What Yoga Does to Your Brain

Scientists have been telling us for years how beneficial yoga is for our mental and physical health, but what does yoga actually do to the brain that leads to those benefits?

According to a review published in BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies in 2025, yoga can alter the structure and function of the brain in beneficial ways. Researchers analyzed 65 studies of adults who had practiced yoga for at least a year; some of the studies used brain-imaging to track changes in brain regions involved in memory, learning, decision-making and emotional control. 

The researchers found evidence that yoga can strengthen communication between different parts of the brain. They also found that people who do yoga, compared with non-practitioners, have greater volume in areas like the hippocampus, which is crucial to learning and memory and is known to shrink with age.

“The hippocampus is also the structure that is first affected in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease,” says Neha Gothe, an associate professor in the departments of physical therapy, movement and rehabilitation and applied psychology at Northeastern University’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences. In a review she co-authored on the relationship between yoga and cognition in healthy older adults, long-term yoga practice appeared to improve markers of chronic stress and inflammation, both helpful for cognition. The study was published in 2023 in Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews. 

Even just a few months of yoga has the potential to boost your brain health. After 12 weeks, adults who did Hatha yoga (which includes traditional yoga poses, meditation and breathing exercises) twice a week performed better on tests of attention, memorization and reasoning, compared with those assigned to do low-intensity basketball practice and those in a control group, in a study of 45 adults ages 65 to 80 published in the Journal of Aging Research in 2025.

Want to give yoga a try?

First check with your doctor. As with any exercise regimen, consult your doctor, especially if you have a chronic condition or have been inactive for a long time.

You can take a yoga class in-person or online at home. If taking yoga classes at a studio or community center is a challenge, check out Staying Sharp's free, beginner-friendly yoga videos led by Denise Austin.

Adaptive yoga is an option. Those with limited mobility can still do yoga through adaptive practices. In chair yoga, all the movements are done seated. Water yoga, done in a swimming pool, can help those needing a low-impact exercise that doesn’t place extra pressure on joints.