
Thanks Kendra. I agree with your assessment. It’s interesting also that some of my clients with serious trauma hx, often those who are more physical or drawn to yoga, really need/want a stronger practice to almost burn the anxiety out of their systems first. I don’t provide that but I encourage them to use strong exercise or power yoga on their own time to effect that sort of result. Then I have to help them differentiate what they are doing with me as “yoga therapy.” and understand what it means to increase interoception, proprioception (body awareness), mindful non-reactive calm states, practice safety in the body, etc. Very important learned skills for healing trauma that are quite different from the fitness based focus of a lot of yoga classes. But they do get it! They understand that what we do in group is different from what they get from a more work out based class. ANd even if they are not fully exploring the realm of restorative or nidra, at least they are figuring out how to be neurologically quiet in some way.
As for Dr. Immink’s work, I’d love to see more of it! I taught in Adelaide 2 years ago BTW! what a great city!
xoxo