Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of columns about the effects of yoga on your body, focusing on the “three brains” — the cranial brain housing the central nervous system, the heart, which generates a massive electromagnetic field, and the gut, the microbiome, a colony of trillions of bacteria known as the enteric nervous system. Find previous articles at www.westhawaiitoday.com.
Ancient yogis knew that good digestion is key to radiant health. Hippocrates of Kos, an ancient Greek physician, claimed that all disease begins in the gut. They understood that the digestive system is a sensitive mirror of the mind, reflecting lifestyle choices and emotional states.
Food quality is important but your state of mind creates the context for healthy digestion. Embraced by a peaceful mind, the intestines move in harmony, absorbing nutrients and releasing waste. With a stressed mind, people get butterflies, “choke” under pressure, and may wind up making “gut-wrenching” decisions.
Yogic deep breathing and poses massage the vital organs of digestion, sending rivers of life force to cleanse, strengthen, and nurture them. Healthy digestion supports the immune system, mood, and learning potential by balancing neurotransmitter output in the body’s microbiome, microbes that live within us.
As our enteric or intrinsic nervous system, our biome sends signals via the vagus nerve to the cranial and heart brains. Often considered the first brain because it developed first, it can sense information across great distances before it actually reaches the physical body.
4 Steps to a Better Biome
As you work, play, eat, love, move, and read, notice your three nervous systems — one in the belly for digesting, one in the head for thinking, and one in the heart for feeling. They are in constant communication via neurotransmitters.
Here are four steps that help you and your biome live in digestive harmony.
1. Remember, you are what you eat
In yogic philosophy, the subtle energy of your food becomes your mind. Observation skills honed during a mindful yoga practice, along with the ability to slow down, help you make healthier food choices and develop better eating habits.
The optimal diet will vary from person to person but the balance of microorganisms in your gut is always nourished by fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, fermented foods, and plenty of fiber.
Healthy food depends on the purity of soil, water and nutrients that fashioned it as well as the emotional tone of the people who tended it.
2. Cultivate the “rest-and-digest” nervous system
When we relax, we feel at home, connected. By helping us to ground, yoga connects us to the Earth and teaches us to manage the onslaught of tension and worry so pervasive in today’s world.
Ask yourself, “What would I be aware of now if I weren’t worrying?” If necessary, write the question on a card and tape it to your refrigerator or bathroom mirror.
Worry comes from the “fight-or-flight-or-freeze” part of the nervous system that spells digestive trouble. Take time to savor your food, your body and your breath to restore the “rest-and-digest” nervous system through mindful eating.
3. Meditate on Eating
Come to the table with a relaxed awareness. Breathe deeply as you smell the food, appreciate its nutrition, and appreciate those who grew the food and as well as the life and people around you.
Set your intention to nourish yourself. Enjoy your meal, letting energy flow freely through the abdomen as you chew and swallow. Note the rich harmonies of taste, temperature and texture. When complete, remain aware that food has passed into the stomach and the digestive process is underway.
4. Practice Yoga Poses
Yoga postures work by gently hugging in and then stretching the soft tissues of the body, like a hand gently squeezing an orange to release its juice. When digestive organs are compressed during twisting or bending poses, stale and waste-bearing fluids are pushed out of the tissues aimed toward elimination.
When an area is stretched, life-giving nutrients circulate into the cells.
There are so many great poses that aid digestion – forward bends, prone and sitting twists, twisting lunges and revolving triangle, to name a few.
This pose combines a side-bending stretch on the top and a contraction on the bottom, extended kneeling side angle pose.
Seated on the ground, extend your right leg to the right and bend your left leg with the heel close to the pubic bone.
Place the left hand on the ground several feet to the left. Inhaling, gently lift the hips and balance over the left knee, being careful to spread the weight between the left hand and the extended right leg. Exhaling, extend the right arm up and arch the spine a full side body stretch toward the left. Lengthen the spine, keeping the left shoulder engaged deep in the socket and under the ribs.
Stay in the pose for five to 10 breaths sensing the wave-like movements of peristalsis. Draw the navel gently inward while the sacrum lifts up. Relax your face and soften your forehead, eyes, mouth, and jaws. With an exhalation, bring the torso back to sitting. Repeat on the other side.
And if that seems too far a reach, take the ninja-yogi fifth step: Simply let go and enjoy one to five minutes of belly laughing!
Marya Mann, Ph.D., writes the monthly yoga column for West Hawaii Today and teaches at New Thought Center and Yano Hall. Contact writer marya.mann@gmail.com