WELLBEING
student experiences as conscious deep breathing. By practising postures with breath instruction, students are encouraged to deepen and slow down their breathing thus tapping into the parasympathetic nervous system, the rest-and-digest system, and moving away from the sympathetic nervous system, the heightened state of fight-or-flight so many of operate in as a matter of course. A parasympathetic response lowers breathing and heart rate, decreases blood pressure, lowers cortisol levels and increases blood flow to the intestines and vital organs( Woodyard, 2011).
In more complex terms, a Yoga practice can engage not only with our proprioception( our sense of where our body is within space), but also with interoception( our awareness of what is happening inside our body) and exteroception( any sensation we experience in response to external stimuli). Studies have shown that there is a link between atypical body awareness( that is decreased or increased proprioception or interoception) and many disorders such as anxiety and depression( Bulbena-Cabré & Bulbena, 2018). We can train our proprioception in Yoga through aligning our bodies into the specific postures and drawing awareness to where we are placing our body parts, but we can also train our interoception during posture practice by ignoring alignment cues and instead focusing on the sensations in the body as we put it through the postures. The same caveat applies to Yoga and mental health concerns as it does to Yoga and
injuries: Yoga will never be a cure for either of these, but evidence clearly suggests that Yoga can provide techniques to improve self-regulation and general wellbeing as a result.
Yoga and academic performance
Executive function refers to working memory, emotional control, organisation, problem solving etc., all skills required in a classroom setting and potentially attributing to enhanced academic success( Hagins & Rundle, 2016). The part of the brain responsible for executive function is the prefrontal cortex, and it works in co-ordination with the limbic system. If the limbic system is overactive, the prefrontal cortex, our cognitive function, is unable to make good decisions. Or, in very simplistic terms, if we are stressed, we cannot think straight. An implicit hypothesis therefore might be that improved regulation of the limbic system should result in increased executive function, and by extension academic performance. Studies looking at Yoga and academic performance are still rare, and the conclusions from those carried out appear inconclusive. Whilst some have found significant effects( Kauts & Sharma, 2009), others reported mixed results( Smith et al, 2014). Either way, even if a Yoga practice currently cannot be linked conclusively to academic performance, it stands to reason that a pupil with tools to relax and regulate their mental wellbeing will perform better overall.
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