These 3 are deeply connected to each other. Let's understand science of Yoga to enhance immunity and role of bone marrow.
Every system of the body is involved in every movement we make. Simple activities of breathing or lift our arms overhead require active participation of the nervous, circulatory, endocrine, respiratory, digestive, immune, connective tissue, fluids, skeletal, ligaments and muscular systems (to mention just a few).
When we talk about immunity, it is like any other function of body. It is the power of body to fight against various pathogens, infections. As any other movement or function it involves many systems of the body working together. Before learning Asnas to increase with your immune system, let’s learn about what and how our immune system works.
Immunity mainly depends on WBCs and platelets. WBCs have antibodies (soldiers fighting on the front line). These soldiers are active throughout the day fighting small and big pathogens daily, their main purpose is to keep all cells, tissues, organs vital and keep them working efficiently.
Any anomaly in organs will make body prone to infections, causing too many pathogens in blood stream.Thus, soldier cells in our body are outnumbered .If immune system is strong, it will start producing more antigens/antibodies to fight against the infection. If it’s weak, pathogens will spread faster and damage more organs. Now we understand that, we need strong RBCs, WBCs and platelets to increase immunity. And lower our chances of getting infection.
Blood!! RBCs, WBCs, platelets are part of our blood stream. But wait, from where this blood comes from!? Correct, blood is produced in Bone Marrow. Bone Marrow is a gelatinous spongy tissue inside our bones. Bone Marrow is of two types: Red (Produces Blood) and Yellow (Stores fat). Bone marrow starts developing in a 3 month infant, it precedes liver in formation. At birth all bones contain red bone marrow. As age increases, number of red bone marrow decreases, in an adult only half of bone marrow remains red. In old age all bone marrow turns yellow, and produces blood(changing itself to red ) only in emergencies. This increases chances of common diseases and disorders in old age, as blood is not getting replaced by new blood components. Bone marrow is present in flat big bones, namely:
As it is clear from the flow chart, hormones produced in kidney and thymus gland trigger the blood production, WBCs and platelets and RBCs respectively.
In conclusion, we need to take care of kidney, thymus gland and… guess Bones!! As bone marrow is present inside the bones. But Bones (Skeletal system) are adjoined with our Muscle system, they both work together, neither can work alone.
Ultimately, let’s learn how Yoga Asnas can help us to improve Immunity, scientifically!!
We have created a flow of Asnas, to improve immunity by targeting these systems and organs.
Let’s see a scientific detailing of a how one Asna affects our body and aids in enhancing immune power.
VeerbhadrAsna 1 (Warrior pose 1)
To balance in lunging position, lower body (Both legs and hips) need to be stronger and active throughout Asna duration. More rotation is needed in spine to orient the chest forward, shoulders, both arms overhead, neck ,head stretched backward. Longer you stay in pose, more challenging it becomes. Every muscle and bone needs to be actively engaged. This Asna has major effect on gluteus, quadriceps, rectus abdominus, Pectoral, Serratus, Deltoid, Hamstrings, Dorsal, erector spinae, oblique.
These muscles surround joints and wrap around bones. While balancing in Asna, this provides proper movement of fluids and other pathways to provide proper nutrition to organs associated.
This asna affects Femur, flat ends of hands and legs, spine (vertebrae), hips, shoulder blades, neck.
Bone marrow strengthens(production of blood components), have positive affect on thymus gland, kidney(hormone triggers). Which in turn increase vitality of cells, tissues, associated organs. And this will empower your immune system. Every system has its own role and works interdependently.
If we focus on just one or two systems in studying anatomy and Yoga, We run the risk of terribly oversimplifying incredible effects that the practice of Asna has on every system in the body. On the other hand, we can dive deeply into a single point of focus and find incredible complexity that enriches our experience of the whole for the purposes of this article. The focus is on the role of the skeleton and muscular system in generating the movements that form Asna. This knowledge can bring us into a relationship with all the other systems and tissues in the body, right from the beginning !*
Similarly, other Asnas in our flow have positive effects on a cluster of systems and work together to boost the immunity.
*Excerpts and facts taken from 'Yoga Anatomy' by Leslie Kaminoff, Amy Matthews.