I’ve gone back in time to the year 1982, the first semester of my foray into my degree in Physical Education. I was the first, and only, international student (having recently arrived from California) stepping into the hallowed halls of Phys Ed and Recreation at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. As I sat in Dr. David Lawson’s office, the head of the department, he firmly suggested I focus on one of the most difficult courses that all first-year students needed to undertake…Human Biology One. He said, “If you can make it through this subject, you’ll set your course in a positive direction.” I had incentive and, thankfully, I’m a self-proclaimed anatomy geek, so the challenge was readily accepted.
When I first met the lecturer of Human Bio-One, Dr. Mick Carey, I could see why the course could be intimidating. Dr. Carey was a no-nonsense kind of bloke, wearing a lab coat and giving the stink eye to any unruly or undisciplined “phys’eder”. He held high standards and many had difficulty meeting it. In one of the practical labs, we had the freshly harvested quadriceps of a frog. We placed the muscle in a solution bath with its tendons tied to a measuring device and when we added another solution to the liquid bath, the muscle would contract and then relax. We were measuring things like strength and time of contraction, looking to firing off another action potential for a follow-up contraction. If too much contractile solution was added, or too soon, the strength of the contraction weakened. We were looking at the refractory period, the time needed for the muscle fibers to be ready once again for a contraction.
Obviously, that lesson stuck as I’m once again referring to it 38 years later. But it struck me, how our physiology and structure are not only meant for movement but it needs rest. And in our culture, rest isn’t typically something of high value. Hard work, maximal exercise, and pushing to the limit are honored qualities. As an example, here in the States, the average paid vacation time per year is a measly two weeks whereas in Europe and Australia, it’s four weeks.
So how does the refractory period play into our yoga world? My answer is quite simple – how doesn’t it? If we seek optimal health of body, mind, and spirit, we do so by undertaking our practices, doing the work, and then letting go into deeper spaces of stillness and quiet. Activity/work is equally as important as rest, and in yoga, the ultimate refractory phase is at the end of the practice…that of savasana or the corpse pose. I’m grateful to students at my studio who have come to truly value savasana, often requesting a longer one before we even begin! I have heard stories and had the experience of a short, token-like savasanas, and how some students will actually pack up their things before savasana begins and head out the door. Many people believe that just “laying there” is a waste of time and hold it to be of little or no value.
In our brain, the number of activation centers far outweigh the relaxation centers. Getting our nervous system to shift from a sympathetic, outward-facing and active space to the parasympathetic, restoring side of our nervous system is, therefore, more challenging and needs time. It is thought that it takes about 15 minutes to create this shift into our restorative space and in that space is where we truly recover, heal, and rebuild.
The thought of this week isn’t to get too heavily into the physiology and biochemistry of the refractory period but to simply point out that our being functions optimally when we have both activity and rest. Ideally, the activity side of the equation is undertaken with optimal form for our individual structure, with mindfulness and with attention. When we precisely dial in our activity, not overdoing it, and follow it up with adequate and deep rest, we not only balance our physical selves but the nervous system which affects our overall health.
I encourage you to pay attention to the type and quality of your rest and recovery from activity, from hydration and nutrition, to more passive forms of movement and to your sleep hygiene.
I think that Dr. Mick Carey would be not only proud but astounded that I’m talking about this in the year 2020. So this is to him who taught me about honoring the refractory phase of our physiology.
Thanks and cheers, Mick!
