45. Yoga for immune support

When I first started teaching yoga (I won't say when 👀), I almost never got asked about the immune system. 

Fast forward to now, and the following question - or a variation of it - comes up almost weekly: "How can yoga support my immune system?"

Whether it's feeling like you've just recovered from one bug and then you go down with another, or you're struggling with a suspected autoimmune disorder, the immune system seems to be central to our awareness of how we are.

A resilient immune system:

1. Responds quickly to genuine threats

2. Does not overreact to harmless stimuli

3. Switches off inflammation when appropriate

4. Returns to balance after illness

And yoga can help build immune resiliency 🥳 - we explore how in this episode!

🧠 Free workshop - yoga and the brain

Expect a bridge of modern neuroscience with traditional yoga practices; helping you understand exactly how breath, movement and awareness work together to change how you think and feel. 

🗓️ Wednesday 29.04

 ⏰ 12:30

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🗓️ Thursday 21st May

⏰ 12:30

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🙏 Free to join - save your seat here to join live, or receive the recording

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome to All of Yoga. This podcast explores, you guessed it, all of yoga, including the roots and history of yoga, how simple concepts from yoga philosophy can help us live a less stressful life, and how to approach the physical aspect of yoga in a safe and beneficial way. If you're brand new to yoga and wondering what it's all about, or you're an experienced yogi looking to learn more about all of yoga, this podcast is for you. Okay, so I find this such an interesting topic: yoga for immune support. The immune system is so unbelievably complex, and really it seems like scientists and researchers are just at the tip of understanding the workings of the immune system and how this system interacts with other systems in the body and also how it's affected by modern life and stress. But one thing that seems to be becoming increasingly clear is that practicing yoga is wonderful for immune support. Alright, so what do I mean by immune support? Well, I'll explain that in a minute. But first, let me just tell you that in this episode, I'll start with an introduction to the immune system. So, from experience, most people are reasonably familiar with the kind of top level of the immune system, but we'll cover the basics. Then we'll go on to talk about what a well-functioning immune system looks like and what immune support is. And then I'll talk a bit about why yoga is such an incredible tool for supporting our immune health. Spoiler alert, this is along the lines of stress management, being able to connect with how you feel and what you need, and so much more. And if you find yourself nodding along with what we talk about in the stress and immune section, then you'll want to join my free workshop, Yoga in the Brain, Why Yoga Changes the Way You Think and Feel. There's much more information about that in the show notes. Okay, let's get cracking.

An introduction to the immune system

SPEAKER_00 2:46

An introduction to the immune system. So possibly when you think about the immune system, you're thinking about fighting off illness, viruses, bacteria, getting sick or not getting sick. And all of that lives in the immune system, but it's doing so much more than that. Really, at its core, your immune system is constantly assessing what belongs here and what doesn't. It's constantly determining what is self and what is non-self and then responding accordingly. And it works in layers or stages. So first off is the innate immune system. This is the first line of defense. It's fast and non-specific. And then you have your adaptive immune system, which is slower to respond, but it's much more targeted, it's much more specific, and it's able to learn from past exposures. So every time you encounter something that doesn't belong, anything that is non-self, your adaptive immune system is learning and adapting and responding.

 What is a well-functioning immune system?

SPEAKER_00 4:07

What is a well-functioning immune system? Well, a well-functioning immune system is responsive, it's able to deal with things that are genuine threats, and it's adaptable, it's able to learn and adjust. An underactive immune system can leave you vulnerable to illness, but an overactive immune system can lead to chronic inflammation, allergies, or autoimmune conditions. So what we're talking about in terms of a well-functioning immune system is building immune system resilience, building your body's ability to respond appropriately, and then the important bit, return back to balance afterwards.

 What happens in times of stress?

SPEAKER_00 5:02

What happens in times of stress? Okay, let's bring stress into the picture now, because this is where things get quite interesting. As we've talked about on the podcast many, many times, when you're stressed, especially when you're experiencing chronic stress, your body shifts into a survival state. And in the short term, this is actually super helpful. Your immune system is more activated to deal with immediate threats. But over time, chronic stress, this kind of survival state, will start to dysregulate the immune system. And as a result, you might experience, like I talked about just a moment ago, increased inflammation. So inflammation is bringing immune cells to areas of injury or infection. It removes the damaged tissue and it supports healing in the short term. But in the long term, that process can become toxic. Also, in times of chronic stress, you might experience a reduced immune defense, so getting poorly more often. You might experience slower healing, so feeling like it takes you ages to get over a bug or a cut or a knock than it would do normally. And this happens because hormones like cortisol, the stress hormone, interact directly with immune cells. The brain, the nervous system, and the immune system are constantly communicating about what is the highest priority. And the highest priority will always be your survival. So when we're in that survival state, parts of the immune system have to take a back seat. Essentially, if your system is always on high alert, then your immune system will be too. And so it deprioritizes longer-term healing.

 So where does yoga come in?

SPEAKER_00 7:04

So, where does yoga come in? Well, this is where yoga becomes incredibly powerful because yoga can help to regulate the systems that influence immunity. Let's take a look at how. One, yoga helps regulate the nervous system. Practices like slow movement, elongating your breath, focusing on your breath, lifting and lowering your heart rate, all things that we naturally do in your standard yoga class, these activate the parasympathetic nervous system, the rest and repair state. And that takes you out of that survival state we talked about earlier. Two, yoga reduces chronic stress load. A reasonably regular yoga practice will consistently bring the prefrontal cortex back online. This is the part of the brain that's responsible for rational thinking. And this reduces amygdala-driven, fear-driven stress responses. Over time, this lowers the overall stress burden on the body. So there's more bandwidth for things like looking after the immune system. Yoga supports inflammation regulation. Research is suggesting that yoga can help modulate inflammatory markers, things like cytokines, which play a key role in immune function and making sure that we don't tip into chronic inflammation. Yoga helps you tune into your body and your needs, so you're more likely to notice, oh, I need rest, or I feel like I'm getting run down, or I need to slow down a little bit and respond accordingly. In summary, this is all about creating the best possible conditions for the body and all of its systems to function well. If you're listening to this and thinking, I'm just getting one bug after another at the moment, or I feel really run down, then definitely join my free workshop, Yoga in the Brain, why yoga changes the way you think and feel. We go so much deeper into how stress affects the brain, why it can feel hard to innovate commas, just for lax, but it's not impossible. And little practices that you can do for your long-term health. You'll find the link in the show notes. So bringing all of this together, yoga helps provide immune support by helping your stress regulation, by reducing chronic stress loads, by managing inflammation, and all in all creating the best possible conditions for your bodily systems to work as well as they possibly can. I really hope that you've found that useful. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to shout. I'll always try my best to help. And as always, happy practicing.