This article will first present a brief overview of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). With a basic understanding of how the ANS works, we can then consider how practice of meditation influences the ANS which can help us re-educate the mind.Function of the ANS
The ANS controls involuntary functions of the body, operating for the most part well below the level of consciousness. It differs in these respects from the somatic nervous system, which controls voluntary bodily functions, is consciously perceived, and is therefore easier to influence. The parts of the body are influenced by the ANS are cardiac muscles, smooth muscles and glandular tissues. Smooth muscles include (lungs, liver, intestines, reproductive organs etc) & Glandular tissues include hormone producing glands (thyroid, pituitary, endocrine etc)
Two divisions of the ANS
The ANS has two divisions: the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The SNS is a system for short term survival. It excites the body, preparing it for action. Any signal of danger or disturbance – real or perceived, can set in motion a process known as a stress response. The SNS alerts your heart rate, blood pressure, clotting mechanism, blood sugar level, respiration and voluntary muscle contractions to prepare for action. At the same time, it signals your digestive and elimination systems, sensitivity to pain, and other systems not needed for self defence to slow down or shutdown. The effects of the SNS are immediate, widespread and long lasting.
In contrast, the PNS is a system of long term survival. It promotes rest and regeneration. This system works the salivation, lacrimation, urination, defecation and digestion. In addition this system redirects blood flow back to the core of the body. The PNS system is characteristically slower to take effect than the SNS, and its effects are less wide spread. While the two divisions activate under different circumstances, both are vital to our survival and wellbeing.
The Stress Response
The stress Response (SR), which is characterized by the sympathetic activation, occurs in three stages: an initial fight-flight response, which mobilises the body for immediate action, a slower resistance reaction and possibly a stage of exhaustion. When a stressor provokes the flight – fight response, the hypothalamus and pituitary glands send nerve impulse from the brain to SNS. The impulse redirects energy to the muscles and organs needed for immediate survival in an emergency, and away from those not needed for immediate survival. For example the digestive, reproductive and urinary systems become impaired or shut down.
The second stage, the resistance reaction is initiated by the hypothalamic hormones, and thyroid hormones. By producing increased energy and by helping the body repair damaged cells and reduce inflammation, these hormones enable the body to continue to fight the stressors after the initial response dissipates.
Most of the times, these two stages suffice to get the body through stressful situations. Sometimes they do not, and the body moves into the exhaustion stage, in which it continues to produce large amounts of stress hormones. Prolonged exposure to these hormones (particularly Cortisol) can have devastating effects. In our daily lives we encounter many internal and external stressors, and if we fail to discharge our response to stress through physical activity we may become chronically stressed. A sustained high level of Cortisol destroys healthy muscles, bones and cells and suppresses the immune system, impairs digestion, and weakens the endocrine function. The destructive effect of chronic stress puts people at greater risk of chronic disease and premature death.
While the SR is extremely useful as a survival mechanism, it is equally detrimental if invoked when not needed for survival or chronically invoked. Therefore it is vitally important that we activate the SNS only when there is real danger or need for physical activity when we can discharge its effect through appropriate action. THROUGH CONDITIONING AND REPETITIVE PRACTICE WE HAVE LEARNT TO INVOKE THE (SR) ON INAPPROPRIATE OCCASIONS. AND WITH MEDITATIVE PRACTICES AND TECHNIQUES WE CAN CONDITION AND PRACTICE TO REVERSE THIS BEHAVIOR.
Can Meditation change our relationship to the ANS?
It is widely recognized that most of what activates the fight – flight response is in reality not a matter of life and death. When the source of stress is psychological rather than physical danger, there is the opportunity to change the habitual pattern that triggers the sympathetic nervous system. In particular, Meditative techniques offer the possibility of reducing inappropriate activation of the sympathetic nervous system.
The calming effects of savansana, yoga nidra and pranayama have been widely studied and reported the effects of those practises provide a great service to many yoga aspirants by giving them a short term “time out” from stress, and also by creating a positive physiological in the body systems ( including the nervous system). FOR EXAMPLE DEEP BREATHING ACTIVATES THE PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM, POSSIBILY BECAUSE REGULAR MOVEMENT OF THE DIAPHRAM STIMULATES THE VAGUS NERVE. THESE PRACTISES CAN INDUCE THE RELAXATION RESPONSE, WHICH PROVIDES A HEALTHY RESPITE FROM CHRONIC STRESS.
While these techniques are valuable, they may only calm us temporarily. If underlying patterns in our psyches continues to trigger the fight – flight response inappropriately, we end up simply repeating the same old patterns. Such patterns are often deep, long – standing and subconscious. Unless we choose to change them and develop tools to do so, the fallback position is to repeat and reinforce the patterns making already strong tendencies ever stronger. In yoga we can practice repetition to change deeply embedded physical, psychological or emotional patterns. We can use repetition in meditation to observe and understand our behavior patterns and then create new ones. Imagine the profound and lasting effects that could result from changing these deeper patterns that affect the way we view ourselves and the world.
The Change process.
A good way to increase our understanding of our behavior patterns is through meditation on the patterns themselves. Cognitive re framing is a term equates to reprogramming our individual mind or energy field as a part of the process of transformation. How does this work? Through our thoughts and out actions we are continually recording certain patterns in our Mind or Energy field (Citta). We always have a choice of reinforcing old patterns and thus repeating the same behaviors or creating new patterns in the mind which actually change our behavior. By choosing to focus the mind, we can end the distractions that cause the mind to be agitated. An agitated state of mind calls up unconscious tendencies associated with the stress response, while a focused mind evokes patterns associated with the parasympathetic, rest and regeneration response.
Each time we consciously focus the mind on ending the disturbances and distractions (aka vritti) we are reprogramming our individual mind and energy (Citta). Patanjali calls this process nirodah parinama (which mean avoiding / stopping). Hence the very definition of meditation in the patanjali sutras is citta viritti nirodha. When we do this continually, a new pattern emerges, the old pattern recedes and we experience the calm flow of transformation. Because transformation is a journey inwards, the old pattern being replaced is externalizing.
Meditation.
Meditation as we know requires focus attention in a sustained way on an object such as the breath, a word with positive connotations (such as contentment) or a mantra (Om). Patanjali in the Yoga sutras gives an example of object meditation along with expected results. By practicing meditation consistently, we become imbued with the qualities upon which we are meditating and we change. With repeated meditation, the quality grows stronger in us, until the object of meditation becomes our reality.
To experience this phenomenon, try meditating on the strength of an elephant and notice how strong you feel after even a short meditation. This idea of taking on the quality of your object of focus helps to explain why the company we keep is such a strong influence on our character.
How does this relate to the ANS? By turning our attention (through meditation, visualization, and company) to positive qualities, the positive qualities become dominant and our negative qualities become weakened or dormant. Negative reactions (fear, anger, anxiety, resentment) that trigger the SNS inappropriately are less likely to occur.
Meditation and Change in the Brain
Researchers conducted a randomized controlled study to determine the effects of an eight-week training program in mindfulness meditation on the brain. Brain electrical activity was measured in a group of 25 participants before the eight-week training, at the end of the training, and four months later. A control group of 16 non-meditators was also tested. The study reported significant increases after eight weeks in left-sided frontal activation in the brains of the meditators, as compared with the control group. The left side of the frontal cortex is associated with positive feelings such as joy, happiness, compassion, and lower levels of anxiety. After 16 weeks, the shift in brain activity remained. There was also a significant reduction in self-reported experience of anxiety among the meditators after the eight- week training, and this state of reduced anxiety persisted four months later. There was no change in anxiety level for the control group. These results (increased positive feelings and decreased negative feelings) would likely correlate with less frequent activation of the sympathetic nervous system’s stress response. This study is a good example of how the process of repetition in meditation practice can create meaningful change
Holistic Health Coach - Kenneth Rego
