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As we hold ourselves and breathe steadily through the challenge of a an ‘asana’ (the Sanskrit word for the postures that are a characteristic component of yoga), and mindfully witness the sensations in our bodies caused by the posture, and any feelings or thoughts that arise as a result of those sensations, we can hone the power of our interoception. That’s our ability to be aware of sensations from deep within our bodies – not just from the muscles but also from vessel, glands and the organs themselves.

Recent research has found that it is just as important as the external senses, cultivating a strong embodiment that is foundational to our subjective sense of self. Just cultivating, over time, an awareness of what homeostasis (internal balance) actually feels like can generate feelings of calm, peace and satisfaction, and a decreased desire to pursue externally rewarding stimuli (like addictions). And interoceptive such signals can guide decision making – we can more easily ‘listen to our gut’ and discern our innermost needs.

When sensations become strong as we hold a posture for a little longer than we might usually, and our mind is telling us that we can’t hold any longer, but we still do, this has the potential to reinforce calm persistence, focus and self-belief – even in the face of provocation or negative self-talk that might usually trigger some kind of impulsive reaction or downward spiral.

Or on the other hand, when we repeatedly decide within our practice to take gentler, modified versions of postures instead of following a habitual tendency to force, strain or constantly achieve or perform as we would in other areas of life, we start to carve new neural pathways in our brain that imprint an enduring sense of - “I can choose to respond differently to the situation and therefore generate different outcomes for myself.” The different outcome might be a newfound willingness to honour our needs rather than doing something that hurts us or makes us uncomfortable.

This happens via a phenomenon called neuroplasticity. This is the ability of our brain to change in relationship to new experiences by reorganising its structure, function and connections.

Over time, such incremental shifts occurring within the context of our practice - as we respond differently in the present - mean that away from it, in day-to-day life, we are less often held hostage by our past.

Stress and trauma cause imbalance in the function of our autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary vital processes like heartbeat, blood pressure, arousal, digestion and breathing. Such imbalance can mean that the process that pumps stress hormones into our bloodstream to deal with threats gets stuck in the ‘on’ position, so that we end up feeling constantly anxious, on edge, angry or overwhelmed. Over time, such constant activation and hormonal triggering can leave us at risk of developing chronic conditions like heart disease.

Yet breathing is the only aspect of our autonomic nervous system that we can consciously control. Bringing awareness to our breath, deepening it and lengthening it, calms down our nervous system, and helps us to flip that switch off. This enables our body to relax and our mind to quieten, so that we can find our way towards greater ease, even when life is challenging. It also nourishes our cells with the oxygen they need for healthy metabolism–which enables us to thrive at every level of our being.

We learn to find greater ease with stillness and can ‘hold space’ in presence for deeper subconscious material to come to the surface of our awareness - whether as thoughts, feelings or challenging sensations, or even thoughts that produce challenging feelings - and be compassionately seen.

This means that over time the hidden patterning or ingrained unconscious programming of our past nervous system emergencies starts to reveal itself more consciously, and instead of knee-jerk reacting to what is there, we endeavour to curiously and compassionately observe it.

‘Witness consciousness’ refers to this capacity to remain separate, anchored by our breath in the present moment, holding ourselves apart from becoming caught up in the stream of mental content, the worrisome stories our minds would like us to believe.

And we may start to understand - not just intellectually but experientially - that these urges, moods and emotions are passing events that happen and then recede. They are not fundamentally who we are. We stay. They go.

We can learn to use body and breath to change mind.

The Tantric yogis, long ago, understood that mindfully moving the body in certain ways, combined with conscious breathing, could have very specific and intentional effects on what they called our ‘energy body’ and what we now refer to as our nervous system. They understood that trying to control our mind directly by just sitting down and focusing on clearing our thoughts, which may be negative and distressing, is very difficult, but that changing our energetic state was an easier way to change our mind indirectly.

So, they developed lots of posture-based practice and breathwork that could be used bring about specific changes to the body-mind that would support greater physiological balance and vitality, calm things down mentally and bring about an inner stillness and focus that made meditation – a powerful tool for effecting bio-psycho-social wellbeing - much more accessible.

These practices are alive and well today in the form of postural yoga, when used carefully and strategically rather than just as exercise, and can empower anyone to manage their own healing.

Neuroscientists have now extensively studied the physiological benefits of meditation and mindfulness practice. Among other things, areas of the brain associated with self-awareness, interoception, planning complex cognitive behaviour, emotional regulation and empathy thicken, strengthen and develop more neural connections with regular meditation.

In addition, the part of the brain responsible for threat perception and triggering our stress response - the amygdala - gets smaller in those with mindfulness practices.

Day to day implications of these physical brain changes include reducing and managing symptoms like anxiety, depression, poor sleep and high blood pressure. Moreover, there can be capacity to mitigate cardiovascular disease and auto-immune and psychosomatic illnesses, such as chronic pain or bowel problems (which can all be symptomatic of underlying stress or trauma).

Other implications include improved mood-regulation and greater compassion for ourselves and others; improved focus and attention; and increased awareness of unconscious triggers and/or rigid, repetitive patterns of thinking about ourselves and the world that keep us unconsciously repeating unhelpful patterns of behaviour. The increased disconnection from - or shedding of - our mental content as our only concept of reality, can help us to connect with a deeper sense of our innate self - an undisturbed core or inner resource from which we can draw strength and stability.