Why yoga teachers should understand the HPA axis

Transcript - Why yoga teachers should understand the HPA axis

[00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to four yoga teachers. This podcast has been created to help yoga teachers teach with passion, avoid burnout and earn a fair living.

Now, of course as yoga teachers, we are pretty interested in stress. And the effects of stress on the body and the mind. And I feel like we hear, or we talk about the sympathetic nervous system, the fight or flight response, really quite often. But I don't really hear, or talk about the HPA axis. So on doing a bit of informal research, I realised that this is because yoga teachers don't really understand what the HPA axis is, [00:01:00] or why it's important understand it as a yoga teacher.

So this episode is all about why it's important to understand the HPA axis, as a yoga teacher. And I would love to invite you to my free workshop: Un-stress: the yoga tonic. This workshop is part of my mission to educate yoga teachers to understand why yoga works. Why yoga is helping people manage their auto immune disorders. Why people say, oh, I always sleep so much better after yoga. Why the Washington post said yoga may help protect against cognitive decline.

I think as yoga teachers, we know yoga works. We know why we practice yoga. We know why we teach yoga. And- this is wonderful- the evidence base is starting to catch up. [00:02:00] And I'm really excited to share this with you.

There will be some science behind the unstressing. The yoga tonic. But my style of teaching is to make sure that I'm only teaching what I truly believe is useful to you. And I break it down into manageable chunks. And I repeat it, so that you can be sure that it'll go in. So, whether you're already deeply in love with internal human anatomy. Or it just quite frankly, scares you to bits. Either way.

I promise that this workshop is for you. Just go to the show notes and book your space for Un-stress, the yoga tonic. And I'll see you there.

So back to this episode. We are specifically looking at why yoga teachers should understand the HPA axis.

We're starting with an overview of what the HPA axis is.

And don't forget, I'll [00:03:00] go into more detail about that on the workshop.

And then in this episode, we will look at what cortisol is and we'll take a quick look at the impact of ongoing cortisol production on the body. And finally we'll investigate why yoga is such a powerhouse in managing the impact of stress on mind and body. So let's get cracking.

The HPA Axis.

In short, the HPA axis is a hormonal response to stress. There's a cascade of hormones from the hypothalamus to the pituitary, to the adrenal cortex that results in, and this is the important bit, the adrenal cortex releasing cortisol. This response is slower than the autonomic nervous system; which is immediate. The HPA axis takes more like 15, [00:04:00] 10, 15 minutes to activate. And it lasts longer than the autonomic nervous system too. Knowing about the HPA axis will help to keep you mindful that encountering stress has an immediate effect and a lasting effect through cortisol.

What is cortisol? Cortisol is a hormone that mediates the stress response; of course, that's why we're talking about it. But there's receptors for cortisol on almost all internal tissues, which means that cortisol can and will affect almost every internal system.

Some key takeaways are.

Cortisol is antagonistic to insulin. Antagonistic, meaning that it works against insulin. So continual cortisol production could mean that cells become resistant to insulin, [00:05:00] potentially resulting in diabetes.

Cortisol negatively affect hunger and satiety cues.

Cortisol is antagonistic to melatonin; an important hormone in establishing sleep drive and sleep cycles.

Cortisol is largely anti inflammatory in nature, meaning that continually stressed people may be more susceptible to infections and, or could take longer to recover.

And cortisol can suppress other hormones, potentially causing a irregular periods and having an impact on being able to conceive.

Just take a moment to think about what kind of impact on someone's physical and mental health. Ongoing cortisol production can have, could cause diabetes. It could cause difficulties with sleep even leading to insomnia. And it could mean that someone takes longer to fight off illnesses. [00:06:00] So. I know that that sounds super doom and gloom, and I'm really sorry.

But swiftly move on to the good news. The vast and deeply impactful tools that yoga has to mitigate the impact of cortisol.

Why yoga helps to manage the impact of stress. I feel that I'm probably about to mention some things that you already know and, or some things that are blindingly obvious. But I am going to do this because sometimes it just needs us to take a step back. To see the links between what we've always assumed or always known.

And what's actually going on. Yoga practices have been shown to reduce the activation of the HPA axis. And you might already assume this and you'd be correct; reduce the activation at the sympathetic nervous system. [00:07:00] And some studies also show that yoga reduces cortisol levels, which is amazing.

Many yoga practices stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, via the vagus nerve and stimulate the release of all of the good hormones that make us feel amazing.

As we know. Yoga allows for reflection. Often people don't realise that they're stressed or at least they don't realise how stressed they are. Some time on the mat can highlight the sources of stress and even present solutions to those sources of stress.

Yoga helps to increase the levels of melatonin that hormone that helps us with sleep drive and sleep cycles, and that study goes on to hypothesise that this in turn could lead to a greater sense of wellbeing.

Yoga philosophy teaches as acceptance and contentment. Perhaps [00:08:00] accepting things that are causing stress rather than fighting against them. But of course only the person experiencing the stress can be the one to decide, which is the best course of action to take there.

Yoga reduces inflammation.

The mindful focus nature of yoga can promote a sense of relaxation, just generally making the person feel better.

And yoga and encourages us to slow the breath down, which also sets off a whole cascade of benefits, which we will go into in a few weeks time.

In the free workshop, un-stress: the yoga tonic. We will cover some of the studies for the benefits that I've just mentioned, and we will complete the workshop with a really refreshing look at how yoga creates a virtuous cycle.

The sad thing about stress. Is that many things are at play [00:09:00] to create a vicious cycle. The more someone responds to stress; the more that they will respond to stress. Melatonin production is affected, so they struggle with sleep and then they wake up feeling more stressed. And so it goes on. However yoga is a deeply, and profoundly, incredible tool to interrupt and to reverse that vicious cycle.

And I really, really can't wait to tell you about it.

So yoga teachers. That's our quick pit stop as to why yoga teachers should understand the HPA axis.

Because it is a response to stress that triggers the release of cortisol, and while cortisol is important, for some reasons, ongoing cortisol release can affect insulin production, can affect our sleep drive and sleep cycles, our hormonal [00:10:00] cycles and our hunger and satiety cues. I hope you found that useful. But also, I really hope you've found it inspirational as to how yoga can help so many people manage their response to stress.

Don't forget to book in your free spot at Un-stress, the yoga tonic, really look forward to seeing there. And as always happy teaching.