As we have become a society which, for the most part, lives on stress, our gas pedals can get stuck “on,” with the “brake pedals” having little ability to engage when needed. As a result, we live in a state of overstimulation. The chemicals produced when we are in this state of sympathetic dominance can help our bodies to respond to an extreme emergency, but can be damaging if they are constantly being produced. Yoga and meditation are two tools that science shows have the ability to create this shift in the nervous system.

Physicians, such as Andrew Weil, M.D., founder of the Integrative Medicine Program at the University of Arizona, and mind-body medicine pioneer Herbert Benson, M.D., author of the classic health books, The Relaxation Response and Timeless Healing, were early proponents of quieting the autonomic nervous system in order to elicit a healing response from the body…