Why does Yoga Help with Stress?

Yoga and Stress

Common knowledge tells us that yoga helps with stress. But yoga is uniquely positioned to help us not only deal with stress in the short term, but alter the ways we engage with stress in general. This is accomplished both through the psychospiritual philosophy built into therapeutic yoga practice, as well as biological factors.

One of the biggest elements in our perception and resilience to stress is dictated by the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is is the only cranial nerve that departs from the head and neck area and run downs the length of the torso. Its main function is to tell your heart to slow down, increase digestion and encourage social connection. In other words, it is the pathway that connects the body to the brain that cues us when it is appropriate to move between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system states.

80% of the vagus nerve’s fibers send information from the body to the brain (Swanson, 2019). This makes it a pathway of interoception, or internal body awareness. Yoga can improve your interoception and vagal function. In fact, studies have shown the benefits of yoga for increased vagal tone resulting in stress reduction, and trauma recovery and resilience.