Interoception: noun, the process by which the nervous system senses and integrates information about the inner state of the body
My son has recently started coming to one of my yoga classes. Well, let me rephrase that. I recently made it a rule in the house that everyone needs to attend one yoga class per week. It has been 8 months since I made this rule. My son, now feeling like an expert, turned to me the other day and told me that his favorite pose is savasana.
Anyone else agree with him?!
Savasana is the best! Let me make it even better by explaining scientifically why savasana actually is the bee's knees.
In order to get there, let me introduce one more concept: muscle amnesia. This is the loss of sensation and sometimes motor control over areas that have become habituated through a repetitive action. For example, my shoulders are incredibly tight. All of the time. A few years ago, I went for trigger point therapy. She kept asking me if she was pressing too hard on my shoulder area. I told her I could barely feel it at all. Turns out this is because my shoulders had been tight FOR SO LONG that I had lost sensation in that area. My brain had stopped registering the muscles as tight and sore. I had developed muscle amnesia.
The downside is that if the brain has stopped registering an area as tight, it will no longer work to relax that area. It becomes an incredible effort to do so. Sometimes muscle amnesia feels like numbness or tingling sensations. For me, it was simply a lack of sensory input.
The cure for muscle amnesia is interoception. This is the process of the body tuning into how it is feeling and what it is feeling. Before I could start relaxing my shoulder muscles, I had to reeducate my brain about how those muscles felt. I had to register that they were tight and very sore. Only then could I start the process of releasing them.
Interoception occurs during yoga class when the teacher tells you to take a few breaths between poses. You might think that this element of pausing between poses is slow, boring, or way too easy; however, this is the key to reprogramming muscle areas, breathing patterns, and even mental/emotional patterns. (Don't rush through your yoga poses!)
Here's the pattern:
- You do a stretch or asana movement.
- You are still and take a few deep breaths.
- During this time, the brain can check in with how the body feels and any sensations it feels. Your job is to tune into the body and notice anything you are feeling as well.
- Then the brain can take this information and act on it in helpful ways.
When we rush through our days and actions (so common for all of us!), the brain never has a chance to check in, muscles/breathing/thoughts become tight or conditioned, and over time we feel the negative effects of this.
Circling back to savasana, this is a pose where we lay completely relaxed on our backs at the end of a yoga class for several minutes. During this time, the body is engaging in interoception. This is, in fact, the most important part of a yoga class because it is allowing the brain the opportunity to receive essential information about the body. We must allow this time so that the brain can integrate how it feels for muscles to be relaxed. In many ways, we must remind the brain that it is possible to relax.
Working hard is something we have all been conditioned to constantly do. It is time for all of us to start conditioning ourselves in the art and science of relaxation. Come to yoga! Strengthen. Stretch. And then relax. Your brain, your muscles, and your emotional body will thank you.