Over half the American population is said to suffer some form of chronic body pain. This pain interferes with their quality of life by affecting sleep, emotional states and ability to work. In fact, the National Institutes of Health reports that pain is the single most common reason that Americans seek medical attention. So bad is the pain epidemic that Congress called the first 10 years of this Millennium the “Decade of Pain Control and Research.”

And while the bio-tech and big pharma industries are spending trillions of dollars in search of super drugs to hide the body pain and lesson suffering, their efforts have shown no great benefit. Yet, it seems that a centuries-old Indian practice, known as yoga, proves not only safe but also quite effective at reducing pain.

One of the basic tenets of chronic pain is that it has both mental and physical origins and manifestations. It is a mind/body phenomenon that requires a mind/body approach. Yoga seems to be the perfect practice to relieve this health issue. Here’s why…

One of the causes of pain is tight muscles that constrict blood flow, reduce the amount of fresh oxygen and nutrients in circulation and allow toxins to accumulate in muscle tissue. Yoga is structured around the practice of physical movements that gently move the body. These movements are within the normal ranges of motion and thus do not require great exertion or flexibility, and will not cause sprains and tears while being performed. When the muscles are supple and the blood is moving, pain is reduced and the mental anguish and physical restrictions of that pain are diminished.

Yoga practices, especially those with a “spiritual” component, are able to offer practitioners an emotional experience along with their physical movements. These often foster feelings of love, kindness, compassion and forgiveness. These feelings alone reduce the way people react to daily stress and the people around them. Stress causes pain, so less stress means less tension in the body and therefore less pain.

You see, the body has learned ways of reacting to stress with protective measures like tension and pain. To overcome those ingrained responses, one needs to retrain the body’s response to the mind. Practicing yoga on a weekly or bi-weekly basis has proven effective at doing this. It gives the mind and the body a new pattern of relaxation and quietness. Yoga teaches one to use their mind to observe their body, to control posture, to regulate breathing… all in an effort to allow them to take control of their experiences and how their experiences take hold in the body.

The on-going practice of yoga is transformative. It changes stress and pain responses into healing responses. Over time, it brings one to feel a sense of self empowerment, vitality and relaxed, stress-free living.