How Yoga Therapy Supports Neurogenesis and a Resilient Brain

There is a quiet revolution in how we understand the brain. For most of the last century, science taught that we are born with all the neurons we will ever have, and that the adult brain is essentially fixed. That picture has changed. We now know the adult brain remains capable of remarkable change: forming new connections, reshaping existing ones, and, in at least one region, possibly giving rise to new neurons entirely. This capacity deserves to be understood clearly, especially by those of us who work with the body as medicine.

What neurogenesis actually means

Neurogenesis is the birth of new neurons. In adults, the research centers on one small, seahorse-shaped structure deep in the brain called the hippocampus, which is central to learning, memory, and mood. Specifically, new neurons appear to arise in a region of the hippocampus called the dentate gyrus.

Here is where honesty matters. In rodents, adult hippocampal neurogenesis is well established and has been studied for decades (Vivar, Potter, and van Praag, 2013). In humans, the picture is genuinely less settled. Some recent studies using advanced techniques suggest that new neuron formation in the adult human hippocampus is very limited across the lifespan, and the question remains actively debated among neuroscientists (Simard and colleagues, 2024; Tosoni and colleagues, 2023). So anyone who promises that a yoga practice will flood your brain with new neurons is running ahead of the evidence.

What is far better supported is this: the adult brain retains real plasticity, and the biological conditions that favor neuronal growth and survival can be influenced by how we live. That is where yoga therapy enters the story, as a practice that works on several of the same levers the brain uses to renew itself.

The levers that matter: BDNF, stress, and blood flow

If neurogenesis and brain plasticity have a central chemical ally, it is a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. Think of BDNF as fertilizer for neurons. It supports the survival of existing neurons, encourages the growth of new dendritic connections, and, in the hippocampus, is closely tied to adult neurogenesis (von Bohlen und Halbach, 2018).

Two things reliably raise BDNF and support hippocampal health. The first is physical activity, especially aerobic movement (Kraemer and Kraemer, 2023). The second, and this is the piece often overlooked, is the reduction of chronic stress. Sustained high cortisol, the hormone of prolonged stress, suppresses hippocampal neurogenesis and is associated with hippocampal shrinkage and depression (Micheli and colleagues, 2018). A nervous system stuck in survival mode is not fertile ground for new growth.

Where yoga therapy comes in

Yoga, understood as a whole practice rather than a set of poses, works on both of these levers at once.

On the BDNF side, several human studies have found that yoga and related mind-body practices raise circulating BDNF. A review of human experimental studies concluded that mindfulness meditation and mind-body exercise such as yoga and tai chi tend to increase BDNF in both healthy and unwell people, while cautioning that the studies so far are small and need to be larger and more rigorous (You and Ogawa, 2020). One controlled study of women with chronic low back pain found that twelve weeks of yoga raised serum BDNF and reduced pain, with the authors proposing BDNF as one of the mediators of the benefit (Lee, Moon, and Kim, 2014). The evidence is not unanimous, and some studies show mixed or modest effects (Cekanauskaite and colleagues, 2020), which is exactly why careful practitioners hold this work with both enthusiasm and honesty.

On the stress side, yoga therapy is arguably at its most powerful. Conscious breathing, restorative postures, meditation, and yoga nidra all shift the nervous system toward the parasympathetic state, lowering the chronic cortisol load that otherwise stands in the way of hippocampal health. When we quiet the alarm, we create the internal conditions in which growth becomes possible.

There is even early neuroimaging that points in a hopeful direction. A small pilot randomized controlled trial found that a twelve-week Kundalini yoga program was associated with increased hippocampal volume in older adults, offering preliminary support for yoga as a neuroprotective practice (Ibrahim and colleagues, 2022). The sample was small, so this is a first signal rather than a settled conclusion, though it is a signal worth watching.

How to hold all of this honestly

Here is the truthful synthesis, the version I would want any of my students to carry into a hospital room.

We cannot yet claim that yoga grows new neurons in the human brain. What we can say, with real support, is that yoga therapy raises BDNF, lowers the chronic stress that suppresses brain plasticity, and is associated in early studies with healthier hippocampal structure. Yoga therapy tends the soil. It creates the biological conditions in which the brain is most able to adapt, learn, and heal, whatever the final verdict on human neurogenesis turns out to be.

For those of us who bring this work into healthcare, that distinction is a gift. It lets us speak to a physician or a nurse in language that is both hopeful and honest, and honesty is what earns us a place at the bedside.

[Jeanette: here is a place for one of your own stories. Perhaps a stroke recovery patient, or someone in the early fog of dementia, where you watched attention, breath, and gentle movement change what was possible for them. Your witness at the bedside is worth more than any statistic.]

Why this matters for the work ahead

Understanding the brain this way changes how we practice. It tells us that gentle, consistent, stress-reducing, breath-centered movement is biologically active, and that it is medicine for the populations who need it most: the aging, the depressed, those recovering from stroke or living with cognitive decline.

This is the kind of clinically grounded, physiologically literate practice at the heart of the 300-hour Yoga Therapy in Healthcare certification. If learning to work at this meeting place of ancient practice and modern neuroscience calls to you, I would love for you to get on the list.

Get on the list for the next cohort

Sources

The research below is indexed in PubMed.

Vivar C, Potter MC, van Praag H (2013). All about running: synaptic plasticity, growth factors and adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2012_220

von Bohlen und Halbach O, von Bohlen und Halbach V (2018). BDNF effects on dendritic spine morphology and hippocampal function. Cell and Tissue Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-017-2782-x

Kraemer RR, Kraemer BR (2023). The effects of peripheral hormone responses to exercise on adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Frontiers in Endocrinology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2023.1202349

Micheli L, Ceccarelli M, D'Andrea G, Tirone F (2018). Depression and adult neurogenesis: positive effects of the antidepressant fluoxetine and of physical exercise. Brain Research Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2018.09.002

You T, Ogawa EF (2020). Effects of meditation and mind-body exercise on brain-derived neurotrophic factor: a literature review of human experimental studies. Sports Medicine and Health Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smhs.2020.03.001

Lee M, Moon W, Kim J (2014). Effect of yoga on pain, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and serotonin in premenopausal women with chronic low back pain. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/203173

Cekanauskaite A, et al. (2020). A 10-week yoga practice has no effect on cognition, but improves balance and motor learning by attenuating brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in older adults. Experimental Gerontology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2020.110998

Ibrahim M, et al. (2022). Kundalini yoga intervention increases hippocampal volume in older adults: a pilot randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Yoga. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijoy.ijoy_25_22

Simard S, et al. (2024). Spatial transcriptomic analysis of adult hippocampal neurogenesis in the human brain. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1503/jpn.240026

Tosoni G, et al. (2023). Mapping human adult hippocampal neurogenesis with single-cell transcriptomics: reconciling controversy or fueling the debate? Neuron. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2023.03.010