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Updated: May 11, 2026
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Resting-State Connectivity and Neuroimaging of Prefrontal Cortex Activity During a Block-Design Yoga Asana Practice Using fNIRS
Published on: June 24, 2025
Insular cortex mediates increased pain tolerance in yoga practitioners
Chantal Villemure1, Marta Ceko2, Valerie A Cotton3
1Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
|May 23, 2013
Summary
Regular yoga practice enhances pain tolerance by increasing gray matter in brain regions like the insula. This neuroanatomical change, particularly in the insular cortex, is linked to improved pain management strategies.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
- Pain Research
Background:
- Yoga is increasingly popular for managing painful conditions.
- Neuroanatomical changes may underlie yoga's beneficial effects on pain.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neuroanatomical basis of yoga's pain-relieving effects.
- To explore the relationship between yoga practice, brain structure, and pain tolerance.
Main Methods:
- Sensory testing and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were used.
- Compared brain structure and pain tolerance between North American yogis and matched controls.
Main Results:
- Yogis demonstrated over double the pain tolerance compared to controls.
- Increased gray matter (GM) volume was observed in multiple brain regions in yogis.
- Insular GM volume uniquely correlated with pain tolerance and yoga experience.
- Yogis exhibited enhanced left intrainsular white matter integrity.
Conclusions:
- Long-term yoga practice may lead to use-dependent hypertrophy of the insular cortex.
- Yoga appears to improve pain tolerance by altering insular brain anatomy and connectivity.
- Practitioners develop cognitive strategies involving parasympathetic activation and interoceptive awareness for pain management.
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