Yoga Can 'Reverse' DNA Reactions Which Cause Stress

Mind-body interventions (MBIs) such as meditation, yoga and Tai Chi don't simply relax us; they can 'reverse' the molecular reactions in our DNA which cause ill-health and depression, according to a study by the universities of Coventry and Radboud. The research tells us what the yogis have been saying for thousands of years. Until now it was considered eastern nonsense.

“Millions of people around the world already enjoy the health benefits of mind-body interventions like yoga or meditation, but what they perhaps don’t realise is that these benefits begin at a molecular level and can change the way our genetic code goes about its business,” said lead researcher Ivana Buric.

The main remedy for stress according to the yogi's? Breathing. Natural breathing is the essence of meditation. "You cannot be alive without breath. So breath and life have become synonymous. Breathing is the mechanism of life, and life is deeply related with breathing. That is why in India we call it prana. We have given one word for both: prana means the vitality, the aliveness. Your life is your breath" - Osho Rajneesh.

Ivana Buric continues; “These activities (meditation, yoga) are leaving what we call a molecular signature in our cells, which reverses the effect that stress or anxiety would have on the body by changing how our genes are expressed. Put simply, mind-body interventions cause the brain to steer our DNA processes along a path which improves our well-being,” Buric added.

Next time on your mat, close your eyes and think about your breathing. Awareness of your breath and synchronising your breath with you movement is what makes it yoga.

"There are certain points in breathing which you have never observed, and those points are the doors – the nearest doors to you from where you can enter into a different world, into a different being, into a different consciousness"- Osho