science of yoga

Meet Marlysa Sullivan: Assistant Professor at Maryland University of Integrative Health (MUIH), physical therapist and yoga therapist.

LIFE PURPOSE AND YOGA THERAPY

Marlysa does research and teaches about yoga therapy in health sciences. “I also own a small private practice. In general, I see people who suffer from physical pain looking for a more holistic and a somewhat different approach. For example, I see people who have migraine, with rheumatoid arthritis, or who are cancer survivors. Most of the time the primary concern is physically based, but there are also co-arising concerns such as stress, anxiety, depression.”

Marlysa started practicing yoga when she was still in college. Practicing yoga since 1999 brought her a lot, she tells: “personally, yoga helped me make sense about who I am in the world and has influenced how I interact with others. To me, yoga is about connection, my life purpose and the human I want to be. It helps me to ground too and gives me the ability to deal with difficult situation in daily life. And sure, I practice also to be more relaxed and strong in my body.”

From 2004 Marlysa was trained to be a yoga teacher. Although yoga is an ancient philosophy, it plays an important role in our modern lives. What is yoga therapy and what is the difference and similarity in teaching yoga and yoga therapy?

“Yoga has become really popular. There are all kinds of yoga types. Nowadays it’s a huge conversation: yoga and yoga therapy. Today, we also see a movement for the practical part in yoga: to become more flexible, to train the body and to relax. But yoga is not only training your body on the mat, it’s a life philosophy that needs study and practice.” 

POLYVAGAL THEORY AND YOGA THERAPY

Contemplative practices, by directly exercising the vagal regulation of state, coopt the need for social interactions to reflexively calm the practitioner… and expand the sense of connectedness from a proximal social network to an unbounded sense of oneness.         — Stephen Porges

The polyvagal theory gives an understanding of how the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and vagus nerve, which is the primary conduit of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), are working. None of these things work in isolation, it all occurs within networks. The polyvagal theory offers a way to understand the connections between behavior, emotion and physiology.

Marlysa: “instead of thinking in terms of medical diagnoses like “a patient with rheumatoid arthritis, or back pain”, we are looking underneath the problem. Polyvagal theory helped me to understand how what I was doing in the physical body through physical therapy and yoga therapy intervention could affect and influence what happened in the mind (emotions, thought, beliefs) and behavior (compassion, empathy). It helped me to see how I could use yoga practices that initiate change in the mind (such as intention setting or compassion meditation) to affect the physical tension, connection to the body. Reciprocally I could influence the body through movement or breath and that could affect the emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and even accessibility of compassion. This theory helped to show me how I can meet my client and choose a different approach based on what the client needs—the client is then more likely to be open to the practice.”

 Learn more about the polyvagal theory by reading this blog.

THE SHIFT FROM EGO-CENTRIC TO A SHARED PLACE | HUMAN CONNECTION

The idea of connections and the continuum from unity to individuality fascinates Marlysa so she says: “Boundaries are good and important, but somewhat also holding us back. It’s the individuality that is the part of standing up for right and wrong: a spark that you see in people when they speak up. The question is: how do we really want to respect and honor differences as the beautiful thing that it is and at the same time work together? We have to shift from an ego-centric approach to a shared place, beyond individually, sometimes for the greater good.” She continues, “yoga reminds us that there is a shared space in all living beings. Remembrance we are the same as everything and everyone around us.”

For all who work with humans, the topic of human connection is interesting. What do we find in human connection? There is definitely a negative effect if people are not connected, to themselves or to others. But why? 

“For me, what I found with it when I think about positive human connection, is being in a relationship where you get to be heard and seen in a non-judgmental, compassionate way. And in that space, you are more able to see yourself.  One of my favorite quotes is from Viktor Frankl, “Man’s search for Meaning: “Ultimately man should not ask what the meaning of life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life…to life he can only respond by being responsible (p. 109)”

Marlysa’s wish is clear: To allow spirituality to become an accessible conversation in any setting and with any body. To be able to speak about spiritual topics such as meaning, purpose, and connection in a way that is based on the individual’s values and needs. I see patients from a variety of religious and nonreligious backgrounds. The research on the importance of spiritual wellbeing on physical and mental wellbeing is growing and important. I love to be able to find the language that resonates with each person—whether that is yoga, or neurophysiological. Yoga is accessible and inclusive, it’s my wish for everyone to experience that.”

Marlysa about her Future

Marlysa whishes to deepen this common language, where it’s more accessible and practical to facilitate change and healing. In short, she will be working on different projects with framing spirituality and the polyvagal theory, top down practice (practices that initiate in the mind and affect the body) and of course neurophysiology. Her focus will be on collaborating with a lot of people; ‘I enjoy international connections and learning how different people around the world are working with spirituality, yoga, and healthcare’. 

You can follow Marlysa's work, books and contact her here.

It’s hard to fully predict the effects of a particular movement sequence, breath or attention exercise on body and mind.  How do you choose which style and sequence to practice or teach?  Very few scientific studies have attempted to deconstruct yoga, to look into the role of its components.

Breathing or movement 

One of those rare studies was published in late 2018 in scientific journal Consciousness and Cognition. The study explored how yoga practice changes stress level and the ability to focus. The authors compared two 8-week yoga programs for novices: one focused on movements and the other focused on breath. 

The movement-focused practice was based on the Ashtanga sequence, adjusted for beginners. The breath-focused practice involved seated breathing exercises. In both groups, participants followed classes twice a week and received video instructions for home practice.

The authors carefully arranged that both groups were taught by the same teachers, so that any differences between the groups could not be explained by the teacher’s personality.

Before and after the yoga course

Before and after the yoga course all forty participants filled a questionnaire about how stressed they felt, provided a sample of saliva for cortisol analysis, and performed an attention-demanding test on a lab computer. The scientists analysed the differences in participants’ stress and attention levels before and after the course, and the differences between the Breath and Movement groups. 

• All participants from both programs felt less stressed after the course, and their cortisol levels reduced.
• Practitioners from the Breath group performed the attention test slightly better than those from the Movement group.

Does this mean that people who practice more breathing exercises function better in daily life? We do not know for certain. It is hard to measure individual subjective experiences, and one single study can only focus on a limited number of outcomes. 

More research into different forms of yoga and its components would aid the recognition and integration of yoga into healthcare. As research on yoga becomes more extensive, how will it affect your choices in practice and teaching?

Tell us what you think! 

Greetings,

Irina.

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?

THE polyvagal THEORY

The Polyvagal Theory explains why yoga brings mind and body INTO A STATE OF CALM AND CONNECTEDNESS. We study it more in details in our Integrative Yoga Therapy course: Terrapy | Trauma.

WHEN WE FEEL SAFE...

Prof Stephen Porges, Marlysa Sullivan and many more of the world's leading scientists and yoga therapists were guest at The Yoga Therapy Conference in Amsterdam (May 10 + 11, 2019), to discuss the link between neurophysiology, yoga and yoga therapy.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Scientists talk about aging not only at the body level but also at the cell level. Each cell of our body can age and die. One of the ways this happens is when DNA information in the cell degrades.

DNA information is packed in molecules called chromosomes. To protect DNA from degradation, there are small caps on each end of the chromosome called 'telomeres'. An enzyme called telomerase keeps the telomeres long — which is a good thing! If this enzyme activity in a cell is high, the DNA information in the chromosomes is well protected, and the cell continues to function and replicate.

In 2009 a group of scientists received a Nobel Prize for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres. Ten years later, we have learned new intriguing facts about cell aging. An article published in December 2018 in Current Opinion in Psychology summarises studies on telomeres and meditation published over the last five years.

Two studies out of 19 compared experienced meditators to people who never meditated and found longer telomeres in those with more meditation experience. The other 17 studies compared the telomeres before and after a meditation training.

A meditation course as short as one week may increase the length of telomeres, and the activity of telomerase in body cells. These studies show that meditation seems to delay cell aging.

HOW CAN meditation AFFECT MOLECULES INSIDE BODY CELLS? 

Researchers assume that stress is the critical link — shorter telomeres and lower telomerase levels are associated with stress. Regular meditation practice reduces psychological stress and anxiety and improves the regulation of emotions. At the body level, this means a reduction in the stress hormones and an increase of the vagal tone (the physiological mechanism responsible for the state of calm and relaxation, more about this in the upcoming posts).

It seems that the positive changes in the body induced by meditation lead to a delay in cell aging. However, researchers still need to understand this link better, and it is not clear if the molecular changes are meaningful — that is, if meditation can postpone aging at the body level. More research on these questions is on the way. It is remarkable how the popularity of meditation pushes forward research on the complexity of the mind–body connection.

Meditation, Yoga and YOU

What effects of yoga and meditation on the body and mind are the most interesting for you? Share/comment below!

Thanks for reading,

Irina

The science of meditation

Practice makes us who we are. Due to their extensive practice in discerning musical tones, professional musicians have a different brain structure from that of non-musicians [1,2]. In the same way, thanks to their day-to-day concentration practice, experienced meditators have a different brain structure from those who do not meditate [3–5]. Repeating the same action over and over shapes the brain and defines our experience.

The science research

How much time do we need to bring about changes in the brain with meditation? A research  article, published in November 2018 in Brain and Behavior [6], examined the effects of a four-week Sahaja Yoga meditation training on the brain. During the Sahaja Yoga meditation, practitioners bring all their attention to the present moment and attempt to cease thoughts to obtain a state of mental silence. The researchers examined changes in the brain structure in a group of people who learned to meditate.

results

They found an increase in grey matter density in the prefrontal areas of the meditators’ brains, which they did not find in the passive controls (i.e., participants who did nothing special during those four weeks). Prefrontal regions are responsible for attention and conscious control of behavior. The increase in grey matter density is a sign of a change in the way the neurons are connected. New connections between neurons are an indication of learning. Additionally, participants who showed an increase in grey matter also responded more positively when asked about their well-being at the end of the course.

The researchers were careful to choose participants with no previous meditation experience. Just a four-week course was enough to bring about changes in the brain. These effects of a relatively short meditation course are remarkable. This work, as well as many earlier studies [7–9], shows that even a short meditation training can bring a positive change to daily life. Meditation exercises our ability to consciously control attention. The brain structures that we train in our meditation practice help us to maintain a state of personal awareness and make healthier choices “off the mat”­.