Got Yoga Brain?

Do you know how to relax? I mean really relax. Shutting it ALL off and letting the worries, fears, and doubts completely leave the building.
If you are reading this, I am sure you are on the path (or are very interested) in bringing the path of relaxation into your life. And kudos to you because it is a really BIG deal to bring utter serenity into moments of your day because if you don’t … well let’s just say the brain takes major ‘blows’ when we keep it in perpetual analyze & do mode.
A quick overview of the brain:
Left side is the control master of analytical reasoning & is very reality based.
Right side of the brain is master of creativity ~ the place of imagination, dreams, & intuition.


Ok, I said quick overview so now onto how easily we can destroy our precious brain with only our thoughts.
When we dive into the old song and dance of negative thoughts perpetuated by imagining the worst case scenarios happening in our life; worries, fears, and doubts shut down part of our brain. In essence, we lose our awareness or consciousness. Hmmm–do you ever find yourself saying “I can’t remember this or that?” Well, maybe you are shutting down the old thinker by worrying too much. Just a thought – pun intended.
Well, I wish a poor memory was the only brainy thing that could go wrong. But, because our body steps up and produces oober amounts of cortisol with all our negative thoughts we can actually ‘blow up’ neurons. Yes, our sweet body thinks we are in distress and thus steps up to the plate and makes cortisol to combat the stress. Excess cortisol is the killer.
Your Brain on Stress.
I watched a video demonstrating the destruction of our precious brain cells due to high levels of cortisol (sorry video wasn’t available for upload) but let me describe what went down. Envision a mass of neurons and their dangling arms of synapses lit up like Christmas trees (similar to our cool braintree picture above). Looks all pretty and then…bam…or kaboom is better to capture the moment. A neuron exploded. Gone forever!
Maybe you remember the old commercial scaring us away from using drugs “this is your brain on drugs”.


This may need a little edit to include ” this is your brain on stress”.
Never fear.  Put the frying pan away.
Yoga Brain to the rescue!
Go ahead and insert a new visual. It is the end of yoga class and you feel completely relaxed. You slide into the bliss of savasana (the pose of complete relaxation) and your happy brain takes over. It starts to activate parts of your brain ~ igniting creativity & dreams, & fantasies; igniting our intuitive nature.   This happens because instead of stress protecting cortisol being produced our bodies begin to release dopamine; our pleasure neurochemicals. ahhh….
You may think that based on your busy life that you need to have the left analytical side of your brain on high 24/7. But, introducing relaxation will activate the “right” and help you make decisions using the wisdom of your intuition.  And this is why I highly recommend that you wait to balance the checkbook for at least 20 minutes after yoga class. Let the fantasies and daydreams guide you and enjoy the sweet bliss of Yoga Brain.
Until our paths cross again,
Wendy Billie