Soothing Fried Nervous Systems

This past 18 months or so has played havoc with our nervous systems. So much change, uncertainty, frustrations and grief. Most of us have heard that yoga can be a good remedy when you are feeling stressed, anxious, or struggling with sleep. But why?

Today I wanted to give you a short introduction at exactly how yoga is good for calming our nervous system, and some of the tools we can start to incorporate as life starts to feel full, overwhelming, changeable or all of the above.

The nervous system - a simplified view.

Basically speaking, our nervous system works via connecting channels from the body to the brain, and vice versa. You may have heard of the ‘fight or flight’ response - something that happens when you feel acute levels of stress, and adrenaline is released. This is our sympathetic nervous system in action, which sends messages from the primal part of our brain, preparing us for danger.

Another type of stress we often encounter is the more long term, constant background stress, or more commonly thought of as 'worrying.'

Those to-do lists that are constantly buzzing at the back of the mind. This in turn releases a steady flow of the cortisol hormone,