Yoga and the Nervous System: How Practice Builds Resilience
In a fast-paced world where overstimulation and chronic stress are the norm, yoga offers more than just a good stretch. It provides a powerful way to regulate the nervous system and build real resilience.
At Yoga Baum, we design practices that support your whole self: body, breath, and nervous system. Whether you’re here for a sweaty flow or a restorative pause, the underlying benefits go far deeper than flexibility.
Understanding the Nervous System
The nervous system, especially the autonomic nervous system (ANS), plays a central role in how we experience stress, safety, and recovery. The ANS is made up of two main branches:
Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): Often called “fight or flight,” this is activated during stress or threat.
Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS): Known as “rest and digest,” this is responsible for calming the body, slowing the heart rate, and helping us heal.
Yoga encourages balance between these systems, enhancing parasympathetic activity and giving your body a chance to shift out of chronic stress mode.
How Yoga Supports Nervous System Health
1. Breathwork (Pranayama) Stimulates the Vagus Nerve
Conscious breathing, especially slow, rhythmic breath, can activate the vagus nerve, a key part of the parasympathetic nervous system.
🧠 Study: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2018 – Slow breathing improves autonomic function and emotional control.
2. Movement Releases Held Tension
Flowing movement combined with focused awareness helps discharge tension and reestablish a sense of ease.
🧠 Study: Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2014 – Yoga can reduce symptoms of PTSD by calming the stress response.
3. Restorative Practice Deepens Recovery
When you lie supported in a restorative pose or meditate in stillness, your nervous system has a chance to reset.
🧠 Study: Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2014 – Restorative yoga lowered cortisol levels and improved well-being.
4. Mindful Awareness Builds Long-Term Resilience
Yoga helps you tune into internal cues and regulate your reactions. With time, this builds what’s known as interoceptive awareness, a key factor in resilience.
🧠 Study: Harvard Health Publishing, 2015 – Mind-body practices promote emotional regulation and resilience.
Classes That Support Nervous System Regulation at Yoga Baum
Our schedule includes a range of practices designed to soothe, support, and strengthen your nervous system:
Restorative Yoga – Tuesdays and Thursdays 6:45pm-7:30pm. Long-held, fully supported postures to promote deep relaxation.
Meditation – Saturdays 8:15am-8:45am. Grounding, community-based reset.
Gentle Yoga + Restorative – Mondays and Fridays 9:00am-10:00am. Mornings with slower pace, adaptability, and nervous system benefits.
Slow Flow – Wednesdays 4:15pm-5:15pm. Accessible movement and breath-focused flow that fosters calm.
Plus many other classes on the schedule (check here for a full view of our schedule).
Whether you're recovering from burnout or simply want to feel more at ease, these classes are here to help.
Nervous System Support That Lasts
Yoga won’t eliminate stress from your life, but it will change how your body and mind respond to it. Over time, practice rewires the nervous system to become more adaptive, more resilient, and more at peace.
If your body is calling for calm, your mind is craving clarity, or you just want to feel better, you don’t have to figure it out alone.
✨ Come regulate with us.