Translated from Spanish.
What it is
A gentle session of stretching and meditation to free the body and start the morning with clarity. You need no experience and no flexibility.
What a session is like
We begin by waking up the joints and the spine, move on to long stretches with the breath, and close with a short meditation to integrate. You leave with a light body and a clear mind.
Why it works
- Body and mind are one system. Physical tension and emotional tension feed each other. When the body lets go, the nervous system gets the signal that it is safe, and the mind follows the same path.
- BDNF, the brain’s “fertiliser”. Physical activity stimulates the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that supports the growth and connection of neurons. A meta-analysis (Szuhany and colleagues, 2015) showed that exercise raises BDNF levels in the blood.
- Neuroplasticity and resilience. More BDNF means a brain better able to adapt, learn and recover from stress. This is linked to better memory, better mood and greater emotional resilience.
- Mood. A review of studies (Schuch and colleagues, 2016) concluded that physical activity is associated with a significant reduction in depressive symptoms.
- Meditation: regular practice is associated with less reactivity to stress and more attention to the sensations of the body (interoception), which is key to emotional regulation.
Why movement matters: real data
A brain that grows. In a trial with older adults (Erickson and colleagues, PNAS, 2011), a year of walking increased the volume of the hippocampus by about 2 %. The hippocampus is the region key to memory, and it usually shrinks with age.
How yoga helps release trauma from the body
When we live through a situation of great stress or trauma, the mind may try to forget it, but the body always keeps the record. That trapped energy turns into chronic tension (common in the hips, shoulders and psoas) or into a feeling of disconnection from ourselves.
Yoga is a powerful tool to release this block, in three steps:
- It calms the nervous system: when we breathe and move slowly, we activate the vagus nerve. This tells the brain that we are safe now.
- It releases physical tension: the postures stretch the muscles and the fascia (the tissue that wraps them), releasing the emotions held in the body.
- It reconnects us: it teaches us to listen to our body and to live in it without fear, giving us back control.
In short: healing the body is the first step to healing the mind. Moving with awareness lets us let go of the past that stayed trapped.
As in our other therapies, movement takes you off autopilot and brings you back to your body, and many people end with a feeling of peace and clarity.
