April marks National Stress Awareness Month. One effective method of stress reduction and management is yoga. University of Minnesota School of Public Health Professor and certified yoga instructor Dianne Neumark-Sztainer shares how yoga can support your body and mind.
Q: How can yoga help you become healthier?
Prof. Neumark-Sztainer: Yoga is a physical practice as well as a mental and spiritual practice. Most people are aware of yoga’s physical poses, or asana, which is one component combined with breathwork, meditation, mindfulness and ethical living. In yoga, we think about health at five levels of our being, or koshas, including the physical body, energetic body, emotional/cognitive state of being, higher mind, and innermost self. To improve our health and well being, we can work at any or all of these levels. This holistic view of health has many similarities to strategies that we use within public health.
Q: What are some unique benefits of yoga beyond physical health?
Prof. Neumark-Sztainer: Yoga takes the philosophy that you are whole as you are. A lot of techniques are used in yoga that help build self-esteem and overall self-compassion. It’s a practice that can help you come inward, and it’s also a practice that helps you recognize how to move in a way that actually feels good for your body.
My team’s research on yoga and body image found that people who practice yoga talked about seeing positive physical changes in their body, feeling more gratitude for their body, having more of a sense of self and having a sense of accomplishment. All of those factors feed into having a better body image.
Q: What advice do you have for anyone unsure about getting into yoga?
Prof. Neumark-Sztainer: I hear people say they’re not flexible enough to practice yoga — it’s probably the most common barrier to starting a yoga practice. Others may have concerns about lacking strength, physical limitations, or having the “right” body shape. Don’t let these be barriers to getting started. Your yoga practice can be adapted to your needs and abilities with the help of a good yoga teacher. If possible, start with an in-person teacher in a yoga studio, but if that isn’t possible, there are many classes held over Zoom. There’s a very good program called Yoga International that has many good teachers and classes.
The physical portion of yoga is important, but it is only one piece. Yoga can include very gentle movements or focus solely on breathing, hand placement and meditation. If you’re just getting started or working on incorporating yoga into your daily routine, there’s a lot you can do using a chair.
Q: How can yoga help reduce stress?
Prof. Neumark-Sztainer: Stress management is a major component of yoga — specifically yoga therapy. What we want to do is activate our parasympathetic nervous system, which is basically our body’s relaxation system, and calm our sympathetic nervous system, which is what triggers our “flight or fight” response. We know that so many public health problems are related to stress and unhealthy lifestyles, so I think integrating yoga into studies of public health could be very valuable and beneficial to the public.
Q: How do you incorporate yoga therapy into teaching public health?
Prof. Neumark-Sztainer: After serving as head of the School of Public Health Division of Epidemiology and Community Health for nearly nine years, I am currently immersed in a two-year program focusing on the deep study of yoga — specifically yoga therapy. The training ties in with models that we use in public health. I’m envisioning ways to integrate yoga into teaching using a public health perspective. Additionally, I see the practice as being very helpful to our faculty, staff and students as we engage in our important, and often demanding, work.
Dianne Neumark-Sztainer is a Regents and McKnight Presidential Professor in the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. As the principal investigator of the Project EAT studies, her research focuses on the promotion of eating, activity and weight-related health, including eating behaviors, physical activity, eating disorders/disordered eating, body image and weight status.
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