Three Principles Of The Brain For Yogis

Maarten A. Immink PhD three

Principles of The Brain

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www.integratemindbody.com

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eBook

Three Principles of the Brain for Yogis Dr Maarten A. Immink BA, MS, PhD

I offer sincere gratitude to Swami Sivananda Saraswati, Swami Satyananda Saraswati, and Swami Niranjananda Saraswati who have illuminated me through yoga. Also, to all fellow scientists who have furthered the understanding of the nervous system. Dedicated to all individuals who have chosen to journey on the path of yoga.

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About the Author Dr Maarten A. Immink holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Human Movement Science from Texas A&M University, U.S.A. He has over 20 years of experience studying, researching and teaching the physiological and psychological basis of human performance. Currently, he holds a lecturing position in Exercise Science at an Australian university and runs his own human performance consultancy practice that uses movement, exercise and mental training to maximise the potential of the body and mind. He is accredited through Fitness Australia and the Australian Association for Exercise and Sport Science. Dr. Immink is also an accredited teacher of SATYANANDA YOGA®, an integrative and holistic approach to yoga developed by Swami Satyananda Saraswati in Bihar, India. In addition to offering yoga & meditation classes, Dr. Immink delivers lectures and workshops on topics which bring together western scientific understanding of the mind and body and yoga philosophy. For any further information on yoga and meditation classes as well as human performance consulting, including integral fitness training, please contact Dr. Maarten Immink on: email phone web

| [email protected] | Int’l | +61 4 2169 3289 Australia | 0421693289 | www.integratemindbody.com double click on the paperclip for a business card

NOTE: This eBook is intended for your own personal study. Feel free to make a hard copy of this eBook. Please do not use any of its content, in whole, part or in abstract, for commercial purposes. Additional electronic copies of this eBook can be obtained by contacting Dr. Immink or by visiting www.integratemindbody.com.

Your feedback and comments regarding the content of this eBook would be greatly appreciated by the author.

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Introduction If you are reading this, then most likely we share a common interest for the study of the biological basis of the mind and its application to yoga. This is the area that I have been dedicated to learning about for quite some time. Indeed, for many years I have been searching for the knowledge that would allow me to comprehend how the brain and nervous system work and how their function relates to the concept of the mind. This search has taken me through many years of studying, reading and researching within the perspective of western science. Although this approach has offered me a wealth of knowledge, it was not until I became exposed to the science of yoga that I truly began to see the bigger picture. Western science and yoga science compliment each other tremendously well in terms of defining and applying the workings of the body and mind. What I am presenting to you in the following reading is a highlight of a massive amount of information on the topic of the brain. This highlight includes three principles of the brain that I have come to understand as having particular relevance for the practitioner of yoga. I have kept this reading as non-technical as possible, limiting the use of scientific terminology so as to keep the material approachable for all levels of scientific background. If you find a term or two beyond your understanding, I invite you to use the various internet resources, like www.google.com, to search for more information. I hope that you will find the following principles useful for your yoga journey.

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Principle 1. Awareness takes yoga into the brain “Use it or loose it” is often used to refer to the fact that unless we remain active, we stand a high chance of experiencing physical deterioration. Living a sedentary lifestyle contributes to wasted muscles, weak bones, stiff joints, heart disease, obesity… and the list goes on. This link between regular physical activity and a healthy body is now well established and commonly accepted. The physical practices of Hatha Yoga, called asanas, have also received substantial attention in terms of the benefits they offer for the physique of the body. So popular are these body-based benefits that they actually tend to overshadow another important component of the yoga and health connection - the nervous system. Yoga has the powerful ability to prevent and reverse degeneration and disease in the nervous system. The fact that this is often overlooked is surprising since it is the nervous system that is the master regulator of the entire body. If this system fails, the rest of the body will surely follow.

External vs. internal effects of yoga Focusing only on the external benefits of yoga is like eating only for taste - the main purpose is missed. Including regular practices of asana in your lifestyle does certainly offer physical benefits but this should be considered as an added bonus because far greater and profound gains are on offer for the mind. The ancient practices of yoga asana were not developed with the intention of being merely physical outlets for the body; instead they were intended to be a means of preparation, purification and integration of the body and the mind for higher spiritual practices.

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Awareness is integration What determines the depth, to which you allow yoga asanas to integrate into your nervous system, depends on the ability to implement one factor into your practices. This factor is awareness and it is a skill that must be developed over time through training and application.

Asana without awareness is possible It is actually quite possible to move without any involvement of the brain, and therefore no awareness. Take for example reflexes. When a finger is placed on a hot stove, the heat stimulates a sensory receptor which sends its signal to the spinal cord activating a motor neuron (movement production nerve cell), which causes muscles to contract and the arm to pull away from the stove. This movement is triggered without any involvement of the brain and thus, without any awareness. It is only after the reflexive movement has been completed that the pain signal moves up the spinal cord to the brain and the experience reaches your awareness: “ouch!” Similar to reflexes, it is quite possible to practice asanas in a rather automated way with minimal involvement of awareness. The nervous system can operate under an autopilot-like system because it has the capability to control movements using brain structures that function without conscious awareness. So while performing the cat stretch pose, it is possible for your asana autopilot to take over control of the posture. As a result, awareness drops out and you may drift off into other non-movement related thoughts like trying to remember if you fed the cat before the class, for example.

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Asana without awareness is limiting and dangerous Using automated movement systems do allow you to perform multiple tasks at once, like talk and walk, but the downfall is that you fail to be fully aware of the movement itself. Loss of movement awareness means limited connection between mind and the body. When an asana is performed, countless sensory experiences are generated in the body but only a few of these can be experienced in the disconnected mind. When there are less incoming signals into the brain from the body, the potential for the asana to bring about any mental benefits is diminished. Even worse, there is an increase in the likelihood for injury since awareness is the safety mechanism that prevents the body from being pushed beyond its physical limits.

Yoga with awareness links body and mind Performing asana with full awareness enhances the mental benefits of the practices because the connection between the body and the mind is maximised. A heightened experience of the body means that there is more incoming sensory information that is stimulating and activating the various regions of the brain. More mental stimulation means an increase in the blood flow to the working parts of the brain (see Figure 1) which is a vital factor in ensuring the health of individual brain cells. Awareness also allows the brain to benefit the body. In a well connected mind and body, more neural signals from the brain can reach the body, allowing the control of asana to become refined. There is also an increase in the bioelectrical energy flowing through the nerves which energizes the body. As the saying goes, ‘Energy flows where attention goes’. Where you hold your concentration during asana will awaken that area of the body and will also activate the associated areas of the brain.

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Yoga is good for the brain and awareness deepens these effects Including yoga asana into your lifestyle is an effective means to improve or sustain overall health and wellbeing. Part of this means enjoying the benefits that asana can potentially provide for function of the brain. As the brain is the major organ which supports the mind, establishing a healthy functioning brain is key to reaching higher levels of consciousness. Thus, the defining factor which takes asana from just being an exercise to being a mental and spiritual practice is the level of awareness that is involved.

Figure 1. A functional map of the cerebral cortex. As more awareness is used during asana, more of these areas become active.


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Principle 2. The brain has its habits (and what yoga does about it!) As you are sitting and reading this sentence, are you aware of the sensation of pressure of your buttocks on the chair or cushion? Having read this now you probably are, but before you most likely were not! The fact is sensations do drop out of our awareness and this has implications for the way that we think and control the body. At any given moment we are probably thinking, talking, moving, eating and/or breathing in ways that we are not even aware of. Well, we are not entirely to blame. The nervous system has a tendency to fall into its own habits.

Habituation affects awareness Not really habits but actually habituation as neuroscientists and psychologists call it. Essentially, habituation has to do with the way that sensory neurons, or the cells of the nervous system responsible for detecting sensations, respond to a stimulus. At first, when a sensation such as the pressure of the buttocks on the chair stimulates a touch receptor on the skin, a strong stimulus will be sent to the brain. If that touch sensation is maintained over a period of time the pressure receptor will actually begin to fatigue and decrease the strength of the stimulus signal it sends to the brain. As a result, the brain will begin to be habituated to the stimulus, and the sensation will drop out of awareness. The pressure is still there but the brain has now lost the awareness of that experience.

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Habituation of the five senses This process of habituation happens with all the five senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing, and vision. One example is walking into a room with a foul smell which at first is very overwhelming only to find that a few moments later you ‘forget’ about its presence. At first, the chemicals associated with the odour are stimulating scent receptors at the top of the nose. These relay the signal to the brain where the experience of smell and any related reactions are formed. As the scent lingers, habituation sets in and the brain drops its awareness of the smelly experience. To your brain it is as if there is no longer an odour. You can also ‘see for yourself’ the habituation process taking place in the visual system by following the exercise in Activity Box 1.

Activity Box 1 Now you see them, now you don’t Move a bit closer to the screen and focus on the image on the left. In particular, hold your gaze on the small black dot in the center of the image. Hold it there for a few moments until habituation takes over and the image changes. Once habituation takes place, you can look away then back to the image to see if it’s possible to reverse habituation.

Habituation of body sense Information about the five senses, relayed by sensory systems to the brain, keeps us informed of the events taking place in the external world. In addition, there is a sixth type of sensory system (yes indeed, the sixth sense!) that keeps the brain informed about the events taking place in the internal

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world of the body. This sixth sense is called propioception, which means ‘self perception’, and relates to information like position of limbs, posture, balance, and body segment movement. This type of information is what allows you to perform actions like walking up steps without watching your feet or standing upright with your eyes closed. Even though propioception is truly a special type of sensory system, it is also susceptible to habituation. This means that just as we can loose awareness of stimuli from the external world, it is also quite possible to loose awareness of the body. The possibility of habituation in the propioceptive system means that when we perform or hold an asana, we may loose proper form or alignment without even realising it. For example, when we hold a sitting posture, we may loose awareness of holding the spine erect and we begin to slouch forward. When awareness begins to drop out, the benefits of the practice are minimised and the chance of injury is maximised due to the loss of proper body alignment. Habituation can also affect the propioceptive information which supports good breathing function. Often breathing can be less than optimal because habituation allows bad habits such as open-mouth, shallow chest breathing to take control of this important body process.

Habituation of thought patterns Although it would make life a lot easier, there is no direct sensory system for thought processes in the mind. In fact, it is interesting to note that the brain has no sensory system for itself. That is, the brain is unable to experience its own touch, temperature, pressure, pain. The pain of a headache is not detected by sensory receptors in the brain but rather by receptors in the blood vessels and tissue which surround the brain. Since there is no sensory system for the brain, thoughts can only be detected by observing them with

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another thought. In other words, the mind has to always self-monitor its own activity to be aware of what it is doing. If you habituate this self-monitoring process, any awareness of the thought is lost. To the mind, it is as if the thought no longer exists even though it is still very much active. Once this happens, the thought has entered the subconscious mind.

Activity Box 2 Sensory Perception on Autopilot A majority of our perception of the outside world takes place without any of our awareness. This implies that the brain automatically imposes its own expectations in placing meaning on the incoming sensory information. In other words, the brain sees what it wants to see. See the upside down portrait of a popular figure on the right; do you recognise him? Do you see anything different about his face? To see how your brain automatically adjusts its perception of the face, rotate this page 180 degrees, using the rotate button on the toolbar.

Habituated thoughts are the origin of dis-ease Thoughts can and do circulate over and over in the subconscious, below the radar of awareness. As they do so, they still have the power to elicit subsequent mental, emotional and physical reactions. At any moment, while we go about our daily lives, externally focused, the stresses and strains of life can generate subconscious thoughts of worry and angst. Hidden by habituation, they may be triggering ‘fight or flight’ like physical reactions to stress: faster heart rate, shallow rapid breathing, higher blood pressure, muscle tension, hormonal imbalance and poor digestion. Even though you may be unaware of the subconscious thought causing nervousness, you may at first be acutely aware of the related physical reactions: loss of appetite,

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trouble sleeping, perfuse sweating, and loss of concentration. In time though, as the ‘fight or flight’ state is maintained, you may also become habituated to the physical reactions themselves, especially if this process is facilitated by the use of recreational or pharmaceutical agents that mask physical symptoms. With habituation, living physically, emotionally and mentally stressed begins to feel normal. Even though the body and mind are able to adapt to stress, when it is sustained, they begin to break down one way or another. When this happens, a state of dis-ease presents itself. If it sounds like a precarious situation, it is because unfortunately, in this case it often requires a doctor’s (or other health practitioner’s) diagnosis to make us aware that our body and mind need nurturing and healing.

Using habituation to focus internally All is not lost though! The wise and advanced men and women, who developed the science of yoga, were well aware of this problem and created techniques by which to remove the veil of ignorance created by habituation. In fact, they learned how to use the process of habituation for benefit rather than detriment. As the mind is naturally inclined to engage in external sensory experiences, yoga techniques allow it to do so without restraint. In time, the natural process of habituation causes the mind to exhaust its focus on the outside world. Now, the mind shifts its focus inward as it attends to internally generated experiences such as propioception and thoughts. This shift of attention from external to internal sources of experience is what is called pratyahara in yoga and forms the basis of developing inner awareness.

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Pratyahara turns on the dormant parts of the brain Establishment of pratyahara causes a big change in how the brain functions. Areas of the brain that are usually dormant become activated. These areas are found in the parts of the brain which are evolutionary the most advanced and are said to be unique to humans. Their function is associated with the ability to become self-aware. It is an illuminative process because activating these higher brain centres is like turning on the lights in the darkened rooms of a house; we can now see what has been there all this time. You gain access to more elevated and refined levels of awareness which allows you to bring thoughts out of the subconscious into the conscious. Pratyahara, which uses habituation of the external to remedy habituation of the internal, is a way to really begin to explore yourself, answering that classical question of yoga, “who am I?” This knowledge is valuable wisdom and is empowering for it allows you to have mastery over your mind and your body.




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Principle 3. Yoga can positively re-wire your brain In order for the brain to be able to carry out its day-to-day functions such as reading, communicating, and moving the body, it has to rely on well established neural circuits which have been formed over time. This is the basis of what is called learning. Not an easy feat when you consider that there are about 100 billion neurons in the brain and each neuron is connected, on average, to 10,000 other neurons! One wrong connection and we might end up tasting colours!

Connections are made before and after birth So how does the nervous system handle the complicated task of forming neural circuits? Part of the task is determined genetically so that we are actually born hardwired with the vital neural circuits that allow us to survive the first days of life outside the womb. For example, newborn babies have reflexes that allow them to successfully feed from the mother only minutes after birth. While some connections are predetermined before birth, the vast majority of our neural connections are formed throughout our lives. In this lifelong learning process, new neuron connections are formed, while some old connections are removed, based on our daily experiences.

Neurons that fire together, wire together The main process, by which connections between neurons are made in the brain, is called long-term potentiation. Long-term potentiation essentially follows the rule that neurons which fire together wire together. When, say, two neurons are active at the same time in the brain, this occurrence is treated as

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an important event in terms of learning and so needs to be repeated. Ensuring that the same neurons will again be active simultaneously involves two changes. First, neurons form extensions that branch out to form new connections with other involved neurons. Second, to improve transmission of signals, connections between neurons, called synapses, are actively strengthened using cellular level changes. Over time, many neurons connect and wire themselves together forming a collective group called a neural circuit. These circuits perform specific functions such as processing and storing information.

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Figure 2. Neurons establishing neural circuits during learning.

Your brain is adaptable Your brain has the property of plasticity, which reflects its ability to remodel itself and change its functional structure in order to meet changing demands that are placed on it. Rather than being fixed and unchangeable, the brain is dynamic and always changing, characteristics that allow you to be remarkably adaptable.

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Association facilitates adaptation The process of learning is one example of plasticity whereby exposure to events in our lives has the ability to shape your brain. Learning essentially involves making new associations, linking unknown information to previously established memories. In the brain, this involves linking new neural circuits with already established neural circuits. For example, imagine that you have an established neural circuit for executing a yoga posture called the seated forward bend. When the yoga teacher calls out, “come into the seated forward bend”, your neural circuit for this posture becomes activated and begins to send signals to turn on some muscles and relax other muscles allowing you to come into this position. What if the teacher one day calls out, “come into paschimottanasana” and you have never heard this Sanskrit word before in class? There is no association between the unfamiliar word and the posture and so the neural circuit for the asana would not be activated; no posture just a puzzled look. If the teacher then translates the name into its English equivalent, then the process of association takes place. A new paschimottanasana neural circuit becomes associated with the pre-existing seated forward bend posture circuit. In future classes no translation will be required since learning has allowed the brain to adapt to a new situation.

Thoughts and emotional states are associated As you go about your daily tasks, your brain keeps itself busy reshaping itself and making new associations based on experiences. Yoga philosophy says that all of the experiences that we are exposed to form an impression, called a samskara, in the mind. Whether or not we are aware of it, the mind is being constantly shaped by the events that take place around us. We are also shaped by the events that take place within us. Western science has provided

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support for this latter notion by demonstrating that our emotional state is an important event that is associated in the learning process. This implies that neural circuits that generate certain emotional states like love, happiness, anger and anxiety become associated with the neural circuits that generate thought processes like decision making, perception, communication, and movement production. For this reason, our emotions have the ability to shape our brain in a way that influences what decisions we make, how we perceive our world, how we communicate and how we utilise our bodies. The association is self-reinforcing since the emotion maintains a particular pattern of thought and in turn, the pattern of thought encourages the linked emotion. Additionally, each time the neural circuits are activated, their association becomes increasingly stronger. If the emotions happen to be negative and the thoughts cynical or unconstructive, their perpetuation could create a shift of the mind towards unhappiness. It is easy to blame external sources for discontentment, yet the real source often comes from within.

Stress shifts the brain into survival training mode Your brain has built-in systems for detecting negative events in the environment. In terms of survival, it is good to be aware of any threats to your existence. The presence of negative events, which causes the experience of stress, causes the brain to produce a particular set of emotional reactions: fear, anxiety, anger, sadness and so on. These emotions, in turn, cause physiological changes (faster heart rate, increase blood pressure, sweating, muscle tension) and cognitive changes (vigilance, irritability, dwelling, overactivity). These changes cause a functional transformation of the mind. The higher qualities of reason, love and compassion are exchanged for lower, animalistic, qualities which are instinctual and survival driven. Stress, whether

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it is truly life threatening or not, shifts the brain into survival training mode. Events and experiences, even if they would normally be inoffensive, are now interpreted as being threatening. Consequently, self-protective judgements cause defensive reactions to be played out. Negative emotions, neurotic thoughts and retaliatory deeds all become associated to the extent that the brain has learned to view life as a struggle.

Meditation changes mental function Yoga offers a way to step out of the struggle. The practices of meditation are an effective antidote to the stress response. When the mind relaxes, objective awareness increases and the higher qualities of the brain remain in control. We behave as more evolved beings and life becomes an inspiring journey, not a struggle. The influence that meditation has on brain function has recently received quite a substantial amount of research attention. With all this attention has come extensive scientific proof that meditation is effective for establishing mental health. Additionally, scientific research is beginning to shed some light on the mechanisms through which meditation changes the brain.

Meditation relaxes the nervous system The first influence that meditation has on the nervous system is by reducing sympathetic drive. This is a technical way of saying meditation lowers mental, emotional and physical tension. During meditation, the nervous system experiences a relaxation response (parasympathetic drive) and heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension decrease. The body experiences other benefits as well. Digestive, hormonal, metabolic, respiratory, sleep, and reproductive functions all have physiological improvements. The brain itself

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shifts into a unique pattern of activity. The areas of the brain which are normally active during day-to-day activity become dormant as areas which are associated with higher levels of consciousness become more active. Here is where the major influence of meditation on the nervous system begins.

Meditation forms positive associations Meditation practices allow us to revisit previous experiences and memories in a relaxed, aware and detached state. As the higher consciousness areas are now actively processing these experiences, we begin to be able to see them logically, rationally, objectively and compassionately. In the meditative state, we are learning to view our life not in the context of our own survival but rather in a balanced, harmonious and non-reactive manner. It is an opportunity to identify negative thoughts and destructive reactions and this awareness is the first step towards change. That change is further facilitated by meditation because state-dependent learning is forming new associations between previous experiences and the current relaxed, positive emotional state. In this way, we are actively changing how the brain functions towards a more evolved and enlightened state.

Wired for happiness There is substantial scientific research to support the link between meditation and changes in brain activity towards positive emotions. Experiments have demonstrated greater left prefrontal lobe brain activity in Tibetan Buddhist monks during meditation (see Figures 3 and 4). This is an area of the brain that has been associated with happiness, optimism, self-confidence, and a robust immune system. What makes this really remarkable is the fact that some of the monks had experienced terrible psychological and physical

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Figure 3. A Tibetan Buddhist monk preparing to advance brain science.

trauma as a result of the invasion of the Chinese Army into Tibet. Strong trauma has a definite ability to influence and shape the brain in negative ways. This is usually seen as greater activity in the right prefrontal lobe, which has been associated with unhappiness and depression. So it seems that these monks were able to use meditation to counteract traumatic mental debilitation and instead learn to have a positive outlook on life, full of compassion and forgiveness. In other words, meditation re-wired the brain to develop and support the higher qualities of the mind.




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Figure 4. Scans of brain activity taken from a Tibetan Buddhist monk at rest and while meditating. Note the increased levels of activity (red areas) in the left hemisphere of the brain particularly in the prefrontal lobe.

If you are interested in the effects meditation has on the brain, read:

Just Say Om by Joel Stein published in TIME magazine July 27, 2003

You can find this article on the World Wide Web http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,471136,00.html Interactive display of how meditation influences the brain: http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101030804/om/

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