#19 – How Stress Wrecks Your Brain and What to Do About It

This podcast episode is divided into two parts.The first is about how chronic, unresolved stress wrecks your brain.The second is about how yoga and meditation repair the damage of chronic stress. We describe the four stages of repair, moving from basic repair of the damage to stabilizing normal function, then building a stronger neural architecture, and finally, the phase of mastery in which you optimize brain function.Stress is an unavoidable part of life. While acute, short-term stress helps you cope with challenging situations, chronic, long-term, unresolved stress is different. Long-term stress doesn’t just deplete your energy and affect your mood; it damages your ability to think clearly, process information, and handle emotions.Chronic stress wrecks your brain—it physically reshapes it, changing the size, structure, and function of parts of it. Over time, persistent stress alters neural structures, shrinks key regions involved in memory and decision-making, and overactivates the parts involved in emotional control.While these changes often develop slowly and are initially subtle, their effects can profoundly impact cognitive function, emotional well-being, and behavior patterns throughout life.The key takeawayChronic, unresolved stress creates an imbalance between the self-aware, rational, decision-making, and problem-solving parts of the brain (the pre-frontal cortex) and the emotion and memory-controlling parts of the brain (the amygdala and hippocampus). However, yoga and meditation can restore normal function, build stronger neural architecture, and optimize brain function in the final phase of mastery.Stage 1 - Relaxation techniques such as  Three Easy Steps to Deep Relaxation guided meditation series and Yoga Nidra.Stage 2 - Techniques such as Ajapa Japa and Meditations on the Third Eye of Intuition.Stage 3 - Advanced methods of Chakra and Ajapa Japa meditation.Stage 4 - Advanced Chakra and Kundalini Meditations.📩 Subscribe to our Newsletter🎙️ Big Shakti Podcast🎧 Big Shakti Meditations🌿️ Big Shakti’s Yoga and Meditation Courses🧘🏻‍♀️️Jayne Stevenson’s intuitive healing and dream therapy practice🧘 Dr. Swami Shankardev’s medical and psychotherapy practice📹 Big Shakti’s YouTube Channel