If you've taken a Dahn Yoga health class lately, you've probably left your local community center feeling relaxed, refreshed, even dazed.
If you've taken a Dahn Yoga health class lately, you've probably left your local community center feeling relaxed, refreshed, even dazed. This sensation – which many enthusiasts refer to as "blissing out" – has nothing to do with your mental clarity or intelligence level, according to a yoga benefits article in the Boston Herald.
A reader named "Taylor" wrote to the newspaper to describe an anecdote she'd heard from her yoga teacher. The instructor, who freely admitted that yoga occasionally makes one feel dopey or dazed, was once asked if yoga "makes you stupid."
Her response, according to the reader, was a heartfelt "No!" Yoga doesn't make practitioners stupid; instead, it stimulates parts of the brain that aren't activated during conversation or everyday mental work.
The reader quoted another prominent yoga teacher, who explained that "yoga has a sly, clever way of short-circuiting the mental patterns that cause anxiety." The resulting pleasant daze has nothing to do with effects on one's intelligence.
Of course, that doesn't mean you won't occasionally say or do something silly after a good yoga workout! If you do, you can rest easy knowing that it's because your yoga routine is so relaxing.
