The Body’s Wisdom

Well before I could articulate why, yoga became a deep passion.
There was something so blissful about moving my body with my breath.
Something grounding. Something transcendent.
The rhythm of my spine, the activation of muscle, the lift of my heart—
it felt like medicine, though I couldn’t have told you why.

Yoga gave my body and mind a way to regulate.
Like an animal that instinctively shakes after escaping danger,
my nervous system found a way to discharge stress—through movement.
And I kept returning to that rhythm.

It wasn’t until years later—after unraveling chronic anxiety, panic, and dissociation—that I realized my body had been leading me toward healing all along.
Long before I knew the language of polyvagal theory,
long before I understood trauma physiology—
my body knew what it needed.

How Movement Regulates the Nervous System

The science backs this up. Movement isn’t just about fitness—it’s a form of neuroregulation. Here's why:

🌀 Discharge of Sympathetic Energy:
When we move—especially rhythmically and with breath—we help the body release the buildup of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Just like animals shake to release survival energy, movement allows us to metabolize sympathetic charge instead of storing it as tension, anxiety, or numbness.

🫁 Vagal Tone + Parasympathetic Activation:
Mindful movement (especially with breath) stimulates the vagus nerve, the primary highway of the parasympathetic nervous system. This helps shift us from fight/flight into rest/digest/heal. Practices like yoga, walking, rocking, or even gentle stretching can all support vagal activation.

🧠 Interoception + Emotional Awareness:
Movement increases activity in the insula, a brain region associated with interoception—our ability to feel what's happening inside. This awareness allows us to better notice our emotions and sensations before we react to them, helping us respond with more choice and clarity.

The Body Knows Before the Mind Understands

I haven’t mastered any of this.
I’m still learning to come home to my body, again and again.
But now I recognize movement for what it is:
a deeply intelligent language of healing.

The yogis knew this centuries ago when they created asana.
They understood that conscious movement could be a spiritual practice—
one that unblocks stuck energy and reawakens presence.

Now, modern science confirms it:

“The body keeps the score:
if the memory of trauma is encoded in the viscera,
in heartbreaking and gut-wrenching emotions,
then the healing process must involve the body.”
— Bessel van der Kolk