Tantra Yoga: The Adrenals and the Ego

Tantra yoga exercises and lifestyle help us release our addictions to actions and substances that stimulate the adrenal glands to produce excessive hormones, and subsequently, restore harmony within our egos. The adrenals, grape-sized endocrine glands that sit on top of the kidneys, allow our bodies to deal with stress of all types through the fight or flight response, and keep as much homeostasis as possible. Anti-inflammatory hormones such as cortisol also help sustain energy. However, too much stress causes cortisol to break down the body tissues, adding fat, and causing organ and muscle weakness. The adrenals are unable to produce enough DHEA, the precursor to estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Adrenals produce around 50 hormones, so we need to treat them kindly.

The modern lifestyle of chasing stimulation for recreation such as all night computer games such as World of Warcraft, use of cocaine and other drugs, cigarettes, caffeine, drama, sugar, horror movies, thrill seeking risky activities and a sexual overdrive give the adrenals a jolt. But they quickly become depleted and need another jolt to regain their stasis, or fatigue, depression, confusion, and aches ensue and we get a hankering for more of what caused the excess adrenalin production and subsequent depletion to begin with.

Very quickly, we become addicted to that yoyo syndrome unless we take time to rest and let the adrenals recover, giving them plenty of nutritional support such as licorice root, royal jelly, and herbal combinations easily found at health food stores. Most often, we are too impatient with the renewing process, feel we can't take time out, or don't want to tolerate the low energy level, or we feel we need to perform at our peak to meet deadlines. Often we will even wait until the night before a deadline, saying we work best under pressure, as that stimulates the panic response of the adrenals.