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july 2016

yogajournal.com.au

and emotional rewards. You don’t need a

whole village around you to reap the

benefits, either: “Any community can be

healing, whether it’s one other person or

100,” notes Ornish. “It’s really about

sharing your experiences with others.”

For yoga lovers, your mat may be the

easiest, most natural place to start.

Whether you practice alone or in a group

setting, yoga can help you meet and bond

with people who share your aspirations,

interests, and perspective on life. As you

embrace your passion, you also open up to

connecting with those in your life,

acknowledging your common humanity

and intensifying your capacity for joy. Why

not use this great tool to create the

relationships you crave? Whether you want

to begin new friendships, strengthen

existing ties with loved ones, or serve

strangers through seva (selfless service),

yoga can provide an assist. Here are four

powerful ways yoga can help us all connect.

Yoga primes you to make

new friends.

It’s surprising how often we unconsciously

prevent ourselves from meeting people who

might be important to us. We get caught up

in our own personal dramas, memories of

past slights, and lingering worries, which

can cloud our ability to see that others are

yearning for connection. Yoga helps clear

away the cobwebs of past experience; it

opens our eyes to the present and

transforms our point of view. “Yoga

positively impacts your mood, psychological

functioning, and focus,” says Angela

Wilson, a faculty member at the Kripalu

Centre for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge,

Massachusetts, who’s long studied yoga’s

salutary effects. “You feel better mentally,

more ready to go out into the world and

make friends.”

In 2014, Wilson joined a team of

researchers convened by Kripalu to examine

exactly how this happens. In the journal

Frontiers in Neuroscience, they explained

that yoga operates on multiple levels –

through asana, pranayama, meditation, and

philosophy – to keep our minds and bodies

in peak condition, which can make

engaging with those around us easier. Some

studies, they added, suggest that yoga

further optimises the workings of the vagus

nerve, a bundle of fibres that extends from

the top of the spine through the respiratory

system and GI tract and that affects your

heart rate, breathing, and other physical

processes. As your yoga practice grows, you

may also see improvements in sleep and

digestion and find that you’re more adept at

regulating stress, controlling emotion, and

directing attention.

“We see self-regulation as really key to

social functioning,” says Wilson. “People

who feel imbalanced or anxious may

deliberately isolate themselves because it’s

unpleasant for them to be social; they feel

their interactions won’t be as successful. But

if you’re able to regulate yourself, you’re

more likely to reach out.”

When stress mounts, taking a moment

to breathe and tune in to what you’re

feeling, as you would in yoga class, can

prevent irritability, stave off conflict, and

promote harmony. In fact, mindful

breathing may be your best tool in tough

situations since it activates areas in the

brain’s frontal lobes that heighten calm and

concentration. “It’s like putting on an

emotional sling,” offers neuroscientist

Andrew Newberg, MD, director of research

at the Myrna Brind Centre of Integrative

Medicine in Philadelphia and co-author of

How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain.

And practicing yoga and pranayama

regularly over time can make you more

responsive to your environment and the

people in it. You may not only feel more

alive and enthusiastic, but also be better

able to go with the flow, which will buoy

you in social situations.

TRY IT Scientific studies indicate that

to keep your nervous system balanced,

short, frequent bursts of yoga are better

than longer but less-frequent sessions.

To fight anxiety and better connect

with others, aim for 10 to 30 minutes

per day of yoga, experts suggest.

To put yourself in a more relaxed

frame of mind before a first date or

any big social event, at least 60 minutes

prior try to fit in a restorative yoga

class or any class that emphasises

slow, deep, conscious breathing.

Yoga strengthens your existing

ties with friends and family.

One of the most awe-inspiring aspects of

yoga is the way in which it nudges you

toward greater discovery, not only by

making visible previously hidden aspects of

your own character, but also by illuminating

areas of your relationships that could be

explored and further strengthened.

Yoga starts by asking you to be fully

present, a skill that’s a boon for relationships,

says Kate Feldman, co-director of the

Conscious Relationships Institute in

Hesperus, Colorado. “Most people are so

busy that to simply be, to look at each other,

to listen carefully, takes focus they don’t

normally have,” she says. “We ask our

clients to put their phones away, to stretch,

to breathe. The natural effect of the practice

leads your heart to open and makes you

more available to connection.” PHOTO: JOSHUA HODGE PHOTOGRAPHY/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

“Yoga positively impacts your mood, psychological

functioning, and focus. You feel better mentally, more ready

to go out into the world and make friends.”